4) For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10)
Good works have a
definite place in the plan of God for His people. But they are the results–the
fruits, the evidence–of our salvation, not the means. They are important
as James, brother of Jesus writes, “Can’t you see that
faith without good deeds is useless?” (James 2:20) Strong words. One wishing to become a member
of the military does not do so by wearing a uniform and saluting officers. But
once he is officially inducted, he then wears the uniform, obeys commands, and
salutes officers.
What good works does
the Lord want to see in our lives? Scripture answers that again and again in
places like Micah
6:8 – “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is
good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God.” Jeremiah
22:16 – “He gave
justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t
that what it means to know me?” says the Lord.” And of course, Matthew
25:35-36: “For I was hungry, and
you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you
invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me
clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited
me.” A preacher tells a story of the time his
church in uptown Charlotte NC was bringing in the homeless from the park across
the street and feeding them breakfast before the morning worship service. A
woman who had belonged to that church for generations and resented the presence
of the unwashed in their services, approached Pastor Harold one Sunday and
said, “Pastor, why do we have to have those people in our church?” He said,
“Because I don’t want to see anyone go to hell.” She said, “Well, I don’t want
them to go to hell either.” He said, “I’m not talking about them. I’m talking
about you.”
5) If you have faith, we
will pray.
In fact, nothing tells
the story about our faith like our prayer life. Nothing.
Consider that we are
praying to a Lord we have never seen and cannot prove. We say things to Him we
would say to no one else and we believe that He hears. Furthermore–and
this is the clincher–90 percent of the requests we make, we’ll never know
whether He answered them or not since He may choose to do so in subtle ways or
another time. “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond
anything you could imagine. For
just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than
your ways and
my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9) But there we go, praying to Him
day after day, as though He were occupying the chair next to us and everything we
do today is dependent on His presence and guidance. Hey, it really is.
Pastors keep prayer
before their people by encouraging them to pray at the altar during the
services, or maybe by having a prayer room at the church, and by encouraging
prayer for specific people, needs, events, and concerns.
6) A church exists by evangelism
and missions as a fire exists by burning.
Sharing our faith is not an option, not for the gifted only (although admittedly some are more fluent and effective than others in this), and not to be done sporadically. Jesus said “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:18)
Churches must be
creative in finding ways to* mobilize their members in spreading the faith,
must be aggressive in supporting those who are getting it right and doing it
well, and must be alert to the distractions which would push evangelism down
the list of priorities in the church’s ministries.
7) The Bible is the
inspired word of God and the spiritual nutrition of believers.
Life has a way of
pushing God’s Word out of the mind of believers. The process seems to be
the same for everyone, and works like this….
We go a few days
without reading our Bible and soon, we find ourselves resisting the inner urge
to get back to it. The more we cave in to that laziness that resents
picking up the Word and opening it, the more we will find ourselves saying (or
thinking, or both): “I’ve read the Bible. I know it already. There’s nothing
new there. It’s boring.”
Those are all lies
straight out of hell and straight from Satan. We really do not know the Bible. We
have not read it. (We may have read “at” it, but there is a world of content
there which we have not yet understood. It is not boring. If anything is boring
then it is us, not the Word.
Job said, “I have not departed from his commands, but have treasured his words more than daily food.” (Job 23:12) Jesus said to the devil, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)
David
said this about a Godly man’s “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and
night.”
(Psalm1:2) I still believe that “medicating” should have been translated
“cogitating”. J
If we keep telling people
these things, they will eventually “get it”.
Repetition is a great
teacher. In fact, it may be the best teacher on the planet.
