Now What?

My family made a big deal out of my birthday last week – just like they do every year. I of course insist that I would be fine forgetting that I had a birthday, but truthfully I would be a bit sad if they ignored it. The truth of the matter is that they make a big deal out of my life every day, which gives even greater meaning to the once-a-year “Dad you’re special” event called my birthday.

That isn’t all that different from the fact that this past weekend when believers all over the world had a “Jesus you’re special” kind of celebration of His resurrection. I get it that every day, and especially our gathering on every Lord’s Day, is a celebration of the fact that He is alive. But that hardly would suggest that this once a year event we typically call Easter can’t be a kind of summary statement of why we celebrate Jesus’ life every day.

That’s the idea behind my question – Now What? What can my life look like until next spring, when once again (April 20, 2014) this special day comes and churches all over the world will make special note of the idea that is the heart of our faith – He is Risen!

We might learn something from Luke’s story of what I sometimes call “the earliest, early church.” I’m talking about the narrative in Acts 2-4 where the body of Christ on earth seems to be at its very best. Luke will speak of “no needy people” among believers because people were “selling their possessions and laying them at the apostles’ feet.” He will describe a church that is reaching out in ways that are fruitful and fulfilling. Perhaps because they couldn’t think of a better idea, the apostles seem to commit themselves to doing with these new believers what Jesus had done with them, so they lead the believers to commit themselves “to the apostles’ doctrine, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.” (2:42)

Despite some outside interference, the earliest, early church seems unstoppable. They are transforming the microcosm of the world they live in (Jerusalem) and modeling what a response to the Christian gospel that begins with repentance and baptism should look like. 

While “numbers aren’t everything” you have to be impressed by numbers in this story. Numbers like zero – there were no needy people. Numbers like 3000 and later 2000 – describing the numbers (perhaps just counting men) who responded to the preaching of the gospel. 

And numbers like eleven. That’s the number of times some version of the phrase “in the name of Jesus” occurs in Acts 2-4. Apparently “in the name of Jesus” was a permeating, transforming, and sustaining way of life. Perhaps that is the sort of thing in the mind of Paul when he said to the believers in Colossae, “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)

Growing up in a deeply committed Christian family, I don’t have a very exciting testimony about becoming a Christian. It was the most natural thing for me to do. For that I am forever indebted to my parents, and other family members and friends in my little country church, for making that true about me.

But when it comes to “why do you remain a Christian?” there’s more to tell! Ultimately the answer has to revolve around the message of Easter – He is Risen indeed! If that is true, then despite an occasional glance at a different way of living, I ultimately know that I am called to live out life “in the name of Jesus.”  Not as some slick logo to put at the bottom of my email notes or posted on Facebook – but as a way of life. Just as was true for the earliest, early church – the fact that He is risen means I am called to live in the name of Jesus.

So it’s the week after Easter and the temptation will be to go back to normal. But honestly, the only reasonable normal if I believe what I heard and said in church on Easter Sunday is to commit myself to living life “in the name of Jesus.”

It transformed the lives of those complicit in the death of Jesus. It surely can transform my life as well.