Message 1 of 3 Choose Life

Where is life to be found? Thats the question that has captured my imagination at the start of this series. Of course, on one level we all have life. Were all alive, in that we have pulse, breath, and brain activity. On another level, though, we live in the land of death. Its certainly ironic that we Americans have the pursuit of happiness written into our Constitution and yet were the most medicated generation in modern history. Nearly a quarter of our population either gets through the day with antidepressants, or gets through the night with sleeping pills. And whether we require such medication or not, an honest look at our own lives and the lives of those around us should lead us to the obvious conclusion that something isnt right. It requires boldness to admit that something isnt right. Indeed, I would go as far as to say its a preliminary step of faith because it ventures to believe that we were meant to live for so much more. But so many of us keep faith at arms length in the face of such a diagnosis. We opt, instead, for a faithlessness that allows us to parade around in the dark, all the while calling it light, or to deny the void and pursue the things that promise to fill our shallow hearts. For adults, the usual pursuits involve money, power, and sex. For students, the usual pursuits involve toys, popularity, and appearance. You should notice that the pursuits of adults correspond precisely to the pursuits of students, with the only difference being the few years of germination that causes toys to become money, popularity to become power, and appearance to become sex. All these things are, of course, marked by the pull of immediacy. Because we suppress the long-range, all-encompassing vision of a faithful God who calls people to faithful lives, were convinced that he who dies with the most is the one who wins. But some time ago I saw a tshirt that prominently stated, He who dies with the most, still dies. Or, as the Scriptures put it: We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We cant take our riches with us (Ecclesiastes 5:15 NLT). The same thing is true of the popularity, the power, the appearance, and the sex. Even still, many people today are seeking life through the stimulation of their five senses. Were told we can know that things are real, and thus can satisfy, if they can be touched, tasted, seen, heard, and smelled. Anything that cant be physically sensed, measured, and reproduced, then, is reduced to the level of fantasy or fairy tale. Thats the basis of the Scientific Method that everyone is taught in middle school. The implication is clear when you try to talk about God as if he were real. The questions come back: Do you know where God is? Have you seen God? Have you heard God? If you answer yes, then you become a prime candidate for psychological evaluation I recently saw this very thing happen on a primetime news program. But if you answer no to those questions, then youve seemingly proved the questioners claim that God isnt real. However, theres a gaping hole in the scheme of the Scientific Method. It works wonders for science, but all of life cannot be reduced to a test tube. The Scientific Method gives no place to freedom, love, awe, passion, or intuition. Those arent perceived by the five physical senses, nor can they be measured or replicated at will. And for that reason, theyve been disregarded as mere evolutionary impulses that havent yet found their way out of the human gene pool.

But those things are as real as real can get, so Im inclined toward another explanation: theres more to life than meets the eyes (or nose, fingers, ears, and tongue). Therefore if we are to be true to our own shared experiences, we must speak of a sixth sense. That sixth sense is what the Bible often calls the heart, in the biblical sense of the word. In the Bible, the heart can think, perceive, and feel. The heart can swell with pride, break with despair, be satisfied with joy, and be inspired with hope. So this sixth sense is, I believe, where God most profoundly operates in our midst, giving life to people who would otherwise be counted among the living dead. And the living dead has always been an apt description for most of humanity. Thats why the Ephesians letter describes so many in their faithless, isolated, and pointless condition as being dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1). Where is life to be found? This morning, I submit to you that life is found in a mutual relationship with God that is marked by faith and fidelity from him to us, and us to him. From the start, Moses urges Gods ransomed people, Choose life so that you and your children may live (Deuteronomy 30:19b NIV). But time and time again they found themselves, and we find ourselves, persisting in faithlessness and directing worship toward created things instead of toward the Creator God. The Bible meets us in that place with a particular word that evokes a whole-hearted response. The word is: repent. This is the call that is so central to the Scriptures. Repentance is an act of disentangling yourself from one story, with its traditions and agenda and way of living, and aligning yourself with a new story that contains different traditions and different ways and a different future for all who are involved. Inherent in the call to repent is both exclusion and embrace, both coming and going. So Joshua voices the call in stark terms: Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD (Joshua 24:14 NIV). Its clear that life on Gods terms is found through abandoning other loyalties and agendas, and becoming loyal to God and his agenda. This is the heart of repentance, and it involves faithfulness to God through faith in God. Five hundred years after Moses and Joshua, Israel had become cozy with the ways and means of their death-dealing culture that was so unashamedly marked by faithlessness and infidelity to God. So the prophets of ancient Israel are the ones who most emphatically call the people of God to repentance. We listen as Amos announces, on Gods behalf, Seek me and live (Amos 5:4 NIV). Joel declares, Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not to punish (Joel 2:13 NLT). Isaiah hears God telling Israel, Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows (Isaiah 1:16-17 NLT). And Hosea pleads, But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always (Hosea 12:6 NIV).

Its clear from these texts that what begins in the heart the sixth sense of intuition and possibility spreads out to affect the physical world in tangible and recognizable ways. In each instance, its repentance that clears a way to travel on the path from death to life. So we shouldnt be surprised to hear of the last Old Testament prophet, John the Baptizer, Preparing the way of the Lord through a baptism of repentance in the Jordan River (Mark 1:4). The call to life through the twin actions of repentance and belief moves into the New Testament on the lips of Jesus. He says, The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:15 NIV). This is an invitation to exit the land of sin and death, and to enter a new life of possibility and freedom. This was happening then and there. Popular among the people of the time, was an expectation that this good news announced by Jesus, news about life in the Kingdom of God, was about a life that would come at some point in the future (but it was more concrete than what we usually mean by our word heaven). What startled Jesus contemporaries (and what should startle us too) was Jesus emphasis that the Kingdom of God is near, its at hand, its here, its now. But then, as now, the two dominant groups of society hear the invitation differently: Jesus invites those who are well-off to let go of the arrangements that pad their own pockets at the expense of others. And he invites those who are cast-off to be lifted up and included. The invitation, however, is the same: come and live in a new society the kingdom of God where coveting, control, and manipulation for the sake of money, power, and sex are not part of the agenda. Through the work of Jesus, haughty people are brought low and alienated people are raised up. In other words, the unclean are made clean and the unrighteous are declared righteous. People who have been displaced are empowered to belong and those who have caused displacement are empowered to sit down with them at the same table. The empowerment to engage in such reversals is called grace. Jesus brings people to the place of decision: His way of doing life, or another way. And youre free to go your own way if you so choose. Anyone who decides to follow him is accepting an invitation to repentance. Following Jesus leads to the crucifixion of the old kind of life and a resurrection to a new kind of life. Thats the picture on display in the waters of baptism: down with the old man, up with the new. From that picture its not a stretch to hear Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian-German martyr during WWII, say, When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die (The Cost of Discipleship, 89). Neither is it a stretch, then, to hear Jesus say, If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it (Matthew 10:39 NLT). That kind of life isnt something that can be kept quietly within the contours of the sixth sense, or even within the walls of the church. It has to do with society, people, schools, governments, and businesses. At issue is whether we will live according to the faithless agenda of the old gods of money, power, and sex or the faithful agenda of the God who brings newness, reconciliation, generosity, and life. So this morning I say, along with Moses, Choose life that you may live Faithlessness leaves you dead in your trespasses and sins, but faithfulness brings resurrection into new life. And thats the start of being alive: coming to life by repenting and believing.

Alive Choose Life

Many people today are seeking life through the stimulation of their five _________.
The Scientific Method gives no place to freedom, love, awe, passion, or ______________.

In the Bible, the ____________ can think, perceive, and feel.

Life is found in mutual relationship with God that is marked by: ________________ and __________________.

_________________________ is an act of disentangling yourself from one story and aligning yourself with a new story.

The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:15 NIV). The ________________ are made clean.

The unrighteous are declared __________________.

Following Jesus leads to the crucifixion of the old way of life and a ____________________ to a new kind of life

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Alive Choose Life

Many people today are seeking life through the stimulation of their five SENSES.
The Scientific Method gives no place to freedom, love, awe, passion, or INTUITION.

In the Bible, the HEART can think, perceive, and feel.

Life is found in mutual relationship with God that is marked by: FAITH and FIDELITY.

REPENTANCE is an act of disentangling yourself from one story and aligning yourself with a new story.

The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news! (Mark 1:15 NIV). The UNCLEAN are made clean.

The unrighteous are declared RIGHTEOUS.

Following Jesus leads to the crucifixion of the old way of life and a RESURRECTION to a new kind of life

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. Dietrich Bonhoeffer