NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

Jesus quoted from Isaiah 61 when He defined His mission on earth:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61.1–3)

Jesus ended His quote with “to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor” and did not mention the day of vengeance, but the context continues and fits the ministry of Jesus all the way down to at least verse 9. In verse 8, God says, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them,” which He has done through the work of Christ.

This text overflows blessing to God’s people! Not only is there much about releasing from bondage, healing the broken, and comforting mourners, but God replaces the evil things with wonderful things—He removes the ashes and puts a headdress on; He takes away the faint spirit and gives a garment of praise.

Verse 4 says, “They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.” What an awesome picture! I see families torn apart by sin and selfishness and corruption, and God heals the wounds and builds them back into a happy, loving group that serves one another. I see weeds pulled up, gardens cultivated, broken windows and doors repaired, new tables laden with food, smiling faces, satisfied people. God heals generational wounds.

I need God to pull out the weeds from my heart renovate my life. Move out the old man and move in the Holy Spirit.  This He does through Jesus Christ!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 17–19).

Newton’s Laws of Motion teach us that objects move only when force is applied to them. We live in a world of many forces, such as gravity and friction, slowing and stopping moving objects. If I throw a frisbee as hard as I can, it may fly a long way, but gravity and wind resistance will slow it down and eventually bring it to the earth where it will come to a state of rest. Someone must pick the frisbee back up and hurl it again to get it to fly once more.

Our three Laws of Thermodynamics teach us the amount of energy in the universe remains constant, but it changes from one form of energy to another. It takes work (powered by some form of energy) to create heat (another form of energy). In my house, it takes work to make dinner, and dinner results in dirty dishes piled up beside the sink. The food we eat gives us energy to do work. Should we spend some of that energy cleaning the dishes? It takes work to keep the kitchen clean.

This world tends towards disorder. It takes a lot of work and energy to keep things organized, dishes cleaned and put away, clothes washed, house repaired, lawn picked up and mowed, garden weeded, car engines oiled, etc.

God started this earth with his own work. His power started everything and now sustains all processes that are going on, which is awesome! At the center of our Solar System he placed a yellow dwarf star we call the Sun to provide the energy (via light and heat) our world uses to survive.

These physical processes astonish and often baffle us, but they also reflect spiritual reality. It takes work to increase in faith and produce the fruit of Christ’s Kingdom.

Paul says we should walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph. 4.1), and he tells us the Christian walk is a new life in Christ. We once walked like the nations around us, in the futility of our minds. Their minds are dark, they are ignorant of God’s ways, and their hearts are hard (Eph. 4.17–18).

Indeed, without some form of spiritual energy to raise him up, everyone falls, as spiritual forces of evil pull him downward and stop any forward movement. He finds himself at the bottom of a bottle, in a dark pit, in a depression. It takes work and energy to rise and move forward, but where can he get that energy?

The world says to pull that energy from inside yourself. Be the truest you that you can be. Be authentic. You do you. Love yourself. You are powerful. You are beautiful. You are wise.

Funny thing is, we are none of those things by ourselves and certainly not while under the influence of the spiritual forces of darkness. While we buy the fiction (lie) that we have a well of personal energy deep within our own breast, we will never find the strength to rise and move forward. Our power and energy come from the same source as our Sun. We don’t worship the Sun; we worship the One who lit the Sun on fire. As the Sun powers the earth and everything in it, so our Lord powers our souls and lights the fires of our lives.

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7.38–39)

The Holy Spirit empowers us to not only have life in ourselves but to have that life flow out from us to affect others around us!

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15.4–5)

The only way to bear spiritual fruit is to be connected securely to the vine, Jesus Christ. He provides the power and energy for us to do any good work.

It takes work to clean up messy lives like ours. It takes energy to walk each day in the Spirit. It takes power to fight against the schemes of the devil. Praise the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit who supply us constantly with the spiritual energy to do God’s work and keep walking in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called!