Pressing On in Christ

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Death Becomes Life

Philippians 3:7-14  The Message

^7-9 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.
^10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

Focused on the Goal

^12-14 I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

For Reflection

Because of his intimate knowledge of Christ and God, Paul has given up all worldly aspirations.  Assigning them to the unimportant box, Paul elevates his mission to serve God to the highest level.  As should we.

Paul's mission was to spread God's word.  Our missions are  uniquely different.  Our worldly aspirations are of secondary importance to God's will --  that we guided in that interest by the Holy Spirit.  All of us are called to witness to the power of the Holy Spirit and to use our talents to that end.

Pray

that you will live as though you were in the presence of God.  Pray so that your life is a holy witness the the resurrection.  Pray so that you may bathe in the wisdom and creativity of God.

In Christ for Others

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Death Becomes Life

Philippians 1:20-26  The Message

^18-21 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!
And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
^22-26 As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues. You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit you again. We’ll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.

For Reflection

I was impressed with a Scottish minister who visited and spoke at our church when I was a teen.  His tag line was "Ye can trample down the heather, but ye canna trample the wind. ."   Paul is imprisoned and yet the gospel is not diminished.  Rather, it is advanced.  God works to make all things good.
Pray

for the hope of Paul.  Pray for the confidence of Paul.  Pray for the passion of Paul.  Pray for the Paul in each of us.

Ambassadors in Christ

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Death Becomes Life

2 Corinthians 5:17-21  The Message

^16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
²¹ How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

For Reflection

Having been "put square with God," we are called to foster new Godly relationships with each other.  Individually and collectively we demonstrate the righteousness of God.

Pray

that you will become intimate friends with God.  Pray that your life will be a living testament to the living God.

Alive in Christ

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Death Becomes Life

1 Corinthians 15:51-57  The Message

^51-57 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

For Reflection

How we long to know what lies ahead in death.  Is it the end?  Is their nothing after this life?

In a sense, immortality is found in our children.  Immortality is found in the memory of the best and the worst of what we are.  The human story never ends. 

Paul writes that in death we will find a transformed existence.  He suggests that one of the important meanings of the resurrection is that death can no longer threaten us.  Death has no currency.  Fear has lost its power.

Pray

Thank God for removing the threat of Sin, Guilt and Death.  Pray to live fearlessly.  Pray to live your life in the hollow of God's hand.

Kept in Christ

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Death Becomes Life

John 17:1-19  The Message

Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers

17 ^1-2 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it’s time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

⁶ I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.

¹¹ For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind

^13-19 Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

For Reflection

Who is Christ?  Who are we, the disciples of Christ? 

In this prayer, Jesus answers these two very important questions.  Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, is God showing us who God is and how we should live transformed lives so that we may live in this world but not be subject to its vulgarities.  Because of Christ, we, the disciples of Christ, are no longer defined by this world, no longer subject to this world's ways.  We are free to choose to live as God intends us to live by example of Jesus.  We are consecrated with the truth and through our own example, missionaries to the world.

Pray

that you will strive to live free from the bonds and seductions of this world.  Pray that you will have the courage and strength to be not only a hearer of God's will, but also a follower of God's Way.

Fufilled in God

Toward a New Creation 
Life on God's Terms 
Not without Hope

Matthew 12:15-21  The Message

In Charge of Everything

^15-21 Jesus, knowing they were out to get him, moved on. A lot of people followed him, and he healed them all. He also cautioned them to keep it quiet, following guidelines set down by Isaiah:
Look well at my handpicked servant;
    I love him so much, take such delight in him.
I’ve placed my Spirit on him;
    he’ll decree justice to the nations.
But he won’t yell, won’t raise his voice;
    there’ll be no commotion in the streets.
He won’t walk over anyone’s feelings,
    won’t push you into a corner.
Before you know it, his justice will triumph;
    the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even
    among far-off unbelievers.

For Reflection

Why did Christ not want the stories of his healings broadcast?

It was a matter of humility and self-denial.  Moreover, it was self-preservation.  His time had not yet come and His enemies need not be taunted into action prematurely.  Matthew describes further how humility and self-denial becomes a successful strategy for winning others over to the Kingdom.

Pray

that you will have the self control exhibited by Christ. Pray that you will follow Christ's example and grace will overcome corruption and turn humility into trust.

Help in God

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Not without Hope

Psalm 42  The Message

A psalm of the sons of Korah

42 ^1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
    from the creek;
I want to drink God,
    deep draughts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
    arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
    tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
    people knock at my door,
Pestering,
    “Where is this God of yours?”
⁴ These are the things I go over and over,
    emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
    right out in front,
Leading them all,
    eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
    celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
⁵ Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.
^6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
    everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
    including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
    to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
    crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
    sing songs all through the night!
    My life is God’s prayer.
^9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
    “Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
    harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
    tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
    “Where is this God of yours?”
¹¹ Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
    Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
    soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
    He’s my God.

For Reflection

Why do we avoid lamentation in our prayers?  I love the images in this poetic passage.  I love the power in the phrases, " I want to drink God, deep draughts of God,  Chaos calls to chaos...(but)... Then God promises to love me... My life is God’s prayer."

Pray

When, " Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids and  [Life's] breaking surf... [and]...thundering breakers crash and crush [you],"  fix your eyes of God in prayer and when you are on a "diet of tears," God will turn the blues into sunshine.

Restored in God

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Not without Hope

Jeremiah 29:10-14  The Message

^10-11 This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
¹² “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.
^13-14 “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.
“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.
“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

For Reflection

What is the Kingdom of God?  Here, in America, we have rejected a King in favor of a representative democracy.  So, perhaps the idea of a kingdom does not bring up the best image of  human governance, or for that matter, spiritual nirvana. 

Perhaps being a member of a loving household is a better image.  In Christ's time, one's household included all blood family as well as servants, slaves and, even if only temporary, guests.  All were included.  All were loved.  All were treated with kindness. All were treated justly. All were treated with compassion.   All were forgiven of their transgressions. All were welcome to the table.

This is the image I contemplate.  When I think of the Kingdom I think of living in the household of God, life in the hollow of God's hand.

Pray

for confidence in God's promise.  Pray often, so that you may hear, so that you may see, so that you might touch as God hears, sees and touches you.

Safe in God

Toward a New Creation
Life on God's Terms

Not without Hope

Isaiah 54:9-17  The Message

^9-10 “This exile is just like the days of Noah for me:
    I promised then that the waters of Noah
    would never again flood the earth.
I’m promising now no more anger,
    no more dressing you down.
For even if the mountains walk away
    and the hills fall to pieces,
My love won’t walk away from you,
    my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart.”
    The God who has compassion on you says so.
^11-17 “Afflicted city, storm-battered, unpitied:
    I’m about to rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
Lay your foundations with sapphires,
    construct your towers with rubies,
Your gates with jewels,
    and all your walls with precious stones.
All your children will have God for their teacher—
    what a mentor for your children!
You’ll be built solid, grounded in righteousness,
    far from any trouble—nothing to fear!
    far from terror—it won’t even come close!
If anyone attacks you,
    don’t for a moment suppose that I sent them,
And if any should attack,
    nothing will come of it.
I create the blacksmith
    who fires up his forge
    and makes a weapon designed to kill.
I also create the destroyer—
    but no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged.
Any accuser who takes you to court
    will be dismissed as a liar.
This is what God’s servants can expect.
    I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best.”
        God’s Decree

For Reflection

Sometimes we forget God's promise to abide with us.  Especially when trouble enters our lives.  We wonder whether God is still there when we see little sign of the pain of living abating.  We become short-sighted and focus only on the present.

We are made in the likeness of God.  If we suffer then surely God suffers with us.   God is not the cause of pain.  God did not send the torment.  God will see that everything will work out for the best.

Pray

for patience.  Pray prayers of lament.  Pray about your disappointments.  Pray that you will survive the current torments.  Pray so that you will know God and that you will be able to see God's hand in yours, comforting, and guiding you into a better tomorrow.

Hope in God

Toward a New Creation 
Life on God's Terms
 Not Without Hope

Isaiah 40:27-31  The Message

^27-31 Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
    or, whine, Israel, saying,
“God has lost track of me.
    He doesn’t care what happens to me”?
Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
    He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
    And he knows everything, inside and out.p
He energizes those who get tired,
    gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
    young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
    They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
    they walk and don’t lag behind.

For Reflection

What is the source of your hope?  Do you hope in the lottery?  Do you hope on your talent, or education?  Do you hope in your skill?  Unless the basis of you hope is God you are bound for disappointment.

One's skill, education, luck, or persistence may seem to be good predictors of success and, thus, hope.  But, such hope is dashed if one fails to realize one's objectives.

Those who wait upon God are never disappointed.  God always follows through.   God is always reliable.  God sets things right.

Pray

that you will place your trust and hope in God.  Pray for the patience to wait upon the Lord.

Believing in Christ

Toward a New CreationA World Gone WrongGod Set Things  Right

John 12:40-50  The Message

Their Eyes Are Blinded

^36-40 Jesus said all this, and then went into hiding. All these God-signs he had given them and they still didn’t get it, still wouldn’t trust him. This proved that the prophet Isaiah was right:

God, who believed what we preached?
Who recognized God’s arm, outstretched and ready to act?

First they wouldn’t believe, then they couldn’t—again, just as Isaiah said:

Their eyes are blinded,
    their hearts are hardened,
So that they wouldn’t see with their eyes
    so I could heal them.

⁴¹ Isaiah said these things after he got a glimpse of God’s cascading brightness that would pour through the Messiah.

^42-43 On the other hand, a considerable number from the ranks of the leaders did believe. But because of the Pharisees, they didn’t come out in the open with it. They were afraid of getting kicked out of the meeting place. When push came to shove they cared more for human approval than for God’s glory.
^44-46 Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won’t have to stay any longer in the dark.
^47-50 “If anyone hears what I am saying and doesn’t take it seriously, I don’t reject him. I didn’t come to reject the world; I came to save the world. But you need to know that whoever puts me off, refusing to take in what I’m saying, is willfully choosing rejection. The Word, the Word-made-flesh that I have spoken and that I am, that Word and no other is the last word. I’m not making any of this up on my own. The Father who sent me gave me orders, told me what to say and how to say it. And I know exactly what his command produces: real and eternal life. That’s all I have to say. What the Father told me, I tell you.”

For Reflection

Christ doesn't reject anyone--not even those who do not believe in him.  If Jesus rejects no one, how can we reject anyone?


 Pray

that you live the love that is in Christ Jesus.  Pray  that you will live the justice, compassion and forgiveness that resides within you through the Holy Spirit.

Dwelling in Christ

Toward a New CreationA World Gone WrongGod Set Things  Right

Ephesians 2:15-22  The Message

^14-15 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
^16-18 Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
^19-22 That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

.

For Reflection

Christ has brought us together.  We live in God's household in God's kingdom, abiding by God's rule, becoming messengers of truth, justice, compassion and forgiveness.  God is using us -- all of us.

Pray

that you will embrace the end of hostility.  Pray that you will embrace the oneness of us all.  Pray that you will find the Holy Spirit residing in each of us.  Pray that  you will find opportunities for working together with all peoples to realize the Kingdom of God.

United in Christ

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

God Set Things  Right

1 Corinthians 12:12-24  The Message

^12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body. It’s exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.
^14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn’t just a single part blown up into something huge. It’s all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, “I’m not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don’t belong to this body,” would that make it so? If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.
^19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn’t be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, “Get lost; I don’t need you”? Or, Head telling Foot, “You’re fired; your job has been phased out”? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the “lower” the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it’s a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn’t you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

For Reflection

One may say, "What can I do?  I'm nobody."  Ah, but you are wrong.  You are uniquely suited for your life.  You are the way God intends you to be, because God, the Holy Spirit, resides within you.  There is no other like you.  There is no other who can fulfill God's intention for you life. You are a unique witness to the resurrected Christ.  You have the capacity to give dignity and honor to God in your own special way.

Pray

that you will fulfill you role,  obedient to God, a perfect witness to God' plan for justice, compassion, forgiveness and hope.

One in Christ

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

God Set Things  Right

1 Corinthians 1:10-17  The Message

The Cross: The Irony of God’s Wisdom

¹⁰ I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common.

^11-12 I bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”
^13-16 I ask you, “Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul’s name?” I was not involved with any of your baptisms—except for Crispus and Gaius—and on getting this report, I’m sure glad I wasn’t. At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name. (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas’s family, but as far as I can recall, that’s it.)
¹⁷ God didn’t send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words.

For Reflection

From the beginning of Christianity, followers have developed multiple points of view regarding the Christ event.  I suppose the adage, "where little information exists, people will invent it!" applies.  The  Gospel then, as it is now, was counter-intuitive.  It was difficult to believe.  In many ways it was irrational.  Following Christ in response to a story of a Jew who preached counter to the Jewish law, befriended the outcasts, raised people from death, loved his enemies, and defeated death left many with unanswerable questions.

But because of the life of Christ the truth is knowable.  It requires, however, a willingness to study scripture, open and free discussion of the meaning of scripture, a willingness to alter beliefs when God speaks to you through many sources, and above all focus on justice, forgiveness, compassion, love, and most importantly prayer.

Pray

that you will live as though you were in the presence of God.  Pray so that your life is a holy witness the the resurrection.  Pray so that you may bathe in the wisdom and creativity of God.

Free in Christ

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

God Set Things  Right

Galatians 4:28-5:1  The Message

^21-31 Tell me now, you who have become so enamored with the law: Have you paid close attention to that law? Abraham, remember, had two sons: one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. The son of the slave woman was born by human connivance; the son of the free woman was born by God’s promise. This illustrates the very thing we are dealing with now. The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. It corresponds with what is now going on in Jerusalem—a slave life, producing slaves as offspring. This is the way of Hagar. In contrast to that, there is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother—this is the way of Sarah. Remember what Isaiah wrote:

Rejoice, barren woman who bears no children,
    shout and cry out, woman who has no birth pangs,
Because the children of the barren woman
    now surpass the children of the chosen woman.

Isn’t it clear, friends, that you, like Isaac, are children of promise? In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came—empowered by the Spirit—from the faithful promise (Isaac). Isn’t it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern? There is a Scripture that tells us what to do: “Expel the slave mother with her son, for the slave son will not inherit with the free son.” Isn’t that conclusive? We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

The Life of Freedom

5 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

For Reflection

We, who believe in a God of Grace, who worship the God of unexpected blessings, who live in the Holy Spirit who resides within us, are children of promise.  We are not slaves to spiritual laws.  We, through Jesus Christ, have been freed to follow the only law that matters, to love God and others.  Those that  use spiritual law against you maliciously have not fully understood or accepted the full meaning of the Son of God.  Without love, forgiveness and compassion, the law is barren, a useless artifact of an archaic past.

Pray

That you will live a righteous life as illustrated by the life of Christ.  Pray that you will practice humility, Christian hospitality, forgiveness as a loving witness to the resurrected Christ and to the grace of God.

Walk Free of Sin

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

We're All under Sin's Power

1 John 2:1-6  The Message

^1-2 I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s.

The Only Way to Know We’re in Him

^2-3 Here’s how we can be sure that we know God in the right way: Keep his commandments.

^4-6 If someone claims, “I know him well!” but doesn’t keep his commandments, he’s obviously a liar. His life doesn’t match his words. But the one who keeps God’s word is the person in whom we see God’s mature love. This is the only way to be sure we’re in God. Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived.

For Reflection

What does Jesus teach us?

Want to find out who is an authentic lover of God?  If one speaks as a Christian, but acts contrary to the law of love, and his/her life is not consistent with the principles of forgiveness, justice and compassion, how can that person be an authentic follower of God, or Christ.?

Pray

that you will act in ways that are consistent with your faith in God.  Pray for God's guidance in all matters.  Pray so that you know God more intimately.

Freedom from Temptation

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

We're All under Sin's Power

James 1:12-18  The Message

¹² Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
^13-15 Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
^16-18 So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

For Reflection

What does Jesus teach us?

God is not the "Holy Gotch'a!"  God does not lay obstacles in your way.  On the contrary, God removes impediments to your human fulfillment.  God is not your adversary.  The human condition is one of vulnerability.  We are seduced by our worldliness and are attracted to the delusion that we can solve any problem by the latest fashionable action.  God sets us free to choose love instead of hate, to chose forgiveness rather than vengeance and to choose courage over fear.

Pray

thank God for showing us how to live and to fulfill our human potential.  Pray that we will recognize the inherent value of living in a community where each serves the other.

Open Your Eyes

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

We're All under Sin's Power

Acts 26:12-18  The Message

^12-14 “One day on my way to Damascus, armed as always with papers from the high priests authorizing my action, right in the middle of the day a blaze of light, light outshining the sun, poured out of the sky on me and my companions. Oh, King, it was so bright! We fell flat on our faces. Then I heard a voice in Hebrew: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me? Why do you insist on going against the grain?’
^15-16 “I said, ‘Who are you, Master?’
“The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down like an animal. But now, up on your feet—I have a job for you. I’ve handpicked you to be a servant and witness to what’s happened today, and to what I am going to show you.
^17-18 “‘I’m sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders so they can see the difference between dark and light, and choose light, see the difference between Satan and God, and choose God. I’m sending you off to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me.’

For Reflection

What has Jesus taught us?

By His action, Jesus has shown us that no matter who we are, what we have been, or what we have done, all is forgiven.  God's faith in us is steadfast and irrevocable.  God forgives and asks only that we forgive and strive for obedience to God.  God calls each of us.

Pray

that you will strive for obedience to God.  Pray that you will answer God's overture to righteous living and live in the freedom of God's grace.

Forgiveness of Sin

Toward a New Creation
A World Gone Wrong

We're All under Sin's Power

Acts 13:36-41  The Message

^36-39 “David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. But the One God raised up—no dust and ashes for him! I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God.
^40-41 “Don’t take this lightly. You don’t want the prophet’s sermon to describe you:

Watch out, cynics;
Look hard—watch your world fall to pieces.
I’m doing something right before your eyes
That you won’t believe, though it’s staring you in the face.”

For Reflection

What has Jesus taught us?

Sin is not a death sentence!  Jesus's resurrection means that we no longer are condemned by our separation from God.  All who believe in Christ and all who repent and turn to God's intention for life are forgiven.  No amount of recompense for disobedience is needed.  Forgiveness is free for the asking.

Pray

If you sin, pray.  If you pray, pray that you will turn from sinful ways.  If you turn from sinful ways, pray that you will live life in obedience to God.  If you live your life in obedience to God, pray that you will face life courageously and without fear.