Tag: fruitful

January 31 2023 – Mark 4 – Kingdom Growth

If you have ever tried to grow a garden, you realize there is a mystery to it. It is possible to do everything right, as far as you know, and still not produce much of a crop. It is also possible to put the seed in the ground and not do much more than that and have a bountiful harvest. We partner with God when we plant and garden. You can’t go wrong in asking God to bless your efforts.

In Mark 4, Jesus is explaining the Kingdom of God to his disciples. And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” Mark4:26–29NASB1995

In this parable, Jesus teaches us an important truth. It is God that gives growth to the Kingdom. We certainly have a part in it. We are called to be in faithful relationship with our Heavenly Father. That means as an expression of our love for the Father, we join him in what he leads us to do. However, we must remember that Kingdom growth comes as a result of God’s mysterious and miraculous power at work in us and through us. God calls us to step out in faith and join him where he leads. We step out in faith in some tangible way. God blesses that miraculously with spiritual growth in our lives and in the life of our church family.

We must be careful not to ever think that it is our work alone, our efforts alone, that bring the growth. We must never think our efforts are the bigger part of what is happening in the Kingdom of God. Our faith, our efforts, are tiny mustard seeds that when sown, God gives phenomenal growth. Reading the Bible apart from God is confusing. Loving your neighbor apart from God is tedious and can become a way to satisfy a prideful desire for recognition. Apart from God, sharing the Gospel can become a way to satisfy a prideful desire for recognition for a church or denomination… “look at all the people we got saved.”

As an expression of our love for the Heavenly Father, we go and do what we are called to step out in faith to do. We are filled with wonder and awe when we see the Kingdom growth that God mysteriously and miraculously produces in our own lives and in our churches. By joining our Heavenly Father in what he is doing in and through us, we come to love him more and more.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for calling me to your love through your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for the mysterious and miraculous Holy Spirit at work in my life. Help me to step out in faith to experience more of your love and power. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

December 23, 2022 – John 15 – Remain in My Love

Exodus 34, John 15, Ephesians 5

In John 15, we learn that we are a part of Christ, and from him we have life, and in him we grow. He uses the analogy of a vine and branches. He is the vine and we are the branches. We cannot do anything for God in and of ourselves. We have to be a part of Christ to do that. When we try to do anything apart from Christ, we begin to die spiritually.

Think of it this way: you cannot cherish sin and try to serve God. You will only be going through the motions for God. Inside you will be spiritually withering, to the death of your soul if you persist. “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” John15:6NIV

Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John15:9–10NIV  We have to be intentional about remaining in Christ’s love. That means we cherish our relationship with him. We seek Christ daily in Scripture, in prayer, and in conversation with other believers. We learn his will in this seeking. We submit our lives to his will.

When we faithfully follow Christ, loving him as he loves us, we will be fruitful for God. If we think we are doing anything for God apart from Christ, we are only fooling ourselves. We are merely being religious. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John15:5NIV

Remain in Christ’s love. Pursue your relationship with him daily.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank you for your great love for me. While I was dead in my sins, you loved me, and died for me. Help me to never cherish any sin over you. Help me to grow in my love for you and your great love for me. Amen.

December 9, 2022 – Exodus 20 – The Big Ten

Exodus 20, John 2, 2 Corinthians 10

There are a lot of laws, regulations, and exhortations in the Old and New Testament. I was talking to a Episcopal Priest friend of mine about a law that shows up in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, it is not presented as a law, but to do it clearly seems to put one at odds with God. My friend said, “well Jesus didn’t mention it, and it didn’t make the Big Ten.”

I recommend reading the Bible. If one could memorize all of the various laws, regulations, and exhortations in the Bible, well, that would be great. However, there are a few that God thought important enough to set apart from the rest. In Exodus 20 we are given the Ten Commandments. They weren’t called the Big Ten in Scripture, but that name seems very fitting. Here is my paraphrase:

  1. You shall have no other gods before me.
  2. You shall not make yourself any graven images.
  3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
  4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
  5. Honor your father and mother.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. You shall not commit adultery
  8. You shall not steal.
  9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
  10. You shall not covet what your neighbor has.

The first four have to do with your relationship with God. The last six have to do with your relationship with others. It reminds me of Jesus’ response to the question, what is the greatest commandment?

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew22:36–40NIV

The Big Ten are about relationship… ours’ with God and ours’ with each other. There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament. However, Jesus took the Ten Commandments and all the rest and summed them up in loving God and loving neighbor. That should give us an indication as to what is important to God… love.

It is supremely important to love God. The commandments in the Big Ten that deal with loving and honoring God come first. It is also important to love others. There are six commandments about loving our neighbor.

If you don’t know all 613 commandments in the Old Testament, don’t worry. If you are hard pressed to remember all ten of the Big Ten, you won’t be kicked out of heaven. Especially, if you remember to love God with all you are, and love your neighbor as yourself. These two sum up all 613, which include the Big Ten.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, Thank you for your law that helps me to live in your blessings. Thank you Jesus, for simplifying the law for us and focusing us on loving God and loving our neighbor. Help me to honor you by living a life of love. Amen.

November 3, 2022 – Slaves to Ever Increasing Righteousness

Genesis 34, Mark 6, Romans 6

One thing that you notice if you observe life is progress. As children, most of us progress and grow up into adults. It is the same with animals. They are babies and they grow up. Organizations progress and develop in complexity. Even ideas or theories develop and become more complex.

In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul is urging the Romans, from a couple of different angles about grace, not to go on sinning. Don’t keep on sinning so grace may increase and don’t sin because you are no longer under the law but under grace. The answer is the same. Just don’t do it.

Paul urges them to consider themselves now dead to sin. In the development of this idea he says something that caught my attention.“…Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.” Romans6:19NIV

That is an interesting concept. The idea of being a slave to something may not seem that appealing to us. However, the idea of moving from ever increasing wickedness into righteousness that leads to holiness is appealing. I believe righteousness that leads to holiness is ever increasing also.

The Holy Spirit compels us to move and progress toward Christlikeness and holiness. Think back over your Christian experience. If you have been at it for a while, hopefully you can discern progress. You don’t stumble over the same things, or at least you are not stumbling as often. You find it easier to love others as Christ loved you, or at least you show love to others more often than you used to. You are coming to know and understand who God is and how he communicates with you more and more everyday.

There may be a few that went from sinners to saints instantaneously. However, for the vast majority of us it is ever increasing righteousness that is progressing us toward holiness. The Holy Spirit is our guide and prompter who will not allow us to remain where we are. You either listen to him, or you stop and possibly even go back on your progress.

If we offer ourselves to the Holy Spirit as a slave to righteousness, and we are faithful and obedient, we will progress and grow. How fast and how close to holiness we progress depends on how much we obey the Holy Spirit’s direction in our lives.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, I offer myself to your direction. Make me a slave to righteousness that leads to holiness. Thank you for the progress I recognize in my life. Help me to be faithful and obedient as you move me to become more and more like my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

October 13, 2022 – Weeds

Genesis 13, Matthew 13, Acts 13

In my early 20’s I worked for the Biltmore Estate as a waiter in the Stable Café. I picked up a phrase for when I was struggling to keep up with the customers and tables I had. If I got behind and needed help, I was “in the weeds.” Maybe you have heard that phrase used outside of the food and beverage industry. In the Matthew reading for today, we find out that we believers are all in the weeds, figuratively speaking. Jesus tells a parable of someone who sowed good seed only to have his enemy come behind and sow weeds in this field. When everything starts to come up his servants ask if he used cheap seed. He says, “No, an enemy did it.” Do you want us to pull up the weeds? “No, leave them until harvest and then sort them out. Later on in the chapter he unpacks the parable for his disciples.

“He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” Matthew13:37-41NIV

There are lots of interesting takes from this passage of scripture. If Jesus isn’t concerned about removing the “weeds” now maybe we shouldn’t be either. In the beginning, it was hard to tell who was going to turn out to be harvest worthy and who would be thrown out as a weed. It was evident when the wheat started to become wheat. Before that they may have looked similar when they were coming up.

This passage also includes a strong warning for those who would cause sin and do evil. There is a day of reckoning coming. You may reap the benefit of your evil deeds in this life but you will pay for it in the next. Lastly, we believers can expect to one day live in a world with out sin and evil.

In the meantime, let’s not be to hasty to judge someone a useless weed. Maybe they will turn out to be wheat and just looked like a weed. Only God knows mans heart and in this parable he plans to sort that out at the end of the age.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help us to develop to our full potential and be recognized as your children by our fruits. Help us also to seek to convert what looks weeds all around us as we await a day when we will be with you in a sin free world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

October 9th, 2022 – Be Fruitful and Multiply

Genesis 9, Matthew 9, Acts 9

There are some prominent people who believe the number of humans on the planet is getting dangerously out of control. Bill Gates is a proponent of controlling the population and has explained how better health care and vaccinations (his foundation’s main thrust) can actually reduce the population and save the planet. Another person who was vocal about overpopulation was Sir David Attenborough. In 2013, he said in an interview with the Radio Times: “All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people, and harder – and ultimately impossible – to solve with ever more people.” There are others who take the opposite view. Elon Musk, for instance, believes the world could support a much larger population than we have now.

What does God think about overpopulation? In Genesis chapter 8, when God calls Noah and all of the animals out of the ark, he says, “Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.” In chapter 9, today’s reading if you are keeping up, he tells Noah and his family, “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

It is not be fruitful and multiply until you reach a world population of 500 million or 9 billion people. It’s just be fruitful and multiply. You can read through the whole Bible and not find one place where God, the Creator of the world, is concerned that either animals or people are going to overtax the earth’s resources. We are supposed to appreciate and be responsible for creation, but it doesn’t seem that God is worried about the earth’s population reaching critical mass.

Be fruitful and multiply indicates to us that God operates out of an abundance mentality. The cry of overpopulation comes from a scarcity mentality. It is interesting that the people who seem most concerned about overpopulation come from the wealthiest parts of the world and have the most. The poorer folks of the world seem less concerned about the number of people and more concerned about putting food on the table and making ends meet. Would they have more if there were less of us?

There was a time when America, because of advancements in agricultural tools and techniques, fashioned itself as “the breadbasket of the world.” Agricultural techniques and tools have only continued to improve, and yet we still have people in the world who die each day literally because they have no food. Is this proof of overpopulation, or a lack of concern for our fellow man?

We, and other industrialized countries, pay farmers to grow certain crops. We also pay farmers not to grow certain crops. When we consider the national budget, what we spend the most on, and what we pay farmers to grow or not grow, is it possible that we could pay farmers to grow foods that could be sent to feed people in other parts of the world?

Some may say, look at the animals. When they get overpopulated, they starve and are diseased. True enough, but we are not animals. We are people created in the image of God. We have been given the responsibility of caring for “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine…” in a world where God has sent us out to be fruitful and multiply.

We are to appreciate and care for creation. We are also to care for our brothers and sisters here and around the world. If we imitate God and begin to operate out of an abundance mentality, we will care for creation, and we will be more concerned about getting the bounty of the earth to those who need it most and less concerned about limiting population.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for the beauty, wonder, and abundance of your creation. Help me to care for your world and care for others as together we are fruitful and multiplying. In Jesus’ name, Amen.