After your baptism . . . what happened to you? Did God come into your heart, slap a couple new coats of paint on the walls, hang some new drapes, and call it “good”? Or did God come into your heart, tear down the walls, and start to build something completely new? Well, if we are an Easter people who believe, embrace, and receive the gift . . . then we must be the second. God comes in and does a complete rebuild . . . we are a new creation. Easter makes all things new . . . especially those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus. Grace transforms.
The writer of our reading this morning tells us: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.” The writer could have added, “And the best is yet to come.”
The best is yet to come if we truly believe in the message of Easter . . . that what we have witnessed is possible for us also . . . if we believe and live in that belief. We can have new life . . . new beginnings. Though the writer states that we do not know what we will be, the writer gives us a clue . . . “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him . . .” What God did through Jesus; God will do for us. That is the promise and hope of Easter. It is yet to come.
Which brings us back to our home improvement analogy.
The gift and grace of Easter is symbolized in baptism . . . death to the old, birth of the new. If our hearts . . . our lives . . . received nothing more than a few coats of new paint and new drapes; well, then, nothing has changed. Yes, it looks good for a while, but it won’t be long before the old comes seeping back. While on the other hand, if our hearts and lives got the complete renovation in which the old was knocked down and the new put up; in that case, we got something new . . . something different . . . a new creation.
Because of Easter we have the opportunity to become a new creation. What it comes down to is which crew we hired to do the work . . . cover up or new build?
As we heard the words of the writer of our reading this morning, it was not difficult to fall under the lavish and poetic words of God’s love for us. God loves us! We are the children of God! The writer lets us know that we have potential . . . an opportunity; yet, the writer warns the readers not to fall into the trap of touching up the old and thinking that that is good enough . . . after all, you can put make-up on a pig, but it is still a pig. The sign that shows that this is happening is that nothing changes especially when it comes to sinning.
Lip service has no place is the scheme of faith. Just proclaiming a love of Jesus . . . a love of God with one’s mouth is not enough if that person never changes his or her ways. To keep acting in the same ways . . . abusing people, hurting people, hating people, oppressing people, stealing, lying or any number of things that tear down and not build up . . . well, then nothing has changed. It’s a cover up. It is a choice. That is what the writer tells us . . . “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning.”
Why?
We are told: “. . . you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.” Because of Jesus we have the opportunity and potential to be new creations . . . to be new creations if we truly believe by embracing and living the gift of grace in our lives daily. To continue to live as we have always lived is to refuse the gift. If we truly have the gift of Easter grace, then we will know the one who shows us the way. We will know Jesus and follow him. As the writer tells us, anyone who continues to sin has not seen or known Jesus.
In this Easter season we have discovered that we are loved by God. We have discovered that we are the children of God. That we can be new creations . . . what those look like, we’re not sure yet; but we know that the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come if we receive the gift and make it our own. And, as always, we learn that it is our choice.
It is always our choice.
If we choose to go God’s way . . . what can we become? What could we realize? God’s Kingdom. Maybe?
If we truly believe the Easter story . . . believe in its promise . . . then we must believe that we can be new creations in God through Jesus. And, if this is the case, then we must start living our lives in the same love by which God has loved us. Jesus showed us the way. We do not get to enjoy the gift if we do not embrace it and live it to create a new quality of life for us and others each and every day.
If we could do this . . . if we could pull this off . . . then we would know God’s Kingdom. We’d be one . . . one family under God. John Lennon hints of this in his song, Imagine:
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
The gift of Easter . . . “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” And, the best is yet to come!
The Kingdom of God . . . living as one. Imagine. Amen.
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