The Resurrection of Jesus pt.1

The thought of the resurrection of Jesus is perhaps in the mind of many people lately as we near the Easter holiday. The earth itself is thankfully beginning its own resurrection of sorts after another winter we see Spring approach with its greenery and beautiful flowers coming back to life. When I read my new testament I am very interested at how the resurrection of Jesus is really the central theme. Read the book of Acts for example and just notice how often the first Christians speak about that this Jesus of Nazareth being raised from the dead. The resurrection message was "the" message for these Christians, I wonder if perhaps today we have moved away from that some.
  Why does it matter? What is the important point? The important point some may say is that "there is life after death" Jesus is alive. That I think is part of it, we will be raised as Jesus was. Still others may emphasize that it proves He is the Son of God as Paul writes in Romans 1:4 that he "was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead". Perhaps we could say it proves that His death upon the cross does truly take our sins away, Paul again in Romans writes that He "was raised for our justification". The apostle Peter said that the resurrection of Jesus proclaims that this Jesus of Nazareth is both "Lord and Messiah" (Acts 2:37). He is true Lord of all the Earth. We could go on and continue to look at different points made by the resurrection and I hope to in the coming weeks. But I want to conclude with one last brief point, perhaps the one that gets often overlooked. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul's masterpiece of writing on the resurrection, he concludes it all with a simple statement "Therefore my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain"(1 Corinthians 15:58). This is what it all came to for Paul, what we do now matters because it bears on the future, why? Because Jesus is raised. God's new creation has come bursting into this world through the resurrection of Jesus. How we live, interact with others, work, play, serve others, praise God, beautify this creation, raise our families, yes it all matters, we are the people of the resurrected Messiah living out His "new creation" ushering in the day when it will all be made complete. The resurrection of Jesus matters in your life today, live that life.