I’ve mentioned before that my favorite TV show is Doctor Who. One of my favorite quotes comes from that show, too. The Doctor once said, “Put first things first, but not necessarily in that order.”
It makes sense to us to put first things first. Sometimes, though, the first thing in putting first things first is deciding what the first thing is. For instance, what’s the first thing, the most important thing, about faith in Jesus Christ?
I suppose there are a lot of answers we could give to that question. The obvious one might be love. After all, Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are that we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Because of that, it might seem like love is the first thing about our faith.
I don’t think so, though. Love is really important, obviously. The thing is that what Jesus said is only important if we already have faith in the first place. If we don’t have faith in Jesus, then it really won’t matter much to us what Jesus said. So love is important, but it’s not really the first thing about our faith.
How about obedience? Jesus said blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it. Jesus said anyone who loves him will obey his teaching. Again, though while obedience is important, it’s something that only becomes important if we already have faith in the first place. If we don’t have faith, we won’t be very interested in obeying Jesus.
So what is it? Well, I think the first thing about our faith in Jesus Christ is what we celebrate today. The first thing, the most important thing about our faith in Jesus Christ is that he was raised from the dead. That means that, in the story of Jesus’ life, the first thing came last.
Listen again to what the Apostle Paul said: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.’
Later on, Paul says this: “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile.” In fact, Paul says that if Christ has not been raised, “We are to be pitied more than all others.”
Some of you may be wondering why the last thing about Jesus’ life would be the first thing about our faith. After all, Jesus being raised does not change any of the things he said. It does not change any of the things he did. Jesus was still just as wise and just as good whether he was raised from the dead or not.
That’s true. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, he was still a very wise man. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, he was still a very good man. That’s the thing, though. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, he was a just a man. A very wise man, a very good man, but still just a man, a human being.
We’re not supposed to worship a human being. We can like a human being, we can respect a human being, we can admire a human being, we can love a human being, we can even try to be like a human being. Even so, we’re not supposed to worship a human being, no matter how good and how wise that human being was.
If Jesus was not raised from the dead, he was just a man. He was not the divine Son of God. If Jesus was not the divine Son of God, if he was just a man, then anything he told us was just his opinion, the opinion of a man. If the things Jesus said were just the opinions of a man, then we’re free to accept them or reject them as we like. Jesus’ opinions don’t have any authority, if he was just a man.
While that’s all important, though, it’s not why Jesus being raised from the dead is the first thing about our faith. The reason Jesus being raised from the dead is the first thing about our faith is that if Jesus was just a man, then he did not have the ability to save us. The death of a human being, even a good and wise human being, would not give us any salvation. Our belief in a human being, even a good and wise human being, cannot get us into heaven. Only God’s grace, offered to us through our faith in the Savior, can do that. If Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, it’s proof that he really was the divine Son of God, and that our belief in him leads to eternal life in heaven. If Jesus was not raised from the dead, then he was not the divine Son of God and our belief in him does us no good at all.
That’s why Paul says that if Christ has not been raised, our faith is him is useless. If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is based on a lie. We’re wasting our time believing in him.
In fact, it’s worse than that. If Christ has not been raised, then we believe in a false god rather than the true God. That’s why Paul says that if Christ has not been raised, we should be pitied more than anyone else. It would be better to not believe in any god at all than to believe in a false god who has no power.
I think, even if we’ve never really thought about it in this way, most of us realize this. There’s a reason that churches have their highest attendance all year on Easter Sunday. It’s not just because it’s a nice spring Sunday and people feel like going to church.
We come to church on Easter Sunday because we realize the event we remember on this day is the first thing about our faith. We come on Easter Sunday because we realize how important it is that we acknowledge and affirm, to ourselves and to everyone else, that we really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. When we come to church on Easter Sunday, we are saying that we believe Jesus was more than just a human being, that he truly was the divine Son of God, and that he truly is our Savior. We’re saying we recognize Jesus being raised from the dead as the first thing about our faith, and we are putting first things first.
The thing is, of course, that if that’s all we do, we never get past the first thing. The first thing then becomes the last thing and we never get anywhere else. It’s good to acknowledge that Jesus is our Savior, but it’s not enough. We also need to live in a way that shows we believe it, because our actions reveal our beliefs. We need to go on to the second thing and the third thing and the fourth thing if we really believe the first thing.
Those second and third and fourth things include the things we talked about at the start of this message. They’re things like love and obedience and trust. If we really believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God, then we need to take seriously what he said about loving God and loving our neighbor. If we really believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God, then we need to take seriously what he said about loving even our enemies, and praying for those who treat us badly. If we really believe in Jesus as the divine Son of God, then we need to take seriously what he said about being willing to give up everything, if need be, to follow him. If the second thing and the third thing and all the other things are not there, it shows we were never really serious about the first thing.
Which brings me back to the saying from Doctor Who: First things first, but not necessarily in that order. As Christians, we cannot take things in that order. We cannot start with the first thing and then go to the second thing and then go to the third thing. The first thing and the second thing and the third thing and the fourth thing are all connected. We don’t really believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, and that he’s our Savior, unless we love as Jesus loved, are obedient to Jesus’ teaching, and trust him enough to follow where he leads us.
Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. He was raised on the third day. That’s the first thing. The fact that we’re all here today shows we claim to believe that. It shows that we claim to believe that Jesus really is the divine Son of God, our Savior.
So let's get past the first thing. Let's resolve to love God and love others, to do what Jesus taught us to do, and to trust that, when we do, God will always be there for us. Let's put first things first, but not necessarily in that order.
So let's get past the first thing. Let's resolve to love God and love others, to do what Jesus taught us to do, and to trust that, when we do, God will always be there for us. Let's put first things first, but not necessarily in that order.
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