Well Watered Oasis

From Psalm 66:8-12

The Message:

Bless our God, O peoples!
Give him a thunderous welcome!
Didn’t he set us on the road to life?
Didn’t he keep us out of the ditch?
He trained us first,
passed us like silver through refining fires,
Brought us into hardscrabble country,
pushed us to our very limit,
Road-tested us inside and out,
took us to hell and back;
Finally he brought us
to this well-watered place.

May today your heart be encouraged by the words of the Psalmist, reminding us that the journey God takes us on isn’t always as easy as we would like it.  The journey is the goal, not the process.

But when the journey is over, there awaits for us a well-watered oasis, where we find the presence of our Father!

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Sharing a parable from Matthew a couple of weeks ago, I noted to our small group that the Kingdom of God must have value for today.  If it is only future tense, then there is no reason to live under the rule and reign of Christ.

The way we frame salvation only places the true value of Gospel, and the Kingdom of God, in the future.  We also limit the Kingdom’s effectiveness by how we frame salvation. We frame salvation as getting out of hell and getting into heaven.  Doing so means that salvation has little impact for our lives today; it is not something to place a lot of value, time and effort into.

So what value does the Kingdom of God have for you?  And why should that even matter?

1.  We sacrifice everything for that which we place high value.

Our family.  Our job.  Our stuff.  We place high values on them, do we not?  We have insurance in case our stuff gets destroyed, we spend most our time at work, and what little time is left we spend it with our family.  We sacrifice so our kids can get braces, go to the best school and have all they need (or better yet, all they want).

But answer this question…What have you sacrificed for the Kingdom of God?  Have you left family, friends, and your possessions for the Kingdom of God?

2.  It is obvious what we value, because of the sacrifice we make for it.

Isn’t that what I just said?  Probably, but I want to frame it a different way.  It is not what you say that demonstrates what you value; it is what you do.  Most pastor types sacrifice all for the church.  Most pastor types want their lay people types to sacrifice for the church, and one church particular.

But the church is not the kingdom.  It is not our responsibility to build the church.  Let me say that again: It is not your responsibility or my responsibility to build the church. That is Christ’s responsibility (Matthew 16:18).  It is not even your church.  It is Christ’s church (Matthew 16:18).

If we de-emphasize the church and emphasize what we should be prioritizing (Matthew 6:33) then our focus is bigger than the organized church.  And the church is able to move out of the institution and into the MIROR-ing.

3.  It we emphasize what Christ told us to prioritize, then all that we need will be added to the intimate relationship we have with Jesus.

The food, the shelter, the clothes, they will all be added to the relational rule of Christ in our lives.

How do we return value to the Kingdom?

1.  Determine how you spend your time, energy and money. What do you emphasize in your life?  Examine your finances.  Examine your weekly schedule.  Examine what you read.  Pastors, examine what you teach and preach and what you model in your life.  Examine how you work with other churches and pastors.  Examine how your church participates in the kingdom glocally.  What does the church spend it’s money on?  Where do the majority of its resources get used?

2.  Work through the scriptures to determine the value of the Kingdom of God. This is something I am in the process of doing.  Find the scriptures that talk about the Kingdom of God and see what value it has for us today.  What value does the Gospel have for us today? (Beware, this will change your view of the Gospel.  Most of us do not have a proper theology of the Gospel.) If we do not know the intrinsic, personal, and present value of the kingdom, we will not sacrifice for it nor will we emphasize it.  Not valuing the kingdom means we will de-emphasize it, and place the emphasis on something else.

I realize the value of the church as it is used by God to build for the Kingdom.  But the church is just one tool God will use.  If we over-emphasize it, we miss the Kingdom, which is where our priority should be placed, both individually and corporately.  And what we value, we will give our all for!

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  “Seek first the Kingdom of God”, Jesus says in Matthew 6.  When you do, all “these things” you need will be added to you.  What kind of things?  Food, shelter, clothes.  The basic necessities of life.This tells us a lot about the Kingdom of God (aka the Kingdom of Heaven).  The Kingdom is to be our primary focus.  So what does that mean for us?
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  [/caption]Wonderful quote from Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States.These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.

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  Dissertation

  Abigail Adams

  Just a few moments ago, I finished up the major pieces of my dissertation.  My parents provided some resources so I could come to Rehoboth Beach, DE and spend three nights in a hotel and finish this up.  I have emailed everything to my professors and a professional editor I have been using.

• The Charter for Compassion
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  Duration: 21:27Note: This video must be watched at the blog, it does not show up in the blog reader.Religious thinker Karen Armstrong has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths shaped world history and drive current events.A former nun, Armstrong has written two books about this experience: Through the Narrow Gate, Revised: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery, about her seven years in the convent, and The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, about her subsequent spiritual awakening, when she developed her iconoclastic take on the major monotheistic religions — and on the strains of fundamentalism common to all.

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Duration: 21:27

Note: This video must be watched at the blog, it does not show up in the blog reader.

Religious thinker Karen Armstrong has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths shaped world history and drive current events.

A former nun, Armstrong has written two books about this experience: Through the Narrow Gate, Revised: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery, about her seven years in the convent, and The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, about her subsequent spiritual awakening, when she developed her iconoclastic take on the major monotheistic religions — and on the strains of fundamentalism common to all. She is a powerful voice for ecumenical understanding.

Armstrong’s TED Prize wish asks us to help her assemble a Council on Compassion, where religious leaders can work together for peace.

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If this weren’t so true, it would be funny…

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Dissertation

Just a few moments ago, I finished up the major pieces of my dissertation.  My parents provided some resources so I could come to Rehoboth Beach, DE and spend three nights in a hotel and finish this up.  I have emailed everything to my professors and a professional editor I have been using.  Hopefully, I will only have to work on minor edits, expanding some thoughts, and tweaking some ideas.  Anyone who has ever written a dissertation knows what a pain it can be.

I also discovered late this afternoon that there was a problem in posting comments.  That issue has been resolved.  If you have had something to say, and couldn’t please try again.

Now, I’m off to get some supper and relax before heading home tomorrow!

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Abigail Adams

Wonderful quote from Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, the second President of the United States.

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or in the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues.

–Abigail Adams

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Duration: 18:44

Note: This video must be watched at the blog, it does not show up in the blog reader. Also, a word of caution, this video clip has some profanity.

Born in Eastern Nigeria, Newton Aduaka and his family moved to Lagos in 1970 at the end of the Biafran War.  In 1985 he left for England to study engineering, but discovered cinema. He graduated from the London International Film School in 1990, and in 1997 established Granite Film Works. In 2001, Aduaka’s debut feature film, Rage, became the first wholly independently financed film by a black filmmaker in the history of British cinema to be released nationwide. It opened to critical acclaim. He has made many short films as well.

Between 2005 and 2007, he co-wrote, directed and executive-produced Ezra, his first non-independently funded film, for Arte France. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at several film festivals, including FESPACO, Durban, Amiens and Balafon, and was an official selection at Sundance and Cannes.

Newton Aduaka’s award-winning Ezra, told through the eyes of a young boy in Sierra Leone, illuminates one of the most harrowing consequences of war: the recruitment of child soldiers.

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“Seek first the Kingdom of God”, Jesus says in Matthew 6.  When you do, all “these things” you need will be added to you.  What kind of things?  Food, shelter, clothes.  The basic necessities of life.

This tells us a lot about the Kingdom of God (aka the Kingdom of Heaven).  The Kingdom is to be our primary focus.  So what does that mean for us?

1.  The Kingdom of God is added “to”, not added “on”.

That is a huge difference.  We live as is the Kingdom of God is added on to our kingdom, but that is not what the scripture tells us.  The Kingdom is added to by God.  Those things such as food, shelter, and clothes are the whipped cream and cherry on top of an ice cream sunday.  The Kingdom of God is to be the most important focus of our life.

2.  The Kingdom of God is more important than you.

What is best for the Kingdom may not appear to be what is best for you.  That may mean that what is best for the Kingdom is you being without a job.  While that appears to be bad for you, God may need to teach you dependence through that difficult time so that for the Kingdom’s sake, you can be in a deeper relationship with Him.  What may be best for the Kingdom may be the death of a close family member, such as the case of Jim Elliot.

This creates, potentially, a great deal of concern, anxiety, and possibly fear. God has a prescription for that as well (Phil. 4).  God sometimes has to strip us and break us down so that he can build us back up in his image.  He wants us to become the human we were created to be.  But if we don’t understand the primacy of the Kingdom, we will fight it.

3.  The Kingdom of God is more important than your church.

We must note the distinction.  The Kingdom and the church are not equal.  The Kingdom is bigger than the church.

Unfortunately, our concern is on the church, not the Kingdom.  We seek to do what is best for the church.  God, however, requires us to understand that the Kingdom is primary.  Therefore, what is best for the Kingdom may not appear to be what is best for your local church.

What may be best for the Kingdom is that you release half of your church family to plant another church.  What may be best for the Kingdom is your church selling all of its assets and use the money to minister to the community, meaning that the church moves into a house church structure.  Are you open to that?  Are you really open to that?

This means that as individuals and as churches we must see the primacy of the Kingdom.  When we do, “all these things” will be added to the value, joy, and meaning the Kingdom of God offers.

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