Go and make disciples… go, go, go... as a light Matthew 5:13-16: the privilege of Gardening with God: Matthew 28: cultivating, planting, tending, reaping: making disciples

The soils of souls 

• Mark 4:1-

  • Salvation - grace through faith - this is God’s work

  • Ephesians 2:5-10 “...it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

• Here’s where God’s effort and our effort walk in stride 

  • Phil 2:12-13 “...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.”

• He’s made and is making His effort, doing the work, works, good works - now it is ours to join Him in “making every effort” (2Pe 1:5): 

  • Working with God - this was God’s intention for the beginning - tending, working His garden - me, you, me and you together, us - the Church - is, now, the Garden in and for which we work (Rom 12-16; 1Cor 12-14)

    • Genesis 2:5-9 “5Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground…”  

    • Hired hands and servants, ambassadors and priests

    • Sanctification - ongoing tending to and of the garden 

      • God’s role - purification - Isaiah 6

      • Our role - cleanse ourselves, choosing righteousness by denying ourselves - our flesh’s desires - 2Tim 3 

      • And tap into God’s Spirit - Galatians 5:13-14,16-18  “13You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

    • Aid one another in growth and holiness 

      • Galatians 6:1-5 1Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. 4Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, 5for each one should carry their own load.