Shifting the Balance

Another uncomfortable reading

Very strange story

At least the commentators have trouble with this one too!

Two interpretations:

Verse 9 - use your ill-gotten gains to win friends, so you can have treasures in heaven - endorsing the behaviour of the shrewd manager

Verse 13 - you cannot serve both God & Mammon

When in doubt, Zoom out!

Previous parable: Prodigal Son - takes his earthly reward early, takes advantage of his father, and, in turn is taken advantage of.

Next parable: The rich man & Lazarus - Lazarus suffered in this life, and prospers in the next. The rich man has already had his reward.

Same question across all three stories:

Where are your riches?

Prodigal son - riches in the world, comes to a bitter end, leavened with the richness of the prodigal father’s forgiveness

Rich man & Lazarus - about finding treasurews in heaven.

The shrewd manager, relocating our riches, shifting the balance, from this life to the next.

Presbytery Gathering

Hope West Melton

3 buildings -

Old building given a new lease on life, connecting with the past.

Relocated building - renewed, repurposed, renovated from the inside out.

New building - looking to the future.

It was the re-purposed building that caught my imagination, not because of what we do with our buildings, but because of what we do with our lives.

Steve spoke about the changes not being obvious on the outside for a long time, the transformation came from the inside out.

As we are coming into this new spring, I believe that it is time for transformation in our lives. out individual, personal lives are in need of spiritual spring cleaning after two years of pandemic.

Our life together as a church is in need of renovation and refreshment to shift the balance from preserving what we have in this life, to investing in treasures in the next.

That next life might have many meanings:

It might mean our own personal life in glory with God in heaven.

It might mean the legacy that we leave behind.

It might mean the end of church as we know it, and the beginning of something new.

It might mean the next season of life-giving gospel in our fellowship and in our mission to the next generation in our community.

All of these, I believe, are in need of spring-cleaning.

All of these are in need of renewal

All of these need a shift in the balance.

We need to move from preserving what we have here, to preparing what we will have there.

The church is a field

Rev. Dr. Geoff New led us in a meditation titled “the spirituality of remembrance”. As part of that journey he picked up on Paul’s image of the church as a field in 1 Cor 3:5-9

1 Corinthians 3:5–9 NIV

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

If our church is a field, what state is it in? Taht’s what I found myself pondering on the drive home.

My conclusion? Our church is like a field that needs renovation. There are some parts where the soil is exhausted. There are some parts where the drainage is blocked, some parts where the irrigation is not flowing. Some parts where we are fighting to establish a crop, but the land needs a rest.

So, what do we do? Do we walk off the land and start over on virgin soil?

That’s not my dream.

We’re not talking replacement, we’re talking renovation and renewal.

Listen to this promise from the prophet Hosea:

Hosea 10:12 NIV

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

Break up your unplowed ground! It is time to seek the Lord!

This prophecy is a promise of blessing, but it’s also a call to action:

Sow righteousness for yourselves, and reap the fruit of unfailing love.

The first call is to renew our spiritual orientation.

Mark Driscoll - Whose church is it?

Whose people are we?

I encourage you to seek the presence of God in your life.\

Pray.

Reflect on God’s word - not as a learning exercise, not as a duty, but as a spring of living water that washes over you and refreshes parts of your soul that you did not even know had become dry.

Break up your unplowed ground

This is disturbing. Frightening even. Often in our lives, things remain undistrubed because they are painful to touch on. But God isn’t inviting you to dig deeper in order to hurt you, but to bring you healing

Kiwi reluctance

cycle of grief

In our personal lives, but even in our life togetehr as a church, it is time for that ground that has grown hard to be dug over, and a fresh crop of righteousness, a fresh crop of God’s love to be sown.

He will come and shower his righteousness on you.

Grace, truth, freedom, peace, and love