Sing Your Hearts Out
Colossians 3:16
Easter Sunday
April 16, 2006
This morning, for the fifty-second time in my life, I woke up on Easter morning. For the fifty-second time, I have come to worship on a day when the familiar stories are heard. For the fifty-second time in my life, I am experiencing life in a congregation brought together by Christ, to be like Christ, to live like Christ, and to proclaim Christ to the world.
There are some of you out there who have come to worship this morning for the 60th or 70th or 80th or perhaps 90th time. Some have come perhaps for only their first or second or third time. But we have come together for one purpose…to worship the risen Christ…to bow down at the empty tomb and proclaim that Christ has won the victory…has defeated death…has provided us with the promise of eternal life.
About ten years ago, Dominique decided that she wanted a paper route. Now you all know what it means when an eleven year old wants a paper route. It means that dad has a paper route too. So we would get up at five thirty every morning and be out delivering papers at six o’clock. I would drive and she would gather up enough papers for one side of one block. Then I would meet her on the other end of the block and we’d do it again.
We would always have the radio tuned to a local drive-time program. One day they were talking about the movies. I wasn’t really paying too much attention to what they were saying except one of them mentioned “preaching to the choir.” Dominique asked me what that meant. I told her that preaching to the choir was saying things to people or telling people things that they already know.
For example, one of the rules on our paper route was that we never changed the station during a Beatles song (except Yellow Submarine). I told her that over and over again. I told her that was preaching to the choir.
I also told her that another example of preaching to the choir is what I do every Sunday morning. I stand up in front of all these people every week and tell them that they need to come to church…love Jesus, and live the Christian life like they mean it. But the vast majority of those folks already know that. Many of the people I preach to were Christians before I was ever born. It is preaching to the choir.
A whole lot of folks who need to hear my preaching – or the preaching of any pastor for that matter – never do because they’re not here. But even the choir needs to be reminded from time to time what notes they are supposed to be singing. Even the choir needs to practice. Even the choir needs to warm up before they can sing.
So for many of you this morning, I may be preaching to the choir. Perhaps not all of you. Perhaps there are some in this audience this morning for whom this good news of resurrection is new. Perhaps there are some who have not heard the message before. If that is you, welcome. Welcome to this place where we believe in the resurrection of Christ. Welcome to the place where we believe that Jesus has taken away our sins and provided for us an eternal home in heaven. Welcome to the place where we proclaim that death does not win the victory; the place where sin does not have the final word. Welcome to the place where we rejoice in the promise of our salvation.
Whoever I’m preaching to this morning…whether you are a long-time saint who has heard the message for years…or someone for whom this lesson is new…welcome to the place where Jesus reigns, triumphant and eternal.
Here’s the struggle I always have, no matter who is listening to me preach. I always struggle with the question, “Now what?” and “So what?” After we tell the story and lay out the case for the resurrection, what do we do? Where do we go from here? What does the resurrection and Christianity mean in real, concrete terms for my life?
Here’s the story. Jesus Christ, who had every right to sit beside God in heaven, had descended to earth and taken on the form of a servant. As a man of flesh and blood, he experienced life as we know it…the pain and the sorrow, the fear and trembling. He was misunderstood and suffered a violent death on a cross. But on this day…Easter Day…he rose again. By his rising from the grave, he defeated death. Through his resurrection, we receive the promise that we too, will life for eternity.
So, now what? Christ is risen. Now what? Death is defeated. Now what? The tomb is empty. Now what?
The Apostle Paul gives us an answer to that question in his letter to the Colossian church. In the first chapter of Colossians, he writes that God has rescued them all from the darkness of evil and brought them into the Kingdom of Christ (1:13). That is the Easter story in a nutshell. Christ was dead but now is risen and through his resurrection comes eternal life.
Because of that fact, Paul admonishes them in chapter 3 that they should:
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
Eugene Peterson, in “The Message” says:
Let the Word of Christ – The Message – have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God.
Isn’t that wonderful? What is to be our response to the resurrection? Give Christ plenty of room in our house. Let him have the run of the house. Have fun! And Sing!
When I was in seminary, I worked as a Youth Pastor at a Presbyterian Church on the north side of Denver. The senior pastor took a month vacation during the summer and asked if Toni and I would like to move into their house for that time.
For us, living as we were in a tiny student apartment, this was heaven. They left a full refrigerator and told us that if we wanted to have some friends over for a barbecue, we should feel free to do that. Just enjoy the house. Our only responsibility was to water the lawn and the house plants. Enjoy the house! Have fun! It’s your house for a month!
Just the same, Paul tells us to invite Jesus into our lives and houses. Let him have run of the place. Let him move in and take over!
Giving Jesus plenty of room and inviting him in to have run of the house probably means that we’ll need to clean out some old stuff. In order to give the Word of Christ room, you have to get rid of the junk.
Over the years, my parents have been very generous with us when it comes to their old furniture. They get new stuff and we get the old stuff. Now the last house we lived in had a big basement and so it was pretty full. Before we moved down here, we decided that we needed to get rid of some of that stuff, get it out to the Elkhart County Landfill. Besides, it was getting to the point that we couldn’t get to the pool table any more! (Yes, I believe that every parsonage should come with a pool table.) Just the same, give Jesus plenty of room in your house. Clean out all the old junk.
There is a lot of similarities between the house in which we live and our physical bodies. Back in the sixth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he talks about our bodies as Temples to Christ. He says that if our bodies now belong to Christ, then we don’t have the right to mess them up. So get rid of all of the old junky habits you have that keep you from giving your full attention to Jesus.
Whatever we do that abuses our bodies is no longer acceptable. If we smoke too much, or drink too much, refuse to take the medicine that the doctor prescribes because we think that we are smarter than he or she is, or eat too much, or don’t get enough sleep, or find ourselves under too much stress, or any number of other unhealthy habits…it is time to clean out the junk if we want to allow Christ to have free run of the place, because if our lives are full of that other stuff, there’s no room for Jesus.
There is more than one dimension to the Temple. There is not only a physical dimension, but an emotional one as well. If we are going to clear out the junk in our lives, it has to include our attitudes as well.
Are we bitter, angry, frustrated, too sensitive, cold-hearted, arrogant, rude, spiteful, or covetous? Do we keep score of the offenses committed against us? Do we always expect the worse to happen? Are we distrustful? Do we give up too easily?
That is too much stuff to carry around. There’s no room for anything or anyone else. If you’re going to make room so that Jesus can have run of the Temple, we all better learn to clean up our emotional acts.
There’s still another dimension to the Temple. We are more than our physical and emotional selves. We are also spiritual. If we are going to give Jesus run of our houses, we better get our spirits right.
We have to realize that we are completely and utterly dependent on Christ. We have to realize that we don’t have all the answers ourselves. We have to realize that we’re not smart enough to go it alone.
I know that there are those out there who seemingly get along just fine without Jesus. I know that there are those out there who don’t feel a need to stay connected to Christ. The truth of the matter is different however.
There is a great searching out there today for spiritual values. The trouble is that we tend to search for those values in places which will provide less than satisfactory answers.
To give the Word of Christ run of our house means that we need to clean out the whole place: physical, emotional, and spiritual. If there is too much stuff, there just isn’t room for Jesus.
I want to close with a story that usually isn’t thought of as an Easter story. If you remember your Sunday School lessons, you will recall that Jacob had twelve sons. The book of Genesis tells us that he loved all of his sons, but he reserved a special love for Joseph. They other eleven were jealous and sold their brother into slavery in Egypt.
He proceeded to be misunderstood by his master and cast into prison. Because God was there even in the depths of his prison cell, Joseph triumphed over adversity and rose to become the Prime Minister of all of Egypt. Because of Joseph, Egypt survived a devastating drought and famine…not only survived, but flourished.
In the midst of the famine, the brothers came to Egypt seeking food. Not being able to resist having a little fun with them (who did not recognize Joseph after all these years), he falsely accused the youngest, Benjamin, of theft. The brothers were shocked and offered themselves in young Benjamin’s place. The final scene is the reconciliation between them when Joseph makes himself known as the long lost brother.
That is an Easter story because the brothers were reconciled with each other. They didn’t deserve it. They were the ones who sold Joseph. They deserved to be punished. They had committed a dastardly act. But Joseph threw his arms around them, assuring them that his love for them had not failed.
That’s what Jesus did at the resurrection. He died in our place. He didn’t deserve his fate. He suffered and was crucified because of OUR sins, not his.
But through the resurrection, we are reconciled. The resurrection is proof that Christ loves us. The resurrection is final testimony that Christ has not given up on us…even though we deserve it. The resurrection means that Jesus has thrown his arms around us and welcomed us into his kingdom.
If that doesn’t make you want to sing, I don’t know what will. The New International Version of the Bible says, “…sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your heart to God.” Eugene Peterson says, “Sing, sing your hearts out to God.”
If you are sitting here this morning and that doesn’t make you jump for joy, then you are dead…your body just doesn’t know it yet.
There you have it. There you have the “now what?” Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Jesus has beaten death and the grave. Jesus Christ is the One who will never be defeated.
So clean out your life and make room for him. If there is anything in your life that gets in the way…get rid of it, no matter how precious it has become to you.
And sing! Walk out of here this morning with a song in your heart because you have experienced the joy that knows no bounds. Sing, sing, sing!
You were lost by now are found. You were unworthy but have been given a seat of honor. You were dirty but have not been washed. You were separated from God but now have been reunited. You were dead, but have now found new life.
Sing! Sing! Sing! Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
