Super Lutheran...Continued

This past weekend, I preached on Philippians 3 (you can check out the sermon here).

To try to effectively communicate the reality that resumes and pedigrees don't matter...Jesus does...I declared that I was a super Lutheran.  I talked about how I was raised in the church, how I went to a Lutheran university, a Lutheran seminary, and secretly have Luther's seal on my rear end (ok...that part isn't true, but you get the point).  I am a super Lutheran.  And yet...

And yet...it doesn't matter.  I consider it all rubbish compared to knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection.  Resumes don't matter.  Jesus does.  We need to be careful not to overlay a moralistic, "Jesus + anything" standard to our identity.  We belong to Jesus because He claimed us in the waters of baptism.  That is it!  Nothing else!

This message seemed to resonate with a LARGE number of people.  I have heard about it all week.  They appreciated the call back to God's grace (through faith).   They appreciated the simplicity of Jesus and the stripping away of that which demands obedience and thus competes with the gift of God's grace.  It (apparently) was a powerful word from the Lord.

But something about it has unsettled me all week...

This is not a blank check.  This is not a case of "Now that I have God's grace I get to do whatever I want."  Grace is a gift.  Jesus is all that matters.  However, I want to be clear, God does have something to say about how we should live as His people.  He does.  The key is understanding the order of things.

We do not apply a moral overlay to God's grace.  His grace is enough.  It is awesome, powerful, and sustaining.  It is also, transformative.  Our new identity in Christ allows us to realize that God's way is always better.  His plans for us are better.  Thus, we desire to follow His ways.  We study His law.  We reflect on how He desires for us to live.  We strive to honor Him.  We start with His grace and the identity as new creations that it bestows...then we seek to live out that new identity.  This isn't a blank check.  It isn't "cheap grace".  It is, however, powerful.  The key is in understanding the difference between our desires and our attempts to create an alternate morality...and God's will for our lives.

Here is a secret:  God's ways and His will for our lives are always better...

Work

"Pastor John, I don't know if I heard this from you or from somewhere else, but I have been thinking about it a lot lately.  'It doesn't matter where you are...the work is the same.  It is all about Jesus.'"  

The particular lady who shared this with me last evening then went on to share how, with her husband in the hospital, she woke up the other day dreading the day ahead.  She wasn't excited about going back to sit in a hospital room for another day.  She wasn't excited about the life interruption.  She wasn't excited to just sit.

And then it dawned on her.  "It doesn't matter where you are...the work is the same.  It is all about Jesus."  Whether she would spend the day at the hospital or doing something else, the "what" didn't really matter.  The work was the same.  Her day would be about honoring Jesus.

As I sat in the hospital with this incredible couple, I witnessed them both living out their identities in Jesus.  They warmly greeted visitors, doctors and nurses.  They read scripture.  They shared stories and talked of the hope they have...because of Jesus.  They didn't do anything extravagant.  They simply did what they would have otherwise done.  The difference that they tried to keep in focus what their lives were really about:  They work of honoring Jesus.  And honestly...it was pretty amazing to see. 

It just makes me wonder...

What would the world look like if all Jesus followers thought of their days and their activities with the understanding that it doesn't matter where you are...the work is the same.  It is all about Jesus.  I wonder...