Camp, Day Three: God's Mission in the World

Remember the theme over camp has been God's mission, as a result we've been talking about our fancy Latin word of the week which has been: MISSIO DEI. "God's mission" or "the sending of God".

Our first night we talked about God's mission in Christ, which is to reconcile the world to Himself through the use of His Son. We talked about how it is only through Christ that we have access to the Father and how willing Jesus was to exchange his lot for ours, that we could have relationship with God.

Last night we talked about God's mission in you, which is for your identity to be founded in Him, because as eternal beings you need eternal identities, such identities can only be found in Christ. We talked about in Him how you can have a messy family, friends, feelings, and issues because it is in Him that you are able to work through those things through all that Christ purchased for you on the cross.

Tonight we're going to be talking about God's mission in the world. Something we have not addressed in the concept of our fancy Latin term Missio Dei is that the idea behind it is that God is actively working to restore His creation to wholeness, which ties right into God's mission in the world.

God's mission in the world: everything God is doing in the world through people and nations to establish His kingdom here on Earth.

In case you're thinking that this doesn't apply to you: if you're in Christ it does, be patient.

We're going to be in Ephesians 2 tonight, going right along through our Ephesians trial.

Ephesians 2:11-22

"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [Gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both [Jew and Gentile] one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grow into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."


So cool! Do you see how this effects everyone? How this applies to the whole world? God's mission is not a small-minded one that deals with one section of the world that He created, He is worked together an elaborate temple of the Lord that we are a part of His design!

It says here that Christ "abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments, so as to create in Himself one new man." Essentially God is building this new body of believers using Jews and Gentiles with Christ as the head of that body.

Now, why does that concern us? Well, what are, Jews or Gentiles? We are Gentiles who were outside of Christ and His commands but it is through Christ that in verse 16 it says "that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross". That includes us and that includes the rest of the world who were once "without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [Gentiles] have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

And more than being brought near in verses 19-22 it says that "we are now fellow citizens with the saints and the members of the household of God," that the foundation that they built, Christ being the cornerstone of the temple in the Lord, that you and now the rest of the world can be included in God's building plans!

So now to address the question of where you come in.

Who here is a part of a church? Yeah, thought so.

So God's church is an instrument in God's mission. NOW, that is not to say that the church has a mission of its own, no. God's mission has a church. There is a church because there is a mission. The church exists for the sake of God's cause in the world: to redeem the world to Himself.

One of my favorite sermons to listen to are those of Chuck Smith and over Ephesians chapter 2 he said that it's necessary that God works in you before God works through you but it is His desire that He would work through you that you might be included in His mission.

Now Will said that in his Teen Mania days, the options for being avenues of being a missionary are set up like this:

There are GOERS, there are SENDERS, and there are MOBILIZERS. Goers, obviously go into the unreached parts of the world to share the Gospel. There are senders who are going to be the money makers, the business men and women who are doing to be doing their part by donating large portions of money to supports missions and missionaries. And then there are the Mobilizers who are going to preach, equip, pastor those who long to go, and to help them work out what God has called them to.

This is where we're going to end: and I'm going to ask that we go back to our cabins for a short time and have a cabin discussion. What I'd like you to discuss with your cabin is this:

Where do you fall in God's mission (because you have a place in it)?

How could God use you for His mission where you're at?

Between being a Goer, a Sender, and/or a Mobilizer, where do you see yourself more likely being used?

For those of you at home, ask yourself these questions and maybe discuss them for a friend in the faith if you're looking for confirmation. God will include you in His plan if He is working in you and through you.

Camp, Day Two: God's mission in you

God's mission in you: your identity to be founded in Him.

Who are you? How do you define yourself? Who do others say you are?

Are you the oldest in the family? The youngest? The middle child? The only child? The only girl in the family? The only guy?

Are you the sporty type? (Which spice girl are you?! ( ; ) Do you need to win every game you play or are you cool with losing? Are you artsy type? Are you good at drawing? Are you the one in the group with the nice handwriting? Or are you the avid reader?

Are you quiet? Are you loud? Big? Small? Fast? Slow? Noticed? Behind-the-scenes?

At chapel or in church or at youth group are you the one giggling? Are you the one actually singing? Are you mouthing the words? Are you solid with God? Not-so in touch? Not as solid as someone else you may know?

Who ARE you?

I recently created a Twitter account for myself and Twitter asked me this question! Twitter! I had however many letters available to tell all of Twitter who I am. And after studying for this sermon what I wrote is SO interesting! Here's what I wrote, the first things that came to my mind:

"Youth group leader, study hall master, in a committed relationship, love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind."

See! I fall prey to this too! I answered the question first by stating what I do: I youth lead, I master my study hall class, and then I fell prey the second easy status to define yourself by: your relationship status! I am in a committed relationship. And then! Then when I have a sentence-worth of space left I remember what my identity is truly in and even then it's about MY love for God.

My goal has always been that if someone sees my online profile that no matter what they see, whether I say it or not, would point them back to Christ. That's hard work right there.

But back to it: Who are you?

When I was in my middle school/early high school years I was defined by everything but God. I am the youngest in my family. I am defined by my athletic family. I am a A student. I am the jokester in the class. I am the "strong" girl. The girl who will play tackle football. I would define myself on terms like these.

And then some rough patch would come along and I would get rocked! I would turn on God and ask Him why He is making my life so hard, why He isn't making things easier for me, why He's forgotten about me. But looking back, it was like I was building my identity up like a tower of cards and when even the slightest wind blew, my tower came crumbling down and I blamed God for the wind.

Now I long to use stronger materials to form my identity--the kind that God gives.

Here's where the Bible is going to help bring our focus in, and while we do we're going to pay attention to the phrase "in Christ" and "in Him."

Ephesians 1: 3-14

"3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

"7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

Q: How is it that we are given access to all of these blessings? All of these assurances?
A: By being in Christ. By having our identity in Him by letting Him tell us who He created us to be IN HIM.

Now what is so big so and so awful and distracting in our lives that prevents us from forming our identity in anything other than God? Is it our tragedies? Is it that people have passed away? Is it that someone important to you is no longer in your life? Is it a divorce? Or is it not in your family but in your friends or just in you--that you are depressed, hurting, lost, broken feeling?

So was I.

My family is broken like any other. My parents are divorcing (still). My life has hit tragedy after tragedy. It's certainly not the worst story, but it's mine. At camp I'm going to be reading from my journal entry from my teenage years. For those of you at home, read yours and remember what those hard times felt like.

So what do you do with those feelings? Those harsh, ugly, unchristian feelings (we think?).

Mark Driscoll said something like this: Know that they may explain you but they don't have to define you.

The truth is that in Christ there is room for our messiness, our problems, our harsh feelings even toward people we love.

Where I ended with the campers is this: in Genesis when God created man He said "Now let us create man and make Him in our likeness..." and THAT is your identity. It is in God's likeness that you have been created to live and dwell and it is through Christ's sacrifice that you are able to walk in that originally intended purpose God have you: to live in Him, for Him, in His likeness, doing good works in response to His love.

Leave with this thought: You may undervalue your self-worth but God paid the highest price for your ransom: the price of His Son dying on the cross for the sins of the world. Your value lies in Him.

Camp, Day One: God's Mission in Christ

Last night as I was reading over my notes and asking God to scrap them if they weren't His words, He took me out of my not-so-happy place and breathed this word into me:

God's mission in Christ: You.

I mean it. God sent His Son to live a perfect life, to take the past, present, and future sins of the world on Himself, and to put to death those sins on the cross SO THAT there would be no separation between Him and YOU.

But don't worry, I'm not saying that the Gospel is all about you, it is ALL about Christ, about Jesus and what He did FOR you. If you think the Gospel isn't that big of a deal because it doesn't apply to you:

1. It is that big of a deal with or without you.
2. It does apply to you.

Let's see what the Word of God says about God's mission in Christ:

Colossians 1:15-23

^"15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
¹⁸ Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.
    So he is first in everything.
¹⁹ For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
²⁰ and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21 This includes you

who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. ²² Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault."

 

Okay, awesome message. See ya'll again tomorrow!

 

BUT SERIOUSLY! We were his enemies!! but He has reconciled us to Himself! through Christ's death! so now we are allowed in His presence!?! AND WE ARE HOLY AND BLAMELESS AS WE STAND BEFORE HIM?! WITHOUT. A. SINGLE. FAULT. WHAAAAAAAATTT?!?! (Pardon my punctuation.)

 

And this is our part. Not that we have to do anything to earn being reconciled to Christ, but in order to keep this GOOD NEWS fresh in our lives and our hearts...

 

^"23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News..."

When did you first hear the Good News? Were you born in the church so when you were laying in your crib your Father gently explained this to your little form of kicking life? Were you at youth group? Was it at school? I mean when did it really click for you? When you received that assurance  (like insurance but a-ssurance; confidence, ownership) when you heard the Good News.

I know we like to buff up our testimonies and making our faith moments about fireworks and the heavens tearing themselves open and God pointing at us from His throne saying, "Jacky, I love you!" "(Insert your name here)!"

But I mean this moment can be a subtle one. One without recognition from peers and our leaders and parents, but it happens like a light switch: This is Good News and it's is for me.

I may have been saved in the midst of the camp fireworks where God's love rained down from heaven like puppies and kittens but this Good News clicked for me sometime before then. It was probably at youth group in the midst of the note passing and people biting the edges of those Styrofoam cups but I remember hearing Jesus' testimony, HIS love story for us, and the light just kind of came on.

But the end of this passage in Colossians says our job is not to drift away from the assurance we received when we heard the Good News. It says to believe this truth and stand firmly in it because this assurance, God's depth of love for us is so solid we can stand on it and stand firmly, confidently, owning this truth.

Let's turn to Romans chapter 8 and see how it mirrors this section we just read:

Romans 8: 8-11

"8 So now there is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has FREED you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

 

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you."

Now what's our job again? Is our job to talk nice about Jesus like he's a distant relative visiting for a short time? Is it our job to not sin because that's something we can just not do if we try hard enough? Oh! To earn God's love through hours and hours of effort?

No.

^"23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News..."

Continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. You know how you keep from drifting away? YOU FIND SOMETHING STURDY TO TAKE ROOT IN! Or in our case, someone. Jesus Christ.

In John 14:6 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, nobody comes to the Father except through [WHO?] me."

God's mission in Christ was to reconcile the world to Himself, and Christ did that. He reconciled us to the Father. He fixed that broken connection. In Colossians it says that Jesus existed before anything else and He holds all creation together. Jesus is our spiritual superglue! Seriously!

Now if you think sin is stronger than Jesus as our spiritual superglue then take it upon yourself tonight or tomorrow or the next day to read Romans 6 where Paul addresses the fact that sin's power over us, over our connection to God is broken.

So this is where we're going to end it tonight: we're going to watch this video clip that for me is the Gospel message from a secular movie and then we're going to take some time to respond to this Good News through worship and prayer.

The movie is Man on Fire. I don't expect many of you to have seen it because it is quite violent but we're going to be watching the ending scene. The story is Denzel Washington has been hired to be the bodyguard of Dakota Fanning who is surrounded by an area where a wave of kidnappings has occurred. In the movie Dakota Fanning gets kidnapped, Denzel spends the rest of the movie brutally kicking butt and taking names to Dakota Fanning back.

We're at the very end of the movie. Denzel has negotiated with the kidnappers: Dakota Fanning's release for one of their guys that Denzel has taken captive, and Denzel's life.

http://youtu.be/O7naObA6U94

When I watched this in the living room with the non-believing half of my family I bawled because I saw the Great Exchange here. I saw the Gospel. God's exchange. God's Mission in Christ was this exchange. That we may have life. And here is where my kids at camp went into worship and prayer and where I would hope you at home would go and do the same.

Fear for Faith

I found myself staring at a text I had just sent, thinking, "Well, duh!"

One of my youth group kids had just asked for prayer over text and had in return asked me what I would like prayer for.
As I am for the first time going to be a camp speaker this week, my prayer was:

"Yes! I am speaking for 7th grade camp next week and I just want to preach God's heart--pray that I can put that into words that He gives me. I know He will."

Well, duh! Before I could even finish that prayer text I found my faith in God coming out, stating, "I know He will!" I know He will give me the words to say! I will He will shine through me at camp because He has been walking alongside me (baby step by baby step) through this process of preparing for camp.

 

This scenario reminded me in the Bible of what James talks about in the first verses of the first chapter of James.

"5If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do."

 

When I begin to work in this worldly mindset where I think, "God needs to show up. What if He doesn't show up? Because I need a message for camp. It's in two days! GAH" I realize my faith is divided between my ability to make a message happen and God's ability to give me words straight from His heart. It's so easy to see from farther away that God IS going to show up, that I just need to let go of my fears and call upon my Father who is a GENEROUS God that freely gives wisdom when we ask for it. It's amazing how much this realization comforts me.

 

Am I alone in this, or are you battling/have you battled in a similar scenario? Where you need wisdom, guidance, you need God to show up? Let's put all of our faith in God's hands. Because when we pull ourselves momentarily out of our worries, we remember that the God we serve is faithful, and as we are doing His work we can call upon Him for help with that work. Surely by believing through faith that God will provide, He is only too happy to do so in HIS way, and in HIS timing.
 

Prayer: God, please give me the wisdom I need to complete the task at hand that You've given me. I know You are a faithful God and you will provide me with the means to do the job You asked me to do. I know that about You. Help my faith not to waver, my steps not to stray from Your straight path, and for my eyes to not leave Yours. It is in You alone that I trust. Amen.

 

Where's your treasure?

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there you heart will be also."
-(Matthew 6:19-20)

Everything on earth is temporary. Let's not get all hung up on THINGS: possessions, like bicycles and guns, and computers/Xboxs/Tvs...

It's okay to have those things, but we shouldn't OBSESS over them.

...Actually, we shouldn't even obsess over money. Or earning it.

There are more important things in life--the things that remain when we pass on into the next life:

"...and now these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love." 
-(1 Corinthians 13:13)

In what way am I storing up treasures here on earth and not heaven? I think a lot of the time, it's a mindset. Taking things people say way too personally, feeling like dirt when I make a silly mistake... These small things will not come with me to heaven, so why am I spending so much energy worrying and fretting about it?

Instead of "doom", I should be focusing on hope.
Instead of giving up, I should have faith.
And instead of disliking people and things, I should love.

Because these things will go with me when I die, and they're more worth it in the long run.

Prayer:

Lord, give me eyes to see when I'm in the midst of my transgressions. Give me eyes to see faith, hope, and love in everything I do. And please give me the strength to choose these things when I'm confronted with the things of this world. I love you Lord, so shine through me!!

Amen!

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

"Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, 'Lord, who is going to betray you?')...

... This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down."
-(John 21:20, 24)

I think I've read the Gospels about ten times all the way through, yet for some reason, this part had never stuck out to me. John knew he was "the disciple whom Jesus loved." He knew that he was highly favored, accepted, adored by the Holy Living God.

And it got me thinking...

Do I know that I'm "the disciple whom Jesus loved?"

Last weekend I was driving to Seattle, going 80 mph and listening to worship music. After about 30 minutes on the road, I started to have the darkest thought...

What if I crashed and died? What if I never made it to Seattle to see my brother graduate? What if this was it?

I spent the rest of the drive with my hands in ten-and-two position, leaning forward in my driver's seat, wide-eyed, singing the lyrics to "Better is One Day" loud enough to make myself embarrassed with nobody even around. My heart pounding, pulse racing, and bloodshot eyes staring into the midnight darkness, I probably looked like a rabbit being chased by a hungry fox.

Why is it we get so afraid of death? If we say we trust in God, that we are saved by Him, that we are the ones whom Jesus loves... what in the world are we so afraid of?

"He replied, 'You of little faith, why are you so afraid?'"
-(Matthew 8: 26)

Jesus doesn't want us to live in fear: he wants us to trust him, and trust that we are saved by him. He wants us to realize that yes, he did save us from something... but it didn't end there. He is also saving us for something.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."
-(John 14:1-4)

Do you know the Lord?

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
-(Matthew 7:21-23)

This verse scares me, as I'm sure it does for a lot of you. It places doubt in my heart. It makes me ask God, "Lord, do I really know you? Do I truly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, know you?"

And then I remember that God said he has made me worthy--he has redeemed me, perfected me, called me his daughter, lifted me to the same level as Jesus Christ. (See Matthew 12:48-50)

That's when I ask God: "Can you make sure that I know you? Because all I want in this life is to know you, and sometimes I just don't know." Only God is powerful enough to change this stubborn heart.

Do you know that you are going to heaven? Or do you sometimes doubt it?
Are you afraid of death or persecution? Why?
Do you trust God?
Do you know that you are the one whom Jesus loves?

Because you are, Christ brothers and Christ sisters.

End Your Day Well.

As my day will soon come to an end, I'm brought back to something a godly friend of mine once said. He said he's challenged himself to journal at the end of each day and instead of recapping his day and all that went wrong and could have gone better and what he did well and areas where he could improve--he told me he was going to recap all of the reasons that day that he had to be grateful to God.

I'm not even to the end of my day and my day is screaming with blessings from the Lord! Today God secured my finances, today God brought me closer to a much-desired friend, today a kid that I've been dying to get to know said, "Hi Jacky!" in the halls today. The list goes on and on.

I'm caught thinking about this passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, where Paul is writing to the Corinthians.

"12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else’s territory. 17But, 'Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.'  18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends."

Today, feed yourself with this Word. Decide what it means to you. And maybe we'll take the example of an old friend and write out tonight what it is that we have to be grateful to God for today.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for all of the ways, seen and unseen, that you continue to bless us with. God, we give You all the credit, all the thanks, all of the boasting. We boast in You Lord and the attention You take in every one of our lives. We see that you're at work on the mountain top and in the valley of our lives God. Thank You Father for giving Your Son to die for our sins. We are eternally grateful.

Say what God?

This morning as I forced myself to push away my enthralling book, my buzzing phone, even my neglected journal in order to open that living, life-giving book: my Bible. I continue in my reading plan through John is this was next on the reading plan.

A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah

4 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria.

And you'll find out why!

5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied [Jesus was human after all!] from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jews had no dealings with Samaritan men, let alone a Samaritan woman, who held the lowest status of a Samaritan in the day!

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

My Bible footnote says: "Living water springs from an unfailing source (Jesus, God) and is ever-flowing. Jesus, of course, was talking about eternal life."

11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

1. How often is God talking about the spiritual aspects of life while we call Him crazy, seeing only the physical?

2. To her question, Jesus had every right to say, "YES! I am greater than Jacob, I am your Messiah!" but he deals with this woman much differently. He shows her through their conversation that He most certainly IS the Messiah. (Messiah= savior, liberator)

13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

How often is Jesus addressing the spiritual and we are focused on the physical? This isn't a wrist-slapper or anything, nothing that we need to punish ourselves for, it's part of our broken humanity, but it's just interesting to think about!

As I was reading this passage this morning I kept thinking, this happens with me more than I realize! God tells me to do something or says something to me and I'm caught up on the physical side of things.

 

For example:

 

He calls me into youth ministry. I'm thinking, "Uh huh, aaaaaaand? What else? Something's gotta pay the bills God, where is my profession going to come into play?"

 

For this the Bible says, "19Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

 

This passage is saying, "Don't give priority to this, but give priority to that." Don't give priority to finances, but give priority to what I've called you to.

 

I do and guess what happens, the money comes together. It just does! People who have been in the actively in the faith for some time will attest to this!

 

And yet when I'm reading Jesus interacting with the disciples, I see how easy it is for them, like me, to get caught up with the physical. Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman about eternal life, about filling that hole in her life that she had been trying to fill with marriage after marriage, and the woman is caught up in the worries of this life.

 

But Jesus deals with her with all loving-kindness, patience, gentleness, goodness--with her best intentions in mind until He declares Himself to be the Messiah she has been waiting for, she believes, runs back into the village, relays all that she's just been told, and her whole city is believes and is saved.

 

I think Jesus had a spiritual purpose behind needing to go through Samaria, don't you? (Jesus was going from Judea to Galilee, but Jews often traveled along the Jordan River to avoid the detested Samaritans.) It would appear that God, through the physical, is doing a lot of spiritual work that He wants to see and participate in.

 

Prayer: Lord, give us spiritual eyes to see what You are doing in every person, in every situation, in every household Father. Thank You for relating the physical to the spiritual throughout Your living Word so that we could begin to grasp at what You are up to spiritually. Today may we see Your spiritual activity that we could be a part of it. We long to know You more. Amen.

You mad?

"...but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."
-(Matthew 5:22)

Yikes. Let's digest this one a bit. Sounds pretty important.

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something AGAINST YOU, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother; then come and offer your gift."
-(Matthew 5:23,24 emp added)

Woah, woah, woah. Hold the phone.

It doesn't say: "If he has something against you, HE (or she) needs to something about it."
It doesn't say: "If he or she is mad, he or she needs to get over it."

Jesus is teaching us the power of initiative.

Even when something is "not our fault" or "our problem," and even when WE aren't the ones that are even MAD, we're supposed to be the mature ones. We're supposed to handle the problem.

We're meant to drop everything, even our sacrifices to God, and attempt to reconcile with our angry brother or sister.

Prayer:

Lord, teach me to understand. Please help me rest my soul. Help me have wisdom about what to do with people who are angry with me. Only you can help me get over myself and take the initiative. Please give me the strength and the maturity to handle situations with a mind centered around you.

Amen.

Is the world a better place because of you?

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." 
-(Matthew 5:13)

Colin loves salt. He'll eat packet after packet of dried seaweed instead of ice cream while watching TV. He loves potato chips. If there's a bag of beef jerky laying around the house, it'll be gone in less than 24 hours (and that stuff is expensive!).

Seriously, what's so great about salt?

Why is it so dang good?

Let's try this: imagine salt NOT existing on this planet. All those salty foods we love? GONE. Salt water? DOESN'T EXIST. 

Back in Jesus' day, salt was a very important preservative. They didn't have refrigeration, just salt. 

Salt also means life for probably 90% or more of the world's fish and sea life.

SALT IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF IT'S SALT-LIKE AND SALT-SPECIFIC QUALITIES. If salt didn't exist, the world would be a MUCH blander place. Probably, salt not existing would severely cut down our food supply. And I'm talking seafood, not just the icky dried seaweed that Colin eats.

Now, let's go inward.

Ask yourself: Are you successfully and wholeheartedly being the salt of the earth? If you were to lose your "saltiness," would:

1. the world be bland?
2. the world be hungry?
3. the world be in jeopardy of death?

We are meant to live as if we hold the secret ingredient, and that we want nothing more than to share that secret. 

"Hey, you over there."

"Yeah?"

"You ever heard of this thing called 'salt'?"

"No, what's that?"

"Throw some of this on your pasta, and let me know how it tastes!"

"... WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS STUFF? IT'S AMAZING!"

Are you living a salty life? 

Prayer:

Lord, restore my saltiness. You are the God of miracles, so revive me! I know you can do it, if it is your desire, because you are God. I love you and want to serve you. Amen!