The Heart of Holy Week: Why the Resurrection Matters

In this special Good Friday episode of Q&A with Pastor Charlie, we pause during Holy Week to reflect on what this sacred weekend is truly about. While many associate Easter with traditions and celebrations, the events of Jesus' death and resurrection stand at the very center of the Christian faith and our hope for salvation.

Walking through 1 Corinthians 15, Pastor Charlie explains the core message of the gospel: that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day. Together, we explore why the cross cannot be separated from the resurrection, how an “incomplete gospel” can miss the fullness of God’s saving work, and why the resurrection is essential to our faith, assurance, and eternal hope.

Whether you are preparing your heart for Good Friday, anticipating Easter Sunday, or simply wanting to understand the foundation of Christianity better, this episode helps connect the meaning of Holy Week to everyday faith and worship.

Join us as we remember the sacrifice of Christ, celebrate His victory over sin and death, and rediscover why Easter changes everything.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Gathering together and to be able to share in the Lord's Supper as we think about what Good Friday is all about. And then, of course, on Sunday morning, gathering together as the church to celebrate the resurrection and Easter. And I do think it's important for us just to stop and remember what this week, this weekend really is all about and the centrality of it to our faith. And uh the events that uh transpired on this weekend that we celebrate really are the fundamental linchpins of what we believe, what our hope is in for salvation. And I think it's important for us to connect the dots and remember, if we were going to distill it down, what the most important thing is uh about this. Now, of course, we can't go into all the detail of what the Bible tells us concerning uh the passion of the Christ and the resurrection of Jesus and all of the benefits that flow from that. Uh, but there's a lot of great books, and a simple one that I would recommend for anybody to read is by John Piper, and it's just called The Passion of the Christ: 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. He has 50 little short essays in this book that really do a great job of just scripturally explaining to us the depth of what Jesus accomplished for us through his atoning work and why it's so paramount and pivotal to what we believe as believers. That being said, I want to just share with you from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, uh read verses 1 through 5 and 6 together. And I think the reason that I want to go here is because this really is a distilled very much the primary essentials of the gospel that we adhere to, that we believe in, that we find our salvation in. And one of the things I've come to the real realization of is that sometimes we talk about an incomplete gospel. And so if we're to talk about people about salvation and what it entails, we often talk about Jesus dying for our sins, and that clearly is part of it, but we often stop there and we don't get to the end, which is why the resurrection is so important. So the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, which is probably the place to go in the Bible and in one location, if you want to understand the significance of the resurrection of Jesus, but he starts by saying, Now I want to make clear for you, brothers and sisters, the gospel I preach to you, which you received, on which you have taken your stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold to the message I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I passed on to you as most important what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried according to the that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to over five hundred brothers and sisters at one time. Most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one born at the wrong time, he also appeared to me. So the Apostle Paul, in making his claim of why the gospel, or excuse me, the resurrection is so important to us as believers, ties it back to really the importance of the gospel. And he says, I want to remind you what I shared with you that was the most important things you needed to know. And so on this Good Friday and this Easter weekend, I think here are the most important things that you and I need to realize about this weekend. And the first one is that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. And so what we know from the Bible is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came and took on human form, and he did so to identify completely with us, in order that he would be the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. And I think one of the things that's important with me to me personally as I read this is that not just Christ died for sin in some generic sense, but Paul personalizes it as he writes to these believers, and he says he died for our sins. And so if I were to take this in a personal format, thinking about myself, Christ died for my sins, the sins that I've committed, the ways that I've transgressed, rebelled against God. And we know that according to the scriptures, the punishment and payment for sin is death, and Christ came in order to absorb that for me. And that really is the Good Friday issue that we talk about. And if we were to break down this weekend in two parts, the first one is what transpired on Friday, that Christ came, he took my place on the cross, he died for my sins, and interestingly enough, Paul says that he did it in accordance with the scriptures. And so what Paul is referencing is that this was the eternal plan of God for salvation, that throughout history God had a plan of how he was going to redeem humanity, and the Old Testament is pointing us in every part in that direction, specifically in some very specific prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. And Paul says, I want you all to know what's most important. And the first is that Christ died and came for our sins according to what the scriptures had foretold and promised. And so as we think about that message there, that Jesus not only took my sin upon him, but he also took the full weight of my sin, the full punishment of God on behalf of you and me, in order that we might be forgiven. The events that transpired on Good Friday are tragic in one sense. We look at the brutal humiliation of Jesus, we look at the physical torture that he endured. Uh, being innocent, even Pilate, uh the Roman uh leader at that time, looked at him and said, I can't find that this man did anything wrong. And so the sinless Son of God came and physically endured unfair, horrific treatment on our behalf. But greater than that, what we see is that Jesus absorbed the full penalty, punishment, wrath of God for us. He was forsaken so we would never have to be forsaken again. He was cursed so we would never have to be cursed. And Paul said he died for our sins. In verse 4, he says, and that he was buried. Christ literally died for us on the cross. He died a true physical death in our place so that we would not have to fear death anymore. You know, at this time of year, there's always some video that you can watch. There's some documentary that'll pop up either through streaming services or on history channels and things of that nature. And they're going to talk about a bunch of different theories as to what transpired on the cross. And one of the most popular ones is that Jesus didn't actually die, that they pulled him off before he died, and that he just, you know, it was a swoon theory is what they called it, and he kind of regained consciousness and came back to life. And there's a lot of reasons that that's foolishness and doesn't make sense. But one of the first ones is clearly what the Bible says, Jesus truly died in our place and absorbed our punishment. But the next thing that he goes on to say is that not only did he die and was buried, that he was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures. Now, this is where I think it's important for us to understand and make sure we connect this to the gospel, lest we have an incomplete gospel. Jesus not only died in our place, but he also rose again, conquering sin and death. And if you don't have the resurrection, then you don't have salvation. It was imperative that Jesus conquer sin and death. And the proof that he conquered them was that he came back to life physically and lives again in order that sin and death might no longer have power or dominion over us. And where I find that we often fall short in our message of the gospel is we get to the cross and we say, Well, Jesus died for our sins, as if that's the end of the story. But Paul wants us to be very much aware that not only did Jesus die on the cross, but also in accordance with the scriptures, he was raised back to life. And then he goes behind that and makes sure that we understand why we know that he rose again and how we know, and as he references over 500 other witnesses who saw Jesus alive that were still alive at the time that Paul is writing this letter. And the significance of that is throughout history, while we live in a day that likes DNA and fingerprints and all of these other things to prove something, the primary way that evidence existed in the Old Testament and throughout history was eyewitness testimony. And Paul is pointing us in the direction of hundreds of people who witness the resurrected and risen Jesus and says, This is the evidence. Go check out and see if what we're telling you is not true. And so, all of that being said, what why do we gather on Sunday morning and make such a big deal? And I think as Christians, here's what we got to remember: Easter is bigger than bunnies and eggs and baskets and new dresses and pastel-colored shirts. Those are traditions that we picked up along the way that oftentimes, unfortunately, overshadow what this day is really about. It's about Christ conquering sin and death for us, and the resurrection is the way that we know that to be true, and it's our connection to our own resurrection and the gift of eternal life. So, that being said, this is what's central to the gospel that we preach. It's why this weekend is such a big deal, and it's the reason that we as believers cling to it, we hold fast to it every day, knowing that this is the only place for our hope.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

So, do you think that in thinking on Good Friday, that a lot of people wonder if God is, you know, all powerful and sovereign and all these things, like couldn't He have made another way? What would you say about that?

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I think what we find is that there was no other way, and I think Good Friday is the evidence of that. That the Bible is very clear that there is only one way that man can be forgiven of their sin, and it's through the sacrifice of the innocent, sinless Son of God. And I think it speaks to the severity of sin and the cost involved with it. I think it speaks to the love of God and his willingness to rescue people at such a great price. I think it speaks to the holiness of God, that he demands adequate payment for sin and he just doesn't sweep it under the rug. And I think it is the testimony and proof that there's no other way that we can be saved other than through Jesus and Jesus alone.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

That's a good episode of the QA with Pastor Charlie Podcast. If you have more questions about spiritual matters or the Bible or things like that, we would love to have you send those in to questions at versionar.com.