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CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
Ephesians 4:30 NRSV
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.
CONSIDER THIS . . .
Gravity works. It just does.
Sin holds an unfortunate gravity in our lives. It is the condition into which we are born and, without the intervention of the grace of God, it will be the condition we take to our graves. The gospel of Jesus Christ saves us from the penalty of sin, which is death. Though we are saved from the penalty of sin, without our active participation in the grace of God, we will continue to be caught in its gravity. Though sin no longer has power, we continue to grant it power by remaining in the gravitational pull of its orbit.
Though sin is an unfortunate reality in our lives, it needs no longer be the defining reality. The gospel of Jesus Christ not only delivers us from the penalty of sin but from its power. For this to be realized we will need a new center of gravity. If sin is no longer the center of gravity, then what is? Thanks for asking. The new center of gravity is the grace, love, and power of God in our lives. This has been Paul’s point from the third verse onward: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ” (Eph. 1:3). After ten verses of describing the new gravity Paul says this: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (v. 13 NRSV).
In our present text, Paul remembers this point and makes a sobering admonition: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.
We grieve the Holy Spirit when we allow ourselves to be held in sin’s gravity. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we continue to live as though nothing has changed. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we deny the power of God in our everyday lives.
The great obstacle in the way of the gospel today is not the unbelieving world. It is the nominal church. It is the millions of Christians who claim the name but have no game. It is hard to imagine the grief the Holy Spirit must feel almost constantly as a consequence.
What would it mean to bring joy to the Holy Spirit? It would begin with a recognition of the new possibilities that grace affords. If sin has indeed lost its power, we must no longer allow sin to frame the battle. Once we have been saved from sin we must begin to ask a new question: What have we been saved for? We have been saved for the profound love of God to flourish and bear much fruit in our lives for the glory of God and the sake of others. We have been saved for a life filled with all the fullness of God. We have been saved for the kind of life that is so powerful and good and beautiful that it would have never occurred to us to conceive of as even possible. And the truth? What was once impossible has now become gloriously possible.
Remember how Paul put it in verse 10 of chapter 2: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”?
So how do we realize and actualize this shifting of the center of gravity in our lives—from the problem of sin to the possibilities of the Spirit of God? It will not happen alone. We must band together with a few other believers. I know many of you are doing this while many more struggle to find a way. It’s okay. Don’t give up. The Holy Spirit is also the author of koinonia, which means “fellowship.” Let’s welcome the Spirit to bring koinonia into our lives.
PRAYER
Abba Father, we thank you for your Son, Jesus, who is the new and living way. Thank you for the Holy Spirit, who has sealed us in this way and who will order our steps if we let him. Make us aware of the seal of the Spirit in our lives. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
Have you ever asked God to attune your spirit to the seal of the Holy Spirit in your life? Today would be a good day to start.
How do you relate to the gravity illustration in today’s reflection and the idea of shifting the center of gravity in your life?
Think of a situation where you have grieved the Spirit of God in your life. Think of a situation where you have joyed the Spirit in your life.
SING
Today, we will sing “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” (hymn 92) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise.
P.S. Would you pray about sponsoring a day of the Wake-Up Call?
For a couple of weeks every spring, we open up the opportunity to our sowers to help underwrite/sponsor a day (or more) on the Wake-Up Call. As you know, we give the Wake-Up Call away. As you might imagine, it is a costly gift. The underwriting/sponsorship opportunity is another way we share in this work as a community of sowers. So here’s my ask—just prayerfully consider the invitation. No pressure whatsoever. All the sowing fun is here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
John David (J. D.) Walt Jr. is the Sower-in-Chief for Seedbed and the pastor of the Gillett Methodist Church in Gillett, Arkansas.
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4 Responses
To ignore the presence and direct inward leading of the risen Jesus is to grieve God the Holy Spirit. Don’t forget to remember what the living Jesus is doing right now!
Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” (Luke 22:19) Some churches call it The Lord’s Supper, some The Eucharist, and some Communion. When you consume the bread and the wine (or grape juice) don’t just remember what Jesus did in the past, let it remind you what Jesus is doing now! Learn to experience ongoing koinonia (the Greek word for humble, heart-to-heart fellowship with the living Jesus and with His daily disciples).
* Remember that Jesus is risen from the dead and living right now!
* Remember that He is present wherever you are and knows whatever you are doing.
* Remember that Jesus is speaking directly to you and that you can hear His voice.
* Remember that He wants to daily live in you and lead you from within.
* Remember that Jesus wants to fill you with the fruit of His Spirit and release His spiritual gifts in and through you.
* Remember to always surrender your will and your desires to Him and His will.
* Remember that Christ — literally living in you — is your hope, not only to cope with life, but to experience His glorious presence throughout each day.
* Remember that He wants to empower you to love everybody, even your enemies.
* Remember to never stop communing with the risen Jesus and with His humble obedient followers.
Communion isn’t just swallowing a tiny bit of bread and wine in a religious setting. It is ongoing heart-to-heart community built on the rock of direct revelation from God the Father showing you who God the Son really is.
Communion is humbly sharing your heart, your thoughts, your feelings, and your Spirit-prompted insights with other people and compassionately listening as they share theirs with you. To commune is to get and stay spiritually connected to Christ and to His faithful followers.
Always remember to focus on the risen Jesus. Listen to and obey what He is saying within you every moment! Consistently commune intimately with Christ.
(Learn to remember Christ and to literally commune with His presence. There’s a Christ-encounter group at Chile Burrito, 330 Franklin Road, Brentwood, Tennessee 37207. It meets every Saturday morning at 8:30. Come and commune with Jesus and with us.)
I have an unusual request today. The ministry I am involved with has a very important meeting tomorrow with the county planning Commissioners. It could make or break the future of this ministry so I am asking for prayer that these Commissioners will bote to let us proceed with our plans to build a Car Care facility to provide help to the people around us. The Wake-up Call has provided me great guidance and comfort and I would covet and cherish the prayers of all the sowers in this matter. God bless you all.
All of the verses please! Don’t insult the author or shortchange the listeners/singers.
O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing, v4: He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free….Charles Wesley.