Mustard Seed part 4
Ok, so I know that I've been focusing on faith as the mustard seed. And, to a little bit lesser extent, the Kingdom of God. But today I want to talk about US as that seed. And there are really two verses that I want to link together to (hopefully) make my point. The first one is 1 Peter 1:23, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Guys, a seed can only produce after its own kind. That's one of the laws of nature that God established when He created the heaven and earth. An apple seed can only produce apple trees. And apple trees can only produce apples. Our first birth (our natural birth) came from the corruptible seed of Adam and Eve. Which is why when they ate of the tree of death, we died. Which is why we needed a second death, and a new birth. That's what the cross (including Jesus' resurrection) accomplished. And that's how we got off the tree of death and onto (INTO) the Tree of Life. We didn't turn over a new leaf, we got an entirely new tree! Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Not just life as we knew it, but abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. Not Adam's life... but Jesus' life! By the word of God. Which is Jesus. Which is love. Love is the difference between life and death. If you know you are loved, you can love. And to live is to love. To love is to live. So if you know you are loved... you can live! Because you are born again. A new creature. A new creation. And remember, if the root is holy, the lump is holy. Jesus, the vine, can only produce after HIS own kind. And we are branches of that vine. That Tree of Life. Which brings me to my second verse: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1 John 3:9). Do you want to know what's funny about this verse? I NEVER hear it preached. Ever. Because most of what we hear at church these days is, "You better stop sinning or else." You know, "Get right or get left." Trying to scare people into whatever our culture thinks "holiness" is. But the truth of the matter is... sinning doesn't mean breaking the Law of Moses. We are not under the Law. We are under grace. Sin is unbelief. As simply as I can put it. And if you're born of God, and that incorruptible seed remains in you, then you cannot sin. Because a believer, by definition, cannot unbelieve. A believer CAN make mistakes. But hopefully he can also learn from those mistakes. More is learned from failure than success, right? And the only TRUE failure is when you fail to try. When you give up. See, maturity isn't about being that old WWF wrestler Mr. Perfect, who never messed up. Maturity is about the just man falling seven times and getting up every time. Loving people no matter what. No matter what mistakes THEY make, OR what mistakes YOU make. And think about this: We can't sin because God's seed remains in us. The incorruptible seed. The seed that always reproduces itself (Himself). So we don't have to worry about our mistakes. We don't have to worry about getting disqualified, or cast out. God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. So we have the time, and the opportunity to grow. Which is what seeds do. They grow. And then they produce fruit. An incorruptible seed produces fruit that lasts. A love that never fails!