Sunday September 16, 2012 | Greg Boyd
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.
The study of quantum physics reveals that reality is not how our eyes perceive it. In this sermon, Greg shows how beautifully bizarre reality is and how beautifully bizarre our relationship with ourselves and Christ is.
We are used to reality. When we look at a tree, we see just a tree, and it doesn’t impress us. We look at our husbands and wives, and it feels normal and doesn’t impress us. Little children seem to be impressed by everything. They see reality as very strange, because reality is very strange! From sub atomic particles to how energy interacts with our environment, our reality is extremely complex and strange. It’s bizarre, and it’s beautiful.
And we get used to ourselves. When we look at ourselves and our lives, we are used to what we see, and it doesn’t impress us. We think a certain way, feel a certain way, and we have a certain “normal” reality that we live in. But our world is extremely bizarre, and our reality is extremely bizarre. One just has to listen for Greg for 10 minutes to understand the bizarreness of the human condition.
But our reality doesn’t show a fraction of what is true about us, and what is true about us is even more bizarre and beautiful than our world. The normal boring you and your normal boring world are not the truth. When you identified yourself with Christ, the normal you with all its fears, anger, and sadness died when Jesus died. The normal you died. But the new true you, the one that God says are beautiful and beyond worth, were resurrected when Jesus was resurrected.
Even beyond that, when you were resurrected with Christ, the real you was united with Christ. You have a distinct personality and history on this Earth, but you are united with Christ so his life is your life. This means that right now, you are animated by the love of Christ, the joy of Christ, and the peace of Christ. And this real you is hidden with Christ in God. Whereas your normal you is threatened by all of the things in this world, the real you is safe and secure with God. The ups and downs of life, the sickness, the job loss, and the pains of life cannot afflict the real you.
But you’ve probably noticed that all you feel is the normal you and all the fear/sickness that comes with it. This is the task that God leaves for us; the task of regaining authority over our mind, our feelings, and our behaviors. And as the Church, we are striving to regain our authority over the world so we can once again be co-rulers with God. This is why we set our hearts and minds on things above and not on earthly things below.
What we should seek until our dying day is the knowledge and feelings of being the children of God now, in this life. All who have this hope purify themselves because it is true already. We are entangled with Christ in a way in which we can’t see, and we can see the truth through that entanglement.