THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL INCUBATION
Mt. 23:37; Lk. 13:34
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A man was at a large Starbucks in Los Angeles. He reached in his coat pockets and pulled out a tiny piano and a medium-size rat. The rat began to play the piano. A crowd gathered, amazed.
2. “That’s nothing,” the man said. He pulled out a frog, which began singing Italian opera pieces to the music of the piano. A film exec said, “I’ll pay you $800,000 for that frog.” “Ok,” said the man, and he made the transfer.
3. A bystander said, “You shouldn’t have sold the frog; you could’ve made $millions!” The man said, “No, that frog can’t sing! It’s the rat! He’s a ventriloquist!”
B. TEXT
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing” Mt. 23:37; Lk. 13:34.
C. THESIS
1. Tonight we’re going to look at the 21 day period between when chicks are born in an egg and the time they emerge as a chick ready to live in the real world.
2. We will see that the process of chick development closely resembles that of believers developing into the nature of Christ. There are a number of similarities: their beginning, the need for brooding, and their maturity empowering them to break out of their limitations.
3. The title of this message is “The Power of Spiritual Incubation.” The first parallel is:
I. BOTH BEGIN WITH THE EMBRYONIC STAGE
A. NEW LIFE ONLY THE BEGINNING
1. Both chickens and believers in Christ begin life as only partially developed – in the embryonic state.
2. When the chicks are still in their shells, they have been “born,” but they are still in an undeveloped state – they are more liquid than solid. Obviously they’re not ready for the realm they are destined for. Maturity has not been reached, only the earliest stages of development have begun.
3. So it is with the Christian. The “Life of God” in Jesus has been “planted” in the shell of your body. Being “born-again” is not the end/goal, but only the door or beginning of the development of the spiritual life. We still must be conformed to the Person of Jesus before we can enter the permanent “Life” (Heaven) God has destined us for.
4. So the new believer shouldn’t think that they’ve arrived, but that they are at the beginning of a process of transformation. Like the chick in the egg, we should be constantly changing and improving.
B. WE’RE NOT LIKE JESUS YET
1. THE SCRIPTURES DESCRIBE THE PROCESS
a. Rom. 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
2. Eph. 3:17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”; Col. 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This divine life (Seed of Christ) will grow up into Christ, if given the right attention and nutrients.
3. JESUS-LIFE IN BELIEVERS IS UNMISTAKABLE. As we become more like Christ, we become more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more patient, kinder, better, more gentle, more thoughtful, more self-controlled. If there’s no evidence of Jesus transforming a person’s life, then Jesus probably isn’t there.
4. ILLUSTRATION. The Silversmith’s Secret.
a. The Silversmith had a full-proof way of knowing when he had gotten all the dross out of the silver. What is his secret? The dross is all gone when he can see his face clearly in the molten silver!
b. When others can see Christ in us, that is good evidence that worldliness has been removed from us and His image has been stamped there!
5. Paul looked to outward evidence to determine the progress of the formation of Christ in us; Gal. 4:19, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you…”. Has Christ been formed in you? Is His nature of love and self-sacrifice visible in your life?
6. ILLUS. A beautiful Christian woman was asked the secret of her perfect complexion. She replied, “I use truth for my lips; for my voice, prayer; for my eyes, pity; for my hands, charity; for my figure, uprightness; and for my heart, love!”
II. BOTH REQUIRE THE BROODING PROCESS
A. WHAT BROODING ACCOMPLISHES
1. The development of baby chicks requires the “process of brooding.” The mother hen must sit on the eggs.
2. The mother hen’s presence does several things:
a. SAFEGUARDS. She safeguards the eggs. If a predator approaches them, she will attack them, beating them with her wings, jumping on them, and pecking them with her beak. So the Holy Spirit protects us by warning of impending dangers and temptations. “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” Ps. 91:1.
b. WARMS. She warms the eggs with her body. The eggs must be kept at a temperature near 100 degrees in order for them to continue to develop. As we stay under the brooding of the Holy Spirit, He keeps the fire of God’s love hot in our lives!
c. MOIST. The hen keeps the eggs moist. If an egg rolls out of the nest, it will become a bad egg, because it will dry out on the inside. As the hen sits on the eggs, she transmits some of her moisture to the chicks, even through the shells. Likewise, as we stay under the presence of the Holy Spirit, he imparts to us some of the living waters of His presence and of the Word, so we don’t become too dried out by the world.
d. LEARNS THE VOICE. As the chick develops, being very near his/her mother, they learn to distinguish their mother’s voice from all others. So do we, when we remain in Him (Jn. 15:7), we learn to hear & recognize His voice.
e. ROLLS THE EGGS OVER. Hens naturally roll the eggs over while brooding. Unturned eggs don’t develop correctly. (Snake eggs are NOT rolled over because the embryo is at the top and grows downward.) Man-made incubators all have egg rollers.
3. If an chicken egg does roll out of the nest, the hen will attempt to get it back into the nest, unless it has already become a bad egg. So the Holy Spirit attempts to woo us back into the nest if we get away from God.
B. DEVELOPMENT REQUIRES EXPOSURE TO JESUS
1. IT TAKES TIME. We live in a time with microwaves, fast-food, instant communications, high-speed internet, etc. We want everything right now. But growth into the image of Jesus requires time.
2. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” As we keep looking to Jesus, we are… “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” 2 Cor. 3:18.
3. We need to sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His word, like Mary. Moses stayed up on the mountain 40 days and nights and communed with God. The result was that Moses himself became so filled with God’s presence that his face glowed.
4. Commune (defined): “to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy, etc.; interchange thoughts or feelings.” “Communion” speaks of our glorious fellowship with God that fulfills the purpose of our existence.
Song, “Shut in with God;”
SHUT IN WITH GOD, IN THE SECRET PLACE,
THERE IN THE SPIRIT, BEHOLDING HIS FACE,
FINDING NEW POWER TO RUN IN THE RACE,
HOW I LONG TO BE SHUT IN WITH GOD!
How about you? Do you need to be shut in with God?
5. You can’t rush God’s invisible work inside us. It’s not accomplished by “doing” something, but by “being” in God’s presence. We need to submit to God’s brooding over us, close and personal. Jesus says, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” Mk. 6:31.
6. IT’S NOT ALWAYS COMFORTABLE TO BE IN THE BROODING STAGE. There is pressure from the hen’s weight, the eggs are rolled over and over, there’s a lot of heat.
7. Likewise, the Lord improves/ develops the divine life within us by interaction with our environment. We must be tried and tested in each area (turned over). Temptations must come to expose weaknesses. That’s why discipleship is necessary – systematic training to become more like Jesus in our daily lives.
8. JOKE. Now we don’t want to be like the pompous-looking
deacon who was trying to impress upon a class of boys the importance of living the Christian life. "Why do people call me a Christian?" the man asked. After a moment’s pause, one youngster said, "Maybe it’s because they don’t know you."
9. The good news is, that though none of us is an exact duplicate of Christ, we don’t have to wait until we achieve perfection; our commission is to impart to others what we now possess.
III. MATURITY EMPOWERS THEM TO BREAK OUT
A. KEYS TO THE CHICKS BREAKING OUT
1. As the chicks mature and grow, they absorb increasing amounts of calcium from the shell, so that the shell gets increasingly weaker. So by the chicks very maturity, the separation between them and the new world outside becomes less and less until they reach freedom.
2. In addition, just before hatching, chickens grow an “egg tooth,” a tooth designed specifically to peck through the shell so that the chick can attain its ultimate freedom. Amazingly, after hatching, the egg tooth falls off!
3. One other interesting fact is that if you help liberate a chick from its shell, in most cases the chick will not live. It’s vitally important for the chick to have to liberate itself because they need the resistance to grow strong enough to make it.
B. KEYS TO THE BELIEVER BREAKING OUT
1. It’s vitally important that we participate in the struggle of breaking out of our shell (meaning, the world system). As we stand up against the world and the flesh, the Christ-life within rises to dominance and we become more like Jesus! We develop the overcoming spirit that triumphs over sin and the fallen nature.
2. Have you grown your egg tooth yet? -- the courage to defy the world and triumph over its power? As you do, the distance between you and Heaven thins and your ultimate freedom as a Son/daughter of God comes into view!
3. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” Romans 8:22,19. This speaks of our emerging from the shell of our natural life into eternity as full-grown children of God. Praise God. That’s the goal of our salvation.
4. ILLUS. There was a famous sculptor who was always trying to excel his last work of art, by his next one. One time a Chicago reporter, looking at his latest statue, said, “Mr. St. Gaudens, I suppose you consider this statue your masterpiece?” “Indeed, I do not” said St. Gaudens. “My next statue is always my masterpiece!” [Knights 3000, p. 329]
5. The point is, we should never feel like we’ve arrived in our Christian experience, but should always be aiming for a higher place, like Paul did, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Phip. 3:12-14.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Leonardo da Vinci had once worked on a great masterpiece for a long period of time. There was a young student allowed to stand next to him as da Vinci worked, and the student watched as the painting evolved in front of him.
2. The student was awed by da Vinci’s technique and observed him in hopes of picking up some of the master’s skill. Just before finishing the painting, da Vinci turned to the student and gave him the brush saying “Now, you finish it.”
3. The student backed away and protested that he wouldn’t dream of touching the Master’s work, but da Vinci said, “Will not what I have done inspire you to do your best?”
4. None of us is adequate to the task, but still sent in His name!
B. THE CALL
1. How many of you need a fuller exposure to Jesus? You can’t start the Christian race without being born again by saving faith in Jesus. How many would like to do that?
2. How many recognize you need to be part of God’s brooding process – to be under the close intimate tutelage of the Holy Spirit?
3. How many want to attempt to do more than you’ve been doing? To take the Master’s brush up and try doing dome work for Him? PRAYER.
[“Scientists solve eggshell mystery of how chicks hatch,” Nicola Davis, Mar 2018, The Guardian.]
