Some Thoughts on the Age to Come

Life is a gift. 

The gift of life includes freedom. 

God draws us toward our destiny. 

Our destiny is not a place. It is a state of being - being fully a People of God - living in joy and grace. 

Jesus and Paul have different voices. Christians tend to focus on one or the other. 

Jesus focused on the Kingdom of God. Jesus welcomed all. If we focus on Jesus, we tend to be merciful. 

Paul focused on our Life in Christ. His primary ethic was how to be in the world, but not of the world. Those who focus on Paul’s voice tend to be more moralistic. 

As Christians, we need to blend mercy and morality. 

Comparing Jesus and Paul:

Both taught that life continues after death. 

Both taught that after death we will encounter a transforming judgment. 

* For Jesus, our obedience meant faithful obedience shown by the quality of our mercy to others. We embody God’s Love. 

* For Paul, we receive our due based on our actions (2 Corinthians 5.6-10). Paul focuses on building the Church - how well we build is based on how we treat others in the Church. 

Both taught there is an Age to Come after this transformative judgment. What we do now is shaping (or mis-shaping) us for that day. 

We all have a role in the Kingdom. We are all important. 

Both believe this life is a preparation for the life to come. 

Three conclusions:

Give your presence to the people in your life. Be present to them. Listen. 

Develop your soul. 

Give yourself away. 

Pentecost Sunday

We all encounter the Holy Spirit. Despite my struggles with faith, I find faith in atheism even more problematic because I have felt the Holy Spirit. 

For Paul, the experience of the Holy Spirit was very tangible and real and was the first fruits of our life to come. 

There is a lost letter between 1 and 2 Corinthians. It was delivered by Titus. 

The Holy Spirit is the Presence of God in us. Our teaching should be based in the Spirit, not in the Law. Our competence comes from the Spirit. 

In Paul’s teaching, there is a big role for suffering. The false teachers in Corinthians preached a type of prosperity gospel. Christians were blessed by following the Law. Follow the Law and riches, happiness, and only good things would come to you. 

The Law is good, but sin will use the Law against you. The purpose of the Law is not to give us a set of rules we can follow perfectly; rather, the Law’s purpose is to awaken in us a knowledge of the power and destructiveness of sin. Like in AA, it let’s us know we need God, we cannot make it alone. We must walk out into the unknown and live by faith. 

The Presence of God is not a tame thing. God messes with people. Like Aslan, “Of course he’s not tame. But, He’s GOOD.”

In Hebrew Scriptures, Moses wore a veil. A veil separated the people from the Presence of God. But, according to Paul, we (with the Holy Spirit) experience God with unveiled faces. 

How Transformation Happens

Aly is the speaker this week. Yay! The pastor is in Eastern Europe doing mission work. 

Living life from the inside out has three steps: engage, transform, and respond. 

We tend to think of transformation as a magical, all-at-once process; but, it’s not. 

We are always transforming - we can conform to the pattern of the world or be renewed in Christ’s image. 

Transformation is a two-part process. The first part is sacrifice. Sacrifice is part of thanking God. Sacrifice is our part of the covenant. God’s acceptance of our sacrifice seals the covenant. 

We always have to give something up to go somewhere else. Life is like this. 

Why does Paul say offer your bodies? The sacrifice we are called to is tangible. In Anatomy of the Soul, the author, Curt Thompson, states our bodies are part of the process. 

Our habitual thoughts and behaviors build patterns - well worn paths - in our brains. Offering our body as a living sacrifice to God allows the Holy Spirit to transform those patterns. But we work with the Holy Spirit to build new pathways. 

To be transformed, we have to offer up ourselves. 

The second part is discerning God’s will. The rest of Romans 12 is God’s will. Your homework for this week is to read and pray on that to do list at least twice. Pick one thing of that list to be your thing for now. Share this decision with someone. 

What will you sacrifice? What part of His will will you tackle first?