Resurrection Strength

Philippians 1:21 (Amplified Bible) “For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity]”

This verse offers some of the most memorable words in the entire Bible: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Regardless of whether the verdict of his case was life or death, Paul would remain faithful to God. He knew that life on this earth meant to live for Christ, but death would be even better because he would be in the presence of the Lord. Paul was in no hurry to die, since it was important to him to spread the gospel as far as possible.

On the 7th of September, 1850, seven British missionaries set sail from Liverpool. Under the leadership of Captain Allen Francis Gardiner — a decorated veteran of the Royal Navy — they were bound for Patagonia, at the southernmost tip of South America. They had six months of provisions and high hopes for the work of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Yet the trip ended in total failure. The natives were hostile. The climate was harsh and unforgiving. The resupply ship failed to arrive until it was too late. And the missionaries died of starvation, one by one. 

The party’s surgeon was Richard Williams, and when the search party found his body, they also found his diary. The last page he ever wrote was a testimony to his undying faith in Jesus Christ. We can picture him huddled up in the hull of his little boat, suffering from sickness, and writing the following words as his last testament:

‘Should anything prevent my ever adding to this (diary), let my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy, beyond all expression, the night I wrote these lines, and would not have exchanged situations with any man living. Let them also be assured that my hopes were full and blooming with immortality, that Heaven and Love and Christ, which mean one and the same divine thing, were my soul; that the hope of glory filled my whole heart with joy and gladness; and that ‘TO ME to live is Christ and to die is gain.’” 

God of the first and the last,

and all those in between,

Your grace reaches out to all of us—

life-long believers or newcomers alike.

You call us to live as citizens of heaven,

to work together with one mind and one purpose,

to reach out in love to those in need.

Strengthen us so that we might live in a manner worthy

of the Good News we have received,

offering our lives to the building up of Your upside-down kingdom,

where the last are first, and the first are last,

and there is grace enough for all. Amen

Resurrection Strength

John 10:10 The thief approaches with malicious intent, looking to steal, slaughter, and destroy; I came to give life with joy and abundance. (The Voice)

Jesus talked a lot about bequeathing life a fullness of life and that abundance is not just for hereafter. But more than this, he call us to be life-givers - to facilitate the full life of compassion, justice, reconciliation and peace. We are called to be ministers of life, serving the God who loves all life.

There are things that rob us of a full life. For example, the truth is that fullness of life is not found in pleasure, performance, possessions, position, or pursuits; it is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus says time and time again that he is the giver of life, the author of life.

Wilbur Rees wrote a poem that is complete satire during the emergence of the civil rights movement.   As with most satire, there is a significant truth within the poetic text as it accurately reflects the small hearts of many. 

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.

A. B. Simpson, preacher and theologian contemplating John 10:10 suggests that “Christ is not a reservoir but a spring. His life is continual, active and ever passing on with an outflow as necessary as its inflow. If we do not perpetually draw the fresh supply from the living fountain, we shall either grow stagnant or empty, It is, therefore, not so much a perpetual fullness as a perpetual filling.”

Open our eyes and our ears 

that wherever we go, 

we may hear your voice calling us by name; 

calling us to serve, 

calling us to share, 

calling us to praise, 

so that we never give up on the promise of your kingdom, 

where the world is transformed, 

and all can enjoy life in all its fullness. 

Amen.

Resurrection Strength

Colossians 3:3-4 “Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you.”

A few years ago, when archaeologists began excavating in the courtyard of a medieval monastery, they found seeds that had been dormant for more than 400 years that had begun to grow. King Henry VIII had closed the monastery in 1539, and herbs tended by the monks died. But they sprouted to life again after the archaeologists disturbed the earth.

The issue for many regarding the New Life that Christ offers, is that it can be quite disturbing. One writer contemplating these verses from Colossians suggest that Christians live in faith between the Already and Not Yet.

We live in a theological tension. By faith in Christ, all of the spiritual blessings are ours already, but the full enjoyment of these blessings is not yet ours. This is the life of faith: “the assurance of things hoped for” in the future, and “the conviction of things not seen” in the present (Hebrews 11:1). This is life between the times.

Television makeover shows have become very popular. Whether it is a home, a car, or a person. It seems people love to see things transformed. 

Have you ever thought about how you could be changed yourself?  Maybe some have considered cosmetic surgery where the difference can be profound. Ugly can be made beautiful. But for how long? Live in a house for a period without tending to the necessary repair and it will return to its previous state of disrepair.  Put enough miles on a car and it will end up in the scrap yard.  And no amount of cosmetic surgery will overcome the effects bad eating and lifestyle habits. 

By contrast, New Life in Christ can mean what we will become is not susceptible to decay, disrepair, destruction, or dilapidation. The stale is made fresh and it stays fresh. The unattractive becomes beautiful and it stays beautiful. The undesirable becomes wanted and is always wanted. The worthless becomes more precious than gold and it will always be precious. 

Heavenly Father, thank You that my life is hid with Christ in You. As I die to self and live for Christ, may my life reflect Your love, gentleness, compassion, and truth. In Jesus' name, AMEN

Resurrection Strength

Colossians 3 1-2 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

A pastor told a story of a man in his congregation who had lost literally hundreds of thousands. He owed everybody. One day the pastor asked him, "How in the world are you even surviving? How can you smile? How can you be enthusiastic about Jesus and about life when you are just going through all kinds of problems?

He said, "Next time you come to my house, I will show you how."

The pastor said that he was curious, so not long after that he went to his house. He said, "I told you I would show you the thing that gives me strength." They went into his study and there was a painting. It was a simple painting of a Bible experience we call "Daniel in the Lion's Den." It was a beautiful painting. There was Daniel standing there among ferocious looking lions. These were not sleeping, slumbering lions. These were lions whose teeth were bared and whose claws were exposed. You could tell that they were threatening to hurt Daniel! There was a shaft of light that seemed to be falling down from the roof of that cave in which Daniel and those lions were being kept. The man said to his pastor, "Look at Daniel's eyes!" the pastor looked closely at the eyes of Daniel and Daniel was looking up at the light.

The man said to him, "The thing that gives me strength in the midst of my troubles is this. Daniel is not looking at the lions. He is looking at the light!" So when you get surrounded with a lot of adversity; when you get surrounded by a lot of problems, don't focus on the lions focus on the light and that's God's prescription for depression.

The clear focus in these Colossians verses concern where that the believers are to set their focus: “seek things that are above…set your minds on things that are above” (3:1–2). So often this is taken to mean something like, “think about heaven,” “seek things that are of a Godly quality,” or “set your minds on things that are good, peaceful, divine, rather than things that will bring you down.”

Right in the middle of the two focus set of words to “seek” and “set your minds,” Paul identifies “above” as “where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” In doing this Paul draws attention to Christ’s lordship. The one who reigns as Lord of the universe, the one at the centre of our seeking, is none other than the crucified Jesus, the image of God, who came to renew life. Surely, this is resurrection strength!

Prayer

Lord Jesus, today, I set my eyes on You because You are the Author and the Finisher of my faith. I offer my everything to You because You own them all. I offer my words, actions, and thoughts to You, may they glorify You all the time. Lord, I want to thank You for enduring the cross, despising the shame, all to reconcile mankind and God the Father. Lord, I cannot thank You enough for such a wonderful display of love. Lord, may I love my enemies and not hate them. May I pray for those who persecute me, and treat those who hate me with love. May I never pay evil with evil, but good with evil. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Resurrection Strength

“It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.” Ephesians 2:4-6 (the Message)

Baptist Minister Dwight L Moody once said, “Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody, of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now. I shall have gone up higher, that is all; gone out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal, a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body like unto His own glorious body. I was born of the flesh in 1837. I was born of the Spirit in 1856. That which is born of the flesh may die. That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.”

A preacher named Mike told of his conversion to Christ. How his family was known throughout the community as the worst examples of humanity. The parents were irresponsible. The kids were troublemakers. They lived like animals, even eating food out of waste bins.

Everyone who saw them thought, "That’s just who they are. That’s all they’ll ever be. They’ll never change."

But Mike did.

There came a point at which he heard the powerful message of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and he decided that was what he wanted for his life. He believed in Jesus, repented of his sins, and was buried in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of his sins. He eventually became a preacher and part of his ministry reached into his family – of whom he baptised several.

Then one day, Mike was at the funeral of his brother-in-law. One of the women who was there (and who had not seen him since his conversion) spoke with him and she said that she was amazed at the change that had taken place in his life. She was surprised at what he had made of himself.

Mike responded: "Oh I really appreciate your compliment, but I really didn’t change myself. It was Christ in me that brought about the changes in my life."

Lord Jesus Christ,
alive and at large in the world,
help me to follow and find you there today,
in the places where I work,
meet people,
spend money,
and make plans.
Take me as a disciple of your Kingdom,
to see through your eyes,
and hear the questions you are asking,
to welcome all with your trust and truth,
and to change the things that contradict God’s love
by the power of your cross
and the freedom of your spirit.
Amen.

Easter 3

Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to the Ten in the Upper Room  

The ones locked away in fear   

Risen Lord, though we are afraid and our fears are real, speak peace to our hearts and breathe upon us the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

1  Upper room, the table bare

No bread, no wine now here to share.

We’ve heard the news, yet still we fear

No peace of mind, to dry our tears.

2 Then in an instance, light appeared.

Is it a trick that now has neared.

What ghost, what spectre see we now

Disturbing heart and mind, but how?

3 “What is your trouble, doubting minds

Look at my hands, my feet, here find

Reach out and touch, for it is I

No apparition here, no lie.”

4 His hands, his feet his broken side

We saw yet in our hearts denied,

How could the Lord from death be risen

“What food have you, no bread of heav’n?”

5 We gave, he ate and once again

He shared the word and made it plain.

All we had heard, seemed new to tell

How all things preached were planned as well.

6 “The suffering, the third day rise

Repentance sure, forgiveness wise

Were written for the world to know

And  you my witnesses will go.

7 Jerusalem’s where you will start

And then from there you will embark

As witnesses to human kind

Across the world to seek and find.

8 I now must to my Father go

That you a comforter may know,

One to strengthen to make things plain.

So wait just now and here remain.

Artwork and verse by Rev’d Paul Collings

Resurrection Strength

Even the disciples who lived with Jesus while he was on earth had a hard time trusting the news of the Resurrection at first. Their friends who firstx saw the Risen Jesus couldn’t convince them that he was alive. They were only convinced by meeting Jesus.

In Mark 16:14 we read, “ Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.”

There is a verse by an unknown author that says

Doubt sees the obstacles
faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day.
Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions ‘who believes?’
Faith answers, ‘I.’

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stumbled, 

then looked down and taken my eyes off God. 

It can happen in an instant.

And once you’re looking down, you really get a good look at those rocks. They’re sharp and jagged. They’re everywhere. You’re not even sure how you got this far…but looking at these rocks now, and looking just a short distance ahead, it’s just more of the same.

Suddenly, doubt and despair fills your heart to the extent that you can’t even move. You’re paralysed by them. Why would you want to go through more of this?

Yet as Paul put it, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Do you recall when Thomas finally met the Risen Lord how Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29

We well may ask how do I respond to Thomas? With laughter, scorn, sympathy or fellow-feeling? If we follow through the scene with Thomas, we might learn much about faith and about ourselves. We see that Thomas lacked faith in his brothers and sisters. His independent mindedness refused to accept their word, wanting to reach his own conclusions for himself. If I am to be a Christian I am called to belong to others - to grow in trust of them if I am to grow in faith in God.

Spirit of Christ, we, who like to think we are reasonable people of scientific bent, thank you for the gift of blind faith. It is there where we can no longer see but stand bemused and hope-less, you come to our side and give us the courage to leap across a love-gulf so deep that is separates despair from joy.

Spirit of Christ, stand by us today that we may again leap where reason fears to tread and to love where ego stalls. Amen