We saw yesterday how Jesus said one goal mattered more than even day to day concerns like food and clothing: his kingdom.  He said, “seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.”  What does that mean?

First of all, it doesn’t mean seek only God’s kingdom as some spiritual distant concept and ignore the realities of day to day life.  Jesus doesn’t meant we should never eat or sleep, or that those things are inherently bad.   He says quite clearly, when we seek first the kingdom, “then all these will be added to you.”  He knows we need them, and wants to be the one to give them to us, but in their proper perspective.

For example, consider food.  We need food to live, and good food is an enjoyable part of living.  But that good thing can be made into an ultimate thing, and when that happens, it becomes a very bad thing.  When we elevate food to become more than it was meant to be, and it becomes our source of comfort, emotional stability, we are in both physical and spiritual danger.

Instead, Jesus challenges us to seek kingdom of God.  God is the creator sustainer of the whole world, including its food sources.  He created, called it good, and wants us to enjoy the world’s sustenance so we can do our daily work and enjoy his provision.  When we find our true satisfaction in God, then we can enjoy good things for what they are…we don’t have to overdo it, and we don’t have to hate it.  This applies to food, and any number of other good things God created.

In the Christianity 101 course, we sometimes illustrate this with a wagon wheel.  The hub is special – it’s particularly strong, and has a unique shape to do its job.  The spokes are meant to be all connected with, and delivering power from the hub to the rim.

If we try to remove the hub and replace it with a spoke, you know what happens, it all falls apart.  It’s the same with our lives.  We were made to have God at the center of our lives, providing meaning and purpose to the whole.  Unfortunately the human race tried to remove God from the center long ago, and have been trying to shove spokes in ever since, whether it be money, career, sexuality, power, or any other good thing God created that can be abused.  This is a good definition of sin: When we take good things, try to make them our ultimate good, and that’s ultimately really bad for us.

Question: Make a list of good things in our world that can be abused.

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting tonight. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - April 1, 2014

Tuesday - Study It - Reset Death

Hi, welcome to Redeem the Commute. I'm Ryan your host of the Daily Challenges. Here we are in nature. And that's because this week we're studying how following Jesus resets our views of death, and in fact, Jesus resets death itself. We saw yesterday how western culture ignores, delays, avoids, fears death. The result of ignoring it is that we are uninformed! We can be uninformed in a practical sense – having given and received no sense of one another’s funeral wishes, burial options, etc. until it’s too late. But we can be unprepared in a spiritual sense as well. Paul, one of first Christians leaders wrote this to the first church community in Thessalonica. 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 1 Thess 4:13-14 First, we should deal with what he calls the dead: those who are asleep. What might he be saying? There are various theories about just HOW death is like sleep for Christians, but Paul doesn’t go that far. We can simply note that he’s talking about those who have died, and says there is something akin to sleeping happening with them. Clearly Paul and these first Christians had expected Jesus to return, usher in the full kingdom, before any of them died. The “second coming” seemed that imminent. The letter was written sooner after Jesus’ death than many other letters, and they were clearly full of anticipation and excitement. Then some died, and you can imagine the questions and discouragement as they realized their expectations were out of line. So Paul tries to explain Christian death, and says they are essentially sleeping. Why is sleeping good news? Sleeping means time passes unawares. Sleeping is peaceful. Sleeping is part of life, not death. Those who have died in Christ are in many ways alive, but at peace, and waiting patiently for God’s kingdom. Sleeping is hardly worth grieving about! When they wake, they will be in the fullness of God’s kingdom of heaven. The Bible has lots of imagery about that, but the bottom line seems to be the presence of God. That’s what makes it worthwhile, not golden roads, clouds or cream cheese. Question: How do you respond to the idea of death being a sleeplike state? How is it different from other descriptions you’ve heard? Does it give you hope, or fear?

From Series: "Reset"

When our computers get bogged down and unmanageable, we know to hit a reset button to simply start over. Wouldn't a reset button be great in life? We know it would be complicated, with all our responsibilities and routines to consider, but imagine the freedom and refreshment of a new start in life! What would you do differently? What would you pay more attention to, and what would you ignore? How would you avoid getting bogged down and broken again? The great news is, in coming to earth as Jesus Christ, God has begun to "reset" our universe, our world, and even us. We're invited to start over with him, in what he calls his kingdom. We're invited to start a new life with a clean slate. What gets wiped clean, and lived differently, when God resets our lives? We'll explore how God resets these key areas of our lives: Reset: Goals Reset: Time Reset: Money Reset: Work Reset: Body & Food Reset: Sex & Marriage Reset: Family Reset: Compassion Reset: Nature Reset: Society Reset: Death Join us for the next several weeks, and invite God to reset your life.

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