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Christ is Everything

          A book filled with corporate wisdom inspired by the cartoon character, Dilbert, offers insight about what is most important in life. One writer reveals: “It’s about tough choices. For example, this morning I noticed that my electric razor had spilled its entire collection of whiskers all over the inside of my fashionable leather toiletry bag. I had two choices. I could laboriously remove those whiskers, individually cleaning each of the other contents of the bag, thus missing at least an hour of useful work, or I could say to myself, ‘If I didn’t mind having those whiskers on my face, why should I mind them on my little traveling aspirin bottle?’ I chose the latter. After all, I already got used to the toothpaste all over everything in that bag. How bad could a few hairs be? … We’re entering an age when the things we need to do and want to do are absorbed and overwhelmed by other things we need to do and want to do. We’ll make random, often [silly] choices because we don’t have the brains or the time to do better (Scott Adams, The Dilbert Future: Thriving on Business Stupidity in the 21st Century, New York: HarperBusiness, 1998, p. 89).

          If that were my toiletry bag, would I have cleaned out the whiskers? Are cleanliness and orderliness that important to me? What is more important than cleanliness and orderliness? What is the trump in my life, the operating system by which I arrange my weekend, consider my career, order my relationships, or plan for the future? What is the most important guiding principle? Financial well being? Productivity and getting things done? Physical health or pleasure? Job? Not asking questions like this can mean living on automatic pilot, and as the Dilbert book put it, “We’ll make random, often [silly] choices.” Today the apostle Paul helps us think about our thinking – what is most important – and then arrange everything else around it. For Paul, Christ is Everything. Is he for you?

In Death

            “She’s in a better place,” we say to each other about a believer who has died. Those aren’t just nice-sounding words but a promised truth of the Bible stated by Paul: “to die is gain.” For Christians, dying results in something gained, something we didn’t have before, an improvement over the way things were. We’re better off, “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Falling asleep implies waking up, and waking up brings with it a new day, new energy, and new possibilities. So dying for the believers means waking up to a new day, new energy, and new possibilities in heaven with Jesus because of Jesus. When we did Jesus brings our souls to heaven, and on the Judgment Day he will bring our bodies there too. Dying is gain. We will enjoy in heaven what we cannot enjoy on earth, and in heaven we will not suffer what we suffer here on earth, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things” will pass away (Revelation 21:4). Better off.

            Imagine for a moment your funeral. How does it look? What is the mood? Who is there and what are they saying as they exit the doors back to their everyday lives? The answer to those questions can differ depending on what is most important to a person. A celebration funeral that praises God with only fast-paced, upbeat songs, perhaps including a disclaimer in the bulletin, “No crying, please,” may not offer lasting comfort to the hurting hearts of those who have lost a loved one. A testimonial funeral that gives tribute to the life of the deceased, perhaps parading a number of speakers to the microphone to tell happy stories about the person’s attributes and accomplishments, may not promise a heavenly hope to those in attendance for their problems that cannot be solved here on earth. People listen to you at your funeral, so what do you (through a pastor presiding at your funeral) want to tell them? If you have this last chance to tell people whom you care about the most important thing, what will your funeral say? Bud was a good guy? Dolly was the best grandma ever? Inspiring perhaps, but no more life-changing than a Facebook page. How about this? Christ is Everything. How about songs, prayers, and Bible messages at your funeral filled with words of divine hope and encouragement like these?

• “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
• Almighty God, by the death of your Son Jesus Christ you destroyed death, by his rest in the tomb you sanctified the graves of your saints, and by his glorious resurrection you brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in him live in peace and joy.
• “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God” (Job 19:25-26).

          At a funeral the corpse is the guest of honor, but Christ is the host. Make him everything at your funeral, even as you make him everything in your death.

In Life

            How is Christ everything in your death, so that your dying is gain and not loss, a new and improved beginning and not a tragic end? The apostle Paul testified, “Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20,21). No dying is gain unless it closes the living where Christ is Everything. Christ will not be exalted by a death at the close of a life that has not exalted him. Whatever is everything to you right now will likely be everything to you when you die, and if Christ is not everything … if Christ is not the reason for what you decide and do, if Christ is not the real value on your assets, if Christ is not the first to whom you go with a problem or need, if Christ is not the first to whom you give credit for what you achieve, if Christ is not in your every breath, your heartbeat, your hope, your history, your destiny, your dream, if Christ is only something in your life and not everything in your life … then you cannot say with Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Then your death, and your life, are bankrupt.

            Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden died last week. Under Wooden, UCLA won an unprecedented 10 NCAA championships (7 of them consecutive), including one of the most amazing win streaks in all of sports: 38 straight NCAA tournament victories. In addition, John Wooden was the only coach to compile four undefeated seasons of 30-0 and his teams captured 19 conference championships. You might think that basketball was everything to Wooden. He once wrote, “I have always tried to make it clear that basketball is not the ultimate. It is of small importance in comparison to the total life we live. There is only one kind of life that truly wins, and that is the one that places faith in the hands of the Savior” (John Wooden, They Call Me Coach, McGraw-Hill, 2003). One sports enthusiasts who has a few John Wooden autographs told me that with each autograph Wooden would write a Bible verse – a different Bible verse each time. Jesus the Savior was not a piece of the pie for John Wooden. He was everything to Wooden and to the apostle Paul, who himself wrote, “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Philippians 3:8-9).

            Jesus Christ created everything and gives you dominion over his created order. Jesus Christ surrendered everything he had of his divine glory to humble himself and die for everything you ever do wrong. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, rules over everything and all of it must answer to him so that you don’t need to be afraid of anything. Jesus Christ is before everything, in everything, and after everything yet everything he is, has, and does is yours in one, small moment when you eat and drink him in the sacrament. No wonder Paul confessed, “I no longer live but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ, who is everything, lives in you.

            On Tuesday my wife and I began attending Financial Peace University sessions here at church. It’s a class designed to help people understand money, get out of debt, build wealth, and give. We were amazed after our first lesson, mostly from what we learned, partly because it’s so simple. The basic understanding for healthy finances is: save money. We knew this, are doing it, but need to do it a lot better. Most people know this, and yet 7 out of 10 households live paycheck to paycheck and have less than $1,000 cash savings. Why, if the strategy is so simple? Because we don’t take time to think through the simple strategy and don’t align our decisions and behaviors according to it. In a similar way, the profound and divine truth today is really a simple one. Christ is Everything. Think about that being most important to you, and align your life according to it. Live now. Live later. Because Christ is Everything.  Amen.

Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on June 13, 2010

Services

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Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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