[Steve Myers] You want to follow God because you value a relationship with God. You value who He is, and that's good. But does Easter really honor God? Should you participate in Easter celebrations? Stay with me as we really dig into it and examine it.

[Narrator] Join our presenters from the United Church of God as we bring you help for today and hope for tomorrow directly from your Bible here on Beyond Today.

[Steve Myers] Should I celebrate Easter? Well, that was a question I had to ask myself. There was a time that I thought, well there's nothing wrong with me and my family celebrating Easter, calling the celebration Easter, or even going on an Easter egg hunt. After all, as a believer I should make the focus of the day Jesus and His resurrection and as long as I'm not participating in actual pagan worship rituals, I'm good.

I used to believe that, but I came to see it differently from God's perspective and I hope you will too. You know, when I was a child, it was one of my favorite holidays. My mother was an extremist; she loved to decorate the house. Now she wanted to focus on Jesus, she would make banners. I remember one, He is risen, and she hung it on our front door. It was beautiful. She had us color eggs. We went out on Easter egg hunts and you know, mom would make sure we were all dressed in our best. That's me in the middle right there.

One Easter especially stands out in my mind when I was young. We were going to have a special morning Easter pageant at church. My mom wanted us all to get there really early so that we'd be ready to go. So we all got dressed up, we arrived at church, it was totally deserted. We're all wondering, where is everybody? Well, that year, Easter and daylight saving time was on the same day. And so we had gotten there hours before anyone else had. Now I came to find out, Easter overall is kind of empty. Now, you may think as I used to, well I celebrated Easter to honor God. That's what my family did. We were commemorating Jesus' resurrection. In fact sometimes they call it that, resurrection Sunday.

I mean, it's a good thing to honor God, absolutely. You want to follow God, and that is absolutely the best because you value a relationship with God. You value what He stands, who He is, and that's good. But as you think about it, yeah there are connections. No doubt the story of the crucifixion, the resurrection, it's all right there in the Bible, no doubt about it. But does Easter really honor God? Should you participate in Easter celebrations? Well, stay with me as we really dig into it and examine it.

Now you're probably familiar with the whole gamut of things that are connected to Easter, probably familiar with the reasons not to celebrate Easter. You realize that Easter's not a biblical holy day. Most people realize it's not found in the Bible, there's no Easter celebration in the Bible. It's not mentioned in the Bible that you should worship it, you probably know that. But if you're a Christian, you could easily say, well bunnies and bonnets and eggs and sunrise services, yeah, those things are all connected to worshiping idols. And you may even know that the roots of Easter celebrations really aren't connected to the resurrection of Jesus. But yeah, they're connected to those forms of pagan false worship practices. They go all the way back to ancient Babylon. Yet your perspective may be Christ is the center of my Easter celebration, I don't think it's a sin to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. I mean religious celebrations, they may not be in the Bible, but okay, fine as long as it worships God and I have the right motivation. Well participation in Easter traditions, celebrations, even egg hunts, I mean, isn't it that an opportunity to praise God? After all, like I certainly used to think, it's all fun, harmless fun, so does it really matter? Well, let's focus on that for a moment.

There's a passage in the Bible from John 4:24 where we find stating very clearly, "Those that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." And so you see the point of what God is telling us is true worship of the one true God must be exclusively on His terms. And so I had to ask myself, are my opinions about worship shaped by the Bible, by God's word? Or was it my upbringing, my family traditions, my church's traditions that really guide me?

So let's consider for just a moment, who should be worshiped? We start at the beginning, who should be worshiped? The Bible shows that there are people that worshiped angels. Well, that's not right. Pagan gods, that's no better. It even predicts a time in the future when the world will worship an evil beast dictator and the dragon who empowers him. But we know none of these deserve worship, they're counterfeits, they're frauds. They're based on evil from evil forces. True worship on the other hand, that's to give respect, it's to give praise and honor and worship, and ultimately to obey the one true God. And if we read that section that we started to in John chapter four, that's surrounded by some interesting thoughts. It even tells us, it says, "The hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." And so we recognize the fact you want to follow God, you want to do what's right, you value a relationship with God, you want to be worshiping the right way. And the Bible tells us how to worship Him because He alone is worthy of worship. He's the only being that truly deserves to be honored, and respected and worshiped. And so when we honor Him we acknowledge His greatness. We acknowledge His power, we acknowledge His glory. At the end of the book in Revelation, Revelation chapter four, in verse 11 it's such an amazing reminder when it tells us about God, "You are worthy, oh Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for You created all things and by Your will they exist and we're created." I mean, that's such a powerful reminder that God expects us to worship Him. We express our reverence, our honor, our thanksgiving to God and of course, He also expects us to be obedient to Him.

So when we search His word, what do we find? True worshipers, true Christians, they're actually identified by their worship of God, even tells us how to worship and when to worship. So if we really want a true connection to God, we need to understand that and how really should we honor Him? And if we ask ourselves, is God pleased with anything we offer in worship? I mean, what exactly does His word teach? Am I free to have any kind of religious holiday, or any celebration, and that's okay to honor God that way? I think we all agree, yes God should be honored. But when we begin to look a little more deeply at Easter, we find that Easter celebrations have been added to try to replace, try to alter real true worship, and in fact they actually obscure God's biblical truth.

I know many may be surprised to realize holidays were created by people, they don't really honor God. You ever considered that? Do manmade holidays really honor God? Now, of course, I want to be clear. I'm not saying the resurrection of Jesus Christ isn't important, there is no doubt. The story of the crucifixion, it's here in the Bible, it is in the Bible. The resurrection is in the Bible, and His resurrection is the utmost importance. We don't want to minimize that in any way because without it, none of us would have any hope. But Easter celebrations, Resurrection Sunday is not biblical and God doesn't tell us to worship that way. In fact, He says there's a better way, there's a proper biblical way.

So let's think about that for a moment, what does God say about proper worship? Well if we look to Ecclesiastes, in chapter five he makes an interesting point. It says this, "Walk prudently when you go to the house of God and draw near to here rather than to give the sacrifice of idols for they do not know that they do evil." Now, if you read this in the Easy to Read Version, it tells us, "Be very careful when you go to worship God." It's better to listen to God than to give sacrifices like fools. Fools often do bad things and they don't even know it. So there is such a thing as foolish worship, to think we're honoring God without first understanding what God has to say. What does that result in? Well, evil. And you don't want to be unwise. You don't want to be unthinking. Who wants to be foolish? No, if we're serious Christians, we don't want that. And so it reminds us to indiscriminately offer sacrifice, or worship to God without first listening to Him, without first understanding and determining what God does say, well, we ignore all that. It's going to be bad, it's going to be evil. And so you might say, well, okay, how does that relate to Easter? Well once I thought God didn't tell me not to celebrate the resurrection, so what's the big deal? Well, let's look at a story, get a little bit different perspective.

There's an interesting story in Leviticus chapter 10 and it tells a story of Nadab and Abihu, two guys with kind of funny names, and they were priests of God. They were sons of Aaron. And at the beginning of that chapter, it tells us what they were doing as they were worshiping God. It says, "Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron took his sensor, each took his sensor and put fire in it, they put incense on it." Then it says, "They offered profane fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. And Moses said to Aaron, this is what the Lord spoke, saying ‘By those who come near me I must be regarded as Holy. And before all the people I must be glorified.’" Now it's interesting you read that little bit of the story. God didn't have to tell them what not to offer. He'd already told them, here's the kind of fire you should use. And so what did they do? They assume something was acceptable to God just because He didn't specifically say not to. So do we have to be careful and not be presumptuous in worshiping God? I mean, they thought it was okay to do it their way, and God should be happy with that. And you see, when we do that, we're not honoring Him. We're not treating Him as holy even if we're sincere because you read that story, it doesn't seem that Nahab and Abihu were worshiping a false God, maybe they were even trying to worship God and please the true God, but how they worshiped was not how God had directed them and God punished them for their error.

Can you see there's a connection here to Easter celebrations? I mean we want to be authentic and there is authentic Christianity. We want to follow what God has to say. And if we do and we recognize that's how God directs us, we realize He's very specific in how He wants to be worshipped. He's told us what worship is, He's told us when we should worship, and He's even told us how we should worship. There's a whole chapter in Leviticus 23 that discusses that very fact. In chapter 23 of Leviticus, it begins by telling us, "The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts." God calls them His feasts. These are His holy days. Of course, that also reminds us there must be some celebrations that aren't His days, that don't fit the bill, and it helps us to realize God is completely holy. He will be worshiped on His terms, not on our terms. So what are His terms? Well, His terms are that we must worship in spirit and in truth. And of course that begs the question, should I celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Christ? Do we really revere and honor God so much that we worship Him the way He desires? Certainly raises the question, do we have the authority to choose different ways to honor Him? Well, what did Jesus teach? What did He say? What did He tell the apostles? What did He tell us by extension? Did He say, before I die let's get together for an egg hunt? I'd like to teach you how to color eggs, make nests for egg laying bunnies. Is that what He said? Yeah, kind of silly, isn't it? No, He didn't do that. But do we forget what He did say? Well in Luke chapter 22, here we see He's very specific. Luke chapter 22, in verse 15 it says, Jesus said to them, "With fervent desire, I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And then He took the cup and gave thanks, and He said, take this, divide it among yourselves, for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." Then verse 19, "He took bread, He gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying, this is my body, which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. And likewise, after supper, He took the cup and He said, this cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." And so as new covenant Christians, He said, "Do this in remembrance of me." Christ said, observe the Passover, do this, do this. So authentic Christians, true Christians should follow Christ. He said, follow me and should observe the Passover and those feasts of the Lord that we read about a little bit earlier. Now, that's if we choose, if we choose God's way. Now, if we choose how to worship, we better choose how to remember, otherwise what's the point? Can we read a passage like that? And if I get to choose how I worship, well, why not substitute beer and pizza for bread and wine? Wouldn't that be just as good? Why not? Well, you'd be surprised to find there's absolutely no command in the Bible to celebrate, to honor the resurrection, it's not there. And perhaps even more, we find a command to commemorate His death, His death.

In 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 26, here's where we find instruction and what to celebrate, what to recognize, how to worship. We're told, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." His death. Now, of course the fact of Jesus resurrection, it's right here in the Bible. The resurrection of Jesus is so very important. It proves His divinity. It proves and shows that He is the very son of God. We certainly don't want to downplay that in any way. The resurrection, it gives us hope that we too will be resurrected at His second coming. But if we value a relationship with God, if we really want to be close to God and honor Him, if we truly want to follow what Jesus Himself taught, we have to realize the death of Christ is the primary focus at this time of God's instruction.

So what should you do? Celebrate a substitute? No. 1 Corinthians 5:7 it reminds us, it says, "For indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened of sincerity and truth." Now, it's true, Easter, it's a substitute that masks the truth about God's plan of salvation. In fact, when you begin to look into what the Bible really says, you'll find Christ kept those true holy days of God. The apostles He taught after Him, they kept those very same days. The New Testament church followed Jesus and obeyed, and those are undoubted facts. So isn't it time we get our worship straight? I mean, don't you want to follow what God Himself commands? Celebrating those manmade holidays, yeah, they're not in the Bible and they're not honoring God. In fact, Jesus even warned about that. Matthew 15:8, Christ Himself said, He said, "These people drawn near me with their mouth. They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. In vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." He made it so very clear, worshiping in spirit and truth, that's first and foremost.

There is useless vain worship that God doesn't respect. God doesn't accept that, worshiping God has to be done the way that He wants. And when you look through history, even history itself will show. The Passover lamb, it was replaced with Easter ham and eggs. Celebrating the resurrection, it was switched for remembering the death of Christ. Searching for leavening stopped, Easter egg hunts began. The evening Passover service traded in for an Easter sunrise service. And unfortunately, customs replaced the true worship of God.

I mean, does God really care that much how we worship Him, how we choose to honor Him? Should you be concerned about it? Well, I think the word of God certainly tells us we should. And we'd like to help you really understand at a deeper level because there's so much information on this subject more than we can discuss today. And so we've produced a Bible study aid, it's called "Easter: The Rest of The Story." You can get a copy of this study aid by calling us at the number on your screen. In fact, you can go online to our website, beyondtoday.tv. There on our website you can read it for yourself, or you can download it, read it later, or you can order your own free copy. Absolutely free we'll send it to you because it will help you to answer that question. Does it really matter? What difference does it make? So this study aid, "Easter: The Rest of the Story" will help you understand the subject at a much deeper level. And while you're at Beyond Today, you can watch videos that will help you understand what the Bible says about it.

Get your Bible out and put them side by side, and compare what God's word says as this study aid tries to help you to recognize the truth of God. And as you begin to think about it, I hope you've recognized the fact that God did give a system of worship. God gave a true system. a right system. He gave the perfect system, and it's found there right in the New Testament. And in fact, there's an amazing New Testament passage that reflects that very thought. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, and he said, "Know this, in the last days, the stressful times will come, perilous times will come." And then he talks about characteristics of people. It's amazing what one of them is. He says "They will have a form of godliness, but deny its power." And then he said, "From such people turn away." I mean, imagine God saying you came up with a pretty good system, God. Can you imagine saying this to God, Your system's okay. It's pretty good. I think it's all right, but I've got a better way, I'd like to add to it. But God says, don't. Don't add to it, don't try to improve on it. Christ said, follow me. And religions tried to make it appear that Easter celebrations are a commandment of God. And many Christians try to Christianize Easter, but it can't be, it's not possible.

Should I celebrate Easter? Scripture's clear. These practices and traditions only serve to displease God and I hope and I pray that you deeply consider your worship. And remember what we found today, we see that according to God Himself if you're going to worship and praise Him, it must be on His own terms according to His condition, His guidance, His direction. So now's the time to dismiss those empty practices, and turn to the genuine worship of our great God.

[Narrator] Call now to receive the free booklet offered on today's program, "Easter: The Rest of the Story." Easter is one of the most popular holidays in the world, but it is also one of the least understood. Should Christians observe Easter? Where did the celebration of Easter come from? And what do bunnies, eggs, and baskets have to do with Christianity or Jesus Christ? Order now, call toll free, 1-888-886-8632, or write to the address shown on your screen. Our free study aid "Easter: The Rest of the Story” strips away the confusion about this important subject. When you order this free study aid, we'll also send you a complimentary one year subscription to Beyond Today magazine. Beyond Today magazine brings you understanding of today's world and hope for the future. Six times a year, you'll read about current world events in the light of Bible prophecy, as well as practical knowledge to improve your marriage and family. Call today to receive your free booklet, "Easter, The Rest of the Story," and your free one year subscription to Beyond Today Magazine. 1-888-886-8632, or go online to beyondtoday.tv.

[Gary Petty] Hi, I'm Gary Petty, a pastor with the United Church of God. If you are looking for a church that encourages living what the word of God really teaches, you found the right place. Visit ucg.org to find a church near you. We're looking forward to meeting you soon.