Anyone Who Lives in Christ Is a New Creation (Proper 11B)

     Paul is explaining how things work in the unseen world (2 Cor. 5 6-17) The unseen or spiritual dimension is the theme of all the teachings in Pentecost. The Samuel Reading reminds us we are judged not by appearance but what is in our heart. Jesus’s parables of the seed growing unseen reminds us we are part of God’s order and process of creation, which is unseen, out of our control and is a lost spiritual truth in our time.

1. Samuel Reminds Us Unfaithfulness Has Consequences

The Hebrews had rejected God as their king and demanded “a king like other nations”

·      God had chosen Saul, blessed and protected him 

·      Saul disobeyed God, God took His Spirit from Saul and replaced him with David

·      David, youngest sons became Israel’s greatest King

·      David was like the seed hidden in the ground or the smallest mustard seed that grew into a huge bush

2. Paul is Explaining How we become a New Creation

We are like the seed planted in the ground that dies as a seed to grow into a much larger flower or plant.

·      The hard part is dying to our sins with Jesus on the cross

·      Lifelong process of first getting to know about Jesus, getting to know Him personally through Bible study, prayer, worship and experiences of the Holy Spirit in healing and taking our sins to the Cross for forgiveness

·      We gradually grow in our new spiritual life as we die emotionally and spiritually to our dependence on self and doing things our way

·      We become a new creation as we experience life in the unseen spiritual dimension

·      The downside is we become different from those around us and must face rejection

·      Rejection by those around us is very sad and painful but is the natural birth pain of becoming a new creation in Christ

·      The upside is we experience joy when we are in fellowship with other believers who understand us

3. The Divine Order and Process of Creation is a lost Spiritual Truth that Needs to be Recovered

In researching my forthcoming book (July 1) Recovering Truth, Freedom, and Democracy: Challenging Woke Totalitarianism I discovered 7 spiritual truths that have been lost. Writing about the Judeo-Christian foundation of unseen truths that all thriving democracies have been built on

·      Had a “word of knowledge’ from Holy Spirit that Darwin did not challenge the biblical teaching that God is the creator – explained the exquisite process God set in motion

·      Evolution – small physiological changes, and survival of the fittest leads to a self-perfecting creation that gets better

·      Why capitalism and the economics of specialization work better than diversity, inclusion and equity

4. Lost Truth of Male and Female Identity and Purpose

My research and another “word of knowledge” revealed the union of male and female in matrimonial love of interdependent opposites, as the divine plan for ensuring the most-fit combination of male and female characteristics for ever better stewardship over creation.

·      Need to recover these truths by challenging feminism as false female and homosexuality as false male

·      Challenging churches to be faithful, recover and teach these unseen spiritual truths

All Christians need to understand how things work in the unseen supernatural dimension of the Bible to live in Christ