Sermon and Worship Resources

I've told you this story before, but it's been a long time. And even if it had not been, it's the most appropriate story I know to introduce our theme for today. It's the story of one of my most meaningful experiences. I have a friend who is a Benedictine monk. The way we live out our lives is vastly different, but I feel a real kinship, a oneness of spirit with Brother Sam. One of the most meaningful memories, to which I return often in my mind, is an evening he and I spent together alone, sharing our Christian journeys. The vivid highlight of that evening, still alive in my mind, was his sharing with me the occasion of his solemn vows, the service when he made his life commitment to the Benedictine community and the monastic life.

On that occasion he prostrated himself before the altar of the chapel in the very spot where his coffin will be set when he dies. Covered in a funeral pall, the death bell that tolls at the earthly parting of a brother sounded the solemn gongs of death. Then there was silence – the silence of death. The silence of the gathered community was broken by the singing of the Colossian word: "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). After that powerful word, there was more silence as Brother Sam reflected on his solemn vow. Then the community broke into song with the words of Psalm 118, which is always a part of the Easter liturgy in the Benedictine community: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord" (Ps. 118:17 KJV).

After this resurrection proclamation, the deacon shouted the word from Ephesians: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light" (Eph. 5:14). Then the bells of the Abbey rang loudly and joyfully, Brother Sam rose, the funeral pall fell off, and the robe of the Benedictine order was placed on him. He received the kiss of peace and was welcomed into the community to live a life "hid in Christ." This great liturgy of death and resurrection is a symbolic reenactment of the Christian experience. When I heard it I relived my baptism in a cold creek in September in rural Mississippi. Paul gave powerful witness to this experience over and over again: I have been crucified with Christ; I am now alive in him.

To be a Christian is to change, to become new. It is not simply a matter of choosing a new life style, though there is a new style, as we will see; it has to do with being a new person. The new person does not emerge full-blown. Conversion, passing from life to death, may be the miracle of a moment, but the making of a saint -- presenting oneself perfect in Christ -- is the task of a lifetime. The dynamic process of saint-making is to work out in fact what is already true in principle. In position, in our relation to God in Jesus Christ, we are new persons. Now our condition, the actual life that we live, must be brought into harmony with our new position.

A man once said to Dwight L. Moody, "Sir, I am a self-made man." Moody replied, "You have saved the Lord from a very great responsibility." It is the Lord who made us and who remakes us. Two things happened in the fall, and in our own fall:

1. We became estranged from God;2. His image within us was broken, distorted, defaced.

Two things happen in our salvation:

1. We are reconciled to God; our estrangement is dissolved by the justifying grace of God in the cross of Jesus. Our status is changed; we become friends of God, accepted by Him as though we were without sin.2. There is the recreation of the image of God in the life of the believer. This is the reason John Wesley talked about grace impinging upon us and working in three specific ways: prevenient grace, justifying grace, sanctifying grace. Prevenient grace is the grace of God going before, pulling us, wooing us, tenderizing our hearts, seeking to open our minds and hearts, and eventually even giving us faith. Even the faith we exercise for our justification is the result of His grace. Justifying faith is our trustful-obedient response to Christ -- His life, death, and resurrection -- as our only means of salvation. Sanctifying grace is the work of Christ within us, His Spirit restoring the broken image, completing what has begun in justification.

Nothing less than a new creature "perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col. 1:28), "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24), "renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him" (Col. 3:10) is the aim.

Paul uses a striking word to describe our new life in Christ -- that word used in the liturgy of Brother Sam's commitment.. "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (3:3, RSV). A number of sentences in Colossians 2 and 3 combine to add to the powerful impact of this image. You have "died" with Christ and have been "buried" with Him in baptism (2:12). You were also "raised" with Him through faith in the working of God (2:12). God "has made" you alive together with Him" (2:13); you have been raised with Christ" (3:1).

Note the emphatic underscoring of accomplished reality. It is a settled fact that we are dead with Christ. There is no question we are risen with Him. We have died to all Christ died to; we are raised to all He was raised to. We now have to live out in practice what has already happened in fact.

Mickey Rooney, the famous American actor, made witness to this in a television interview. Rooney has been crass, crude, often drunk in such appearances, usually angry and insulting. But the interviewer knew something had happened, and questioned Rooney about his recent past when he hit bottom emotionally and financially. Rooney calmly answered, "I don't mean to sound ecclesiastical, but recently I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and now my past is gone."

The Christian is a new person united with Christ. The two overwhelming events through which Jesus passed into the power of an endless life were death and resurrection. Those who are united with Him must reproduce in their personal spiritual histories these two events. To be in and with Christ is to be identified with Him in death and resurrection. This is what it means to live a life "hidden with Christ in God". But what does that mean?

Paul's image is that of death and resurrection -- the image vividly lived out in the liturgy of Brother Sam. So to live a life hidden with Christ in God means: One, we are united in Christ's death; and two, we are united in his resurrection. Let's look at these.

First, we are united in Christ's death. We talked about this last Sunday. The Cross meets us at the point of our deepest needs for forgiveness, for love, for community, and for a cause for which to live and die. Since we dealt extensively with it then, let's state the issue plainly again, and move on.

The person whose life is "hid with Christ in God" is dead to sin because He is united with Christ's death which destroyed the power of sin over us. For us, like Paul, there must be finality about Christ making us victors over sin. There is something bold and defiant and jubilant about the way Paul spoke of death to sin and the old life by our sharing in the death of Christ. Faith in Christ means "being made comfortable unto His death, (having our) nature transformed to die as He died" (Phil. 3:10 Moffatt). Paul "has not spent his life in burying that dead man who died on the road to Damascus, or in celebrating his memory with copious floods of tears. He boldly turned his back upon him once for all in order that the new life that had come to dwell in him might have room for growth and ultimate glory."

The fact is that Christ has destroyed the power of sin. Now, sharing in the death of Christ, we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and are empowered to become what we potentially are. Let me say that again. Sharing in the death of Christ, we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and are empowered to become what we potentially are.

A few months ago I received a letter which illustrates this in a poignant way. Let me say something parenthetically before I share the letter. This past week, dear Dr. Grant, founding pastor of this church, our Minister Emeritus, said to me with tear mists of joy in his eyes -- "A revival is taking place in this church." I believe that friends. Persons' lives are being changed. Persons are seeking to bring their lives into harmony with God's Will -- they are changing their life styles. Literally, miracles are taking place in our midst -- This letter witnesses to one of them:

"Dear Maxie: I am writing you this to let you know I heard your sermon on "With or Without Miracles" on Christmas. God has done a great miracle for me everyday. This past fall I attempted suicide. I thought life was not worth living and that I had no purpose for being alive. But since then I have had people come forward and tell me how I have shown them to go on when things get tough. They have told me I have courage that many people don't have. And these people knew nothing about my attempted suicide. And God has given me friends that each day watch out for me. I still don't know why I am here but I know that God has a plan and a purpose for me or else He would have let me die this past fall. He would also not have sent friends to me that told me they love me and that I make a difference in their lives. So I thank God for working a miracle in my life by saving it and for giving me the miracle of friends. So God does exist and He does come through when you need Him the most. I had rather not leave my name, but I am a Christian that is fighting for life with the help of God. The past is dead, the future is alive -- and I praise God!"

So, to live a life hidden with Christ in God, we are united in Christ's death.

II.

And now, the second big truth, which is the burden of our message today. To live a life hidden with Christ in God means also that we are united in Christ's resurrection.

When Paul refers in verse 4 of Chapter 3 to "Christ who is our life", he is making an astounding claim. The new life into which we enter by conversion is nothing else than the life of Christ Himself. If this were his only reference to it we might question it, but this is no sideline thought. In 2 Cor. 4:10, Paul speaks of "the life of Jesus" being "made manifest in our body". In Romans 8:2, he says "the law of the Spirit" which overcomes the "law of sin and death" brings the "life which is in Christ Jesus".

This new life is not different from the "old" life only in degree; it is a new kind, a new quality of life. Paul makes the radical claim that this new life is nothing less than a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).

This means at least two things. One, death has no power over us. The risen and exalted Lord conquered death. We do not wait for eternal life; it is ours now. Risen with Christ, the glorious privilege of beginning now the life with Christ which will continue eternally is ours.

I heard a story recently about a boy who was walking home with his mother from church one Sunday. He had obviously listened to the preacher because he said to his mother, "Mommy, the preacher's sermon this morning confused me. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure thing," replied the mother.

"Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?"

"Yes, that is true," the mother replied.

"And he also said that God lives in us. Is that true, Mommy?"

Again the mother replied, "Yes".

"Well," the boy continued. "If God is bigger than us, and if God lives inside us, shouldn't He show through?"

It's a relevant question. Especially relevant when we think of the point that Paul is making in our text, that when we share in the resurrection of Christ, death has no power over us. That should show through -- it should show through in the way we deal with the problems of our life. A wringing of hands in hopelessness in the face of any problem is never a Christian response.

It should show through when we confront temptation. The promise of scripture is that no temptations will be put upon us that we can't overcome.

It should show through in our dealing with sickness and death. Paul was consistent in his affirmation. Do you remember his ringing word to the Corinthians -- II Corinthians 4: 16 - 18.

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

As Christians, we are united in Christ's resurrection. That should show through as we live in confidence that death has no power over us.

But sharing Christ's risen life means a second thing: It means that the power which raised Jesus from the dead is also our power.

We do not have to be the victims of sin. The hampering limitations of the present order need not overcome us. We have moved from the domain of the flesh into the realm of the Spirit. Here is an illustration of it in a letter I received from a woman who with five others had attended a prayer seminar I was leading. These women were a part of a group of twelve who meet every Thursday at 6:30 a.m. for prayer, study, and sharing. Their fellowship has become the true koinonia where Christ lives and His Holy Spirit works. The letter confirmed that fact.

I thought you might be interested in our group of six -- obviously thoroughly enjoying the Lord, and each other. One, an alcoholic, given the simple medicine of love -- last drink November, 1973. One, whose husband left her with two boys – he living here with a "fancy lady" -- she, making it alone by the power of Christ. One, who has just won a battle over cancer. One, who has just gone through the anguish of placing her mother in a nursing home due to advanced arteriosclerosis. One whose husband had an affair -- now both ladies are in a prayer group, praying hand in hand each week. One, who was on the verge of a nervous breakdown before coming to Junaluska (NC) -- now praising the Lord.

She concluded her letter by asking, "How is that to prove that joy and peace are in the Lord while life grinds on?" Then she added this humorous line, "Bet you wonder which is which but that's a secret." These women have made the magnificent discovery that the power which raised Jesus from the dead is available to us who share in His death and resurrection.

COLOSSIANS SERIES #10: "A LIFE HIDDEN WITH CHRIST"Scripture: Colossians 2: 20 - 3:4