The danger in religion comes when our confidence, when our faith is transferred from the God with whom we are trying to connect and become centered on the various beliefs and practices and rituals essentially the “rules” of our religion. Because, you see, ultimately the rules of our religion have absolutely no power to do anything for us.
Our King Jesus is the almighty ruler of the universe. And our strength is not the physical power of this world. But our strength is in the invisible, untamable power of God who is working his plan, his way to save the world.
Children intuitively know that this world is amazing and amazing things happen in it all the time. Even kids in tough circumstances, any of you who's ever been around a kid going through a really, really hard time, they still know, and they will instinctively default to celebrating the goodness of this world. They feel called to it. It's like an obligation. They see this celebration as the work to which they have been called.
Just a little side note on the on the child in my house that decided to dig the holes in the middle of the grass. Before the whole digging hole event thing, my wife had actually come to this child and asked this child, "Would you like to go to Chick-fil-A and celebrate the grand reopening of Chick-fil-A?" To which the child responded, "No." And I quote, "Because he had a lot of work to do.” Referring of course to this project of digging holes just for the sheer joy of digging holes.
This idea when Jesus envisioned his people, his family, he designed it so that each member would need each other. It's the picture that we get from this passage that we read at the beginning of the message. This one body with many parts, each with its own role to play, each with its own ability to make contributions. And it's a great analogy because when of course you think about the parts of your body, literally there is no part that can survive on its own without the others. And literally any part of the body that is removed the whole body feels it. Even the appendix, you take it out, you're going to feel it. Which once again, nothing in our culture prepares us for that. Nothing in our Culture shapes us or forms us or trains us for this. Almost everything in our Culture is working to make us more independent, right? So much so that the suggestion that we should be in a place where we depend on others for anything, actually almost feels wrong, doesn't it?
And so in our life of faith in Jesus, we have a similar choice to make as we did with the hypothetical violin. And if you're not into music, then picture getting a brand new set of golf clubs or a pair of snow skis or a new air fryer or whatever it is that captures that sense of new that goes, "Oh, wow. That'd be cool." Right? But we have the choice to make whether we are going to just pack this new life in Jesus that we've received, put it in a box marked religious stuff, and stuff it up in the closet, or are we going to learn how to live it?
There's just something about love that feels too overwhelming, feels too vulnerable. It feels too simple, too easy. It feels even too good to be true. But if we do let it in, even just a little, it becomes the truth that gives us hope, that brings us peace, that fills us with mega joy.
Just the fact that God loves us makes even the hardest things in life filled with light. But we, you and I, have to let it in. We have to allow it to count. We have to live in light of its truth. God has done everything. Not just Christmas, but literally everything that he has ever done. God has done it all out of love. But it is up to us to notice. It's up to us to believe it, to accept it, and let it transform our life.
The step to take here is not to try to forget. The step here is not to try not to remember the event. To not remember what that person said or did to you. The step here is to simply forgive, again. You see forgiveness is more than just a singular event. A one-time thing we got through. Forgiveness is more of a posture. More of a perspective that we take on a particular event or towards a person. Where every time we remember the event. Every time it comes to mind and all the feelings around it come again. Every time we’re faced again with this decision either to demand that that person pay for what they did, or we choose once again to forgive. And not just that time but every time. Until eventually yes, you get so used to having this posture of forgiveness towards that person or towards that situation. That the event no longer stirs up feelings of anger or animosity. You see forgiveness is not a onetime set it and forget it thing that we do. It is a posture that we live in every day.
So you're in the pool and you got a beach ball and it's full of air and you know, so obviously, in in our little example here, the air is our anger, right? So, you’re trying to keep anger under the water. You all can kind of picture what that would feel like. And we spend so much time in life like trying to keep the beach ball under the water, trying to keep our anger from, you know, popping up and showing itself. And you do that, but anybody who's ever tried to keep a beach ball under the water knows that eventually it's impossible to do because eventually, you know, it pops up and there's your anger out there for all to see.
Unless, of course, you get rid of all kinds of anger, which in our little example would be to let the air out of the beach ball, right? Because you let the air out of the beach ball, well, it's not going to pop up anymore, right? Which is great. Now it stays under the water. The only thing is that all the pressure around you is still there. All the things that caused your anger to want to pop up, they're still there. And now that you don't have any anger in you, what are you supposed to do? Are you just supposed to live like a shriveled up beach ball?
Life in the kingdom of God is not a life of just not saying unwholesome things, but of saying things that spread God's grace out into the world.
Ultimately, work is not about how much money it brings into us. It is about how much of us we put into what we do. See, ultimately our work is not about earning our own living. Our work is not about us being able to achieve comfort and self-sufficiency for us and for our family. Our work is not a way to establish our status in society. Our work, us doing something useful with our own hands, according to this passage, is about having something to share with others. Paul writes, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need.” - Ephesians 4:28