The Worst and Best Easter Message Ever
Easter is the greatest holiday ever. The message of Easter is our Redeemer’s message all year long! We believe that we are broken, self-oriented, and sinful and are alienated from God. If we think we are good folk that merely need to have a good moral teacher, Jesus, to make our “goodness” shine, we will miss the main message of the Bible and the whole point to this life. All of us do some good things, but we’ve been self-serving and indifferent and/or opposed to God. Don’t think so? Look at how the
political right and left both fail in their trust of people its just located in
different groups. The left places it in government and the right places
it in the corporate world and/or the
taxpayer. It’s interesting to hear commentators note that our economic problem is due to over and under regulation
simultaneously! Or how about the many studies that show that people just
don’t pay up on honor system reimbursements for cokes, coffee, etc. regardless
of the earning level of the employees. Or the many selfish arguments that
have been won at our spouse’s or friends’ expense. These statements
may not make you want to take your Easter bonnet off and do a little Easter
jig, but until we let that fact sink in, we won’t appreciate Jesus at all.
This is where some great
news comes in. God has not left humanity isolated from Him (and each
other). He came in the flesh in the person of Jesus. He obeyed all
of the Law and always related to the Father in the right way. He was
crucified and was resurrected on the third day. This resurrection is the
reason for Easter and why Christian churches
have historically met on Sunday mornings instead of Saturday the traditional
Jewish Sabbath,. We should be reminded at least weekly of the
resurrection! It’s a big deal because in
Jesus’ life and death and resurrection, our sin
and indifference to God is placed on Him and His obedience and right
relationship with the Father is given to us. Sin, death, and shame are
disarmed! This is amazing news for people
that see their need. Put that Easter bonnet back on because we’ve got
work to do.
The
Imitation
Paul writes “17 Dear
brothers and sisters,
pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our
example.” (Philippians 3:17) Paul isn’t bragging here. He’s already
pointed towards other examples like Timothy. He is fixing his eyes on
Jesus and running the race hard to know Him and running to win the prize of
spending eternity with Him. He’s inviting others join his imperfect, but
focused goal to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection and to join Him in
his suffering and death. The word “pattern” cues us that we are
talking about way more than a philosophy that we share. No, we are talking
about a way of life. It’s a lifestyle. It’s
what we value. It’s what we daydream about. It is impossible to avoid. We
will “worship” something and our lifestyle will adjust and prioritize around
something or another.
A person is going to have
issues and the word pattern doesn’t come anywhere near to implying
perfection, but it implies a consistent and ongoing desire to follow Jesus in
the midst of recurring sin and addictions and insecurities and hurt, etc.
The person thta Paul is talking about will make a priority out of following
Jesus. They wake up early, they carve out time of their week to gather
with other Christians, a substantial sum of their money is going to build God’s
kingdom, they intentionally get to know people that don’t know Jesus so He will
be known by seeing him in them and then enjoyed by them. It’s their
walk. Everything is pointed towards Him.
The
Opposite
“18 For
I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that
there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross
of Christ. 19 They are headed for destruction. Their god is their
appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life
here on earth.” (Philippians 3:18-19) Wow.
This is scary. The scariest thing about this is that almost all
commentators agree that Paul is probably not talking about aggressive pagans
that hate Christianity and have never been on board with it. Surely, they
are enemies of the cross, but these people would be unlikely to sway a
Christian in the Philippian church to want to stop living a Jesus-centered
life. No, these people have some sort of connection to churches even if we
aren’t sure about the particulars. They almost certainly have said they
follow Jesus, but their conduct denies
all of that. Their physical appetites of food and sex and all sorts of
experiences are what they really love. We all will walk in line
with our deepest values and spend our money to make it happen, daydream about
it, sacrifice in other less important areas, and be very happy when those
values begin to find expression and very upset when they don’t.
Negative example- When
gratifying our senses becomes the push of our life, we spend lots of times
thinking about money because that’s the currency of our perceived
fulfillment. We arrange our life very creatively to enjoy some of our
favorite substitutions for God...this text names one: appetite. But it
can be sexual expression, obsession with luxury items, and lots of other things
or several things in combination. Most of us probably struggle with just
about all of them. But this is not our pattern because our deepest desire
is Jesus, but we have some of these competing desires and we can sometimes forget
that its God that’s the King and not us and we can forget what fulfills and
what doesn’t. Often our biggest issues are with good things that we make
into ultimate things. Can you relate?
Let’s feel the force of
this. One of the most prominent themes of our day is that if you have a
desire, it MUST be expressed. To ask someone to repress an urge is
considered one of the most, well, repressive things that can be done. The
reality is that our indulgence is an effort to make us feel better about
ourselves and to briefly escape whatever stressful or boring realities that
surround us. Instead of minds set on knowing Jesus, these enemies of
the cross of Christ are consumed with earthly things.
We need to be like Paul and
be to the point of tears and plead with the many people in our community who
think of themselves as “Jesus friendly” but their every affection and desire is
aimed on the gratification of self. When this becomes even more full
blown, this person can glory in what should be their shame as opposed to
glorying in Jesus. They can celebrate their sinful, wicked rebellion.
This pattern shows one’s deepest desire and it ain’t Jesus! When we are a
friend of Jesus then we will declare war on everything that sets itself against
Him. But one is really an enemy of Jesus
because they have declared war on the supremacy of Jesus and have valued themselves
and their many urges that they possess over Him. If they are hoping for a 3rd
option in the middle somewhere, it doesn’t exist.
But…
20 But
we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus
Christ lives. And we are eagerly
waiting for him to return as our Savior. 21 He will take our weak mortal bodies and change
them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will
bring everything under his control.
(Philippians 3:20-21) This is heavy and alarming stuff, but we need to be
encouraged that the ones who love Jesus and who do want to press towards Him
(imperfectly), are here right now, but our ultimate citizenship is in
heaven. And our broken, conflicted, sinful body will eventually be
changed. The power of God will finish what He started with us and will
give us a new body that will never fatigue, never get sick, never be apathetic,
never have urges that will operate in opposition to happy submission to Jesus,
never assert itself over against the rule of Jesus.
So
this passage is an odd combination. On the one hand, it serves as a sober
warning for people that think of themselves as Christians but have never been
changed and still operate in a way where their urges rule the day. This is
scary for a very religious community. It’s scary for many that have
deceived themselves into thinking they are good to go because they like Jesus
ok and they are nice or successful or whatever. It’s also scary because
others can get the impression that this apathetic, indulgent mixture of the
title of “Christian” and living how we feel like living is the real deal.
And who wants that? This is why Paul warns the Philippian church so they
don’t think this counterfeit version is real. What a terrible Easter message!
On
the other hand, how encouraging is this? Everything that is broken in us
will be made right! All of the injustices in this world will be finally
corrected. We’ll enjoy Jesus perfectly then. When we feel like a
foreigner in this world that says consume, if you have a desire its good, and
live and experience as much as you can because this is all there is…good.
Your citizenship is ultimately in heaven with your reigning King Jesus. What a great Easter message!
