2630AFC072426 – Going After the Good Stuff ← PODCAST LINK😊

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1 Kings 3:9 – (GNT) [1] ⁹ So give me the wisdom I need to rule wer people with justice and to know the difference between good and evil. Otherwise, how would I ever be able to rule this great people of wers?

Psalm 119:72 –(GNT) –
⁷² The law that we gave means more to me
       than all the money in the world.

Romans 8:28-30 (GNT) – ²⁸ We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose. ²⁹ Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers. ³⁰ And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.

Matthew 13:44-50 – Three Parables

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; ⁴⁶ on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

One Wonderful Thing about being a Christian

One of the most wonderful things about living a Christian life is that it is a life based on Hope. We are given the assurance of eternal life with God when we become believers. Sometimes that's hard to believe because it seems so intangible. Not only is it difficult to imagine living forever, but also it is difficult to imagine living without worry, or pain, or fear, or (best of all) without sin. I think that last bit is the part I most look forward to when I contemplate eternal life. Somewhere in me there is a hope which cannot be extinguished, a hope that says, "We know it's true, somehow, that God Loves we enough to create we in his image and that includes everlasting life." We've commented many times in the recent past about the absolute fact that every human soul is predestined for eternal life – YOLO-F – all of us are going to live forever, because that is what God has ordained in his Irreproachable Wisdom and through his creative power. Where we spend eternity is something we really need to think about. If we're going to live forever, which of the two possible choices do we prefer? Here's the thing: We get to choose.

There are some pretty clear guidelines about making that choice. In today's Key Verse from The Apostle Paul it says all things work together for good for those who Love God. That sounds great, doesn't it? I Love God, so I'm all set, right? But what do we do when things are not working together for good? Among the people reading this today are folks who are desperately ill, or in a deep financial crisis. Perhaps there are others who seem to be "doing OK," but their marriage is falling apart, or their addictions are tearing apart everything they love. There may be others who work night and day to support their family, but they just never catch a break. Is this what the Apostle Paul means by saying all things work together for good? If we're going through those kinds of trials, we're probably feeling miserable, and overwhelmed by what God seems to expect of us. Why does he keep calling us to do that which is not only painful but also seemingly impossible? If we Love him, shouldn't things be good? Here's another Golden Oldie to partially answer that question:

With God, it's always good in the end. If it isn't good yet, it isn't the end yet.

It is the choosing we usually bungle. Let me demonstrate with today’s parables. A man is working in someone else’s field. He finds a box of cash. He thinks to himself, “Gracious! This must be stolen!” And so he buries it and never goes back again. A man collects pearls. He finds one that’s really expensive, the kind he’s always wanted. He decides he’ll get in trouble with his wife if he spends that much money and he walks away without buying it. A farmer discovers there are weeds in his field of wheat. He starts pulling them out immediately, and in the process ruins about 30% of his crop by pulling up the wheat along with the weeds. A bunch of guys went net fishing. They got a pretty big haul. As they pulled it into the boat they saw a green sea turtle in the net. They let go of the net, and all the fish, and the turtle, and headed back to the harbor so they wouldn’t get in trouble for catching the turtle.

Now, some of us might say, "Oh, dear, what are we going to do about that? There's a purpose for all this misery? And what does it mean to be among those who are called? That sounds suspiciously like predestination to me!" That's certainly something to think about, isn't it? How do we deal with the idea of "predestination?" It's an important question because the term appears in at least four passages of Scripture: Acts 4:23-28, Romans 8:28-30, 1 Corinthians 2:7, and Ephesians 1:3-12. (Y’all really should click on those and see what they say. Many Christians – and non-Christians, too – just ignore those passages; that's not a wise thing to do. Just read'em.) Now, I'm not going to set aside millennia of theology by saying, "That's not important." Of course it's important because we know that God planned everything and that his plans always work better than our plans because our plans are imperfect and his are not. Here are a couple of easy examples.

The Plan for Salvation

From the instant God spoke the first "Let there be" command, God had a plan for salvation; that plan is still working. We are part of that plan. Everything that goes on in the universe was, and is, and will be, something planned by and for God. Salvation has to be part of the plan because the potential for sin was also part of the plan. Once that potential became a reality, the rest of the plan fell into place. A curious reader might ask, “So if God knew Adam would sin, why didn't he just stop him?” Well, we know the answer, right? Without the necessity for salvation, we wouldn't be here now. The deeper question is, "Why did God allow sin? Here comes that other mysterious doctrine: Free Will. God is not going to force us to Love him. He predestined us to Love him by creating us in his image; but he allows us not to Love him. Oh, no; now someone is thinking, "God must think I don't Love him well enough for him to make my life good." Well, that's not quite right, either.

When we think about what we mean when we say, "life is good," we think it means we've got it made. Everything's going to be peachy, so enjoy the ride. It's all God's will. Don't worry, be happy. Again, that's not the way it works, and it's not really what is meant by "works together for good."

The GOOD is being conformed to the image of his Son

If we clicked on those links I asked us to read, we will recognize this passage from Romans 8:28-30: ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family [adelphos]. The GOOD is being conformed to the image of his Son – it is to be like Jesus, to be with Jesus, to be eternally alive for Jesus and that "eternally" began the moment we were conceived in the womb. At that time, he chose us to be like him. (And take note here that Paul used past tense to describe future glory. He's saying "It's as good as done!" We only must choose to be conformed to Jesus' image, to claim the Gift made for us.) Too often too many of us choose to be unlike him! I have to admit, my life is often uncomfortable, and I make others around me miserable by grumbling, moaning, and groaning about it; but my life is nowhere near as difficult as billions of others in this world. On a scale from 1 to 10, my present "suffering" is in the .000x range. However, my future is good because day by day I choose to be conformed to the image of his Son. And y’all are correct in pointing out that I'm not all that hot at that job either. I'm still a sinner, but I'm a redeemed sinner. God – in Christ Jesus – redeems my bad choices. I want to take a quick look at the Key Verse from the Gospel

Matthew 13:47-50 – ⁴⁷ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's going to happen like that. I heard the Gospel call, and I answered. (I hope we will let me share with we again how that came about by reading Aloha Friday Message – August 12, 2011 – Would you get that call, please?) Your life, my life, our lives, the lives of the people all around the world who are suffering horrendous persecution, war, and all manner of evil – all of us can choose to be conformed to the image of his Son, and that is how everything that happens fits into a pattern for good. It is not the "good" the World expects.

The World is not conformed to the image of Christ. Consider this nugget from The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:12-16 – ¹² Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. ¹³ And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. ¹⁴ Those who are unspiritual* do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
*The unchanged man without the Holy Spirit – "natural" man, the sensuous human nature with its subjection to appetite and passion.

The gift of God's Love is constantly set before us, constantly available to us, constantly accessible for us to reclaim even after we have spurned it. The call to receive the gift is unending and cannot be denied because the gift is unending. If we look at that message from 2011, we'll see this verse: Romans 11:29 – ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. That means the calling and the gifts are final, unalterable, permanent, set in stone …unless of course we decide not to answer the Call or not to accept the Gift. Here is the ending of that post from 2011:

However, if you heard the call and accepted the gifts, you are happy with your life because “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who Love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NASB) And what is his purpose? Belovéd,, it is simply to be able to spend all eternity with you, one of his all-time favorite bits of creation, so that your Joy will be complete.

Now, isn't that Good? His purpose, the one to which we are called, is for HIM to enjoy our presence while we enjoy his, together, always and all ways. Think about it. While you do that, I strongly recommend we read 2 Peter 2. Click that link and think about it even more. We’ll find this bit of wisdom about choosing well in 2 Peter 2:4-9 which starts with ⁴ For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into Hell * and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment.
* Greek: Τάρταρος Tartaros – the deepest, darkest abyss located beneath the underworld, the realm of the damned, reserved for the most extreme offenders.

If indeed we want to be Going After the Good Stuff, we could follow King Solomon’s example and choose to choose wisely. As we know, later in his life he chose very, very poorly. God always gives us what we ask for, and – as actions speak louder than words – how we act is how we are going to YOLO-F. Every choice goes with its reward – sometimes it costs us dearly, and sometimes it recompenses greatly. It has been that way in the Absolutely Perfect Plan from the instant God spoke the first "Let there be" command. It’s my choice, your choice, our choice: God or Satan, obedience or rebellion, Heaven or Hell. The right choices result in this:  And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them. Adelphos, that’s gotta be better than Good! However, the Good Stuff we didn’t choose (← Music Link) – the wrong choices – cost Jesus his life so he could redeem us from the consequences of all those bad choices. Adelphos, what will we give and what will we choose? (← Music Link) I'm not kidding, and God isn’t either. Selah.

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Based in part on 1730AFC072617 – Think about it.