dry bones: Live!

This week we returned to the powerful metaphor of new birth, returning specifically to this passage in 1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead....

Last week we talked about new birth as a conversion of the imagination (see last week's recap). This week we focused on our need for God's power to change our lives (new birth and perpetual revivification). We began thinking of this theme when we reflected on the stirring poetry of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of the dry bones as our call to worship. In this passage Israel is pictured as so many dry bones. God speaks to the prophet and asks him if those bones can live. The prophet responds by putting the issue back to God - Lord you know if they can. Then the Lord challenges the prophet to prophesy to the dry bones to live; he does and they do. They become living people again as God breathes his life into them. The vision comes to a close with the promise of God to bring salvation to Israel just as surely as he gave life to the dry bones in the vision. The sign that is given by which Israel will know God has kept his promise to give them salvation is resurrection (Ezekiel 37:12....).

Ezekiel had no idea that the resurrection he was pointing to was the resurrection of the Son of God, but that is exactly what those who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus tell us again and again in the New Testament. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:19-20 that the same power of God that brought back Jesus from the dead is now at our disposal as we live into and participate in the new life of Jesus Christ. This is the same mysterious truth that Peter is telling us using the metaphor of new birth; we are given new birth THROUGH the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (see passage above).

We concluded our time together on Sunday by asking ourselves: so what? The metaphor of new birth is powerful and stirring and can move us like Ezekiel to have hope where we have lost hope or perhaps never had it all. But in order for this good news to revivify us we need to "live into" the power of Jesus' resurrection. But how does one "live into" the power of Jesus' resurrection? I suggest we need a pattern to follow, similar to a pattern a dressmaker uses to sew a dress, or what a woodworker uses to cut her wood into the pieces that will become a beautiful new cabinet. The pattern given in Scripture that we are to live our lives by - in all things - is the same pattern by which Jesus lived his life: Philippians 2:5.... "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.....". When we live according to this pattern we are not trying to imitate Jesus in a wooden way; rather, this pattern we are called to live into is a pattern we can participate in through the power of the Holy Spirit, as we participate in the very life of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Living into Jesus' pattern of self-giving love (life in the form of a slave) = living into his resurrection life, bringing our lives into the power of the new birth, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Application:
Here is what it might look like in the mundane moments of our lives. Let's say you or I are struggling with selfishness towards our friends or loved ones, or lust is threatening to capture our imagination and displace the affections of our hearts, or we don't have patience towards our children. Whatever the temptation may be, the pattern we are to live into is the same.

* confess to God that we are powerless in our own lives and patterns of selfishness to resist the temptation
* prophesy (preach) to ourselves and to each other that God desires to give life to our dry bones which are powerless
* ask God to give us the power to live into the pattern of Jesus' life, death and resurrection - a pattern of tireless, self-giving love
* repent of the occasions when we do not do this as we should and ask God to draw us, in the joy of forgiveness, back into the pattern of Jesus' self-giving love


Discussion Questions:
1. Are you quick to confess your powerlessness to God? Under what circumstances are you more likely to confess your powerlessness before God?
2. Do you place yourself in a position throughout your days to be "preached to" that God desires to give us newness of life? What does this look like for you, especially in the midst of a busy schedule?
3.Do you repent of the occasions when you do not ask God to help you with your struggles? Do you think God's grace is sufficient for you when you fail to avail yourself of his power? Does God ever give up on us? What role does God's grace and forgiveness play in moving us toward him when we have distanced ourselves?