Life After The Tomb!
Pastor Tom Millner
March 30, 2008

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Last week we talked about Love not being contained in a tomb. Jesus, the personification of Love … could not be held in death as the man, Jesus. We stated that God is Love… It is what He is, therefore, it is what He does … Love… Love is something He calls us to do… so that it becomes something we are. Because we are called to be like Christ in our journey to eternity, we are called to be like Love… To be like Love, we have to practice loving. Why?... Because that is the greatest commandment … to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul”… and likewise, your brother as yourself.

Anyone here ever wonder; “Why am I here?” I mean here in this place or just here in life… We need look no further than the scripture we’ve just read. The purpose for which we were made is to Love God and love each other as we do ourselves. So, why do we make it so complicated?

We cry; “Look at ME”… rather than HE who is all, was all from the beginning and will be all when all is said and done! We are obsessed with ourselves.

We’ve heard instructions like “humble yourself before the Lord” and “Pride goes before the fall.” Often, its either feast or famine… we’re so thankful that we’re not like “them”- oh, but for the grace of God… or we’re beating ourselves up because we’re not as good as we ought to be… they’re both the same – lacking true humility… obsessed with self and how we feel about this, that, or the other. Neither is the truth and neither will enable love to do what it needs to do… love God and love others.

Mother Teresa, one of the heroes of the 20th century because of the “loving” work done for “the least of these” during her lifetime, spent more than 40 years (according to her letters) feeling out of touch with God. How can that be, we ask? Someone who is so obviously dedicated to the work of God, providing for the sick and needy whom others will not touch… how can one feel out of touch with God? Just like the rest of us… using our feelings as the measure of God’s presence.

We come to worship because we want to feel we’ve been close to God. We leave churches because we don’t feel the presence of God the way we want to feel His presence. We act in particular ways because we don’t feel it would be right otherwise. We seek to feel differently so we don’t have to feel what we’re feeling… the foundation of addictive behavior. The Good News tells us to “Get Over It!!!” Get over ourselves and get into the ONE who is our source… the one by whom and for whom we were created.

How do we do this? You ask! It begins with first recognizing and accepting that we put ourselves first. Then, we confess to God that we do that … not because God needs to be told what He already knows… the reason He sent His Son…, but because we need to hear ourselves confess the truth of what we do. Secondly, we need to ask for His forgiveness for NOT placing Him first in our lives… again, not to hold Him in our debt, but to remind us of our place. Thirdly, we need to turn the other way… repent… with intent to be focused on He who is the beginning and the end, alpha and omega… and not on the ME that has consumed us… Then… we are open to His leading, His loving, His working in us to love one another because we’ve loved God enough to give away the self we’ve held to be so important, for the self that is eternal.

Love could not be contained in that tomb. Yet, we roll the stone of self absorption back in front of the door every day in a vain effort to lock the god of self tightly in place. That space is empty… there’s nothing there. When we empty out the tomb in which we’ve placed the self we’ve sacrificed for the sake of self and recognize that the space is empty, then we can move out into the light of His Love, and on to the person He is crafting us to be like… His very own Son… Who exhibited the love that lays down His life for His friend!

What’s in your tomb today? What dead thing do you need to empty out into the light of His love? What self-fulfilling prophesy do you need to relinquish, to be replaced with a life not lived in fear? “Perfect Love drives out all fear.” What prophesy do you choose to believe? The self-fulfilling one or the God directed one that is rich with opportunities for love… “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”