The Centenary Connexion - November 7

Children of a Lesser God

I’ve observed in my years of pastoral ministry that few Christians understand the concept of resurrection. We’re taught from a young age that we have an immortal soul that ascends to Heaven if we have faith or descends to Hell if we don’t. We teach this, preach it, and weave it into our funeral liturgies.

Yet this disembodied afterlife isn’t really a biblical concept. It comes from the ancient Greek philosophers, and we’ve used it to conceal what the prophets (and Jesus) actually taught. They said we’ll all be raised from the realm of death and given new, imperishable bodies that will last for all eternity. The Bible says we’re destined for an EMBODIED eternity, not a wispy, immaterial existence floating in the clouds.

Do you understand “the resurrection of the body”? It’s in the Apostles’ Creed. We all say we believe it, yet we live as if it isn’t true. What would it mean to live as if resurrection is real, as if the first example of it was Jesus’ own Resurrection on the first Easter morning? How might our view of life change if we actually lived out what we say we believe—yet fail to understand?



It's a tricky subject, but if you’re willing to wrestle with it, join us this Sunday for worship at Centenary. This week’s sermon is titled “Children of a Lesser God” and is based on Luke 20:27-38. 

Pastor Vann