Week 23 Hope Inside and Out
God plants seeds through us in those we meet but sometimes He plants them in us too.
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”
Robert Louis Stevenson
Today’s Passage
18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
19‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
20‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
21‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
22‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
Revelation 3:18–22 (NASB95)
Background
Quotes are summarized from Wikipedia. Passage summaries are from Biblehub.com by Jay Smith, with permission. Scripture comes from LOGOS software under license.
Quote-Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Kidnapped (1893), and the poetry collection A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).
Born and educated in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from serious bronchial trouble for much of his life but continued to write prolifically and travel widely in defiance of his poor health. As a young man, he mixed in London literary circles, receiving encouragement from Sidney Colvin, Andrew Lang, Edmund Gosse, Leslie Stephen and W. E. Henley, the last of whom may have provided the model for Long John Silver in Treasure Island. In 1890 he settled in Samoa. He died of a stroke in his island home in 1894 at age 44.
A celebrity in his lifetime, Stevenson's critical reputation has fluctuated since his death, although today his works are held in general acclaim. In 2018 he was ranked just behind Charles Dickens as the 26th-most-translated author in the world.
Passage-The literary genres of the book of Revelation are an Apocalypse, a Prophecy, and an Epistle (or Letter). The Disciple/Apostle John, who followed Jesus Christ and witnessed His crucifixion, authored it.
John wrote Revelation while a prisoner on the Island of Patmos, approximately 85-95 A.D. Its purpose is to give encouragement and hope for all Christians to continue watching for the return and triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ. It also is to warn of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure on that Last Day.
Opening Statement
The thorns of the world work hard to choke out the word of hope sown by God. We do a good thing when we weed out those thorns in our lives, but we need to be careful not to toss those weeds onto someone else’s garden patch too.
Ask: When planting a garden is it reasonable to expect carrots to grow if I never open the seed packet?
Point: No.
Ask: In the Parable of the Sower, what are the seeds being sown?
Point: The Word of God. Please read the following:
18“Hear then the parable of the sower.
19“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
Matthew 13:18–19 (NASB95)
Ask: If the words of God are the seeds, what is the "seed packet" that must first be opened to plant the seeds?
Point: The Bible. Please read the following:
14You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:14–17 (NASB95)
Ask: What does opening the Bible have to do with Today’s Passage?
Point: Please re-read verse 18:
18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Revelation 3:18 (NASB95)
Ask: Where in verse 18 do you see an analogy to seeds being the Word of God and opening the Bible?
Point: In obtaining the valuable truth about the world, life, and how to live from Jesus. Please read the following:
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
7“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
John 14:6–7 (NASB95)
Ask: Why does verse 19 of Today’s Passage suggest punishment from Jesus to people if He loves them?
Point: Because He wants those He loves to move away from the things He does not like. Please re-read verse 19:
19‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.
Revelation 3:19 (NASB95)
Ask: Why should those Jesus loves repent of those things He does not like?
Point: Because He intends the people He likes to be examples of what He likes to other people who need to be led to Him. Please read the following:
14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:14–16 (NASB95)
Ask: In verse 21 Jesus suggests those He loves need to overcome something in order to receive the reward of sitting down with Him. How does verse 20 answer the question of what we need to overcome?
Point: We need to open the door for Jesus to enter our lives, sit down with us, and begin to teach us His ways.
Ask: What is the door we, or anyone else, needs to open so Jesus can enter our lives, sit with us, and us with Him?
Point: Whatever the barrier to having faith in Christ is, that's the door, the obstacle to be overcome to enter into His rest. Please read the following:
14But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled,
15but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
16and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
1 Peter 3:14–16 (NASB95)
Ask: How do we being ready to explain our faith and why it gives us hope help remove the barrier and lead someone else to Jesus?
Point: Because we might be the only “seed packet” someone else ever opens.
Closing Statement
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We are the church. We are the sowers of hope in the garden of the hearts in others. It is highly unfair for us to look at other people around us and expect them to tolerate or understand our faith if we’ve never explained why we have it in the first place. It’s like going to the garden looking for sprouted carrots but having never planted the seeds in the first place. None of us individually can “go into all of the world” by ourselves, but we can go into our little corner of the world. Perhaps that’s all God needs of us in the end is our effort in our portion of His creation.
Tasks for the Week
Task 1 Consider whether the door to your house is open or closed and whether or not Jesus is outside or inside.
Task 2 Based on what you decided from Task 1, consider next steps to be taken from where you’ve determined you are to where the Holy Spirit might want you to go.
Task 3 Write down three things you consider to be immediate “next steps” along God’s path for your life.
Task 4 Write down a list of all the barriers you see to immediately begin acting on those next steps.
Task 5 Spend this week thinking about how you can “overcome” your barriers so that you will be granted permission, “…to sit down with Me on My throne.”
Definitions
All definitions come from Dictionary.com
All Greek entries are from James Strong as listed in the LOGOS software attributed as WORDSearch 2020
Reasonable
[ree-zuh-nuh-buhl]
adjective
1. agreeable to reason or sound judgment; logical.
a reasonable choice for chairman.
Synonyms: wise, judicious, intelligent, equitable
2. not exceeding the limit prescribed by reason; not excessive.
reasonable terms.
Synonyms: just, fair, equitable
3. moderate, especially in price; not expensive.
The coat was reasonable but not cheap.
4. endowed with reason.
5. capable of rational behavior, decision, etc.
Analogy
[uh-nal-uh-jee]
noun
1. a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based.
the analogy between the heart and a pump.
Synonyms: affinity, similitude, resemblance, likeness, comparison
2. similarity or comparability.
I see no analogy between your problem and mine.
Synonyms: correspondence
3. Biology. an analogous relationship.
4. Linguistics.
1. the process by which words or phrases are created or re-formed according to existing patterns in the language, as when shoon was re-formed as shoes, when -ize is added to nouns like winter to form verbs, or when a child says foots for feet.
2. a form resulting from such a process.
5. Logic. a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.