Sunday's Message - After Easter: Living with Purpose

Easter is the most important day in the year, because we celebrate the most important event in human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. During this sermon series, we’ll consider five ways the resurrection can impact our lives. They include the following:

• Living with Hope - April 27
• Living with Clarity - May 4
• Living with Purpose - May 11
• Living with Understanding - May 25
• Living with Courage - June 1

On Sunday, May 11, we focused on how we can live with clarity, because the resurrection provides us with the motivation to live for Christ, claiming his command and sharing with others the reasons we have to trust in him.  Below is the podcast and text of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.

Well, as y’all know, today is Mother’s Day. And although I’d normally tell some kind of bad joke right about now, you know, something about how I avoided getting into trouble by buying Debbie a present even though she’s not my mother, I’m not going to do that this morning. Instead I’m going to thank Barb Lerch for a meme she posted on Facebook yesterday. It read,

Mother’s Day is coming. Share this candle for all mothers who are now in heaven. I miss you Mom. I love you. Thanks for the memories. Till we meet again. 

Now that’s what it said. And I’ll tell you, when I saw it, man, it really touched me. You see, it reminded me of the very last thing Mom said to me when Debbie and I went down to see her just a few weeks before she passed. Now, Mom had cancer, and she knew she was going to die. And as we were taking things out to the car, she said, “See you later.” Of course, she knew exactly what she meant and so did I. She was saying, “Till we meet again.”

And you know, it’s really interesting. One of the things that I remember most vividly about Mom was how she really gave to me exactly what we’re talking about this morning. Now, as I hope y’all know, we’re in the middle of a sermon series we started on April 27 entitled After Easter: Living a New Reality. And during the first two weeks, we’ve focused on how, because of the resurrection, we can live with hope, confident as we face the future, and with clarity, fully aware that, if we live our faith, the world is probably not going to like us anymore than it liked Jesus. Now that’s what we’ve covered so far. And today we’re going to consider how we can live with purpose, clear about what we’ve been called to do.

And like I said, that’s what Mom did for me as I was growing up. You see, along with all the other stuff Mom did, you know, like washing our clothes and fixing our meals and making the best ginger bread I’ve ever had and probably will ever have, my mother gave me direction whenever I felt as though I’d lost my way. And she gave me focus whenever my mind wandered. And she gave me hope whenever I felt like the very best I could do was not going to be good enough. No, regardless of what was going on, Mom really gave my life a genuine sense of purpose. And even though I doubt that I realized it at the time, looking back, it was always there.

And you know, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about this morning, you know, how, because of the resurrection, we as followers of Jesus Christ can also have some purpose as we go about living our lives. And to do that, we’re going to focus on another passage that’s between Jesus being raised and him ascending into heaven. As a matter of fact, it’s the very last passage in the Gospel of Matthew. Just listen to what the Evangelist wrote:

Jesus’ eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted.

Jesus came to them and said:

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world. [Matthew 28:16-20, CEV]

Now, according to Matthew, that’s what happened, a passage that Christians have traditionally called the Great Commission. And in these last words Jesus offered those disciples, I think we can find a pretty clear purpose to our Christian living, and I’m talking about one that offers direction and focus and hope to men and women who have a tendency to get lost and confused and discouraged, especially as we try to figure out how to live the faith that we claim. Now, that’s the kind of purpose I think we can find in these last words Jesus spoke to his disciples according to the Evangelist Matthew. 

For example, first, I think this passage shows us that Jesus gives direction. And I’ll tell you, when I say direction, I’m talking about something that’s really specific and very concrete. In other words, we know exactly where we’re supposed to be doing what we’ve been called to do. I mean, remember, before he said anything about the “what,” he was crystal clear about the “where.” Remember, he said, “Go to the people of all nations.” [Matthew 28:19a, CEV] 

Now, frankly, I’m not sure he could have been clearer than that. I mean, he didn’t say, “Try your very best to escape from the world and its people.” And he didn’t say, “Build yourselves little sheltered communities where you can sort of hide out behind thick walls and stained glass.” And he sure didn’t say, “Make sure everybody on the other side of those walls and that glass knows that you’re more than happy to let them come into your communities just so long as they accept your assumptions and your opinions and your preferences. And if they don’t, you’re justified keeping them out.” Now, that’s not what Jesus said, and we know that. Instead, he told them and us to “go to the people of all nations,” [Matthew 28:19a, CEV] which may mean actually going out from this sheltered space into a world that, as we talked about last week, can be pretty scary. You see, he told them and us to “go to the people of all nations,” [Matthew 28:19a, CEV] which may mean using the time we have inside the walls and behind the windows to figure out how we might best reach out to all those who are wandering around on the outside, folks who are doing the best they can with what they’ve got but who might do a whole lot better if they knew about “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost.” [2 Corinthians 13:14a, KJV] You see, on that mountain in Galilee, the resurrected Christ told them and us to “go to the people of all nations,” [Matthew 28:19a, CEV] which may mean that, instead of insisting that they learn our language, we learn theirs. And we learn why they make the assumptions they make and hold the opinions they hold. You see, in terms of direction, according to what he said, we might want to focus less of our attention in here and more of it out there. And you know, if we do, I think we just might be moving closer to what Jesus envisioned when he offered this prayer to God:

I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. I have given myself completely for their sake, so they may belong completely to the truth.

I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me. [John 17:18-21, CEV]

I’m telling you, thanks to what Jesus said after the resurrection, we have direction. Now that’s one.

And second, I think Jesus also gives us focus. I mean, thanks to what he said to those disciples, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what we’re expected to do when we “go to the people of all nations,” [Matthew 28:19a, CEV]. Remember he said, “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you.” [Matthew 28:19-20a, CEV]

In other words, when we’re out there, we’re called to make disciples, or more accurately, to disciple others. Now, I think that’s actually a much better translation of the Greek word. And you know, this business about discipling, man, that just makes sense. I mean, when you get right down to it, we don’t have the power to make people disciples; that’s their decision. But we can disciple them. In other words, we do have the power to help them become followers of Jesus Christ. And we can do that by baptizing them, you know, inviting them into our Christian fellowship, our family, and by giving them, using the words of Augustine of Hippo, that “outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace.” [Augustine, “De Catechizandis Rudibus” (On Teaching the Uninstructed)] Now this is something we can do. Just like we can also teach them everything Christ has taught us and we can do it through both what we say and how we live. For example, through our expectations and assumptions, we can teach them that “...unless you are willing to take up your cross and follow me, you are not fit to be my disciples.” [Matthew 10:38, CEV] And through our words and work, we can teach them that “whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.” [Matthew 25:40b, CEV] And through our actions and attitude, we can teach them to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind” [Matthew 22:37, CEV] and to “love others as much as you love yourself.” [Matthew 22:39b, CEV] You see, we have the power to include and to educate. And when we do, we’ll be sharing that same message the Apostle Paul shared with the Corinthians when he wrote this:

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.

What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so Christ could make us acceptable to God. [2 Corinthians 5:17-21, CEV]

You know, thanks to what Jesus said after the resurrection, we not only have direction, we have focus. Now that’s two. 

And third, Jesus also gives us reason to hope. You see, because of the resurrection, we can be confident that our lives have genuine meaning and importance. And we can be assured that, regardless of how strong the opposition appears to be, the ultimate victory has already been won. And I’ll tell you, we know that because, right at the beginning of his little speech, Jesus said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth!” [Matthew 28:18b, CEV] and right at the end, he tied things up by saying, “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.” [Matthew 28:20b, CEV]. Now that’s what he said. 

And just think about what it means. Jesus Christ, the one whom we follow into the world and the one whose lessons we teach and example we claim, man, he already has all the authority. He already has all the power. He already has everything needed to assure that our prayers will be answered and that God’s Kingdom will be manifest on earth just like it is in heaven. I’m telling you, he is the man. But more than that, he’s also with us. Remember, before he was born, Jesus was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” Well I’m telling you right here and now, what was true then is true today. God is still with us, which means, we can have courage. We can have courage as we move into a world that values acquisition and gain rather than service and sacrifice. And we can have courage as we seek to include those whom the world often judges and ignores, and I’m talking about the hungry and the thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and the prisoner. And we can have courage as we show, through the words we use and the works we do, that trust is more powerful than hesitation and doubt and that hope is more lasting than fear and despair and that love is more important than arrogance and hate. In other words, just knowing that, for us, God represents power and presence, man, that just might give us the ability to do what we’ve been called and equipped to do, something that was reflected in the last words Jesus shared with his apostles right before his ascension:

While the apostles were still with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, are you now going to give Israel its own king again?”

Jesus said to them, “You don’t need to know the time of those events that only the Father controls. But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” [Acts 1:6-8, CEV]

I’m telling you, thanks to what Jesus said after the resurrection, right along with direction and focus, man, we have hope. And that’s three.

And even though I certainly don’t want to compare her to Jesus Christ, I’ll tell you, looking back, that’s what my mother offered me as I was growing up. Of course, I didn’t appreciate it at the time. No, I just thought she was telling me what to do and how to do it, which was, to my underdeveloped brain, just plain ridiculous. But I know different now. And as a father who really wants to help his daughter figure things out after her graduation next Sunday, I really appreciate and miss my Mom.

But believe me, that’s not the way it is with Jesus Christ. You see, he gives us direction as we struggle with where we need to be as his followers. And he gives us focus as we try to figure out what to say and do as his disciples. And he gives us hope as we compare our call with our abilities. In other words, thanks to what Jesus told his disciples on that mountain in Galilee, after Easter, we can live with purpose.