Do not conform…

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:1-8 ESV)

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In the ESV Bible there is a footnote next to the word world in the quote here and the footnote says that the word in the Greek in age. Now that could mean the world, but it could also mean this current time… Now you might be saying, what is the difference? The world and the current time are really the same things. We live in a world that is so far from God and Jesus. We need for the world to be conformed to God. Or do we?

Is it a good thing for us to be a Christian nation where we all get complacent about our faith and just go through the motions of being the community God has called us to be? Where we follow rules and do what others want us to do because that is the polite thing to do, and it will make everybody happy. Do not be conformed to this age could mean that we are conformed to the age of the community that says they follow God when really they are following after what they want and not what God has called them to be or do. We are not to think more highly of ourselves that we have it all together and we know what to do. We have to constantly look at what God is leading us to do and be and to go and do that even if it flies in the face of the tradition we know of as the church. Because really that is what Jesus did. He rebelled against the powers of the religion of the day and was killed for it. He was trying to show those who were “following God” a better way and they wanted nothing to do with it because it was different from what they knew and was not the way we follow God because it was not following the rules.

But you see as Mumford and Sons shows us love will only set you free. Rules enslave us and make us do things we do not want to do for the sake of another. Love frees us to serve the other and that is different. When we do something out of love it is freeing to be serving. and when we do something to be right it is captivating and enslaving because we are doing it to please someone. Love is freeing and empowering, not enslaving…

Do not be conformed to any world that enslaves you and does not free you in the wonderful love that God has for you.

Way of the Spirit

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:1-6 ESV)

The law is only powerful over you until you have died… Then the law has no power over you. If a woman is married and her husband has died, then she is released from the law that holds her to him. But if she has sexual relations with a man while her husband is still living then she commits adulatory…

But we are released from the law having died to that which held us captive. So we can serve in the new way of the Spirit and not worrying about what rules we have to follow. You see the rules can not save us. We can not be saved by living a certain way because that is what our parents did, or the elders of our congregation did. We can not be saved by acting the way all Christians before us have acted because they have not all acted the same. There are no rules that will get us to heaven! We must live in the Spirit and love as we were loved.

The old is dead and the new Spirit has enlightened us to what we must do. And that is to love justice, to live mercy and walk humbly with God, allowing our lives to shine forth His love.

What to do?

And they said to him, The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink. And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. He also told them a parable: No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ” The old is good. ” (Luke 5:33-39 ESV)

What does this mean? Old wine new wine and old cloth on new cloth…

Does it mean we should not do anything new and always stick with the old? Or never do anything we have done before and always do new things? Or does it mean we should not mix the new and the old?

We can not fast because of our sorrow if the one we are sorrowful over is still with us and we can not be in a state of morning for them if they are with us.

Life is not about doing the right things at the right time or what is easiest. There is not a list of things that fit every situation, to be done regardless of the situation you are in. You also can not do the easiest, ripping a piece of available cloth to repair a garment. If the fabrics do not match it will be worse than not fixing the hole. You have to make sure what you are doing matches the situation you are in.

You see it is not about what the right rule to follow is, it is about what is the right thing to do to forward the mission of God. It is not about the rules but about what needs to be done to further the mission of God.

United

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Corinthians 1:3-17 ESV)

With all of the problems in the world and your life who do you count on?

I, like Paul, give thanks daily for my friends and the people who are in my life at support me in the world I am in. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses and have a wonderful support system…

But is that system lays supporting? I have a wide variety of friends from a diversified back ground in the faith. Sometimes the advice they give me does not fit with my understanding of my faith, but it is their heartfelt response in the faith they have to my situation. I cherish theirs prayers and support in all of the situations I have. The thing that unites us is Christ crucified. We are all united by Christ.

We are united in Christ and we are one body. Cherish your brothers and sisters who are different and allow their understanding to deepen your faith.

Rejoice in Hope

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 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.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:9-21 ESV)

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.  How easy is it to rejoice in hope when all you see around you us darkness and death? Is is easy to find that ray of hope when life seems to always be against us?  And patience in tribulation? Really we are suppose to endure hard times patiently? How does that work?

Well actually both of these are mare possible by the last line in the sentence- be constant in prayer. You see our hope and ray of salvation that we rejoice in and our ability to be patient in the tribulations of our life come from a grounding relationship with God and we do that by keeping the relationship alive through communication or prayer.

In fact that is how we can do all of the things listed in these verses that are counter cultural and not easy to do. We do them through the power of God in Jesus. We are able to do things we otherwise would not be able to do because of the power God gives us.

Gifts in the mission…

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11 ESV)

How complex is the body?  Actually the body changes over time from when we are born. Bones meld together we lose organs, some of us do. Organs that we say do not do anything but now we are learning do. Tonsils actually help protect your body from disease.

And how complex is the body of Christ? We are a body that is fighting against itself with turmoil and conflict like a body fighting off disease. But we as a body are just like our human body, made up of many members, some seen, some unseen, yet none less important than the other. God gifted us and called us to be a part of this complex system to be a part of His mission in this place. We are all called and gifted. Not just some of us. You have a gift to use!

I find it refreshing to be typing this waiting for worship at a senior high gathering with just under 200 high school aged youth where we are talking about how the body of Christ is 1 body and we are all called and sent to be a light to the world. Do not ever think you do not have a call. Even in the times where your call may not be clear or completely unknown to you, God is still with you and leading you and needing you!

You are called and you have a part to play in the mission of God!

Love the world

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. (Luke 11:14-23 ESV)

Whoever does not gather with me scatters and is not with me and is against me… Jesus says this to the people gathered here. He also says a house divided against itself can not stand.

Wow! What does this say for His body? Are we united in the mission He gave us or are we divided over petty differences that keeps the world from seeing Him and the relationship He wants to have with them?

We are all in this together and when we quibble over petty things like age of baptism and who is allowed at the communion table and which sin is worse than another is there any reason why the world would want to be a part of this community? We are so busy fighting over the things that don’t ultimately matter we are getting in the way of the light shining to the people and we are scattering them away from God.

So think about the next time you want to argue with a brother or sister about the right way to do something in the church ans think about how that will effect those who do not know Him. We are to live our neighbors and the world so that they might see how much He loves them.

Stop scattering and love the world!

Faithful

Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light. Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright of heart! (Psalm 36:5-10 ESV)

Have you ever wondered how far up the clouds are?

Remember when you were a little kid, or this past summer when you laid on the grass in the summer afternoon and looked up at the clouds and tried to find things? A bunny, a dog, a lion, an airplane… All the different things you can see up there. Did you ever stop to wonder how far away they are? Or how did they get created? I know they are water droplets… and the science behind it. I understand the science, but who set it all in motion and made everything so that science could explain to us how it works? God did it. Because He loves you and in order to give us an understanding of just how faithful He is. The distance to the clouds is how faithful He is…

He will be there for us to the clouds and back, and His love goes to heaven and back for us!

We will always be winners in life because one thing that will never change regardless of how dark things seem or the circumstances we find our selves in, God will always love us!

God’s Economy

Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” (Acts 8:18-24 ESV)

Have you ever seen someone do something and really wanted to do it? Sometimes we want to do what we can not what we have not been gifted to do because we think it looks cool, and people will like us more if we can do the things others can do. We will do anything or pay anything to be able to get that. This again is because we think power and money or wealth go hand in hand. Someone who is wealthy or has more money will get what they want because they can afford it. But that is not how the economy of God works.

Money does not mean anything in God’s economy. We can not buy our way into the kingdom and making a show of what we do with what we have will not gain us favor with God either. We can not buy power from God, or give anything to get anything. We need to come to God the same way, on our knees asking for forgiveness, because we are all sinners and deserve nothing from Him. But He will accept us as we are if we put aside everything and come to Him…

Light

“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.” (Luke 11:33-36 ESV)

The interesting part to this is we are the light…

So our lives can not be hidden, or put under a basket or locked away in a cellar. Are lives are to shine before others so they can see our good works and give glory to God in heaven.

We need to be connected with God so that the actions of our lives draw others to Him and not lead them to a place they are not connected to Him. Our lives are lights to the world and they must shine!