Living the Resurrection.
Jeremiah 31: 1 – 7; Colossians 3: 1 – 7; Matthew 28: 1-10
The Christian life is not doing good things but being joyful?
Jeremiah 31: 1 – 7; Colossians 3: 1 – 7; Matthew 28: 1-10
The Christian life is not doing good things but being joyful?
I remember reading about a Buddhist monk saying to a Christian monk that the problem of the church today is that we don’t live the resurrection life! I can’t find the reference but the concept that we should live the resurrection life struck me. I mean we tend to think of ‘Christian living’ as being good and charitable. At one stage in the Commonwealth a good Christian was a gentleman. I actually heard that being said in the 80s in Wales. I was shocked. There is a tendency to reduce the Christian life to being a good citizen, an honest person, a caring person and today our denomination speaks of the Christianity as ‘doing justice’. There are a lot of people who do all those things and they are not Christians. I put to you that the Christian life is not doing good things, but being joyful. I don’t mean happy. Joy is something deeper.
I have adjusted our readings today. I added a verse to the beginning of the Jeremiah reading and a few verses at the end of the Colossian reading. Jeremiah speaks of God’s promise to restore his people in spite of God’s anger with them. In fact God is very angry. He is furious. I often say that if you or I were God would we not be angry at the way people are behaving? The beauty of Jeremiah’s understanding is that though the people have behaved very badly and brought shame and destruction upon themselves, God, though angry, has not given up on them. They will be brought back. There lies the joy.
Paul addresses the Christian life issue from the perspective of the Resurrection. Paul knows we have been raised to life with Christ. We have died with Christ to sin. Sin no longer has power over us if we believe Jesus. We are no longer slaves to sin – we are set free. Paul sees us as hidden with Christ in God. Paul sees the Christian life as freed from the power of sin and death. He argues forcefully in Romans 6 & 8 that death no longer has a hold on us. We will leave this earthly life, yes, but we will do so only to enter the presence of God. The Resurrection life is living life to the full. Jesus taught that too. To think we are no longer bound by sin, that death does not have the final say and we will be revealed with him in glory should give us great joy. Think of it – we are free from sin, death and are promised the presence of God.
Did you know that joy was the mark of the first Christians? In Acts 2: 47 we read that the first Christians ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. We read in Acts 13:52 that the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. What characterised the first Christians was their joy. Joy arises from a deep spirit of thankfulness for all things. Thanking God in all situations is the key to unlocking the joy. [1Thess 5: 16&17].
Paul is simply saying to the Colossian Christians as he says in Romans and other writers have expressed as well, that when we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour we are accepted as right with God and put on a path of rightness with God. God welcomes us into fellowship with Christ and we become one with Christ Jesus. That is the past is set aside, not overlooked, but set aside. A new life begins. It is a life of joy – fullness of life.
Let me illustrate this profound truth by first using a common experience.
We’ve all had some experience with dogs. Imagine that you and your partner go for a walk with your dog. You decide to do some training. So one of you stays on one side of the oval with the dog on the leash. The other goes across the oval and when on the other side calls the dog over. It is let loose. The dog in moving across to its owner on the far side is constantly distracted by the smells, sounds and other animals. So you call its name repeatedly. We need to encourage the animal and help keep it focussed; otherwise it will follow every smell and anything else. We know that some dogs will take a while to come, others less. No dog will not be distracted. Some will be more distracted than others. You know that such training will make you dog more obedient and therefore safer and enjoyable. (A dog that is untrained and undisciplined is not a safe animal unless bounded by fences.) In the end the dog learns to come to you with a smile on its face and tail vigorously wagging to enjoy your company. You bend to pat the animal or reward it with a treat or hug. The dog is delighted to be in your presence and have your affection, and you too are equally delighted.
This picture of a dog being called by its owner across the field may help us understand the Resurrection life, and what the source of our problems are: our distractions. St Augustine spoke about the reversal. The reversal is moving from using God to enjoy the world to using the world to enjoy God. We humans are largely governed by the belief that everything must be useful. So religion is valued in terms of its usefulness. How many times have I heard a parent say with respect to Christianity that they wanted their kids in the church to get some moral teaching? Religion has been used to control behaviour, order society, and explain the things we don’t understand. As our understanding of the world about us has grown, as our behaviour has been directed in more socially responsible ways, and as we have learnt to manage the business of society we have needed God less. Religious belief has waned. We no longer need religion to tell us how to care for people.
Christianity at some point slipped into this utilitarian mode – Christianity was useful in terms of care for others, moral guidance and fair practice. But Christianity, as in its inception, has always returned partially to the other side of using this world to enjoy God, instead of using God to enjoy the world or survive it. If we applied the utilitarian principle to our dog story the dog would only obey the call of the owner because there was a warm kennel and a plate of food at home. Maybe that is the reason for the dog’s behaviour, but the share joy of a dog in the owner’s presence suggests the dog enjoys the owner’s presence.
Let us look at our utilitarian use of Faith. When our prayers are stimulated by need then we are not praying freely. We are not having a conversation with God. When our prayers are mainly about getting our needs met then we are using God. I am not saying we shouldn’t take our needs to God. I am saying that if our prayers are only need-driven then we deny ourselves the privilege of freely talking to God. When prayer is a communication between the creature and the Creator – then it is an adult and a joyous conversation. We don’t come to worship because it is to our advantage. We come to worship because it is a joy to do so because the worship is enjoyable. We may give to the poor because we see some need for them, but the Christian gives so that the poor may no longer be poor. The great reversal is that our charity is not governed by the belief of being there for others, but being-there-with-others. The point of our good works is simply to make others our equal, not lesser and dependent people.
God gives us all a freedom to enjoy God and thereby learn to enjoy others freely. But our world in contrast to the Resurrection life gives freedom to the successful, wealthy, healthy and good looking. Others are merely dependents.
When we move from using our faith to survive this world to using the world to enjoy God we will have attained the Resurrection life.
Can you see that the dog scene as a picture of our walk with God? God takes you to the edge of life and sets you free. God’s partner or rather God’s self in Christ Jesus calls us. The voice that catches your attention is the Holy Spirit prompting and guiding us. And finally you come to the side of Christ Jesus, who sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for us. You are filled with peace and joy. Here is where you belong. Here is where you find your true place in life. Here is the joy of being at home and enjoying the presence of your Creator and Saviour.
There is one small and profound exercise we can begin with – thank God in every situation you find yourself in. If you thank God only for what you want to receive then you are still in the immature state of using God for life rather than using life to enjoy God.
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Peter C Whitaker, Leighmoor UC: 16/04/2017
pgwhitaker@tpg.com.au
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au
pgwhitaker@tpg.com.au
/ www.leighmoorunitingchurch.org.au
