An Easter Sermon: Part 2

My almost Easter sermon, continued from yesterday. . .

As I’ve thought about Easter weekend this week, I realized that I’ve always been sort of confused on how to feel during this weekend. For a Christian, this a sharp, bipolar ride. First we experience the sadness of the death of Christ, which also reminds us of why he needed to die. The horror of my sin is laid bare in front of the cross. I walk away from Good Friday mournful and guilty. Then Sunday morning comes, and we celebrate the great joy of the resurrection. We remember the glorious event that gives us assurance of our salvation. It is a sharp juxtaposition. Down and then up, depressed and then full of joy, Easter is actually a great picture of what it means to be a Christian: Lost in death and sin, alive in Christ.

One thing that juxtaposition has reminded me of is that the events of Easter mean that no matter how black my sins are, I can live up to the calling of holiness. Let me explain.

I can only speak for myself, but I think most of us never want to disappoint someone who has a high opinion of us. When someone thinks highly of us, regardless of how in reality we fall short of that, we try hard not to let them down. I was definitely this way with my grandpa. I was scared to death of ever letting him down, of ever doing something he didn’t approve of. I don’t know for sure how he saw me; that wasn’t the kind of thing that he talked about. But I know that he treated me with the utmost respect, like I was a man. He made me feel important and good and honorable, and I worked hard to never change his mind. I wanted to be what he saw in me.

It’s a lot like that with God. If you read the Bible enough, you come across countless descriptions of how God has a high view of us. He calls us holy, set apart, His people. We are cherished and chosen by Him. When someone picks teams and they pick you, you want to prove your worth to them early. God picked us. He picked me.

Really? Are you sure, God? Me, holy?

Personally, I feel terrible for not living up to this. I see the Sovereign Being of the Universe and what he says he sees in me, and then I look at my actions. I am ashamed. I am terrified. And I don’t think I’m alone. I think this is a big reason why many people avoid church and organized religion. I know it’s a reason I avoid prayer at times. It hurts to be a disappointment. It’s also a reason we’re so quick to point to the sins of others. If we can find someone we’re not as bad as, maybe we can convince ourselves that we shouldn’t feel too bad.

The beauty of Easter, though, is that all this has been taken care of. We are called once again to our expectations. We are reminded that God sees us as so worthwhile that he would sacrifice his Son for us. More importantly, however, is that we are reminded that we can live up to our high calling. We are holy, because we have been made holy. The punishment has been removed, and we have been washed clean. We are the chosen, the set apart. We can drop the guilt of the cross and of our failure to live up to expectations and instead rejoice in the Lord always.

A lot has been asked of us. Jesus, as an example for us the night before he died, lowered himself to wash the feet of his disciples. All of them. Even the one he knew had already sold Jesus’ life for 30 pieces of silver. He said to do as I do, to love as I have loved. This is a high calling. And this, with the power of the Resurrection, is what we are capable of. Let’s celebrate the awe-inspiring love we have been offered. Let’s live up to our calling. Amen.

An Easter Sermon: Part 1

Due to several complicating factors, my extended family on my Dad's side considered having Easter Sunday church in my aunt's backyard. In an intimidating but flattering request, they asked if I would be willing to give a message. I accepted and put some words together. Due to more last minute complicating factors, we were unable to have said service in the backyard, so I did not deliver the message. Instead, I've decided to post it here. I will post it in two parts, one today and one tomorrow. Thanks for "listening."

Part 1:

Becoming a father was great for me, because I was no longer the center of the world. I knew that going in, and I had prepared myself for it. That wasn’t the difficult part. The difficult part was the fact that I had to explain the world to my daughters. There is so much of the world and human behavior that I don’t understand, that I continue to see this as quite a daunting task. However, I find that I seem to learn more the more that I’m forced to explain.

Easter is a big part of that. This is the first year we’ve really gotten specific regarding Christ’s death and resurrection with Elise. Explaining it to her has been a monumental time for my faith. I’ve lived to see 32 Easter Sundays now, and I’ve heard the events of the crucifixion countless times in my life. I will never say that the story of Christ’s death is boring; however, I had become so used to it that I had lost some of my awe for it. It had become commonplace, routine, or expected. Tragically, the story began to seem like it made sense, that it was logical.

Then I began to discuss the events with Elise. I told her that Jesus died on a cross.

“Why did Jesus have to die, Daddy?”

“Well, to take our punishment.”

“Take our punishment?”

I then explained to her about how we sometimes do things we’re not supposed to do. She could easily relate to that. I explained that when we sin, we deserve to be punished for that sin. Jesus took the punishment for all of our sins.

“All of them?”

“Yes, all of them.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of love!”

And suddenly I saw the events through fresh eyes once more. That is a lot of love. An unfathomable amount of love. He took my punishment, one nail at a time, and hung on a piece of wood with the weight of my sins and my daughter’s sins and your sins upon his shoulders as God the Father turned his back on him because there was no other way.

There is nothing common-sensical about what happened that first Easter weekend. None of that makes sense or is logical. That level of sacrifice, that level of voluntary pain, and that amount of love. It is shocking. It is awe-inspiring. “That’s a lot of love, Daddy!” Yes, Elise, that’s a lot of love.

There’s also nothing logical about that Sunday morning either, about a dead man rising, conquering death, all to prepare a place for us. The same people then who mocked and ridiculed and killed Jesus, the same people now who ignore Him, it is for their opportunity to experience pure eternal joy that motivated Him. To not understand this marvel and the intense, satisfying joy that we are offered because of this, to instead be satisfied with our hopeless attempts of mediocre cheap thrills to fill the void, to fail to be full of awe of what the Ressurrection has done for us is to erase this radical, sacrificial act of love from your life. And it is a dark life indeed to live without this event.

Notes: The Law, Tenacity, and Perspective

Some recent notes from my reading:

1. Galatians 3:24: "The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ."

My thoughts: A lot of people complain about how restricting and limiting Biblical commands are, that it's really asking a lot to give up what God asks his followers to give up. This thinking misses the point. The purpose of the law is to help us create a lifestyle where more focus can be on God. The law isn't restricting, it's freeing; it gets the "self" out of the way so that Christ might be worshiped and enjoyed, a far greater pleasure than we can fathom chasing the cheap thrills we are asked to leave behind.

2. A paraphrase from a sermon by Scott Davis at our church regarding Philippians 3:

"We must move beyond event-based Christianity and instead run a life race (Paul's words: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God as called me heavenward. . ."). This is a race that must be run with tenacity.

Tenacity:

• stubborn or persistent
• holding together firmly (not easily pulled apart)
• from Latin: tough, holding fast
• marked by firmness of purpose
• a quality of being determined to do or achieve something

This is how to run this race of knowing Christ and becoming Christlike - like a lifelong marathon requiring tenacity.

3. "In terms of influence, the problem is not that most Christians aren't where they should be, but that they aren't what they should be where they are." - Os Guinness.

4. "The more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet. The fear of God casts out the envy of men." - Charles Spurgeon

One Hundred

This is blog post #100 for Prone to Wander, so I thought I'd take a minute to celebrate and reflect.

To say that I'm surprised that I got to 100 would be a lie; I fully expected when I started this that it would be a priority and that I would write regularly. What I have been surprised about, however, is how hard that's been. Finding time to write has not been easy, especially the kind of time it takes to write about topics that others might care about in a way that makes others want to read it. There are times when the blog almost died, when I hadn't written for a few weeks. But it did not die. I'm still writing and more motivated to write than ever.

I don't know how much good this blog has done for others, but it's made a huge impact on me. It's forced me to be more reflective and more intentional in my spiritual life, challenging me to be on the journey that I say that I'm on. It's also helped me to focus my efforts and my thoughts. Writing requires a certain coherency, a pattern, and an application. It has to exist for a reason. It can be full of twists and turns and seemingly aimless wandering, but all those have to ultimately lead to somewhere. Writing this blog has gotten me to look at the daily events in my life (and in the literature and news that I read) and make meaning out of them. If God exists, then nothing is inconsequential - this blog has helped me to find the answer to the "So what?" questions in my life and aim each day in a certain direction. I firmly believe that good writing is public and for an audience, and I want to be a good writer; however, no matter what this blog is to my audience, it has been precious to me.

I'd also like to use this celebratory blog to post links to a couple of my favorite posts. It was hard to choose, as I feel so connected to all of them. However, here's a few that were memorable to me:

My Sermon in a Barn: "It's Not Me." (July 2009): The text from one of the favorite speeches I've given. Some of the most applicable thoughts on spirituality I've put together.

The Reality of "Here." (November 2009): This post and a couple of subsequent posts on the same topic is the first time I really took all the covers off and got blatantly real about personal struggles.

New Year's Confession (January 2010): The day I faced an addiction and realized I'm not as disciplined as I had hoped.

Health Care and Chainsaws (April 2010): The reason I love living in Nora Springs and near family, and my vision of what churches should be.

Seeing God This Weekend (May 2010) and To Be a Man (June 2010): Tributes to my parents, who worked hard (and still do) to raise me right.

Playing 1st Base: Marty McFly (August 2010): Anytime I can connect Back to the Future references with spirituality and church-league softball, it's a good day.

Two Steps Back to Make One Step Forward (January 2011): The post that has guided my path for spiritual growth for the past four months.

I'm partial to some of my more recent posts as well, but I'll let time be the judge of those. They need to stand for a while before I can call them favorites.

As for you, thanks for reading. I don't always know who's reading, and I do know that many of you often disagree with me. But I'm glad you're a part of this and let me speak through this blog that's meant so much to me. If any of the 1st one hundred posts have been particularly memorable for you, I'd love to hear about it.

Here's to the next 100. To God be the glory.

Somewhere Between Illicit Sex and Murder

While reading a passage in Galatians recently, a text I've been over many times before, something new stood out to me. The passage contains a list of the "works of the flesh"; in other words, these are the big sins that get mentioned a lot amongst church folk. Adultery is in there, as is fornication, idolatry, drunkenness, murder, and the like. You know, the worst of the worst.

Tucked into that list, though, stands a word that often goes unmentioned: "discord." The New King James version uses the term "dissension." I did some digging on these words and found the following definitions and origins (emphasis added):

• tension or strife from lack of agreement
• state of disharmony marked by bickering and antipathy
• disagreement amongst those expected to cooperate
• disagreement leading to quarrel
• Latin origin: "dis" (apart) + "cord" (heart)

This one got to me. How often are there sermons or conversations about this one? When do Christian commentators, when suggesting the degradation of society, use discord as evidence? Why does it seem like we'll talk about sexual sins and idol worship and hatred till we're blue in the face, but exhortations to refrain from dissension (especially with those whom we are expected to cooperate) seem rare?

They're all in the same list. Discord is sandwiched somewhere between cheating on your spouse and murdering your enemy. Paul obviously takes it pretty seriously.

Discord is everywhere. It's almost more common in two places that should be holier than others in society: the home and the church. We'll take great care to pray for our enemies or turn the other cheek; why don't we take the same care in preventing discord with the ones we love? Husbands and wives - what good is proudly avoiding adultery all these years if the marriage is marked by bickering and "heart apart"? Both are "works of the flesh." How many Christian homes and churches live day to day, week to week, in the dense fog of tension caused by a willingness to allow this discord to linger? Would we be this patient, this permissive, with scandalous affairs? With murder? The list is the same.

This is not a call to ignore wrongdoing in others for the sake of keeping the peace. In fact, in the very next chapter, Paul calls it our job to "restore gently" those who have strayed from God. Avoiding confrontation is not the answer. What this calls for instead is to move forward after disagreement; to disagree and then to love anyway; or to passionately seek the truth in theological disagreements without it causing strife.

After reading this passage, I took a look at my "Pray Big" list. So many of the items listed dealt with discord, especially in families. I see the pain in the list, and I understand why the word made Paul's writing in Galatians. This "work of the flesh" is indeed lethal.

If At First You Don't Succeed. . .

My month-long challenge of praying big has ended with mixed results. I did get back into the routine of praying regularly once again, which is a huge plus. I also came to some realizations, including the power of prayer in gaining perspective and peace. It was a good month - I made progress on this goal.

I'm not ready to move on yet, though. For one, my numbers weren't great. I ended up actually sitting down at the keyboard to pray 19 out of 31 days. I know that prayer can still "count" (as if God is keeping score) if I'm not at my computer, but it's just not the same. If I'm typing, I'm focused and purposeful. The prayer isn't an afterthought. And despite the fact that I did pray for everything on my "Pray Big List" over the month, I only got in front of that screen for the purpose of praying just over 60% of the days.

Weekends were killers. That's counterintuitive; but for whatever reason, the days with no prayers were primarily Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I need to find a way to make that less of a pattern.

Bottom line is that I'm simply not where I want to be, so I can't move on. I can't push my focus onto something new without the proper progress on prayer for fear of losing these gains in my spiritual journey. If I commit to another month (and make that public here), it'll allow myself to be held accountable once again.

I also want to take the month and make plans on how to act on my requests. I fully believe God can do whatever he wants, but I also believe it's my responsibility to care about my "pray big list" more than by simply praying. If I can act, I should act. I must go to God, but I also can't absolve myself of responsibility. I intend on finding ways to be a more active participant in making these gigantic faith leap goals possible.

I have another goal as well. I still have a ton of unanswered questions about prayer. Frankly, it's lazy of me not to pursue answers. It's not like they're going to fall out of the sky into my lap. Often knowledge requires work, especially knowledge worth having.

One question I have concerns the purpose, appropriateness, effectiveness, and Biblical basis for corporate prayer. Why do we have a couple hundred people bow their heads in church so that someone else can pray a prayer for them, just because they have the microphone? If God values authenticity, and the words being prayed are not my own, what's the point? Has this become a basic tradition in church, a way to pass from point B to point C in the schedule printed in the bulletin? That one has bugged me for years.

I have other questions as well, and I'd like to create a list for me to work on over the next several weeks. I'm asking for help from my readers: What questions do you have about prayer? What knowledge can I seek out for you, for us? It's not easy to believe in the power of something one doesn't understand. I hope for us to come to a better understanding together. Please send me your questions in either the comment box or by email @ shannondykstra@gmail.com.