Norman Carlisle’s Blog

We celebrated the resurrection of Christ this past Sunday.  I was thinking these last few days about what it was like after the resurrection.  I mean, it says in Acts chapter 1 verse 3, that Jesus appeared to the apostles over a period of 40 days!!!  For over a month after rising from the dead, he spoke of the “kingdom of God” to them. 

Prior to the resurrection, the disciples didn’t put all the pieces together to understand that Jesus was going to rise from the dead.  They had largely expected this new movement and new leader to usher in a time of peace and prosperity over their enemies.  Yet, Jesus was killed instead.  But now, with a risen savior, surely it would now be time to see God’s vindication for his people against the oppression they were under. 

You can tell this is still on the minds of the disciples, when they ask (after the resurrection, during this 40 day period), “is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”(Acts 1:6).  No wonder Jesus needs to teach after his resurrection!  They haven’t understood about his “ascension.”  Jesus isn’t going to be around in a few weeks…he will leave them again. 

All the teaching about the kingdom of God will be completed by Jesus during this 40 day period…and then?  Well, then it’s up to the apostles to faithfully transmit what they have heard and seen.  It will be up to them to be “Christian”…to be “Christ-like”.  Jesus will no longer be on the earth physically, his only physical representation will be his disciples. 

What if it were you or I those days after the resurrection?   Could we have seen the implications of what was happening?  Could we have undertaken such a daunting task of carrying on in the way of Christ?   

We answer that question each day.  Each day we live after the resurrection.  Are we faithfully following?  Are we “Christ-like?”  Has the resurrection made such an impact on our lives?  An impact that takes us beyond Easter?

  I just returned from accompanying the teens on a weekend retreat. It was great just being a chaperone instead of having full responsibility for all the details! The theme of the weekend was “Living In High Definition.”
  One of the speakers showed us how we can have “fuzzy” pictures of God. We may think of God as someone who tries to derail all our fun. That’s a fuzzy picture of God whose sole purpose in our life is to keep us in line.
  Or we may have the opposite, but equally fuzzy picture of God, that he is throwing a huge party where anything goes! That’s another fuzzy picture of God who is tolerant of all we do and beliefs we hold.
  The “High Definition” picture of God is seeing him as the Bible describes him. God does take sin serious. And, he takes fun serious as well (yes, I see the irony in “serious fun”)! When a true picture of God comes into focus, we can see that the seriousness of sin is dealt with through the sacrifice of the death of Jesus on the cross. The invitation to “party” is to understand that Jesus rose from the dead to empower us to also live a resurrected life. Okay, it’s not really a “party,” and it certainly doesn’t mean that “anything goes,” but it does mean to live in the fullness of life. To me, that’s what living in “High Definition” means: to live in the fullness of life God intends for us.
  How do we live this way? By bringing God into focus. When our focus is solely on ourselves, our accomplishments, our goals, our desires, our security, etc., and we leave God out of the picture…we are living in low definition. Our picture is fuzzy. Of course, it seems normal and clear to us, since we’re used to living that way. But when we focus on God and view all our all our accomplishments, our goals, our desires, our security, through him, we see a very different, and clearer picture. We begin to see we are placed here for a purpose. That purpose is to live life for the God who created life.
  Knowing that God, 1) created life, 2) loves life, and 3) offers fullness of life…gives us the opportunity to live in HD.

So it’s Monday and yesterday’s sermon is over.

The work begins all over again.

How does the preacher arrive at a sermon?  Better men than I may be more organized and disciplined and have all kinds of outlines and preaching ideas together weeks ahead of time.  Some even have their preaching schedule planned for the entire year!!  Someday maybe, but I doubt it.  Myself?  I’m basically starting all over each week.  More important to me, isn’t how organized in advanced the preacher is, it’s their daily personal relationship with God. 

In this day when it’s easy to pull sermon outlines, illustrations and whole sermons off the internet, nothing can substitute for the personal seeking of God.  Not that one doesn’t use the tools available…certainly the commentaries and scholarly work are tools for us to use.  But the tools must never be the substitute for the personal seeking of God for how he wants to convey his word to his people each week.

The sermon isn’t the mere compilation of information!  It’s the compilation of God’s vital information for living in relationship with God! 

It’s an awesome responsibility to give the message each week.  I approach the message with the understanding that I am representing God’s word and God’s character to people…this cannot be taken lightly!!  Anyone speaking in the name of God must realize that they will stand face-to-face with God at the end of life to give account!  Does what I’m saying accurately reflect God’s word?  Am I distorting anything about God through what is being said?  It would be easy to be paralyzed with the fear, yet God gives grace.  It isn’t the cleverness or lofty words of the preacher, it is the power of God’s message that matters.

In the end, I guess a food analogy sums up best how I feel about the sermon.  It’s as if I’m a chef (scary thought, I can’t cook and thank God often for McDonald’s!) who’s taking a whole week to prepare a meal.  Carefully making sure the correct ingredients are used.  Carefully cooking, simmering, preparing.  Giving great attention to the many facets of the meal and making sure there’s a main course, some side dishes and even dessert!  The chef realizes that God is the source, God is the provider of all the ingredients.  He carefully mixes what God has given him in just the right portions so that the meal isn’t spoiled from unbalanced amounts.  More importantly, the chef has to “taste and see” that the Lord is good.  The chef must partake of the meal first.  On Sunday, he can then feed the people.  Some will want the meat of the word, some are still on baby food, and some only want dessert.  That’s o.k., they all need to be fed.  My prayer through the week is that the Lord would send food from heaven.  That God would allow me to get a taste of his goodness, so that I might share that goodness with others.  When that happens, then both the preacher and the people grow healthy through the nutrition of his word.

So the preacher prepares hard all week on a meal just to see it consumed in a half hour!!  Did the meal make a difference?  The results may not be immediatly apparent, and one could easily despair over the fact that Monday brings another week of hard work.  Yet, instead of despair there is satisfaction, knowing that if people are fed, they will grow healthy.  

The church I pastor has a group of very hungry people.  I guess each sermon could be introduced with the words, “time to eat…let’s dig in!”