PRODUCING THE FRUIT OF THE KINGDOM

In Matthew 21 after an amazing chapter of teaching, Jesus ends the discussion with these starting words to the religious elite:

The Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. (verse 43)

It seems Jesus is pretty interested in the Fruit of the Kingdom.

As we will see in our study of Matthew 21...

The fruit of the Kingdom is the fine texture of a life in Christ, which lies between the lines, the substructure that pulls all the details together and from which every other part of our life reacts.    

The Fruit of the Kingdom displayed in the followers of Christ is the single most powerful force in obtaining the restoration of God’s creation and for good in our world today.

A life that produces the fruit of the Kingdom lies in stark contrast to the people we find in Matthew 21: Those in the temple dealing in the external requirements of worship; the son in the parable who had the right answers but the wrong kind of life; the unrepentant tenants and the unscrupulous guest.

As we move into 2013, we want to ask ourselves, what is it that is really important to God? 

What is our life to look like? What kind of content might the life have where the fruit of the Kingdom is being produced in us?

Where it is the substructure of our life pulling all the various details and events together and causing it all to reflect a life blessed by living in the Kingdom?

Paul grasped it and tells us in Colossians 3:17…

Whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

In someone’s name is to act for their purposes with their resources.

Have you ever had a Power of Attorney? A Power of Attorney authorizes the one granted the power to act on behalf of and from the resources of the one granting the power. This is what it means to act in the name of Jesus.

In a nutshell, that is the Fruit of the Kingdom.

One who has a life that reflects the power of acting on behalf of and from the resources of the King Himself.

This lies in stark contrast to where we put the emphasis.

If you’ve been around awhile you know that being a good Christian is associated with a lot of strange habits, rules, boxes and dogma.

It usually means getting things under human control (and others under your human control in all kinds of despicable ways). Like how you dress, external adornments, the phrasing of your words and the right answers. Mostly it means acting like the son in the parable in this chapter who said the right words but didn’t have the life to back it up. Sound familiar?

When we begin to see God for who He is and Jesus as the One who will teach us His ways, our lives will produce, without a conscious attempt, the Fruit of the Kingdom. It is a beautiful thing to see happen in the lives of His disciples who are brave enough to move beyond the external forms of a religion that is intent on the right answers without living on behalf of and from the resources of Jesus Himself. That's power. That is the Fruit of the Kingdom.

Planning for the Rest of Your Life

Well, the apocalypse never came. No shattering earthquakes rearranged geography. We weren’t hit by a civilization-ending asteroid. Nary a tsunami wrought despair and destruction on coastlines. No invasion of evil forces. No alien invasion. The Rapture didn’t happen.  No explosions of nuclear weapons devastated humanity. What that means is two things: the prophets of 2012 got it wrong, and you have to plan for the rest of your life.

While 2013 is an unwritten book, don’t just let the pages be written for you. Be active and intentional about your life in the coming year.

Here are 20 suggestions to help in making a plan as you enter 2013…

1. Decide to be a follower of Christ.

It is the most important decision we make every day before we get out of bed. Today, I am going to be a follower of Christ. Today, I choose in all my actions and thinking, in whatever I say and do to be a disciple of Christ.

2. Decide to be a joyful person. We talked about that during advent. Many people aren’t joyful about their life because they have just never decided to be a joyful person. Joy means that you have a settled assurance that all is well with your soul. Lamentations. Evaluate life’s events from the standpoint that the Lord is your portion. That means the Lord is enough.

When I start getting ‘worried’ or ‘anxious’ about life and all that it does and could bring, I will often say, ‘Today I have God and that is enough, tomorrow will be the same’. That is realizing the Lord is my Portion.

Is perfection possible?

No, but striving for perfection is. 

3. Decide that this year you will live as a forgiving person.

Make a list of people who have hurt you. Consciously forgive them. That means you aren’t going to build your life around their offense. 

May mean consciously overlooking the faults of others.

If you decide you can’t forgive.

Ask yourself if you could forgive would you want to? 
Forgiveness is keeping the pressure off of you.

4. Buy a journal.

A journal gives you access to a free, unlicensed (but effective) therapist.

You won’t believe what you can get for a number 2 pencil and a piece of writing paper..

When we’re drawn to fill a page, we’re often surprised at what is summoned. Oftentimes, we don’t truly know our thoughts until we put language to them.

Writing presents us with a slower, solitary mode for reflection.

You could start your journal with the reflections from the insert this week.

If you reflect this week on the goodness of God and you accept the proposition that His mercies are knew every morning, you could write some of them down. Consider the ways God is transforming your life into one of holiness. List one person, one circumstance, and one Bible passage that have been instrumental in transforming your life this year.

In what ways do you see God transforming your life in the coming year? In what ways would you like God to transform your life in the coming year?

5. Write a letter. Yes, write a letter. Not an email or a card.

Write a letter to someone you love, someone you respect.

We have lost the art of expression.

6. Get a library card or make a list of books you want to read this year.

It doesn’t have to be religious reading either.

Professionals who deal with people suffering from depression or other mood disorders call reading; Bibliotherapy.

The “emotional impact” of imaginative literature, they say, surpasses the rational examination elicited by most didactic self-help works.

In those solitary hours absorbed in the folds of printed pages, we envision a different life for ourselves and find inspiration that eludes us in the course of our daily lives.

7. Spend a day or two or three in nature recharging your batteries.

Mountains are good for thinking. Not with ear buds shoved in but listening. Listening to the sounds of nature. Waiting for the voice of God.

Scary thing is that it may force you to face the truth about yourself. But all of us have weaknesses and needed areas of improvement.

Lost the art and desire for self-reflection.

8. Exercise.

We aren’t exercising because we worship our body,

we are taking care of the body He has given us. It is a precious thing.

We are wonderfully made creatures. The height of His creative power.

We have surrendered our bodies, its care and upkeep to the dictates of our feelings and taste buds. Shameful the way we abuse our bodies.

9. EAT HEALTHY. (greatly benefit from cutting out all sugar)

Rather than make another resolution to lose weight. Make a conscious decision to eat what is healthy.  Intend to be a healthy person.

Our mindless indulgences of food often carry over into indulgence and laziness in our spiritual life.

10. Clean out your refrigerator and cupboards.

You could go along way in accomplishing #8 if you’d just clean out everything with ingredients you can’t pronounce.

11. Be Affluent. We have determined in our culture that being affluent means having lots of money and living at a certain standard. I think being affluent is learning to live with what you have. Reducing your wants and desires. Living within your means. If you don’t have enough money to do what you want then change what you want.

12. Formally join DBC.

It doesn’t make you more spiritual. It doesn’t make me think you are more important. It won’t make God like you more.

It goes along with the living a disciplined life thing.

13. Make time on a regular basis to read the bible.

But don’t just read, reflect. Meditate. Memorize a Psalm.

Psalm 23, Psalm 100, Psalm 1, Psalm 92.

You can keep your thoughts in that journal you bought.

14. Turn off the TV earlier.

It is generally accepted that watching TV before bed destroys your sleep. That is probably the least of the consequences you’ll have.

15. Consciously everyday reflect on the new mercies of God given for that day. “His mercies are new every morning.” What might those be?

Another use for that journal.

16. Take time to play.

We take ourselves too seriously. Life is from God and it is to be enjoyed.

Maybe you might even smile or laugh.

17. Do Something for someone who can’t give you anything in return.

18. Get involved in a home group.

19. Learn to do something new.

Write a poem or knit or a language.

20. Pray.

CHRISTMAS EVE MESSAGE

I was requested to post a summary of my Christmas Eve message at our service as it was not taped. In the event you are interested, here it is:

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE

12-24-12

Immanuel. God with Us. Redeemer. Messiah.

He is all that and more. By all means have your baby in the manger but He is more than a baby in a manger. He is more than a miracle of life.

He is the miracle of the Ages. He is the Answer to every question-

the solution to every problem. Explanation to every enigma.

He is the first and final word. He is the doxology.

If we are to believe what His earliest followers thought of Him, He is the One in whom are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

He is the One that is holding it all together.

The beauty of Christmas is not to be found in the humble setting of His birth or the cradle; the glory of Christmas is to be found in the heart and plan of an infinite God who made man, not so that we could love Him but so that He could love us. The GLORY of Christmas is Christ Himself. Jesus.

The One whose beginning never was---grants to us a life that never ends.

Christmas is not just about a setting in a little town to romanticize.

But the inventor of life. The One who caused you to come into being, The One who came to invest His life into you, The One who likes you.

John 1:4-In Him was life-and that life was the light of men.

A LIFE THAT MAKES SENSE OUT OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.

This is what John means when He says, this life was the light of men.

Christmas is about the offer to you of a life that never ends.

John 10:10-I have come that you might have life in overflowing abundance.

Jesus did not come merely to give life.

He came WITH life to make sense out of our life.

Just life alone is not sufficient.

Don’t you desire something that will make sense of it all?

THE WORD. JESUS. He came with life in His grasp for us.

And He is the only one who has it, and He has all we need.

Christmas is about the One who invaded human history and established a beachhead of Divine Life. To Dwell In you and to overcome evil with the good of His people.

This is the grand conspiracy of which we are called to be a part.

A race of people who have indwelling them the very life of the Creator!

This is Jesus beyond the cradle:

Coming to see this Indwelling Word as the light of men.    All that we need.

He is called over 250 names in the Bible-He is simply everything we need-He doesn’t give us all we need-He IS all we need.

This is Jesus beyond the cradle.

Hungry-He is the Bread of Life

Thirsty-fountain of living water

Ignorant-He is the truth

Sick-Balm of Gilead

Death Bed-He is the Resurrection and the life

Lost-He is the Way

Geologist-rock of ages

Botanist-sweetest rose of Sharon, the lily of the Valley

Astronomer-Bright and morning star

Zoologist-Lion out of the tribe of Judah

Outcast and lonely-He is the friend of sinners

Soldier-Prince of Peace

Author-alpha and omega

We believe in HIM, this child of Christmas.

But living beyond the cradle means that we take Him for ALL HE is, and all HE IS, is sufficient for all you need.

This is the very thing that saves a man from the futility of self-effort.

This is the gospel.

As I learn dependence I am freed by His grace to be independent of my own fleshly wants and desires.      Emancipated.          Released.

This raises us above being a victim of our own self-pity.

It gives us purpose and reason and meaning.

A co-conspirator of God in the fulfillment of His Divine plan for humanity.

We are the human vehicles of divine life.      What divine life?

The very life of Christ Himself.  This Word that co-existed with the Father before Time was even set in motion. A Divine life that is the light of men.

A life that makes sense out of human existence.

We find in Him our satisfaction. AND-He finds satisfaction in us.

We are never going to stop existing and there is nothing we can do about it except to join in the Creator’s Conspiracy to bring us into fullness of life.

So, He came, not to sacrifice for us and regret it.

Not primarily because we need it-which of course we do desperately.

But because in His Divine Sovereignty He has chosen to need us-

to revel in us-to enjoy us.          We are His unique creation.

And He has Life for US.  Life that makes sense out of our human existence.

A life beyond the cradle.           A life that never ends.

I lift up to you Jesus beyond the cradle.

He invites you into His life.

What a gift. Welcome to Christmas beyond the cradle.

Jesus Beyond the Cradle.

Joy To The World...?

“Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself”

― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Recently in church a young girl showed up proudly with her violin upon which she had been taking lessons a mere 2 months. The night before she had practiced and was desirous of standing before the church and playing, ‘Joy to the World’. I’m a sucker for anything a child asks to do in church in order to participate in worship. Plus, I love her grandparents and to object would be in the category of the disciples telling Jesus to send the little children away. In light of the recent tragedy (even the word ‘tragedy’ is anemic compared to the horror we have all witnessed and felt) the child, of course, could play.

Parker stood on the stage and without accompaniment played ‘Joy To The World’. It was actually quite good considering the difficulty of that instrument, her lack of experience and the limited time she had to work on the piece. The tune was unmistakably there. So were the miss-notes, the scratching, the halting bow stokes and hesitations. But the tune was there nonetheless and I was proud of her.

As I sat and listened I realized how much her playing matched my mood, my life and my present condition before God. In the pressures of ministry, the clamor of so many with unmet needs, the trivial ‘hurts’ we react to which are inflicted by others, I can barely make out the Joy that is supposed to be mine. Stir it up with the tragedies and the gut wrenching grief I can barely make out even the presence of God, but when I listen, in spite of it all, yes I can hear Him clearly. He is still present in my pain.

Yes, I can hear ‘Joy To The World’, it’s clarion call undeniably there even in the midst of the missed notes of life. The presence of God and His purposes in my life may lie, at the moment, just beyond the grasp of my consciousness but there nonetheless. I can hear its tune carried through the scratchings of the inevitable (if unexplainable) troubles and tribulations of life. The missed notes, the uneven tempo and even the halting interlude does not drown it out. It is there, a joy that at times I grasp and at others seems beyond my greatest leap. But, the clarity of the notes, even if rare, provide a peace from God that says, ‘It is still, well with my soul’.

I know that I have at once attained and am still striving forth. I am His. I know God made me not to love Him (although the ability to love Him is a wonder) but rather He made me so that He could love me. This infinite love breaking through the terrible missteps of life gives meaning to this moment.

And in some strange way, Lewis is right. The inevitable suffering caused by the gift of free-will is a part of it all. As long as I can still make out the tune in the midst of its heartbreak, it is well with my soul.

“Joy to the World”. It is there. The evil has not been successful in masking the truth completely. The light still shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot and has not extinguished it yet.

Today, I have God. Tomorrow will be the same. That is simply enough.

Advent. God With Us.

- Brian

PEACE

I am not too excited about talking tomorrow at church.  It is the 3rd Sunday of Advent and my talk was to be on PEACE as we lit the peace candle.  I feel much too lugubrious to speak peace in the midst of tragedy.  I had to discard my entire sermon I worked so hard on all week and rewrote something this morning to try and make sense out of senselessness.  20 little children dead...My God what have we done?

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's talk on 'GOD WITH US-PEACE':
We decry the tragedies but in the same breath we reject the One who came to lead us out of this miasma of the human dilemma.

What we must not say, and we must not surrender to is the idea that the terrible manifestation of evil breaking into our celebration gives the lie to the PEACE we celebrate in the person of Jesus.

To paraphrase Lewis in the Great Divorce, we must not let Hell blackmail Heaven.
That until there is the absence of pain, no one else should taste joy.
That theirs should be the final power;
That Hell should be able to veto Heaven.

We saw evil for what it is.  The characteristic of one consumed by evil is "their rejection of everything that is not simply themselves." (Lewis)

And another excerpt:
And you may object here if you so desire...but there is within each of us something growing which will itself, if allowed to grow unabated, unchecked, mature into Hell itself unless it is stopped immediately.  (I think I may be borrowing from Lewis or Milton or McDonald---but the idea came from outside me.)

We look out over the misery of the human situation and what we have done and how we have handled the beautiful chance at life and we realize this is serious business.
This is why HE CAME.
We must put ourselves in His hands this moment, this hour, this very day.

So He came to give HIS PEACE.  And there will be a day when you wake to find that you grasped it and held onto Him, OR that frightening realization that HE was right there for your choosing, within your reach, and you have lost Him forever.

-Brian

A CRY FOR JUSTICE, MAYBE...

I’ve often thought, rather than learning to bless those who curse me, perhaps it would be better if God just dispensed some of that Justice He is so good at. Really, don’t you cry out for justice? Isn’t that one of the reasons it is so difficult to bless someone who has done you harm? You’d rather there be justice. Quick, severe and absolute.

When I tire of being the punching bag and when the mayhem de-jour is served up in the nightly news-I cry out to God for justice. God where are you, send your justice. God are you uncaring-how could you let this go unpunished, you are just aren’t you? Then send justice.

And God says to me-alright, Brian---

where would you like me to start with this dispensing of justice?

Should I start with you?

Maybe I should start with your children?

Should I begin with your closest friends, perhaps their children?

Should I go all the way back to Adam?

Would that be a good place to start and put an end to all of this?

Suddenly my cry is no longer for justice-but for mercy. Mercy from an infinitely good and competent God who is nothing like the God described by the mean spirited, condemning Pharisees around us. The ones who know exactly which human beings will end up where at the end of the age. Yes, mercy, oh My Father.

It somehow makes it more appealing to learn how to bless those who curse you, let it go and shower on them forgiveness. After all forgiveness is the language of the Kingdom.

BLESSING THOSE WHO CURSE YOU

Of the things I am learning to put into practice, at the top of the list is learning from the Master: How to bless those who curse me.

I’ve had some experience being cursed and if you have spent anytime in the church (small ‘c’) you have as well.

What does it mean to bless those who curse you?

It means to will the good of another under the invocation of God.

Whew…that’s a mouthful! To will the good of another. Stop right there.

I have just uncovered my first problem. I’m not sure I want to do that.

God, they have hurt me so deeply. Friends who claim to be friends who turn on you, spread lies, speak half truths, stab you in the back and then blame you for bleeding all over their carpet. To will their good??

Would it be a good thing to will someone else’s good? Would it even be safe to do that? Yes, IF, I do so under the invocation of God. In other words, calling on God to do for me what I cannot do myself. This is invocation.

And because the Lord is my Shepherd, He will make sure I am cared for.

So, can I learn to do this as a disciple of Jesus? The good news is yes.

First-I have to be one who is not thrown off by being cursed.

This involves not a Pharisaic approach to obedience but an inner spiritual transformation. Where I become the kind of person who isn’t bothered by being cursed because I am becoming the kind of person who doesn’t have to get what they want. I am no longer into protecting me. To do this, I must engage in disciplines that lead to a calmness of soul. Perhaps blocking out some time in my day over a significant period of time to be quiet. To listen to God speak. To empty myself of this desire to defend, give slap for slap and discover that just because someone hurt me doesn’t mean I have to run out and hurt them back.

Second-It requires understanding their situation and condition. These people who curse others, especially when they can so seemingly easily curse a friend, are the kind of people who NEED a blessing. They certainly are not going to benefit from me cursing them back. They too are human beings whom God caused to come into existence. How we see other people is a major component as to how we treat other people.

Third-train yourself under God to ask Him to give them good things.

Am I willing to ASK God to give them good things. This is absolutely necessary because it allows me to turn loose of the agonizing pressure of controlling or being responsible for their lives.

I can do this when I realize it is much preferable to being the kind of person who curses others. I have to look no further than the kind of lives people live who routinely curse, criticize and gossip. Frankly, they really are miserable people that need a blessing. They don’t need more cursing.

Besides, it will be a revelation to them and confuse them-they won’t know what to do with that kind of response. You will be engaging in actions as a disciple of Jesus that completely changes the makeup of the relationships.

By our lives we actually switch things around and these, who are so in need of a blessing, will be drawn into a different kind of world…The Kingdom Among Us. And then the Kingdom of the Heavens they are so antagonistic towards, will be unleashed into their lives and God will change them too. If they don’t want to change, we learn to trust Him with that as well and say: Thank God you are changing me. Yes, Thank God for God.