Fire On Your Head

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.” (Psalm 1:1-4)

A tree–and pretty much all plants and vegetation in general–need several things in order to grow and produce their corresponding fruit: proper soil, water, and sunlight. If you water it too much and/or only give it water, then it will get waterlogged and die. If you don’t give it any, and it only gets heat and sunlight, also, it will die.  But the soil also needs to be in correct condition.  For example of this, the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 ) details the different outcomes of having the seed fall on different types of ground.  In Psalm 1 we’re given a few contrasts between the righteous and the wicked which I’d like to focus on.   The man who delights in the law of the Lord is contrasted with the man who doesn’t, but walks in the counsel of the wicked and sits in the seat of the scornful.  Here we’re told not that the man who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night is not like a seed, but how he’s like a tree planted by streams of living water.  The man of wickedness, like a leaf that withers.

It stands to reason that if the righteous man is the one who grows, and prospers, it would be necessary to know how the he does so.  Therefore we need to be delighting in the law of the Lord if we’re to prosper and be blessed in all areas of righteousness–through both the rhema revelation and the logos written Word, studying it, getting into it deep and sinking our roots deep into it.   Only from having these conditions in place in our own lives, will we be able to extract the image from the seed, the Word of God.  The man who does this, yields fruit in season, and in all that he does he prospers.  It’s also necessary to realize is that one must to do this regularly, as indicated in the words ‘day and night’.  As the saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but not if you only eat one apple and nothing else in the course of a day!

First, a little bit about my approach to reading/studying/interpreting the Bible:  since all Scripture is God-inspired,  then the meaning of one passage is tied into the one before it and breeds the meaning of the one following.   All the parables, teachings and stories are like the strokes of a much larger painting.  All of it ties together.  Therefore, passages like Psalm 1 don’t require a lot of scholarly study to understand, and if we just read the whole thing in context we can understand the individual verses contained therein.  As good as it is to memorize individual Scripture verses, I think it’s even better to meditate on entire chapters of Scripture and entire stories or parables than just individual verses.  Doing so helps avoid accidentally (or intentionally) lifting sentences out of context.

So let’s have at it:  if a blessed man walks not in the counsel of the wicked, and all the things detailed in the first two verses, then that means the unrighteous man does the opposite.  If a righteous man is like a tree firmly planted, then a wicked person is not (I know, deep revelation, but bear with me).  And if an unrighteous person is not getting his counsel from the law of the Lord then by necessity he’s getting his counsel somewhere else –as James 3:13-18 explains, from below.  And by ‘below’, I don’t mean the ground, but the pit of hell.

We read in passages like Luke 6:43-44 that no good tree bears bad fruit, and vice versa.  There’s only two options, good or bad, fruitful or unfruitful, righteous or wicked, good fruit or bad fruit.  That which is below or that which is from above.  A wicked person who is not firmly planted near the streams of living water is not going to yield fruit as though he were firmly planted in good soil.  Verse 45 goes on to say that the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.   Therefore, it’s no wonder the very next thing Jesus proceeds to teach here in Luke 6 is about building your house on a rock so that it withstands the storm.  The idea of building and construction is linked to sowing, reaping, growing and harvesting in this context.  The fact Luke writes them one immediately following the other in his Gospel allows us to assume they are a part of the same flow of thought Jesus was teaching here.

“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:47-49)

For years I read that passage of Scripture as though it were talking about the believer and the unbeliever, the righteous versus the unrighteous.  However, both individuals heard, but only one did what he heard, the other didn’t, and the storms and cares of this life knocked the structure down.

So why am I saying all that, and how exactly do we extract the content of the incorruptible seed of Christ in us?  Those passages then being a loose framework for us to work with provide some steps for obtaining revelation knowledge and extracting the image from the seed :

1) Put into practice what you learn from the Word of Christ

This is of the utmost importance in growing in Him and extracting revelation knowledge from the seed.  In receiving the implanted word, James 1:21-25 talks of making sure to be doers of the Word of Christ, which would be building your house on the rock, versus being a listener only–building on sandy foundations.  One person extracts the image from inside the seed BY obeying what Christ teaches and the other didn’t and the ruin of his house was great.

“But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25)

2) Submit to fiery trials in your life

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

Under circumstances like heat, and fiery trials in life, we’re capable of having squeezed out of us just what’s really inside our hearts. It is these moments that reveal our true character. Sometimes the greatest opportunity for our faith to grow, is from under pressure, and remember, your faith has no perishing point (1 Peter 1:7).  The light of the sun is vital and a crucial component to the growth of any vegetation–the same way muscle doesn’t grow except under resistance.  But your true, tried, and tested genuine faith will survive the heat, and you will be refined and made purer, and steadfastness is produced in your life the way fruit grows from the tree planted by that stream of living water.

3) Create the right conditions in your life for the growth

Like I’ve already mentioned, certain conditions need to be right for the seed to sprout and germinate properly.  We see this exact same concept exemplified in the parable of the sower where the same seed is scattered in each instance, but the conditions are different, and the seed that sprouted up immediately is the one that withers and dies under the heat–the pressure and trials of life.  The soil of our hearts has to be right, or else the seed doesn’t go deep and develop any roots.  You can’t have too much sunlight, and yet can’t have too little.  You can’t have too much water, yet you can’t have too little.

Likewise, if you have too shallow of soil, the roots can’t grow deep.  Several years ago for my birthday when I was living as a missionary in Holland, some dear Dutch sisters gave me a vetplante.  I’m by no means an expert on plants and flowers, but it had very thick leaves and had an interesting ‘rubber’ like texture.  They gave it to me in a small pot, and told me it could go weeks without being watered, so that way I wouldn’t have to worry about watering it every day or having it die if I left for a few days.  Not only that, but if I put it in a larger bowl or pot, the plant would grow even larger.  Such is the case with our lives–we can only dig our roots as deep as how much room we have to grow in, and without deep roots, we’ll not have much fruit to blossom where we’re planted.

I could write a whole post on just what is needed to break up the fallow ground of one’s heart, but I think this article here that I stumbled across does an excellent job.

4) Don’t fragment the seed

The seed itself also has to be left in tact.  Nobody who knows a thing or two about farming would take a seed and split it into pieces smaller than it already is, and then sow each piece and expect a bigger harvest.  Nor would they expect partial incomplete harvest, because none would be obtained.  Why?  The image in the seed would have been destroyed by splitting and dividing it.  You can’t sow just the part of the seed responsible for leaves, and then just the part of the seed responsible for fruit, and just the part of the seed that will be responsible for wood, and expect to grow any of those components independent of the other. They are all a part of the same package.  Likewise it is with the heavenly seed, the Word of God.  We can’t add to it or take away from it.  We can’t split up any of its aspects and over-emphasize one component over the other. It all works and accomplishes something together.  We sow it as it is. The Holy Spirit will work with the written text of the Bible He authored.

5) Confess and Speak the Word

To repeat, Luke 6:45 states that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.   There’s a correlation between what someone believes & thinks in their heart, and what they choose to speak out.  Simply put, confession is a statement of your beliefs.

Ephesians 5: 18b- 20 states:

“Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

So what are you saying with your mouth?  I recommend this previous article for further Bible study on speaking and meditating on the Word of God.  If you’re storing the Word of God in your heart, you’re off to a good start in terms of stuff that you’ll be able to pull out of it and confess with your mouth based on both memory and from the Holy Spirit having something in you to draw upon.

6) Pray in tongues & Allow the Holy Spirit to work Through You

Jesus said Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ’Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ (John 7:38)  He was talking about the Holy Spirit, who ‘waters’ this seed–Word of God in us, and supplies the power to bring it to fruition.  All that you need to live holy and grow in Christ is contained in that seed.  Again, the Holy Spirit will work with the written text of the Bible He authored.

In conclusion, this list is by no means exhaustive, nor are spiritual disciplines in the Word walk limited to just these things listed, but I thought those things would help you out with unpacking the content of the faith seed.

If you’ve stumbled across this article and have never visited this site before and would like to go deeper into some of the material covered in this post further–besides the many hyperlinks throughout this article–the following are some previous posts that go into more detail:

What are You Feeding Your Tree?,  Treasures of the Heart, How’s Your Connection?, The Spirit of Truth

And please forgive me if my posts lately have had more links than a Polish sausage factory.  I just feel that these issues of personal discipline are of significant importance and I want to draw attention to other places where I covered this stuff so my individual articles aren’t too long.

“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matt 13:23)

Recently I had heard about a number of tombs being found in Egypt in recent years which contained mummified remains of people.  In the tombs they also had jars which contained seeds that had been preserved in that state for thousands of years. Someone got the idea to sow them and harvest the corn and such contained in the seed to see if there was any significant difference between what they sowed in Egypt over 2700 years ago, compared to the seeds of those types of crops harvested today.  There was no difference, it yielded the same exact thing.  It didn’t matter how old the seed was, because apparently the seeds we’ve passed on from generation to generation, still contained the same crop as those from thousands of years earlier.  It didn’t expire or reach its ‘best before’ date.  All of the image of what that seed was intended to yield remained intact inside it for over 2700 years until it was harvested.

I thought this was simple yet amazing enough of an example of God’s kingdom worth adding to my series on the ‘imperishable seed‘ lately. I highly suggest going over those posts for the benefit of this entry if you’ve never read them before, as many of the Scriptures I’m referencing or taking for granted in this post I’ve been covering more in depth in previous posts for the foundation I’m building on in this one.

Another way I thought about this: I remember as a teenager the days when I used to make mix tapes – long before we had digital mp3 players and iPods (which I thank God for!).  I would take songs on CDs of mine that I wanted to make a mix tape with, and listen to the tape on my Sony Walkman while delivering newspapers.  The quality of the songs–because they were only a copy–would be degenerated compared to the original CD I obtained them from.  If I wanted to make a copy of that mix tape for somebody, I’d have to go to the original CDs again, because if I copied the tape–which itself was just a copy of songs–then the quality of that next tape would be even worse than mine was.  Such was the quality of copying using analog–it gets worse and worse the more you reproduce it from one copy to another.

Natural seed is not like such, and this is certainly not the case with the imperishable seed either (1 Peter 1:23)–it doesn’t diminish, lose anything, or degenerate from one generation to the next as it’s passed on.

The same seed of Christ planted in a believer who was changed by the blood of Christ having put their trust in Him 2000 years ago does the same work in a believer’s heart today.  The seed has not gotten worse the more it was spread.  Kingdom seed is not analog.  Its ‘DNA’ doesn’t change when it’s passed on from one person to another.  If what’s true of the natural seed is true of the spiritual imperishable seed of Christ in us, then it shines light on passages like when Jesus said in John 14:12  “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

We are capable of doing at the very least the works, signs and wonders Jesus did, because His imperishable seed–perfect image of His nature–has been implanted in us (1 John 3:9).  But Jesus didn’t stop there, He said we’d do greater works than these.  Whenever I talk to people of certain evangelical persuasions or denominations who don’t believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit–tongues, healing, and what have you–as being for today, I no longer go to the book of Acts to point out that there’s no reason to believe such activity was to stop in the Church, but I point to this aspect of Christ’s character.  If He did certain things, and said we would also and more, AND has planted His seed in us, then nothing of the image in that seed has depreciated over the centuries or degenerated in quality since.  Nothing of His has been lost or diminished in us. He didn’t even say we’d do at least the same He did, but greater works.  I know that sounds blasphemous to some, and is an abused concept by some people, but it’s still what the Word of God teaches and shows.  So the idea it’s arrogant to say believers can heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons or do things Jesus did and said we’d do (Mark 16: 16-18) is strengthened, and “only He can do it” is nullified, because the very nature of Christ is implanted into us as believers when we’re born again.

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24)

Jesus, our ultimate example, left His abode in heaven, and entered our fleshly earth realm, and lived as a man.  He ‘fell into the earth’ and died, that He may be raised from the dead and conquer sin, and in a sense, plant a new work in mankind that would blossom and flourish and that work itself would overcome the sinful, carnal death nature.  Jesus died in order to be gloried, much like a seed.   Seed gives forth after its own kind, and Jesus’ likeness is reproduced into those of us where His seed is implanted.  Who He is, is spread and reproduced in us as we mature and grow and spread the kingdom of God with evangelizing and manifesting the nature of Christ through healing the sick, and giving freedom to the oppressed.

Likewise, in order to obtain the Christ seed, we ourselves die.  We have to give up our life and no longer be in control, or no longer own ourselves, in order to be a part of this spiritual realm.  In order to manifest this heavenly Christ-ruled kingdom, we die to ourselves, and live through Christ.  There can’t be any ounce of self left, because Christ’s nature abides in the believer.  He was not like ‘us’ in our sinful fallen state.  Therefore such sin nature must die–that nature must no longer be nurtured–but the seed of Christ in us watered and nurtured, and cultivated.  The seed of Christ on the inside of us is as holy as how sinful Adam’s seed inside us is evil–the nature that must be killed in order to mature in the nature of Christ.  Galatians 6:7-8 states “For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” All opportunities for this flesh nature to grow, or be nurtured, must be cut off.  I encourage reading a previous post for more about the importance of that.

What Exactly is IN the Seed?

“The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)  This being the case, I’m going to use the word ’seed’ interchangeably with ‘the Word’ of God, and by no means is the following list exhaustive, but I just want to share a few ideas to drive the point home.

“And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.” (1 Cor 15:37-39)

• It contains what it is to reproduce after, as we’ve already been establishing.

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.”(Mark 4:26-28)

• It contains the kingdom of God.  All that is necessary for revival and the kingdom of power spreading is found first in the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear…

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor 9:10-11)

“Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)

“I write to you, young men, because you are strong,  and the word of God abides in you,  and you have overcome the evil one.” (1 John 2:14b)

• It contains your righteous nature and ability to live holy, and to overcome sin and the evil one, and salvation for our souls.  See also 1 John 3:8-10.

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

“For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God” (2 Peter 3:5)

• It contains creative forces which create and give life.  As you can see, faith is mixed in with this word of God in order to bring forth any creation.  The same properties as mentioned in Hebrews 11:3 are true of seed.  The wood and leaves and fruit and all such things itself are not present in the seed, but the DNA is and in the right conditions, those things come forth out of the ground when it’s planted and nurtured.

I personally believe this ’seed’ is where gifts, talents, skills, and our calling is located.  I won’t be too argumentative if someone disagrees with me, because I can’t completely ‘prove this’, but hear me out:  the same way each and every individual person has specific and unique DNA that makes them who they are, I believe the Lord does with this imperishable seed in all believers.  The same way that the seed in the womb of a woman contains all the information as to who the baby is and will become, its hair color, its personality, and other traits not just physical, I believe the spiritual seed implanted inside the believer contains all the spiritual versions of such DNA and it’s up to us to water and nurture that seed.  It’s up to us to edify, encourage and exhort each other as well (since we are all the collective Body of Christ) into maturity into such things as God has designed for us individuals to become in Him and in His Body.  That’s why some people are capable of not ‘realizing their potential’.  It’s not that some people fail, and others succeed because God is hyper-sovereign and picks and chooses some to be outpacing others, but because He’s deposited in us all we need, and allows us to be stewards of our own edification and growth.

The point of the seed is that it yields and gives forth after itself, and does not remain a seed.  Therefore in an upcoming post, I’ll share some more on how to extract that information from the seed and grow spiritually.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19) 

God’s intention is not that we remain in seed form, but grow in such a manner as to produce fruit some thirty fold, some sixty and some a hundredfold.

May it be so in our lives!

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost” 1 Tim 1:15

The phrase “peccator justus” is Latin for, “justified sinner.” I am not a Latin expert, or anything close to one actually, but the two words are reverberating through my mind and heart as I type today. Here is the reason why: 

On December 9th, 1968 a man named Karl Barth- a Swiss/German theologian- was working on writing a lecture. Barth was probably the most well-known theologian of the 20th century. He was a controversial man, who was known to challenge the categories of both Liberal and Evangelical theologians, and to shake the dusty definitions of God that had crippled the world of theology. He resisted the Nazi Regime’s falsely concocted version of Scripture and Church, personally mailing his statement to Hitler himself, for which reason he lost his esteemed position as a professor in Germany at the University of Bonn. The beloved Evangelical scholar F.F. Bruce noted that Barth’s 1919 commentary on Romans fell “like a bombshell on the theologians’ playground, and we are still feeling its reverberations today.”

He challenged the entire landscape of 20th century theology, jolting systems of thought and calling scholars and pastors to let God be God over their labors and studies. He said that we needed to recover the “Godness of God,” and to hear Paul’s spirit beneath the surface of the NT texts. He hand-wrote over 20,000 pages of theology over the course of 50-plus years in theological work. I may not agree with all of his theological conclusions, nor all of the decisions he made over the course of many years in pastoral ministry, theological labors, and authorship. But I really appreciate the man, and so much of what the Lord brought to the Church through him. The fruit of his labors goes on in the lives of many believers who have never heard his name and who are not likely to ever read one of his books.

Back to December 9th of ‘68. Barth was 82 year of age, and by this time he “spoke of his death remarkably often and even wanted to talk about the details of his funeral.” Being the thinker, theologian, and pastor that he was, Barth had reflected on the reality of death and eternity very long and very hard for many decades. When he visited the U.S. in 1962, he was put on the cover of TIME magazine in painted form, standing in front of Jesus’ empty tomb with his own words as a banner above: “The goal of the human life is not death, but resurrection.”

Now he was aged, and even seemed to sense that his days were drawing to a close. In some of his last letters written, he made these awesome statements:

Looking back, I have no serious complaints about anyone or anything: except my own failures today, yesterday, the day before yesterday and the day before that- I mean my failures in real gratitude. Perhaps I still have bitter days ahead, and certainly my death will come sooner or later. One thing remains, for me to remember and impress upon myself…. ‘Do not forget the good that He has done!’

… How do I know whether I shall die easily or with difficulty? I only know that my dying, too, is part of my life… And then- this is the destination, the limit and the goal for all of us- I shall no longer ‘be’, but I shall be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, in and with my whole ‘being,’ with all the real good and the real evil that I have thought, said and done, with all the bitterness that I have suffered and all the beauty that I have enjoyed. There I shall only be able to stand as the failure that I doubtless was in all things, but… by virtue of His promise, as a peccator justus. And as that I shall be able to stand. Then… in the light of grace, all that is now dark will become very clear.

It’s remarkable how tender and sensitive to mercy a man becomes when he is on the edge of eternity. All of a sudden, the grudges we have held, the suspicions we have harbored, the fears which have ruled us, the possessions we’ve coveted, and the self-righteousness we’ve carried, all become utter vanity before the reality of standing face to face with the God of all creation. Before the Light of His unveiled glory, every one of us have marks of the intensest soul-stains, and we realize that all of our boasting has no merit whatsoever- all of our religious and social facades are exposed for the falsities that they are, and we are moved to cry out for mercy.

Barth was interrupted from writing his lecture by the phone calls of two friends. One of them, a man named Eduard Thurneysen, had “remained faithful to him over sixty years. They talked about the gloomy world situation. Then Barth said, ‘But keep your chin up! Never mind! He will reign!‘”

These would become his last recorded words.

“… Barth did not go back to his draft which he had left in the middle of a sentence, but put it aside until the next day. However, he did not live that long. He died peacefully some time in the middle of the night. He lay there as though asleep, with his hands gently folded from his evening prayers. So his wife found him the next morning, while in the background a record was playing the Mozart with which she had wanted to waken him.”

If we would walk with a greater consciousness of the fragility and preciousness of life, and the reality of death, we would become in a more concentrated manner, a people of mercy. We all fall under the category of ‘peccator.’ We have sinned, and worse, our souls actually consist of the substance of iniquity and wickedness. Sin is not only a litany of things we’ve committed, it’s a part of our very fiber and nature as humans. Yet death approaches for each one of us, and immediately following the breathing of our last breath, we encounter the One Who made heaven and earth. As Barth said, “I only know that my dying, too, is part of my life…” The only hope that any of us have is in the cross of Jesus Christ. Only He has the power to yank us from the category of sinner (peccator), and to place us within the glorious family of those who have been justified and transformed by the power of His indestructible life (peccator justus)!

When Christ has transformed our hearts, we can face the adversities of life, and the shakings and tumblings of the Kingdoms of this world in the same vein that Barth encouraged:

“… keep your chin up! Never mind! He will reign!“

He will reign, saints, and no matter what befalls the nations in these last days, however dim your vision is at present, there is a vital and eternal hope for those who have repented and believed the Son of God. He will reign, and the proof is in your own justification before the throne of God. Rejoice, then, in so great a salvation! Let your heart send streams of enraptured gratitude to the Savior!

There will come a day when the saints will inherit the manifested reality of resurrected and glorified bodies. The propensity for sin, the pulls of temptation, the stubborn presence of pride and self-consciousness, fatigue and sickness will once and for all be removed from our experience. Our fallibility and dim sights will be totally submerged in the Light of His wonderful perfections. Glorious day!  

Until then, we turn to Him day by day, that His likeness and glory might rise in our present experience. We’ve been justified by the power of a Blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel. We have a radically opened access to righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. One day, our justification before God will be manifested in full, but until that day dawns, let us receive the Spirit of Holiness in increasing measure. Let us go from glory to glory and from faith to faith, hastening the day of His return, and letting our newfound light shine before men.

“… keep your chin up! Never mind! He will reign!“

Peccator justus!

(All quotes taken from Karl Barth: His Life from Letters and Autobiographical Texts, Eberhard Busch; Fortress Press, 1975, pp. 497-499)

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” (Mark 4:31-32 ESV)

God’s kingdom is established and started with imperishable seed. We’ve already established that the enemy scatters seeds (weeds) in with the good seed, and wherever the river flows, everything grows, both good and bad.  Only in the end time harvest, will the good be distinguished from the bad and the chaff burned up, but that doesn’t mean we wait for that day in order to sow seeds of the Kingdom of God instead of  to our flesh.

Galatians 6:7-8 states 

“For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

I want to draw your attention to the difference between building for the kingdom using imperishable seed, instead of perishable seed–chaff, weeds, wood, hay and stubble.  I think I’ve covered this extensively elsewhere, but this will be a bit more of review and looking at the difference between the perishable kingdoms of this world versus the kingdom of God–the heavenly imperishable realm.

Everything the believer does must be founded on the Word of God, not the flesh.  Usually we refer to the flesh when we think of sinning and not living a holy life, but Scripture uses it for other concepts as well.

“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.“ (1 Peter 1: 25).

For our intents and purposes today, flesh is that which perishes, is not of God, is man’s strength, and that which can be accomplished without God’s help, or even accomplished in contradiction to His help. By default, this includes sin and living and functioning without Him.  But I want to take it further than the obvious.  There’s many ‘good’ works being done in our lives (in man’s eyes), but they are of the flesh, and like grass will wither and burn up.

Recall with me some of the things we know about seeds.  If you take seed, both good and bad, and sow them into a field or plot of land, both will grow and use up the resources in the ground.  The more you sow to the flesh, the more it will strengthen and develop, and the more you sow to the Spirit,  then the more you reap in that realm.

All flesh is destroyed eventually with the test of eternity.  If flesh is ‘like grass’, then thinking of things we know about grass is a good way of understanding what’s going to happen to the works of the flesh on that day–such as the imagery and analogy of seeds the Lord has had me writing about lately.  There will be much work that has been done by men, in the name of Christian religion, that will burn up on that fearful day and have NO significant eternal impact, because it was built with wood hay and stubble (1 Cor 3:12-15).  Therefore, allow me to challenge you by asking what are you building with?  What are you sowing with?  Are you building with perishable substance or imperishable?  It may look big and righteous now, but is it of eternal significance?  Will it withstand the fire of God on that day?

The difference Between Perishable and Imperishable

I mentioned how not all flesh is inherently spoken of as being sin, though it IS in that category by default.  The only two kingdoms the Bible refers to are the kingdoms of darkness, and the kingdom of light.  I’m not going to be harsh and specifically calling many of the works going on in this world as being sinful, but it IS true they are of no significant impact for eternity.  Jesus said it, and he said anybody not working for Him is working against Him (Matt 12:30). Many ‘good’ social programs exist today that take care of the immediate needs of people, and this is a good thing, not bad.  God’s Word says that pure and undefiled religion is taking care of the widow and orphan (James 1:27).  In no way am I knocking things that Scripture commends and commands.

However, unsaved people can also take care of their widows and orphans without the Holy Spirit’s touch involved in it, and spend eternity in hell despite having started good social programs.  A lot of ‘good’ people, who are doing ‘good’ things, are still going to hell.  It’s not our good works that make us right with God because Scripture says they’re like filthy rags anyway (Isaiah 64:6).  The Gospel of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection is the only way into His eternal kingdom (John 14:6).

The kingdom of man can invent hearing aids, without the Cross–or even WITH God’s help and motivation in the inventor’s life.  But Jesus, in His kingdom opens the ears of the deaf and they hear.  People can train seeing eye dogs, and come up with a language that involves touching the surface with one’s fingers in order to help the blind read and understand.  But Jesus Christ opens blind eyes and gives sight itself to the blind.  It’s a noble thing for men to enter the medical profession, invent or discover cures for diseases that ail the flesh–the temporary earthsuit man inhabits–but Jesus Christ heals all those things in both the earthly flesh realm and operates out of the heavenly imperishable realm.

Simply put, the difference between that which will withstand the fire on that day and that which won’t, is the stuff that can’t be done without the power of God in it.

Even of miracles the demonic realm has a counterfeit that looks just like the genuine.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matt 7:21-23)

For our context, that would be like ministers reminding Jesus that his name was on their ministry, or they accomplished many things as a charitable not-for-profit organization or even as 501c3 church status organization.  But what will His response be?  Will He know you?  Does He recognize you from the secret place as you’ve had personal relationship with Him, and repented of man-made efforts?  Remember in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt 13:24-30), that tares look exactly like wheat in seed form but eventually by the harvest time their real DNA is made obvious, and their end result is destruction by fire, even if for a long time they looked alright compared to the wheat.  They are but grass…

The manner in which things are done in the flesh compared to how they are done in the kingdom of God is different in that the stuff that is birthed and originated in the flesh does not withstand the eternal fire, but that which is birthed in the heavenly realm can exist in the fleshly realm but not burn up when tested and salted with Holy Spirit fire.  The perishable–that which is flesh and not born of above doesn’t, and can’t exist in the imperishable Spiritual realm.  But the imperishable does and can exist in the perishable temporary realm, but it still exists and lasts in the eternal realm.

That being said, which realm do you want to be found living in?  Which realm do you want to build ministry and things that *look* like they are of the kingdom of God?  Which realm do you want your works to originate in?  Which type of seed do you want to sow–that of the flesh or that of the Spirit? Unsaved people can take care of the blind.  Muslims can care for their sick.  Hindus can look after their orphans.  What marks a difference with you and the kingdom you purport to be a part of, dear reader?  When the seeds have grown and harvested, which category will they be of –flesh or Spirit?  When the wheat and the chaff are separated at the end of the age, which side of the flame will your life and ministry be found on?

There is a lot of ‘good’ works being done, but that’s just the thing–they are ‘good’ and ‘noble’ things.  But if they can be done without the Spirit of God, their worth is NOTHING in eternity, and only matters in this ‘grass’ realm temporarily before being burned up.

Another difference between the two realms is the fear of the Lord versus the fear of man.  Whose praise do YOU seek?  Just recently I was listening to someone I respect and look up to weigh his options and use me as a sounding board about ministry he’s considering severing ties with because of how much more money-focused said ministry is becoming and losing its focus on spreading and sharing the Gospel.  It was this brother’s impression that this other ministry is more concerned about having a large reputation in the media and man’s eyes, but has left its first love that it was started on in the first place.  The ministry being referred to has no mention whatsoever on its website about the Gospel or that it’s supposed to be Christian in nature.  The idea is that it will not receive government grants and money from organizations that won’t sponsor them if they are overt in their Christianity, so they ‘tone it down’.  Friends, such a ministry is made of grass.  It may seemingly accomplish much in this realm in the short few decades or centuries it’s functioning today in this earthly & fleshly realm, but Jesus said  “whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 10:33)  Whoever one fears usually determines what realm the ministry or work is birthed in and functioning out of.

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—  each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Cor 3:12-15)

Father, let us be a people whose works last and remain when tested by fire!  Let us be a people who are built on the cornerstone of Christ Jesus rather than be crushed by it and ground to powder from rejection of Him.  Make us into the living stones joined together into a kingdom of lasting significance and may you destroy all works of grass from our midst that we may be a pure and lasting kingdom of royal priests.  Let us not be ones who build with substance that doesn’t withstand the fire of your presence in eternity.

Amen.

For further meditation, here are other articles worth reading on our site that significantly overlap with what I covered in this post:

Separating Seeds of Righteousness & Wickedness, What Are You Building With?, Mixing in The Counterfeit with The Genuine

True & False Apostles – Bryan Purtle

What can be gleaned from the creation account, no matter if you interpret it literally or non literally? Here are some thoughts off the top of my head, from A to Z.

A. Everything is here the way it is because of God’s will somehow. Creation was God’s will and God’s idea. It has a purpose that involved humans and God. Gen 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

B. God has an order to what He does. He wants people to likewise have purpose and order. This is reflected in the creation week and the seventh day Shabbat. The Shabbat was the template or example for the Israelites later on. Ex 20:8-11.  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

C. God only did good things until sin entered the equation. Then evil/judgment was necessary. Gen 1:31. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

D. The devil is a tempter. He is evil. Recognize the nature of your enemy. Recognize our natural aversion to be humbly reliant upon God and His will. Gen 3:1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…

E. Man natural is prone to be stupid and do dumb things under pressure, be wary of that. Hosea 6:7. But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.

F. Don’t lead others into your own stupidity and sin like Eve did. Gen 3:12. The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree

G. Don’t be so naive like Adam acted at the tree of knowledge. Be a man or a woman and stand up for truth. Gen 3:17. 17 And to Adam he said, of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

H. God hates the devil because the devil tempts man to sin. Gen 3:14. The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.

I. God’s original intentions for man and the creation are temporarily retarded by sin. God has promised (Gen 3:15) to fix this. Jesus began this repair of the world.  I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

J. The way that God does things (i.e. create, speak things into existence, make people from dust, etc.) is mysterious to our understanding. Gen 1:3 …And God separated the light from the darkness.

K. Man is the greatest of all living things because we are called “the image of God.” God chose to make His children out of the most worthless substance in the universe- dust. His breath of life is in man uniquely. The moral is that mankind is very personal to God. The only thing that separates us from the rest of creation is our spiritual nature that God engages in a relationship with us with. Gen 1:26-27.  “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

L. All life is sacred, but especially mankind. This is reflected in the charge God has given to mankind over other life. Gen 1:28. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

M. Man is called to be a good steward over the creation, taking care of it and protecting/preserving it. Gen 1:28. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

N. When God judges Israel and sends them into exile, he will begin to work out a better plan for them, eventually. This is demonstrated in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden situated in the west of where he was originally, Gen 2:8. This is also demonstrated in Cain’s expulsion and exile. God severely judged him but Cain had a productive life after that episode. Cain and Abel have a lot of allegorical meanings that are applicable to ancient Israel and consequently those messages are fruitful for believers today to understand and apply to daily life.

O. The devil is an evil creature. He is associated with the “evil” things like snakes and people who are “clever” in a negative sense. Gen 3:1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

P. Since light and dark can not be united as one thing, we can safely say that God’s methods of creating things and just doing things in general is beyond the scope of human comprehension and it is supernatural to a large extent.
And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Gen 1:4

Q. There is only one God who made/makes everything. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.  Gen 1:1.

R. There are other intelligent beings in the universe, like the devil in the garden. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…” Gen 3:1. This is contrasted with “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper…” Gen 2:18.

S. The devil wants us to have a critical, unbelieving attitude of heart towards the God of the Bible. He wants us to just doubt God’s true intentions and God’s clear word (the clear parts, not all the in depth debatable things.) “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…” Gen 3:1.

T. God provides for his people. God gave Adam food, clothes, a woman/companionship/family, authority to accomplish God’s call on his life, and genuine fellowship with Himself. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ” Gen 2:15.

U. God leads us into his plans for us. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ” Gen 2:15.

V. God is personally interested in us and He is fascinated by our thoughts. God brought the animals to Adam to see what he would name them. God allows mankind to learn new things. God is personally interested in what we do with our knowledge and why. God is very much like a good Father and his children. “Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. “ Gen 2:19.

W. God knows what we really need even when we just don’t know what that is. God made Eve for Adam because God knew it was not “good” for a person to live alone. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Gen 2:18.

X. God desires to be in community with people like he did with Adam and Eve. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Gen 2:18.

Y. Life is tough (the curses from sin). Realize that God still has a redemptive plan and purpose for us that is going to be fully accomplished before it over. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen 3:15.

Z. God is a hard, thorough, master worker who does things in a “very good” manner. God made everything in 6 days and then rested, just like the Jews ought to do if they want to be on the same page as God who is there as their lawgiver for their good. “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Ex 20:9-11.