2016. Sow what?!

As we enter the new year, I am sure many of us want to see change in our lives. Obviously if we continue to do what we have done in the past we cannot expect a different outcome in the future. Someone once said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." In other words, if you keep sowing the same seed, you cannot expect to reap a different harvest!

What will you sow into?

"Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7,8

The seed we sow will either be destructive or constructive. If we sow seed to please our sinful desires, we will reap the negative consequences but if we sow to please the Holy Spirit, we will reap fullness of life.

Sowing to please the Spirit does not come naturally. The apostle Paul even says that the desires of the sinful nature are contrary to the Spirit and that they are in conflict with each other (Gal. 5:17). In order to sow to please the Spirit, the believer must make a disciplined effort to overcome his or her natural desires. A great example of this is found in Matthew 26:36-46 where the disciples gave in to "sleeping and resting" instead of "watching and praying." Jesus said that "the spirit is willing but the body is weak" and so we need to understand that in order to sow spiritual seed, we must overcome the weakness of the body. In Gethsemane, Jesus overcame His emotions (26:38), His will (26:39) and His physical tiredness (26:40) to fulfill the will of the Father. If Jesus "learned obedience" then surely we need to as well (see Hebrews 5:7-10)!

All of us sow seed. The question is, "Are we sowing seed to please ourselves or to please the Holy Spirit?"

How much will you sow?

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." 2 Corintians 9:6

We must sow generously if we what to reap generously. In order to sow generously we must be prepared to sow beyond natural expectations and boundaries. Supernatural harvest comes from supernatural investment - sowing that is beyond the natural.

As stewards of what God entrusts us with whether gifts, talents, finances, time, energy, relationships, revelation, etc, we can use these for ourselves, to bless or to invest. We see these three principles in Matthew 25:1-46 where Jesus teaches on the believer's need to be ready (25:1-13), the believer's need to invest (25:14-30) and the believer's duty to bless (25:31-46). All three parables deal with stewardship and the consequences of wise investment whether for ourselves, for others or for the Kingdom. Generosity is commended because it reflects the very heart of the Father toward all creation. God gives beyond the boundary and those who are of Him will do the same! If we sow generously, we will reap generously!

So as we enter 2016, consider what you will sow into and how much you will sow to determine what you want to reap and how much you want to reap!

Consider what you want to reap in the future and how much you want to reap concerning:

• Your relationship with God.
• Your own life: spiritually, physically and emotionally.
• Your family: salvation , care, reconcilliation, provision, honour.
• Your relationship with others: forgiveness, reconcilliation, care, support, investment.
• The salvation of the lost: prayer, sharing the Gospel, caring, supporting.
• The needy: provision, support, love.
• Your church: serving, investing, supporting, honouring, spiritual gifts.
• Your work: attitude, colleagues, honour.

"Each man should give what he has decided to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Corinthians 9:8

May God bless you richly as you generously sow into what the Spirit desires in 2016!

2016. Wie säen wir weiter?!

Gerade jetzt, ganz am Anfang des Neuen Jahrs, bin ich sicher, dass sich viele von uns Veränderung in ihrem Leben wünschen. Es ist aber klar, dass keine veränderten Ergebnisse erwarten können, wenn wir weiterhin das tun, was wir in der Vergangenheit auch getan haben. Jemand sagte einmal “Es ist geisteskrank immer und wieder dasselbe zu tun und andere Resultate zu erwarten!“ Mit anderen Worten, wenn Du weiterhin denselben Samen aussäst, kannst du nicht erwarten, eine andere Ernte einzubringen!

Wo hinein wirst du säen?

"Irrt euch nicht, Gott lässt sich nicht verspotten! Denn was ein Mensch sät, das wird er auch ernten. Denn wer auf sein Fleisch sät, wird vom Fleisch Verderben ernten; wer aber auf den Geist sät, wird vom Geist ewiges Leben ernten" Galater 6:7,8

Das Saatgut, das wir aussäen, wird entweder destruktiv oder konstruktiv sein. Wenn wir das säen, was unserer sündigen Natur gefällt, werden wir negative Konsequenzen ernten; aber wenn wir das säen, was dem Heiligen Geist gefällt, werden wir die Fülle des Lebens ernten.

Das zu säen, was dem Geist Gottes gefällt, liegt nicht in unserer menschlichen Natur. Der Apostel Paulus sagt sogar, dass die Wünsche der sündigen Natur konträr zum Geist sind und dass sie miteinander im Konflikt stehen. (Gal. 5:17). Um aber dem Geist Gottes gefallend zu säen, muss der Gläubige sich diszipliniert bemühen, seine eigenen, natürlichen, Wünsche zu überwinden. Ein großartiges Beispiel dafür finden wir in Matthäus 26:36-46 wo die Jünger sich hängen ließen und "schliefen und ruhten" anstatt zu "wachen und beten." Jesus sagte dazu: "der Geist willig, aber das Fleisch ist schwach". Und so müssen wir verstehen, dass wir, um geistliche Samen zu säen, die Schwachheit unseres Leibes überwinden müssen. In Gethsemane, hat Jesus all seine Emotionen (26:38), seinen Willen l (26:39) und auch seine physische Müdigkeit (26:40) überwunden, um den Willen des Vaters zu erfüllen. Wenn selbst Jesus "Gehorsam lernte”  dann müssen wir das sicherlich auch (siehe Hebr. 5:7-10)!

Wir alle säen etwas. Die Frage ist “Säen wir, um uns selbst zu gefallen, oder um dem Heiligen Geist zu gefallen?“

Wieviel wirst du säen?

"Erinnere dich an dies: Wer sparsam sät, wird sparsam ernten; und wer segensreich sät, wird auch segensreich ernten." 2. Kor. 9:6

Wir müssen großzügig säen, wenn wir großzügig ernten wollen. Um großzügig zu säen, müssen wir bereit sein, über unsere natürlichen Erwartungen und Begrenzungen hinaus zu säen. Eine übernatürliche Ernte kommt von einem übernatürlichen Investment – Alson das säen, was über das Natürliche hinausgeht.

Als Verwalter dessen, was Gott uns anvertraut – ob nun bezüglich unserer Gaben, Talente, Finanzen, Zeit, Energie, Beziehungen, Offenbarung, etc., können wir diese Dinge für uns selbst, zum Segen anderer oder als Investition nutzen. Wir sehen diese drei Prinzipien in Matthäus 25:1-46, wo Jesus darüber lehrt, dass die Gläubigen bereit sein (25:1-13), investieren (25:14-30) und segnen (25:31-46) sollten. Bei allen drei Gleichnissen geht es um Verwalterschaft und die Konsequenzen von weisen Investitionen; ob für uns selbst, für andere oder für das Königreich. Großzügigkeit wird empfohlen, weil dies das Herz des Vaters für seine Schöpfung wiederspiegelt. Gott gibt uns über alle Grenzen hinaus und die, die von ihm abstammen, tun dasselbe. Wenn wir großzügig säen, werden wir großzügig ernten!

Nun in 2016, bedenke, wohinein du säen möchtest und wie viel du hinein säen möchtest – den das wird festlegen, was du ernten möchtest und wieviel! Bedenke, was du in folgenden Bereichen zukünftig ernten möchtest und wieviel: 

• Deine Beziehung zu Gott.
• Dein eigenes Leben: Geistlich, physisch, emotional.
• Deine Familie: Errettung, Fürsorge, Versöhnung, Versorgung, Ehre.
• Deine Beziehung zu anderen: Vergebung, Versöhnung, Versorgung, Unterstützung, Investition
• Die Errettung der Verlorenen: Gebet, das Evangelium weitergeben, Unterstützen, Fürsorge
• Die Bedürftigen: Versorgung, Unterstützung, Liebe.
• Deine Gemeinde: Dienen, investieren, unterstützen, ehren, geistliche Gaben.
• Deine Arbeit: Haltung, Kollegen, Ehre.

"Jeder gebe, wie er sich in seinem Herzen vorgenommen hat: nicht mit Verdruss oder aus Zwang, denn einen fröhlichen Geber liebt Gott. Gott aber vermag euch jede Gnade überreichlich zu geben, damit ihr in allem allezeit alle Genüge habt und überreich seid zu jedem guten Werk."  Korinther 9:7 und 8
Möge Gott euch reichlich segnen, so wie ihr großzügig in das hinein sät, wonach sich der Geist Gottes in 2016 sehnt!

Who do you think you are?

The Father's testimony

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know that his testimony about me is valid. You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved." John 5:31-34

"As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" Matthew 3:16,17

Jesus lived from the Father's testimony about him. Even Jesus did not depend on his own testimony about himself, nor the testimony of godly men concerning him. The only testimony that he considered valid was the testimony of the Father concerning him. Jesus, therefore, lived by faith in the testimony of the Father. After his baptism, Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted. The devil challenged the testimony Jesus had from the Father saying, "If you are the Son of God..." (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus, however, trusted in the Father's testimony about him.

A new identity

The apostle Paul lived by faith in his new identity in Christ. He regarded his old identity that was based on his education, his heritage, his intellect, his zeal, and his self-righteousness as "rubbish" compared to knowing Christ and finding his identity in Him (Philippians 3:4-11). Paul lived from the reality of his new identity in Christ saying, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).

Key motivation

Just as Paul lived from the spiritual reality of his new identity in Christ, so he appealed to the Church to live their lives according to the testimony from heaven and the spiritual truth of their new identity in Christ. Paul understood that the believers' key motivation to live godly lives was to believe and live according to their new identity in Christ.

In his letter to the saints in Colosse, Paul writes,

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with hm in glory." Colossians 3:1-4

Paul appeals to the truth of what Christ has done, is doing and will do. He reminds the Church that they have been raised with Christ (past), that they live with Him in God (present) and that they will be found in Him when He returns (future). Consequently, Paul exhorts the Church to put off her old identity and behaviour and to live in her new identity as "God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved" (Colossians 3:12).

Over and over again in his letters to the Church, Paul reminds the believers about their new identity in Christ in order to move them to live godly lives. He reminds the believers that they are not their own anymore and that they are the temple of the Holy Spirit as the key motivation to avoid sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 8:12-16; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1). He explains how believers belong to one another as the Body of Christ as the key motivation to serve one another (Romans 12:4,5). Paul reminds the believers that they are no longer darkness but light in the Lord and so should live as children of light because that is their new identity in Christ (Ephesians 5:8-14).

Life of faith

We see, therefore, that the life of faith is about living in the truth of what God says about us - the Father's testimony about us - because of what Christ has done, is doing and will do. Those who live in the truth of their new identity in Christ will put off the old and put on the new. They will live as God's people who belong to Him and to one another because they know that they are sons of God and that they are the Body of Christ. 

Living according to identity

What attitude or behaviour needs to change in your life if you truly believe the following testimony about your new identity in Christ?

• You are a new creation in Christ, created in Him to do good works. 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:10
• Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 6:19,20
• You are a member of the Body of Christ. 1 Cor 12:27
• You are holy. Col 3:12
• You are light. Eph 5:8-12
• You are a citizen of heaven. Phil 3:20

These are just a few of the wonderful truths that apply to the believer. Faith in the truth of who we are in Christ should motivate us to live according to our new lives in Christ.  

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1

Where is the promised land?

"For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles." Galatians 2:8

Peter was a messenger of Christ to Israel, the chosen people of God. His ministry was focused on reaching the Jewish people with the gospel. He so identified with his people that Paul even had to correct him for returning to Jewish customs whilst in Antioch (see Gal. 2:11-14). Reading Peter's letters, therefore, gives us a glimpse of his heart for the Jewish people and God's purposes for Israel and the Church.

God's message to His people 

The Good News that "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18) was Peter's message to the Jewish people. He was greatly concerned about the outcome for "those who do not obey the Gospel" (1 Peter 4:17). In Peter's mind, "the end of all things" was near (1 Peter 4:7) and so his letters carry a sense of urgency about Christ's return and the Church's readiness to meet her Master.

Strangers in the world

It is interesting to note how James and Peter address their letters to "the twelve tribes scattered among the nations" and "God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia" (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). It seems that both writers primarily have their Jewish brothers in mind who have come to faith in Christ through the Gospel. Rather than calling their Jewish brothers to return to Jerusalem or "the promised land," the believers are encouraged "as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul" and to "live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Peter 2:11,12). God's purpose for His people is that they live as members and citizens of His Kingdom in this world wherever they are. He is not gathering His people to one place but has scattered His people among the nations to be salt and light for His glory (see Matthew 5:13-16)!

Where is the "promised land"?

God's people are not to live for the seen but for the unseen real. Abraham lived by faith in the unseen reality of God's land, promised to him and his ancestors. 

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:13-16).

Even Moses "regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible" (Heb.11:26,27).

The message of the writer to the Hebrews, the Jewish people, is that Christ is the fulfillment of all that was forshadowed in the old covenant. "The copies of the heavenly things" (Heb. 9:23) all pointed to the reality of the invisible Kingdom that is found in Christ. God's people are not supposed to be returning to a physical land but are to be waiting in great expectation for the new heavens and the new earth, "to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God" (Heb. 12:22). Jew and Gentile believers eagerly await a "better country" and the city God has prepared for them!

Let us live godly lives as aliens and strangers in this world as we eagerly await the glorious appearing of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ and the revelation of our heavenly home!

Reconciled to Culture or Christ?

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sin against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:18-20

Jesus modelled the ministry of reconciliation

Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He entered the world in the form of a human to reach those who were separated from God in order to reconcile them to God.

Jesus not only came to provide a way for man to be reconciled to God but also modelled God's method of reaching the lost that I believe the Church in general has moved away from. Just as Jesus came to seek and save the Lost, the Church is called to go and seek and save the lost.

God's method to reach the Lost

Jesus came to seek!

God took the initiative! Jesus entered humanity's darkness (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 2:14-18). He did not wait for broken humanity to find Him. As the Light of the world, Jesus made His dwelling amongst imperfect humanity to draw mankind back into fellowship with God.

Just as the Father sent His Son into the world to reconcile man to Himself, so He sends His Body, the Church into the world to reconcile man to God. Just as Jesus came as the Light of the world, He sends the Church into darkness to be light (see Matthew 5:14).

Sadly the Church, for the most part, expects broken humanity to find its way to her meetings instead of her entering into the darkness.

Jesus came to reconcile man to God and not to a culture!

Jesus sought the Lost to reconcile man to God. He did not seek out the Lost to convert them to a christian culture! Christ's priority was to bring man back into fellowship with the Father and with other believers. The believer's christian culture (the way he responds to God with his life) becomes a barrier for the Lost when it is inauthentic, inconsistent and only reserved for church meetings. Christian culture becomes attractive and influential when it is the fruit of sincerity and an authentic relationship with God and other believers.

The moment the Christian has to adopt a form to be acceptable in the church, a cultural wall is erected that becomes a barrier to the unchurched! 

The reason many Christians are uncomfortable with inviting the Lost to their church meetings is that there is often a discrepancy between the way they are in the world and the way they are in their church meetings.

Authentic Christianity

The solution is not to force a different church culture that will be less offensive and more palatable for the Lost but to ensure that the church is authentic in her relationship with God and others, both in the church meetings as well as in the world! God is more concerned with the heart than with our christian culture (the form we choose to express our relationship with God).

When the Church strips herself of her man-made form she will be able to enter the darkness of broken humanity and be able to reconcile man to God.

The church that seeks to impose her form on broken humanity seeks to convert man to culture rather than to Christ!

Floyd McClung, in his book entitled "You see bones, I see an army," states,

"The church that does not carry a passion to reach the world isolates people behind walls of cultural irrelevance."

I believe the Church is called to be uncompromising in essence but flexible in form. That way the Church can be light in the darkness and be "all things to all men" (form) without compromising the Truth (essence).

I agree with McClung when he writes,

"The Spirit of God calls each generation to re-imagine church for their own context and culture, and to a fresh encounter with God to live the Gospel."

The Church must get rid of old wine skins - old ways of doing church and adopted christian culture, if she is to make room for new wine - revival and awakening as real believers connect with a real world with the real love of God.

The role of the Church is to enter the darkness to seek and reconcile broken humanity to its loving Creator so that believers can enjoy fellowship with God and one another (1 John 1:3)!

It is time for the Church to be revived and for the "grave clothes" to be removed so that she will "come out" (John 11:43) in newness of life to reconcile man to God. This is the ministry of reconciliation that has been entrusted to Christ's Body!

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