Being Alive in Christ

 This Sunday we continued a sermon series entitled "Identity Matters" at EBC, based on the book of Galatians.  The following is some of the main ideas from the fourth message: "Being Alive in Chirst."

One of the things I value about Eastwood is the relaxed, friendly spirit we embody when we gather together.  Unfortunately, this spirit can be taken to extremes at times.  Before the service, parents sometimes have to grab children that take it upon themselves to crawl on the stage.  I’ve seen some grab microphones, poke at instruments, and grin really big when they are caught.  It’s not uncommon to have to defend a smart-mouthed remark or two before we can move on from our morning announcements.  Finally, once we get past all of that, we have ANOTHER visiting time that sometimes goes on a little longer than it should.  These experiences are signs of life.  When we really live out our lives together, it can sometimes get messy, out of order, and even a little chaotic.

Would you rather go to a church where the opposite extreme was the norm?  I hope Eastwood would never have this reputation, but church is sometimes thought to be a dull place where you have to sit through a boring service and do your “duty” before you get to go and do what you really want to do on Sunday.  I hate to admit it, but that is the way that I saw church when I was occasionally drug there with my grandmother.  Of course, this was a Lutheran church, so it was much more formal.  An organ always played a “prelude,” the pastor wore a robe, and an acolyte lit candles.  However, they had an informal side, and it came out AFTER the actual service was over.  They reserved their announcement time to be the very last thing after the final benediction.  The pastor would disrobe, walk out in the middle of the aisle among the people, and they had a free-for-all. 

Everyone and their dog had something to announce, from a church bake sale, to a personal birthday party.  I remember sitting through it all, my stomach growling after already being there for about an hour-an-a-half, getting furious over hands that continued to spring up with something important the whole church just HAD to know.  It took every fiber in my being not to shout: “will you all just be quite already so we can go to Luby’s?”  But that was part of the way they expressed themselves in church life.   

Christians should be “alive” in Christ.  If that means announcements run a little long, our service leans towards the informal side, or that sometimes things are a little chaotic, so be it.  Regardless of where they are at, Christians have a life in Christ that is worth experiencing.  You do not have to do anything to get that life, but you are in charge of living it out.   

 Paul describes this life in Galatians 3:29 by saying “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  The promise this refers to goes all the way back to the first book of the Bible.  It connects the promise that God made to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and sand along the sea, with all who come to know God through faith in Christ.  In other words, it points to Jesus as the fulfillment of what God was doing from the beginning of the Bible.   

This is proof that God desires his creation to have a full life that is connected to him.  Unfortunately, his creation has not always been great at doing what it needs to do to experience this life.  In the scheme of things, our role is very small.  God is the one that has made a full and joyous life available to us through his Son. We are the ones that live it out.

Are you merely living life?  Or are you experiencing life in Christ?