“Since you can’t do this very little thing… add an hour to your life, why…”
Last week we looked at 2 passages about life - Matt 8:1-4; Luke 12:25-26
Matt 8:2-3 “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”
Luke 12:25-26 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life b ? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
What is your life? Life is more than… why you cannot even a single hour to your life - and if you can’t do this very little thing...
Jesus reached out and touched the man “I am willing”... are we in a position and posture to touch - to see, to discern, to know, to touch - and to discern what that “touch” should or shouldn’t be
The question is, am I in a position to
Receive a touch from God -
Extend a touch to another -
Posture ourselves in a way that if the opportunity presents itself -
See and discern
Know and to touch
If the touch is to be extended, what should that touch be, and how should it be - what manner of touch
To do this I must be aligned, attuned, illumined, illuminated… if I am to be effective, as a light and in and with my life.
So we add to this… God’s desire for us - that our understanding of this “life” and it’s touch is the expression of the light we are and have been created to be - that others would see our lives illuminated and that shining sheds light on God…
“you are the light of the world…” Matt 5:14-15 (2Cor 4:4,6)
“...shine like stars in the universe…” Phil 2:15
If we cannot do that “very little thing”, let us then be sure to take advantage of the time we do have to live, to live the life God has in us and us in it.
If we cannot add an hour to our life, let us then be present in the hour we do have. And, not being able to add one hour to our life, maybe we ought to be striving to add life to the hour we do have.
To live in this hour, to live life in this hour is being the light we have been made to be - shedding light.
You are the light of the world! No one lights a candle and puts it under a bed, but instead, they put it on a lampstand so that everyone in the room can see” Matthew 5:14-15
To be more effective in life and as light
It is our choice: It would seem that we get to choose the degree of our life’s light’s glow, its shining, and luminescence; its radiance, its gleam, and brilliance. And with this choice in our hands, we choose how we display our light’s life’s joy, vibrancy, effervescence - will it be on display for all to see, or will it be hidden under the bowl of our choosing.
It is our choice to live this life in this hour, to shine our light in this hour. Living an effective life by being an effective light that shines like a star against the contrasting blackness around it… a light lit and placed on a lampstand for all to see.
What can we do to make the most of this hour? The present? In each and every opportunity? What can we do to ensure our light is shining brightly, effectively, for all to see? How can we be more effective?
Nothing new, but, new every day. Phil 2:12-15
12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 14Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” c Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky 16as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Practice love - make a morally preferred choice to obey God’s word - His loving and wise, life-giving, commands and instruction - John 14:15,21,23
If you love me, keep my commands.
Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him."
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
Make every effort to “work out your salvation…”
Not work for or work to keep, but to work out - work down to its end-point, its exact definite conclusion, until it is fully expressed and realized in you.
Salvation is of God
It is God who works in us the desire to be saved and work with Him in its being effectiveness
Even that continuation of the process is dependent on God and His empowering
Once taken hold of by God, our working out is out cooperating with God’s doing to enable the truth of our salvation to affect my life, effectively, to make it effective
Lean into God by leaning away from your sense of adequacy “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”
It is God’s work - His energy, His action, His effect, that is always effective, it never goes halfway - in so, it must be fully effective.
We must humbly recognize this and join Him in the work He is already doing
So, when we strive to be effective in our relationship with God, it is cooperating with His effectiveness for salvation in us
Cooperate with God as He empowers and enables “...for it is God who works in you to desire His will and act according to the pleasure of His good purposes and will”
Let go of your opinions about what is going on around you “Do everything without grumbling or arguing so that you might become blameless and pure, children of God in a warped and crooked generation”
It is not that we can’t have an opinion, it is that we must submit our opinion to God as a petition of concern.
It is not that God does not want to hear our opinion, it is that He desires that we let go of our opinion.
It is not that God does not care about what we care about, it is that He wants us to see it through His lens
It is not that God our care and concerns don’t matter Him, but that we trust Him at His word - that He will work this out for His glory and our good
It is not that our prayers do not matter or have no effect (James 5:16)
We must be careful here - as it is the attitude of the heart and the perspective of our mind that is at question. That in seeing our circumstances with anger and doubt of God’s good intentions, we are calling into question God and His intentions - those plans to prosper us - with this attitude, we are on the precipice of rebellion - we think against the thing that concerns us, but in fact, it is against God.
The language here is the same language used of the israelite’s complaining, murmuring, arguing, and rebelling against Moses - and it wasn’t Moses, but God and God’s intentions. Ps 78; 95; Rev 2:5
Numbers 14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
Numbers 14:11 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
Hebrews 3:7-19 entering God’s rest - grace - peace
If this attitude is allowed to remain, it harms others and keeps them prisoner to their own biases and inward thoughts
“reasoning that is self-based and therefore confused – especially as it contributes to reinforcing others in discussion to remain in their initial prejudice. Judges with evil or perilous thoughts”
There are things to be legitimately concerned about, grieved over, even angry with - and those things should matter to us. In this context, it is a matter of how we let those concerns take hold of us, what they do in us and to us, and whether it interferes with our primary mission - which is not necessarily changing this world, but, by being rightly aligned with God and ready to be a light, the gospel, we administer that good news of hope in the sphere of influence He has given each of us.
But the effect is according to righteousness and accomplishing His will
His
Ours
Our life’s effect in this world (Jesus, our righteousness, lived out in life)
To accomplish His will according to His wise purposes
Our coming to trust Him - once we have…
...cried out and called out
...been wrestled down from the high horse of our questioning, thinking, knowing, arguing, and, in essence, whether by attitude, word, or deed, or deed not done, telling God what we would do…
...been laid waste, exhausted of our…
Or emptied, contrite (deflated like a balloon - Ps 51)
“A prayer - earnest and fervent - of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.” James 5:16
But then He desires that once we have exhausted our heart’s concerns, we would come… 1Tim 2:1,8
We can now hear God as He invites us to come to Him…
To petition Him...
Cast our concerns at or on Him, knowing, being reassured, that He does care for you
Reason with Him
To pray
To exchange wishes with Him
Taste and see that He is good, truly good
To come to surrender to His will - seen and unseen
And to now…
To Intercede, to join Him in prayer (Jesus and the Holy Spirit) according to His will, His righteousness, not my opinions, desires, wants, or perceived needs, but surrendered and subjected, now gladly, to His sovereign will and purposes
Remembering who God is, remembering whose you are and that He is good and all things for the good, remain “blameless and pure, children of God
Do not be deceived, fooled, duped, or taken in by “this crooked and perverse generation”
Having been cleansed of our angst and anger, fear and anxiety, insistence and obstinance…
That now with Grateful hearts, having worked out our salvation with Him, being brought low by His glorious might, healed by His gracious faithfulness, and restored to a right view of His will and purposes, we would reflect meaningfully His love expressed by mercy and grace…
We will shine, like stars, against the contrast of the black depth of the universe - on the lampstand of our trusting obedience to God’s life-giving-sustaining word, reflecting a hope buoyed by God’s faithfulness
Prov 4:18 “But the path of the righteous, the just, is as the shining light that shines, like the dawn, more and more until the perfect day, or the day of its perfection” or “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”
As we hold out the gift of life - the gospel - not by merely saying or reciting its truth, but as one whose life itself beautifully shines with the gospel of grace and grace’s glory, its joy, and its enduring hope - not only of eternal life, but life now, with God in Christ. A life in which each of its hours of life can vibrate with bubbling life and the weight of eternal impact - a life with...
Purpose fulfilled
Significance declared
Worth expressed
Value determined
Price paid
Belonging
Destiny sure
Whose are we? Who are we? What are we? What is this life we have been left here to live?
Is God, God?
Is God, sovereign, Ruler, and King?
Is God all-powerful?
Is God all-knowing?
Is God ever-present - in all time and space?
Is God all good and wise and loving?
Are we not, His? Is He not, God? Will He not accomplish His will?
Let us now offer, thanks.
