(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 04/23/06) 

INTRODUCTION:

I probably should… I know I shouldn’t… I know I’m supposed to… I really don’t want to, but…  There are some things that you and I struggle with occasionally, like, “Here I am again at this event or function and every time it rolls around, I find myself having a hard time dealing with this issue or trying not to be impatient or intolerant toward that person.”  Then there are the things that are not occasional, things that confront us constantly, daily, minute by minute, the things that we know we need to address and be concerned about every waking moment, like, “Here’s how I know I’m supposed to think about this, how I ought to feel about that, what I ought to say or not say, do or not do, and sometimes things are alright, but sometimes things aren’t really even close to alright, and quite often I hardly know what to make of it all – this constant pressure to be the person I know God wants me to be.”

Today we’re going to hear one of those messages from the Lord that it would be good for us to strap around our arm, pin to our clothing or chisel into our brains and hearts so we had it with us all the time.  It’s a message that’s overflowing with just what we need for everything that occupies us every waking moment.  And it rises up from the events of Easter Sunday.  There’s a truth from Jesus’ resurrection that has constant application.

The Living Christ:
Power Source For Genuine Christian Living

For every interaction we have with fellow Christians and for every second we spend as people of God in a sin-corrupted, sin-polluted world, Jesus Christ supplies everything we need.  If you’re tempted to think, “It can’t be that easy” (six simple words – Jesus Christ supplies everything we need), the Holy Spirit’s going to be doing some work today to get you to believe, “That’s really what it boils down to.”

For example, here at church or where you actually spend most of your time (away from the hymns and lessons and prayers that take place during these sixty or seventy minutes), how are you supposed to always not only get along with but actually love all fellow Christians?  How are you supposed to always think about and always treat fellow Christians as if they were Christ himself, when they say some of the things they say and act the way they do?  There are people who trust in Jesus who just rub you the wrong way, whom you know and can feel that you just don’t like being around.  God’s not smiling and you know he’s not when, inaudibly and invisibly on the inside, we’re sighing and rolling our eyes and thinking, “What is with this person?”

The Holy Spirit wrote through an old pastor named John to communicate with us about how we need to visualize that repeating scenario.  With an everlasting, incomprehensible, undeserved love, God the Father loves that fellow Christian of mine who rubs me the wrong way.  He sacrificed and condemned Jesus for that person.  If I can hardly stomach him or her or them, then I don’t have an issue with him or her or them.  I have an issue with God.  He loves them dearly.  Whenever or in whatever way I don’t, I put myself at odds with God.

Regarding our fellow Christians in the family or the church or the community, loving each other is a huge issue and here’s where that issue always needs to start.  Jesus willingly gave his life to pay for their sins and for mine.  God the Father graciously adopted them into his family and me into his family.  The Holy Spirit gave them faith in Christ and spiritual life in the same way that he gave those blessings to me – as unearned, undeserved gifts.  That makes them and me siblings of Christ and spiritual siblings of each other.

The will of God is that we feel about them, speak to them and act toward them accordingly.  Difficult?  Burdensome?  Impossible?  Not with the living Christ in the picture. He’s the power source for genuine Christian living.  He died to redeem you.  He lives to assure you that you are redeemed.  But he’s also living his life in you and through you.  And he’s doing that powerfully and effectively as he gets you to simply see, “If I love God the Father, then all my fellow Christians are nothing less than his dearly loved children.  If he loves them as he does, then with the powerful help of Jesus it will be my life’s business to love them just as he does.”

There is another layer to this Christian living topic that would seem to complicate things.  There is more going on than just what’s happening between fellow Christians.  On the loose is a mad, rabid, ravenous killer named Satan.  Jesus called him the prince of this world.  Jesus rules this world, but Satan’s not going to stop trying to ruin it.  He’s dispatching his evil angels; he’s exerting his influence through unbelievers.  He’s like people who laughed and cheered when the twin towers went down.  He’s a terrorist who loves to see death and disaster and murder and mayhem and anything that will work to cut Christian branches off Christ the vine. 

“The world” is often the bible’s term for anything and everything, externally bad or seemingly good, that will lead you to sin or to despair or to ditch Jesus.  It can be money or the absence of money.  It can be success or the absence of success.  It can be anxiety or the absence of anxiety.  It can be the lie that living for God takes the fun out of life or the deception that doing what feels good will make you happy.  Not caving in on any of these fronts is the battle that you’re waging all day, every day.

One thing makes you a winner over the world, and God’s already given it to you – faith in the living Christ, the power source for genuine Christian living.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.   It’s good to eat some humble pie if the humble pie is this: I am no match for Satan.  I am no match for the forces at work in this world and in my world that want me to forget about Jesus and to believe that if anything’s going to go well for me I’m going to have to take care of it myself.  I am not even any kind of match for my own sinful self, but Jesus is.

A childlike trust overcomes the whole world and everything it can hurl at you because it connects you to Christ.  His hold on you cannot be broken.  His strength to protect you and keep you cannot fail.  His power to enable you to live for God is limitless.  His love for you is unending and unquestionable.  Not caving in on any front is what’s going to happen for you because Jesus is alive to make that happen. 

There are two events that we have celebrated in 2006 which verify this for you – Jesus’ baptism (the water) and Jesus’ crucifixion (the blood).  In the Jordan River you see that Jesus was willing to take your place, and your Father in heaven approved.  On the cross he did take your place, and Easter Sunday your Father showed his approval.  Jesus Christ supplies everything you need.

There’s some genuine Christian living to be done during your every waking moment – loving fellow Christians and not caving in to the world.  Jesus lives to get it done through you.  Together, victory is assured.

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