The choice between life and death

I have never preached a sermon without notes....never that is, until 2 weeks ago. And the entire reason for doing so is that I felt so strongly about the topic about which I was preaching. I was a mess all week, lost a few pounds in being anxious about doing such a thing, worried that I would completely clam up and while it sounded great in the dining room, when I got to the pulpit it wouldn't sound so wonderful after all.

However, my fears were not realized. Rather than being relieved, I was actually more certain that what I was preaching had run so deep in me that to have created a manuscript or notes would have been stupid because the words were so deeply in grained in my psyche. The particular message was all about life.... or rather the choices we make between life and death.

Most of us might think that we don't ever get to choose life or death. After all, we have no opinions over whether or not we are physically born and we have very little control over when, how we die but we have EVERYTHING to do with how we live, not withstanding extraordinary events or tragedies.  Of course I get this directive to live life from Scripture so here we go.

I think one of my favorite people in the Bible is the gospel writer, John - at least he is among the top of the list for now. I have read through his gospel a few times and dipped in and out of it many times. However, during my time in the UK I was deeply embedded in his first letter. I am learning that the Word of God is indeed alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And so John's first letter did exactly that - penetrating the deepest recesses of my heart. I had heard a sermon some time ago about life and was challenged to look into the matter for myself. John starts off his letter with these words:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, which our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."

So John starts us off with him trying to find words to explain to us what has happened. John was a disciple of Jesus and not only that, was one of the three, along with Peter and James, that formed the most intimate inner circle of disciples. Scholars believe he was one of the youngest of the disciples, possibly in his late teens and definitely no older than early twenties. He got to have nearly 1000 days, nearly 24/7, 365 with Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the One who would be the Atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.... John probably wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but he was in one heck of a privileged position. 

However, I digress....

In these opening words in his first letter, John is trying to help his readers get a handle of just who this is - that which was from the beginning. Now, John is really into letting us know that the only One who was from the beginning is THE one. The I AM, God, Almighty, Holy and Awesome. Perhaps he knew the beginning of the Pentateuch - Genesis starts with, "In the beginning, God..." John begins his Gospel with, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made..." John is wanting to emphasize that God was and is the beginning. there was nothing before because God has always been. However, for our human being understanding, John starts with, "That which was from the beginning..." Then he goes on to describe to us, by using the human senses, who this was....from the beginning. John is trying to help us listen to, hear, touch and know the LIFE. "The life appeared... and made his dwelling among us and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us...."

All through John's writings; the gospel, the letters and Revelation, are the themes of life and death and light vs darkness. what John is telling his readers is that there is no life apart from Christ. 

I have struggled with the verse, John 10:10; "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." Other translations say, "in abundance," or "more and better life than they ever dreamed of," but whichever translation is used, the word in Greek is "life."  The girl's name, "Zoe," is also from the Greek word meaning, life and this is the essence of what John is getting at when he quotes Jesus. I have struggled with this verse because I don't believe I have gotten to the core of what this word means and what Jesus was saying. 

I had a hard conversation with a good friend recently. she is really struggling in many ways and this topic of life came up with her. while I was sharing my thoughts on life, she cut in and said something along the lines of, "Well, I am alive, I am breathing."  I thought about this comment for a moment and was careful in my reply as she is hurting and I didn't want to accuse her of not being alive. So I wondered if the medical definition of being alive is not the same as the way in which Jesus would describe it. Jesus is saying that without the life that He offers, we are not really alive. yes, we are sucking in air, using it and expelling it, but is that really the God definition of life? Not according to John. having life is only possible because we are in Christ and have abundant life through Him and the important thing to remember is that there is nothing in all of creation that can give us this kind of life. Creation is part of the Creator's genius and the only One that can give us life is the one that sustains life and is the source of life. 

However, God's desire is for us to have it. But he will not force it on us. it is not our automatic right. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life." John said, " We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us." 

Choose life. Choose to live in Christ. Make the choice between life and death.  

The choice of joy

As the Apostle Paul was finishing up his words to the Philippian Church, he wrote these words;

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Why does Paul say, "...I will say it again: Rejoice?" He has told us to rejoice in the Lord always once already so why the underlining of saying it again? Because we are not good at rejoicing. We, for the most part, suck at it.  So Paul has to remind us to do it - again. 

Last year I wrote and thought about joy A LOT, mostly because I am not a naturally joyfully person. Some of my friends would disagree with me on this one, but I believe that God has, for the past few months, been teaching me how to practice joy, and usually to practice it when I least want to do so.

Back in 2008, I lived in Bend, OR. It was one of the most transformational years of my up until now existence. I met with a woman in her mid forties who is currently a teaching pastor at one of the larger churches in the city. She is married with four children, one of whom is now married (and to date has a baby boy). We talked about being a female pastor in a male world, wrestling with motherhood while pursuing a call to pastoral leadership and many other topics graced our accompanying coffee dates. I was anxious to glean from her what it was like to be a pastor and those things which I really needed to know and those of which I needed to be aware in my new vocation. One of the things with which she was considering was this whole idea of joy. Although her life was pretty great, she was always aware that it was too great and what bomb was going to drop out of nowhere for her or her family. So she started a pursuit of finding joy - in everything. It was actually highly prophetic as little over a year ago, her husband developed Lou Gehrig disease - completely devastating news as there is no cure. However, her work on the pursuit of joy, or rather, the "Joy Project," had been done without her knowing that this would prove unbelievable preparation for the next phase in her family's life.

I haven't kept in regular contact with her since 2009 after I left Bend, but I do see various facebook posts and occasionally read her blog. The tenacity and relentless pursuit of life and joy amongst difficult circumstances has been inspirational. No one chooses such life threatening illnesses...they are not tests sent to us by a loving God, they are not what we would wish for those whom we love or anyone in fact, but how we handle them and live our lives with them is how much we trust and know that our lives here are short and we had better make the most of them while we have life. Hard to do, I know, in the mist of tragedy and adversity, but, as the Psalmist puts it, our lives are but mist... and mist is gone by the morning. We are also fully loved and cherished and gifted by an Almighty and Holy God so there is way more to just enduring calamities than we might imagine.

And so, back to joy. I am experiencing a lot of joy right now and there is the thought at the back of my mind that the shoe is about to drop (the first one hasn't yet and so it can't be the other shoe) and this time of joy will be short lived. However, that is missing the point of true joy. The Apostle, Paul tells us to REJOICE, oh, and by the way, to do that IN THE LORD.... and to do it ALWAYS. It is not a happy-clappy kind of joy that is totally reliant on how I am feeling or the circumstances in my life but completely dependent on the source of our joy - THE LORD. Only when I rely - completely and utterly - on HIM, will I experience fully joy, the God-given, Holy, amazing joy - no matter what.

I think that is why Paul then goes on to tell us not to be anxious about anything - because, believe me, there is plenty to be anxious about if we look at our circumstances and uncertainty around us. So we get to choose.... but Paul asks us to choose this one....

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS!!!!