One thing that ceases to amaze me every year is the speed of spring. We go for months on end without so much as a scent of grass or sight of growth. Then within a matter of days the earth begins to sprout and it shoots forth. Since November I have been able to look from the living room of my home and see the cars across the river driving to and fro along 48. I could look south and I could see the church building. I would not even have to leave my house to see if there was someone in the parking lot. Then if I were to walk into the dining room, I could look out the window and see 481, the traffic, and the jail across the street. I could see all this until I left for MI for Sarah’s graduation. In the time I spent in MI, The yard multiplied into a grassy field in desperate need of mowing and all the empty spaces filled in with something green that a week ago wasn’t there. I no longer can see across the river, I can’t see the church, and I can’t even see 481 behind me. The growth was so sudden and so quick, that it just completely amazed me.
When I see all that growth I just imagine Jesus talking about being born again and Paul speaking of the seed and the resurrection. Here we are with this seed that by itself is worth nothing. It is stained with dirt, looking more like death than anything capable of producing life. Seeds are generally not very attractive looking things. But unbeknown to us, that death and devastation of winter that we see around us is simply a covering. It is hiding, concealing and even deceiving us into believe there is nothing living in this ground that we walk upon. In reality contained with the hard frozen ground there is this great life waiting to burst forth. That seed in fact possesses so much life that it has the potential to grow into a towering mass of green life. It has within it the ability to unsettle foundations and to crack driveways and conceal entire buildings and roads from sight. When you experience life in this world it seems more like this world is stuck in winter without a chance of life or growth. Yet, as with this spring, when the rains come and the temperature climbs life comes abounding forth. This world is full of seeds of life waiting to sprout forth. The rain and the warmth of God come to bring life to that which has none. Read with me from 1 Corinthians 3:5-9;
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.
God comes and the rain falls. Life is born. Watch as the dirt is washed away and the joy of spring arises to comfort and bless us all. Without spring everything would simply die. No new growth, nothing to provide for creation. But rather all would simply perish. Without the spring there is no growth. Without God there is no growth. Without growth there is no life. Everything we hope and pray for, everything we need and take joy in is dependent upon the life brought about by God. If God does not step forth and awake the sleeping seed then the vacant open spaces remain. Spring is as if the earth has long slumbered and finally been awakened to life abundant. It is like when Jairus came to Jesus in Luke 8. In the process of his coming his daughter dies, but Jesus insists that he must see her anyway. When Jesus enters, he finds a crowd weeping and mourning. Jesus words are powerful. He says, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” Then he proceeds to speak to her and tell her to awake from her sleep. The child arises and is full of life. This world has fallen into a state of seeming death, but Jesus is waiting to say awake.
Going back to that verse in 1 Corinthians, notice what proceeds the growth brought about by God. God brings the growth but only after those who had already been told to awake have spread the seed and watered it. God has called those who are no longer asleep to continue the process and aid him in the awakening of the world. God has called us to not simply have life abundantly, but to live life abundantly. We are called to go out and plant and water, to discover life where it does not yet reside.
One of the most amazing things about spring is the way it fools us. We think there is no way there could possibly be life there, then there is suddenly covering so thick that we can’t make our way through it. I think Oswego is much the same way in regards to people. When winter comes in Oswego people seem to do some sort of hibernation. You see less people around town, your friends disappear. Life tends to recede from those who wore it best not a month earlier. We stop going outside as often. We go to the grocery store less. We spend more time in the house, less time at church. Less time serving Christ and more time watching tv. We become recluses that hope for tomorrow and forget about today. Winter around here is rough. I don’t care about care about people as much as I do isolation from the oppressive weather. But the life of Christ does not stop in the winter, but rather it continues. I feel often times what happens in churches around the world is that after we experience a time of growth personally and as a community we retire back into the seeds that we once came out of. We fall asleep again, grasping tightly to the life we have gained, but not living it abundantly as we are called to. So the seeds stop falling and water ceases to pour. We have our life and we are content in it. We fall back into pre-life exercises and before you know it we look just like we did before we were awaken. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:2-11
1 Thessalonians 5:2-11 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
We need to awake and stop falling asleep. We are not a bunch of squirrels that sleep through the winter. The winters here are long and if we sleep through them we will find ourselves running out of sustenance and losing the life that we have found. As Paul says we need to put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. I don’t know about you, but I don’t wear helmets and breastplates to bed. They are attire meant for action. We are to dress ourselves accordingly in order to plant and water the seeds of life. We need to step out and live life abundantly. We need to wake up. We are not like the world. We have no reason to be afraid of the winter and recede into ourselves, but we should be exploding forth like the spring reaching out and touching everything. That is something that is unique about spring. With every spring, with every new birth of life, something new is touch. The driveway becomes smaller as the grass grows between the cracks. Houses and parking lots that are left be are soon overcome in green. Vines reclaim the concrete that once came from it and climb even the greatest of buildings.
We are called to life, but not simply life hoarded and secluded, but life with the father and his creation. We have been awaken in order to live life with the Father. We have been awaken for the purpose of making life abundant.
One thing I think you will notice if you walk into any Christian book store or if you wander into the religious section at borders of something, is that the church is constantly seeking rebirth. There are so many books on spiritual awakening and how to revitalize your spiritual life and on and on. We keep desiring to be born again. How many times do we need to be born again before we realize we need to hold onto live what we have already gained? Life is not life abundant until it is lived abundantly. Nancy and Theresa are pretty accomplished cake makers, I have seen Theresa’s cakes and I have heard enough about Nancy’s to know they are pretty great. A cake in and of itself is great, but it never serves its purpose if you never eat it. What would be the point of me asking Nancy to make me a cake, if I was simply going to leave it on the table and look at it? While the cake looks beautiful, its function is for eating. What is the point of the church receiving life if it is simply going to set it on the table and look at it? Life is meant for living. The cake doesn’t taste good until it is in my mouth and I am savoring it. Life is not abundant until I am living it abundantly.
We need to as a church, not simply Oswego but all the church, sound off the alarms and wake up. We need to start living life and start sharing life. There is one peculiar thing about life that I think is very intentional in God’s design. Life is always more abundant when it involves others. The more people receiving and living it the more abundant and joyful it becomes. Let’s go out and seek to live life with the father, serving and blessing. Planting and watering. Let’s wake up and realize the winter lasts only as long spring holds back it’s rain. It only lasts as long as the church stays asleep.
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