Sermon: "Experiencing Life"

Eighth in the "Experiencing God" series.
Delivered April 16, 2006 (Easter Sunday) by Rev. John Schmidt.
Other sermons in this series - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

Theme: We can go on living in an 'earthly' way, looking at life as if there were no God, or we can take all this truth about Christ to heart and learn to think in new ways. Our spiritual perspective is important to experiencing life.

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Gracious God, we thank you for the word that we are about to read and for the thoughts that we will have about it together. We pray that you open the eyes of our hearts so that we might understand what Christ is saying to the church, for we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to read to you from the Book of Colossians, chapter 3, verses 1-4. You will find that on page 834 of your pew Bible. Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 1-4:

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

I would like to welcome you today to worship here at Central Presbyterian Church. I am John Schmidt, one of the pastors here. I am glad to share this together with you. About 10 years ago, I visited the Grand Canyon. Now I don't know what I was thinking, but somehow I expected that, as we got closer to the canyon that somehow I would know it was coming. I expected there would be some kind of visible presence. You know how when you are getting close to Pike's Peak you see it off in the distance, you know? And I am thinking this way about the Grand Canyon, but it was a pretty unexciting road. We were driving on the expressway and we finally come to the point where we take the roads that get you actually in to the national park and its flat and just loaded with scrubby looking trees. And finally, we come to a point where it points to a parking lot and its only when we get to the parking lot and get out of the car that we actually could see the incredible, magnificence of the canyon. As far as the eye could see in either direction, left and right, there were these beautiful colors, miles across and a mile deep. It's an amazing experience. It's something that you can't quite get from somebody describing to you or even seeing a good photograph. It's sheer immensity grasps you. What I found particularly amazing though as I was standing there, was that despite the incredible grandeur of what I was seeing, if I would just turn around and face in the other direction, all I would see is a parking lot, a flat area and a bunch of scrubby trees. Which way I was facing made a huge difference in the view.

We can be in the same spot. Where we stand is important, but also what direction we face is important too in terms of what we see. Our point of view is important. Some things, even things as big as the Grand Canyon are hidden until you are right up on the edge of them and even then when you are on the edge of them, you've got to be looking in the right direction or you will miss it. Well I just read a few words from the letter to the Colossians. It's a book that was written to Christians maybe about 30 years after Jesus had been crucified, died and had been resurrected. And there is something in Paul's words that tell us about how we are to look at life if we are going to experience life to the fullest.

This passage begins with these words: "Since then, you have been raised with Christ." This is the start of any Christian message; Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead. That means that Jesus Christ is alive. This is the most basic foundation of a Christian view of the world. Christ is alive. Christ has authority. The resurrected Christ has accomplished all he had set out to do and has invited us in. That's foundational because Christ really died. That's part of the Christian message too. There are books out there that say he didn't. There are whole religions that say he didn't. But a foundational part of what we proclaim as Christians and what we believe that history itself teaches us, is that Jesus died and he died as a substitute for us. You see, Paul knew and the people he was writing to knew as well, that there was a distance between God and humanity and the breach was deep and dangerous. God is pure and his pure standards condemn us. His standards show how far we are from what we were created to be. And so when Jesus died he did everything necessary so that God's standards that do condemn us, God's law that condemns us, could say everything. The law says that we are to die. Jesus died in our place. So the law can condemn us. It has condemned us, but Jesus died in our place and all of that condemnation has been wiped away. And Jesus Christ's resurrection shows that what he did was sufficient. Jesus Christ is resurrected and it shows that the task he had of taking upon himself all of our guilt, that he accomplished that task. He was successful with dealing with the results of our living selfishly and without God. And so that's what we celebrate on Easter, the victory of his resurrection.

But this passage also says something about us. Since then you have been raised with Christ. We have been raised in Christ. In Verse 3 it says, "For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." We have died. We have been raised with Christ. Easter is about us too. There is an invisible reality: an invisible reality that if we trust in Christ, his death becomes our death, his life becomes our life and we have then a right-standing with God for all eternity. These are things that are already true about anyone who already believes in Christ. But this passage says more than that, because it goes on to say right after it says these things about us, it says, "Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above and not on earthy things." Paul is talking to people that already believe in Jesus Christ and has said that you can go on living in what Paul calls an Earthly way. In other words, we can believe in Jesus Christ and still look at life and things in life as if there were no God. The alternative though is to take in this truth about Jesus Christ and take it to heart and learn to live in radically new ways. Living in Christ centered reality requires a response from us. That is what Paul is pointing out. Just because its real, doesn't mean we will always experience it. In this way, the spiritual life is a bit like the Grand Canyon. It's real, but you have be close up and looking in the right direction to see it.

It's Easter, but what that means inside of us depends entirely on our point of view. If we look one way; in an earthly way, then Easter is just another religious holiday. It's one more day in the year when someone forces you to go to church. Maybe you will get a chance to eat a special dinner together, but its nothing more than that. But if we look at life in a different way and we look at Easter, we can see the incredible unique splendor of what only God could have done, because in Jesus Christ and in what we celebrate at Easter, God has done something bigger than sin. God has done something bigger than selfishness and rebellion. God has done something bigger than death. He includes us into it, be including us into Christ. And so how we look spiritually affects how we see Easter.

Our viewpoint determines how we view death as well. If we look at death in an earthly way, it's the end of hope. All that is worth living for ends at death, because death is the end. Afterward, there is nothingness. We carry around fears about facing that. But if we turn around and set our minds on things above, we see that we have already been put in to Christ and so the physical death we face leads to God. It's not the end of what we have been living for. Death brings us to the fullest fruit of what this life has all been about. It leads us to a future, an eternal future with God. The way we face death can be so fundamentally different that this could actually be part of what other people see and respond to in our lives.

We know of a Japanese doctor who became a Christian because in treating patients who died he saw a number of them die differently. A number of his patients died with hope. They died with peace and he wanted to know what was going on in those lives because he could even see joy in the lives of people who are facing their own death. And so he did some investigation and talked with the families and talked to some of these individuals before they died and discovered that they were Christians. And so, on the basis of that testimony that doctor also believed in Jesus Christ.

The way we look at things affects the way we look at material goods as well. If we view life in an earthly way, then we feel a necessity to hold on to everything, because this life is all there is. We need to grab on to material things, hold on to it, because it's the only way we will be fulfilled and it's the only way we can be secure. We've got to provide somehow. But if we look at life differently, we can see that God provides for us. There are things much more important than material things. Love. Joy. Hope. Peace. Things that have very little to do with money or material goods. And knowing that and knowing that there is a God in control who loves us and provides for us, we can hold on to things less tightly and maybe even use those things to serve other people.

Our spiritual viewpoint affects the way we look at pain and injustice in our own lives. If there is no God, then who is going to pay people back for the evil that they do to us and to those that we love. Is the desire to get back, to somehow set things right, to get vengeance. Think of how many movies we have in our culture that are about people getting back at other people. But if we look at life differently, we still have this call to seek justice, but we know that ultimately justice is in God's hands, capable hands, absolute justice and total mercy are held in the hands of God who holds the future. And if we understand that and believes that, it frees us to forgive. It frees us to rest, to trust, to have peace in very difficult circumstances and it also frees us up to realize that we are often the ones that cause pain and injustice in other people's lives. When Paul writes to these people, he expects that what God has done in Christ will make a massive difference in their lives. He believes that everything has the possibility of being different because of what God has done. So he is not just sharing with them another philosophical viewpoint. He is not playing mind games with them. God has dealt with sin and death in Jesus Christ and that makes all the difference in the world and that's what Paul lived and died for.

When I went to Arizona and got in the car in Phoenix and started to drive, we didn't go to a certain spot in the desert so that we could get out of the car and imagine that we were seeing the Grand Canyon. It was really there. It was there to see. It exists. Whether we have seen it or not it exists. The spiritual reality that I am asking you to consider in Christ is really there too. It's every bit as big. It's every bit as real, but you've got to get up real close to see it.

Well maybe you are like a person that's right there on the edge of the Grand Canyon: you did come at some other time in your life, step right up to see the incredible grandeur of what God has done in Jesus Christ, but somehow you have gotten turned around and find that you are looking in the wrong direction and all you can see are the routine things, the earthly things: the parking lot and a few scrubby trees. Life just doesn't seem that great and doesn't seem that different because of Jesus Christ. If that's the case, then just turn around. That's what Jesus was always asking people to do, to turn around, that's what the word repent means. Turn around, because it's real. What God has done in Christ is real. You are just looking in the wrong direction. Turn around and see the majesty of what God has done in Jesus Christ and what a difference he can make. He is seated at the right hand of God and you are in him. You belong to him. You are in his family.

Maybe when it comes to spiritual realities, you are more like the person who is still on the expressway. You are passing close to the Grand Canyon, you are seeing signs along the road, but you have never turned and actually taken a look for yourself. If you are like that about spiritual things, then I would like to encourage you to check Jesus out for yourself. You are going to have to get close to see the real thing. I am not talking about becoming a religious nut. I am not even talking about becoming a member of this church. I am talking about a relationship with a God who is alive right now: a God that has done everything necessary to forgive us and accept us in to his family, a God who loved us long before we were able to love back. And to take that kind of step you don't have to do anything fancy. It's something that you can do right inside of your heart and mind. It's something you could do right now if you wanted to do it. Right now, you can just say to God in your heart, "God I am tired of living on my own. I know that I have done so many things to hurt myself and to hurt others and to push you away, but right now I want to change all of that. I believe you sent Jesus to make our relationship possible, that he is alive now and so I turn my life over to you. Thank you God." That's all it takes to begin a journey with Jesus Christ.

Whether we just start the journey or whether we find that we need to turn around to appreciate again what God has done, the good news is that Jesus Christ is alive. We are not alone in this. God has done everything we need and gives us everything we need for life and godliness through him.

Now one of the things that I would really like to do sometime is to have an opportunity to have a personal conversation with each one of you about your spiritual journey and I have had that sort of conversation with some of you, but I wish I could invite each of one of you out for coffee and have you tell me what's going on in your life and I could share myself, but unfortunately with a church of our size, that is not possible and to be honest some of you would not want to have that conversation with me.

But instead I would like to ask you do me a favor and participate in a personal survey. In the pews in front of you are these welcome cards that we always use. If you would take those out and hand them out to people in your pew, I am going to have your write an A, B or C on the back of that card depending on what I now explain. If you have already committed your life to Christ prior to this service, why don't you write down the letter A. If today you are believing in Christ for the first time, then write on that card the letter B. If you are thinking to yourself, "John I haven't made the decision yet, but I am considering it and I want you to know that I am considering it," write down the letter C. And if you feel like you don't ever intend to commit yourself to Christ, I would appreciate your honesty by writing down the letter D on your card. And if you really do want to have a conversation about this with me, or Pastor George, then on the other side write your name down and give us some kind of contact information. Otherwise, feel free to hand that in anonymously. In a few minutes we will be taking an offering where we offer ourselves and from our material goods to God and during that time, please put that in. I would appreciate that. Whatever your response is, just drop that card in to the plate when it passes.

Let's pray. Gracious God, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you that he is alive now and we can look to him so that everything can be different in life, that we can experience life in an entirely new way. Help us to take whatever response of faith that we need to take to draw closer to you. For we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

© 2006, Rev. John Schmidt
Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org