The Risen Christ in Everyday Life
This morning we sang “Easter
People, Raise Your Voices” at the top of our lungs. Once again we proclaimed
that Christ is risen and lives within us today. The question is, “What does it
look like? What is it like to live the resurrection here and now?”
Every time we receive communion we affirm our faith in this way:
Holy are you, and blessed is your
Son Jesus Christ.
By the baptism of his suffering,
death, and resurrection
you gave birth
to your church,
delivered us from
slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a
new covenant
by water and the
Spirit.
The church was born through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ. The church is a resurrection community. The Early
Church Christians lived the resurrection in everyday life. If we read carefully
today’s passage about the birth of the church, we find at least three qualities
standing out.
Day by Day
The first quality is persistence.
“Day by day” they worshiped together at the temple. “Day by day” they met in
homes for the Lord’s Supper and shared their meals together. “Day by day” the
Lord added to their number those who were being saved. The Early Church was a
“day-by-day” community.
In the video we watched earlier, the man repeated the same daily routine – feeding the street dog, giving money to a beggar mother and daughter, helping an elderly street vendor, sharing food with his neighbor, and so forth. For a while, perhaps for months, nothing seemed to change. People around him were skeptical, but he did good anyway – day by day. And “day by day” becomes “one day.” One day he saw the daughter of the beggar mother wear a school uniform and come home.
Day by day the Early Church Christians worshiped together, prayed together, shared meals together, helped the poor together. The next day they repeated the same daily routine. For a while, nothing seemed to change. But day by day became one day. The day did come. One day Peter and John were doing their same daily routine. They were on their way into the temple for prayer meeting. There was a man crippled from birth. He was begging at the temple gate. He saw Peter and John about to enter the temple and asked for some money. Peter said to him, “Siver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Peter grabbed him by the right hand and pulled him up. Immediately his feet and ankles were healed. He walked and jumped and entered the temple for the first time, praising God. He was healed and saved. The Early Church was faithful in the ordinary. They were persistent.
24/7
The Early Church’s second quality
is congruence. We find no chasm between the Lord’s Supper and breaking
bread at home, no disconnection between their public life and their family
life. Pastor Eugene Peterson rightly said, “The Christian life is the lifelong
practice of attending to the details of congruence – congruence between
ends and means, congruence between what we do and the way we do it, congruence
between what is written out in Scripture and our living out what is written,
congruence between a ship and its prow, congruence between preaching and
living, congruence between the sermon and what is lived in both preacher and
congregation, the congruence of the Word made flesh in Jesus with what is lived
in our flesh.”
Congruence is not something we can master. It’s a gift. It’s a fruit. The more we stay close to the risen Christ, the more congruent we become. Living the resurrection in everyday life means living a congruent life by staying close to Christ. Missionary Frank Laubach desired to be with Christ 24/7, working and resting with Jesus, eating and sleeping with Jesus. For the first few weeks, nothing seemed to change. But later, he said, “The results of this practice grew rich after six months, and glorious after ten years.” Mr. Laubach exhorts us to bring Jesus to mind at least once each minute. He calls this experiment, “the game with the minutes.” He encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus by practicing spiritual disciplines[1]:
1.
Pray.
2.
Recall God.
3.
Sing or hum a devotional
hymn.
4.
Talk or write about God.
5.
Seek to relieve suffering
of any kind in a prayerful spirit.
6.
Work with the consciousness
of God’s presence.
7.
Whisper to God.
8.
Feel yourself encompassed
by God.
9.
Look at a picture or a
symbol of Christ.
10. Read a scripture verse or poem about God.
11. Give somebody a helpful hand for the Lord’s sake.
12. Breathe a prayer for the people you meet.
13. Follow the leading of the Inner Voice.
14. Plan or work for the Kingdom of God.
15. Testify to others about God, the church, or this game.
16. Share suffering or sorrow with another.
17. Hear God and see Him in flowers, trees, water, hills, sky.
The living Christ walks with me and talks with me. The question is, “Do I actually walk with him and talk with him minute-by-minute?”
Living in Community
The third quality we find from the
Early Church is life-together community. Before Jesus ascended to
heaven, the last words to his disciples were, “Go, make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them and teaching them” (Matt 28:19-20). So the first thing
the disciples did when people responded to the Word was to baptize them. “So
those who welcomed [Peter’s] message were baptized…” (Acts 2:41a).
What happens when we are baptized? Baptism requires two actions from our part – repent and follow. Repent is the no and follow is the yes. When we are baptized, we are asked:
Do you renounce the
spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world,
and repent of your sin?
I do.
Do you confess Jesus Christ as your
Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your
Lord, in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of
all ages, nations, and races?
I do.
When we are baptized, we are set free from our former master called “sin” and are adopted into God’s family, that is the Church. Living the resurrection means living in Christ’s community. The church is a community. The church is united. The church is together. In the Early Church there was no such a spiritual elite or professional. They learned together, had fellowship together, served together. They were one people, life-together community.
The Best Is Yet to Come
So it is possible and available to
live the resurrection life here and now. But even greater thing is yet to come.
Some of you may have heard a story about an old missionary couple who had been working in Africa for years, and they were returning to New York City to retire. They had no pension; their health was broken; they were old now and afraid. They discovered they were booked on the same ship as President Teddy Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his big-game hunting expeditions. When the ship docked in New York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other officials were there, and everyone made much over him, but no one noticed this missionary couple. They slipped off the ship and found a cheap flat on the East side. That night, the missionary’s spirit broke. He poured out his heart to the Lord. He said, “Lord, I can’t take this. You are not treating us fairly. The President received this tremendous homecoming, but no one met us as we returned home.” But when he finished it, God simply said, “My son, you’re not home yet!”[2]
Are you weary and tired? Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit proclaimed by the Apostle Paul, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:9, NIV) Brothers and sisters in Christ, be encouraged. Let us be faithful and persistent. Let us stay close to Christ 24/7. Let us remember our baptism and always live in community. And remember the best is yet to come.
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