Resurrection 12 Consistency, A Sign of rhe Resurrection Life

[HKHaugan]

Resurrection 12 Consistency, A Sign of the Resurrection Life

If you want to get a feel for the resurrected life of Jesus, get into His parables. When He says for instance, “Seek first the Kingdom of God,” it is His parables that get us started. In the first one we covered, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it became obvious that Jesus was a man of the heart who saw the hearts of all mankind in need. Beaten down by robbers and passed over by the religious establishment there were no kinsman who cared. But a rejected outsider comes along and sees to his rehabilitation and follows up on him. He was consistent in his care. Jesus is an outsider to the establishment who lives with His heart consistently open to us. It's not in His nature to pass by anyone. Through His Cross and Resurrection He has made Himself available at the crossroads of every choice and decision we have to make. He is not a one time Lord who appears one time and saves us. He is a consistent companion on the way wherever we go. He never leaves us. He is confidently consistent and consistently confident.

Jesus tells another parable that gives consistency a way to grow in us. It's the Parable of the Sower (Mt.13:1-23, Mk.4). A man scatters his seeds as he goes along. There are four places the seeds fall. A beaten path, rocky places with shallow soil, amidst thorns and on good soil. Let's look at those.

First, the beaten path. A beaten path is a beaten heart. The word is planted but the secular world has a way of using you up. The devil is in charge of that world. It takes spiritual understanding to offset his activity. Without consistent spiritual awareness you are a victim. You can become hardened to the degree that, while you are on on the way, your talents and abilities are stolen by exploiters sent by him, spirits of greed and lust for power and wealth. You only have to look at the lives of entertainers, executives, educators, or any of the burned out professionals whose goals were their secular dreams, ambitions and hopes. Disillusioned, depressed and repressed their visualized hardness is seen in facelifts, body coverings, political activism to make them feel good about themselves, hobbies and other activities that avoid facing personal reality.

Second, the rocky places. There may be joy in hearing the Word but the soil is shallow because a self driven heart is shallow. Shallow goals are what we expect to obtain immediately. It's called instant gratification. There's no consistency in a shallow view and use of the Word. It has to be studied, shared and practiced consistently. It is not 'pick-a-verse-and-live-by-it.' Scripture has themes, contexts and an overall insight into the life of Jesus that builds our relationship with Him. In the face of persecution and trouble the joy in spiritual awareness fades. If our goals are limited to getting personal peace, affluence and gaining recognition we'll find more rocks than soil. It's the long term work not the short term dream.

Third, the thorns. Life is great when everything goes well but the real test comes when things go south. Health, relational conflicts, job insecurity present the 'why me' question. When I received and believed why didn't I get what I was promised? False expectations are the thorns that prevent growth. Worry, anxiety about what I can't control and fear of uncertainty stab at us and rob us of consistency.

These first three threaten consistent spirituality. A beaten heart loses consistency especially when we fall into thorns and rocky places.

Fourth, the good soil. The one soil that makes the difference is attitude. Attitude is a heart thing. It's not what we dream and the goals we set. The good soil is our heart's consistent attitude to believe, to trust and to faithfully act them out. It's not what we know but who we believe in to know. It's not about compiling a resume but building character to evaluate, to choose and decide to act. The fertile ground is looking forward to every next moment as a moment to build belief for the mind, trust for the heart and faith for action. It's an attitude that does not let the world around you set its goals for you but the attitude the Lord Jesus has. It's about getting the knowledge of how to think spiritually and live spiritually. The reason is we are spiritual beings having a human experience. If we start with human experience then the world sets the agenda for us.

But if we are spiritual beings we start with getting our spirit in a spiritual groove in order to make spiritual decisions about who and what we are to become in the world. We assess and evaluate what we have been given in the way of talents and abilities. We seek spiritual guidance for the best suited education and place to live out what we discover. If we have spiritual security we are not going to be victims of people who exploit us for their personal goals of power and success. This is what it means to live in a consistent relationship with God in Jesus Christ who gets us to look forward to every next moment with spiritual expectation as to what He will lead us to in that every next moment. The heart attitude we carry makes life real not only in this world but in the life yet to come.

Jesus' summation of this kind of attitude is first to know Him and second, to look forward to who He is and what He is doing in every next moment. It's got nothing to do with recognition, raises, promotions, diplomas, medals, trophies and awards. If those are goals, the moment you get them, there is no life in them. They fade into dust. You may get a coupon, a free coke and even a free room but so what? You're alone until the next goal is held in front of you and the realization of fading ability comes with an edge of fear that you can't do it again. Then all you were promised by the world is not there.

But if your every next moment is lived spiritually those material momentoes may just be stepping stones along the way that the Lord has provided to let you know He has been in charge the whole time. He's fulfilling you, that is, filling you full. Seeing things in a spiritual context is to so broaden your base of action that awards makes no difference. Seeing life in a consistent spiritual context is to know you are being led personally and relationally by the One, Holy, Right and relational God. That's the award and reward moving forward. He is the goal that never ends.

We started with the word consistency. It is a quality that marked Jesus' life and is the heart of how He went about from day to day. It is His consistency He passes on to us when we let His Spirit move us. Part of our sin is our inconsistency. Release it to Him and He remakes it in us to be a witness to how He moves us to gain it through prayer, through study, through sharing, through making our selves available, through giving our testimony and basically to be consistent in our thinking spiritually, relating spiritually and looking forward.

Sin wants to reverse consistency into standing still, being aloof, looking for instant gratification, letting others shape our attitudes and opinions, having a safe and certain way to live that requires no effort. The consistency of Jesus was expressed in His darkest moments when He was praying in the Garden and saying to His sleeping disciples, “Could you men not keep watch with me even one hour (Mt.26:40)?” Watching spiritually is our calling. Consistency is the key. Jesus followed that call with these words, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing but the body is weak (Mt.26:41).” Being spiritually alert in mind, heart and spirit takes consistency, Jesus being the source. That's how He lived.