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"Living Outside the Box"
I suppose you’ve heard the line a thousand times. They say
it became popular in the 70’s and 80’s when a business
consulting firm challenged their clients with the nine-dot
puzzle instructing them to connect all the dots with only
four straight lines but without lifting their pencil from
the paper. Of course the puzzle is quite simple once someone
shows you or tells you that the lines needed to connect the
dots do not have to stay inside the boundaries of the puzzle.
And the business cliché of the century was born! Of course,
to complete the puzzle successfully you must be able “to
think outside the box.” The phrase means something like
“think creatively” or “be original.” You’ll forgive me I
hope, but I want to borrow it this morning to give you
something to think about and take home with you in these
pre-dawn moments of Easter morning.
Take a look around. You realize where you are? This is
the cemetery! It is a very odd place to meet. And you
know that if you’ve tried to explain it to a friend or
family member – “we’re having worship in the church
cemetery this morning” – you are familiar with the
strange looks and the expression of befuddlement in
the one word question, “Why?!”
In my pre-pastor life I once worked for about year in a
construction job. There were probably about 30 of us on
the crew ranging from a recovering alcoholic, born again
Christian who would randomly run through the site shouting
“Praise the Lord” at the top of his lungs, to a man who
shocked me in my youthful Christian naiveté by his certainty
in this statement: “when you die they put you in box, bury
you in the ground, and you rot like a dog, end of story.”
If he was only being facetious, or trying to rile up the
“born-again” fellow on our crew, it never showed. Every
indication was that this was his conviction and belief
that guided his outlook on life.
So here we are in the cemetery and the phrase, “in the
box” takes on a slightly different twist in light of my
co-worker’s perspective on life. If being put in such a
box is all we have to look forward to, if this is the end
of life then we better get busy trying to cram as much
everything into however much time we have left. Or to
quote Tim McGraw in a recently popular country song –
we oughta live like we were dyin’.
It would make sense wouldn’t it, if this is the end of
the story, to try and get as much out of life as possible.
To do that, of course, you’re going to need money and
lots of it. So you’ll need to work continuously, no
real time for family, or church, or even for resting.
And if your prospects of fortune the old fashion way –
through good ol’ hard work – doesn’t look promising
you’ll need to look for some faster ways to get rich –
who knows, maybe you’ll win the lottery.
If this is all there is there’s a lot you have left to
do. You’ll need to teach your kids to stay busy – get
them started early in every sport, club, music, dance,
and academic activity possible.
As you climb the ladder of success you’ll probably have
to step on a few people along the way but you can justify
that – after all only the strong survive. You’ll want to
learn the power of words – a well placed rumor over here –
a little innuendo or white lie over there and you can move
people out of your way without anybody thinking too badly
of you. If you see something you want take it. You deserve
it. Why should you have to wait for anything? And here’s
the number 1 rule, if this place is the end of your life –
never, ever, ever be satisfied or content with what you have.
Has it dawned on you yet? In so many ways that’s exactly
how we live - inside the box – and the box is simply the
lie that death is end of life. I’d like you talk about
that sometime today, with your spouse, or with your family,
or a friend. How much of your life are you living inside
the box called death?
Can’t you see it? You worry and fret about so many things.
You are haunted by the past, the bad things you have done
and the bad things that have been done to you. You are on
the verge of anger a lot of times and you really don’t even
know why. There is resentment and a slow burning desire to
get even with somebody. Something’s not right, but you can’t
put your finger on it. You are always looking for the next
thing that might be just what you always wanted, only to
get it and discover that wasn’t it either. You are afraid
of what tomorrow will bring and that’s how you live –
in fear.
Yes, I’m sure of it. You and I spend way too much of our time
living inside the box called death and it really stinks in there.
It’s time to start living like we have conquered death. That’s
what Easter is all about. Easter is the trumpet call of God
sounding in the darkness of this cemetery that today is the
day for us to step out of the rotting stench of death into
the fresh air of God’s presence and His promise and start
living outside the box.
Job had lost everything he had. His possessions, his children,
his reputation, his health, everything was all gone. His friends
and even his wife advised him that since there was nothing left
he ought to curse God and die.
But Job wasn’t willing to live inside the box. Listen to what
he said in our OT lesson: (Job 19:25-27 NIV) "I know that my
Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the
earth. {26} And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my
flesh I will see God; {27} I myself will see him with my own
eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"
Easter is the challenge to the power of death in your life.
Easter claims that God came down from heaven and was born
of a virgin named Mary. Easter claims that this Jesus, born
of the Virgin Mary, lived completely outside the box of death
his whole life. He kept God first always. He honored God’s
name with every ounce of His human existence. In every encounter
with every human being He always sought the other person’s
need above His own. He had such a perfect sense of who He
was and what the purpose of His life was that He could live
with a deep, abiding confidence and contentment.
Easter claims that this Jesus, true God and true man,
like us in every way except without sin, went into the
box of death willingly for us. He was arrested, unjustly
accused, tried, beaten with fists and spit upon, mocked,
scourged with a Roman whip until his skin hung in ribbons
of bleeding flesh, crowned with thorns and struck on the
head, nails pierced his flesh, scraped his bones and
severed his nerves. He hung for three grueling hours,
life draining out of him on a cross while human beings
laughed and in the face of such torture this is what He
said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what
they are doing.”
Someday, hopefully right here this morning, for the first
time or for the thousandth time the Son of God will break
over the horizon into your heart and mind. Jesus went into
death for you to destroy death’s grip on your life. The
grave is not the end of your life. It is burst open. When
you die, if you die before Jesus returns again in glory as
he promised, when you die, your body will come here, but
your soul will be with God immediately and then, when Jesus
does return, your body, will be raised, resurrected, restored,
to life and you will live body and soul together forever
in heaven.
If that is true - and that is what Christianity claims, the
resurrection of the body - if it is true then it changes
everything about the way you live between here and grave.
Without the threat of death hanging over you it is time to
start living outside that box! It is time to stop living
like you are dying and start living like you have conquered death.
Here is what it looks like. Every morning, when you get up,
make the sign of the holy cross and say, “In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Those are the
words spoken over you the day God claimed you as His own in
the water of baptism and you eternal life began. Now say to
yourself, “Today I am who God says I am, no more, but most
assuredly, no less. I am forgiven of all my past and I am
bound for heaven so there is nothing in my future that I
need fear.”
Now step out of the box. If you’ve been living in the
corner of where you think too highly of yourself, remember,
you are who God says you are, and no more than that. Stop
living so selfishly, looking down on every one else,
acting like the world owes you something. Get over
yourself and your attitude of indignation. Boy does it
stink in there.
If you’ve been living in the other corner where you think
too little of yourself, it is time to get out of there,
remember you are who God says you are and never, ever
less than that. Take hold of life, you don’t have to be
a victim any more. God will guide you to better decisions
and choices. Listen to the ones he has put around you,
who you know, love you. Don’t be too stubborn or frightened
to try. It stinks in there too.
Get God first in your life. And make a note there is no
way around the fact that having God first means worshiping
Him – not just once in a while but every week - coming
together with other believers to support and encourage
your faith.
You are forgiven. Your past is wiped clean again this morning.
You can step out of the box and treat the people around you
with dignity and respect, even when you don’t like them. You
can be genuinely concerned about others without being afraid
of what it will cost you.
By faith in Jesus Christ you can live as if you will never die
because that’s what He promises you – eternal life. You can
start enjoying everything He has given you in this life –
knowing full well it is nothing compared to what He has
prepared for you in heaven. You can endure whatever circumstances
you find yourself in with confidence and patience because you
know it does not end here in a cemetery.
You can use the gifts he has given you – your personality,
your intelligence, your position in life – to affect the eternal
life of the person sitting next to you. Who knows they might
even ask you what the secret to your contentment is.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Time to start
living outside the box. Death has no power over those who believe.
Amen.
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