Resurrection 14 Fever! Do You Have a Fever?

[HKHaugan]

Resurrection 14 Fever! Do You Have a Fever?

Folks, it's all about you. In a political season when the heat is turned up there's a virus that spreads across the land and fever results. The rhetoric flies about like bees around a disturbed hive, and it is so easy to be distracted by it all. But disciples of Jesus have a double calling in spite of the fever—-first, to look up and then to look around you. If you got the meaning of the medium being the message and that Jesus is the ultimate medium who is the ultimate message, it follows that when we receive Him into our hearts we become the medium carrying the message. He is the cure for any fever that throws us off track. How we are seen as disciples is not governed by what we do to make others think good about us but just the opposite. He is our focus so we want to make Him look good through us. It's who He directs us to be at any given moment that makes the difference which means to stand up and speak truth and be His truth in action. It's who Jesus is in our lives. He is the influence that makes us His magnets to feel the needs in the needy and point to Him as the One who meets them.

Yes, right now many people are suffering from political fever. But that will fade after an election. Don't forget, there are other fevers that we can suffer from. There is social fever in our need to fit in. There is our economic fever when we are vying for employment promotion or going through unemployment, financial fever, when we think if only we had more money and we center our worry on finances. There are health fevers, education fevers, class and status fevers. It seems there are always viruses of one kind or another that can cause those fevers. Viruses like ego, greed, lust, jealousy, envy, control to name a few. And there are the spirits that aggravate them. Viruses and their fevers can distract us and we lose our focus.

Again, being a Jesus person is to keep Him in focus. Being a magnet for Him is being His witness. When that happens He gets the glory and we get the blessing. If you read Chapters 3 and 4 of Paul's letter to the Colossian believers he offers three steps to being a magnetic person while you are on your way; the personal, relational and the 'on-the-way' world. Ch.3:1-17 specifies the personal, 3:18-4:1 the relational and 4:2-6 while we are on the way. When those three passages are studied and believed in the mind, trusted in the heart and practiced in action, you become the magnet. People are drawn to you and that magnetism is really the Holy Spirit at work to reveal Jesus alive within you.

Let's look at those three. What you will see as you go through these verses is the primary emphasis on the personal, vs.1-17, which is where the magnetism is built. First, the personal. You'll notice there are 17 verses for the re-gauging of your personal mind, heart and spirit. When you receive Jesus that's just the beginning of your spiritual life. It's your spiritual birth. Now you start the magnet process. It's called salvation, the ongoing growth of spiritual identity, building a passionate heart and a motivated spirit. These verses are what get you honest with God which means you will be honest with yourself. This sets you up for being able to stand for Jesus when you stand alone.

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him iin glory.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Second, the relational where seven verses build on the foundation. Here vs.18-25 reach into the lives of those closest to you. In this section you'll discover that your personal magnetism is practiced in a very local circumstance, family and employment. While there may be only 8 verses they are loaded with direct role specifics; wives, husbands, children, fathers, workers and bosses. What you do locally builds the confidence you carry into the world around you.

18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
Third, the world, your outer circles of people experience. Here is the broad scope of people you run into outside your family and work environment. Here five verses, vs.2-6, give us seven very succinct directives that complete a disciple’s work in the world: prayer, watchfulness, thankfulness, proclaiming, wisdom, opportunity and grace.

1Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. 3 At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— 4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. 6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

As you read the Chapter 3 the decrease in the number of verses (17-7-5) for each category, shows that the foundation of the heart in Christ is that upon which we relationally build our family, friends and the Body of Christ. This combination enables us to see the big picture, the Lord's global intent, to carry our faith locally in the part of the world we live in, while we are on the way each day. This is the magnetism, the charisma, the attraction of Jesus being sent out from His presence in our heart.

Like being caught in a cold draft, the present national political scene has bred an atmosphere vulnerable to spirits of fear, division, anger, manipulation, distrust, suspicion and aggression to make us feverish. Regardless of who and what human authority exists there is no one who can give security to the human heart but Jesus. Therefore there is no salvation through politics. We cannot let political fever overtake our God-consciousness For the discerning it is quite clear that the only answer to breathing and walking in our present political atmosphere is to think and act spiritually in Christ. The above passages arm us for any and all spiritual conditions. If we need more clarification of our spiritual environment Ephesians 6:10-18 is spot on. We don't wrestle with physical enemies but with the principalities and powers from the dark world. In Christ we are equipped with the means to combat all the hostile forces of evil. As John taught, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world (1Jn.4:4).”

Therefore, it's about our focus and its first responsibility, the mission He has blessed us with. We shift any and all the parameters of our experience to witness to Jesus who is the only One who can secure the heart and bring any society to stability and peace. The only real change in history that has benefited humanity has been through the changed hearts of the average person touched by Jesus. So don't let our vulnerability to sin open us to the fevers that surround us.

Societal change usually starts with the grass roots of ordinary anonymous people whose names will never be known in history books. That's you and me, disciples of Jesus. We are the measure of the future. Every next moment, that part of the world in which we live, is in our hands because it is really then, in Jesus' hands. If you have something better let me know. I know my heart was changed by Him. My mind is always lovingly outflanked by His. My spirit only finds rest in His Spirit. Keeping our focus on Him our roles as individuals, family people, workers, friends and citizens, find their completeness in Him.