the Vine with Chris Green

The birth of Jesus Christ is the beginning of this new reality, heaven meets earth first in his person. The Kingdom that is coming breaks through in the night cry of a baby. His life, his teachings, his miracles, his sacrificial death on a cross, his resurrection his commissioning of his disciples, all of them the breaking in of this new reality, all of them glimpses of the kingdom that is here… but only in part. 

We’re leading our world the best that we can, but even with all our good will, knowledge, influence and wisdom combined over centuries, well, this is what we’ve done with the place. Somehow, despite the whole of human history and experience to prove that it isn’t possible, we still long for something that we haven’t seen yet.

‌Whether we realize it or not, we’re truly waiting for a kingdom we haven’t yet seen, we’re waiting for the king we were promised

God doesn't bless what the world prequalifies as worthy. Not one of us can get ourselves into the position to be blessed by God. God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong, what is foolish to shame the wise, what is insignificant and despised in the world, what’s viewed as nothing, “to bring to nothing what is viewed as something.” (1 Cor 1:27-28) God reached out to rest his hand of blessing and we all thought his hand was passing us by. But then he sent his Son into the world, sent him to live among us, sent him to die in our place. And God’s hand began to move, and the earth began to shake, and the veil in the temple was torn in two, and God crossed his hands, and the blessing due to God’s one and only Son, the firstborn over all creation, instead rested upon you.

Providence means God finely tuned the entire universe. He’s had the whole world in his hands from the very beginning. And providence means he’s still got the whole world in his hands, that nothing happens outside of his sight and outside of his governance. Just as all things are finely tuned in the universe, so is God even now finely tuning everything according to his plans. Joseph trusted in the providence of God, even when he could not see it. And ultimately, Joseph rejoiced in the providence of God, when God’s purposes were at last (partially) revealed.

We are so accustomed to doubting faith. What if we tried something different? What if we doubted our doubts instead? I want you to be like Pharaoh so that one day you can be like Joseph.‌ Pharaoh trusted the word that came from God enough to stake everything upon them. Joseph trusted God himself enough to stake everything upon Him

‌Joseph wasn't playing for short term gains. Joseph was playing the long game of moral integrity and courage, of walking with God in all his ways. His loving loyalty to God was not situational; he didn’t lay his loyalty to the side when the circumstances would have allowed it. Joseph played the long game of faithfulness, what some have called “a long obedience in the same direction”. Remember: 

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Have you ever been disappointed with God? Disappointment assumes that this is where the story ends, that everything significant that could happen has already happened and now this is the reality I have to live in. Disappointment stops reading in the middle of the story because it cannot see how what I once thought was true could somehow still be true in the middle of this dark night of the soul. But the word “yet” is a word of hope. Its an affirmation that even you cannot possibly see how this all ends. Its a word of hope that you don’t necessarily have to “feel”. But the more we say it, the more we acknowledge that the story isn’t over, that The pen is still in the author’s hands.

Like Joseph when we meet him in Genesis 37, your story is still being written. Even when disappointment has settled in and you can’t see a way forward. If you’ll look, you’ll see, the Lord is with you. Your story will be the story, not of your struggles alone, but of God’s faithfulness to fulfill all his promises.

On the journey into faith, through belonging and into belief, just what are we becoming along the way? The question is not if you are being formed. The question is whether or not you are paying attention to what's forming you. Paul speaks to his church in Philippians 1:1-11, telling them he prays that their love would grow in the knowledge of God and in moral discernment, so that they might be free to pursue that which is truly better, so that they would be free from sin that entangles them, and so that their life in Christ would bear much fruit in the world. 

"Only God could say what this new spirit

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

Imagine we’re all there at a table right in front of the pathway. And we’re all having a great time eating and serving and helping and talking. In fact, we’re having such a great time that more and more people are walking by and are stopping for a while because, well, who doesn’t want to have a great time? Everything is going well there at the entrance but then we remember, there’s a pathway. The pathway was given as a gift to us and it leads to even fuller and longer lasting pleasures than what we are experiencing now. Even as we walk the pathway, we’re told that there is an abundant life of joy and peace and strength and purpose and power. But we won’t experience any of that as long as we just hang out here by the entrance. We won’t get to the eternal life and home that’s been prepared for us by staring at the path. If we want it, we’ll have to walk it.

This is where the step of belief comes in. The step of belief is the step onto the pathway.

Jesus was compelled by a greater joy, greater than having friends, than building his movement, greater than full pews and vibrant programs. This greater joy was the joy of what was lost being found again, of the lost one coming home. He saw the world as lost. Jesus knew he had come to seek and save the lost and so, everywhere he went, in every way he could, he extended the invitation to everyone, “come home.”

How was Jesus moved by Joy?

• invested disproportionate energy in seeking outsiders

• served humbly, skillfully, giving of himself

• invited others to imagine his joy and to share in it

So what does it mean for us to be a place of belonging in Jesus’ name?

• a disproportionate amount of energy will have to be invested in others, especially outsiders

• a greater level of humility and service will have to be shared by all

• a greater imagination of heaven’s joy will have to be grasped