I listened to sermon by Jason Clark, Jesus all the way through? The Violence of the Christian Life- Phil 3:7-14. In it Jason uses a “British metaphor” that needs a little explaining for the rest of us. In his sermon Jason talks about the making of rock – Blackpool Rock. At first I was confused. I thought it was about some sort of band – let’s make some rock!” I soon realized by the things that Jason was saying that he was not talking about music. The only other explanation that I could come up with by listening to Jason was that he was talking about some kind of artificial way of making rock (or breaking rocks down and writing something into the rock. I thought people go and buy a piece of this rock that has something written through it. Thanks be to God for Google. Embarrassed by it now, I know that Blackpool Rock is a sort of hard candy which has and interesting process of making it.
Check out the fun video:
At the beginning of the making process of this candy you have a big lump that eventually is stretched out into pieces of candy. This lump is huge and it takes a machine to stretch it. One of the trademarks of this candy is that in the middle of the candy piece it says Blackpool Rock and the name runs all the way through the candy piece. No matter where you break the candy stick, you will find this name right in the center of the candy (see the end of the video for this).
Jason uses that as a metaphor of how God can be our enjoyment particular through the pressures of life that we face. He also asks the question when pressed, what is revealed to be in your center? Does Jesus run all the way through or is he only in parts or on the surface of your life?
Part of this refinement in our life is brought about through death. First of all through Jesus’ own death which prepared the way for us to be reconciled to God and to live a new life unto him (2 Corinthians 5:15). Second, the bible talks about Christians having died to sin in the process of coming to faith. For example in Romans 6:2 it says that “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Here Paul talks about dying to sin as lying in the past. Interestingly enough, Paul seems to remind the church in Rome of this fact because we are forgetful people and we often have a hard time of letting go of our old ways of living life. A third way that Paul talks about death is as something present that we need to do – “but if [you live] by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13).
One thing that had been lost on me until I listened to Jason’s sermon was how prevalent the theme of struggle, death and violence is in the Bible when talking about the Christian life. We have a tendency to domesticate God’s word. The Bible clearly expects that the Christian life does not happen easily. Think about death. Death involves most of the time a struggle. It’s painful and definitely not easy. I don’t think we have to pretend as Christians that death is easy. We are hopeful when facing death because we know it is not an ending but a new beginning. In the process of dying we can know Christ’s presence in the midst of it all because Jesus’ signature runs through our life.
Taking up our cross daily and denying ourselves does not sound easy (Luke 9:23). Often what the Gospels say has been tamed down and domesticated. The Christian life entails an intensity, a pursuit of following the way of Jesus. Following, always means leaving things behind – leaving things that have gripped us behind; leaving things that play too important of a role in our life behind. This is not an easy process. It is a “putting to death” process. Yes dying daily is a struggle for us, but it is the only way for God to work in our life, to shape us and mold us, to give us joy that comes from the freedom of being possessed by Christ alone. Does Jesus run all the way through your life?
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