Christianity affirms that a dead man rose from the grave and lives. Period. Without this, Christianity is neither a good idea nor a method of keeping people controlled with its morals and customs. The famous atheist, Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book Twilight of the Idols, wrote: "When one gives up Christian belief [intending the story of God’s incarnation, death and resurrection] one thereby deprives oneself of the right to Christian morality… Christianity is a system, a consistently thought out and complete view of things. If one breaks out of it a fundamental idea, the belief in God, one thereby breaks the whole thing to pieces: one has nothing of any consequences left in one’s hands…Christian morality is a command: its origin is transcendental…it possesses truth only if God is truth -- it stands or falls with the belief in God.

The Bible’s entirety convicts this argument. St Paul, says it like this: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead…. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." (I Corinthians 15: 12-18) Following biblical logic, Nietzsche understood that Christianity can never serve as merely morality. St. Paul says we are futile, liars and fools to be pitied if we try to skim morality from Christianity and never face Jesus.

Worse than that -- Christianity as a moral system without Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is the worst form of cruelty ever inflicted upon mankind. Clearly the principles upheld by Christianity is nothing less than beautiful. However, without Jesus it is a cold and sterile beauty. We admire it from afar but we know that for us, who even on our best day can’t even begin to keep the commandments and statutes of God, it will only condemn us. It exposes our flaws, grabs us by the throat and accuses us, by exposing all our imperfections and defects. It shines a spotlight on a thousand weaknesses, holding a mirror showing the distortions and shortcomings. Next to the mirror held by Christianity, morality and moral perfection leaves us gasping for air.

Christianity is about a dead man who got up out of grave and lives. Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., wrote, "…. on the third day, in a spectacular miracle, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and changed the history of the world. The first message of the gospel, a message with power to straighten the spine of every believer is simply this: ‘The Lord is risen.’ ‘He is risen indeed!’ Preaching, sacraments, evangelism, Christian social action -- even worship on Sunday instead of on Saturday-all center on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To the desperate and bewildered, Christians say, ‘The Lord is risen.’ To the doubter, Christians say, ‘The Lord is risen.’ To the martyrs who sing to God while their enemies set them on fire, Christians say, ‘The Lord is risen.’ To poor people in Bangladesh, or Honduras, or Turkey, who suffer first the indignity of their poverty and then the desolation of being blown out of their houses by hurricanes or washed out by flood -- all because they are too poor to build anything on habitable land -- to all these people Christians says, ‘The Lord is risen.’…Proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus isn’t nearly everything Christians have to offer the world, but it’s the platform for everything they have to offer." (Engaging God’s World)

St. Paul was so adamant about this, so convinced and concerned lest people get the idea that Christianity was some kind of new moral code, "I determined to know nothing among you except Christ and him crucified." Are we that concerned? Or is Christianity just a system to give you a comfortable life, a morality fashionable among people who live in the suburbs and mostly conservative. Everyone is conservative in the suburbs, whether they believe in Jesus or not. But morality has no power to change you, comfort you, woe you, inspire you to do better, love you, rebuke you and deal with you personally as a human being. Using Christianity as a morality structure will not fill the deepest needs of acceptance and belonging that only comes when we believe with all our being that Jesus Christ was put on a cross to pay a debt we could never pay. For some reason known only to God, he so loves people, he would destroy himself so that we could know Him personally.

The most glorious words that you will every hear or speak are those of the ancient liturgy spoken for centuries on Easter morning. They are said antiphonally, pastor and people, like an echo. It is not enough for a minister to declare it. No this is so monumental, these words are so good that they have to be tasted and savored. They pour from the lips of everyone in the service. All participate in this moment; this glory, this assurance that it really did happen, we really are going to live forever, our sins really won’t condemn us. And so the words of the liturgy guide us to say what is true, what is always true, but which time, circumstance and familiarity dull, the words on which Christianity stands or falls and the words on which our hope and peace rest. These words that have given life and rest for people throughout the ages. "Alleluia! Christ is risen," declares the minister and the people respond, "The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!" These words are the first words in the story of redemption God has written, our hope and our glory. This is Christianity -- profound, substantial and celebrated.