Harvest

I found this in a book that has been sitting around our house for a while. It helped me to make some connections between some things that I have been thinking about lately. It’s taken from the passage in Luke 5 when Jesus finds Peter, James and John cleaning their nets after they have been fishing all night long and have caught nothing. Jesus tells them to go out again and they obey and they catch a bunch of fish. I like it when Jesus talks about fishing.

As we can see from the end of the story, the purpose of this story isn’t fish—it’s people! When Jesus went looking for the fishermen, they were gone washing their nets. Admirably these men, after working hard all night without success, were preparing their nets to return to sea again. If they would have left their nets dirty, eventually they would have rotted and fallen apart until completely ineffective for catching fish. We also need to maintain purity or clean nets if we are going to catch fish.

The problem is that it is easy to get comfortable with our nice, shiny, clean nets and to lose touch with the sea. Here’s what happens. When we get saved, God literally pulls us out of a pit of sin and darkness, sets our feet on a rock and begins to wash us with his Word. We feel so good that we want to go spend all our time with other people who have been pulled out of their pits as well. It is easy to forget that we are pulled out of our pit so that we can help others out of the same desperate situation.

The reason God sets us apart isn’t so that we will become isolated. He sets us apart so that we will have strong healthy nets that are able to pull other people out of their sinful pit.
~Reach -Judah Smith

I guess the difference then hinges upon whether I am trying to live a life of purity out of a love of self (inflated/puffed up religion—see Colossians 2) or out of a selfless love for God and others that is punctuated with an understanding of what we have been saved from.

In my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me in to the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit, oh Lord my God.
When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple.
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could have been theirs.
But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the Lord.
-Jonah 2

The irony with Jonah is that in order for him to be brought to this point he was caught by the fish. And I must pray that I will share God’s compassion towards people who are in the same pit from which God has rescued me.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
-Matthew 4:18-22

Several fishermen trying to get it right: Graveyard Point Alaska 2000

~J-Squeeze

Sarx

I just got back from jogging. I think that most of the newness has worn off but I was still able to get out for a bit. I promise that this won't become a jogging journal (a JogBlog if you will) but it really got me thinking about something. As I was reluctantly forcing myself to go out this morning I was realizing how much I allow my body to run my life. This got me thinking about how much Paul talks about our flesh and how we shouldn't be ruled by it and everything. So, in an effort to control my flesh (let's call it sarx so that I can sound like a Greek scholar) I have attacked a lot of the concrete manifestations of sin. I've tried to become good at not sinning and I feel as though I've been doing pretty good at that lately—so I'm quick to pat myself on the back without realizing that even though I'm keeping the symptoms at bay, I'm still operating as though sarx is my master.

I don't think that I have been taking this obscure idea of The Flesh that the Bible talks about so much literally enough. Here's where the rubber meets the road—or where the "gume meets the cesta" for my Slovene friends: could jogging actually have something to do with sarx? When I don't feel like getting out of bed to go run around outside and I do it anyway, is that a spiritual victory? Humm… OK, so what about food? Maybe that is what fasting is all about—could I be taking a stand against sarx by not eating for a little while to show that I actually do have the power to control my body, or more specifically my stomach?

OK, but here's the cool part: because of Jesus we have victory! Check out what Paul wrote in Romans 8:

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sarx that leads to death. The law of Moses could not save us, because of sarx. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body (same word here too—sarx) like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sarx's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow sarx but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sarx think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If sarx controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. For sarx is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of sarx can never please God. But you are not controlled by sarx. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what sarx urges you to do. For if you keep on following sarx, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds (in other words—say no to sarx), you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family—calling him "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

In the first chapter of John it says that the Word (Jesus) became flesh—Jesus loves us so much that he was willing to “put on sarx” and suffer like nobody else in order to break the power of sarx and to pay the price for sin. Now it sounds a little bit trivial to say that by jogging I am sharing in his sufferings, but maybe there is more of a connection here than I realize.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God's throne in heaven. Think about all he endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don't become weary and give up.
-Hebrews 12:1-3

So maybe this will be a JogBlog of sorts :)
~JC

Dinner

So I've been patronized recently for my lack of blogging so I am going to try and get things started in typical Johnny fashion. So today was a good day. I did my taxes. It's June 15th but as long as you write "overseas filer" on the top apparently you're good to go. We'll see if the IRS goes for it ;) Let's see, what else? I had a fun time in the center this afternoon with two of my friends Gaššper and Miha. I am really blessed to get to spend time with guys like this. Also, I went jogging this morning (I'm not kidding Neja) and it really got my endorphins going. I hear that it's a good way to start your metabolism for the day. I'll let you know how it goes. I think that's it for now. Let's try and keep this whole blogging thing on the DL--I don't want to raise the expectations.

~J