Affliction to Affection
Revelation 21:3-5 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
Revelation 2-3 deals with the seven churches of Asia. Five of the seven churches get rebuked by Jesus for several things that they are doing wrong. Smyrna and Philadelphia are the only two that escape rebuke. Smyrna was known to be under much affliction (like covid19). Philadelphia was known to have much affection (brotherly love).
What if the New Testament church as we know it today could come out of this “affliction” and straight into “affection”? Love like we’ve never seen before!
The universal church functions at its best under supreme affliction or saturated in supernatural affection.
I think we can make the switch from affliction to affection, but not by natural means.
An old Kentucky mule was invited to a race and lost. In fact, he came in dead last! So he went back home and trained harder, ate good nutritious alfalfa, and switched from whole to crimped oats. A few months later another invite came, an invitation to take place in one of the largest races in the world. He couldn’t have been better prepared!
When the gunshot rang out on the morning of the race, he couldn’t believe himself. How fast he came out of the gate! How lean he felt as his muscles responded! He could already see himself in the winner’s circle with those roses around his neck! However, his pride quickly vanished as he fell to the back of the pack. Soon enough he stopped and just sat down on the track. He realized two things— he was at the halfway point while the others were on the final stretch. The biggest realization was the fact that he was the only mule in a race made for horses. Consequently, this is not what he was born to do!
Although this is a human race, we were not born to run in this race "set before us" without some outside help.
To participate in the race “set before us”, we are prequalified by someone else.
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
All of this is incredibly true, but keeping your eyes on Jesus means more than a glance His way! We often say to people who we think have a bad idea, “think again”. Jesus adds a little to that——-
John 3:3-7, 16-21 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
Twice Nicodemus asks the same question: He approaches Jesus with respect to his teaching, not his deity. So he keeps asking, “But how?”
The race for life cannot be won with analytical reasoning but with full and complete regeneration.
You can’t win a horse’s race if you were born into a mule’s body!
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[g] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
In a sense, you could say that Nicodemus is a mule in a horse’s world.
Wouldn’t you like to know that everything you do is what “God wants”? The only way that can happen is for you to start over fresh, be born again.
In Galatians 5:19-20, Paul gives us a comparison: the works of the flesh/the fruit of the spirit. Which one sounds easiest? Of course... the one you were “born” to do, a natural outcropping of the new you— the fruit is FRESH!
Around harvest time for my pear tree in August, there is no work or pruning to do. The fruit just falls off! Wouldn’t you like YOUR LIFE to be that way? The new you starts with new birth.
We have to go from believing to receiving, from praying hands to receiving hands.
Acts 10:43 “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Acts 19:2 Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Can anything called new birth be anything but supernatural?
We cannot run this race without being born again, receiving what it takes to win— becoming supernaturally fit to go from affliction to affection!