Logos2Go
1 Corinthians 13.9-10 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
For now we know in part
The birds of the air
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed ... but when it is grown it ... becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches ...
Some say this parable paints a negative picture. They suggest that the kingdom, when institutionalized by the systems of this world, becomes admixed with worldly interests.
Others say the opposite. Perhaps they think that the kingdom, when it ever expands, becomes an arbor of refuge for all.
Logos2Go
Matthew 13.31-32 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
Incremental miracles
The greatest miracle of them all, of course, was the Resurrection.
But on the day He resurrected, He was mistaken for a gardener. I take this to be a sign of what His post-resurrection regime would be like: occasionally there might be a phenomenal miracle.
But most of the miracles in this little while will not be plainly noticeable.
A gardener deals with incremental miracles, not miracles of the phenomenal kind.
Take my experiences in the Day Room.
Miracles in the garden of the Day Room are not easily noticeable. If only by casual inspection on any given day, you'd think the place is overgrown with weeds. Just weeds. But:
Last month I met John* during chapel service; he had just come to the Mission. His business was gone; his family had left; his shoulders were slumped. His eyes were teary. Yesterday he found me after dinner; he had been promoted to the kitchen. He told me he was once paid to hurt people (you don't want to know). Now he wants to help. "I'd like to get to the point where I can counsel others."
Last week Garret* owed hundreds in back taxes. Yesterday he told me he saw a tax counselor. She worked through his numbers, and helped him even get some money back. Now he could proceed with his schooling. She was impressed with his sincerity, so she only charged him a nominal fee. He wants to spend what's left of his life serving God.
These are incremental miracles.
They attest to the presence of a Gardener.
Logos2Go
John 20.15 "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
John 16.16 "In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me."
* Not their actual names
sappy Christian music
A men's singing group comes to the Mission to do chapel service.
Their voices are mellow; their lyrics rhyme; their songs are so harmonious not a discord is heard. Syrupy sweet. I think of powdered sugar on pastries; soft pastel colors; and in my distant memory: Tennessee Ernie Ford's picture on a 33rpm record album, his eyes gazing up and away, as if towards glory.
They line up on stage in a row, mikes at the ready; pressed shirts and good will.
The men in the audience are hard and hardened. Some nod their heads and tap their feet. Others stare out into space. A few nod off.
Is this sappy music a balm to their bruised hearts?
Or should the tonalities be more jarring, more unresolved, squares in jagged holes, with clashing noises ...
... within which is nevertheless found The Message?
Logos2Go
Isaiah 53.12 ...he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Luke 7.34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'
1 Corinthians 4.13 ... being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.
"Do not depress over your inadequacies ...
... depend on my adequacies."
Sometimes entire libraries of learning comes down to this: a still small voice in the early morning.
Those libraries do not speak; they are mute with their facts. But:
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Ah, those lilies must know the same voice.
Logos2Go
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses.
And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
C. Austin Miles 1868-1946
Matthew 6.28-30 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Sins of presumption
There are sins of omission and sins of commission.
But there are also sins of presumption.
We neglect to honor God; this is a sin of omission.
We curse in God's name; this is a sin of commission.
We think we are God; this is a sin of presumption.
The great preacher C. H. Spurgeon once pointed out that, in all of the Old Testament sacrifices for sins, there is no sacrifice for the sin of presumption. In fact the presumptuous person is to be cut off from God's people:
But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
Serious words.
But we say we never presume we are God. Oh but we do. Perhaps not God with a capital "G", but god with a small "g":
He is Omniscient / we think we know it all.
He is Omnipotent / we think we are unassailable.
He is Omnipresent / we think the grass is greener over there, and so we grumble over our lot.
He is Holy / we think we are holier than thou.
Holier than thou. A common sin of presumption of good religious people. Good religious people who have all the checks in the right places, hence no sins of omission or commission, or so we think.
But because we think so, the aroma of presumption fills the room with us.
And so King David says, "deliver me from presumptuous sins ..."
Logos2Go
Numbers 15.30 But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
Revelation 3.17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Psalm 19.13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
C.H. Spurgeon, "Presumptuous Sins" Sermon June 7, 1857
Calling v. Decision
You often hear "calling" used to mean someone specifically charged, as if by divine decree, to do a certain task: "He found his calling." Or: "She was called to do this ..."
Nowadays, when a minister is hired by a congregation, it is standard practice to describe this contractual agreement as "a call." I suppose saying that the minister "received a call" gives his hiring some added gravitas, as if the paperwork came from the halls of heaven.
There is no such use of "call" in the Scriptures.
This was a revelation to me earlier in life because, like many people, I searched the Scriptures to learn how I could "discover my calling."
What I discovered was that there are no such guidelines.
"Call" in the Scriptures refers to the supernatural act of God by which someone dead in trespasses and sins is given new life in Christ. In other words, calling has to do with the act of regeneration: when God calls you, you are alive in Christ. Before that call, you were dead in sin.
Period.
The word is never used in the sense that, for example, one day I discover I was called to be an architect. Or I discover I was called to be a minister.
I was simply called to be a son of God -- called to be born anew in Christ. That is the only calling I've ever received, and ever will.
If anything, there is evidence in the Scriptures that, if when called to new life you find yourself in bad circumstances -- like being a slave -- the encouragement is to STAY in that condition to work out your calling in that environment.
The only exception of "call" applying to a specific line of work given to a specific person is in reference to the Apostle Paul. Twice Paul refers to himself as one who was "called to be an apostle" (Romans 1.1, 1 Corinthians 1.1). But ...
... we know the Apostle Paul ... the Apostle Paul is a friend of ours ... and we're no Apostle Paul.
In broad generality, "call" is limited to the calling of saints to be saints; it refers to all who are called out of death into life.
Now, much more common in the Scripture are decisions. In other words, after the new life has become active, the new person in Christ has responsibility to make decisions that move forward the interests of the kingdom of God rather than his own interests.
Because of the energy of the new life, or at least because of the presence of the new life in a person, the force of that new life pushes him or her to choose, for example, a narrower path than a broader path for the testimony and glory of God.
These are decisions made every day.
And some decisions are better than others.
Logos2Go
Romans 1.7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2.9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Corinthians 9.16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 7.20-22 Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you-although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave.