The Power Of Spiritual Incubation

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.