A Different Perspective Official Podcast

One of the things that many people end up concluding in life, is that they just don't have the power to change. They can see some things wrong in themselves, they know what they are, they've tried to change … but somehow, they just don't have the power. I have some good news for you today – God is that power, and He has already given that power to change to anyone who's put their trust in Jesus His Son.
We've been chatting these last few weeks about the incredible blessing that comes from the righteousness of God. The harvest of righteousness that God has planned for you and me. Here it is in a nutshell. God is righteous, pure, holy, perfect. And you and I, without putting too fine a point on it, we're simply not. And that's the bad news. No surprise to God, mind you. He always knew the moment He gave us a free will it would turn out that way.
And so the bad news both in terms of the insidious impact of our sin in robbing us of life here and now, and in robbing us of an eternity with God. So bad is this news, that God sends Jesus His Son to die on the Cross to pay the price of our sin, so that whoever believes in this Jesus can be back in a right standing with God.
When we believe in Jesus we actually become as righteous as God Himself. We become the righteousness of God. We're forgiven. Hallelujah! That is good news. Not something that we have to work our way into, but a free gift from God.
For by grace you have been saved by faith, and it's not of your own doing, it is the gift of God. Not the result of works so that none may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
But blind Freddy can see that being forgiven, having a right standing with God, is only part of the equation, it's only the beginning. It's like a prisoner set free at the end of his sentence. He steps out of the prison gate, and it's a huge step, but it's only the first one of the rest of his life of freedom.
Freedom is something to be lived out. And so it is for anyone who's taken that first step of believing in Jesus: believing that He died for us on that Cross; believing that He rose again from the dead to give us a new life; believing that He has placed His Holy Spirit inside us so that we can live that new life of freedom. Jesus said this, listen carefully. John chapter 8 beginning at verse 34:
Jesus answered them, 'Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed'.
And the Apostle Paul, some decades on restates it so that we won't miss it. Galatians chapter 5 verse 1:
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
In other words the reason that you've been set free is in order to be free, to live out your freedom. God hasn't set you free through this great and mighty act of love, the sacrifice of His Son, in order for you to submit again to the yoke of slavery which sin places on you. He set you free so that you can in fact be free from sin and its consequences.
You and I both know, we chatted about this yesterday, that a prisoner who's served His sentence steps out of that prison a free man. But he can return to his life of crime, and many of them do, and eventually he finds himself behind bars again. OR he can live out His new life of freedom as a free man without breaking the law for the rest of his days, and experience the freedom.
I've never been incarcerated but I thought what a horrible thing that would be. Even just one night, let alone a year or two or ten or twenty, would be enough to convince anyone not to re-offend. But in fact many, many do and the majority of people of prison today are in fact re-offenders. It's incredible, mad you might say.
But think about this. It's exactly what many a believer in Christ does. We believe. We take the first step of freedom but then we go back living the life that caused us to be under condemnation before, only to find that this new found freedom in Christ turns out not to be all that it was cracked up to be because we're submitting back to the cruel yoke of slavery – sin.
Now, in part that's because sin is so deeply ingrained in our flesh. The Apostle Paul said this. Romans chapter 7 beginning at verse 15:
I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
And that's a problem we all face. Man, this sin thing is so strong in me. I'm so weak. How am I ever going to live out this righteousness of God? How am I ever going to reap the harvest, the blessing, the fruit of righteousness? I just can't do
it.
And therein lies the whole point. You and I can't do it. We can't do it on our own. We simply can't. I can't and you can't. We need the blessing of God. We need the power of God to change. Question is: where do you get that? Will He give me the power? Will He give you the power?
What would you say if I told you, we already have the power? Have a listen to this promise from God's Word. 2 Peter chapter 1 beginning at verse 2:
May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.
Now, do you need something to be godly? I do. You do too. Well, God's already given us that. Past tense. It's a done deal. God has already given us everything needed for life. In other words He's given us our lives back. Real life, abundant life because we're now righteous through faith in Jesus. We have a right standing with God.
And not just for life but for godliness. He's given us everything we need to escape from the corruption of this world and become – wait for this – participants of the divine nature. To be one with God and to know God so deeply that the image of God to be so bright, so vibrant, so powerful in us. Get it? We already have everything that we need.
Just like Jesus prayed for us in John chapter 17 that we would become one with Him the way that He and His Dad are One. We don't have to work at that. The closer we get to Jesus the more we change. The more we love Him and experience Him the more our behaviour changes.
And that's why we stand firm. That's why our lives change. 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 5:
For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.
For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Friend, God has given you and me so much in Jesus. Wake up! Stop grumbling. Stop living under this deception that we can't beat sin in our lives. It's already been beaten on the Cross. We already have a new life through the empty tomb. We already have the power of the Spirit, the very same one who Jesus from the dead. Ready Ephesians chapter 1.
We have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Believe that. That's God's promise. The power to change.

Freedom is a funny concept. Down through the ages, it's taken on different meanings. Back when Jesus was walking this earth, you mentioned freedom, and people thought about slaves being set free.  So … what does freedom mean today?  What's it all about?  Can you and I really, really be free?
Now, I want to share something with you today. Yours truly, I have to tell you I'm not stupid. I may be short and slightly dumpy; I may have more than more grey hair than of the original colour; it may be that I can't draw a picture for nuts; there are lots of things I can't do and lots of things I'm not great at and lots of things I just ain't. But God has blessed me with a pretty nimble mind, so I'm not stupid.
Now the point of me telling you this isn't to boast. The point is that even though I'm a bit of a bright spark, I spent the first 36 years of my life in slavery. And here's the thing. I didn't even realise. That's the point. We can be smart as smart can be, we can be as clever as clever can be on the one hand, but completely miss the whole point of life on the other. Do you get it?
I mean, I kind of realised something wasn't quite right. I kind of realised I didn't have the joy and the contentment in life that I was looking for in everything that I tried. I simply had no idea the reason for that was because I was a slave – a slave to self. A slave … to sin.
Now this idea of slavery may seem a little odd, a little harsh. It may seem that I'm somewhat overstating the case when I say that I was a slave to sin. After all slavery is a brutal thing. Let's just stop and think for a moment what it means to be a slave.
A slave is someone who has no rights. His or her master can abuse them. They have to do what their master tells them. They have no freedoms. They can't come and go as they please and if we look at slavery down through the ages slaves are the most oppressed of all people.
Somehow, innately, we know that men and women and children were born to be free. It doesn't mean we can do anything that we like. Obviously we need laws, but good laws not oppressive laws. So the human spirit is meant to be free all be it in the right and proper constraints of society. So when someone becomes a slave it's just wrong.
Interesting that the Bible which was written over a period of a couple of thousand years, the last book being completed late in the 1st century AD doesn't take slavery on as an issue. Neither does it endorse slavery. It just kind of accepts it as a reality of life back then. Now I have some ideas as to why that is, but that's for another time.
Now, God's Word does link sin with the concept of slavery over and over again in the New Testament especially. Let's have a listen to what Jesus had to say on this. I'm reading from John chapter 8 beginning at verse 28:
So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realise that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.'
As he was saying these things, many believed in him. Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.'
They answered him, 'We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?' Jesus answered them, 'Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed'."
And this is really interesting exchange. I can really, really put myself in the shoes of the people who took umbrage with Jesus about this whole slavery thing. Jesus is explaining that in order for people to be saved and have a relationship with God they have to believe in Him. It's radical.
All the other messiahs out there – there were lots of people claiming to be the promised messiah around Jesus time – they all pointed at this or that or someone else but Jesus pointed to himself. By saying, 'Believe in Me', He was directly claiming to be God in the flesh. Outrageously radical which is one of the reasons the religious leaders had Him crucified. But it says here, verse 30, that many believed. But then the bit that people took umbrage with:
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'.
Now, when someone talks to you and me about freedom the first thing that we think about probably isn't slavery because most of us aren't slaves although I have no doubt of the millions of people listening to this message around the globe today, some in fact will be slaves. But most of us aren't.
And so if someone comes and talks with us about freedom, slavery isn't the first thing that jumps to mind. But it was back in the 1st century. The words about being made free intentionally point to freedom from slavery and that that's how were taken too. And this is where the Jews who believed in Him had a problem.
They said, "Look, hang on a minute, we're descendants of Abraham and we've never been slaves. We're legitimate Jews. There might be slaves in the other peoples households but we're not slaves. What do you mean by saying to us that we'll be made free?" They kind of found this offensive. They saw themselves as being free. And this is where Jesus hits them right between the eyes. He answered:
Jesus answered them, 'Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed'.
See friend, sin is slavery. It's the yoke of oppression. It robs us of freedom and of life. You don't have to think too much about it. You think of whatever sin you want – anger, back biting, grumbling – it ruins things, it robs us of life.
When we're wrapped up in our own selfish desires and our own selves and we're trying to get the world to bow down to us rather than us love and serve those around us, we lose life. It loses it's meaning. It becomes ugly and horrible. And Jesus came to set the captives free. That's why this righteousness I so important.
Righteousness is the opposite of sin. And as we saw yesterday on the program, righteousness is not just an attribute of God it's something that God is prepared to give us as a free gift when we believe in Jesus His Son. We in fact become the righteousness of God.
Now we're going to live life either in sin or in righteousness. We are. It's one or the other. And once we have a right standing with God, once we've become righteous before God because we've put our faith in Jesus paying for our sin and us being forgiven, we're now meant to live out this righteousness.
It's like a criminal who's served his time in prison and he's released. He either continues his criminal ways, which many do, and end up behind bars again (which has always struck me as sheer lunacy, but it shows you the power that sin has over people's lives) or following his release he mends his ways and lives out his new found freedom, his new life. He's not in prison any more. He can live out his new life. The new man is set free.
Well, you and I have been set free through faith in Jesus. And the question is, are we going to live out that freedom, are we going to live out that righteousness or are we going to return to our old ways and live in sin?
Question is: how are we going to live as free people or as slaves?

The bad news about God – and there is some really bad news, is that He's holy and perfect and righteous. And the reason that that's bad news … is that we're not. And our "not" has some serious consequences.  So then what's the good news?  And there is some good news.  Great news.  Fantastic news!
So how are you doing this fine day? The one thing that I know with frankly millions of people listening to this same message today in 160 countries around the globe, is that there's going to be a myriad of different responses to that question. How are you doing this fine day?
Some people are just on top of the world. Others are in the absolute depths of despair. And in between those two extremes there is every shade of grey under the sun. And wherever you are some good news would be sure to go down well. Some good news to shine some light into a dark place. Some good news to brighten just a mundane day. And even when we're in the middle of a fantastic patch in life, some good news to put all that in perspective.
Well, today is a good news day. Today on the program as we spend these few short minutes together, we're not just going to share some good news, we're going to roll around in it, revel in it, delight in it, because the good news that I'm talking about isn't some cliché, it's not some bit of religious spin. This good news is meant to make a difference in our lives. A real difference, in fact a world of difference, an eternal difference.
I previously said on this program that when it comes to God there's both good news and bad news. We are in the middle of a series that I've called "Reaping the Harvest of Righteousness" because when we live out the goodness and the holiness and the wonderfulness of God (is there such a word? Well let's use it) the righteousness of God, there's a huge harvest of blessing in that. Not necessarily the sort of blessing that the world tells us we should. You know, the whole 'healthy, wealthy and wise' myth. But a depth of reward, a joy, a peace, as we live out the righteousness of God in our own lives.
The bad news is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and wages of that sin is death. The bad news is that God is righteous and we're not and no matter how hard we work at it, no matter how hard we labour at it, we will always fall short of the glory and the righteousness and the wondrous perfection of God. And whilst at first that might seem a tad unreasonable, just because we're not as good as God, it seems harsh. It's that bad news that makes the good news so absolutely, incredibly, wonderfully fantastic.
The Apostle Paul has this fantastic knack for hitting the nail right on the head, for boiling big things, huge things, seemingly complex things, down into a sentence or two that people like you and me can actually get our hearts and minds around. Have a listen to this. Romans chapter 6 verse 23:
For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There they are. The two sides to the coin. The bad news and the good news. And remember when we talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that word "gospel" literally means, "good news", "glad tidings", we're talking about the good news of Jesus. And if I were writing a Bible dictionary trying to define the Greek word that's used in the New Testament for "gospel", I think I'd define it as meaning absolutely mind-blowingly, fantastic news.
Now if you are Christian and you've sat in the pew for a good many years each Sunday, maybe this good news has lost a little bit of it's lustre. You hear something so often, over and over and over again, well after a while it becomes mundane and passé, just the way things are. Have to tell you. It's happened to me from time to time too. But here's the thing. I wonder how many people really, I mean really understand the enormity of this fantastic news about Jesus.
What's going on here when God does this amazing thing in the face of such terrible news. "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord". The bad news, the bad part of the equation of Grace is shockingly terrible news. And if you're someone who has never put their trust in Jesus, if you're someone who's never accepted Jesus as your Lord and your Saviour, wrap your mind around this because it's meant to be shocking. Luke Chapter 16 verses 19-26. This is Jesus talking:
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.'
Go on. Go ahead and be shocked. Come to grips with it. Jesus isn't mincing words. He knows about hell and He's painting a vivid picture. But it's this picture that makes the good news so great. Because when we believe in Jesus we become as righteous as God Himself. Let me say that again. When we believe in Jesus we become as righteous as God Himself and the horrible penalty is lifted.
See, this is the bit I didn't understand at first. It took me a while to get it. Christians talked about the fact that Jesus' death on the Cross bought me a ticket into heaven if I believed. But no one explained to me why. I needed to know why. The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I get the first bit, but the second bit – why? Well 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21 says this:
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin (that's Jesus) so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
If we think of God as a God of justice then the penalty for our sin has to be paid. Someone has to pay. But out of His love and out of His mercy God came up with this crazy plan that He Himself, Jesus, should pay. So Jesus became a man, was nailed to a cross, He took the sins of the world, you and me and everyone else, on His shoulders.
He in effect became sin – why? – so that you and I might become the righteousness of God; stand before God completely free from sin because the price has been paid. And how do we lay hold of this incredible blessing? The freedom of forgiveness? Eternal life? How do we get it? How do we become as righteous as God Himself? Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 & 9.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
So how do we lay hold of it? By working hard? NO. God's grace in Jesus is activated towards us through faith. We obtain the righteousness of God, in fact we become the righteousness of God by believing in Jesus. It's that simple and that is why it isn't just good news, it's not even just great news, it's mind-blowingly fantastic news because all is forgiven. The anger and the wrath and the punishment of God on us is removed and we now have a new life to live. A life that goes on from now and for all eternity.

One of the things about God is that He's perfect. Pure, holy, righteousness. They're all words used to describe God.  And whilst ultimately there's a huge amount of Good News around that – the Good News doesn't make sense … until we come to grips with the bad news.  And let me tell you, there's some really bad news there.
It's Monday again, back to work for most of us. And depending on whether or not you enjoy your job, that's either good news or its bad news. The statistics tell us that two thirds of people don't enjoy their job. Isn't that a tragedy. So for two thirds of people, every chance that you're one of them that's bad news.
Now you and I would rather have good news than bad news. I would and I'm sure you would too. And so when it comes to thinking about God, well that has to be good news, doesn't it? I mean, that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. That word 'gospel' literally means, not 'truth' as many of us think it does, although it is the truth. No, the word 'gospel' means good news, glad tidings. That's why the angel who spoke to the shepherds that night of Jesus' birth said to them, Luke chapter 2 verses 10 & 11:
Don't be afraid, for see I'm bringing you good news of great joy for all people. To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is the Messiah, the Lord.
There it is! Good news! Hallelujah! But sad to say, before we talk about the good news, which is what we are going to be talking about tomorrow on the program, first today, we need to talk about the bad news.
How many times have we heard that line, "Well, there's the good news and the bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" And inevitably there are two sides to each coin. And if all I ever did on this program was talk about the good news side of God then I simply wouldn't be doing my job, because as much as sometimes I'd rather ignore bad news, there is a side of God which quite frankly is bad news for the likes thee and me. At least at first glance that's how it seems. And yet the reality is that without the bad news, the good news wouldn't be all that good.
It's when we come to understand the bad news, that the good news becomes absolutely fantastic news. So that's why we're kicking off today with the bad news.
So, what's Berni rabbiting on about? Good news? Bad news? Well, last week we kicked off a series called Reaping the Harvest of Righteousness. It's about the righteousness of God, it's about the blessing that flows in our lives when you and I live out that righteousness. We kind of touch on this a little bit fleetingly last week, but we're going to pick up on it today and really understand it. Because understanding the bad news about the righteousness of God is critical in:
a) making a decision whether we want to accept Jesus as our saviour or not and
b) living out his righteousness and experiencing the harvest, the blessing of that.
So, what's the bad news? Well the bad news is that God is righteous. What's this "righteousness" all about? Well God is completely and absolutely and utterly free from the scourge of humanity which is sin. There is nothing wrong with God. There is nothing impure or unholy or deficient or horrible about God. God is 1000% righteous from beginning to end; from eternity to eternity. And the only reason that's bad news is that you and I, we aren't.
You and I know that we aren't righteous, we know that about ourselves. We are nothing like that. We're often selfish and proud and angry and rude and … the list goes on and on, doesn't it? And whilst perhaps you've been walking with God for a while now and perhaps a lot's changed in your life, there's still some of that muck around, isn't there?
It's like that classic little prayer that goes something like this:
Dear Lord,
So far today, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper, haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or over indulgent. I'm very thankful for that.
But, in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed. And from then on, I'm probably going to need a lot more help.
So, as the Apostle Paul writes, "We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" Romans chapter 2 verse 23. And the consequence of that sin is this Romans chapter 6 verse 23:
The wages of sin is death.
Now that may seem just a little bit harsh until we get back to the bad news. God is righteous and we are not. There's nothing in God that is wrong and so His standard, quite simply is perfection. As I was coming to grips with that early on in my walk with Jesus, the question I had to resolve in my mind was, well, isn't that just a tad unreasonable.
When I was a child, I made mistakes, I wronged my parents, in fact I did it over and over and over again. But they didn't take me out the back and shoot me. Sure, from time to time I was punished. Maybe they felt like shooting me, but they didn't kick me out of the house or anything drastic like that. They suffered through my immaturities as parents are meant to do for their children so that the kids can grow up and mature and become responsible adults. That's what parents do.
So if God is God the Father, what's with this 'the wages of sin is death' thing. I mean, that's unreasonable isn't it? The original Greek word used in the New Testament for this word 'righteousness' has it's roots in the concept and the notion of justice. God is a just God. There are no favourites. There is no partiality.
See, often times when a criminal is handed a light sentence for by the courts for something we consider should have attracted a much harsher penalty, well, you and incensed. Why? Is it because we're mean? No. It's because one of the things that God has handed on to us because we're made in His image, He's handed on to us His sense of justice. It's part of who we are. It's part of our DNA and so God is a just God. I mean, you'd be something of a disaster if God wasn't just, wouldn't you?
This is where the bad news is. Break the law, get caught, you pay the penalty. It's bad news. The law in the country is good news, but for the person who has broken the law it's bad news. And the case of God because He is pure and just and holy and completely righteous, that standard is way, way, way beyond anything that any human being can attain.
Now, this is no mistake. God planned it that way. God knew that ultimately we'd rebel against Him. God knew that. It wasn't a surprise to Him when Adam and Eve munched on that apple. It wasn't a surprise to Him when you and I first sinned. I haven't lived a perfect life and nor have you. The only one who has is Jesus, God's own Son. And so the bad news is that you and I fall short of that glory of God and there is an eternal penalty for our rebellion. There's a price to pay. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 26,27,31. Have a listen:
For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
No namby pamby about, "It will be right, I'm not that bad. I'll be fine. If there is a God then one day I'll stand before Him." If we continue falling short of God then there is, "… a fearful prospect of judgement and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God".
So there it is. That's the bad news. And it's very, very bad news. Eternity after all is a very long time. "For the wages of sin is death".
But that's only half the verse, and it's only half the story. Here's the full story:
For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
And that's the good news we're going to talk about tomorrow on the program.

Those of us who live in the city – well, it's easy for us not to understand the importance of a harvest. Harvest time is when farmers reap the benefits of all their hard work. Harvest time is a relief, a blessing, a provision and a celebration.  That's why when God talks about the harvest of righteousness, it's a big deal.
I remember when I was in my last year of high school, quite a few years ago now, I travelled to a country town to teach the clarinet at a music camp during the school holidays. I had the opportunity to stay for a week on a farm. Now this was a large property and they farmed sheep – thousands of them.
Now it was quite an experience for a young lad like me. I was a city boy. I spent all my life growing up in an industrial city so I never really thought too much about where everything comes from. Milk came out of bottles, eggs came out of cartons and meat came from the butcher shop and so on. You don't really think so much about it. So spending this week on the sheep farm was just the most amazing experience.
We had the opportunity to help dip the sheep. You had to pick them up and throw them down this shoot so they ended up in a trough full of sheep dip. It was absolutely backbreaking work. And for a lad who had never thought too much about where lamb chops came from (other than the butcher shop) it was a real eye opener. Farming is hard work. Ever since then I've had a great respect for farmers.
Not only is it hard work, but pretty much they only get their income once or twice a year. And that happens when they take what they've grown, whether it be a crop like wheat, or sheep or cattle for slaughter or wool for clothing, it's when they take their produce to market. It happens at harvest time.
But of course there are many things that can interrupt the harvest: drought, flood, fire, a plague of locusts, diseases in animals. And even if there's a bumper crop as a result of the abundance the prices at market are depressed so the farmers get less for what they grew.
So it's a tough life. And that week on the sheep farm has given me a deep and abiding respect for farmers and their families. But there's something else, another lasting legacy that this week on the farm as a young lad has left with me, and that's an appreciation of the tough reality of farming on the one hand and the sense of jubilation of the successful harvest on the other.
See, we city slickers hear the word "harvest" and it really doesn't sink in. It doesn't mean too much, it just kind of washes by. But harvest time, it's the culmination of all the farmer's work; it's the time of reaping the reward. A successful harvest brings great joy and a sense of accomplishment and relief and safety and provision, not just for the family and the farmer's family but for the whole community. That's what a harvest. That's what a harvest mean to people who live and work on farms.
So when the Bible talks about "harvest" that's the sense of what's going on. And remember, back in the 1st century there was no welfare or government assistance or anything else. If the harvest failed people starved and it's still like that in many parts of the world today.
So suffice to say, what I'm trying to get across here is the fact that the harvest is a big deal, it's a huge deal. If you life in a rural area you already know that. But it's not something that's necessarily that obvious to us city dwellers. So when the Apostle Paul writes to his dear friends in Philippi about the harvest of righteousness he's saying something big. Have a listen. Philippians chapter 1 beginning at verse 9:
"And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God."
Interesting that he begins his point about a harvest of righteousness with a four letter word – LOVE. His prayer for his dear friends in Philippi was that their love would overflow more and more, because it's in this flood of God's love that works it's way out in our love for one another that we gain knowledge and develop the insight to know what is God's best. And living out His best isn't always the easiest thing to do as we've seen over the course of this week.
Living out God's best requires sacrifice. It hurts a lot at times. But when our heart is soaked in God's love, when our lives are about overflowing more and more of the sacrificial love of Jesus in that place with that humility, with that surrender and sacrifice, we gain the knowledge of God and the insights of God which transform us back into His image which help us live out the righteousness we already have, the right standing we have with Him because of our faith in Jesus who died to pay for our sin and rose again to give us a brand new life, an abundant life. And that friends, that that's the thing. The love of God at work in us that produces … what? … it produces the harvest – big word that – the harvest of righteousness which comes to us through Jesus and brings glory and praise and honour to God.
When Jesus was asked what's the most important commandment of all:
He answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself'. (Luke 10:27)
Love is the most important thing of all. As Paul wrote some years on:
Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:10)
We've been kind of conditioned to believe that love's about romance and feeling good. And sure those are a couple of the aspects of love. But that's not the sort of love that both these passages talk about. The original Greek word for love here is "agape" which means "unconditional love, faithful love that never ever fails"; the sort of love that costs us a lot but appears to deliver very little at the time.
It's the sort of love – and it doesn't matter how talented or gifted we are – if we don't have this sort of love then in God's eyes we're nothing but a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. Gifts and abilities and talents without this sacrificial unconditional love are completely worthless. You can read this in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
I know in my own life there have been times that, well … they've been trying and testing and people have been difficult and unhelpful and hurtful, those times and those places, they never felt good. And yet it's in those times and those places that the Word of God has done its greatest work in me.
I thank God that early on in my walk he established in me a pattern of regular Bible reading because it's in those difficult periods that His Word has done His greatest and mightiest works in my heart. And it's still like that today.
Friends, in the most difficult times of our lives we can experience a harvest of righteousness or as is written in the book of Hebrews, the peaceful fruit of righteousness because as we persist in doing good, in honouring God, in living out the relationship and right standing – the righteousness purchased for us by Jesus as He took our punishment for our sin on His cross – as we live that out we discover God Himself. Jesus said:
Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
And that my friend is exactly what happens. God draws us ever nearer to Himself through the righteousness that He has imparted to us through Jesus and the righteousness that He now brings to life in new lives in Christ. The righteousness we live out as little by little he restores us back into His image through the trials of life. That's the harvest – God Himself! And like every harvest, it's a big deal.