A Changing of Seasons

Notes for the Ekklesia Meetings on Sherburne Street
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: March 13, 2005
A Changing of Seasons
by Dan Trygg

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it (lit. – ‘cleanses it’) so that it may bear more fruit." John 15:1,2
"Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ 6 Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord Yahweh! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a child.’ 7 But Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not say, "'I am only a child'"; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says Yahweh.’ 9 Then Yahweh put out his hand and touched my mouth; and Yahweh said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’" Jeremiah 1:4-10
"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up…" Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

As we have been studying through Matthew 13, the parables of the Kingdom of God, it became very apparent that God was looking for people who would bear fruit. He was not looking merely for people to cheer Him on, or praise Him. He was not looking for people to even "believe in Him", unless that faith produced real, noticeable change in their lives and a resulting impact on others. Jesus’ words indicate that God is looking for people who are willing to serve Him in loyalty and obedience, people who will not allow themselves to be diverted or distracted from His purpose for their lives, people who are willing to set aside their own plans and agenda in order to discover and fulfill His.

We have been going through a lot of ups and downs lately. There are several from our number who have been inconsistent, and even backslidden, in the past couple of months. Of course, we as a group have also lost our meeting place, after enjoying some relative consistency for nearly a year. What is going on? What are we to do?

One of the realities of life in the Spirit is that there are "seasons", limited periods of time, where God will allow certain things to develop or become established. Then there are seasons, limited periods of time, where things are permitted to "test" this new growth with difficulties, or temptation, …or the time comes where He will bring special opportunities to an end. Sometimes God brings exposure of sin, rebuke or judgment upon His people, so that they may put off what is evil and unprofitable, and become more firmly focused and resolved toward serving God. Like the vinedresser, He allows things to grow in our lives that are not compatible with His calling for us, …for a time. Then, He steps in and "cleanses" us from all that unprofitable growth, whether of the flesh or of the Spirit.

Sometimes this happens on a personal level only, to certain individuals. Sometimes this happens on the corporate level, but seems to touch people personally very little. At other times, it seems to be something that shakes nearly everybody in the group in some way. Sometimes God strips us down because we have sin we have to deal with, and He wants to bring us to repentance. At other times, there may be no major sin issue, at all. He may simply be calling us to go deeper, or He may be preparing us for a course correction of some kind.

Whatever it is, He only wants what is for our good, for His will is that which is "good, well-pleasing and mature" (Rom. 12:2). Now, when I say that, I don’t mean to communicate that His will is always pleasurable or comfortable. No. There is a reason why Jesus said that if anyone wished to proceed after Him, he must be willing to deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Him. It is not about momentary comfort. It is about the direction and purpose for one’s life. Following God will definitely bring us into conflict, …conflict within ourselves, and conflict with the world around us.

If we look at the call of Jeremiah above, we can see evidence of both kinds of conflict. Like most of us, Jeremiah was a little timid, fearful and uncomfortable with the thought that he was supposed to leave the comforts of the life he had known to step into the will of God for his life. He felt ill-equipped. He did not at all feel that he was ready for this change in his life. If he even had imagined that he would some day be a prophet, this was certainly not the time he would have chosen to begin his ministry. Yet, here was God saying to him that He had created, formed and prepared him for this work which was to begin that very day.

This was a watershed day for Jeremiah. Things would never be the same again. He could never go back. Furthermore, God gave him what he needed to do what He had commissioned him to do. In Jeremiah’s life, it happened in an instant. God put His word into Jeremiah’s mouth. We know nothing about Jeremiah’s earlier life, or how that may have prepared him, or not, for his calling. It appears to be inconsequential. At least, it does not seem to be directly related. He did not go to "prophet school" or anything like that. It was in God’s mind all along, and I am certain that He brought experiences and people into Jeremiah’s life to prepare him for this day, although Jeremiah himself may have been oblivious as to how that would work out in his life.

The previous season of his life, his childhood, was coming to an end, and a new season was about to begin. And what was he going to be doing? He was going to be announcing the changing seasons of God’s action in the lives of people and nations. He was going to announce God’s judgment, the stripping down process which would ultimately make way for a new thing, a new season of planting and building. His message was not going to be popular, because he had been called to confront and exhort people to repent, or they would experience God’s judgment. He happened to come on the scene at a time when judgment was the needful thing. He did, however, also have the opportunity to preach about the season of hope and blessing that would follow this time of tearing down and stripping. He was comforted and encouraged by this message, though he did not live to see its fulfillment.

Solomon pointed out that this is a necessary rhythm of life. There is a time for tearing down, and a time for building up. There is a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted. It is OK. It is good, fitting and even profitable. We do not need to fear these seasons or changes. We just need to be sure we are responding to God’s purposes for them. Like the Jewish leaders in the NT, we don’t want to find ourselves opposing what God is doing (Acts 5:27-39). In their day, God was doing a new thing. Jesus had fulfilled OT promises, …even some of the prophesies of Jeremiah…, dying to establish a new covenant to bring about a new people (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8,9).

The Jewish leaders did not know that they were on the very edge of a major shift. The religious world they knew was soon to crumble. Even the city and country in which they lived would be demolished. And the very people they were opposing were God’s new planting, the ones to carry the new covenant message to ends of the earth. For the time being they accepted Gamaliel’s counsel and allowed these new radicals to co-exist within the city of Jerusalem.

A couple of years later, however, this little group had grown in numbers and influence to the point of being an even greater threat to the old way of doing things. Under Saul, a persecution was instituted against the Christians in Jerusalem and Judea. The season of safety, protection and openness had come to an end, and many in the church had to flee for their safety. Was this the judgment of God on the church for sin? Or, was it simply time for a change, and God used the hatred of men and the devil to spread the gospel to a wider audience?

The Bible doesn’t explain the "why" or even "who" was behind it all. It just tells us what happened. If you had been in a Jerusalem home church at that time, it would have been pretty scary. Everything changed overnight. They could no longer do what they had been accustomed to do for meetings. They could no longer meet in the temple. They had to meet in homes, exclusively. The season of large and small group meetings as a common occurrence for the church came to an end for several hundred years. As a result, however, the church became more fluid, more pervasive, and it spread like leaven throughout the Roman empire.

Leadership had to decentralize, as well. When everyone had been in Jerusalem, the apostles were still ready at hand, if any issues that required their guidance or oversignt came up. Now, they stayed behind in Jerusalem, probably to care for those who were too sick and feeble to flee, while the bands of "vagabond Christians" departed for other, safer, places to live. In the first century, where there was no telecommunications, this meant a virtual loss of any ability to regularly teach or give direction to these groups. In effect, they were on their own. They were left almost solely to "God and the word of His grace" (cf. Acts 20:32), which proved to be more than sufficient to keep the movement alive and prospering. Traveling apostles and other leaders would come through occasionally, or would be called upon for special issues, but, by and large, most little home church groups were pretty much on their own most of the time.

It seems quite clear that God has been stirring the pot with us. The real questions are, "What is His purpose for these changes?", and, "What does He want me to do?" May I suggest three things?

First, ask the Lord if there is any area(s) of sin He wants you to deal with. Is there sin that we as a group need to address? Repentance is always the first word of biblical Good News preaching.

Second, does God want me to step out in some new way? Does God want us as a group to do something different? Am I committed to daily time with God in His word and in prayer? Does God want me to be less dependent upon others, or to take on a new responsibility?

Third, be asking God, "Do you want us to go back to what we were doing, or do you want us to learn to do church in a new way?" Maybe God is wanting us to not go back to what was familiar, but to discover something new.