For when my life is right, then I’ll give…

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21, NRSV)

This is a verse it seems we do not understand…

It seems to me that we hear this verse as when my life gets right and I align my heart with Jesus, then I will just give. But that isn’t it at all.

Jesus says that this world will steal and destroy our treasure, so we need to put it someplace where this world can not destroy it. We need to put it someplace that will not allow the world to take it away.

We need to give our treasure, because if you want to know where a person’s heart lies, you need only look at their check book record. This will show you where their heart is…

You see Jesus didn’t tell us to get our lives right and then we will start to give, He knows us. He told us that we need to give, and that will make our hearts follow.

Jesus doesn’t expect us to be right before we come to Him, that is why He came. Only Jesus can change the human heart! And only by following Him before we think we’ve made is the way we will change.

loss

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11, NRSV)

rubbish…

refuse, garbage, worthless material, foolishness, or foolish discourse…

That is what I count all things compared to Christ and Him crucified!

I can have all the riches in the world and have houses and cars and people all around, but if I have not Christ in my life, that I acknowledge and follow, I have nothing. My life is filled with rubbish…

And this word here is translated many ways, refuse, dung, garbage, filth, dog dung… You get the point.

This word used here by Paul is the only use of the word in the New Testament. It is the word σκύβαλα. It is a street term, the language of the day.

Paul was using it to get the attention of the Philippians to make the point of how little value everything else in his life had compared to what Christ had done for him and continued to do for him.

So is everything else except Christ in your life shit, because that is what Paul said it was, and nothing can hold a candle to the love we get from Christ!

too small…

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” (Matthew 13:31-33, NRSV)

Have you ever been told you are too small to do something?

Well in Jesus’ day the mustard seed was the smallest of all seeds. Yet when planted the mustard plant would take over the location in which it was planted. It could grow to be 8 to 12 feet tall. It is also very prolific and not easy to get rid of.

Like the yeast in the second parable, just a little bit goes all through the whole batch.

So never think you are too small to have an impact for the kingdom.

Don’t ever think your gifts are insignificant.

God gave you the talents you have and made you the best for what He has in store for you!

No one can take your place, even if you are small, you are not too small. Because the mustard is small too but it will over take everything, just like the kingdom of God.

So follow and know you are bigger than anyone could ever see!

flourish

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep! The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this: though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever, but you, O LORD, are on high forever. For your enemies, O LORD, for your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92, NRSV)

The palm tree will flourish…

What does that mean?

Well to flourish is to grow well, to be healthy, to be very successful, to do very well according to m-w.com.

So then I thought about where palm tress are usually planted. In places where there are hurricanes. And when the storms come through, the trees bend and sway, but they stay where they are planted. That is because they have a very deep and wide root system that allows them to grow very tall and stand very straight, but also hold on and bend in the storms. They flourish because they are deeply rooted and will not be moved.

That is how we can flourish, to grow well, be healthy, do well and be successful, be rooted deeply in God and then we will sing His praises!

obvious

Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26, NRSV)

I was struck at my readin gof this passage with obvious…

Now the works of the flesh are obvious…

Really?

Can you look at someone and know they are a fornicator?

Can you look at some one and know they are impure?

Can you look at someone and tell if they are licentious?

Can you tell if someone has idols by looking at them?

Can you tell by looking at someone they are a witch? (you have to see if they weigh the same as a duck…)

Really only the last 2 listed drunkness and carousing can be seen by looking at someone, and the second one here could be a judgement call.

These might be obvious things that are works of the flesh, but they are not obvious to detect in people. And if all of us are honest we all possess some of these qualities (if not all) some of the time! We all live in the flesh and therefore the works of the flesh are a part of our life.

We need to look beyond these though and seek after the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love and the rest are attributes there of…

So love the world God created and put you in to be His witness to that love. Live in the Spirit and not the flesh!

pleasing

pleasing godFor this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14, NRSV)

Paul is telling the Colossians that he has prayed they will be filled with knowledge of God’s will with all wisdom and understanding so they may lead lives that are pleasing to the Lord!

How many of us lead lives pleasing to the Lord?

Paul would be the first to tell you he had fallen short.

I would be right there with him in that. There are so many times we look to others for approval and to see that we are doing what we need to in life.

Yet there is really only one person we should seek the approval of, and there is nothing we need to do to get His love!

He loves you as you are, and He is there to tell you how much of a treasure you are.

He endured the cross with patience, and prepared you for a life that will not always be easy, but will be soaked in His love. He is always with you, and approves of you, even when the world does not.

But whose approval is more important? Stop worrying what others say, and live for God!

time

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:14-16, NRSV)

The earth was reaped…

What does that mean?

Sunday we heard the story of the weeds that grew up in the wheat, and here in the book that so often is taken as telling us the end times we read, “and the earth was reaped.”

Everything was reaped, weeds and wheat, all types of plants, it was all cut down…

One who appeared as the Son of Man came riding on a cloud with a crown on Hos head and a sharp sickle in His hand… Not really the way we picture the Grimm Reaper is it?

Not the ominous black cloaked figure that comes to bring death…

The harvest is ripe, and ready so harvest, and reap and bring the end…

For the time is now.

And the earth was reaped…

abide

Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. (john 15:4-8, NRSV)

We are to live in Jesus as He lives in us!

You see the branches of the grape plant are connected to the vine. The only way they can produce fruit is to be connected to the vine. If they do not stay connected they do not get fed and they become dead and will be pruned away and thrown into the fire.

So just as the grape branch apart from the vine can do nothing, we can do nothing apart from Jesus, we must ramain in Him as He remains in us!

spiritual fruits?

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20, NRSV)

I always have a hard time with this passage, but it is one that can be used by many who say Christianity is wrong to prove their point…

You see Jesus says here that you can tell a tree by its fruit, and that any good tree will bear good fruit and any bad tree will not bear good fruit. So if you are not bearing fruit you need to be cut down and thrown into the fire. For we can know a tree by its fruit. And they will know we are Christians by our love…

But are we good at showing love?

We love things as humans when we get something from them or they are just like us. But if they push us to rethink our understanding or to move beyond our comfort zone, then it is not right and should not be tolerated.

All of us can love those who are like us and are nice to us and who love us. Jesus said that, even the tax collectors do that. But we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard, not because we are better, but because we are His hands and feet. We are the barometer by which the world measures Christianity. We can not be good sometimes and bad others, and expect people to see God for who He is. We need to be loving all as God first loved us. Not judging people, but loving them.

It is not our job to separate the wheat and the weeds, but to love and serve where we are. So do not be a wolf in sheeps clothing, and do not judge others, but show them your spiritual fruit, and follow Jesus. Loving the world as He first loved you!