Growth

What if you lose your job?

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29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  Luke 12:29-34

Yesterday I phoned up a friend who lives in Alberta. Eight years ago he moved from Vancouver and our church where we had shared the beginning years of his family’s discipleship journey with Jesus. His job was secure, but with the downturn in the price of oil, he like many others has lost his job.

What do you do if you lose your job?

Well no doubt its been hard. The internal struggles where apparent in his voice. But what he said next stuck joy in my heart.

He is pursuing Jesus.

He is studying God’s Word. He is taking Biblical studies classes.

He is assisting weekly with an outreach to students on a university campus.

And of course he is looking for work, not with panic, but with an ear on the heart of our Heavenly Father.

He showed me the delight of having Jesus as our treasure! In Jesus all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Colossians 2:3). Nothing can compare to the incredible worth of knowing Him. Jesus calls us out:

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.  (Matthew 13:44-45)

Great Expectations

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4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”   Luke 8:4-8

I love Jesus’ parable of the sower, seed, and soils. It generates confidence in the Word of God. And it causes me to wonder about the condition of my own heart. Do I have ears to hear? Could God really do wonderful, fruitful, and productive things in my life?

Jesus’ disciples were curious about the parable too, so they asked Him about it.

9And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Jesus is giving them insight into how God is working. “A sower went out to sow His seed… The seed is the word of God.” God is sowing seed, His truthful word into our lives! God is choosing people! God is bringing people into the fullness of His Kingdom!

Jesus has confidence that His words would accomplish dynamic, life-giving impact in the lives of people. When we speak and receive the Gospel of Jesus we can have the same confidence.

Put it to death.

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5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:5-9

Growing with Jesus requires our agency; that’s by design. We participate in the new creation of our character so that it reflects Jesus Christ as Lord more and more often. Always in response to the grace of Jesus we activate the virtues of faith, hope, and love in our spiritual growth. Our life is hidden with Christ; what we are is not yet fully seen. The old nature will cover up our life with Him and the reality of grace unless we respond. We have died; we have been buried with Him in baptism; we and we been raised with Him to new life.

A new morality by God’s grace is available to us. But it requires our participation. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” Putting the old nature to death is an act of faith, hope, and love. What is it going to take for you to break the habituated draw of the old nature of your life? How can we put it to death?

The old nature and its practices must be identified. Paul gives the Colossian Christians two lists so they can see what is inconsistent with the life of Christ. The lists are not exhaustive. But they do highlight two powerful and destructive types of habituated sin common to the old nature.

Sexuality immorality                      Anger
Impurity                                            Wrath
Passion                                               Malice
Evil desires                                        Slander
Covetousness- which is idolatry   Obscene talk

And then Paul identifies a third and related problem of the old nature: lying. Do not lie to one another. The old nature generates lies, especially in regard to the personal and social dynamics of sex, anger, and what we have said. Lying is a means of managing the guilt, shame, and fear. It has nothing to do with the spiritual dynamics required for putting the old nature to death.

Life and Death Divergence

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3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3

Our affections and heart will be drawn to something. The members of our body will be occupied by desires. For the believer in Christ Jesus the spiritual dynamics of our life are explained in aspects of life and of death.

Of death, the believer was dead in their sins.

Of death, the believer is now dead to sin.

This is not a renovation; Jesus has ushered us into a demolition.

But the demolition of the works of sin and death are animated from the interior occupation of the One who loved us and died for us, Jesus Christ the Lord.

Now our life is hidden with Christ, in God.

Hidden: Jesus the Crucified is enough to advocate for us.

Hidden: Jesus the Resurrected is enough to secure our life even in the face of ridicule, accusation, pressure, harassment, loss of wealth, or even death of the body from those who do not yet recognize Him or love Him as Lord.

Blessed are you!

Your life is hidden with Christ in God!

Combobulating the Discombobulated Soul

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1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.    Psalm 32:1-4

Sin discombobulates.

Funny word, but its no joke!

We may not like that reality and so we redefine and create our own coverups to the sometimes vague, sometimes distinct, sense of discomfort accompanying personal responsibility for our attitudes and actions toward God, people, and His Creation.

The Bible reveals God, holy and pure; who does see us and who does judge us. “Silence” (32:3) on the part of David was not about agreeing with God regarding the reality of his sin. David’s silence was an attempt to

void God,

avoid God,

and escape responsibility for his transgressions, iniquities, and deceit.

There was grace from God even in David’s withering soul-health. The heaviness of soul as a product of God’s judgement generated confession:

5I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;

I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”

and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Psalm 32:5

Thus David’s joyous beginning: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Praise God! “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14