The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

Are you ready to get back to the “real world?” The holidays are officially over. Now it’s time, says our world, to get back to work, or to school, and to put away our decorations, and clean up after all of our celebrations. 

And not only that, but this is also a time when we are supposed to try to clean up our lives, too. It is time when we resolve entering this new year to exercise more, or to eat better, or to get more organized. 

It’s time to get back to the real world. But what I want to reflect on today is: What, exactly, is the “real world?” 

Let me start with a television interview that I saw with a doctor on how to be healthy in the new year. 

He was being interviewed about how to lose weight, and get in better shape in this new year, in a segment focused on New Year’s Resolutions. He went through the usual suggestions. And then, in an almost embarrassed way, he suggested that maybe you also want to add spirituality to your New Year’s Resolutions. Why? Because, he said, it’s good for you. 

So, he suggested, call your parents. Get in touch with family. That’s important, too, he said. And then they moved on.

For him, in other words, the real world does not include God. Even when talking about spirituality, it is a world without transcendence. A world without anything beyond what we can hear and see.

Is that really the real world? And can we really talk about spirituality without even mentioning God? Not us. Or we would not be here. 

We are here because we believe that the real world always involves God. It is infused with the Holy Spirit. We are here because we believe that our Creator is here with us, inviting us to deepen our relationship with the One who loves us eternally. 

Spirituality, at least to us as Christians, is about caring for our spirits by connecting with God’s Spirit. Spirituality is about growing closer to Jesus through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is about seeing God at work in the “real world.” Because God created the “real world,” after all. And so, for us, spirituality is all about being with God in the midst of our real world, and in the midst of our ordinary, everyday lives. 

The Word Became Flesh

We have two powerful reminders of this in today’s Scripture readings. The first reminder I want to look at is from our gospel reading, from the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18). And, in particular, it is John’s account of Christmas, which can be summed up in one verse, verse 14: 

“The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” 

Christmas, the Incarnation of Our Lord, is when the word became flesh. The Word, of course, is Jesus Christ. He was there in the beginning with God, as verse 2 of John’s Gospel reminds us, before the world was ever created. And all things came into being through him. 

There is no world – no real world, in other words – without the Word of God. Without him not one thing came into being, as verse 3 puts it. 

But not only was this real world created by the Word, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This real world was also visited by the Word. The Word became flesh and lived among us. 

God’s Son chose to become part of this real world, in other words. He chose to take on flesh, to be born among us, to live here, in this real world. And when he did that, he showed us how important this real world is to God. And how much God wants to be part of this real world which He has created.

And when the word became flesh, Jesus also taught us, through his life on earth, how to live in this real world. And the way he taught us to live in this real world is to live with a constant awareness of God’s presence in our life. Jesus prayed without ceasing. He worshiped the Father. He turned to God the Father when he needed help. He thanked the Father when he received that help. 

He showed us, through his life on earth, that spirituality really is about living in the real world, and spirituality is all about our relationship with our Heavenly Father. No one shows this more clearly than Jesus. And there is no one better to learn this from as we begin this new year together. 

Spirituality, to put it another way, is not just about calling our parents; it is about calling our Heavenly Father, too. It is about doing what Jesus did: living our life in this real world of ours with a constant sense of God’s nearness to us. Living like Jesus, being guided by the Holy Spirit, and giving glory to our Father in heaven. That is what it means to live as a Christian in this wonderful real world of ours.

Blessed In Christ

But I mentioned that there are two reminders in today’s readings of what it means to live in this real world with God. And the second is from our second reading, from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 1:3-14). And this is another great passage to begin our new year with. Here is how this passage begins:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul writes, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.

In this simple statement, we are reminded of something very important, even life-changing: That we start this year as people who have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Before we make any New Year’s Resolutions, or before we break any New Year’s Resolutions, Paul reminds us that we are already blessed in Jesus Christ with every spiritual blessing.

And I love this reminder to us of how to live in the real world. By remembering the blessings that we have already received in Christ. It is a great way to live each day, a great way to live each year, because it keeps our priorities straight. 

It can challenge us to stay focused on our spiritual lives, when we are not doing so. And it can encourage us when our lives in the real world aren’t going too well. We have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Today. Tomorrow. This year. And always.

But that’s kind of vague, I suppose. Blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. So let me lift up three specific ways that Paul tells us that we are blessed in Christ. 

Chosen

First of all, Paul tells us that we are blessed in Christ because we have been chosen “in Christ before the foundation of the world.” 

Think about that. You and I have been chosen in Christ. Even before we chose God, He chose us, in Christ. We who are baptized into Christ have been chosen in Christ. Before we make any resolutions, God has already chosen us. We don’t have to earn this. It is given to us freely, in Christ.

Now, this doesn’t mean that other people are not chosen. But it means that one of the blessings that we can and should focus on is that we have been chosen in Christ. We have been chosen to be in a relationship with God through Jesus. We have a purpose in life, and that is to live as God’s chosen children. 

And part of the joy of this journey of faith that we are on is to discover exactly what that means. But the journey starts with recognizing that we have already been chosen. That is what it means to be blessed in Christ.

A Destiny

The second thing that it means to be blessed in Christ is to recognize that we have a destiny. God destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according the good pleasure of his will, which he freely bestowed on us in Christ. 

We have a destiny, and it is to be God’s children. And again, this is not something we earn or work toward. It’s not something that resolution can make or break. It is part of who we are. We have been chosen by God, and adopted into God’s family. 

And remembering that can encourage us when we are having a tough time in the real world. And it can challenge us when we are having an easy time in the real world. But, in any case, it changes how we live in the real world. How can it not? We now live knowing that we have been chosen by God, and adopted into God’s family. There is nothing more important to our lives than that. It is what it means to be blessed in Christ.

An Inheritance

And then, finally, Paul reminds us that to be blessed in Christ means that we have also obtained an inheritance. And again, this is not something we earn. It is given to us. 

We have been given an inheritance, and it is no less than eternal life with our Lord and our God. There is no greater inheritance possible. And we have already been promised it, in Christ. It is what it means to be blessed in Christ. 

And it reminds us that the real world is not the only world. There is something more. All of this will fade away. But God’s promise will not. And His promise is eternal life. That is our promised inheritance. And when the real world gets tough, this again can be a powerful thing to remember. 

To Live for the Praise of God’s Glory

But these blessings in Christ, of being chosen, adopted, and promised an inheritance, are not just presents to open and put on a shelf. They are intended to change us, to change how we live in the real world. 

Paul tells us that all of these things have been given to us so that we, in his words, “who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.” 

And that, to me, is the most important resolution of them all. And it is about spirituality. And it is about the real world. And it is about God. 

We who have set our hope on Christ, who know that we have been blessed in Christ, are called to live for the praise of his glory. That is our life’s purpose, ultimately. To live for the praise of his glory. To devote our lives to God. 

There is nothing more important. And we do this, not by escaping the real world, but by living in it.

We do this by waking up each morning, and remembering how blessed we are in Christ. We have been chosen, adopted, promised an inheritance. We are truly blessed. And then, after remembering this, we live for God’s glory. Each word, each decision, each action, done with the prayer that it brings glory to God. 

There is no better way to begin a new year, and no better way to live in this real world, than to live for the praise of God’s glory. Amen.