Sermonstudio

In seeking to create that teachable moment, the motivational speaker presented to his gathered students a large, clear, empty glass container. He filled it with several large rocks after which he asked his eager onlookers, "Is this container full?" Almost no one responded in the affirmative. As if to agree with them, he then placed within the container several smaller rocks which filled some of the spaces left by the larger ones. "Is this now full?" About one half responded in the affirmative. The teacher then took a pail of sand, and poured it into the container, filling the small spaces left by the smaller rocks. "Is this full now?" It was almost unanimous! "Yes, now the container is full!" Whereupon the mentor then took a pitcher of water and poured almost all its contents into the container. Now the container was full.

Then he posed to his attentive audience the question, "Now, what have you learned? What is the point of the demonstration?" The consensus seemed to be that the revealed truth was, "You can always put in more stuff!" To which the insistent instructor responded, "No! The most important lesson to be learned is -- you put the big rocks in first."

That's like today! Society seems to stress that you can always put in more stuff. We look at our hurried schedules and harried pace and conclude that hurry is not of the devil; it is the devil. It seems like there is always the demand to accept one more responsibility or attend one more meeting. It is as if "no" is a bad word. We almost feel like the fellow who missed one section in a revolving door and it threw off his schedule for an entire week. You can always put more stuff in the order of responsibility.

Often it is no different in our religious life as well. More stuff there, too! It is said that twelve percent of church attendees and eleven percent of Bible readers believe in the accuracy of astrology forecasts. Astrology! Then there is the psychic network, New Age, and crystal power, whatever that is.

In Jesus' and Paul's day there was in Rome a building called the Pantheon. It stands today! The Romans had a "god" for everything, even the sewer, and statues of these "gods" were placed in the Pantheon. The Romans were even willing to place a statue of Jesus in the Pantheon. What would it hurt? The more the merrier. Right? Have as many "gods" as you wish, just as long as you paid homage to Caesar. The problem came, however, when the Christians refused to allow Jesus to share equal billing with anyone, even Caesar. Jesus was Lord! They would have no other. No competition with their Christ. No bending the knee to anyone except Jesus. This is one place where you cannot crowd in anything more. And many paid dearly for their stand.

Perhaps some of us need to stand so today. There always are voices crying for us to "do good." Your child needs for you to serve in the PTA. Think how well you could benefit your community by joining the Kiwanis Club. They need some new volunteers at the Community Kitchen. Think how much quality time you would have with your child if you coached her Little League team. And it is true! These all are wonderful organizations. I have served all four. They are good! But I have a gnawing feeling that sometimes we may be sacrificing the best upon the altar of the good. In trying always to crowd in more stuff, we may be forgetting to put the big rocks in first.

My good friend, Tim Owings of Augusta, Georgia, has a great sermon titled, "Drowning in Shallow Water." Could it be that we can drown in a shallow pond of the trivial or lightweight, at best? As Thomas Kelly states, "We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow."1 We can spend all of our energy, time, and money on good things and not unnecessarily upon the best things! And if you really want to see what you actually value, where your real priorities are, look at where you spend your time and your money. If someone would "research" us 100 years from now, what would they conclude about our priorities when they read our calendars and checkbooks?

"Put the big rocks in first" is what Paul is saying to the young Christians in Colossae. Creeping into the immature congregation was a heresy, of sorts, that stated that Jesus was not the only Son of God, but some kind of lesser being like angels in some kind of hierarchy. They professed that Jesus was not the one, but only one of many. That's like Rome's Pantheon.

Paul profusely projects that Christ is the only big rock and one must put him in first. Jesus is Lord. Live in him! Walk in him! "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (vv. 6-7 NIV). We have received Christ as Lord, therefore we should live in Christ as Lord. This means that Christ should be the ordering principle of our lives. Jesus is prime reality. Jesus is the one in whom we find our true identity. Jesus is the sphere in whom we live. Jesus is the one in whom our lives, even the universe, make sense. In Jesus we find purpose and meaning. He fills the need that only he can fill. It is unfair when we consciously or subconsciously ask anyone, spouse or friend, to fill the place that only Jesus can fill. Jesus is Lord!

Thus, Jesus becomes the trunk in which we are rooted, the source from which we live, the foundation upon which we build, the power from which we find strength and the grace from which we gather graciousness and gratitude (v. 7). It is in Jesus that we are transformed (vv. 10-13). It is in Jesus that we are made alive! (v. 13).

It is in Jesus that we find all that we need. We have everything we need because we have Jesus. We do not need more; we need not have less. We have Jesus. He is our motivation for life. He is our pattern for performance. He is our energy for living. We need to discover what we already have.

William Randolph Hearst made a significant fortune in the publishing business. In an effort to spend some of his money, he began to collect valued art objects. Once he sent his agent to find and purchase a certain grouping of art pieces that he desperately desired. After an extended period of time and much searching, the agent returned to report to Hearst that he had located the grouping. They were to be found in Hearst's own warehouse. He already had what he desired. He already possessed that which he had pursued. Perhaps we ought to recognize and develop what we already have. We already have Christ!

But Paul is realistic to know that there will always be competing Christs! "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ" (v. 8 NIV). In Paul's day the competing Christ, the "hollow and deceptive philosophy," was a form of Gnosticism which denied the uniqueness of Jesus' relationship to the Father. What are the competing Christs of today? Is it consumerism, instant gratification, or shallow spirituality, the gospel of prosperity? Is it fame or power? Is it sexism, nationalism, or a post-modernism that asserts that the only realities are those of preference and desire? We have our own competing Christs that we must keep out of the Pantheon of our heart. We do so when we make Jesus Lord and live like it! "Just as you have received Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him ..." (v. 6). If Jesus is Lord, I am not! That means that Jesus is the manager of my life, not me! It means that Jesus is my boss, my CEO! Jesus is the one whom I seek to please, the one to whom I play my life. Jesus is the one whom I consult when I make decisions, which assumes that I am vaguely aware of his life, words, and spirit. I do what I think he would do, what he wants me to do. Jesus is my coach, my mentor, my teacher, my parent. Jesus is my role model, my energy, and the inner presence that drives me. I want his thoughts to be my thoughts.

I know that it sounds so simplistic, but Christianity is about Jesus! We forget that! It is "in Christ" that all the fullness of deity lives (v. 9). We are given fullness "in Christ" (v. 10). "In Christ" we put off the sinful nature (v. 11). "In Christ" we are buried in baptism (v. 12) and "in Christ" we are made alive (v. 13). When we are truly made alive in Christ, wonderful things begin to happen.

Recently I reread words by Anne Lindbergh that I had read years ago. I quote:

But I want first of all to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact -- to borrow from the language of the saints -- to live "in grace" as much of the time as possible. I am not using this term in a strictly theological sense. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony. I am seeking perhaps what Socrates asked for in the prayer from the Phaedrus when he said, "May the outward and inward man be at one. I would like to achieve a state of inner spiritual grace from which I could function and give as I was meant to in the eye of God."2

When I read Anne Lindbergh's words, they hit me like a ton of bricks. They so reminded me of where I was this time last year. I had just finished two manuscripts for publication for CSS. I was exhausted, drained, emotionally and physically spent. People remarked about how tired I looked. But I also was empty. I was saying all the right words. That's what I do, right? I am a professional talker. On the outside I was speaking all the right words, but I felt that they had a hollow ring. There seemed to be a disconnectedness between what I was on the inside and the appearance I portrayed on the outside. There was no "harmony" between the inside and the outside person. I concluded that I had spent the last 35 years of my life trying to be a good minister. Now I wanted to try to be a good Christian. I know that I do not have to tell you that they are not always one and the same. I knew that I had known several big name and "successful" preachers who were sorry Christians and not even nice people to be around. What bothered me even more was the fact that there had been too many times when I would have easily fit that bill.

I began to realize that if I am fortunate I may have ten years of ministry left. I wanted these ten years to count. I wanted to be closer to my wife Sharlon and my children and their families. I wanted to love my congregation and colleagues more. I wanted to be closer to my Lord. I knew that I did not want to be like Bear Bryant who said a few months before his death that he wished he had been a better Christian. I knew that I did not want to be like the preacher that Fred Craddock quoted as stating that he had not believed a thing that he had said in the last three years. I knew that I wanted an inner simplicity despite an outward duplicity of demands upon my time and energy. I knew that I wanted more and more to "keep company with God." I knew that I wanted more and more to "see through the eyes of heaven," to use Gordon McDonald's term. I wanted Jesus to be Lord of my life and for my inward and outward person to be one. I wanted to "live in grace."

What does it mean to live in grace, to live in Christ? How would you describe such a person? Let me try. I think that a person who "lives in Christ" first of all is a forgiven and forgiving person. "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross" (vv. 13-14 NIV). A person who lives in Christ is a person who has accepted God's forgiveness and generously extends that forgiveness to others. A person walking in Christ graciously gives the grace they have received to others. So, we touch others with such grace as we have been touched. God's final work of grace in us is to make us gracious. A person living and walking in Christ is a forgiven and forgiving, gracious person.

A person who lives in Christ is one whose life is characterized by an inward and outward simplicity. The "competing Christs" are discouraged. Honesty, integrity of speech, and simplistic lifestyle are encouraged. This life is not measured by the world's standards but is spent trying to please the One who set the first standards. This person wills one thing -- to please God. What you see is what you get. There is no hidden agenda, no guile or need to control or manipulate. One's word is one's bond. One's yea is yea and one's nay is nay.

This is a simplicity that is whole, non-fragmented, and poised with peace. There is a connectedness between the inner person and the outward person. This person's priorities are seen in the way he/she choses to spend his/her time and money.

This is a simplicity that seeks the sacred in the ordinary. For most of my life I have sought a magic potion, an instant answer, a new insight, when I already had that for which I sought. This simplicity is characterized by an awareness of what we already have. We have Christ. What we have is all we need. We cannot have more. We need not have less. We have Christ. He does not give us strength. He is our strength. He does not give us victory. He is our victory. We can wake up every new day with the full awareness and assurance that the day will bring nothing that we and Christ cannot handle. It is the simple truth. We can make it with Jesus.

I can say it no more simply. A person living in grace is in love with Jesus. The little story defines my point. A four-year-old girl was at the pediatrician's office for a check-up. As the doctor looked into her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl stayed silent.

Next the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl was silent.

Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in here?"

"Oh, no!" the little girl replied, "Barney's on my underpants. Jesus is in my heart."3 A person living in Christ, living in grace; a person in love with Jesus has Jesus in his/her heart.

A person living in Jesus is one that lives in the everyday assurance that by his death on the cross, Jesus has overcome evil with good. "Having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (vv. 14-15 NIV).

John Claypool tells the following story.

Back during World War II a devout young man was drafted off a farm in South Georgia and sent into the Army. He had never been but a few miles from his home before being suddenly thrust into this radically different context. However, he took with him the Christian faith that had been an important part of his life since childhood, which meant he continued to practice things like reading his Bible and kneeling by his bed to pray at night. Such obvious piety infuriated the rough-and-tumble sergeant who was in charge of the young man's company, and he set about deliberately to humiliate the young Christian and to make him over in his image of hostility. Thus, the sergeant abused the man verbally, subjected him to all kinds of unfair treatment, and lost no opportunity to harass the young man at every turn. Yet at no point did the young Georgian resort to "returning evil for evil." He endured all the abuse without a word of complaint and again and again found occasion to do nice things for his antagonist. Late one Saturday night the sergeant came through the barracks about three-fourths drunk and exploded when he saw this young man kneeling in prayer by his bunk. He began to make fun of him loudly before all the others who were there and tried every way that he could to distract the boy. When at last nothing else had succeeded, the sergeant took off one of his muddy, heavy boots and threw it at the boy from clear across the room. It hit him in the back of the head and so stunned him that he fell to the floor, but in a moment he regained his composure and without a word resumed his prayer posture. Even more upset, the sergeant took off the other boot and threw it and it too hit the lad in the head, but he did not retaliate in anger. In complete disgust the sergeant reeled off a string of oaths and stumbled into his own quarters and went to bed. The next morning when the sergeant awoke and began to rub his eyes and shake off his hangover, the first thing he saw were his boots, cleaned and polished, sitting neatly under his bunk. Such a vision was more than he could take. With tears streaming down his face he walked into the barracks and found the young man and said, "What is it with you? I have done everything in my power to break you down and make you over in my image, but instead you have broken me. What do you know that I don't know? What is the secret to your incredible power? I want to know!"4

William Bausch reminds us of a very famous picture that you have probably seen reproduced many times: the picture of Jesus standing outside a door over-grown with ivy. There's no knocker, no handle on the outside. The idea is that Jesus stands there and knocks, but there's no way for him to enter unless someone on the other side of the door decides to open it and let him in. It's called The Light of the World and it's in St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

Those of you who have been to London know that St. Paul's has for a long time been situated in a very busy, commercialized area with heavy traffic. The result is that the picture got quite dirty. And so the Cathedral staff sent it to one of those places that restores art pieces. But when the restorers took the picture out of its frame to clean it, they saw something no one was intended to see. On the bottom, underneath the molding, the artist had written the words, "Forgive me, Lord Jesus, that I kept you waiting so long!"

Well...?

____________

1. Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1941), p. 115.

2. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea (New York: Pantheon Books, 1955), pp. 17-18.

3. John R. Claypool in Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup For the Soul (Deerfield Beach: Health Communications, Inc., 1996), p. 81.

4. William L. Bausch, More Telling Stories, Compelling Stories (Mystic: Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1993), p. 2.