High in the Italian Alps is a cross on one of the peaks, and each year at Easter, many people gather around this cross to celebrate Jesus’ death on our behalf. But one day, someone walked beyond the cross, to find another monument – an open cave, to celebrate the empty tomb which Jesus left behind when He arose from the dead. How often do people finish the story of Jesus with His death and forget what is even more important – that He conquered death by rising from it! Likewise, America’s third President, Thomas Jefferson admired the Bible – but only parts of it! He produced a special edition which removed all the supernatural sections and finished the story of Jesus with the sealing of His tomb! Today we remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us as we celebrate communion, but because today is Resurrection Sunday, we also celebrate the new life He offers us when we surrender to Him!
When I worked about 100metres along this road at Springfield Lodge as the caretaker, one night an American lady approached me and said, “My fridge isn’t working!” I know nothing about fridges, but I thought perhaps if Id looked at it, she may feel a little better, even if we had to get an expert in next day. As we approached her room, she said, “There’s a mouse in my room!” and I thought to myself, “This lady really does have problems!” When we arrived I saw the “mouse” immediately! Her room was a mess, but she pronounced “mess” as “mouse”. That one was easily solved. Likewise the fridge problem wasn’t too difficult even for me! I just had to turn it on at the power point! Fridges, like humans, can only function if they are turned on and tuned in! As Christians, we need to be plugged in to Jesus, our source of Power – turned on and tuned in to Him! Those who play electric guitars won’t get far without a source of power – unless they use acoustic guitars, which rely on their own power! But Jesus doesn’t have any acoustic Christians! If we rely only on our own power, we won’t get very far! Christians then, need to KNOW HIM, GROW IN HIM, and SHOW HIM to the world!
1. KNOW HIM. The best way to do this is to read His Word and listen to His Word! But when a mate of mine told me once that God doesn’t guide us through our circumstances, I became upset and prayed for assurance that He really does guide us through the circumstances He provides for us! I woke at 5.30am next morning while it was still dark and a voice in my head said, “Look up Isaiah 48:17!” I waited until daylight, and read this: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you, and leads you along the paths you should follow!” In other words, God used the Bible and my prayer to Him to show me that He does guide us by going ahead of us and preparing paths for us to walk in! His Word tells us in Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path!”
2. GROW IN HIM. If we keep watering our plants (which I sometimes forget to do) we sometimes almost see them grow before our eyes! Water in Scripture represents the Spirit of God Himself! As we receive more of Him, we continue to grow! As you probably know the Ku Klux Klan in America are very hostile to black people! Yet when two of their members became Christians, the Holy Spirit urged them to send the sheets they had used as uniforms to the Red Cross, who used them to make bandages for black refugees in Africa! As we grow in the Holy Spirit, He transforms us to do things for Him that wouldn’t have been possible before we became part of His team!
Having fellowship with other Christians is also a growing mechanism! Two friends of mine were members of our church youth group when I was a teenager, but when they married, they gave up going to church. As a result, they stopped growing as Christians, and eventually the husband ran off with a younger woman. Meanwhile his wife, recognising her need for acceptance, started going to church again and now, years later, her two grown-up daughters are also Christians and are married to Christians. But what happened to the husband? He died of cancer last year, and at his deathbed, one of his daughters read Scripture to him, and he groaned in acknowledgement. We don’t know whether his groans expressed repentance or whether his hostility to the things of God was expressing itself in this way! It is said that church members are like cars – they start missing before they stop altogether!
3. SHOW HIM. A former flatmate of mine in Wollongong claimed to be a Christian because he attended church about once a year. When smoking pot, he told his friends about Jesus, but no-one took him seriously! When he had sex with the women he met up with, he told them he was a Christian, but they didn’t take him seriously either! Someone once said, “If you don’t live it, you don’t believe it!” Do people take you seriously if you tell them you’re a Christian? Do you even take yourself seriously?
Queen Elizabeth I was probably Britain’s greatest monarch of all time! She even inspired her tiny navy to defeat the great and powerful Spanish Armada! And she once made this comment about her Christian faith: “I would like to be alive when Jesus returns, so that I can be the first monarch to lay my crown at His feet!” He attitude was one of total surrender to Jesus! And if we are going to influence others for Him, we have to surrender each part of our lives to Him also.
I would say that when we surrender to Jesus, we are no longer the boss of our own lives! Instead, we could wear a familiar sign we often see on shops: “Under New Management!”But the advantage of this is summed up by the Apostle John in 1 John 5:12, “He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son, does not have life!”
Colossians 2: 6,7 gives us a final thought for today: “Continue to live in Him, planted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you’ve been taught, and overflowing with thankfulness!”
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