WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:27.600 Good morning. My name is Tommy. I'm the rector here at Church of the Advent and delighted to welcome you. Delighted to celebrate Easter. I have to say this is probably, I say this about several of our holidays. This is, I think, my favorite holiday. Easter. No one does Easter like Anglicans. I have to say I think that our tradition just honors a tradition and a holiday worth honoring above many of the rest. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:47.719 It's a wonderful sort of week-long celebration culminating today and then continuing for weeks and weeks after. So I love this holiday. I love all the traditions around it. I love getting to welcome people like you to come and worship. I love celebrating baptisms, which we're going to do a little bit later in the service. All of those things I love. 00:00:47.719 --> 00:01:00.039 The passage we're looking at this morning has a warning that we need to pay attention to in our love of this holiday, and that is this, that Easter is not meant to be a mere holiday. 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:25.539 It's a wonderful holiday. It's a wonderful holiday. It's a wonderful holiday to celebrate. But if we allow it to remain merely a holiday, we are missing out on something. We're missing out on something that can completely change the way we live our daily lives, not just today or next week or the next few weeks, but all of life, if it merely remains a holiday. 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:35.580 We're looking at Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 through 4, where we see that Easter is much more than a holiday. It's meant to be a mindset, a mindset that we carry with us. 00:01:35.640 --> 00:01:40.540 That's why, in the Christian tradition, every Sunday is a mini Easter celebration. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:45.660 We live in a perpetual state of Easter. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:54.360 By mindset, I mean that Easter is meant to be the lens through which we make sense of our lives and the world around us. 00:01:55.540 --> 00:01:59.680 Now, we're not talking here about putting on rose-colored glasses. 00:02:01.660 --> 00:02:07.520 That's a kind of willful naivety in the name of being optimistic. 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:15.460 It's being out of touch with reality. It's denying or minimizing the negative and just trying to focus on the positive. 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:18.819 That's not at all what we're talking about. In many ways, we're talking about the opposite. 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:24.539 An Easter mindset is not about having rose-colored glasses. 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:36.780 It's about putting on resurrection-colored glasses, which allows us actually to be brutally honest about the brokenness of the world and the brokenness inside ourselves. 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:45.219 It allows us to face head-on, as Rob said last night, a bare-knuckled confrontation with sin and death. 00:02:46.259 --> 00:02:50.920 And yet, at the same time, we're able to remain completely unshakable, unflappable. 00:02:51.379 --> 00:02:53.180 We never lose hope, no matter what. 00:02:53.939 --> 00:02:56.939 That's what an Easter mindset gives us. 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:58.939 Resurrection-colored glasses. 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:01.560 So we're going to just ask two questions of the text this morning. 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:05.840 Why do we need this mindset, and how do we get it? 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:06.500 Let's pray. 00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:19.659 Lord, we thank you for your word, and we thank you that it is not just, these are not just ideas or concepts that we're here to consider intellectually, but this is your living word. 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:27.500 And that as we gather in your name this morning, because of your resurrection, you are a living God who can speak through your living word into our hearts. 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:32.360 Lord, we're here not just to hear about you, but to encounter you. 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:35.939 And we pray that in the power of your Holy Spirit, that's what would happen. 00:03:36.300 --> 00:03:37.979 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:03:39.400 --> 00:03:41.620 So why do we need an Easter mindset? 00:03:41.780 --> 00:03:47.979 By the way, I've been fasting lately, as maybe part of my Lenten practice, from references to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:49.960 But it's Easter. 00:03:50.939 --> 00:03:52.979 So I'm going to let her rip, okay? 00:03:54.120 --> 00:03:57.199 The great writer, C.S. Lewis, was once a committed atheist. 00:03:58.500 --> 00:04:04.120 And one afternoon, he picked up a book by George MacDonald named Fantasties. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:09.400 And it was a fantasy book, and Lewis at the time thought, well, this will be a nice diversion on my train ride. 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:16.480 But as he began to read this book, he realized there was much, much more going on than he first suspected. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:20.180 This wasn't just a light diversion from reality. 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:26.160 Even though it was a work of fiction, Lewis realized this is pointing to something deeper. 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:32.960 This is pointing to something deeper and mysterious that is actually true. 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:38.239 It's pointing to deeper truths about God and deeper truths about the world. 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:39.779 And he later wrote, 00:04:40.579 --> 00:04:44.919 That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized. 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:49.879 The rest of me, not unnaturally, took longer. 00:04:50.379 --> 00:04:55.980 What he's saying there is that his conversion began with the conversion of his imagination. 00:04:55.980 --> 00:05:04.020 What he refers to as the baptism of his imagination, which eventually led to the conversion of his life. 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.160 Led to him becoming a Christian. 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:12.400 Now, I'll say this, if you're here and you're not a Christian, it's worth reading more about Lewis's conversion. 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:19.440 Because it shows us God's ability to speak in all kinds of unexpected ways in our lives. 00:05:19.580 --> 00:05:26.420 But the reason I'm telling you this story is because I suspect that many of us here, 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:32.920 who would consider ourselves to be Christians, may have had the opposite experience. 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:39.140 In other words, we've been intellectually converted, maybe a long time ago. 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:45.120 But somewhere along the way, our imagination got left behind. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.520 In other words, our mindset hasn't changed. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:58.759 We believe these things intellectually, but our mindset, the way we imagine the world to be and to function, hasn't changed. 00:05:58.819 --> 00:06:02.620 Our imagination is in some ways still in the tomb. 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:13.199 You know, we call ourselves Christians, but on a day-to-day level, our mindset is more a reflection of the culture around us than it is the hope of Easter. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:20.639 That's one of Paul's primary concerns here in his letter to the Colossian Christians in chapter 2, verse 8. 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:26.680 He worries that they have been, as he says, taken captive by the empty ideas of the surrounding culture. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:32.459 He says, you're Christians, you've been raised, and yet he worries they've been taken captive by these empty ideas. 00:06:34.379 --> 00:06:38.160 Now, we live in the modern West, and one of the most prevailing ideas in our culture 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:42.780 is a worldview that I would summarize with the word materialism. 00:06:42.779 --> 00:06:49.979 The idea that this world is all there is, this life is all we get, there's nothing beyond what we can see, hear, touch, taste. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.739 That has really shaped the modern Western mindset. 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:56.819 What do I mean by that? 00:06:56.819 --> 00:07:07.459 Well, I think that's the reason why our lives tend to be filled with such a sense of urgency and anxiety and FOMO, right, fear of missing out, 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.240 because it's up to us to make our lives count before the clock runs out. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:14.379 We've got to get all we can out of this life. 00:07:15.539 --> 00:07:20.819 We have to scramble to find security and success and hopefully leave some kind of legacy 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:25.360 so people will remember us a hundred years from now before our time is up. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:35.120 I think the materialism in our culture, that sits behind the fact that many of us feel like our worth is merely the sum of our achievements. 00:07:37.020 --> 00:07:39.740 Because really there's no purpose behind our existence. 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:42.160 We're just cosmic accidents. 00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:46.720 What other source of worth would there be than what we're able to accomplish? 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:57.780 I think this is why it's up to us to define our own identities, which many of us tell ourselves is a good thing, 00:07:57.860 --> 00:08:00.220 but in reality it causes a lot of stress. 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:06.720 Because we have to base that identity either on how we feel or on our performance, 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:08.720 and neither is a good platform. 00:08:10.340 --> 00:08:12.280 Neither can bear the weight of a soul. 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:18.319 So our identities are often shaky and insecure and require lots of validation. 00:08:20.599 --> 00:08:26.339 I think this materialism is why we have very little in the way of resources to face suffering. 00:08:27.119 --> 00:08:29.879 Because there's no meaning to be found in suffering. 00:08:30.139 --> 00:08:33.100 If you're suffering, it just means that you've been dealt a bad hand. 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:40.700 So life is really about avoiding pain and maximizing pleasure, because nothing really matters. 00:08:42.560 --> 00:08:45.600 And certainly we have no resources to help us deal with death. 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:47.360 So we fear it. 00:08:47.940 --> 00:08:49.080 We deny it. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:51.480 We try to delay it as long as possible. 00:08:51.480 --> 00:09:00.740 You know, in our country, our entire healthcare system is oriented around keeping people alive as long as possible. 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:08.940 Often that means spending millions of dollars to prolong a kind of half-life of suffering. 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:16.060 You know, you go on Instagram or TikTok and you see all manner of self-appointed longevity experts 00:09:16.060 --> 00:09:21.680 offering advice for how to delay aging and death. 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:23.180 And you know, this is nothing new. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.900 In the Middle Ages, they also had longevity experts. 00:09:27.040 --> 00:09:29.780 The advice was a little different back then. 00:09:29.880 --> 00:09:35.720 In order to live longer, they said we should, first of all, definitely avoid both sneezing and sex. 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:37.560 I don't understand. 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:38.779 There's something there. 00:09:39.300 --> 00:09:40.420 Very dangerous. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:45.740 Avoid trimming your fingernails when there are certain constellations in the sky. 00:09:47.220 --> 00:09:49.060 Certain astrological signs. 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:51.980 Suck on gold nuggets. 00:09:53.620 --> 00:09:55.180 If you can get your hands on them. 00:09:56.540 --> 00:09:58.540 I won't continue the list. 00:09:58.620 --> 00:10:00.340 It gets pretty gruesome here, but you get the idea. 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:02.420 And here's the thing. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:04.860 The advice changes from one generation to the next. 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.440 But one thing remains the same. 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:10.740 Every single person dies. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:16.379 Not a single one of these longevity experts is alive today. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.500 But you know, that doesn't stop us from trying to deny death. 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:23.600 Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:24.860 That's our mentality. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:25.840 That's our mindset. 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.180 That's the way people in our culture tend to think. 00:10:28.179 --> 00:10:32.979 And it's worth pausing and reflecting on your own mindset. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.599 To what extent do you identify with some of what we've just talked about? 00:10:36.699 --> 00:10:49.539 In times like the ones that we are living in, with unbelievable political turmoil and job insecurity and a stock market being driven by extreme fear. 00:10:49.539 --> 00:10:54.000 It's easy to feel overwhelmed by a sense of existential dread. 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:04.100 Because if this is all there is, if the materialists are right, then there's really no source of transcendent hope or security. 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:06.840 This is all we have. 00:11:07.799 --> 00:11:11.399 And so if the world falls apart, there's no safety net. 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:20.399 Paul is saying to Christians, don't allow yourselves to be taken captive by empty ideas like these. 00:11:20.500 --> 00:11:29.419 Don't allow your mindset to be determined by these empty philosophies that are dominant in the culture around you. 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:40.719 He's saying just as Jesus was raised out of the tomb to new life, just as your body, if you're a Christian, was raised out of the waters of baptism to new life, 00:11:41.839 --> 00:11:45.279 so your mindset needs to be raised up. 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:49.059 Your imagination needs to be, in a sense, baptized. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:52.419 So that raises our second question. 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:55.199 How do we get this Easter mindset? 00:11:55.459 --> 00:11:58.459 How do we get this baptism of imagination? 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:02.259 Colossians 3.1 says, this is Paul arguing, 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:07.580 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. 00:12:08.519 --> 00:12:10.019 Seated at the right hand of God. 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:14.759 Verse 2, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 00:12:14.980 --> 00:12:16.660 Now what does he mean by things above? 00:12:19.060 --> 00:12:20.620 Seek and set your mind on things above. 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:21.480 What's he talking about? 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:26.740 Well, I would put forward that he's talking about the great truths at the heart of Easter. 00:12:26.740 --> 00:12:30.019 The great truths at the heart of Easter. 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:31.180 Kids, get your bells ready. 00:12:32.740 --> 00:12:35.220 The first great truth at the heart of Easter is this. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.060 Christ is risen. 00:12:37.059 --> 00:12:43.359 The Lord is risen indeed. 00:12:43.739 --> 00:12:44.099 Hallelujah. 00:12:44.439 --> 00:12:46.659 Christ is risen. 00:12:46.759 --> 00:12:49.000 And listen, let's just be very clear on what we're talking about. 00:12:49.059 --> 00:12:50.219 This is not some metaphor. 00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:55.219 I'm not saying that Christ is risen in a metaphorical sense. 00:12:55.859 --> 00:12:57.959 As though some people in some churches say, 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:02.940 Well, as long as he's risen in your heart, as long as you feel a sense of his presence, 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:06.200 as long as his teaching still warms you, then he's risen. 00:13:06.280 --> 00:13:09.220 That's not what we are talking about here. 00:13:10.379 --> 00:13:13.480 You know, Christians in the early church faced unthinkable persecution. 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:18.420 Horrible threats of violence and torture and death. 00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:22.379 And when you see these early Christians singing as they sat in prison, 00:13:23.019 --> 00:13:26.639 going joyfully to their own executions, 00:13:26.839 --> 00:13:29.120 praising God up until the moment of their death, 00:13:29.939 --> 00:13:32.759 you don't get that kind of courage from a metaphor, 00:13:33.459 --> 00:13:34.539 with all due respect. 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:39.459 You get that kind of courage because you know that death has been defeated. 00:13:41.199 --> 00:13:43.500 You get that kind of courage because you have certainty, 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:45.240 because you've seen with your own eyes. 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:48.340 Death is no more. 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.539 You know, the resurrection was a public, historic event. 00:13:53.680 --> 00:13:55.919 Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that when it happened, 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:59.620 after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to more than 500 people, 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.980 many of whom were still alive when these accounts were written down. 00:14:04.060 --> 00:14:06.600 You could go find them and ask them whether or not 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:09.159 what was being said about Jesus was in fact true. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:10.180 You were there, you knew. 00:14:11.799 --> 00:14:14.500 In Acts chapter 26, Paul says to King Agrippa 00:14:14.500 --> 00:14:16.580 about the resurrection of Jesus, he says, 00:14:16.659 --> 00:14:18.860 you know, O King, you know that these things are true. 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:21.419 They didn't happen in a corner. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:25.779 So what's so clear as we read these accounts 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:28.120 is that this was public knowledge. 00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:30.860 The debate was not about whether or not it happened. 00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:36.440 The debate in the first century was how to make sense of it. 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:42.540 This is one of the things I would say that makes Christianity fairly unique 00:14:42.540 --> 00:14:47.720 because religions often involve adopting the values of the religious leader. 00:14:47.880 --> 00:14:50.200 You know, the leader says, you should tell the truth. 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:52.140 You shouldn't lie. 00:14:52.280 --> 00:14:54.420 You should not steal. 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:55.640 You shouldn't murder. 00:14:55.640 --> 00:15:00.020 And the followers say, okay, we'll adopt these values and this is how we'll live. 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:02.320 We believe in the values of the founder. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:04.700 But Christianity says something different. 00:15:04.800 --> 00:15:06.160 When Christians talk about belief, 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:08.980 we're not primarily talking about the values 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:12.060 that Jesus instilled in his followers. 00:15:14.180 --> 00:15:17.360 Christians talk about belief in terms of believing in historic fact. 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:21.760 Our values are downstream from those facts. 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:26.060 The values matter, but they're not the primary source of our faith. 00:15:26.059 --> 00:15:30.919 And there's a big difference between believing in values and believing in facts. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:34.739 That's like the difference between me saying, you know, 00:15:34.779 --> 00:15:37.139 I believe that slavery is wrong and people should be free. 00:15:38.379 --> 00:15:41.739 And me saying, you know, I believe that on January 31st, 1865, 00:15:41.939 --> 00:15:43.000 slavery was abolished. 00:15:44.459 --> 00:15:47.179 You know, one is a value, but the other is a historic fact. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:52.019 So I would ask, which one offers more hope to someone who's in slavery? 00:15:52.019 --> 00:15:56.259 Hey, I just want you to know, I really believe you should be free. 00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:00.939 Or because of this historic fact, you are free. 00:16:03.579 --> 00:16:07.059 The first truth of Easter is that Christ is risen. 00:16:08.220 --> 00:16:09.220 And you know, that leads. 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:11.860 Amen. 00:16:12.519 --> 00:16:15.259 That leads to the second truth of Easter flows out of the first. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:17.720 Because Christ is risen. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:19.759 Paul says this. 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.399 Your death is behind you. 00:16:23.879 --> 00:16:25.620 Your death is behind you. 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:29.240 Paul says in verse 3, you, meaning Christians, you have died. 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:32.620 You have already died. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:38.120 To be a Christian is to be spiritually joined to Christ. 00:16:38.419 --> 00:16:40.840 His death was your death, he's saying. 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:43.439 His resurrection will be your resurrection. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.419 In other words, the worst is behind you and the best is yet to come. 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:50.459 That's what that means. 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:54.439 In a sense, we have been raised with Christ. 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:59.419 In another sense, we will experience a resurrection life we can only barely begin to fathom. 00:17:00.819 --> 00:17:06.339 The death that Jesus died on the cross, that experience of being cut off from God, 00:17:06.879 --> 00:17:08.680 cut off from the source of life, 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:16.160 and plunging into that unfathomable abyss of judgment and abandonment. 00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:19.000 That's over and done with. 00:17:20.360 --> 00:17:22.440 Jesus endured it on our behalf. 00:17:22.539 --> 00:17:23.900 Therefore, we never have to. 00:17:23.900 --> 00:17:27.880 Christ has defeated death. 00:17:28.600 --> 00:17:32.460 Christ has defeated sin once and for all. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:38.680 So the experience that awaits us at the end of our lives, as we look forward, we use this word death. 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:39.160 Death. 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:45.539 It's a good enough word, but the meaning of that word has changed profoundly because of Easter. 00:17:46.600 --> 00:17:51.019 This experience that awaits us at the end of our earthly life that we call death 00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:56.259 is simply a doorway into a new kind of life, a new kind of existence. 00:17:56.259 --> 00:17:58.200 It's a doorway into eternity. 00:18:00.059 --> 00:18:03.839 As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, death is swallowed up in victory. 00:18:05.660 --> 00:18:07.420 Oh, death, where is your victory? 00:18:08.220 --> 00:18:09.359 You know, he's mocking death. 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:11.500 Oh, death, where is your sting? 00:18:14.660 --> 00:18:15.579 It's no more. 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:23.119 You know, the empty materialism of our culture offers absolutely no way to cope with death. 00:18:23.220 --> 00:18:23.920 Death is final. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:24.900 Death is the end. 00:18:26.259 --> 00:18:29.740 It's something to be feared, denied, delayed. 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:33.900 But Easter shows us that death is merely a door. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:36.879 It's merely the beginning. 00:18:37.980 --> 00:18:42.900 It shows us that this life that we cling to so much now, this is just the prologue. 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:48.579 And the real adventure begins on the other side of that door. 00:18:51.559 --> 00:18:53.480 So the first truth, Christ is risen. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:54.839 These are the things above. 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:56.500 The things above. 00:18:56.500 --> 00:18:57.419 Christ is risen. 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:04.839 Because Christ is risen, you have already died. 00:19:05.659 --> 00:19:09.099 The worst is behind you and the best is yet to come. 00:19:09.299 --> 00:19:12.059 Here's the third truth that flows out of Easter. 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:14.259 When Christ appears, which he will. 00:19:14.259 --> 00:19:19.319 When Christ appears, your true self will be revealed. 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:23.659 Your true identity will be unveiled. 00:19:23.659 --> 00:19:26.000 Verses three and four. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.519 Your life, Paul says, is hidden with Christ in God. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:37.180 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 00:19:37.180 --> 00:19:40.359 You also will appear with him in glory. 00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:42.740 Now, it's like, well, if I'm here, how can I appear? 00:19:42.740 --> 00:19:46.980 The truth about you will be unveiled for all to see. 00:19:46.980 --> 00:19:57.279 The truth about you, the truth about who you are right now, rests securely in the heart and the mind of God. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:04.420 The truth about who you are, rests securely in the heart and the mind of God. 00:20:04.619 --> 00:20:10.379 And Paul says that one day when Jesus comes again, that truth is going to be revealed. 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:11.980 And here's the truth, friends. 00:20:13.240 --> 00:20:14.799 You were made for glory. 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:18.500 You were made for glory. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:23.779 Last night at the Easter vigil, we heard the story of creation. 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:27.140 And that original man and woman. 00:20:28.220 --> 00:20:30.759 And God's creation of them as the pinnacle. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:34.019 As the crowning jewel of all that he had made. 00:20:35.660 --> 00:20:36.960 That's who you really are. 00:20:37.839 --> 00:20:39.240 You were made for glory. 00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:42.299 You were made for eternity. 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:47.099 I told you I'm going to let her rip. 00:20:47.099 --> 00:20:48.500 Here's what C.S. Lewis writes. 00:20:50.699 --> 00:20:52.740 You have never talked to a mere mortal. 00:20:54.699 --> 00:21:01.399 It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:12.039 The dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. 00:21:15.339 --> 00:21:16.879 You were made for glory. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:20.360 That truth is hidden for the time being. 00:21:22.280 --> 00:21:23.980 It's easy for us to forget that. 00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:37.440 It's easy for us to lose sight of it in the people around us, the people sitting next to us, the difficult people in our families, the people with whom we struggle, the frustrating boss. 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:42.980 That truth is hidden for the time being. 00:21:42.980 --> 00:21:44.380 But one day it's going to be revealed. 00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:57.960 1 John 3 says, although we don't fully know what we're going to be like when that day comes, we do know that when Christ appears, John says, we shall be like him. 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:07.500 We don't have to manufacture our own boutique, bespoke, self-made identity. 00:22:07.500 --> 00:22:09.240 You can. 00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:13.380 But it can't hold a candle to the truth. 00:22:13.380 --> 00:22:23.340 We lack the imagination to come up with the kind of identity that would come in any way close to the truth. 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:33.220 We don't have to prove our worth or measure it by the sum of our achievements or find it in the affirmation of the people around us. 00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:38.920 We don't have to look inside ourselves to try and figure out and discern who we are, what we are. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:46.500 The truth is who you are, your true self, rests securely in the heart and the mind of God. 00:22:46.600 --> 00:22:49.380 We have only to live out the truth of who we are. 00:22:50.299 --> 00:22:55.360 To live as people who belong to God in Christ as his beloved children. 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:58.500 People for whom Christ gave his life. 00:22:58.500 --> 00:23:08.160 So these are, I would suggest, the things that Paul has in mind when he uses the phrase, the things that are above. 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:09.440 The great truths of Easter. 00:23:09.579 --> 00:23:15.500 Christ is risen, your death is behind you, and when Christ appears, your true self will be revealed. 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:20.119 The final question with a couple of minutes left is this. 00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:22.579 What do we do with these truths? 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.059 What do we do with these truths? 00:23:25.059 --> 00:23:34.359 Well, this can either be something we talk about once a year at a holiday and go eat some candy and good food and then go on with our lives. 00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:37.119 Or we can do what the Apostle Paul says. 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:40.740 He says, seek the things that are above. 00:23:41.460 --> 00:23:46.299 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:48.259 And those words are powerful words. 00:23:48.519 --> 00:23:48.799 Seek. 00:23:49.179 --> 00:23:49.779 Zateo. 00:23:49.899 --> 00:23:51.119 That's a heart word. 00:23:51.220 --> 00:23:53.240 He's saying, set your heart on these things. 00:23:55.059 --> 00:23:59.179 The next word, proneo, means to develop an entire attitude based on something. 00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:01.039 Set your mind on these things. 00:24:01.159 --> 00:24:05.679 In other words, Paul is saying, devote your heart and your mind to these things. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:14.019 And in the first century world and first century Koine Greek, heart and mind are much more interchangeable than they are in our kind of dualistic way of thinking. 00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:25.779 Heart and mind, it's saying, allow these things to recalibrate your entire way of desiring and meaning making and envisioning and perceiving and imagining and orienting. 00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:30.500 You need to be entirely recalibrated by the things that are above. 00:24:30.500 --> 00:24:33.559 So let me put it another way. 00:24:35.019 --> 00:24:38.160 We need to develop bifocal vision. 00:24:39.380 --> 00:24:41.119 And I don't mean bifocals. 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:48.480 I mean two lenses through which we view the world and our lives simultaneously. 00:24:48.740 --> 00:24:54.140 Two ways of seeing the world at the same time overlapping and enriching one another. 00:24:54.140 --> 00:25:08.920 Through the lens of your eye, your physical eye, you have a view of the world that is the unmitigated, undiluted, full on, bare knuckle confrontation with the truth of the world. 00:25:09.560 --> 00:25:11.440 You see it and take it as it is. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:18.880 But you also see the world through the lens of a baptized imagination. 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:28.559 The truer, deeper reality of the great story of Christ and his victory over sin and death. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:34.179 And you see both realities overlapping at the same time. 00:25:35.779 --> 00:25:40.159 This is how Tolkien describes the elves in Lord of the Rings. 00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:42.079 He says this, 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:50.919 The elves may fear the dark lord and they may fly before him, but never again will they listen to him or serve him. 00:25:51.939 --> 00:25:54.019 They do not fear the ring rays. 00:25:54.639 --> 00:25:59.899 For those who have dwelt in the blessed realm live at once in both worlds. 00:26:00.699 --> 00:26:04.699 And against both the seen and the unseen, they have great power. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:09.960 The elves have bifocal vision. 00:26:09.960 --> 00:26:16.720 They're acutely aware of the anguish and the evil in their midst, but they do not live in fear. 00:26:17.140 --> 00:26:27.420 They have great power because they're able to see the harsh realities of middle earth in the light of the more enduring reality of the blessed realm. 00:26:28.519 --> 00:26:33.740 And this is how the Apostle Paul is talking about Christians in Colossians chapter 3. 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:40.680 When it comes to the fear and the uncertainty, especially the things that we're facing right now in our society. 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.299 The way we see our work or our family or our marriages. 00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:45.579 The way we see our enemies. 00:26:46.500 --> 00:26:48.799 The way we think about suffering and death. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.240 We have the ability to see things as they are. 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:55.079 To face hardship. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:56.799 To endure catastrophe. 00:26:57.099 --> 00:26:58.460 But it doesn't overwhelm us. 00:26:58.500 --> 00:26:59.859 It doesn't fill us with despair. 00:26:59.859 --> 00:27:02.419 Because we dwell in the blessed realm. 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:04.319 Right? 00:27:04.399 --> 00:27:10.319 We have been raised with Christ to new life and we dwell with him in the blessed realm of eternity. 00:27:11.139 --> 00:27:13.379 Even as we sit here this morning. 00:27:13.819 --> 00:27:17.099 We exist in those two worlds simultaneously. 00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:20.919 Our lives are caught up in Christ. 00:27:21.659 --> 00:27:24.439 So we have this eternal, unshakable security. 00:27:24.740 --> 00:27:25.899 The worst is behind us. 00:27:25.959 --> 00:27:27.039 The best is yet to come. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:31.599 So friends, if this becomes our mentality. 00:27:31.599 --> 00:27:33.440 And not just a yearly holiday. 00:27:34.899 --> 00:27:39.240 We are able to endure things that frankly would knock other people flat. 00:27:42.420 --> 00:27:47.119 Don't build your life on the empty promises of the world. 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.299 Build your life on the empty tomb of Easter. 00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:53.200 Let's pray. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:53.240 Let's pray. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:00.619 Oh, Heavenly Father. 00:28:00.819 --> 00:28:04.159 We know that words cannot change hearts. 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:06.579 That requires your Holy Spirit. 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:09.980 We pray that you would wield your word. 00:28:11.460 --> 00:28:13.599 And that through the power of your Holy Spirit. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.839 As we pray and sing. 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:16.680 As we gather. 00:28:17.500 --> 00:28:19.200 To celebrate this baptism. 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.119 As we gather around your table. 00:28:21.220 --> 00:28:23.200 To receive your body and blood. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:24.819 Lord, we pray that in all these ways. 00:28:26.220 --> 00:28:28.700 You would turn our hearts of stone to flesh. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.420 That through your written word. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:33.559 We would come to see your living word. 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:34.360 Jesus Christ. 00:28:34.580 --> 00:28:35.680 And it's in his name that we pray. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:36.259 Amen.