Is Worshipping On Easter Sunday More Important Than Other Days of Worship?

Is worshiping on Resurrection Sunday more important than other days of worship? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.

We'd love to hear from you and our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so. And of course, you can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you're always free to email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And first up today, Adriel, here's an email from one of our listeners named Christy, and she says, Is there anything special we should be doing for Holy Week? I think I will fast on Friday. Any other devotions, videos or focus that we should be listening to leading up to this Sunday?

Yeah. Well, Bill, I think you and I both know that definitely listening daily to CORE Christianity on the air is a perfect way. Hey, we didn't even plan that. So Holy Week first, we think about the New Testament. It's not like in the New Testament, we have these prescribed days for worship besides the Lord's Day besides Sunday. So we don't have these high holy days, if you will, like they had in the Old Testament, you think of the various festivals and religious holidays that they were commanded to observe.

If you don't do this, you're cut off from among the people. Well, we don't have that same kind of a thing under the New Covenant. But historically, the church, many Christians throughout the world have celebrated particular days in redemptive history, you know, focusing on what Christ has accomplished in his death, in his resurrection from the dead, the sending of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with taking some time throughout the year to really focus on those amazing, great redemptive historical events in terms of what you should be doing. I think, you know, if a church is saying you have to do this, I would say, OK, you got to be careful with that, because this is one of the things that the Protestant Reformation was about. The church can't just command you to do certain things that aren't prescribed in God's word. But I think you have freedom to, if you want, say, you know, I'm going to take some extra time this week, you know, maybe attend my church's Good Friday service and prepare my heart for the celebration of Easter on Sunday. Maybe even invite some friends to worship for whatever reason. People tend to be more open to coming to church on Easter Sunday.

And so I would say take advantage of that, invite people from your work or from wherever to join you to hear about the fact that Christ is risen from the dead. So if you choose to fast on Friday, I would say go for it, you know, to the glory of God. Remember what Jesus said, though, about fasting and his Sermon on the Mount. When you fast, don't be like the hypocrites.

You don't need to announce it to the world and sound a trumpet. It's something between you and the Lord to focus on the Lord, to pray, to meditate upon what Christ has done for you, to fix your eyes on Jesus through Holy Scripture, Christy. And so may the Lord bless you in this season and encourage you as you seek his face this week. You know, all of us are familiar with Christmas carols, but what's interesting is there actually are some Easter carols, some hymns that were written specifically for Easter. And I'm curious, at your church, what hymns do you tend to sing on Easter Sunday?

That's a great question, Bill. There are some wonderful Easter hymns. Christ the Lord is risen today. I mean, that hymn, you sing Hallelujah like 42 times.

So it's, I mean, talk about celebration. I love, you know, a lot of people don't realize that this is an Easter hymn, but Christ Jesus lay in death's strong bands. That's a great hymn, written by Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer. And so if anything, just look up the words to that hymn because they're so, they're so powerful. You have also, you know, some of the more contemporary hymns like the Gettys in Christ alone, which I think is a wonderful hymn to sing on Easter Sunday because you have that line about the resurrection, Christ conquering the grave. And so those are some of the songs we like to sing at our church.

How about you, Bill? You know, I hadn't thought about it because our church does more contemporary worship. So they're probably going to be doing some more contemporary Christian songs and hymns, probably something from the Gettys. I mean, you and I both love the Gettys.

We've had them on this program before. And what I love about them is they're so, they're just so good when it comes to sticking with scripture. They're not going to compromise on that. There, you know, there was one particular denomination that wanted to change the words of some of their, one of their songs because they didn't like the fact that it really pointed out the fact that Christ sacrificed himself, that God gave up his son for us. And this denomination wanted to change it. And the Gettys said, no, you can't do that because it doesn't fit with scripture.

So perhaps we'll hear some of the Gettys songs this Sunday. All right. Well, we'd love to hear from you. If you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life, the celebration of Easter, give us a call right now. 833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. Our phone lines will be open for the next 20 minutes, and we would love to hear from you.

Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Cara. After the white throne judgment, or when the Christians are judged, what kind of judgment will we face? Even though we've done wrong things, do we still have to atone for those things that we've done that are wrong? Or are we covered by all sin because of the blood of Jesus? Yeah, that's my question.

Thank you. Cara, excellent question and one which I'm stoked to answer because I just finished preaching on that text in Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15 where we have a picture of the great white throne judgment. John says in verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. First, the Bible, the New Testament, talks a lot about the final judgment and let me just say this, it is an exhaustive judgment. The very end of the book of Ecclesiastes, the last two verses, say that God is going to bring every deed into judgment, even the secret things.

So at the judgment we're going to be liable for the things that we've done, even the things that nobody else knows about. Jesus, in Matthew chapter 12, said that at the judgment we're going to be judged for every careless word we speak. There are times where in our lives we are very careful with our words, where we craft a communication. Maybe it's an email or a college application or something like that and you know it's going to be scrutinized and so you're careful with your words. Well, Jesus says not just your careful words but also the careless words that you've spoken. You know, when you think you're in safe company or whatever when you say things that maybe later you'd want to retract or you think, I didn't mean that. Well, our careless words. And Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 says, down to the very motives of our actions and our words, the purpose of the heart, all of those things are going to be examined on the day of judgment. And I think that's enough to strike fear into the heart of anyone. So the question is how can we have confidence, Kara, on the day of judgment?

How can you have confidence? And what does this judgment look like for you as a believer? Well, here's the great hope. If you are in Jesus Christ, your judgment took place 2,000 years ago. You died with Jesus and your life is hidden with the risen Christ. You have, the verdict that was given to Jesus is given to you justified through his resurrection from the dead. And that's why Jesus could say in John chapter 5 verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. Now, I think that that statement there, he does not come into judgment, it refers to condemnation. In Christ there is now no more condemnation. Your condemnation was extinguished in his crucifixion. And so when we stand before God at the judgment, our confidence is in the fact that we are in Christ.

We have already passed from death to life. Our condemnation was extinguished. The fact that we've sinned against God in thought, word, and in deed, those careless words, those secret things that we've done, Jesus Christ has atoned for them so that we can have hope and confidence on the day of judgment.

And so that's how we have to look at this. It's not, you know, God for believers is weighing your good works and your bad works and so long as your good works outweigh your bad works then you have enough to get yourself into heaven. No, it's not justification by your works or by your merits. You're already justified through faith in Jesus Christ. And the judgment is a vindication, if you will, for believers and we are commended for the things that we've done that are good, pleasing to the Lord. But we will not be, you will not be condemned because Jesus bore our condemnation. Thank you.

Great explanation. And I'm personally so thankful that there's not a scale burn, you know, my good deeds are on one and bad deeds on the other because it wouldn't go so well. Yeah, I mean the only way, I've thought about this, the only way for people to be confident in their righteousness when it comes to standing before God's judgment seat is to minimize the holy standard of God or to view yourself as better than you really are, to exalt yourself. Because the fact of the matter is we've all sinned and fallen short of God's glory and God's standard is perfect holiness, righteousness. The love of God and the love of neighbor, and our neighbors include even our enemies.

And so we fall massively short of all of that. That's why we need a perfect righteousness, an alien righteousness, which is given to us in Jesus Christ. Amen. Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we would love to hear from you if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life. Maybe there's a passage of scripture that's always kind of stumped you, you'd like some clarification on that.

Maybe you're struggling with something in your Christian walk right now or facing some kind of persecution in your workplace or maybe at school. We would love to hear from you and answer your questions. Here's the number 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Ken calling in from Missouri. Ken, what's your question for Adriel? Well, Adriel, this is Ken, and I'm calling from Missouri here. And the problem we got is we have a young man that just joined the church, and I'm thinking he's in his 20s, and he wants to get baptized in front of everybody, and at the same time, he's just starting to take these hormone blockers and wants to change to a female, and our pastor's kind of struggling with what to do on this, because I figured if we give him enough love and then Holy Spirit may convict him, we're just kind of at a loss of what to do.

Ken, man, what a sad situation. On the one hand, I'm grateful that your church has welcomed this person in, is sharing the gospel with this individual. On the other hand, it seems like they've really bought into a lot of the stuff that's out there in broader culture in terms of how the world understands gender, sexuality, our identity, and it runs contrary to what God has revealed to us in his word. Simply put, I think that a person who is coming forward to be baptized, they're receiving this ordinance, this sacrament of God's grace, God is showering us with his mercy in this very visible form, but they're also committing to live as becomes the followers of Christ, to walk, as Paul said in Romans chapter 6, in newness of life, and so that's a part of a person who's going to be baptized. That's something that they're called to in their baptism, and someone who is rejecting or has rejected, I think, the reality of who God has made them to be and embraced these ideas that are floating around in broader culture, really newer ideas in terms of, as I said, how people think of personhood and identity. Well, there's some serious underlying issues there where I think there needs to be repentance and clarification as to what it looks like to follow Jesus, and I don't want to even begin to suggest that I know kind of the inner turmoil that this individual is going through, maybe there's some mental health issues there, that's where the church really needs to come alongside of this individual, but I don't think coming alongside of them looks like just saying, okay, this is how you feel, therefore you should be doing these things and now try to live as a woman or so forth. No, I think you're called to, we're called to, come alongside of this individual, love, encourage, and call them to follow Jesus in line with what God has revealed in his word. And so I would say that that decision and the pursuit of this would keep someone from being a proper recipient of baptism, in this case this person in their early 20s, because we're talking about what it looks like to follow Jesus in his word and everything.

And in our minds, in terms of how we think about ourselves, about personhood, about identity as well. And so it sounds like there needs to be some work there, some growth, some repentance, and I pray that God gives your church wisdom to come alongside of this individual. Maybe they're open to that, and they ought to be if they want to pursue Jesus and follow Jesus. If not, then again, I would say the church has to address that as well. Ken, thank you for your question.

God bless you. And boy, Bill, I mean, the things that many churches are wrestling through right now in terms of trying to understand how to approach these issues, because it's so out there in broader society, in the culture, because so many people have just embraced this way of thinking. Churches are going to need a lot of wisdom to properly apply the word of God to those who are desperately in need and oftentimes rebelling against it. Well, and thank the Lord that Ken's church is struggling with this and wants to do the right thing biblically when you have so many denominations now that have turned the other way. And they've said, hey, God accepts all of us regardless of our behavior, regardless of our sin. You know, we're just going to, as you know, we've often talked about, it's just like the Old Testament prophets or the Old Testament, you know, false prophets saying peace, peace where there is no peace. I mean, this is really tragic to look at the number of churches, the number of denominations in our country who would say, hey, anything goes, God loves us all, sin is not really an issue.

Yeah, it totally is tragic. And so we pray for Ken's church and for our churches as well. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Easter coming up this weekend. And as you're having conversations with people about Easter, they might say things like, well, is Jesus really who he said he was? Or is there any evidence that Jesus existed outside the Bible?

Or can I really believe the Bible is true? Well, we actually have a book that we're offering this week that answers many of those questions and more. It's The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Yeah, I'm holding it right here in my hand. Now a major motion picture so you can even watch the movie. But as people often say, the book is always better. And so get a hold of the book as well.

And that's our offer here today. Look, Christianity is rooted in reality. It's not a feeling.

It's not something we embrace like an ideology just to help us get along with our lives. It is Christ is truly risen from the dead. And that means something for each and every man, woman and child on this planet. And one of the things I love about this book is it highlights that reality. It's a journalist's personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus.

And so I hope you get a hold of this resource, especially with Easter right around the corner. Such a great book. And by the way, a New York Times bestseller.

Five million copies of this book have been sold. And you will find it very helpful, especially when talking to a skeptic, an atheist, an agnostic, somebody who does not share your faith in Christ, maybe somebody in your family or your workplace. Again, it's Lee Strobel's book, The Case for Christ. And you can find that by going to our website, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Well, we do receive voicemails here at the core, and here's one that came in from one of our listeners named Angel. My question to you is, what is the importance when people gather together to worship the Lord at a local Bible based church, especially for Resurrection Sunday? What is the importance? I mean, I think it's, I would say, truly the same every Sunday, which is the edification of believers, the building up of believers under the ministry of the word. You know, there are so many people that view the church, the Sunday service as the primary entryway for non-Christians into the Christian life. And so they can sort of dumb down the service or, you know, not preach the word of God or, you know, do a lot of gimmicks and whatnot, because we really want to connect with people who don't understand Christianity at all.

But I would say, you know, the primary connection point between non-believers in the Christian faith should be believers who are sent out into the world from the Sunday service, commissioned by God to go out and be witnesses, to encourage the people around them to live as become the followers of Jesus Christ. When we gather together for church on Sunday, we are being called to worship by the true and the living God. Each Lord's Day, each first day of the week, each Sunday, to celebrate the fact that Christ has conquered sin and death. So that, I mean, obviously that's happening this Sunday, Lord willing, in each and every church throughout the United States and throughout the world, as many are remembering the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But that same joy that Jesus has conquered sin, death, and hell should follow us every week and, frankly, every single day.

And so I would say the purpose doesn't change. We're coming together to be edified, to be built up. I will say, one of the things I try to take advantage of as a pastor around this time of the year is, as I mentioned earlier, for whatever reason, there are people who, you know, they go to church on Christmas or on Easter. Just acknowledging that, recognizing that, and saying, okay, how can we preach the gospel faithfully and communicate in a way that is going to help people understand the significance of the Easter message, that it's more than just some sort of annual celebration.

But this is what shapes every fiber of our being as Christians, because Christ has risen, we have the hope that we too will rise, and we are called to walk in newness of life. And so may people throughout the world be struck with that message this week and every week. God bless.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a note, and when we finish up our live broadcast here of Core Christianity in a few minutes, we're going to be recording a second episode of our program, which will air at a later date. And if you weren't able to get in with your question, you still have another 35 minutes or so to give us a call. So feel free to call us with any question you might have about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, theology, the celebration of Easter, you name it, we would love to hear from you. You can call us again for the next 35 minutes or so at this number, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Well, here's an email that came in from one of our listeners. This is from Brittany. She says, I have a question about portrayals of Jesus in art and media. I work with a nonprofit theater company that does a passion show at Easter. I absolutely believe it's our goal to spread the gospel of Jesus by telling the story on stage. But my husband has concerns about portraying the character of Jesus. I definitely believe it's a valid concern and I wouldn't want to be breaking the second commandment of not making graven images. But after some research, that doesn't seem to be what I think we're doing. Ultimately, we want to point people to Jesus and his gospel. Can you shed some light on this?

You know, I really appreciate your concern here, Brittany. I think it's a concern that not enough of us have when we think about motion pictures that depict the gospels, Jesus, or just even artwork images. The reality is a lot of times, I mean, you think of how much creative licenses is taken. And so we're representing, when we do that, God himself. And this is one of the reasons why in the Old Testament God commanded, look, don't make images, any images, to bow down to them or worship them. Because God wants to be able to communicate who he is to us on his terms.

And so we do have to be very careful here. And what strikes me is that in the New Testament, so often, the same disciples of Jesus who saw him, who embraced him, who spent days with him eating and following him and on the boat and all over the place, after he had died, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, what did they commit to? Well, they didn't commit to trying to hire artists to create paintings of Jesus. What they committed to was preaching the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ. Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians chapter 3, I placarded, billboarded Christ crucified before you.

How? Through the preaching. It's exactly what John says in 1 John as well. That which we have seen and heard, this is verse 3 of 1 John chapter 1, we proclaim also to you so that you may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And so, again, I sympathize with your concern.

And I would just say we want to be so careful that we're letting the word of God, God himself, communicate to us who he is, what is pleasing to him and what he requires of us to follow him. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.