Week 49: 2 Corinthians 5:17: Life

Devotional presented to 614 Regent Park Corps Council, Monday, 14 September 2015

Read 2 Corinthians 5:14-19

How can I experience a new life? We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if anyone is ‘in Christ’ he is a new creation; so then the answer is, if I become ‘in Christ’ I will then have a new life – great. Let’s do that – but what is ‘in Christ’?

When we are ‘in-Christ’ we no longer act the same way as most others; we are changed through changing our minds so that we can see and do the good things God wants for us and others (Romans 12:2). Being ‘in-Christ’ is no longer thinking about ourselves.

Just the other night I received an e-mail from an old friend of mine who works in a BC prison; I myself spent (voluntary) time in Stony Mountain Penn. We agreed that many of the fellows there who are stuck, unable to change; the ones who don’t get along with their fellow inmates and are threatening and litigious, are the people who act upon ‘a perverse sense of entitlement.’

It is this sense of entitlement, among other things, that embodies the old life for each of us.  It is this way of thinking that traps us. The new life is experienced only as we change our minds to put God, rather than ourselves, first. This is what it means to be ‘in-Christ.’ It is simple but what can we do to get this new life? Well, nothing.

Jesus has already provided the new life for us. It is very much like Spring. When Spring has come, the temperature rises, the snow melts, the trees bud, the flowers bloom and there is nothing any of us can do about that. Spring has sprung.

However, we do have the choice to experience Spring or not.  If we stay inside our house with the heat cranked up full blast; head outside wearing a parka, gloves and a toque; it doesn’t change the fact that Spring has come; it just means we are very uncomfortable and we don’t reap its benefits. The pre-Spring life is not worth living after Spring has come; likewise, the pre-Christian life is not worth living now that Christ has come.

So to this end I encourage us all through praying, meeting together, and reading our Bibles to take off our toques and mittens, step outside let the Lord transform us into a new creation now that the eternal Spring has indeed sprung.

How are you experiencing the joys of the eternal Spring in your life today?

If you aren’t experiencing the joys of the eternal Spring I invite you to pray for the Lord to come into your life. If you have and you know others who are not yet experiencing the full joy of Salvation, why not look for an opportunity to help someone else begin enjoying eternal Spring this week?

www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Based on the article by Captain Michael Ramsay, How can I experience a new life? Nipawin Journal (26 March 2008) On-line: http://sheepspeak.com/sasknews.htm#spring

Week 34: Revelation 3:20: Trust

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 21 May 2015

Read Revelation 3:15-21

The church in Laodicea receives the most negative letter recorded in Revelation. These are Christians Jesus is talking about spewing from Him forever. What is the sin of the Laodiceans? They are rich but they are poor. This is not unlike our nation today. We know that one cannot serve both God and money and as we have grown richer in this country, complacency, crime, pornography, atheism, and self-reliance have sprung up like weeds attempting to choke out the Word of God. Like Laodicea, as we have grown complacent, trusting in our earthly riches, our country is turning further from God.

Laodicea was rich but Laodicea lacked the good water of her neighbouring cities: Hieropolis had great hot mineral springs and Colossae had wonderful clear, cold water. Laodicea’s water was lukewarm by the time it was piped in through its aqueducts. Laodicea was rich in money but poor in the water it needed to survive. Likewise, Laodicea was rich in temporal wealth but poor in living water, which we all need to survive. If only Laodicea was as hot as the waters of Hieropolis or as cool and refreshing as the waters of Colossae! (Important: This passage is NOT referring to ‘spiritual hotness’ as a good thing versus ‘spiritual coldness’ as a bad thing. That was a foreign analogy in the first century!)

This is what John is talking about: The Christians in Loadicea have material wealth but they lack spiritual wealth. They have both the good hot water and the good cold water being poured into them but when they mix together in their wealthy city this becomes useless lukewarm water. This is our nation too but there is good news. Jesus says: “… be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne…”

Even in this state of wallowing in their riches while people in their world starve to death; even in our state of wallowing in our riches while people in our world starve to death; even in this state of not having spiritual strength equivalent to the hot springs of Hieropolis or the religious zeal equivalent to the clear, cold waters of Colossae, God does not give up on them. He does not give up on us. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. It isn’t a casual knocking at the door and seeing that the Laodiceans are too busy to hear him, he goes away – this is a persistent knock. The Greek word here refers to a fervent, continual knocking.

And so it is with us today. He is knocking at our door right now. The question is, will we shut Jesus out and so be spewed from Him or will we trust Jesus, let Him in and sit with Him as He reigns forever?

www.sheepspeak.com

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Revelation 3:20: Hello, is anybody in there? Presented to Swift Current Salvation Army, 30 August 2009. On-line:  http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/08/revelation-320-hello-is-anybody-in.html

Week 27: Matthew 28:6: Belief

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 02 April 2015

Read Matthew 28:1-6

Last year on April Fools Day, we found out Judy, our receptionist, won $5000 from Tim Horton’s Roll up the Rim contest. On the morning of April Fools Day, Judy told us she had won $5000. At our staff meeting on April’s Fools Day, Judy told everyone that she won $5000. We were so happy for Judy, who is so honest and who is so trustworthy, that she won $5000 on April Fools Day that we were all simply stunned an hour later when she concluded our staff meeting with the words, ‘April Fools!’

Even though we were all aware that it was April Fools Day, even though we all joked about it being April Fools Day, even though we all had openly spoken about April Fools Day, we were all completely shocked when dear, honest, trustworthy Judy ended our staff meeting with the words ‘April Fools!’

It must have been the same for the disciples with Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection: even though they knew about resurrection, even though they all had discussions about the resurrection, even though Jesus repeatedly told them about His resurrection, they were all completely shocked when the angel met them with the words ‘He is risen’, the ladies (and later the other disciples) were so surprised. It would be the same effect as us hearing ‘April Fools!’ The ladies had gone to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ corpse as part of a burial ceremony. Even though Jesus’ followers should have known He would rise from the grave, they believed he was dead; just like we believed Judy had won $5000. April Fools! You thought He was dead but He has risen!

This is what is going on with the ladies in the text today and later with the other disciples still continuing in disbelief. In one account even after the others have realized that Jesus has actually risen from the dead just like He said He would, the disciple Thomas is so convinced that Jesus is dead that he only believes the truth when he sees and touches Jesus himself.

Now here we are today, two millennia later, in the conflicting seasons of April Fools and Easter we have that very same decision to make and it is just important now as it ever was. Our very life depends upon it. Who is Jesus? What do we believe? Do we believe that Jesus is God’s own Son and that He rose from the grave? And if so what are we going to do about it?

www.sheespeak.com 

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[1]Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Matthew 27:11-54: April Fools!, Presented to the Swift Current Community at the Ecumenical Lenten Lunch, 10 April 2014, at Christ the Redeemer Roman Catholic Parish. On-line: 

http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2014/04/matthew-2711-54-april-fools.html