Weekly Seed of Faith 1/9/21

Seed of Faith – Uncomfortable – Unwilling – Unleashed   By Pastor Dave  

“When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” Matthew 2:10-12

Dear Faithful and Fearless Seed Sowers,

Happy Epiphany! The twelve days of Christmas have come to end.  January 6th (of every year) is the day the church celebrates Epiphany. Epiphany means “manifestation”. Manifestation means an event, action or object that clearly shows or embodies a theory or abstract idea!  Epiphany is the day celebrated as the manifestation of Jesus to Gentiles with the visit of the wise men from the East. I encourage you to read the story of the wise men and their visit to see the Christ-child born King.  You can find the story in Matthew 2:1-12.

The story of the wise men visiting the Christ child is an intriguing one. These magi waited, they watched and when they saw the promise of the star fulfilled, they went and worshiped. There’s a group of poignant words for today: waited, watched, went, worshiped.

We have been waiting for this worldwide pandemic to be under control.  We have been waiting for our families to come back together.  We have been waiting to go back to school in person.  We have been waiting for our churches to open so that we can come and worship together in community.

What have you been waiting for?  What are you watching for?  With the lockdown and quarantine, I am sure that many have had the opportunity to watch a lot of TV programs. Some of us had the opportunity to go outside in December that watch Saturn and Jupitar align and give us a bright star.  Nasa called it the Christmas Star, or the Star of Bethlehem.  The next time these two planets will align like they just did will be in 800 years. I wonder if this is the star that the wise men were watching for? But the real question for us is: what are you watching for?

Can you comprehend this story of the wise men from east?   This traveling caravan of wise-men and servants began a long trip to Israel simply because a particular star was in the sky, alerting them to the birth of the King of the Jews.  They traveled for several months before they finally met the Christ-child.

I believe that this story is more than a story to entertain us, it is a story to teach us about our own personal response to Christ, “the child born the king of the Jews.”

Maybe a good little “so what” for each one of us — “what is our response to the child born King of the Jews?’

So what do the wise men have to do with us today?  What can we learn from them?  I believe that. at times, we are a lot like King Herod—uncomfortable. King Herod was uncomfortable … “he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.”   The verb used for “frightened” in the original Greek is very descriptive and has been translated into English with many different words like “disturbed, terrified, and frightened.”  The verb is in the active voice and it literally means “to shake, stir up, trouble or agitate.” the Bible says that he was terrified of a new king, even if that king was a baby.

I also believe that, at times, we are a lot like the chief priests and the teachers of the law–unwilling. They new that the Messiah was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem, five miles from Jerusalem.  Yet, they were unwilling to go five miles.

My hope and prayer is that we will learn to overcome our uncomfortableness, unwillingness and become unleashed in our faith as the Magi were.  

Unleashed with the news of the birth of the Christ child.

Unleashed like the wise men to bow down and worship the King with the gifts of our lives.

We sit at the brink of a new year.  The slate is clean. The canvas of 2021 is blank.  Are we going to be uncomfortable, unwilling or unleashed in 2021?

Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century revivalist, sat down at age 17 and penned 21 resolutions by which he would live his life. He added to this list until, by his death, he had 70 resolutions. Edwards put at the top of his list: “Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat him by his grace to enable me to keep these resolutions.…Remember to read over these resolutions once a week.”[i]

Edwards did not casually make New Year’s resolutions with an expectation of eventually breaking them.  Each week he did a self-check. He regularly summed up how he was doing and sought God’s help in the process.

What are our resolutions for this New Year?  What are we going to write on our slate for 2021?  What are we going to paint onto the canvas of our life in 2021?  What are our resolutions for our church?    What are our resolutions for children’s ministry, youth ministry and adult small-group ministries for 2021? Where is God calling us into fellowship and mission work? You all know we have supported Children Everywhere for 20 years. In 2010 we began having NOISY SUNDAY and have just passed the milemarker of raising $25,000 for our rescue homes in Zambia. Today our leadership board voted to begin investing in a new ministry from India. How in the world did God lead us here? Byron was walking by the house with his dog. Jac and I were outside and my wife felt this overwhelming impression that this man was a special person in God’s eyes.  “Hey, what do you do for a living?” Not your average thing to say to people walking their dog by our house. I can honestly say she’s never asked that another person in her entire 66 years of life. Byron stopped and we pursued into a deep and meaningful conversation about ministry. A month later, our board is on board to support women in India. Is this a fulfillment of a life of learning to WAIT, WATCH, WENT, WORSHIP? Should I mention my wife’s word of intention for 2020 was WAIT?

When I became a Christian my mentor and pastor asked me to pick a life verse.  The first verse that I memorized was Proverbs 3:5-6 — “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

But the verse I chose as my life verse was from Paul’s letter to Philippians … Philippians 3:10-11:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul continues to encourage the church in Philippi while he sits in prison

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Paul the Apostle wrote in his letter to the Philippians that he wanted to forget what was behind and he wanted to strain for what was ahead.  He wrote that he wanted to win the prize of the high calling of Christ Jesus.

My “so what” question for you today as you make your New Year resolutions: “are you in it to win it?”

Are you going to forget what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead?

As the wise-men waited, watched, went, and worshiped–can you answer this question: Am I ready to wait, watch and worship?  Am I in it to WIN it?

Whatever our personal resolutions may be, whatever our resolutions for our church may be, I pray we all seek God’s help, regularly check up on how we are doing, and I pray we become unleashed to be in it to win it — to finish the race that is set before us.

My prayer for each and every one of us is that we all would be unleashed!  Unleashed to seek Christ!  Unleashed to ask for directions!  Unleashed to worship in spirit and truth!

Let us make one resolution as God’s family:  Let us resolve to simply follow like the wise men and then  return home a different way!  Let us offer God our blank slates for our lives in 2021.  Let us agree with Jonathan Edwards, “Being sensible that we are unable to do anything without God’s help, we humbly entreat God’s grace to complete everything that Christ has planned for us.”  Hey, it could be as honest and simple as asking the dogwalker, “What do you do for a living?” Paul preached Christ–and strained for what was ahead. Who knows what 2021 holds for each of us? GOD. GOD KNOWS. Wait. Watch, Went. Worship.

Let us pray — God of creation, your love is so amazing.   Help us not to be like Herod—uncomfortable because we only have enough room for one king–me, myself and I.  Help us not to be like the chief priests and teachers of the law—unwilling to let the news of Christ rule in our hearts but let us become unleashed like the wise men.  Foolish to abandon ourselves fully by following the newborn King!  May we all be unleashed to seek you, to follow you, and to find you.  May we be unleashed to worship You in spirit and in truth!  Give us dreams and visions of Your great love and lead us by Your guiding light.  We pray we will wait, watch, and worship.  We pray our gifts will be a gift fit for the newborn, CHRIST CHILD King!  Amen.

See you Sunday!

God loves you and so do I,
Pastor Dave
www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

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Romans 12:14-21 Love in the World

 

The apostle now switches his focus from love’s actions in the Church to love’s actions in the world. What we read should be interpreted from the perspective of one who is under pressure from the unbelieving world. We immediately know that a radical relationship with the world is in view from the supernatural injunction of verse 14: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” This is the radical way of Jesus as given in His Sermon on the Mount. More than speaking well of one’s enemies; it includes praying for their forgiveness and blessing. This is supremely radical. It is one thing not to curse your enemies, but entirely another to pray for their blessing. This is a life-changing call. The Arabs have a custom that (though practiced with different levels of sincerity) symbolizes what is called for here. They touch the head, lips, and heart indicating, “I think highly of you, I speak well of you, my heart beats for you.” What a way to love the world! “Bless those who persecute; bless and do not curse them.”

Next Paul commands in verse 15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” Believers are to identify with the world in the ups and downs of human life, to be a healing balm for a cold world. The world is characterized by indifference, non-commitment, disengagement, no sharing or caring. Enter the loving believer – he who weeps with those who weep and rejoices with those who rejoice. The believer is a tonic for life – a light leading to Christ! The call to love is radical indeed!

How perfectly this leads to the next thought: “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (v. 16). Christians are to associate with everyone – the ordinary people, the unimportant, and the outcasts of society. Verses 14-16 call for a caring heart that is vulnerable to the world. A Christian who is an elitist, who only associates with people of the same intellectual or academic or professional interests, is not living up to what the Scripture mandates. We are to have a heart open to the world. We are to pray for those who persecute us, to enter others’ joys and sorrows, to associate with everyone regardless of their situation in life. What a way to go after the world!

In the final verses (vv. 17-21) we move into explicit counsel for loving a hostile world. This is supremely radical because it is supremely unnatural. Our conditioned reflex is to hit back. The world says, “Common sense demands getting even.” However, there is a better way, God’s way, and it has two elements. First, trust God. The apostle says: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (v. 19). We must trust God to work in the life of the one who wronged us. Leaving room for His wrath is to leave the vengeance to God, knowing also that He smites in order to heal (Isaiah 19:22). God’s wrath may one day come in ultimate judgment to those who abuse us, but His wrath may also bring enemies to repentance in this life. Whatever happens, God will be perfectly equitable. We can trust Him implicitly for this.

Second, do positive good, as verse 20 exhorts us: “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head.’” Burning coals means: by doing good to our enemies, we will head burning pangs of shame and contrition of their heads that hopefully (not surely) will lead them to God’s grace. The best example of this in Scripture is the exchange between David and Saul after David had been so close to Saul in the cave that he cut off a corner of the king’s robe, but for conscience’s sake would not lift his hand against Saul even though the king was seeking David’s life (1 Sam. 24:8-19). Coals of fire were heaped on Saul’s head. Sadly, Saul never opened himself to God’s grace, but he well could have. The coals were meant to be a prelude to blessing.

We are never under any circumstances to avenge ourselves. Any plans we may have to the contrary are from the devil. Not only are we to not avenge ourselves, we are to do positive good to our enemies. Our text closes with, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (v. 21). Love in the Church and love in the world go together. They are the demands of commitment. Our minds have been renewed. Our lives have been transformed. And the Holy Spirit can do all this through us. Are we loving the Church? Are we loving the world?

Romans 12:14-21 Reflection Questions:

In verses 14-21 Paul does not intend to say that believers should “go soft on evil.” Saying you shouldn’t take revenge isn’t a way of saying evil isn’t real, or that it didn’t hurt after all, or that it doesn’t matter. Evil is real; it often does hurt, sometimes very badly indeed and with lasting effects, and it does matter. What does Paul say we are to do about evil?

What happens when people do start engaging in private vengeance? How can a society make sure this doesn’t happen?

How is Christ Himself an example of living out what Paul calls for in verses 14-21?

The early part of Romans 12 (vv. 1-13) deals with what we might call the inner life of the Church. This last section (vv. 14-21) is about how Christians behave within the wider public world. How would the wider world respond to seeing the Church live out what’s described in verses 14-21?

In what specific ways can you be a “living sacrifice” to those around you right now?

Romans 12:9-13 Love in the Church

 

Paul begins with an all-important statement about the quality of the love that is to be in the Church: “Let love be genuine” (v. 9). The word for “love” here is agape, which to this point had been used in Romans only for divine love (5:5, 8:35, 39), except in 8:28 where it is used for man’s love for God. But here the word is used to indicate the kind of love Christians are to show to others – a Godlike love that loves regardless of the circumstances, a deliberate love that decides it will keep loving even if it is rebuffed. We are challenged to live out the highest love and to do so with the highest sincerity. Our love is to be genuine, not counterfeit.

This little statement is foundational to Christian conduct. But despite its simplicity, it is not easy to put into practice because much of our life is shot through with hypocrisy. Our culture encourages us to live an image. We even deceive ourselves into thinking we have love for people we neglect and, in fact, do not even like. Paul tells us that we must get beyond pretense – we must sincerely love. If we claim the commitment of Romans 12:1-2, we must love without hypocrisy. This is not optional! The Scripture repeatedly sets this requirement before us (1 Pet. 4:8, 1 Tim. 1:5, John 13:35). This is a call to honestly examine our own hearts, asking the question, “Do I love others, especially those in the Church, without hypocrisy?” If the answer is uncertain, we must go to God in prayer, because the Holy Spirit is the only One who can pour love into and through our hearts (5:5).

Having established that love is the foundation for Christian action, Paul now advances his thought in verses 9-13 with several challenging specifics. First, we see love’s morality: “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (v. 9b). Some might suppose that love is soft on evil. Not so! Evil is to be hated. Sincere love demands God-honoring moral resolve regarding good and evil.

Next, Paul mentions love’s commitment in the Church: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (v. 10). The word “love” is a translation of a Greek word that combines the words for friendship love and family love. Family-type devotion to one another is more than friendship. Such love involves commitment like that experienced in good families. The natural desire will be then, as the last half of the verse commands, to “outdo one another in showing honor” (v. 10b). Healthy families have a mutual respect for one another. They defer to one another and take pleasure in the elevation of other family members.

Next Paul challenges us with love’s energetic expression: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (vv. 11-12). The word “fervent” carries the idea of burning. Our love is to be dispensed with burning energy toward those around us. Such fervent loving calls for our best and is costly. True love labors!

Lastly, there is love’s care: “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (v. 13). Our care for brothers and sisters in Christ should reach down right into our wallets and purses and cost us. Paul presents this as a privilege rather than a sacrifice because the word “contribute” is one of our great Christian words, koinonia, which suggests a common sharing or fellowship. Love’s care is natural and right and joyful! When Christ’s Church is living in love, the needs of its people are met through sharing and caring. Love’s care is exhibited when we “show hospitality.” Here we must note something both beautiful and convicting: “show” and “pursuing” or “chasing.” The word sometimes even denotes strenuous pursuit. The idea is that the loving believer does not wait for the stranger to show up on the doorstep but goes out and gets him.

Of course, this was terribly important during the early years of the Church when believers were disinherited. Today it is equally important in many parts of the world where similar situations exist. Moreover, it is important to the life of the Church anywhere. The benefits that mutual hospitality brings to the Church are incalculable: relationships enhanced, love disseminated, souls encouraged. All of us are to do this. Peter put it this way: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9). And our text in Romans says we should aggressively pursue it. Genesis 18 gives us an example of Abraham, and Hebrews 13:2 tells us, “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!”

Let us review what we have seen about love. Love’s quality: “Let love be genuine.” Love’s morality: “Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Love’s commitment: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Think of what it would be like to see such a family love in the Church. Love’s energetic expression: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Think of such blessed fire in the life of the Church. And Love’s care: “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”

Romans 12:9-13 Reflection Questions:

What do you find particularly challenging in verses 6-13?

How does this chapter so far (vv. 1-13) relate to what Paul has just been talking about in the previous chapters of Romans?

Which of the “love characteristics” do you need to work on this year?