St. Andrew United Methodist Church - Sermon Study Guides: Recent Episodes
St. Andrew United Methodist Church
One of the most paradoxical of all of Jesus’ teachings is this: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” How can we lose life by finding it, or find life by losing it? Consider: we spend our lives trying to find the “good life,” yet never achieve the fulfillment we seek. Jesus invites Nicodemus to be born again, but in order to be born again, we must die to the old self first.
Is God all-powerful or all-loving? The presence of evil in the world would seem to nullify one or the other: either God is all-powerful but allows sin, and therefore doesn’t fully love us, or God is all-loving but lacks power to remove sin. Since it is hard to reconcile the two, we tend to minimize one at the expense of the other. How are we to resolve the tension between a God who can do anything and a God who is pure love?
Somehow, we Christians have come to believe the idea that when we follow Jesus, our life should be free from trouble. Yet Jesus, nor the Scriptures, ever make such a promise. In fact, the Bible tells us that to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven, including both mourning and laughing. What if the full Christian life includes both sorrow and joy - sometimes at the same time?
Salvation comes through faith alone. This is a basic concept of Christian faith and was the cornerstone of the Protestant reformation 500 years ago. Yet, as German theologian and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminded us, grace without response is cheap. God’s mercy compels us to act. How are we to resolve the tension between the call to simply believe and the call to do something about it?
The Christian belief that Jesus came to save the world and establish the kingdom of God is a given. But what does “kingdom” mean? For first century Jews, a kingdom didn’t mean a state of truth, spirit and relationship, but a physical ruling government. His followers expected Jesus to begin a revolution: attack the Romans and seize political control of the region. But that wasn’t Jesus’ plan at all. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he had a different plan in mind.
It’s typical to think of true Christianity as a pure transfiguration experience. But the truest experience of Jesus isn’t found on the mountaintop, but down in the valley and in the grime of the city, at the foot of the cross. We love the shiny moments, but Christianity isn’t shiny and smooth, but dingy and gritty, among the people of the world, whom God loves.
The Jewish people were waiting for a Messiah to release them from Roman oppression. But Jesus had a different image of what it meant to be released. When he travels to the east side of the Sea of Galilee and heals a man chained in a graveyard, he shows us what it really looks like to be a part of God’s kingdom. As Jesus sends out the man released from his demons, so he sends us - healed, released, and unqualified, yet ready.
Some assume the story of Jesus is only about his death. The story of Jesus is also about serving, which is about life. Ministry is not only for the select few. Even when you have every excuse to say no, Jesus is still calling you to serve others.
Jesus entered into human flesh without our modern technologies but with the same temptations. Temptation is as much a part of his first-century world as it is our 21st century world, because temptation is part of the Christian life. It is not that we are tempted, but how we respond that matters.
The story of Christ begins with the shadow of the cross falling across the manger. God knew his death was going to happen the day he entered into human flesh. While we may assume being a good Christian brings health and wealth, suffering and crucifixion are part of life, for Jesus and for us. But there is no suffering we experience that Jesus hasn’t known.
Talking about money makes us nervous because while we want it to be permanent, it is not. Money is a sign of faith. Rather than something to idolize or something to reject, Jesus teaches us that money comes from God, and how we tackle our money says a lot about how much we trust in God and how well we treat other people.
The gap between Jesus and the lifestyles of those who claim to follow Jesus can be so wide that it becomes the reason an unbelieving world does not believe. Our basic nature is not to love God and our neighbor—this is why the Christian life is hard. When Jesus redeems us, he also calls us to a new way of living. This means something very different than simply avoiding immoral actions; it means changing our hearts and lives.
We know we need God's grace—so what do we do? Jesus tells us to "Seek first." We do this with God by engaging in the practices that allow God to have the biggest impact on our lives. Through the routine habits of daily faith, God is trying to reach us and give us transforming grace, care and love, to do something profound and life-changing.
The world wants to hand out participation trophies for life. But acknowledging our brokenness and limitations isn’t a downer; it is the starting place of wisdom. Sin is a reality—as is the grace that God offers to heal us.
Even as God offers us unlimited grace and love, God calls us to a life of perfection. This is not an unattainable goal, either but something we can achieve when we follow God’s moral laws and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and shape our lives.
What happens the day after a person accepts Jesus as their savior? While the life of the almost-Christian practices the rituals of religion and tries to be nice to other people, the life of a real Christian is characterized by real love - sacrificial, giving love, which can begin only on the full realization that God has first loved us.
On the surface, asking the question, “are you saved?” seems simple - it is a question about the soul. But at different times, Jesus talks about four different kinds of salvation. That’s because Jesus was concerned with the whole person - heart, mind, soul and strength. Salvation is both for the future, and for right now.
The kingdom of God is not a set of correct opinions or beliefs, nor is it a physical destination in the clouds for us to go to when we die. It is a state of the soul. The overriding message of Jesus, and therefore of the whole Bible, is that in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the kingdom of God has come. Christianity is a religion of the heart.
The beauty of a good home is that it is a place for love and building one another up. Home is about people - those that are with us now, and the ones who have come before. The promise of Christmas is that ultimately, we will get to be with everyone - those we are with now and those with whom we will one day be reunited.
Earth is our home. God made this earth for all of us, and there is no other option or place to go! When God comes home he invites us to join him in making things right again. Our task is to help prepare the way through our love for each other.
Whether we’re children waiting for Christmas morning or adults longing for home, Christmas brings out a wish list in all of us. But wishes are little more than foolish little lies we tell ourselves to make the day better. The difference between wishful sentimentality and confidence in the future is Jesus. The arrival of God incarnate is the basis for a hope that cannot be shaken. The Prophets weren’t fools, and neither are we.
Ever since our original habitat and fellowship with God was broken, God has been calling us home. Because Jesus came to Earth at Christmas, we can indeed go home again. And in the end, we will be at home in a new heaven and a new earth, with no more suffering nor memory of it, where we are present and at peace with God and one another.
In the middle of several stories in Matthew’s gospel about meeting people in their place of need, Jesus stops the most selfish man in town and challenges him to learn what it means to give. When we give, we see that God does more than give us things in return - God is giving himself, through his son Jesus and through the Holy Spirit, who reshapes our hearts to be like Christ’s. Our generosity becomes a reflection of the love, sacrifice and self-emptying of the Creator, who is the source of all gifts.
Paul describes the church as an interconnected organism in which nutrients benefit the whole body and not just one part. While our motivation to give may begin with our own needs, we soon discover that the need is great, and when we give, we help others. As Jesus says, “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.”
While it may seem counter to the selflessness Jesus aspires us to attain, why we give begins with our own story. Just as people asked Jesus for help, and he responded with compassion, why we give may begin with us - for the betterment of our loved ones, our families and friends, and ourselves. Be encouraged! Jesus loves us and meets us in our places of need.
We end with the vice of pride, which is the chief of all vices, as it aims to replace faith with self-sufficiency. Our creative impulse is good, and God-given. The secret is to bathe our view of the world in a rightly-ordered vision of creation, as God designed. The result of this right-ordering, and the practice of good habits, is that we end up creating both the desire of our heart (Psalm 37:4-5) and the desire of God, which become one and the same.
To be human isn’t simply to know things, but to be directed toward something. When we’re on the move, we’re alive. This movement and purpose comes from what we want. We are defined not by what we know but by what we desire. Jesus isn’t content to simply deposit new ideas into our minds; he is after nothing less than the passionate regions of our hearts. The practice of worship points our hearts in the right direction.
Consumerism is the act of buying something because of the momentary elevation it offers our lives. In a world built on consumption, we can treat our faith as a consumer activity, too. But often, spiritual moments are unsustainable. Instead, God wants a relationship, built on daily habits. In a consumer culture where indulgence leads to a form of spiritual poverty, discover the joy of a restraint that leads to abundance.
Right thinking doesn’t necessarily bring right living. A life of faith truly begins when we are honest about what we want, and discovering what we truly want in life begins in relationship and not detached isolation. We begin to understand God’s desires for our lives as we spend time with others in Christian community, and in talking with God in prayer.
Improving the problems in our lives start not with fixing our beliefs, but changing our behavior. Our actions form our character, which over time shapes our belief. While the conventional wisdom says that we believe then act accordingly, science is learning that we form beliefs out of our actions. We are what we love. Fixing the problems of our lives begins with re-ordering our desires from what the world calls “the good life” to a life oriented around God.
On this Labor Day weekend, we explore the purpose of our work as Christians in the world. A good theology of work is rooted in the Holy Spirit and the transformation of the new creation. If we want to flourish, to hit “pay dirt,” then our best bet is to accept God’s kingdom invitation to both receive and carry the seed of the kingdom through all of the land. The test of our work is its meaningfulness in relationship to this new creation.
Our understanding of fruit has become detached from the garden. Like Cain in Genesis 4, we’re removed from the soil. We act like the purpose of fruit is consumption. As disciples of Jesus, we’re called to cultivate “fruits of the Spirit” - but the purpose of God’s fruit in us isn’t just to eat, but also to till new soil with the good news of Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the measure of untilled land which marks the inauguration of God’s kingdom. How dirty are your hands?
Our lofty theological word “incarnation” really just means to be “of the flesh”. It is simply a way of saying, God got down in the dirt to be with us. God invites us to be with him in the garden, living in a full, four-season rhythm of tending and tilling. Jesus is God “in the dirt,” coming to give us full life - body, mind and soul; spring, summer and fall; joy, sadness and pain.
The word that gives us humanity is the word that gives us earth. We're made of dirt. But that doesn’t mean we are worthless; rather, we are both part of creation and God’s greatest creation. The garden - the world - is God’s and it is good. Our understanding of creation has direct bearing on how we treat the world today. Though marred by sin, the world we inhabit is God’s, and it is worth our work.
Two by two, the story tells us - every kind of living thing boards the boat. At the end of the great storm, God sends Noah a sign in the form of a rainbow. Animals, boats and rainbows may decorate our nurseries, but is this the worst children’s story ever? It’s the time when God was so frustrated with humanity that God wiped everything out and started over.
In the famous story, Jonah is swallowed by a whale. But the Bible actually tells us that it's an unspecified "big fish" - like a killer whale, except what is getting killed isn't Jonah or the sailors on the ship but Jonah's insistence that he ought to go his own way in life.
Born in his father Jacob’s old age and by his father’s first love, Joseph was both set apart from and despised by his older brothers from the start. When Jacob gives Joseph a luxurious, ornamental robe (the famous “coat of many colors,” as described in the King James), his older brothers plot to kill him. But from the things people plan for evil, God turns to good.
It’s the original underdog story. The enemy Philistines stand before King Saul and the Israelites in the Valley of Elah. For weeks, the massive Philistine warrior Goliath calls for the Israelites to send out a challenger. Saul is afraid, but offers a reward to anyone willing to fight Goliath. The young David hears and accepts. He declined the king’s armor and takes only his staff, a slingshot and five smooth stones.
Zaccheus, whose name ironically means “pure,” was a hated part of the Jewish community. A corrupt employee of the Roman oppressors, he extorted tax money on their behalf from his own people. He has money in his pocket and a hole in his heart. But when Jesus comes to town, Zaccheus gets more than he bargains for.
In an age of church division, it can seem fashionable, even righteous, to be willing to divide the church for the sake of ideological purity. While not eschewing the need for sound doctrine, Methodism counters this divisive trend by emphasizing relationship and community. Since its beginning, Methodism has been a vast river that cuts through the middle of the wide range of Christian faith.
Understanding how to reconcile the idea of a single body of Christ with the reality of so many different beliefs and institutions is one of the greatest challenges to Christian faith. If we are one, why are there so many denominations? We dismiss people because they’re different, and emphasize our rightness, but in Christ, we’re called to live as one body.
The Trinity is both mysterious and central to Christianity. It is the belief that God exists as three persons, but is one being, having a single divine nature. The members of the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - are co-equal and co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. The Trinity is both relational and of one essence.
Debate over which gospels and letters were true and which weren’t led the church body to formally declare a canon, or an agreed upon understanding of what makes up the Scriptures we hold to be true. Though we may disagree on interpretation, these shared texts have remained constant for centuries. It is through them we have access to Jesus.
In the third century, some began to teach that Jesus was a created being and therefore different and subordinate to God the Creator. Eventually the church declared what seemed like a paradox: Jesus is fully God and fully human. We continue to debate this today when we emphasize the divine or human side of Jesus. As the two natures are equally present, the challenge is to live set apart from, and yet sent into, the world.
The presence of God's Spirit is the sign of the new believer. Yet some in the early church insisted that new believers adopt certain laws, too. Do we do the same today? We teach that grace is sufficient, yet do we expect the Holy Spirit to see to it that other people become like us? What does it mean to be one in the Spirit?
The sayings in the book of Proverbs are like a parent passing down life lessons to a child. Wisdom doesn't come from a guru on a mountain, but from the community. Wisdom is passed down from parents to children, and grows roots through the interactions of God's people.
Jesus was raised in a tradition which valued memorizing scripture from early childhood, long before students were given permission to interpret. When God's word lives in our heart, every word becomes a shield, protecting us from danger. The best source for gaining wisdom is the Bible.
Wisdom in Proverbs is not a set of mystical sayings, but a practical look at the choices you make in life. The effects of your daily habits may seem invisible, but over time these choices form your character, so that one day you will stand like a majestic oak rising over the landscape.
Studies have shown that over a period of years, you become like the people you associate with. In the Proverbs, a fool is someone who thinks they have it “together.” Fools don't know their own limitations. They reject wisdom because they don’t think they need it. Avoid fools, and surround yourself with friends more concerned with loving than being right.
Join us as we journey through Holy Week in preparation and anticipation of Easter morning, when we will celebrate the risen Lord together! Experience Easter morning at St. Andrew, where your entire family will be welcomed home.
“Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem stirs emotions that should not be denied. It is a moment filled with possibility. The thought of what might be exhilarated all who followed Jesus. Might this be the king who would deliver them from the Romans? Who would return all the children of God who had been scattered abroad? This was the moment on which the wheel of history would turn. Either God’s kingdom would be established on earth, or the people’s hope would be forever shattered.” – R. Alan Culpepper
David and Jonathan is the quintessential friendship in Scripture, so deep and rich that it is described using the word “covenant”, like God’s relationship with us. The friendship of Jonathan and David survives everything. This is what a covenant is: a promise that no matter what, the relationship will persevere.
Even after they separated for the good of their respective families, Abraham kept Lot’s best interests. When he heard that Lot had been captured, he risked everything in order to rescue Lot and Lot’s people. A true friend doesn’t release responsibility at the first opportunity, but continues to protect others.
When she was no longer bound to Naomi by marriage, and when others would return to their home, Ruth remained with her grieving mother-in-law. When brokenness happens, sometimes the greatest gift comes from those who stay. A true friend doesn’t pursue comfort, but seeks the love and health of another.
The greatest prophet since Moses, Elijah performed miracle upon miracle. It would have been easy for him to brag in a way that prevented him from developing real friendships. Yet after Elijah finishes his most amazing miracle, he throws his cloak—his authority—over his friend. A true friend doesn’t brag, but brings another along.
Sin creates a break between us and creation. But we won't be able to compare our suffering to the glory that is to come. God promises to create a new heaven and a new earth. God isn't just recreating us and other people, but is making everything new.
Sin creates a break between us and one another. Life becomes marked by division and hostility. But God promises to reconcile all people into one new humanity and, with a new covenant, to create peace.
Sin creates a break between us and ourselves. One of the most insidious lies of sin is the idea that when we rebel from laws and rules, we “find ourselves.” The reality is that when we run from God, we run from who we truly are. God promises that with faith in Jesus, we will be made whole.
Sin creates a break between us and God. While we think we get what we deserve and doubt things can get better, God promises to replace our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. God doesn't just want to make us feel better. He wants to renew our thoughts, actions and will - our entire lives.
In biblical culture, birth was very public. The entire town knew about it. It was social, messy, painful and noble. All of these ideas apply when Jesus uses birth as a metaphor for spiritual renewal. With faith in Christ, we are made new by the breath of God’s Holy Spirit.
Did you ever wonder why Jesus did the things he did? Why exactly twelve disciples in his inner circle? Matthew’s story of the Magi and the aftermath can help us to understand Jesus in ways we have not before.
The new year brings new resolve to do more and be better. This impulse is good. God wants to do a new thing in us. But the catch is, we cannot find new life by trying to be better, but only through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit that renews us.
Jesus’ title - “The Son of Man” - isn’t just a name for his humanity. It’s a name for God taking on flesh, heaven come to earth. It is because God became down for our sake that we fall to our knees in worship.
In ancient times, people looked into the heavens for authority. The Magi were astrologers. They interpreted the stars. But in Jesus, the Magi found more than a star chart; they discovered Authority. In the Christ child is the very nature of the Most High God, the Creator of time and space.
This Thanksgiving, we gather together with family and friends. The table is vital to the family of faith. Everywhere you read in the gospels, Jesus is eating with people. That’s because the kingdom of God isn’t a geographical location, but a set of relationships where Jesus is sovereign. We gather around the table to express gratitude for our many blessings.
The constant, reliable, and permanent nature of God's steadfast love for us doesn’t depend on us returning the favor. God is extravagant beyond our understanding. The more we follow Jesus, the more we become transformed by God's blessings. When we become extravagant in our desire to share God's gifts with others, we truly discover an abundant life.
The deeper we understand God's gift to us, the higher our response rises. We become more generous because we learn to trust the giver. We begin to see giving not as something that fits into a category separate from our worship, our relationships and our time, but as part of the whole life of following Jesus.
An inheritance is a transfer of wealth to an heir on the owner’s death. Through Jesus’ atonement on the cross, we are not only children, but heirs of God’s riches. As children who have received a great gift, we realize that all that we have comes from and belongs to God.
There are five stages to the journey toward becoming generous people. The orientation of Stage 1 people is toward self. They take – they see resources as theirs to keep or give away.
The fulfillment of God’s mission isn’t a future goal, it’s has already been completed. Like a cake that has come out of the oven but is still cooking inside, God’s mission is both finished in Christ Jesus and is still cooking, soon to be ready, through our work as Christ’s disciples.
Moses felt ill-equipped to do what God asked of him. But God equips those whom God calls - and God calls each of us to join in the mission. Every disciple is an agent of God’s mission. When we understand that we’re not making up our own purpose, but we’re joining in God’s work, we are free to discover our own unique part.
Why do we talk about Christian-ish? It’s because we understand our own selves and our own tendencies. God’s mission leads us to love and build relationship, in word and action, with all people.
In the institutional model of church, we develop faith, then we join the community, then we go out into the world. But just as faith can lead to action, action can lead to faith. Often, we believe not before we see God move in the world, but as we see God move - especially when we’re the ones through whom God is moving. There is no prerequisite of faith to join the mission.
We’re not in charge. God is. The Church doesn’t do missions. Rather, God’s mission includes the church. When we follow Jesus, we as God’s people are joining in God’s mission to reconcile the world. We’re following Jesus on the Way.
God isn’t sitting on a cloud watching humanity below. In Jesus, God became one of us, and through the Holy Spirit is active in the world, changing hearts and lives. God is on mission, moving throughout the world in a desire to reconcile us to God. In other words, God is a missionary God - a missio Dei. Mission is both an attribute and a fundamental activity of God.
Overcoming the grind is impossible without overcoming self-interest. When we allow God’s Holy Spirit to renew our minds, we become a full version of who God is calling us to be: people who love one another.
Things can only get better - or so the saying goes. And sometimes they do. But often, they don’t. How do we reconcile the belief in a better future promised to us in Scripture with the often debilitating challenges and loss that seem to define daily life?
How can we overcome the joyless anxiety that so often seems to come with daily life? In his letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul names three key ingredients to help us put mind over grind. The first is faith.
One of the youngest of the early church leaders, Timothy is a protege of Paul, a “loved and trusted child in the Lord,” who excels in modeling and encouraging what it means to walk in the Way and not become distracted by poor teaching.
Elizabeth is well aware of her connection to the tradition of God’s people. The Bible describes her as “blameless.” But her life isn't without trouble. With her husband, she has been praying for a child for years, and is now old. One day, her waiting is rewarded, and she becomes pregnant. Her child isn’t just any child, either.
Naomi loses everything when her husband and sons die in a foreign land. She decides to return home to Israel, and tries to send her daughter-in-law Ruth home to her family, but Ruth insists on staying with her. They work together to survive as widows, and even though Naomi is too old for another husband, their plan leads to new life.
When his little brother Jacob takes the prominence and privilege that is rightfully his, Esau vows revenge. But when they finally meet again, in spite of the legitimacy of the older brother’s grievance and the power he has over Jacob, Esau chooses reconciliation and peace.
Supporting characters model loyalty and friendship, even when the result benefits someone else. The eldest son of Israel’s first king, Saul, Jonathan was rightful heir to the throne. But his deep friendship with David was more important, and when Saul threatens to kill David, Jonathan intervenes and clears the way for David to eventually become king.
God made a promise to Abram and Sarah that set the stage for all that would follow in Scripture and to this day, that their descendants would fill the earth. But how could this be? The couple was childless and old. All things are possible with God - even when we, like Sarah, laugh at the very thought of such blessing.
If we follow Micah’s commands to do justice and love mercy out of obligation rather than love, they mean nothing. Our actions aren’t about rules, but the practice that grows our relationship with God. Micah's command is an invitation to continually pursue a loving relationship with God. It is the key to becoming the people God made us to be.
The Hebrew word for mercy is most easily translated as “loving kindness.” This loving kindness comes first from God’s essence and God’s grace. As we experience God’s mercy in our lives, our response develops into a desire to do good for others, in body and in spirit. As some have noted, doing good for others is the certain proof of a Christian spirit.
While it is easy to focus on being "good", a better starting point may be to consider a challenging question: “Am I doing harm to others in how I live?” This question moves beyond looking for ways to act and invites us to think about how our lives affect those around us. Considering our lives in relationship to others is the first step to fulfilling the directive to do justice.
Sometimes it's tempting to think of a relationship with God in terms of rules and requirements: what minimum sacrifices are necessary in order to be in good standing? Meeting requirements doesn’t lead to a relationship with God, and God's grace does not come with a cost. Yet, Christian faith, fully lived out, includes an outpouring of justice, mercy, and love of God.
Like Andrew, we want to be servants whose spirit of generosity and invitation will change the world.
Like when Andrew brought some Greeks from Phillippi to Jesus, we at St. Andrew are focused not just on our own community but on bringing people to Jesus from the broader culture, in North Texas and beyond. When we invite and connect, the hearts that change are both other people's and our own.
Like when Andrew brought the boy with the lunch to Jesus, we at St. Andrew look for opportunities to share our resources, not matter how great or small, so that our community may experience the abundant life in Christ.
Like when Andrew brought Peter to Jesus, we at St. Andrew see God move through relationships and taking risks to join people in a family of faith for God's kingdom.
What do you get when you climb halfway up a mountain? Nothing except discomfort - cold, wet misery. There are no halfway commitments to reaching the summit. You must decide to go all the way if you go at all. The widow who gave her last coin knew what it meant to keep the main thing the main thing.
We long for the rare moments of clarity and joy, when life seems perfect and we’re without worry. These moments are mountaintop glimpses of God’s presence. But like the disciples in the story of the Transfiguration, Jesus calls us back down the mountain to the hurting, lost and lonely in the valley.
The space in-between glorious vision and final fulfillment can be long and lonely. God appeared to Abraham, but then years passed while he lived as an immigrant, waiting for the promise to come to pass. It’s no coincidence that the name of the valley in between the mountains of Judah was the In Between. It’s for the in-betweens of life that God gives us community.
Ask any climber - it’s no small thing to walk away from a comfortable tent and toward extreme physical conditions on the side of a mountain. What motivates them? The joy up on the summit, yes, but also the struggle on the way, too. Similar discoveries await the one with spiritual courage, such as with Micaiah, the lone prophet who would speak truth to power, and the apostles, who stood before the Sanhedrin, life in their hands, knowing they must obey God over any human authority.
Most of the time, it’s not too hard to find several solid excuses for what we really just don’t want to do. A man once came to Jesus with as good of an excuse as you’ll find - he had to attend to his father’s funeral. Jesus knows not only our circumstances, but our hearts. He knows that there’s no halfway mark when it comes to full commitment. You either do it, or you don’t. The only way to experience God’s presence is to move - now.
It’s dangerous to pull the stops out, to put all of your eggs in a single basket, to double down. Some say it’s prudent, even wise, to “keep your options open.” But you’ll never experience the summit while hanging out in camp. It may seem crazy, but risking it all is exactly what Jesus asked the disciples to do. If you want to get to the summit, you’ve got to leave comfort behind.
As children in God’s household, we experience the joy of God’s redemptive vision. But this is not the end of the story. God’s vision isn’t just for some, but for all humankind, and God has no intention of letting us sit around on the couch. We are called to be agents of God’s vision, to create a world with no more pain or mourning, as we preach Christ and serve people, until there is no more need.
Most of life is a journey to achieve God’s promised vision of the future. Yet in rare moments we may feel as if we have arrived - that we are in the land of milk and honey, and that life doesn’t get any better. The question in our best times is - now that we have a glimpse of heaven, what are we going to do with it?
As the people waited for an abundant future, their ability to see God’s vision waned, until they only saw the desert of their current lives. Their complaints increased and they began to long for the slavery of Egypt. As a result, they never saw the Promised Land. As we wait through desert periods, it can become tempting to look backward with misplaced nostalgia. Getting stuck in the past is destructive. Instead, have a different spirit like Caleb and lean on God’s promised future.
God’s people stood on the edge of the long promised land. But the next step to fulfilling it was going to be challenging. Most of the leaders Moses sent to scout the area saw not a land of abundance but giants that blocked the way. But in faith and with enthusiasm, Joshua and Caleb believed that the people were more than able to do the work necessary to make the vision a reality. In fulfilling the vision, there will be challenges, but God will equip you to do the work.
Human brokenness and jealous comparison can lead us to compare our lives to others rather than to God’s vision. Jealous of the attention their father gave their brother, Joseph’s siblings sold him into slavery. But over the course of his life in Egypt, Joseph rose in influence and at a critical time of famine was able to save the lives of his family. In spite of suffering, God can redeem the events of our lives and produce not only good things but abundance beyond our imagining.
From God’s first appearance to Abram, throughout the entire story of God’s redemptive work as recorded in the Bible and through the cloud of witnesses, the original vision has remained the same: that we would all together, from every race and every nation, be as one people, part of God’s household, a single nation blessed by God.