The Chicken or the Egg? Mt. 13
by Reece Sherman
1. Age-Old Question
1.1. The oldest recorded reference to the childish conundrum goes back to a collection of essays and discussions by the Greek historian Mestrius Plutarchus, born in 46AD
1.2. if the chicken came from something else...
1.3. However, if you define a chicken egg
1.4. If the egg is = to breakfast
1.5. Now British scientists claim to have finally come up with the definitive answer: The chicken. The scientists found that a protein found only in a chicken's ovaries is necessary for the formation of the egg, according to the paper Wednesday. The egg can therefore only exist if it has been created inside a chicken.
1.6. Which come first, being or doing?
1.6.1. Does who you are determine what you do...or do your actions make you who you are?
2. Being
2.1. In Mt. 13, Jesus told a parable...
2.1.1. only thing that changes is the character of the soil
2.2. read explanation
2.3. We don't know whether Jesus was pointing to a man...
2.4. John MacArthur
2.4.1. 5 yr old boy...
2.4.1.1. Whether thrown by man, or...results would be same
2.5. It is not primarily talent, technique or tears...but reception/response of soil that determines the harvest
2.6. describe 4 soils
2.6.1. state of soil determines...therefore BEING comes first
2.7. Oswald Chambers
2.7.1. "It is not what a man does that is of final importance, but what he IS in what he DOES...Beware of Xian activities instead of Xian being...In the Xian life it is never 'Do, do' but 'Be, be' and I will do through you."
2.8. So busy...our inner life suffers
2.9. Martin Luther...Faith & works..."Good works do not make a man good but a good man will do good works,"
2.10. Therefore...BEING comes before DOING
3. Doing
3.1. If you want to be a basketball player...you play basketball...doing...practicing...
3.2. Therefore what you DO determines Who You ARE
3.3. Matt.15:10
3.3.1. What you do effects who you are
3.4. Therefore, DOING comes first
3.5. John 15:14 "You are my friends, if you do what I command you."
3.6. So much of the Gospel pivots around the word "DO"...Sermon on the Mount
3.7. W. Wilson: "Character (or who you are), is produces in the great manufacture of daily duty"
3.8. What we DO makes us who we ARE
3.9. Therefore...DOING comes before BEING
4. A Balanced Spirituality
4.1. Wow!! There seems to be a contradiction.
4.2. Which come first? Well...neither...really...a case can be made for either.
4.3. There is a tension between the contemplative life of prayer and the active life of performing good deeds....a tension between being good and doing good...
4.4. We can see examples of both in the world...
4.5. Jesus said the mark of good soil is that it produces a good crop
4.6. Jesus calls us to a BALANCED SPIRITUALITY
5. KEEP YOUR HEART CLEAN, WHILE GETTING YOUR HANDS DIRTY
5.1. Work on your BEING
5.1.1. Drink deeply of the Spirit. Pray...etc. Who you ARE is important
5.2. What you DO is important
5.2.1. Serve God. Help others. Share...Gal 6:3-5
5.2.2. We all have things to do...Gifts..."If you've done it to the least..."