The date was April 3, 1968, It was a stormy night and while the storms raged in the atmosphere Martin Luther King was experiencing a storm raging inside of himself. King was contemplating the condition of the country and it had left him debilitated at the work still needed to be done. King was lying in his motel bed with a developing sore throat and a fever. King had asked his friend Ralph Abernathy to take his place to give the speech to the sanitation workers of Memphis but Ralph could feel the disappointment the hundreds of people in the Bishop Charles Mason Temple when he stepped on the stage. Ralph stepped off stage and quickly called Dr. King and was able to encourage him to get up because there is hope for the Civil rights movement, humanity is not a lost cause. Dr. King would give one of the most powerful speeches of his career that night filled with passion and vigor like a boxer at the end of a match it felt like Dr. King seemed to give it all on that stage like he knew that speech would be his last. Dr. King concluded his speech with this cry of courage and strength, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life—longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will…. And so I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”
Church leaders across the country are in the state that Dr. King was in his final night, lying in his motel room before he got up and went to give the speech. Crushed by what is happening in the world and just want to lay in our bed and do what is comfortable. The church has lost it’s fire and vigor to change the world and has simply accepted the world the way it is and has decided just to huddle together and try to be good little Christian’s until Jesus comes back. However, we have the choice that Dr. King had Wednesday, April 3, 1968, we can allow the state of the world and humanity to leave us debilitated and we can continue to live this shell of a Christian life. Continuing to just play church on Sundays and have Christian clubs who are exclusive for people who seem to have their lives together enough and stay surface level in our conversations and relationships which never fulfill us. Or we can get back up like Dr. King did and continue fighting until our dying breath to change the world with the powerful life changing message of the gospel. If we make the choice to stay in bed and give us simply living in holy huddles that dwell on the past of the church we will miss out on what God has called us to do. The quote above from Dr. King needs to be the cry of every Christian today because each and every Christian has a role to play in the body of Christ.
We must take our eyes off the circumstances we are currently living in and remember that we are here today talking because of martyrs. People who died for this movement because they knew what their role was. Everyone who died for this movement we call Christianity were not pastors, deacons or priest by title, but they are like you and me normal everyday Christians who live work in the real world. They lived their lives until their last dying breathe with their eyes fixed on “the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
We cannot simply point fingers at the leaders while we stay content in our comfort zone but each and every individual Christian must take responsibility and live life charging ahead and using their lives to show the world who Jesus is. Jesus broke down the hierarchy of religion and empowered everyone of His followers to carry out the mission of the gospel with no barriers. We cannot use the excuse of bad leadership because it is not only up to church leadership to do the work of the gospel. Ultimately it’s up to the everyday Christian who works in hospitals, restaurants, grocery stores, banks, and anywhere else.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
1 Peter 2:9 NIV
We were chosen by God to proclaim that God Himself chose to come out of Heaven and spend thirty-three years on Earth as a human to show humanity how to live life to the fullest, and then sacrifice Himself for all humanity so that we would not have to live life suffering the consequences death which are, anxiety, depression, illness, poverty, lack of purpose and anything that does is attached to mortality. Surprisingly most people stop there. Forgetting that if Jesus would have stayed dead then the Christian belief is a is a lie, but no Jesus three days later rose from the dead conquering the ultimate enemy of humanity death so we wouldn’t have to die. Our physical body will die but then we will be given a perfect body, a heavenly body in Heaven or the New Creation when Jesus returns to restore the earth back to it’s original perfection and then for all eternity we will laugh, love, play, and live. Then after Jesus physically resurrected from the grave He ascended into Heaven to rule all creation until He returns for His people and unites heaven and earth once for all and ultimately crushes the head of Satan once for all.
We do not have to wait until we die to experience this life because Jesus’ resurrection is available to us today. We do not just have to suffer through life waiting until we finally get to receive the benefits of following Jesus when we die but it is the exact opposite. Once we decide to follow Jesus He gives us a new life on the spot and we can experience the true human experience today.
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