Sunday, May 10, 2020

10 May 2020 - to prepare a place



Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Jesus was a living stone. Yet his value wasn't evident to the builders, precisely to those who should have been most able to recognize his value. So it will likely be for us as well. We too are living stones, the perfect material, sizes, and shapes, to be fit together into a spiritual house. Yet our true value is similarly hidden from a superficial view. The spiritual house God is building does not depend on what the world recognizes as strong or useful. In fact, without faith, no sense can be made of the builders plans.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God (see First Corinthians 1:27-29).

Rather than using the great and the strong, he prefers those who are willing to let him be strong in them, so that his power might be clearly seen, so that his design, and not our cleverness, might be vindicated.

Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone

For those who have a special role to play in the house God is building, that is to say, all of us, the most important thing is not the curriculum vitae that we bring. Yes, grace builds on nature and so we search for "seven reputable men". This reputation is, in the first place, amongst believers, so it is already accounts for more than the merely natural characteristics of the men. But ultimately, even more important than reputation, is that they and we be "filled with the Spirit and wisdom". There are not tests whereby we can prove our competence in this regard, nor certifications that we can show for it. Having attended seminars, even something very good like Life in the Spirit, can't really demonstrate whether or not being Spirit-filled and wise defines us. When the world can't recognize the goodness at work in us this is to be expected.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual (see First Corinthians 2:13).

The world will know we are Christians by our love. It is a love which reveals itself precisely as the working of the Spirit within us, moving us beyond our natural tendency toward self-interest.

The crucifixion of Jesus appears to the world to be an absolute failure. But Jesus knows that what he is doing is key to his Father's plan. It is not unintentional or unavoidable. He chooses this path of laying down his life for us.

You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.

Jesus charges headlong into failure, into death, despising the natural desire for life and comfort, in order to share with us the life of the Father. It is here that the cornerstone does not seem to bear the weight of the world that crushes down upon him. But it is precisely here that the new structure of the Spirit rises, the new building of the house of God is erected, and the Church of the New Testament begins.

Given that we are so predisposed to judge according to the natural and the fleshly how can we be sure to recognize the cornerstone? How can we ourselves fill the roles for which we are meant if the value of those roles is so hard to perceive?

Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

The eyes of faith are all we need. They see in Jesus more than a man. They see the Father's love revealed through the obedience of the Son. They perceive, even in the first glance, all they need to understand why the cornerstone is too strong to be broken, even while the world so readily attempts to discard it.

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

Let us look to Jesus, to the work he did, and the words he spoke, in order that we might perceive in him the Father, and in the Father, him. This faith is the gate by which the greater works than these are done, by which the living stones are built, by which the Kingdom comes.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.






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