What Can We Believe about the Christian Life?
Sermon
What Can We Believe?
Second Lesson Cycle A Proper 23 through Thanksgiving
Paul frequently reminded the Thessalonians of the kind of life that he and his friends lived while they were with them. He also reminded them that they had dealt with them like a father with his children, urging and encouraging them and pleading that they should "lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory" (v. 12). Later in the same chapter, Paul recognizes that the Christians in Thessalonica had indeed lived lives following the example of other Christians, even though it had been costly for them to do so. It is important for Christians to live a Christian life.
We all believe that. We have a very low opinion of anyone who claims to be a Christian and does not live a Christian life. But what is a Christian life? Most of us have an idea of the Christian life that is pretty bland: be a nice person and a good neighbor, stay out of trouble, follow the ten commandments, go to church, and do something good for someone else now and then. We assume that a person who lives that kind of life will go to heaven when he or she dies. Most of us have an idea of the Christian life that is pretty much like that. And it is really not very exciting, is it? To tell the truth, we have purposefully set the bar pretty low. We don't want too much to be expected of us. We really don't want to be asked to be very different from everyone else.
But, when we read the Bible, we get a very different idea of what it means to live the Christian life, one that is more demanding, more risky, more exciting, and more likely to lead to a really extraordinary existence. Then what can we believe about the Christian life? You know there is no way we can answer that question in twenty minutes. We can at least outline some of the characteristics of a Christian life. Let's try.
First, the Christian life is the prize, not the prerequisite. Lots of people still think living the Christian life is something you have to do to qualify to go to heaven after you die. In fact, the Christian life here and now is the prize; not the prerequisite. A hope that reaches beyond death is part of the Christian life but the gift of God starts here and now. Each of us has only one life to live in this world, and we want to make the most of it. We want to live life at its best. Unfortunately, most of us have allowed the advertising industry to create our image of the good life. They would have us scrambling after materialistic prizes designed to make someone else rich. People who spend their one life perusing that goal are likely to be disappointed and disillusioned. God has something for us that is much better. It is a better way of putting life together. It results in a new quality of life. It is not something for which you have to qualify. God has put it there for you. You just have to take it up and live it. Jesus said the new life of the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. When you trip over it and realize what you have found, you will be willing to sell everything else that you have in order to possess it (Matthew 13:44).
The Christian life is a life organized around a relationship; not around rules. Yes, there are rules, the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount, and others. They are helpful when we have decisions to make. We ignore them at our own peril. But they really point beyond themselves to something else. The Christian life is a life organized around a relationship with God. If you are married, you know how a relationship can shape your life. Your relationship with one very important other person can shape your life from the inside out. It can influence everything from the way you feel about yourself to the way you dress. When Paul spoke of the life of the kingdom of God, he was talking about a life in which God is the most important other in your life and in which your relationship with God shapes your life. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters..." (Matthew 6:24). The Christian life is a life that is being shaped by a relationship with God.
The Christian life is an adventure because the God in relationship with whom we are living our lives is alive and at work in exciting and unpredictable ways. The writers of the Hebrew scriptures tell us about a God who worked in human history to save his people from slavery in Egypt and to make them into a special people. The writers of the gospels tell about a God who came among us in the person of one like ourselves to show us God's love and to open to us a new possibility. The writers of Acts and the epistles tell us about a God who continued to be at work in the lives of all who would be open to him to bring them to wholeness and to send them out to change the world. To live in relationship with that God is to try to discover what God is doing in your life and in your world and live in responsiveness to it. To live in relationship with a God like that is sure to be an adventure. It is like paddling a canoe in a rapid river. You are living in relationship with one who is alive. When Jesus came to those whom he wanted to be his disciples, he said, "Follow me." He was indeed calling them into an adventure. It takes courage to venture out into that kind of a life, but courage is rewarded with expectancy. The Christian life is not dull. It is an adventure.
The Christian life takes a unique shape in each unique person and in each unique community. The Christian faith is not like a "one size fits all" garment. It is like a garment tailor made to fit your own size and character. God reaches out to you where you are in life and interacts with you in ways that are appropriate to your unique needs and possibilities and to your unique situation in life. When God goes to work in your life, God does not make you into someone other than yourself. God makes you the very best you that you can be. But there are some experiences that many Christians have had that you may experience in your own way as you let your life be shaped by your relationship with God.
The Christian life often starts with a joyful discovery that God loves you. Some people grow up knowing that God loves them. They are the lucky ones. Others have to discover it for themselves. Jesus came to show us God's love for us. It is not a love we have to earn. It is freely given. We can see evidences of God's love for us in everything good and beautiful. We can see it especially in human love. All real love comes from God and brings God's love to us. Some of us discover God's love for us when we are feeling guilty, beaten, or good for nothing. In situations like that discovering we are loved by the one who is the most important other that there is can make a big difference in our lives. It can help us to know ourselves to be forgiven, accepted, healed, respected, valued, liberated, and enabled. The knowledge of the love of God is really good stuff. It is miraculous stuff. In one way or another, it needs to be a part of every Christian's life. It is there for you. If you are not experiencing it, reach out for it. And keep on reaching out. It is an important part of what God wants to do in your life.
The Christian life is shaped by many different kinds of interactions with the living God. God keeps on reaching out to us and interacting with us through our interactions with life. The Bible writers tell stories about things God did in their lives to meet their unique needs. Some who were bewildered about the meaning of life, spoke of Christ coming to them as a "Word" that helped them understand what life is all about. Some who were sunk in hopelessness, spoke of Christ coming as a Messiah who offered them a new possibility. Some who had messed their lives up recognized God working in the failures and frustrations of their lives to show them that they needed to make some changes. Some who were drifting and living purposeless lives told of one who was a servant of God who came calling them to be servants of God too. Some who felt overwhelmed by the thought of living the Christian life in a strange and hostile world spoke of Jesus as the pioneer of their faith who lived the Christian life before them to show them how to do it and that it can be done. All of these tell how God worked in their lives to save and to make them whole. God is still working in all of these ways and in others that are appropriate to your own needs. It is important for you to know well the stories about what God has done so that you can recognize what God may be doing in your interactions with life. Then you can open yourself to what God is doing and respond in ways that will allow God to change your life. But where is all of this going? What is the shape of the life toward which God is moving us?
The Christian life is a life lived in love. That is the basic shape of it. Jesus said, "... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). In another place, he said that we are to love as God loves (Matthew 5:43-48). That is the shape of the Christian life. But the love Jesus was talking about in not just a warm fuzzy thing. It is something substantial and capable of making a difference. You know the text that says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). The love referred to in that verse has to be a deep commitment of life to life, the kind of commitment that will make a person do what is best for the one who is loved no matter what the cost.
It is a joyful commitment of life to life. God loves us with that kind of love and God wants us to love ourselves with that kind of love too. That is an important first step. God loves us and God wants us to love ourselves as God loves us. Then God wants us to enlarge the circle of our love so that we will also love others, all others, all that God loves. That is what it means to love God with our whole being. How can we do that? God will love us into being able to do that. If we will live in openness to God in all of our relationships, God will love us into loving as God loves. Even though we may never have thought of it, the life of love is really the life that we all yearn for, the treasure hidden in a field. A once popular song said, "What the world needs now is love sweet love. That's the only thing that there's just too little of." It is to the life of love that God works to save us. It is the most precious thing of all. It is the life worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
The Christian life is a life that makes things different. It will make you different. It has always been a mistake to want to be just like everyone else. To do that is to sacrifice the real value of God's gift. No, it is not necessary to strut around acting superior and making others uncomfortable. But the difference is real and profound. Do you remember the beatitudes with which Jesus began the sermon on the mount? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:3-5) and the others. These describe the life of a person that has been totally reorganized from the inside out, so that he or she finds blessedness and happiness in the places where no one else would ever think to look for it. The Christian life will make other people differently. If you relate yourself to everyone whom you know in a love like God's love, your love will bear God's love to others, and that will make a great and joyful difference in their lives. If you move into the life of the world and live there a life that is shaped by love that will make a difference. Some people may not like it because they may not understand it. For that reason, it can be costly to live the life of love. It was for Jesus. But people living the life of love in the world will ultimately change the world and make it what God created it to be. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened" (Matthew 13:33). Living the Christian life makes things different.
What can we believe about the Christian life? We have used lots of words to try to answer. But you can only discover the shape of the Christian life when you dare to venture out to try to live it. Paul said he was grateful when the Thessalonians heard his words, they heard the word of God coming through them. Then he said that the word of God was at work among those who believed, at work to make a difference, at work to save (v. 13). That can happen for you if you will let it. Amen.
We all believe that. We have a very low opinion of anyone who claims to be a Christian and does not live a Christian life. But what is a Christian life? Most of us have an idea of the Christian life that is pretty bland: be a nice person and a good neighbor, stay out of trouble, follow the ten commandments, go to church, and do something good for someone else now and then. We assume that a person who lives that kind of life will go to heaven when he or she dies. Most of us have an idea of the Christian life that is pretty much like that. And it is really not very exciting, is it? To tell the truth, we have purposefully set the bar pretty low. We don't want too much to be expected of us. We really don't want to be asked to be very different from everyone else.
But, when we read the Bible, we get a very different idea of what it means to live the Christian life, one that is more demanding, more risky, more exciting, and more likely to lead to a really extraordinary existence. Then what can we believe about the Christian life? You know there is no way we can answer that question in twenty minutes. We can at least outline some of the characteristics of a Christian life. Let's try.
First, the Christian life is the prize, not the prerequisite. Lots of people still think living the Christian life is something you have to do to qualify to go to heaven after you die. In fact, the Christian life here and now is the prize; not the prerequisite. A hope that reaches beyond death is part of the Christian life but the gift of God starts here and now. Each of us has only one life to live in this world, and we want to make the most of it. We want to live life at its best. Unfortunately, most of us have allowed the advertising industry to create our image of the good life. They would have us scrambling after materialistic prizes designed to make someone else rich. People who spend their one life perusing that goal are likely to be disappointed and disillusioned. God has something for us that is much better. It is a better way of putting life together. It results in a new quality of life. It is not something for which you have to qualify. God has put it there for you. You just have to take it up and live it. Jesus said the new life of the kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. When you trip over it and realize what you have found, you will be willing to sell everything else that you have in order to possess it (Matthew 13:44).
The Christian life is a life organized around a relationship; not around rules. Yes, there are rules, the ten commandments, the sermon on the mount, and others. They are helpful when we have decisions to make. We ignore them at our own peril. But they really point beyond themselves to something else. The Christian life is a life organized around a relationship with God. If you are married, you know how a relationship can shape your life. Your relationship with one very important other person can shape your life from the inside out. It can influence everything from the way you feel about yourself to the way you dress. When Paul spoke of the life of the kingdom of God, he was talking about a life in which God is the most important other in your life and in which your relationship with God shapes your life. Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters..." (Matthew 6:24). The Christian life is a life that is being shaped by a relationship with God.
The Christian life is an adventure because the God in relationship with whom we are living our lives is alive and at work in exciting and unpredictable ways. The writers of the Hebrew scriptures tell us about a God who worked in human history to save his people from slavery in Egypt and to make them into a special people. The writers of the gospels tell about a God who came among us in the person of one like ourselves to show us God's love and to open to us a new possibility. The writers of Acts and the epistles tell us about a God who continued to be at work in the lives of all who would be open to him to bring them to wholeness and to send them out to change the world. To live in relationship with that God is to try to discover what God is doing in your life and in your world and live in responsiveness to it. To live in relationship with a God like that is sure to be an adventure. It is like paddling a canoe in a rapid river. You are living in relationship with one who is alive. When Jesus came to those whom he wanted to be his disciples, he said, "Follow me." He was indeed calling them into an adventure. It takes courage to venture out into that kind of a life, but courage is rewarded with expectancy. The Christian life is not dull. It is an adventure.
The Christian life takes a unique shape in each unique person and in each unique community. The Christian faith is not like a "one size fits all" garment. It is like a garment tailor made to fit your own size and character. God reaches out to you where you are in life and interacts with you in ways that are appropriate to your unique needs and possibilities and to your unique situation in life. When God goes to work in your life, God does not make you into someone other than yourself. God makes you the very best you that you can be. But there are some experiences that many Christians have had that you may experience in your own way as you let your life be shaped by your relationship with God.
The Christian life often starts with a joyful discovery that God loves you. Some people grow up knowing that God loves them. They are the lucky ones. Others have to discover it for themselves. Jesus came to show us God's love for us. It is not a love we have to earn. It is freely given. We can see evidences of God's love for us in everything good and beautiful. We can see it especially in human love. All real love comes from God and brings God's love to us. Some of us discover God's love for us when we are feeling guilty, beaten, or good for nothing. In situations like that discovering we are loved by the one who is the most important other that there is can make a big difference in our lives. It can help us to know ourselves to be forgiven, accepted, healed, respected, valued, liberated, and enabled. The knowledge of the love of God is really good stuff. It is miraculous stuff. In one way or another, it needs to be a part of every Christian's life. It is there for you. If you are not experiencing it, reach out for it. And keep on reaching out. It is an important part of what God wants to do in your life.
The Christian life is shaped by many different kinds of interactions with the living God. God keeps on reaching out to us and interacting with us through our interactions with life. The Bible writers tell stories about things God did in their lives to meet their unique needs. Some who were bewildered about the meaning of life, spoke of Christ coming to them as a "Word" that helped them understand what life is all about. Some who were sunk in hopelessness, spoke of Christ coming as a Messiah who offered them a new possibility. Some who had messed their lives up recognized God working in the failures and frustrations of their lives to show them that they needed to make some changes. Some who were drifting and living purposeless lives told of one who was a servant of God who came calling them to be servants of God too. Some who felt overwhelmed by the thought of living the Christian life in a strange and hostile world spoke of Jesus as the pioneer of their faith who lived the Christian life before them to show them how to do it and that it can be done. All of these tell how God worked in their lives to save and to make them whole. God is still working in all of these ways and in others that are appropriate to your own needs. It is important for you to know well the stories about what God has done so that you can recognize what God may be doing in your interactions with life. Then you can open yourself to what God is doing and respond in ways that will allow God to change your life. But where is all of this going? What is the shape of the life toward which God is moving us?
The Christian life is a life lived in love. That is the basic shape of it. Jesus said, "... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). In another place, he said that we are to love as God loves (Matthew 5:43-48). That is the shape of the Christian life. But the love Jesus was talking about in not just a warm fuzzy thing. It is something substantial and capable of making a difference. You know the text that says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (John 3:16). The love referred to in that verse has to be a deep commitment of life to life, the kind of commitment that will make a person do what is best for the one who is loved no matter what the cost.
It is a joyful commitment of life to life. God loves us with that kind of love and God wants us to love ourselves with that kind of love too. That is an important first step. God loves us and God wants us to love ourselves as God loves us. Then God wants us to enlarge the circle of our love so that we will also love others, all others, all that God loves. That is what it means to love God with our whole being. How can we do that? God will love us into being able to do that. If we will live in openness to God in all of our relationships, God will love us into loving as God loves. Even though we may never have thought of it, the life of love is really the life that we all yearn for, the treasure hidden in a field. A once popular song said, "What the world needs now is love sweet love. That's the only thing that there's just too little of." It is to the life of love that God works to save us. It is the most precious thing of all. It is the life worthy of God who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
The Christian life is a life that makes things different. It will make you different. It has always been a mistake to want to be just like everyone else. To do that is to sacrifice the real value of God's gift. No, it is not necessary to strut around acting superior and making others uncomfortable. But the difference is real and profound. Do you remember the beatitudes with which Jesus began the sermon on the mount? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:3-5) and the others. These describe the life of a person that has been totally reorganized from the inside out, so that he or she finds blessedness and happiness in the places where no one else would ever think to look for it. The Christian life will make other people differently. If you relate yourself to everyone whom you know in a love like God's love, your love will bear God's love to others, and that will make a great and joyful difference in their lives. If you move into the life of the world and live there a life that is shaped by love that will make a difference. Some people may not like it because they may not understand it. For that reason, it can be costly to live the life of love. It was for Jesus. But people living the life of love in the world will ultimately change the world and make it what God created it to be. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened" (Matthew 13:33). Living the Christian life makes things different.
What can we believe about the Christian life? We have used lots of words to try to answer. But you can only discover the shape of the Christian life when you dare to venture out to try to live it. Paul said he was grateful when the Thessalonians heard his words, they heard the word of God coming through them. Then he said that the word of God was at work among those who believed, at work to make a difference, at work to save (v. 13). That can happen for you if you will let it. Amen.
