Imputed to whom?

Middle Creek Church, TN

SIN:

• Missing the mark – aiming for God’s best and falling somewhere outside the bull’s-eye.
• Lacking a governing principle or power – a governor on a motor restricts it from going past a certain point. 
• An indwelling fear of coming before God – replaced through the cross by and indwelling spirit directing us to come speedily before God.
• The course or action that leads to the condition of sin – that condition being a constant spiritual dying or downward spiral, without the ability to stop it.
• Trespass – to be in places restricted to us.
• Prison of guilt- held guilty, awaiting the death penalty.
• Driving in reverse – going away from God’s best.
• Continual presence of a domineering negative force in our life – as opposed to individual acts, (should be dealt with as such.)
• Continual practice of submitting to the sin nature – A state of constant backwardness.
• A condition, resulting from random acts –  a state of spiritual illness.
• A tendency toward death – not hearing the admonition to “Choose Life.”
• Against men and God – away from relationships and emotional commitments.
• Against one’s own body – that which tears down the place where life resides.
• A condition of our past – having sinned already, it abides in our inner being, like an inner tattoo.
• Indebted – in need of a legal remedy.
• Inner nature leading to out ward offensive acts – first the nature that leads to the acts, not the acts to the nature.
• Lawlessness – self driven.

Sin is not singular acts alone, but a nature that leads to performance of sinful acts, which leaves us in a state of spiritual illness, which tends to an inner death.  No amount of trying to avoid the individual acts can fix the sinful nature, or heal from the effects of constant sin, which has eroded our body, mind and soul in the past.  It is a life issue, a legal issue and a supernatural issue. 

Psalm 32: 1-2

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Transgression – illegal act for which a “ticket” may be written.

Imputation – Layed to one’s charge, charged on one’s account, reckoned as your possession. 

In the years from Adam to Sinai, there was no imputation of transgression.  No breaking of the law could be laid to the account of individuals, because there was no law.  The law was of conscience, which guided one to know either you served God, or you didn’t.  Sin was recognized as a place in ones character, which reckoned you sold yourself to God’s ways, or to man’s ways. If you belonged to God, God would not charge you with or impute to you iniquity, because He was responsible for your “ticket.”  They clearly understood that sin was a condition of man’s inner self, and that God only could redeem the Sinner - pay the price for failing to serve God.  It was much simpler than when the Israelites demanded “laws” to externalize their sin condition.  They failed to understand that it is not the acts, but the condition that God seeks to resolve.

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You are Holy, dear Lord.  I ask that you lay no charge to my account, because of my sinful nature, based on the fact that my sin was imputed to you on the cross.  I thank you for paying the price on my behalf.  And I receive this gift, with the greatest of Praise for your Name. AMEN



A Garden of Good Things

 The Garden is all about Rebirth, Renewal, Regeneration. The Cross is merely a picture of the same. It is most appropraiate that we celebrate Easter in the spring, because Christ's death, buriel and resurrection speak loudly to the way God created life to go on. When Christ arose, people didn't immediately recognize him in his new form. He had to convince them of his presence.  He said, "I have not yet come into my glory." He was like the new growth emerging from the ground. If we know a plant well, we will recognize it if we look closely as it emerges from the earth. But we would not recognize it as well as if it were in full bloom. In the days to come these hiacinths will become splendid in their full color and form. For now, it is not so easy to know them.  Jesus had yet to return to His Father, which would be the real glory for him. His work was complete only when he returned to stand at the right hand of the Father, and take his position in Glory. He would not be "in full bloom" before he stood on the golden foundations of Heaven.
Nothing in the Biblecal stories is idle talk.  We sometimes don't immediately recognize the true reason why a certain part of a story is included in the whole of the story, until we see the picture God is painting for us.  Jesus prayed in a garden for a reason. It was to set the stage for a "type" or image of a spiritual principle.  One of the priniples of life was repeatedly used by Jesus in his teachings. It was the cylce of plants across the seasons. Over and over he referenced some element of that cycle to make a point. He was trying to help us understand that there were comparisons to be made between the birth, life, death and resurrection and ascenssion of his existance on earth to the growth cycle.  And his whole point would be that he came to give new life - a promise of rising from whatever has taken you to your lowest place, has buried you by the effects of sin, is only the earth from which you will rise to newness. 
I am so thankful for the picture, and I belive that baptism should reflect that image as well. It is why I believe in full emersion baptism. 
Lord thank you for painting the pictures, and giving us "types" like fingerprints to be able to identify the truth. Thank you for new llife. Bless us today with your regenerating power. Loving you with all my heart. AMEN

Jesus refered to himself in comparisons to so many elements of his creation ~ light, wind, water for example.  He refered to life as being like a flower, and fig trees.  He spoke of harvests and shepherding. He was able to make his points by making reference to the things in the everyday lives of the people he ministered to.  I have always loved that he prayed in a garden.  I am always taken to a place of feeling the oneness I have with him, when I am doing something gardeny.  We are taking down the old things in our yard.  Helped along by circumstances, my swing was leaning, my arbor was sagging, my vines are overtaking everything, and the stepping stones are  hidden under the overgrowth somewhere.  I had already pulled the little figurines and decorations from the garden last fall, and stored them.  But what we were facing, this year, was a complete clean up and start over...or so I thought. 
We had already removed the old swing set which had belonged to Dakota.  But my wooden swing, had to be taken apart. I dragged the timbers as Jimmy deconstructed it, to where the children's swing had been. I made a back drop for what was about to become my new Bird feeder station, and outdoor photo studio.  Wanting to use what we had as much as possible, I began to place the broken tree limbs which were beginning to be covered with mushrooms in strategic places, as if they had been laying there all along.  I took the concrete urns from MOM's, which I will fill with flowers in her memory this year, and placed them like she would have.  I pulled the table I had made from wood recycled from the old deck repair to one end.  I rearraged the stepping stones we rescued from other old paths no longer used in the yard.  Jimmy made me a flat surface feeder and raised it a few inches off the ground. I lay a limb in front to camoflouge the edges of the board and make it more natural.  I placed the statuary around in nooks that had been created with the arrangement.  Then I placed seed in the crevaces of knot holes in the logs, and anywhere that I thought birds would feel sucure enough to come and feed.  I stood a long limb against the tree and hung one of the wind chimes and a little bird house that Dakota gave me on it.  I put up two logs, standing them on end, on the table, and set the birdhouse, that had come off a standing peice of decor my sister had made years ago, on top. The stand had rotted away, but the birdhouse still was solid.
When I though it was acceptable, I went to my hiding place and pulled up my camera to see if the angles of things were photo ready.  And then....I got up before dawn to be in hiding before the birds awakened.  I adjusted cameras to the best picture I could take in minimal light that would be easy to adjust as the light became brighter, and I sat and waited.
At first, there was nothing but a bold Robin and a stubborn squirrel.  My favorite birds sung in the edges of the yard, nestled safely in the bushes.  And then it happened. Daylight approached and they began to cautiously emmerge.  I struggled to get focused on the birds in time to take clear shots. But I kept at it. The birds came to the seed and when the camera made sounds, they flew. Uggh.  So I moved back into the darkness of my hiding place a little further and readjusted the camera focal lengths, and then it happened.  First one shot, then two, then several.  Please help them not be afraid of me, I prayed.  Then silence. I searched about and found a cat sitting on the steps to the deck.  After shooing him off..I waited again....Finally, Brown Thrashers, Dark-Eyed Juncos, Song Sparrows, White-throated sparrows, Chickadees, Carolina Wrens, Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Towhees and Robins.  Much to my surprise, I was getting nice shots even in though it had begun to rain. 
All the while, I recalled that Jesus chose this atmosphere in which to pray.  I don't know if there were birds about.  In an olive grove they probably had ways to disuade birds from coming there. But He chose a place where he could hide away, close to his creation.  As I am able, there will be a couple of places where I can sit or kneel in my new garden spot.  I can imagine having little bits of inspiration dotted about. But for all the nostalgia of such places...we must always come away, able to face the world where we actually live.  Having this place gives my mind a resting spot.  But as Jesus often did, we arise from the place of prayer and we go live.  I have known of people who just felt like the more and longer they prayed the closer they might come to getting an answer from God.  I watched the little birds going about life, searching for food, selecting mates, guarding territories, and I knew that all of God's creation does not stress over whether God will answer their prayer for provision and care. They just attack life with their whole being. 
Jesus himself explained that God never forgets the sparrow, so how much more he will take care of me.  So I came away from my experience of being in the garden with him and his little birds, knowing how much he cared for me. As if he were there...
Oh yes, he still comes to the Garden to pray, with me. He IS always there.
When the scarey things of life come sneaking up on me, Lord, help me wisely fly away, until all is clear. But help me be about living life, and loving it.  With gusto, and purpose. Help me not to tarry too long in the garden...Life is for living. Thank you for that. AMEN