Nitty Gritty Of Resurrection Life!

Scripture: Acts 4:32-35

Theme: Proclamation/Unity/Compassion

Title: The Nitty-Gritty of Daily Christian Life

Grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Messiah, Savior and LORD who came to take away all of our sin and infill us with His Holy Spirit!

For some people the dates of April 26 - 28 and June 21st will be very important days. For others that date may be in July or August or October and may be even in December. Those are the days that some people will be getting married, their children will be born, they will be signing up for higher education or getting their first real job after playing football or basketball in college.

We all may have a certain date that we are looking forward to. It may be the day that we are getting married, getting a new job, celebrating a birthday or anniversary or looking forward to getting our first driver's license, our first retirement check or something else. We anticipate, we plan, we put things in place and finally the big day arrives. We are now in High School or College. We are now married. We now have a job. We now have a cat or a dog. We just had our first child. We own our first car. We now have our first home. We are now retired. We have just received our first pension or Social Security check.

All of those are wonderful events and they are to be celebrated. We are to make it a big deal when we enjoy an important milestone in our lives.

Last week we enjoy celebrating Resurrection Sunday. We focused on Jesus coming out of the Tomb and ushering in the New Age of Salvation and the Infilling Presence of the Holy Spirit. We celebrated the New Birth, the forgiveness of sins and the fact that one day as His redeemed children we will live forever on God's New Heaven and Earth.

But until that eternal day happens we are to live life here on this earth. We are to enjoy all the milestones and celebrate them. However, the truth is that some of the most difficult parts of life happen after those milestones. They follow the days and weeks after we start High School, College, a job, a marriage, owning a dog or cat or bringing a baby home. After all those celebrations there comes real life - day to day life. On Resurrection Day the Disciples rejoiced and then as we read in our passage this morning they started getting down to the nitty gritty of living out a life in Christ. They began to learn what it meant to be born again here on this earth and in this Present Age. They began to understand what it meant to live for Jesus day by day. They began to understand the nuts and bolts about being a Christian in the here and now.

We all know that is one thing to begin High School or College and quite another thing to graduate. It is one thing to begin a marriage and quite another thing to be able to celebrate your 40th, 50th or 60th year anniversary. It is one thing to begin a job and another thing to actually go to work day after day after day. It is one thing to get a puppy or kitten but quite another thing to raise it and live with it day after day. It is one thing to bring a baby home but it is quite another thing to raise up a human being ready to live life on their own. It is one thing to begin a Life in Christ and quite another one to live in such a way to reflect God's image and glory in our world today.

In our passage this morning the Disciples are learning what it means to be a Post-Resurrection follower of Jesus. They are learning what it means to live a Spirit-filled life. They have already watched Jesus ascend back into heaven and they have celebrated Pentecost Sunday. They have watched as the church has grown from 120 to 3,000, to 5,000 and more.

All of that can be quite euphoric. It can cause a lot of excitement but then comes the day to day living out what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Then comes the nitty gritty of what that means at home, at work, at school, in the local Body of Christ and around our communities.

St. Luke shares with us some principles of what that means day to day. He wants us to be aware that Jesus died so that we could not only begin a life with Christ but also that we can enjoy a life in Christ. Let's see what Luke shares with us that the Early Church learned so well: