Not slaves but heirs!
Author: newlifenarrabri
Quote for the Day
The unity of the church across traditional lines of class, culture, ethnicity, gender, whatever: that, and only that, is the God-given sign that the new creation has been launched. Anything else looks like simply shuffling the cards of the old one. Tom Wright
Plans for good…
Sowing And Reaping
The number of trucks going past my house reminds me that we are in the middle of harvest time. Farmers, contractors, silos, truck drivers and mechanics are all working long hours to get the harvest into storage before storms, birds, insects or other disasters can do serious damage.
The Bible is full of references to farming and, in particular, to harvesting.
The phrase “you reap what you sow” is one of those references, and I imagine it would have been a fairly common saying back in the day. We can’t imagine a farmer planting barley and hoping for wheat. That would go against all the laws of nature.
Strangely, though, many people fail to apply this to their own lives. If you sow kindness and generosity, people will respond by being kind back to you. If you live by violence and bullying, then you cannot expect others to treat you with love and respect.
One of the Old Testament prophets coined this phrase, “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” This referred to the then rulers of the state of Israel who ignored their God and instead chose to encourage the worship of the fake gods of other nations. The result, Hosea said, was that they would be overrun by the Assyrians, one of the nastiest empires of the time, and of course full of idols. The Israelites had played at worshipping idols, now they would be destroyed by expert idol worshippers.
In modern times, we might think of people who play fast and loose with the rules, seemingly untouchable until the Police or the Tax Office catch up with them. They sowed a wind but reaped a whirlwind of trouble.
Many people spend their whole lives without any reference to God. They might be good people but just have no time for religion. They are good enough for God, they reason, and He will take care of them in the after life.
But if you have a life in which you sow arrogance towards God, then you will reap a whirlwind of wrath. On the other hand, a life of humble service to the Lord will reap a very different harvest.
What are you sowing?
Reflection on Colossians 2:11-15
Scripture
He cancelled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
Observation
When we came to Christ, we underwent a kind of circumcision. This is not a physical process done in the flesh, but a spiritual process by which our sinful nature is cut away.
In baptism, we are buried with Christ and raised to life in Him, because we trusted the same God who raised Christ from the dead.
Before we came to Christ, we were dead in our sins. Then God made us alive in Christ. He cancelled the record of the charges against us and nailed it to the cross. By doing this He disarmed. the spiritual rulers and authorities.
Application
When Christ died on the cross, it was not just a transaction of one life taking the place of many lives. Jesus’s death, and resurrection also represents God’s total victory over all the forces of evil. He disarmed them forever.
More than that, God took the record of our sins and nailed it all to the cross. When Jesus cried, “It is finished,” He was saying that all of our sin was gone and the record was destroyed.
In our legal system, there is a term used for this – expunged. That means that not only is a conviction overturned, the records are deleted and trashed so that it is as if the person never came to the attention of the legal system.
When we come to Christ, and receive his forgiveness, the records are expunged. When we try to remind God of the past, He says, “I have no record of that.”
We have a clean record with Christ because it has all been nailed to the cross.
Prayer.
Thank you, Lord, for such a thorough forgiveness. I am washed clean by the blood of Christ. Amen.
A Mighty Fortress- Rock Version
A very nice rock version of the hymn “A Mighty Fortress” 😀
The Name of the Lord…
Today’s Bike Ride
Sports, Sunday Mornings, and the Meaning of ‘Neglect’
From desiringgod.org
Sports, Sunday Mornings, and the Meaning of ‘Neglect’
A recent Lifeway survey found that 40 percent of evangelical pastors believe it’s never okay to miss church for sports. Only 25 percent of churchgoers agreed. Meanwhile, a study in Review of Religious Research found that among churches experiencing declining attendance, the most commonly cited reason was children’s sports on Sundays.
Sport is a wonderful joy. As Jeremy Treat puts it, “Sport is more than a game, less than a god, and when transformed by the gospel, can be received as a gift to be enjoyed forever.” So, what do we do about sports on Sunday mornings?
Each of us has a knee-jerk response to that question. It might be informed by your upbringing, your tradition, your community, or your past or present decisions. But all of life is to be arranged under Christ — including our sports. How can those of us who love sports — whether we’re pastors, parents, or athletes — consider carefully how to make faithful, godly, and wise decisions about sports on Sunday mornings?
We Need the Gathering
Christian athletes will rightly see their sport as an act of whole-life worship (Romans 12:1). But the question of whether we miss corporate worship in order to play can be harder to navigate.
The temptation to miss church is not a new one. Two thousand years ago, people were finding reasons to miss the gathering of God’s local community. Yet Hebrews 10:24–25 speaks with clarity and urgency:
Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
One of the most important habits in the Christian life is the regular gathering of God’s people to sing, pray, sit under God’s word, and receive the Lord’s Supper. It is vital for our spiritual health. And God has designed this weekly gathering not only to sustain our faith but also to make us a means of encouragement to others.
Last year I ran a marathon. Though the race was long, the presence of others made all the difference. The cheers from the crowd, the shared pace, the grunts of encouragement from fellow runners — all of it helped me to press on. That’s what the weekly gathering is: an essential encouragement for weary saints, a mutual “Keep going!”
The gathering is also a guardrail. Elsewhere in Hebrews, the author issues a sobering warning: Isolation leaves us vulnerable to sin’s deceit (Hebrews 3:13). The local church is one of God’s primary means of preserving us week by week, keeping us anchored to the gospel as we await the coming Day. It’s like the marshals during the marathon: pointing the way, keeping me on course, reminding me how far I’ve come and how far I’ve yet to go.
The Sabbath law may be fulfilled in Christ, but the command to meet regularly as God’s people under God’s word still stands. This isn’t legalism. It’s a lifeline. Weekly worship is fuel for the journey and joy for the soul.
We Need All of the Body
Most Christian athletes I know agree that the Christian life isn’t meant to be lived alone. So, they find ways to engage with Christian community at other points in the week — through youth groups, perhaps, or a midweek huddle with fellow sportspeople. Christ, though, came so that all his people can be “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
When our regular rhythms only include Christians who share our age, background, or calling, we miss out on something essential. The apostle Paul reminds us, “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. . . . As it is, there are many parts, yet one body” (1 Corinthians 12:18, 20). The church is not a social club of like-minded peers. It’s a spiritual body — diverse, interdependent, and designed by God for our good. As we gather, we encourage one another by being part of a body made up of different parts. Young and old. Rich and poor. Black and white. The fit and the less so.
We lose out on many blessings when we don’t meet week by week with those different from us. First, we do not learn how to love those different from us, as Paul urges us to (Colossians 3:11–14). Second, we miss an opportunity to display the unifying and reconciling power of the gospel to the watching world, as they see believers loving one another across divides of background and life situation. Caring for those we have little in common with shows God’s love most plainly (Matthew 5:43–48). Third, we miss the wisdom and perspective that come from others’ varied experiences. This includes the blessing of being with people who don’t treat you differently because you are an athlete.
“Neglect is measured not only in Sundays missed but in hearts drifting from Christ and his people.”
One former Premier League football player I spoke to reflected on this with joy: “When my family joined a new church for the first time, we met people who didn’t care about me because of football. They cared about my wife, my children, and me. For the first time in ten years, we felt like we belonged somewhere.”
To run the race well, we need the whole body. That requires deliberate rhythms, making time to gather, worship, and grow alongside brothers and sisters of every kind, not just the sporty ones.
Read the rest of the article here
Quote for the Day
At the heart of this is holiness: if the church is the new Temple, with God really in the midst, that means fear and trembling, not playing fast and loose. That applies in many areas, not just – though not least – with money. If we really are doing business with the Creator God, this isn’t just a strange religious game. It is claiming, riskily, to be part of the ongoing life-giving project of the God who made heaven and earth. Tom Wright
New Life Narrabri 