Life is in the Living

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Madeleine Holt
5 years ago
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1 Final Hosanna Sermon Life is in the Living At a farewell dinner for a departing minister a tearful member said to him, "I don't know how we'll manage without you, Reverend." "Oh, don't trouble yourself over it," said the minister, "I'm sure the church will soon find a better man than I am." "That's what they all said, " wailed the member, "but they just keep getting WORSE AND WORSE!"...Ah, yes, may it not be so. At least you've spared me the indignity of posting this message on our sign board out by the highway: "Do you know what Hell is? Come hear our preacher." There is a time for everything, intones the Preacher of Ecclesiastes, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,... a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance...and a time to retire, I might add. Time is a most mysterious entity. Evanescent it is. It vanishes so quickly. Job, of the Bible put it this way: "Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. Indeed, we human beings appear on the stage so transiently. We do our bit-part and so quickly we move on. Stephen Leacock wrote: How strange is our little procession called life! The child says, 'When I am big...' and then, grown up, he or she says, 'When I am married.' But then the thought turns to 'When I am able to retire.' Then when retirement comes, we look back over the landscape traversed. A cold wind blows over it. Somehow we have missed it all, he says, and it is gone. Life, we learn too late, is in the living, in the tissue of every day and hour I find great wisdom in that and a wakeup call of sorts. It behooves us all, no matter where we fall in life's continuum, to not miss it all, to not learn too late that life is in the living.

2 It s what we make of it. I m always struck by the interviews with those who ve lived to very old age when asked if they had their life to live over again what would they do different? And, almost without exception, the answer contains I d take more chances, I d do more things, go more places, live more freely. Yes, life is in the living. We re so much creatures of habit. We get in our same old ruts and it s hard to get out. That tends to simplify, narrow, restrict, and limit our potential and experience in life. Worse are those that have concluded that life has little or no meaning and that their names are written in the diary of fate. People disillusioned about and frustrated with life. People with a sour, dour outlook on life like Paul Dunbar who lamented: A crust of bread and a corner to sleep in, A minute to smile and an hour to weep in, A pint of joy to a peck of trouble, and never a laugh that the mourns came double, and that is Me. People akin to Paul Simon, a song of which he wrote: I don't know a soul who's not been battered, I don't have a friend who feels at ease. I don't know a dream that's not been shattered or driven to its knees... When I think of the road we're traveling on I wonder what's gone wrong. I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong. What a sad and sorry outlook! Talk about livin' under a black cloud! What a life! As bad as George Bernard Shaw who talked about being dead at 30 and buried at 60. Given up! Down in the dumps! Man! Get a life and start living 'cause life is in the living. Abe Lincoln observed, "It's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years." High time for a turnaround--a transformation, a reorientation, a new phase. Thing to do is unload--get rid of all that old baggage. Life is too short. Don t drag it all into the next phase of your life.

3 Jesus urges, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Twice Simon sings, "I wonder what's gone wrong?" What's gone wrong is he and other battered souls with their shattered dreams have not come to Christ who alone gives rest for souls. Instead, they keep hunting for meaning and fulfillment in all the wrong places. The truth is that life is NOT found in pleasure, performance, possessions, position, or pursuits; it is found solely and only in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches time and time again that he is the giver of life, the author of life. "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the way and the truth and the life." One of the most powerful statements he made regarding life was: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10). The "I" is emphatic, meaning that life is found in no other than him. He goes on to quantify this life: "and have it to the full." Variously translated "abundantly," or "overflowing." Means to have a superabundance. To know Jesus and follow him is to have a superabundance of life. A new vitality, a new meaning, a new energy, a new purpose, a new significance, a new outlook, a new hope, a new joy, a new life. The abundant life. The life in which one has and enjoys the fruit of the Spirit--love, joy, peace. Has and enjoys even in the midst of the mess--no matter our circumstances. God wants us, wills us to enjoy life. Paul hits that in 1 Thessalonians, Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I mean to tell ya, he wills us joy so much that he spared nothing, not even the death of his beloved son to save us and secure for us an eternity of joy in heaven. Life is in the living. Now s as good a time as ever to start living the abundant life like never before. As good a time as ever to put off the old and put on the new. Each phase of our life becomes something of a line in the sand for us, a marking point, a line of demarcation which allows us to separate our past from our future,

4 who we were from who we intend to be, the old and the new; it offers us a chance to start over again. And here's the thing--that happens every time we confess our sins and receive forgiveness--confession absolution. A clean slate, a new heart, a new start, a new life. This new life in Christ is fed and led by time spent in his Word, in our Bibles--daily, devotionally, diligently. You can't have an abundant life without abundant time spent in the living Word. Decide, resolve, set your heart to absolutely, positively, no exceptions, no excuses, to take time each and every day to take your Bible in hand and open your heart to the Lord as he fills you with his Spirit and truth. Jesus makes the abundant life happen by pouring out a superabundance of blessings, to be sure. But it's also a function of our outlook and uplook, our attitude and gratitude. Here's some suggestions I discovered to help in that department: 1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let somebody else worry about them. 2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. 3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." 4. Enjoy the simple things. 5. Laugh often, long, and loud. 6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who's with us our entire life is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive. 7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. 8. Cherish your health: If it's good, preserve it. If it's unstable, improve it. If it's beyond what you can improve, get help. 9. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. Good advice, and did you hear our theme again?: Be alive while you are alive. To be alive while you are alive, is to get up, step out, and jump in. There's a great passage in Isaiah where the Lord encourages us to make sure we don t "just sit there" while the opportunities to spread our wings are all around us. Isaiah 54:2 reads:

5 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes." Words written following the return of the Jewish people from exile. The people had finally been set free and were allowed to return to their homeland. But things appeared daunting, their temple and city and walls lay in a pile of rubble and their neighbors harassed and viewed them as defeated and helpless. They needed encouragement, needed a jump start, so God used Isaiah to call them out of their comfort zones so they wouldn t just sit there in a lethargic daze, but, instead, have the courage to tackle their future. The same holds true for anyone today stuck in a lethargic daze, stuck in just an "adequate" life and longing to live an "abundant" one. Time to enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, don't hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. Time to cast your bread upon the waters. Enough hunkering by the hearth. Don't be afraid to try something new and venture into strange territory. As says Edward Abbey, "To be alive is to take risks; to be always safe and secure is death." Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one s courage, notes another. I love that old hymn verse, "Shake off dull sloth and joyful rise." I think I'll start using that line when I wake Andrea up in the morning. Shake off dull sloth and joyful rise. Indeed, we best get with it, for, Richard Evans reminds us, "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." Amen to that. In the same vein, Mark Twain observed: "Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Yes, indeed. And so, as I prepare to retire, I'm going to personally aspire to live the abundant life. That will mean more courage and more time spent in his Word. The challenge is for

6 you to do so as well, whatever your place, whatever your juncture in life. And as a church, this time of transition for Hosanna is not the time to lapse into a lethargic daze, but an opportunity to enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, lengthen your cords, and not hold back. God will provide. All praise, honor, and glory be unto him! Amen.

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