Word of Salvation – Vol. 19 No.27 – April 1973
Easter Is A Feast For Every Day
Easter Sermon by Rev. A. Nijhuis, B.D. on Colossians 3:1-2
Scripture readings: Psalm 119; 33-48; Colossians 3:1-2, 18-25 & 4:1-6
Psalter Hymnal: 364 (to the tune of 398); 164:5 after the Law;
226:3 after Apostles’ Creed; 356; 361:3; 361:4 doxology
Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, Young People,
Today we may celebrate Easter. We do so every year. We remember the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, His resurrection from the dead. We may even say: we remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ every first day of the week. That is the reason why we observe the Sunday as special and not the Saturday anymore. Christ is risen! Now we may ask: is that all we do: remembering the Lord Jesus Christ from week to week? Or is there something more to it? Does the fact that He arose from the grave influence our life, our attitude, our way of thinking? Or is it just an event that happened once, so many, many years ago and that we don’t want to forget? Is it a story, a true story at that, and that is it?
When we turn to the Word of God, we read there that there is more; that Easter means something for our every-day-life.
The Heidelberg Catechism answers to the question: “What does the resurrection of Christ profit us?” this: “First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of the righteousness which He has obtained for us by His death; second, we also are raised up by His power to a new life; and third, the resurrection of Christ is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.”
When we listen to this answer, we realise that what happened on that first day of the week in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, means a lot for all those who know Jesus Christ as their Saviour and their Lord.
The resurrection is a clear proof of God’s approval of the work of Christ finished on the cross; and the living Christ distributes the fruits of His sufferings and death to His people. And the whole outlook of our life has been changed by Christ’s victory: we may wait for our resurrection.
However, in the meantime we have to live here and now and our daily life is affected by our living Christ. That is what we hear in the Word of God, in Colossians 3:1-2:
EASTER IS A FEAST FOR EVERY DAY
…because: 1. we are raised with Christ… and
2. we are raised to a new life.
I. “If then you have been raised with Christ”.
These are the first words of this text. With these words the apostle Paul draws a conclusion from what he said in the previous chapter of this letter. There he has pointed out that the work of Christ is complete and perfect. Nothing can be added to what He did. We have an all-sufficient Christ. All we need is in Him Whom God has given to us. It was necessary for Paul to stress this point, because there were people in Colossae, false teachers, who brought a completely different message. They turned religion into a matter of rules and Religion was, according to these philosophers, the observance of certain traditional acts and practices. One had to stick to laws governing food and drink. One of their battle-cries was “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” (2:21). These people stressed also the observance of special days and times and festivals, feast-days, new moons, and Sabbaths as a condition to be saved.
Obviously, it was a complete distortion of the Good Tidings, which was preached by Paul and the other apostles. Their message was: Christ and Christ only! He is an all-sufficient Saviour. We need nothing than Him alone, He is the only Name under heaven by which we must be saved. There is salvation in no one else and in nothing else (Acts 4:12).
So we must knock at Christ’s door to be saved and nowhere else. Even our best intentions and our best works and our most beautiful prayers are unable to save us or even make a small contribution to our salvation.
Again, it is Christ Whom we need, and Him alone. He is the right address. Now Paul says, “If then you, Colossians, have been raised with Christ”. The apostle does not doubt their belonging to Christ. He means: since you are one with Christ; since you are members of His body, the church.
When we read the previous chapter of this letter, it becomes as clear as daylight that these people to whom Paul is writing, are Christians. Paul likes to emphasise the fact that Christians are one with their Lord in His crucifixion, in His death, in His resurrection, in His ascension and His sitting at the right hand of His Father in heaven. We are crucified with Christ, we have died with Him, but we are also risen with our Saviour. We have left our grave-clothes behind us as Jesus left His in the tomb when He arose from the dead. Christ and His people are one. They belong together. You can never separate Christ from His people. We have been united with Christ in a death like His and we are united with Him in His resurrection. Through faith we are His body and He is our Head. He is the vine and we are the branches. There is a firm and permanent relationship between Christ and His own. All that happened to Christ, happened to His people.
So when Christ arose from the grave on the first day of the week and when He broke the chains of death, then this was not a matter which concerned Christ Himself only, but it was of vital concern for all those who believe in Him. His resurrection brings about sweeping consequences for all those who belong to Him. His resurrection is their resurrection. His is their life.
If Christ were dead, we would be dead still.
However, since Christ has broken the bonds of death and He became Victor over this strong enemy, death has no power over us any longer, though we have to pass through the gates of death and though our life here is “a constant death”.
The children of the Lord may be attacked and persecuted and even be killed, still they are one with Christ and no power of death and grave can separate them from their Lord. They live with Him and through Him and their life is imperishable and unfading. The life of Christ is theirs. They are risen with Him, This is an immense comfort, brothers and sisters, young people, in a world where death seems to reign supreme. The church may in the midst of the menacing powers of death proclaim the wonderful tidings of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ; He is the Prince of life. The Word of God impresses upon us that Christ has risen and that He is a living Lord.
Here is real comfort for those who believe in this Lord Jesus Christ. Do you belong to Him? And you…? And you…?
Because only when we are one with Him, we may rejoice and have in Him all the treasures He has gained for His people. If you belong to Him, rejoice for the Lord has risen. Hold fast to this confession. Keep it though this gospel may not be popular. Here is life and here only – for you and for your children. With Him we can sing: “death is swallowed up in victory”. Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you don’t know Christ as your Saviour and Lord, I urge you to hear the gospel and to come to Him Who is willing to receive sinners. Don’t forget, that same cross of Jesus Christ, which is such a comfort to those who turned to Christ, means death, eternal death to those who don’t heed His voice. His victory over death, which is spelling the triumph of His people, means the ruin of all those who refuse to accept that wonderful message of Jesus Christ.
II. The fact that the Colossians and all Christians are one with Christ Who has risen, is only a starting-point for Paul.
When we are Christians, we cannot say; well, it is amazing that I may belong to Jesus Christ; let us enjoy our fellowship with the Lord; let it be our comfort every day of our life, even in the hour of our death. Certainly, all this is important, even necessary. It is the greatest thing in the world to belong to Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about it. I don’t overlook that. And I would say: rejoice, again: rejoice! However, we should realise that our salvation has not its purpose in itself. We should never forget that we are blessed by the Lord in order to be a blessing. Our privileges are at the same time our responsibilities.
We have to use our talents which are entrusted to us, to use them according to the will of Him Who gave them to us. We are saved to serve; to serve the Lord in His Kingdom; to serve Him all the days of our life,
The church is not a body of nice people who know the Lord Jesus Christ and who are one with Him and who want to grow in grace, and that is all. Let us listen to the words of this text: “If then you have been raised with Christ… seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
So we cannot keep quiet when we know Christ and are one with Him in His resurrection. On the contrary, the union with Him calls for service, for work. We have our responsibilities, our duties. We set our minds on things that are above. We have to seek and to have to bear fruit for the Lord. Seeking and setting our minds on things, that means something, it means doing something. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ calls for our resurrection life. The victory of our Lord involves the victorious life of His people.
When we read these words, “seek the things that are above and set your minds on things that are above”, we may be inclined to think that the ideal of Christians is to look up to heaven and forget the earth and what is going on here below. Our first impression is that we have to flee from the world in order to be able to concentrate on heavenly things. In that case Christians have to turn away from the tumult of this earthly life and to withdraw to a lonely place in order to meditate upon godly things.
However, this is just the mistake which the apostle Paul opposes in this letter. He would not hear of an attitude of “do not handle, do not taste, do not touch” as if such a way of life were of a special religious significance. He emphasises the complete salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we must not rely on our ascetic practices; they are in fact a denial of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Paul is certainly not pleading for an other-worldliness in which a Christian has withdrawn from all work and all the activities in this world, and in which he does nothing but contemplate eternity.
The church has her place here on this earth, though she does not belong to this world. The Lord Jesus Christ did not pray that His Father would take His people out of the world, but that He would keep them from the evil one (John 17:15). Their place is not under the bushel, but on a stand to give light to all in the house. Our light has to shine before men that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father Who is in heaven (Matt.5:14-16). After the Lord arose from the dead and before He returned to His Father, He charged His disciples to go into the world and to preach the gospel to the whole creation. And let us never forget that this does not mean half the Word of God or only a small part of it. Matthew (ch.28:20) says: “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”.
When we ask what does it exactly mean “to seek the things that are above”, we are not left in the dark. On the contrary, the Word of God is so clear so that everyone can understand it. Seeking the things that are above, means: doing the will of Him Who arose and
Who is in heaven now. It is this, that we listen to His voice, that we obey His Word, that we practice what He has commanded us. When we go on asking what is His will, then again we get an answer. We have only to turn to the following verses to understand what Paul meant. Beginning at vs.5 throughout the rest of Colossians 3 we are told what the will of God is and what we should do as people who belong to the risen Christ. Oh no, it is not only a matter of praying and Bible reading and Church-going. Certainly, these things are important; we should be faithful in all these things. We should be very grateful for all the opportunities we have to hear the Word of God and to understand that Word better. Thank the Lord for those benefits and don’t forget to ask the Lord to continue those blessings upon us.
But… but, that is not all!!! After we have heard the Word of God and after we have prayed and after we have been in church and after we have rejoiced in our living Lord, we should do His Word and we should act according to our prayers. If you want some examples, well here they are. Here are the things which are above and which we are urged to seek. You can read about them in vss.12ff. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another”.
And in that way it goes on.
This is “seeking the things that are above where Christ is and setting your minds on them”.
And when you are not yet satisfied and want more specific applications of Easter in your life and in your home, well listen to this? “Wives, be subject to your husband, as is fitting in the Lord”. Did you ever realise that Easter, that the resurrection of Christ has something to do with your domestic life? The husband may say: yes, we need such an admonition, or rather the wives need that. However that may be, there is more and now you and I, the husbands, are addressed: “husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them”. Do you believe in the risen Lord? You do? Well, what is the effect of Christ in your family-life? Do you live as husband and wife as people who belong to a risen Christ?
Now the children may think: Hurray, that is one for my father and my mother! Wait a minute and turn to vs.20 of this chapter: “Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord”. Did you ever think of that at Easter? And what is your answer to… no, not to me, but to the Lord? The fear of the Lord means among other things: obeying my father and my mother; this pleases the Lord; and that is what Christians want, also Christian boys and girls, isn’t it? Easter is a very down-to-earth feast, isn’t it? It is not easy to celebrate in a biblical way, is it?
The Bible has a message for everyone. You see, belonging to Christ is not just a matter of praying and Sunday-observance and things like that. Christians are Christians everywhere and always, in their homes and at their jobs. We have to be a Christian father, a Christian mother, a Christian boy and a Christian girl. That is what Easter involves. I am called to be a Christian salesman, a Christian minister, a Christian housewife, a Christian employer and a Christian employee.
In the time of Paul life was quite different from our day and yet in his day and age the master is admonished to treat his slaves justly and fairly, knowing that they have a Master in heaven. And Paul has also a message for the slaves, namely that they should obey their earthly masters in everything, however not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Fortunately we don’t have slavery anymore, at least not in this country. But that does not alter the fact that my belonging to the living Christ has to dominate my conduct also in social relation- ships.
And the same is true as far as political affairs are concerned. I remind you only of the remark in Romans 13:7, that we have to pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God.
All this is sufficient to show that Christians, that people who are one with the Christ Who arose from the dead have to prove their unity with Him in their whole life, in every sphere of it. We are not permitted to erect a fence somewhere in our life and to say that we should serve the Lord on this side, but not on the other side of that fence.
Christ is risen! Rejoice! With Him are risen all those who accepted Him as their Saviour and Lord. The challenge to every Christian is to make all their life one continuous service to their Lord. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. The things on earth. What are they? The flowers and the trees and the birds and our children and our job? Oh no! Let us not be mistaken and listen to the Word of God. Let us turn to vs.5ff: “Put to death what is earthly in you”. What is earthly in us? Here it is: “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry”.
And in vs.8 other earthly things are mentioned, such as: “anger, wrath, malice, slander and foul talk from your mouth”. When we belong to the risen Lord we should do away with these things.
We cannot avoid the question: are we such resurrection people? You see: Easter is a feast for every day; not just for one day each year. It may be embarrassing to realise the meaning of Easter. It may discourage you, because you may be aware of your own weaknesses and the temptations to which you are exposed.
No, it is not easy; I am not going to say that.
But I want to point to Him Who arose from the dead and to Whom you belong by faith, He conquered death and sin and devil. Do you think that He is not able to help you? Or do you think that He is unwilling to strengthen you? With Him life becomes a different matter altogether.
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth”. He Who calls you to serve Him is the same Who arose from the dead.
Amen.