“A Goal for the People of God"
February 24, 2013
The 2nd Sunday of the Christian Season of Lent
Genesis 15: 1 - 12; 17 – 18/Psalm 27: 7 – 14/Philippians 3: 17 – 4:1/Luke 13: 31 – 35
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
The Season of Lent, in some minds, is a Season of sadness, of sorrow, of punishment, of belittling oneself. In reality, Lent literally is meant to prepare ourselves for the fullness of God’s provision in our lives. Lent really means springtime. It is bringing out of our hearts that which God has given to us, those things that had been within, but yet, in a period of hibernation sleeping, resting or being suppressed.
God’s purpose in life and for us has been set. Some are still struggling with life and the meaning and the purpose of life. In the world, we see many conflicts and tribulations. We have lost sight of what God’s plan is and we are trying to replace it with our own goals and our provision, and it isn’t working.
We spent fortunes trying to solve the problems of man. Seemingly that rather than the problems being solved, we find them increasing. The medical society has increased in tremendous abilities. Pharmaceutically, the medicines now are supposed to take us away from the curses of sickness. And yet rather than seeing these things fade away, it seems as though things are getting worse. We conquered one strain of flu, and another one comes forth that is even more powerful than the one we think we have destroyed.
We have tried to solve the problems of the world. We fought the battles; we have created all kinds of weaponry; but rather than peace upon the face of the earth, we find battles, unrests, wars and death. Man wants to solve his problems; man wants to see things around us become a utopia where everything is perfect. Yet the more we drive for perfection, the more division we have, and the more conflicts that come forth. Rather than walking in what God has provided for us, we want our own ways. We want our own dreams fulfilled. We want our own goals brought to completion.
In the lessons today, we see that in each case, those who are communicating with us have let God set the goal in their lives. In setting that goal, they find success, hope, and results.
Abram was taken out from the Ur of the Chaldeans by God and was promised that he was going to be fulfilled in a great way. He finds himself prospering as God promised he would so much so that he and his nephew had to divide. He gave the nephew to choose as to where he wanted to go. The nephew chose to go to Sodom and Gomorrah, to the city, just like most of the people today. They think that the answer is in the city.
Abram went to the fields. Several kings came to the city of Sodom and Gomorrah and captured Abram’s nephew and the people and took all their goods. When Abram heard about this, he gathered together some men and went after the kings. He defeated the kings and took back the people who had been taken away and his nephew and his family. He restored the goods back to the king of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The king of Sodom and Gomorrah was so thankful that he said to Abram, “You keep the goods. Just release the people to me” Abram remembered that God had promise that He would take care of him and so he told the king, “I will not accept the goods. I don’t want anyone to say that they had made me rich and wealthy. My source is God and God alone.” God tells Abram, “I will shield you and your wealth will be great.” Here is the provision of God. God then made a covenant with Abram.
There was a time when Abram had to protect that covenant because the birds were going to destroy it. God promised Abram that He was going to give him the land. Abram protected the covenant. He put His faith on the covenant and it was considered unto Abram righteousness. He believed God and acted upon the promises of God.
Believing and acting. Many times we proclaim, but we don’t follow through. Therefore, we find ourselves lacking and wanting. Frustrated we say, “God told us. God promised us. Where are the promises?” Did we follow through?
Lent is a time wherein we prepare ourselves to respond to the gifts of Easter. That which God will provide for us through the sacrifice of His Son. Setting us free from all the things that have held us back – the curse, the sin, and the iniquity. He will remove these from us. St. Paul says, “Walk in the manner in which we lead you; follow us.”
In our world today, we want our own way. We don’t want to follow others. We think that it shows a weakness. In many cases, what it literally brings forth is rebellion. We think we know more than others know. St. Paul had set a course according to the plan of God.
God spoke to Abram, and he followed what God said. And because he followed that rather than doing his own thing, God blessed him. God’s provision was multiplied in his life. St. Paul says, “Many walk in the hunger, boasting of shameful things around them. They have those things which are earthly that they want to hold on to. They think that building this fortune for themselves makes them look important, make them feel secure.”
We know that this does not bring fulfillment and security. The more a person has of the earthly goods, the more he wants and the more insecure he becomes. He becomes paranoid thinking that people are trying to destroy him or people are trying to steal from him. He does things that perhaps are not righteous and not what God would want us to do.
We find ourselves controlled by the lust and the desire for these earthly things. And yet St. Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, not permanently here upon earth. We will build our fortunes perhaps, but when the time comes for life to end, all these things are lost. They do not move with us. We cannot take them to the grave or into the next life. All the efforts that we put forth basically are in vain because we lose what we have built on our own fame and fortune.
If we understand the kingdom of God and its eternity, working in that which God has given to us builds a fortune for us. It is a fortune that cannot be lost, that no one can steal, and that cannot be taken away from us because of economy and other things.
As we are humbled to wait upon Him, we wait for Jesus to transfer us to bring into our lives that which is of His glory. When His glory is upon us, when His glory is flowing through our lives, He will bring into our lives first, peace, and then, fulfillment. We will not count the earthly things as part of our blessings, but we will look at the things that come from God, that which brings peace and joy into our lives.
Lent is when we evaluate these things. It is a time to see, “What is the goal that God has given to me? Have I set a goal in my life?” Abram set a goal in his life. He wouldn’t let anything steal it from him. Jesus knew His purpose and He had a goal. He had become flesh for a purpose and for a reason. Even if there were those who wanted to kill Him, He was not intimidated or threatened. He was not fearful or worried.
The Pharisees told Him that Herod wanted to kill Him, but He said, “You just tell him, I am too busy to worry about him. I am healing. I am casting out demons. I am busy today and tomorrow. On the third day I will accomplish My purpose.” He was not fearful. He had an understanding of His purpose in life. He knew why He was created. He came to earth to become flesh. Nothing was going to stop Him and hinder His accomplishing that which God had given to Him as a goal.
In our lives, perhaps we are wondering, “Do we have a goal? Has God given us a goal?” Yes, He has. When He created us, He created us in His image and likeness. Here is the goal that He sets for us that we would live our lives like Christ has shown us to live.
Jesus said to His disciples and speaks to us, “Follow Me.” He is not talking about walking behind Him. He is talking about fulfilling the purpose of His life as He did. He was setting the course and the direction. Not compromised by the things around us of earthly value but realizing these things are a temptation and they keep us from fulfilling, many times, the will of God. We set our course, our energies, our creativity in building a kingdom of our own rather than building the kingdom of God, rather than bringing back that which God has provided for us to its fullness.
Jesus knew that He would not die until He got to Jerusalem. As He came to Jerusalem, He was grieved. He died because many times, He had set ministries in Jerusalem to help people understand their purpose in their lives, but they were consumed with their own ways. They were consumed in building their own wealth rather than building the kingdom of God.
Jerusalem was meant to be a place of worship. It was meant to be a place where God has brought praise, honor, and glory. The people thought and began to realize they could find security in their own ways and purposes. They did not follow the ways of God. They did not follow the way God had given each of them to fulfill. Therefore, Jesus said, “Your houses will be desolate.”
Do we not find this today in our existence? Our homes are desolate. The home used to be the place of unity, of family. There was such joy, such fulfillment, such security in the home. Now, the home has been broken apart because we are seeking earthly treasures. We are trying to build things around us rather than sharing in relationship and love. We think we find our security in material gains, in possessions. We think that this will bring happiness and bring to our family security; when in reality, what the family is looking for is relationship and love.
All the material things will never replace those. We find the family falling apart. The sacred table where the family used to meet together and share in the blessings of God is no longer the same. We have left the plans and the ways of God to seek our own ways.
In Lent, we are called to come back to the ways of God and seek His purpose and His will. We might say, “How can I become what God created me to be? How can I be the image of Christ, the image of God, the likeness of God? I am human; I have struggles and battles. I have conflicts and I must meet my needs. How can this be?” I believe Scriptures give us guidelines and they give us the hope. If we follow Christ, the other things will work out the way that they should. It doesn’t mean that we will not be involved in the things of the world. We will be, but they will not control us. We will control them.
In creation, I remember what God said when He blessed man, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth.” In so doing, it means that there is no poverty, no want, no need because man’s ability to provide is abundant and is a blessing of God. Today, we have taken that to build our own kingdom, rather than building the kingdom of God. A few had become very, very wealthy, while the majority are lacking and wanting, striving and struggling, hungry and dying.
When God said, “To be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,” He was talking about not just for “me” but for all. It is sharing the blessings of God. It is sharing the provisions of God. This is the goal that God set for us. It is taking His character and His likeness on behalf of all, not just for “me”. It is subduing the evil, not being involved in it, not condoning it, but destroying it. Not seeing it as something, “I want to be a part of,” but seeing it as repulsive and as that which we reject.
The third part of that blessing is that we were to be in authority, ruling over all things upon earth. We are not to be in dominion of others, but to be in control of circumstances and situations. Not in slavery to corporations, businesses, circumstances or governments, but to be in that position wherein, by God, we walk in His law. We walk in His blessings. We walk in His character. We bring forth that which God has given to us as a provision for all the earth.
When Christ died on the cross, when He gave His life and went into hell, when He destroyed the power of the enemy and rose again, He set man free from fear, from anxiety, from control, and from slavery. He gave liberty to us. Scriptures says, “To him who is free, he is free indeed.” We are not under control or bondage. God has given to us liberty. It is a liberty to set a course and our direction according to His plan and His purpose.
2Corinthians 3:17-18, “The Spirit of God provided liberty, and in this liberty, we are free to behold God and open access to Him; created in the image of God, we see His uncreated image, the Son, the glory of God. As we behold Him, we become what we were created to be.” Have we spent time beholding Him? Or are we spending our time beholding earthly pleasure and earthly wealth? Are we giving of our energies, our creativity, our strength to that which is temporal? That which will pass away?
What He desires of us is to know the glory of God, to know His Son. When we behold Him, when we know of Him, when we have a relationship with Him, we become what we were created to be. Knowing Him, it will reveal to us who we are. It will reveal to us that which God has empowered us with. It will reveal to us the assurance, the confidence, and the security that comes in a relationship with God. It gives to us the assurance as Abram did. Even though tempted by goods from another source, he said, “No, my source is God.”
In the wilderness, after forty days, Jesus was hungry. The enemy comes and says, “Take this rock and make it bread so that you can eat it.” He said, “No, man shall not live on bread alone.” Jesus lives on a relationship with God. He lives in that beholding attitude. This is the attitude wherein we know the very character of God. In beholding Him, we will be transformed into His likeness. His presence with us, the Lord with us, His Spirit dwelling with us – when we give it a chance and an opportunity that which is hibernating within us will begin to come out.
This is springtime! This is a time to recognize the seed that has been planted. It is a time to begin to know and to realize the blessing that are ours that is going to become a fullness, a completion brought to reality in just a few weeks because of the Cross and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1John 3:2 says, “Behold, we are the children of God.” Do we recognize this? Do we understand that we are His children? Do we understand that if we are His children, there is an inheritance that belongs to us? There is a provision that comes from our Father? His compassion, His mercy, His grace to us? “It has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is.”
Beholding Him allows Him to appear to us. It allows Him to show us His character. It allows Him to show us His power, His ability. He reveals that which He has implanted within us. God said when He put man in the Garden, “Cultivate it and keep it.” He did not say, “Be enslaved to it.” He did not say, “Worship it.” He said, “Take the power that I have given you of being fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth. Cultivate it and keep it.”
Adam lost it. Christ restored it, but are we still in captivity by the system of man? Are we still held in bondage from material things? Or are they that which are our slaves? Are we their master or do they control us? When He appears, do we take time to know Him? Do we take time to recognize His gifts to us, His provisions to us?
As Paul said, “Follow me.” Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Do we understand and grasp this meaning or have we chosen to go our own way? Have we chosen to make our own decisions rather than following that which God has given to us?
2Peter 1:3, “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” This is the promise and the provision of God. He has given to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. This comes to us by knowing Christ, by beholding Him.
Having Him reveal to us, it empowers us and implants within us the image of who we are. We begin to see things with hope. We begin to see things with assurance and confidence. We see things not with a negative reflection, but with a hope that comes in knowing God and realizing that God does not fail. He created us to be victorious – more than conquerors.
God created His people not to be enslaved, to be in fear, and to be in anxiety. He created us like Christ. Christ says, “Yes, Herod wants to kill Me. I am too busy to be killed. I’ve got things to do. I am casting out demons. I am bringing cure to the sick. I am too busy to be anxious or to be fearful about anything that would come against Me. I am doing the will of My Father.” Jesus avoided the common gossip of the day. It was not the first time that Herod wanted to kill Him. When He was born, Herod wanted to kill Him. Jesus says, “So now what, he is going to try again? He cannot touch Me because I am doing the will of My Father.”
“For by His glory and excellence, we have been granted His precious and magnificent promises by Him in order that by them, you might become partakers of the divine nature.” This is what He intended us for. We pray our prayer to the Lord, “The Lord’s Prayer,” saying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” When will that be brought about? When will that take place? It is when we begin to realize how He has created us and what our character is; when we begin to walk as Christ walked; when we begin to behold Him; when we begin to have Him reveal to us when He appears to us; and when we begin to grasp who we are.
Lent challenges us to realize where we are. Lent challenges us to set the goals and the purposes in our lives. Not just facing issues as they come, but setting the course so that when the issues come, they are not going to confront us. They are not to challenge us. We know where we are going because God is with us. If God is with us, nobody can be against us. If only we believe that, it would bring hope into our lives, not despair. It will bring strength into our being, not weakness. Even though our flesh may be weak, the power of God with us strengthens that weakness to be able to conquer and overcome.
God has set a goal for His people. He is not going to fail in fulfilling that goal. Read Revelations 18 and you will see that the things of this world are going to pass away, and the glory of God is going to cover the four corners of the earth. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Therefore, why are we tempted by the things of man? Why are we tempted by the earthly provisions? They are there to sustain us, not to captivate us, not to control us. They are there to fulfill our needs and to give us the ability to do the work of God. They are not there for us to serve them.
We need to renew our minds. We need to put the ways of God deeply within us that we bring forth His glory and His honor. We are in Lent which is not a time of sadness or sobriety wherein we have to moan and groan and beat ourselves like the flagellants. It is a time of reflection. It is a time of preparation. It is realizing who we are, what God has given to us and realizing that Christ is coming at Easter to give us the ability to bring out in fullness the character that God has given so that when we see Him, we will know Him because we are like Him. It doesn’t come instantly. We are changed from glory to glory. We move forward in progression going up the chain of change to that time when we see Him, we will know Him.
May we set our course. May we set our direction and not allow the disturbances around us, the temptations to change our direction. We are going toward the Kingdom. We have been given all that we need to make certain that the journey is not pulled aside and is not failing.
This is God’s provision for you and I – the hope that we have in Lent. Somber maybe because we set aside the things which captivate us, the things of glamour which have held us in its bondage by slavery, but those shiny things, brilliant that seem for a moment to be so joyful, they pass away.
When we wake up in the morning, we may have a headache and we are tired and oppressed. But when you walk with God, when you wake up, it is a new day filled with the power and the glory and the joy of knowing God. The victories are there because He has prepared the day for us. May we set the course and the direction of our lives and may we follow Jesus. He was not intimidated, but fulfilled. It is knowing where we are going and knowing who is with us.
The Lord is with you and with your spirit! He will not fail if you will allow Him to bring that character to its fullness – created in the image and likeness of God. You cannot be created with greater hope than what God has given to us. May we bring it to fulfillment and for the glory and praise of the greatness of our God, Amen!
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento