The Hope of the Resurrection for the New You

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: March 27, 2005

The Hope of the Resurrection for the "New You"

by Dan Trygg

"See what quality of love the Father has given to us in order that we might be called 'offspring of God'; -- and we are! On account of this the world does not perceive us as we really are because it did not perceive Him. 2Beloved ones, at this present time we are offspring of God, and it was not yet revealed/made-visible what we will be. We know that if ever He might appear, we will be like Him, because we will see Him according as He is. 3And everyone holding this hope in Him purifies him/herself, according as That One is pure.4Every-the-one doing sin also does lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5And y'all know that That One appeared in order that He might take away the sins, and sin is not in Him. 6Every-the-one in Him abiding does not sin; every-the-one sinning has not perceived Him nor experientially-known Him. 7Little-children, let no one lead you astray; the one doing righteousness is righteous, according as That One is righteous; 8the one doing sin is out from the Slanderer, because from the beginning the Slanderer sins. For this reason the Son of God appeared, in order that He might loose/break/ destroy the works of the Slanderer. 9Every-one having-been-begotten out from God does not do sin, because His seed/sperm abides in him/her; and he/she is not able to sin, because out from God he/she has been begotten. 10By this it is evident the offspring of God and the offspring of the Slanderer; everyone not doing righteousness is not out from God, also the one not loving his/her brother." I John 3:1-10

What Jesus did for us is incredible. It is so far-reaching and multi-faceted that we cannot begin to grasp the extent of what that first Resurrection Sunday means. [He died for us.] Certainly, the most clearly understood, and widely taught, aspect of what He accomplished is that He paid for our sins. [He died as us.] Because He took our place on that cross, and took our griefs, our sorrows, and our punishment (Isa. 53; I Cor. 15:3,4; II Cor. 5:21; I Pet. 2:24), it is now possible for those who believe in Him to receive forgiveness of sins through Him (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 22:16; 26:15-18). The resurrection also demonstrates Jesus' victory over death, ...not only His personal escape from its clutches, but His triumph over its power on our behalf, as well (Acts 2:24; I Cor. 15:12-58). Not only did He forever remove once for all any charge, accusation, or indictment against us before God (Heb. 7-9; Rom. 8:1,31-39), but He also wrested the power of condemnation and the fear of death away from the devil himself, so that he would no longer be able to manipulate us with these tools (Col. 2:13-15; Heb. 2:14,15; Rev. 12:10,11).

Most of this has to do with the removal of the penalty of sin. It says little about dealing with the power of sin within our lives. The apostle Paul develops this concept in his letters, pointing to our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Rom. 5:12-6:14). [He died and rose together-with us.] The language of the NT is very clear. We were somehow gathered up into Jesus and crucified-together-with Him (co-crucified), buried-together-with Him (co-buried), and raised-together-with Him (co-raised) (Gal. 2:19,20; Col. 2:12). When we were spiritually dead toward God, He made-us-alive-together-with Him (co-quickened), raised us up together with Him (again, co-raised) and He seated-us-together-with-Him in the heavenly places (co-appointed to a position of authority) (Col. 2:13; Eph. 2:5,6). This is not presented as something which will be done in the future, but something which has been done in the past. We don’t have to do something to get God to do these things for us; He already has. We just need to learn how to walk in the reality of what God has done for us. By putting us to death with Jesus, we are able to be set free from our slavery to sin, the bondage to the Law, and the power of the flesh within our members (Rom. 6-8). Our resurrection with Him introduces an entirely new dynamic in our experience, ...i.e., a life lived by the power of the Spirit within us.

The good news is even better than that, however. The impact of Jesus' resurrection produces much more. Jesus' death and resurrection did not just bring us forgiveness and cleansing, allowing us to "get whitewashed" every time we "get dirty" again. That would not get to the core issue of my brokenness, my fault, my responsibility. Jesus offers more than a "soul cleaning service". It goes beyond giving me power to overcome sin by His indwelling presence. That, too, as wonderful as it would be, does not get at the problem of my defectiveness, my willfulness. There is an inner sense that such a salvation does not adequately deal with the issue of justice. It seems to bypass my personal responsibility for my sinful actions. It lets me off the hook too easily. It appears to allow me to escape punishment with the utterance of a few words of surrender, and then to allow this hideous monster, who is capable of such evil, have all the freedoms and joys of heaven, bypassing all justice. We feel this repulsion inside when we think of an Adolph Hitler or a cannibalistic serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer getting into heaven just by accepting Jesus. What about the evils they committed? Well, we say, Jesus' blood covered that. That is nice for them, but it seems unjust. What about the people they killed, the evil they committed, is that just washed away? Am I supposed to be able to rub shoulders with them for all eternity, and accept them as any other person, because Jesus "has them covered"? What about their victims? Supposing some of them are there, how would they ever be able to love and accept the ones who had been their tormentors? Something about that seems wrong, unfair, even intolerable. On the one hand, the offense of the gospel strikes right at this very spot. On the other hand, God's plan removes every objection. His grace reaches much farther than we at first perceive.

So much of the presentation of the Christian message has focused around the legal aspect of removing the penalty for our sin that many of us have not fully grasped the true message of what Jesus has done. Jesus has done much more than win the forgiveness of sinners. We are much more than "sinners saved by grace". We are "saints" in a much deeper way than most of us can imagine. The apostle John attempts to open up to our understanding a glimpse of the much more expansive reality of what God does for us in Jesus. The apostle Paul also attempts to get at this same underlying reality in his epistles, as well. The radical message of what the death and resurrection of Jesus has made possible is that He has made a new "me", i.e., I am a new creature in Christ, a new person (II Cor 5:17). I am not who I was before. What will be in eternity with God is not the same old sinful person, cleaned up and polished with grace. No. What will be with God in eternity is a brand new person, a new creation, something that is different in essence and history from my sinful past, ...even separate and different from the leadings and thoughts of my sinful present experiences, ...indeed, something that, as John says in this passage, is truly incapable of sin, …past, present, or future.

There are two different Greek words in the New Testament which are used to describe us as people who have been made new. The first is the word neos, which means "young, fresh, tender, of recent origin". It is used to describe new, fresh wine (Mt. 9:17; Lk. 5:37-39); a new, fresh lump of dough (I Cor. 5:7), and of us in Col. 3:10. Notice there that we are to be "putting off the former person, with his/her evil practices, and putting on the new/fresh/of-recent-origin [person] the one being renewed (i.e., causing to become new and different) into true knowledge according to the image of the One creating him/her." Since we are a new person in a neos way, that would seem to mean that we are someone recently born or created (Jn. 3:1-8; II Cor. 5:17). One implication of this is that this new "me" is not the "me" of my past. My past sins were not committed by this new "me". My past history is separated from the new "me". The other truth that must sink into my brain is that I myself am not the same as I was. There is something about me now that is different than I was before. It is new, fresh, and of recent origin. That means that there is a new "me" that I have yet to truly understand. I know the old "me", but there is a new "me" that I do not know very well.

The second Greek word for "new" is the word kainos. This word refers to what is "new, of a new quality, unused, unknown, unheard of, or different". It is used in the NT to refer to new quality wineskins (Mt. 9:17); the new, unused tomb (Mt. 27:60; Jn. 19:41); new, different teaching (Mk. 1:27; Acts 17:22); the new, different covenant (II Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8,13; 9:15); the new, unheard of humanity established in Christ (Eph. 2:15); the new, different, of unknown quality heavens and earth (II Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1,5); the new, different, of unknown quality creature which we are in Christ (II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15); the new quality persons we are in Christ (Eph. 4:24); and, the new, unknown name which we will receive from Jesus (Rev. 21:7). Again, one of the implications is that this new, unknown "me" is different than the "me" that committed all the sins of my past. To emphasize this break with my past, upon my full redemption, when I stand before Jesus in my resurrection body, …when finally even my old "flesh" is gone…, He will give me an entirely different name. I will not be tied to my past sins, or old reputation, even by name. I will be totally free from any connection to any sinful past at all. Why? Because that which is the new creature, born from God, created in His image, did not do any of those sinful acts. It would actually be unjust to link the new "me" to any wrong behavior produced by the old "me".

What do we know about the new "me"? According to Eph. 4:24, it has already been created according to God, in righteousness and holiness of the truth. It does not need to grow into a maturity in order to become righteous and holy. It is holy and righteous now, by virtue of its very nature. According to John in I John 3:9, it "...does not do sin, because His seed/sperm abides in it; and it is not able to sin, because out from God it has been begotten." What this means is that when I choose to sin, I am acting inconsistently with my new, true character. I am being defrauded, cheated, from my true character and heart, by giving my members to serve sin according to the thinking of my former manner of living. Jesus had said, "...every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit", and, again, "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad..." (Mt. 7:17,18; 12:33).

The point is that in order to change the fruit of someone's life, you have to change their inner character and nature. That is the victorious message of hope regarding Jesus’ resurrection. "Therefore we have been buried with Him... into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we might no longer be slaves to sin..." (Rom. 6:4-6). Truly, "the old things passed away, behold, new things have come" (II Cor. 5:17).

What is the Kingdom of God Worth to You?

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting at St. Alban’s Park Community Room
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. 665 Selby Ave. in St. Paul, MN Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: February 27, 2005
What is the Kingdom of God Worth to You?
by Dan Trygg

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:44-46

We have been working through the parables about the Kingdom of God, which Jesus delivered to the crowds on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Matthew records four parables delivered to the crowds, and three more which He shared with the disciples alone. After these, there is one more cryptic word picture which was also uttered to the disciples privately. We have looked at the four publicly stated parables, the parable of the soils, the parable of the tares among the wheat, the parable of the mustard seed, and the parable of the leaven. Now we will look at a couple of the word pictures which Jesus shared with His disciples in private. I was surprised to discover that these two parables are recorded only by Matthew. I have heard countless references to them all of my Christian life. While they are powerful and vivid, they were not chosen to be included in all of the first three gospels. That does not at all diminish their importance, however. They are the words of our Lord to His followers, and "he who has ears to hear, let him hear".

The two parables are very similar. In both cases, the person finds something of great value, which he then goes and sells all that he has in order to procure. In both cases, what he purchases is worth much more than the price he had to pay. Let’s take a closer look at the parables, before making any more comments.

In the case of the man who found a treasure hidden in the field, why did he go to buy the property? Why didn’t he just take the treasure? Obviously he was walking through someone else’s property, which was not uncommon. People walked everywhere in those days, and no one thought anything of taking a shortcut across someone else’s land (cf. Matt. 12:1). Apparently, as he was trudging through this field, he noticed something unusual, or stumbled across something, that made him aware of something hidden in the ground. He began digging and discovered a treasure. We don’t know what form this treasure was in, or how big it was. It was clearly worth more than the price of an entire field, so it must have been substantial. It could have been hidden by wealthy landowners of a previous generation during a time of war. There were probably indications that it had been there some time, and was probably long forgotten. Such treasure caches were not unheard of. In fact, archaeologists are still finding them today, thousands of years later. The man had a dilemma. He may have found the treasure, but he had no legal claim to it. It was on another man’s property. By rights, it belonged to the landowner. If he tried to take any of it, he could be discovered, and the owner would then take the remainder of the treasure. Furthermore, he could be accused of stealing. The only way to get a clear legal claim to the treasure was to purchase the property himself. Once the landowner sold the property and moved his things out, whatever remained belonged to the new owner. So the treasure finder reburied the treasure and immediately went and sold all that he had so that he could afford to purchase the property, along with the treasure contained therein.

The next parable is similar. Here a merchant trader was looking for fine pearls. The word translated "merchant" was used for people who traveled around looking for goods to purchase at wholesale and to sell to retailers or buyers elsewhere. It was his business to travel far and wide, to uncover the best deals, and then sell to others, who would then retail the merchandise. Such a person may also have made connections with wealthy people who would communicate their interest in the kinds of goods he dealt with. If he came across some especially valuable merchandise, or merchandise which one of these people were particularly interested in, the merchant would know he had a ready market. In such cases the tradesman could make a larger profit, because he eliminated the middleman. The merchant in Jesus’ parable was seeking or searching for good pearls. Like gems and precious stones, pearls come in a wide variety of shapes, color and size. There is a very complex system of grading pearls today, as there was back in Biblical times. On his travels, the merchant came across a pearl of outstanding quality and size. To his trained eye, it was so exceptional that he was climbing out of his skin with excitement. Furthermore, while the owner of the pearl was asking for a large sum of money for the pearl, it was nowhere near what the pearl would be worth, if offered for sale to the right people. The merchant realized here was the deal of a lifetime. The amount of money he would be able to make off that one exquisite pearl was way more than everything he currently owned. When you think about it, going home and selling all you have, property, house, and goods is no easy task. It would require a lot of time, effort and inconvenience on his part. Yet, it was not even a moment’s hesitation in this man’s mind. He immediately departed to go back home, and sold everything he had in order to purchase that pearl.

The point is clear, isn’t it? The Kingdom of God is like that. Wait, what does it mean that "the Kingdom of God is like" that? Most of us think in terms of salvation being like that. Certainly Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 16:24-27, doesn’t He? "Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds." Take note of what Jesus said, and what He did not say. He did not say, "If anyone wants their ticket out of hell, let him believe in Me, and he will get it." In Matthew 16, Jesus’ offer is for those who wish to follow Him. Those who wish to follow Him must deny themselves and take up their cross (a sign of shame and death) in order to do so.

In Matthew 13, the treasure in the field, or the pearl of great price, is not compared to salvation, but to the Kingdom of God. Discovering and becoming part of God’s rule and reign in the earth is what is worth giving everything to get. Without question, salvation is one part of that, but it is not the focus of Jesus’ teaching. I challenge you to go back to the start of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 4:12 and page through the book. You will notice that Jesus does speak of repenting, and about the Kingdom of God, but He is strangely silent (to our ears) regarding getting your ticket to avoid eternal punishment. For the most part, His focus is on what you do here and now. When He speaks of the future, it is to warn us of accountability to God, and the resulting punishment for those who disregard Him, as well as the corresponding blessing to those who do His will. If there is one thing that comes out of a skimming of the book, it is that God is calling us to follow Jesus as subjects obey a king. We are here to do His will in the here and now. Here and now is the focus, not the pie in the sky by and by when you die that many people talk about. Discovering the will of God is the treasure. That in itself is worth selling everything for.

The implication is that knowing God’s will means that you will choose to do it. What is the value of knowing it, if you don’t do it? Jesus’ enemies, …the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees…, those who eventually killed Him, were people who were well educated in what God’s will entailed, but they were not doing it. They had manufactured a multitude of ways to justify themselves, but the bottom line was they were not people who did God’s will.

God does not care what you know. He cares what you do with what you know. The good news (the "gospel") in the first century was that God’s reign was coming, …was near at hand…, and you could join the number of His loyal followers. It didn’t matter what you had done in the past; it didn’t matter if you were from a respected family line or of a noble pedigree; it didn’t matter how much money you had, or how much education you had, etc. All that mattered was that you recognized that Jesus was indeed the God-sent King and Deliverer, and you were willing to devote yourself to Him and to doing His will. For us in the 21st century, the good news is that we know who the Messianic King is, and His Kingdom has been set in motion on planet earth. We are given the great opportunity of joining the movement of those who are aligned with Him as their King and are active followers of His purposes. The great Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, is God’s Kingdom! We have the incredible opportunity to escape the deception and bondage of this world system and the prince of darkness, and join with God and work to set other people free to do His will. Sure, if we do God’s will we will have His approval and His blessing. Sure, if we stop sinning, we will escape the harmful consequences of our behavior, and He has offered amnesty from His judgment to those who align themselves with Jesus. If we do His will, we will reap the rewards of His blessing, which do not necessarily worldly prosperity, but which certainly include joy, righteousness, peace, sound-mindedness and the ability to overcome what the world, the flesh and the devil throw at us. It is peace with God and intimacy with Him in the Holy Spirit. It is discovering who we really are and accomplishing great things with God in the lives of others. The Kingdom is the treasure. Being able to be part of that Kingdom is worth laying everything else down to obtain.

Make no mistake. God wants people who are serious about following Him. That is what it is all about. There is a false gospel out there that would say that if we believe in Jesus, then we get our ticket. While I would agree that there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, either before or after we believe, God is looking for those who are ready and eager to do His will. He has great patience for those who struggle, but He has no patience for those who would mock Him by calling on His name, but having no real intent to serve Him. Do you really want to do His will? Do you really want to align with His Kingdom? Are you willing to give up any and everything that gets in the way of that? Then rejoice in the promise that the way to a new life of service to God is open to you.

The Disciple's Treasure

Notes for the Ekklesia Meetings on Sherburne Street
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: March 20, 2005
The Disciple’s Treasure
by Dan Trygg

"’Have you understood all these things?’ They said to Him, ‘Yes.’ 52 And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.’" Matthew 13:51,52
"And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus had just finished delivering His parables about the Kingdom of God to the crowd gathered on the beach. He had likened the Kingdom to (1.) a farmer sowing his seed on four different kinds of soil, looking for a good crop; (2.) a wheatfield where "impostor wheat" is sown by an enemy among the good wheat seeds, so that the weeds must grow up together with the wheat, and be sorted out at the harvest (again, fruitfulness is the goal); (3.) a mustard seed, which starts out very small, but grows to become as large as a tree and offers refuge to the birds; (4.) leaven, which when a small portion is put into a large batch of dough, spreads, permeates and expands throughout, until the whole batch has been leavened; (5.) a treasure hidden in a field which was so valuable that a man discovering it eagerly sells all that he has to buy the field so he can rightfully obtain the treasure; (6.) an incredibly rare and valuable pearl which a pearl merchant on his travels discovers and eagerly goes home to sell everything he possesses in order to secure this once in a lifetime opportunity; and, (7.) a dragnet, which indiscriminately captures all the fish and sea creatures in an area, so that the fishermen must sort out the "keepers" from those which are useless.

The first two parables illustrate God’s desire and expectation that the people of His Kingdom will produce "good fruit" in abundance. The second couplet is about the expansive, permeating growth of the Kingdom. It may start small, but it spreads out rapidly in every direction. The third parallel set of word pictures communicates how precious it is to be a part of God’s rule and reign on the earth. Those who really grasp what it is God is offering to them would gladly give up any and everything else to join with Him. Finally, the last parable illustrates that all are accountable to God, whether they want to join His Kingdom or not. There will be a great sorting out at the end of the age.

Jesus revisits this theme from the second parable. God is telling us that this is the way things will be. We do not have a choice about the fact that there will be a future judgment. We do, however, have choices in the here and now that will affect the future then and there outcome. Our choices have to do with where we will end up when our hearts and lives are evaluated. You will either be among those who are "keepers", those who have been responsive to Him and righteous toward others, or you will be consigned to the "furnace of fire", with those who have been rebellious toward God and have not lived their lives to help others. The good news of the Kingdom is that God is willing to offer you amnesty, if you will choose to make Him your King and live for Him. The invitation Jesus offered to the crowds He taught was that they were to "repent", that is, change their worldview and orientation, and trust in the good news that God was willing to forgive their sins, and allow them to start fresh, if they will follow Him as their King.

The key phrase here is to "follow Him as King". God is not just in the business of handing out amnesty to those who continue to live lives of rebellion and selfishness. We can’t undo our past choices, or their consequences. Even God, in His righteousness and justice, could not simply "let us off the hook". Our sins require redress. Each sin is an offense that requires recompense and rectification. It is like a debt that must be repaid. Unfortunately, the cost of sin is death. That is what God told Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 2:17), and it is still true today. The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). You ever heard the phrase, "I would die a thousand deaths"? If we were to rack up our debt load of sin, …every time we lied, every time we ever stole anything, every time we ever wanted what belonged to someone else, every time we ever entertained a lustful thought in our minds, or had a sexual relationship with someone we were not married to, or every time we said a hurtful word to someone else, or called them a name, every time we sought after anyone or anything more than we seek after God, etc. …, if we were to total these offenses up and see that each one requires a death sentence, then we can begin to imagine how hopeless our status before God would be if we stood on our own merit.

What is to be done? Well, the love of God toward you and me is so great that He was willing to come and die in our place for each and every offense ever committed, …past, present and future. Moreover, He took our warped and twisted selves into Himself in such a way that we ourselves were put to death with Him and raised with Him to a new, unwarped, untwisted existence. He offers forgiveness and a new life to those who are willing to lay down their old selves and past lives to start living fresh for God. That is the key, however. Are you willing to follow Him as your King? That is what a disciple is, one who actively follows someone. God is not looking for "decisions", or church memberships. He is looking for those who are willing to live for Him and bear much fruit by the power of His Spirit living within them.

Jesus told us what was involved in making a disciple. He said that as we were going about we ought to "disciple-ize" all nations. How? By baptizing them and teaching them to do all that He said.

The "baptizing" part stands for the repenting and starting fresh beginning of the Christian life. Baptism was a symbolic laying down into death to one’s former life, as one laid down and was buried in the water, …and a rising to new life, as the person comes up from the water. It was at once both a break with one’s old life, as well as a consecration of one’s future life as a person dedicated to God.

The second part, the "teaching them to do all that I said" aspect, covers three main ideas.

The first is that a disciple is a learner. He or she must see that one of their primary responsibilities is to learn. It is impossible to be a growing, faithful disciple and not be applying yourself to learning more about God and what He expects from you.

A second idea involved in the "teaching them to do all that I said" part of Jesus’ admonition is that a disciple is a doer. Being a disciple is not primarily an intellectual process. The mind must be instructed, but only so that the will can be engaged and the person put into action. Obedience is what Jesus wants, not simply intellectual agreement. What good is it to know the truth, if you do not live by it? Are you a faithful servant for correctly understanding what God wants done, if you do not do it? Of course not.

The third idea involved in the "teaching them to do all that I said" injunction is that a disciple cannot be selective. He or she must be obedient in all things. Jesus is not OK with compartmentalized lives. Those who have a "religious compartment", where they go to church and keep religious rituals and disciplines, but are still living in contradiction with what the Bible clearly teaches are not faithful disciples. Jesus would call them "hypocrites", or pretenders. The Lord is not pleased with those who want to "play church", in fact they make Him sick to His stomach (Rev. 3:16). He told us clearly that He wants followers who are active learners, people who will obey Him in all His will.

Finally, one inescapable conclusion of Matt. 28:18-20 is that obedient followers who are carrying out all that Jesus said will also be teacher/trainers of other disciples. Part of what He said was to "disciple-ize" all nations. So, we need to begin to see ourselves not only as learners, ready to do His will, but also as disciplers of others. We need to prepare ourselves to teach others, …and begin to do it.

That brings us back to the verse from Matt. 13:52, "…every scribe who has become a disciple of the Kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old". What is Jesus saying? A scribe was someone who had devoted his life to learning the OT scriptures. Usually they were teachers and interpreters of the Law. When such a person became a follower of Jesus, they still needed to be "disciple-ized", that is, they needed to learn what Jesus taught, as well as how to walk it out in their own lives. As they became more competent in their understanding, and more mature in their walk, they would also begin to teach and train others. Jesus’ observation was that when such a former expert in OT teachings also became trained and ready as a believer, he would be especially skilled in being able to teach effectively from both his former studies and experience, as well as from what he had incorporated into his life as a Christian.

I want to zero in on this concept of the disciple’s "treasure". The word for "treasure" means "storehouse". This is the second time in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus had referred to the storehouse in a person’s life, those stored up experiences, thoughts and beliefs that comprise not only our worldview, but also are the source of what we say and do.

In chapter 12, Jesus said that "the mouth speaks out of what fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil" (vss. 34,35). So, we all have a "treasury" from which we respond to the world around us.

The idea of a "treasury" or "storehouse" implies that we have the opportunity to invest or "lay up" teachings, attitudes, experiences, etc. which then become available for us to "bring forth" to speak to others.

A scribe already had a lot of valuable things "stored up", knowing the OT Scriptures. Yet, he still needed to be taught accurately the things concerning Jesus (cf. Acts 18:24-28). Then he could utilize both the new insights and understandings along with the fruits of his former studies to be an effective teacher/trainer to others.

Here, however, is the point for you and me. God expects us to "lay up" things in our "treasury" so that we can become effective disciple-makers. If you knew you were going to do this, that God was going to give you that assignment, wouldn’t you want to be prepared? Well, start getting ready, because it is God’s will for you to be teaching others to do all that Jesus said, too. So, start studying with that in mind. Take note of those teachings or illustrations that really are effective in helping you, and prepare for when you will be teaching others.

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.