The Importance of the Resurrection (pt. 3)

Hello, everyone. Today is Thursday, June the 15th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearViewTodayShow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show, sharing it online, leaving us a good review on iTunes or Spotify, anywhere you can hear podcasting content from.

We're going to leave a link in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Romans 10, verse 14. How, then, shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

That's part of Paul's rhetoric that I really like, is that you can tell he was trained in the art of argument and persuasion from his Jewish heritage. You know, no one's going to get saved if they don't believe in God. And they're not going to believe in God unless we the people, you know, go out and not proselytize, but evangelize.

You know, talk about him, tell people about him. That's part of what we're doing right now with this radio show. We realized that we could reach a huge audience of people who either know the gospel and want to be revived, know the gospel and just want to be edified, or just straight up don't know the gospel. And, you know, we were talking with Stu Epperson, who's the founder and the president of the Truth Network. And he was talking about that, how people go by and they listen to the radio, and they get saved. People get saved from listening to shows on this network. And how shall they hear without a preacher? You know, that's the purpose of having a pastor who's dedicated in the church, who preaches the Word of God every single week.

That's right. And maybe you're listening to this verse, and maybe you're listening to the show, and you feel like, well, you know, I'm not really one to go out and stand on the hilltops and shout at people. I'm not one to, you know, hop on a plane and go to a foreign country or share my faith with somebody I don't know. Okay, well, then what we're saying is partner with us as we do that. In supporting this radio show and partnering with us, being part of the Clear Read Today show family, you have a hand in impacting all these lives that we're touching with the gospel.

Every single day, the gospel is going out across this nation. And, you know, maybe even one day internationally. I think we do have some international downloads. We do. Yeah, we've got downloads in Europe and in, I think we had one in Turkey. We have a couple in, where else did you say, David?

Asia. Yeah. Yeah. Here and there. And you are part of that. You just, just by partnering with us, by praying for us, by partnering with us financially, you're part of getting the gospel out to the nation. That's right. I had a text come in.

This one actually came in last week and I missed it somehow. Jonathan B., if you could live in any other time period than you do today, when would you live and why? That's a good question. I'm going to be honest with you, Jonathan. I have every modern luxury known to mankind. I really don't want to live in any other time period.

That is true. Truly, I don't. Maybe like the fifties, like Leave it to Beaver, but I don't know how good life actually was then. All I see is what's on TV. Like Andy Griffith Times.

If it like, if I could live in the Andy Griffith show or like Leave it to Beaver, like that nice sort of like upper America, white picket fence, suburban home, I might would do that. But I don't know how good of a time the fifties was. You also got to think communism was, that was the whole like red scare time.

All that McCarthyism. I don't know, dude. I really don't know. I feel like I would like to see, this isn't really time, this is more places, but I guess it's a time period. I'd like to see like Rome in its heyday, like the, like the height of the Roman empire.

I think that'd be cool to kind of see how city life worked and how things were bustling. I don't know. I mean like I got no AC. I got no, yeah, we got, we have no AC.

We have no like refrigeration methods other than like putting stuff on literally on ice. Yeah. I feel like it would be kind of cool to, to live in the eighties. Yeah.

It's just kind of, that's like a romantic size. You already kind of lived in the eighties a little bit. I mean barely. I was born in 88. Really? Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that you were born in 88.

Yeah. I thought you were born in like 84, 85. No, I was born in 88. Okay. You got me choked up there.

Sorry. No, I was born in 88. So I mean, I don't even remember the eighties at all.

I'm trying to think of like a romanticized time period that would, that wouldn't just stink to live in. I'm not going to lie. I'm very comfortable, man. I got a nice home. I got a refrigeration.

I got a radio show. I might would go back to like the two thousands, like like late two thousands, early like 2010s. I might would go back there. Cause you have the, you still have the modern conveniences, but it's before all like the craziness of the world and all that kind of stuff. I feel like I could go back there, but then what's the point?

Like, I mean, that's just like a skip backward a few years. Like just, just you are where you are. God has you where you are for a reason.

God dropped you at this time in history for a reason. It would be difficult. It would be difficult knowing what I'm giving up. Like if I, if I went to like ancient Egypt or whatever and I was like, I don't know, just because I don't know, I only know the extreme. I know like the slaves and the peasants and the emperors.

Where does that in between fall? And do I know that I used to have air conditioning and internet and all this? That's a great point. Like if it's, if it's me now being transported back in time, I don't think so. But if it's just me like having grown up in a different time period, I don't know. Maybe, maybe ancient Egypt would be cool. That would be kind of cool. Maybe that would be kind of cool. To visit.

I don't know that I want to live. To see the pyramids actually being built and be like, wow, that's sick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

That's my answer. Let us know what you guys think. We're going to ask Dr. Shah what, what, what he thinks, but let us know what you guys think.

What time period would you want to live in and why? Text us and let us know at two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Visit us online at clearveetodayshow.com. We're going to get Dr. Shah for our action packed episode for you today. Stay tuned.

We'll be right back. Well, good morning, afternoon, evening, Clearview Today listeners. My name is Jon. And I'm David. And we just want to take a quick second and let you know about another way that you can keep in touch with Dr. Shah's work.

And that is his weekly podcast series, Sermons, by Abaddon Shah, PhD. As a lot of you may know, or maybe some of you don't know. If you don't know, you do now. And if you don't know, then maybe just hop off the podcast. David, I'm just pop off the podcast.

I'm just playing. Keep listening. Dr. Shah is actually the lead pastor of Clearview Church in North Carolina. Every single weekend, he preaches expository messages that challenge and inspire us to live God honoring lives. One of the four core values of Clearview Church is that we're a Bible believing church. So every sermon is coming directly from Scripture, which is great because that guarantees that there are timeless truths that are constantly applicable to our lives. This is a great resource because whether you're driving, whether you're cleaning the house, whether you're working out, you can always benefit from hearing the Word of God spoken into your life. And God's Word is always going to do something new for you every time you hear it.

Sometimes it's conviction, and sometimes it's encouragement. But know that every time you listen to God's Word, you're inviting the Holy Spirit to move and work in your life. You guys can check out the Sermons by Abhijan Shah, Ph.D. podcast. First and foremost, check it out on our church app. That's the Clearview app. You can get that in the Google Play Store.

You can get that on iTunes. But you can also find the podcast on the Apple Podcast app or on our website at ClearviewBC.org. And listen, if you've got a little extra time on your hands, you just want to do some further reading. You can also read the transcripts of those sermons.

Those are available on Dr. Shah's website, AbhijanShah.com. And we're going to leave you guys a little link in the description so you can follow it. But for right now, David, let's hop back in. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abhijan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028. That's right.

And if today's your first time ever joining us right here on the Clear View Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know who's talking to you today. Dr. Abhijan Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You can find all of his work at his website. That's AbhijanShah.com. That's right. And Dr. Shah, we were talking about something earlier. Jon, you were talking about a class that you were taking, I think it was theology, where there was some sort of discussion that was going on.

That's kind of how we got started in this resurrection. I think Tuesday, Wednesday's episodes, we were talking about the resurrection and all of its implications. But basically what it was is we have these discussion forums, and people are saying some crazy things. People are really saying some outlandish things. And I was actually, Sunday night, I was talking with Dr. Shah and looking at it, and the question was on something completely different.

But it was basically, he said, this implication asserts that morality, what we consider moral, is a principle that transcends even God. And I was like, what has gotten into people? And not like wild, like liberal students with blue hair. This is like happening in seminaries.

Yeah. And it just is indicative of their lack of maturity, lack of knowledge, lack of ability to reason things out. I mean, what are the implications? What you're really implying is that morality finds a standard from someone other than God. And then God has to adhere to that standard.

Right. God simply adapts it to himself, makes it maybe more conservative, depends on what milieu you're living in or more fundamentalist or more pietist. I mean, it just depends on how you, you know, what era of history you fall into. That's where God takes on that particular characteristic.

But really morality is outside and that's not true. Yeah. You ever be talking to like teenagers, like this guy's not a teenager, but you ever talked to like teenagers and like, they think they're saying something really deep, like, but it means nothing at all. It's like, you know, we often, what is it? It's often our assumptions that are based on our conclusions.

Really it's our conclusions that should be based on our assumptions. What the heck are you saying? Yeah. Yeah. There are sometimes I'll just look at him and be like, what are you saying? What are you talking about? You're not saying anything.

There are things that are profound as one liners, but many of the one liners I've heard lately are definitely not profound, but they are just ludicrous. Yeah. Yeah. It was funny because I was, we were talking about it and then, you know, right next door where they're laying the foundation, they haven't poured the slab yet, but they're, they're getting ready to put the foundation for the new sanctuary down. And it reminded me a story of when you talked about you watching that happen back home with your dad.

Yeah. Our church was expanding, not the one right now that that is expanding, but the church I grew up in where my dad was a pastor in India. We began to expand. And when we did that, I remember the construction workers coming and they began by digging the foundation. And I remember standing there watching them do that. And they had this long, pretty tall almost like a skeletal of a like a basket, you know, and, and they began to drill this hole for us to dug it, then began to drill in it. And then they would go a little bit further, then come back, pull it out. And then they put extension in it.

And then they started doing that. It's called a pylon foundation. And pylon foundation is probably one of the strongest ones. It's a deep foundation and it just drills way into the ground.

You know, where you grew up, where I grew up, there was a lot of rain, monsoon. So having a pylon foundation ensured that nothing would impact the building. So when it comes to what we're talking about here today, we need that kind of a pylon foundation, a moral foundation in a shifting sand of morality world. And I think what people may not know about Dr. Shah's father is that he was a big Starcraft fan. So what he actually went up to the construction workers and they were like, Hey, you must construct additional pylons. I have no idea what you're talking about.

Y'all never played Starcraft? No, it was like an alien. It was like the pie truss or something.

And he would be like, you must construct additional pylons. That's all I could think of. Yeah. It was like a big famous line.

I thought your dad might've played Starcraft. Nope. But he wanted to make sure that the building would last. That's right. Yeah. Amen to that. But those pylons, I mean, that makes us think about like, what is our faith built on? What is, what are, what we believe, how we operate, how we understand God and the Bible, what is that foundation? And if we start to chip away from that foundation, then I mean, what do we stand on? There's no solid ground.

We've got to have those pylons in place. Right. And since we're talking about resurrection, this is a subtopic of anastasis, resurrection, because the resurrection doesn't end with Jesus rose from the grave, so his deity is verified. Jesus rose from the grave, so our eternality has been secured.

There's more. Jesus rose from the grave to give you a whole new moral order of how to live in this life. Now if you think about it in Acts chapter one, you know, verse one talks about how Jesus, after he rose from the grave, what did he do? So let me read that passage.

Okay. Luke is writing this to Theophilus. He says, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, referring to the Gospel of Luke, until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles, whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So when Jesus rose from the grave, he didn't immediately jet out of here.

He stuck around and he revealed himself to the people so they could touch and feel and know that he is real. But then also he talked to them. He talked to them for 40 days about the kingdom of God.

So the question is, what exactly was he saying to them? Yeah, there's a lot there. I mean, 40 days is still quite a long time after. You got to think, like, after someone is resurrected from the dead and then they ascended to heaven, there's still like a month and 10 days worth of content that's there that they're still learning. They're learning from, you know, a newly resurrected Christ. And I often wonder like why we skip over that so often. Because I tend to think like, okay, he rose from the dead, very next thing that happened is he ascended. Well, I think it's because, I mean, you said this, Dr. Shaw, but I think it's because we don't have an accurate understanding of what exactly the resurrection is, what it means and what it holds for us. I think we just kind of gloss over that because our focus is on the cross. And it should be, we should focus on the cross.

It is the pinnacle. Yeah, but the resurrection is very, very important. So 12 different appearances to over 500 men, not counting women and children, Jesus showed himself to teach some very important things about the kingdom of God. So, you know, I've, I've looked to a book that I had to read back in seminary days. I'm talking about the mid nineties, a book by a priest, an Anglican priest by the name of Oliver O'Donovan. And the book is called Resurrection and the Moral Order. Great book. And, but it's, it's not an easy read. It's not, it's one of those books that you can just like, just, you know, jump in and yeah, I know what he's talking about. No, I had to actually turn to Matthew Lee Anderson, who's again, a scholar in the field of philosophy ethics. And I had to read his summary, his analysis to understand. Yeah. Cause I mean, I already read it and I knew really well, but it's been so long.

Yeah. And so the way O'Donovan presents it, when it comes to ethics, history is divided into two poles. One is the creation of the world. And the second is the resurrection of Jesus. Creation was cursed because of Adam's sin and has been waiting on a resurrection. We know that because Romans 8 21 says, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So does the resurrection present a shift in ethics and morality or is it now it's divided into two poles?

It's curse and restoration, I suppose. Right. Okay. Right. Okay. I understand.

Okay. So when it comes to ethics, history divided into two poles, creation and resurrection. But the resurrection of Jesus, here's the second point. The resurrection of Jesus helps us look back to the creation and look forward to the fullness of the kingdom of God. So it's like, we, we leave, we have to learn how to live, like live right here in the now and the present because of the resurrection. It gives us a glimpse of, you know, what was, and then what eventually will be seeing Christ in, in his resurrected glorified body. It shows us, you know, this is, this is how things were. And then this is what we have to look forward to one day.

So the question is, how were things? And the world as it was created was orderly. And I'm not talking about like an order to things, which is true, but vertically towards God and horizontally towards nature and others, there is an order to things. We call that teleology, which is means there is a goal. So orderly means it is headed towards something.

Yeah. We're not, we're not randomly here. There's purpose and there's drive. From the Bible, we know that we are not random, but we were designed for something or someone. And to me, the Westminster catechism captures this in the question, what is the chief end of man?

And the answer is it is to enjoy God and glorify him forever. That is the order of creation. It kind of runs so contrary to what we think morality and ethics and the goal of life is, is to do what feels good. Or even if it's, if you feel like you're a virtuous person to do what's best for everyone to do whatever has the most positive outcome. That's what morality is.

Yeah. But in reality it is to enjoy God and grow from now we have messed that up and made it enjoy self and glorify self forever. And that's why we're in the mess we are. So when we talk about order of things, going back to creation, it was to enjoy God and glorify him forever. Do you feel like people, I don't know, do you feel like people take that and twist it into something that it was never meant to be? I'm talking about Christians. They take it and say, okay, our goal is to enjoy God and glorify him forever, but that's more of a privilege. That's not our goal here on earth. Some may say that. You know what I mean? Yeah.

That's the, that's the reward I get, but my goal is something else. Like science wants to free nature from its purpose or moral philosophy wants to free the will from any purpose. So you can do whatever you want to do.

Universal laws are just labeled. Science is now being used as an ally, even an apologist really think about it for the moral reset means we get to decide what is the order. Yeah. Yeah.

Enjoy God glorify not necessarily. We're seeing that. We're seeing that more and more. I mean, if you can't even go on Tik TOK without seeing that, that argument being portrayed time and time and time again, you are what you choose to be, whatever you identify as. That's what you are.

It's not what you can call yourself. It's what you are. Yeah. Whether your biological makeup supports that or not, it doesn't matter.

One. What matters is what you feel. Yeah.

What matters is what makes you happy. Not what God said. Forget God. God doesn't even exist in this equation. Yeah.

You are the God. Truth is completely, completely subjective. It's completely, uh, subject by and dictated by your feelings. Then what's real. What is real? I've heard people even just pose that like, what is reality? Reality is whatever I, whatever I choose it to be. I just, I can't understand living your life that way. If life has no order, if the world has no goal, if it's not headed anywhere, then I can't say that anything is actually real.

It's really happening. You know what I mean? It's, it's random chaos that makes no sense. And it seems to me like that's why people are so stressed out or anxious or, or worried because there's nothing firm to stand on. Everything underneath him is constantly shifting.

So there's nowhere to like drop anchor. Yeah. The things that you think are virtuous today are bigoted and homophobic and racist and small minded tomorrow.

And right now you've got the moral high ground, but tomorrow you may not. Yeah. That would make me anxious too. Yeah. So in a sense, I'm going to give you a kind of a, a little, you know, highbrow statement, but humanity is dissolving in the polarization of technological will and its raw material. So, you know, you're, we're kind of losing all sense of normalcy. Now it is just whatever.

Yeah. We're, we're sort of disbanding into these tribes that you stand for. And I think I've talked to you about this, Dr. Shah. We, we kind of stand for what we're told to stand for or what we choose to stand for without knowing or actually identifying with it. So to where the people you talk to are almost puppets, they're not really here. And I think you, we mentioned that once or twice.

I called you once and we were talking about new texture, textual criticism. And so, you know, are there people who just will align with what they're told to think and believe in textual criticism without either believing it or without actually knowing it. And you were like, yeah, people do that because to go against the known, to go against the status quo of what the field says means that they have to either combat that person or if they do any research of their own, it's much easier just to say, Hey, that's what I think. Right.

But then I'm not really talking to you. I'm talking to a set of beliefs. Same thing in our culture.

It's, it's people, I don't know how many of them actually believe the things that they're saying they believe versus, Hey, this is where the current is taking me. Right. Right. I mean, the question is what is reality? Yeah.

And I would say reality is something that must have order and it must be headed somewhere. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So the resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us the answer to natural order from creation history and the fullness that is still coming. Ultimately true knowledge comes in Christ.

That's true reality. Not just what people are making for themselves, or this is what makes me happy. So this is who I am and science supports me.

The science support them really, or is science trying to become an ally to people's, you know, uh, to, to, um, enjoy self and glorify self forever. Yeah. Well, I think that's why I appreciate so much that you are a new Testament scholar and that your work is rooted in the text. You know what I mean? I don't have to trust in a man's opinion. I trust in a man's knowledge of text that I could learn to read for myself and I can go back and I can look at the text and say, yeah, exactly what he said.

That's where it is. That's where he's getting his, his knowledge from. That's where he's getting his information is the Bible. And every one of your messages, and I love this, every one of your messages goes back to the gospel. It was back to Christ because that's so important.

It's so critical, especially as we're talking about this, you know, shifting morality as we're talking about the, the culture kind of washing people here and there. We stand upon the truth of God's word and you emphasize that every time you get up to preach and call people back to the truth of the gospel, the truth of who Christ is and what he's done for us and what the resurrection means. Contrary to philosophy and empty deceit. Remember what Paul talks about in Colossians 2? Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. Paul was around people who knew how to argue, but it was coming from nothing.

It was empty. Just like you said, not from Christ. No, no. And so the new moral challenges shouldn't shake us, but cause us to dig deeper in the world of God by the power of the Holy Spirit so that we may know even better how to let Christ shine to the glory of the father. I love that. You know?

Yeah, so absolutely. So we are, we are free to obey. First John five, three, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandment, his commandments are not burdensome. This is easier and personal church life. It's kind of difficult when it comes to politics.

How do you please God? You know, when you're dealing with politicians because they need to be more willing to set aside the polls and choose what is right. That doesn't always happen. That's why I believe Christians should have a significant impact on government. Yeah. We've said that many times on the show that, you know, Christians, that, that is our, our ultimate goal as far as politics go.

It's not that the state is heading up what religion you have to do. At the same time, Christians have to have that, that significant impact. Yeah. Right. And all this is centered around the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That's right. We want to, if y'all want to read second Timothy one, nine. Sure. I'd be happy to.

Okay. Second Timothy one verse nine says, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began verse 10, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to the light through the gospel. Y'all see that? I mean, it begins with who has saved us, called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace. And then it ends with Jesus Christ who has abolished death and brought life and immortality. That's that's resurrection.

Oh yeah. That's, that's the center of it. That's the focal point that Paul is pointing us to. And the church should be representing this truth before the lost world.

That's true. So to make all this happen, love is the key. You know, Jesus said that when the teacher asked him, what is the greatest commandment of all? Jesus said to him, you should love the Lord, your God with all your heart, soul, mind. And this is the first and greatest commandment or great commandment.

The second one is like it. You should love your neighbor as yourself and a resurrection, you know, knowing that there's a resurrection of the just and the unjust. I love you enough to tell you the gospel and help you get on the path for which you were created, you know, and you do that by keeping your eyes on the day when all the books are opened and your name is found in the book. That's right. That's the goal. So this is why morality matters. Absolutely.

Morality that comes from the resurrection. So good. So important for us. If you guys have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at clearveetodayshow.com and don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Click that donate button, join the Clear View Today show family and impact the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we go, I do want us to read Colossians 3.1 because the resurrection here is clearly connected to the order of creation which is to, you know, love God and to love people. So you want to read that for us?

Sure. If you were then raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil, desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

Do not lie to one another since you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. Amen. Beautiful. So awesome. Love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear Read Today.