Sermon DATE: 2008/11/23

Sermon DATE: 2008/11/23

SCRIPTURE READING: Colossians 2:6-10
SERMON: How to be rooted in Him
讲道题目: 怎樣在祂里面生根

1．When the Taliban leader challenged the US president elect Barack Obama by saying he has betrayed his African roots which traced back from the Muslim tradition, he was ignorant about what Christ can do to Barack Obama, a born again Christian. Our church’s theme for this year is, “Rooted and built up in Him”. What does that mean? It means as born again Christians we have to die and be buried with Christ. Paul said, “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:3) Jesus also said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (John 12:24) Christ died, he was buried, but on the third day He rose. Similarly if we die with him, buried and rooted in Him, we are born again when he rises.
2．When a Catholic monk entered into the Benedictine order, he went through a ritual which signified his passage of dying and being born again with Christ. On that occasion he prostrated himself before the altar of the chapel in the very spot where his coffin will be set when he dies. Covered in a funeral pall, the death bell that tolls at the earthly parting of a brother sounded the solemn gongs of death. Then there was silence—the silence of death. The silence of the gathered community was broken by the singing of the Colossian word: “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). After that powerful word, there was more silence as the monk reflected on his solemn vow. Then the community broke into song with the words of Psalm 118, which is always a part of the Easter liturgy in the Benedictine community: “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Ps. 118:17). After this resurrection proclamation, the deacon shouted the word from Ephesians: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Eph. 5:14). Then the bells of the Abbey rang loudly and joyfully, the monk rose, the funeral pall fell off, and the robe of the Benedictine order was placed on him. He received the kiss of peace and was welcomed into the community to live a life “hid in Christ.” This great liturgy of death and resurrection is a symbolic re-enactment of the Christian experience. Paul gave powerful witness to this experience when he said: I have been crucified with Christ; I am now alive in him.
3．To be a Christian is to change, to become new. It is not simply a matter of choosing a new life style; it has to do with being a new person. The new person does not emerge full-blown. Conversion, passing from life to death, may be the miracle of a moment, but the making of a saint—presenting oneself perfect in Christ—is the task of a lifetime. The dynamic process of saint-making is to work out in fact what is already true in principle. In position, in our relation to God in Jesus Christ, we are new persons. Now our condition, the actual life that we live, must be brought into harmony with our new position.
Two things happened in the fall, and in our own fall: 1. we became estranged from God; 2. His image within us was broken, distorted, defaced.
Two things happen in our salvation: 1. we are reconciled to God; our estrangement is dissolved by the justifying grace of God in the cross of Jesus. Our status is changed; we become friends of God, accepted by Him as though we were without sin. 2. There is the recreation of the image of God in the life of the believer.
Nothing less than a new creature “perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:280, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24), renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Col. 3:10) is the aim.
Paul uses a striking word to describe our new life in Christ—that word used in the liturgy of the Benedictine monk’s commitment. “For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (3:3). A number of sentences in Colossians 2 and 3 combine to add to the powerful impact of this image. You have “died” with Christ and have been “buried” with Him in baptism (2:12). You were also “raised” with Him through faith in the working of God (2:12). God “has made” you alive together with Him” (2:13); you have been raised with Christ” (3:1).
A dramatic reality has been accomplished here. It is a settled fact that we are dead with Christ. There is no question we are risen with Him. We have died to all Christ died to; we are raised to all He was raised to. We now have to live out in practice what has already happened in fact.
The Christian is a new person united with Christ. The two overwhelming events through which Jesus passed into the power of an endless life were death and resurrection. Those who are united with Him must reproduce in their personal spiritual histories these two events. To be in and with Christ is to be identified with Him in death and resurrection. That is what it means to live a life “hidden with Christ in God”.
4．But what does that mean in our empirical life situation? It means this. Sometimes in our life there are such things called doubt, fear, despair and resignation. They are very real things. But they are the things Jesus died to for us. The opposite of these are the things Christ was raised to for us.
Melissa Fung a CBC journalist was kidnapped in Afghanistan for 28 days before she got finally released. After the event, everybody say she is intelligent, positive and tranquil. In the interview afterwards when asked how she could make it through the ordeal, she answered, “I know I am not going to die. I said to myself, dying is not an option here. Help is on the way.” Doesn’t Melissa have fear, doubt, despair and resignations as we all do when tribulation comes? Yes. But Melissa said she prayed with the Rosary to Mary and Jesus all the time. The fact is that Christ has destroyed the power of sin—together with its link to fear, doubt, despair and resignation… Now, sharing in the death of Christ, she reckon herself dead to sin, and is empowered to become what she potentially is. Let me say that again. Sharing in the death of Christ, we reckon ourselves dead to sin, and are empowered to become what we potentially are.
5．Rev. Maxie Dunnam in one of his e-sermon dynamic preaching testimonies tells about how one of his parishioners witnessed the power of Christ in the following letter:
“Dear Maxie: I am writing you this to let you know I heard your sermon on Christmas. God has done a great miracle for me everyday. This past fall I attempted suicide. I thought life was not worth living and that I had no purpose for being alive. But since then I have had people come forward and tell me how I have shown them to go on when things get tough. They have told me I have courage that many people don’t have. And these people knew nothing about my attempted suicide. And God has given me friends that each day watches out for me. I still don’t know why I am here but I know that God has a plan and a purpose for me or else He would have let me die this past fall. He would also not have sent friends to me that told me they love me and that I make a difference in their lives. So I thank God for working a miracle in my life by saving it and for giving me the miracle of friends. So God does exist and He does come through when you need Him the most. I had rather not leave my name, but I am a Christian that is fighting for life with the help of God. The past is dead, the future is alive—and I praise God!”
To live a life hidden with Christ in God means we are united in Christ’s death.
How to be rooted and built up in Him? We do that by living a life hidden with Christ in God.

Amen