How to Find Strength in Tough Times
Hardships (from health crises and financial problems to grief and broken relationships) befall every person living in this fallen world – Christians and non-Christians alike. But as a Christian, we have access to the Holy Spirit, (“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.” John 4:16) who will empower us to overcome each hardship we face when we ask God to help us.
The Psalmist wrote “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” Psalm 36:1
Here’s how we can find strength in tough times by turning to God for help:
Instead of trying to avoid suffering, seek to learn and grow through it. Keep in mind that God is more interested in making our life holy than He is in making our life happy, because holiness has eternal value. God’s goal is to help us learn how to become more like Jesus Christ, and we often can do that best by going through suffering and developing a stronger character in the process. So don’t expect that we can avoid suffering; accept the fact that suffering will inevitably come into our life (as it does for everyone) whenever God allows it. Jesus Himself said “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” ( John 16:33)
So instead of trying to avoid suffering, we need to ask God to use it to accomplish good purposes in our life. Ask God to help us view our hardship from the perspective of how it advances God’s purposes for us. The Apostle Paul writes that Satan had given him “ a thorn in my flesh”. And each time he asked God to heal him, God’s answer was, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)
Follow our faith, not our feelings. This is not always easy to do but we should choose to believe God’s promises that He is always in control of our life, He always loves us and cares about us, and He will never leave or forsake us – no matter how we may feel when going through hardships. Our feelings are completely unreliable factors on which to base our decisions, since they’re constantly changing and can be flawed and even irrational. When we’re going through tough times, we need to base our decisions on biblical truth – which is always reliable – rather than on our emotions. Trust that the Holy Spirit is with us as we deal with hardships, even when we don’t sense His presence or understand what we’re going through. Follow Jesus’ guidance to first exercise trust in God and then discover the truthfulness of God’s promises by our obedience. We should be on guard against evil spiritual forces who want to use our feelings to discredit God’s promises. Pray for the faith we need to stand strong on God’s promises to us.
In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul gives them a final word: “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.” Ephesians 6: 10-13
Instead of asking “Why?” ask “How?” God may or may not choose to reveal on this side of heaven why He has allowed a particular hardship to enter our life, so asking Him “Why?” may not bring us an answer that we can understand right now. However, when we ask God how we can best respond to the hardship we’re facing, He will often reveal some of the good purposes that He wants us to fulfill as we go through the situation. Ask God how He wants to use our hardship to draw us closer to Him and accomplish more of the mission He has given us for our life on Earth.
Paul writes to the church in Corinth, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us.” (2 Corinthians 1:1-11)
Identify the possible sources of the hardship we’re currently experiencing. Hardships may come into our life because of: life’s troubles in this fallen world, God’s discipline, training in godliness, the cost of discipleship and following Jesus, the consequences of bad or foolish decisions and actions, or God’s judgment of a nation. Humble ourselves before God and ask Him to show us which of these sources is behind the hardship we’re going through right now. If we discern that we are suffering now because of sins or mistakes we’ve made in the past, keep in mind that God never allows hardships into our life simply to punish us, but only to correct and train us. Choose to repent of our sins and learn from our mistakes so we can enjoy a better life. If we discern that we are suffering for the sake of following where Jesus leads us, pray for the strength to continue to follow Him, and know that He will reward us in heaven our faithfulness. Repentance is very important. We see what Peter says in Acts: “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God”. (Acts 2:38) A word about repentance - Many think the word repent means "to get your act together" or to "get religion" or "fly straight"; as if we could. Repentance requires taking in a whole new point of view; looking at it God's way. God simply asks us to turn. This is the way we accept His gift. When we do, certain outcomes are promised. If we don't, or we "turn back", alternate outcomes are promised.
Follow God’s will. Don’t waste our time and energy trying to search for God’s will for us in the midst of our tough time, as if it was a hidden mystery. We can already know God’s will for us in the midst of any type of hardship: God’s will is for us to grow into a closer relationship with Him that translates into displaying Christ-like behavior regardless of our circumstances. Recognize that the problem is not that people have difficulty figuring out God’s will and what pleases Him; it’s that they tend to ignore what God has already told them (in the Bible) during tough times. Decide to follow God’s will for us to develop more holiness in our life during tough times. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
Ask the right questions so we can make the right choices. Whenever we’re facing decisions about what to do during a tough time, we need to ask ourselves: “Is the choice I’m considering contrary to what God says through the Bible?”, “What are my motives?”, “Are physical or emotional conditions (such as fatigue, hunger, or stress) inhibiting my ability to make the right choice?”, “Will this choice become a burden in my life?”, “Will this choice be a stumbling stone to others in their faith?”, “Will this choice honor God?”, “Will this choice impact your church and service within the body of Christ?”, “How will this choice impact my family?”, “What advice do godly people I know give me about this?”, “What does common sense tell me to do?”, “Do I have peace about doing this – and why or why not?”, “Am I getting ahead of God and not trusting Him?”, “What have I learned from past experiences that I should apply to this decision?” and “What do I believe God wants me to do?”
Spend time with God often through prayer and reading the Bible. During tough times, it’s especially important to stay connected to God through prayer and reading His Word, the Bible. Pour out our prayer requests to God with the confidence that He cares and is always listening, but make sure that we’re asking God to do what He knows is best for us rather than just trying to convince God to do only what we want. Ask the Holy Spirit to help us bring our prayers into alignment with God’s desires for us. Get Biblical truth into our soul regularly by hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the Bible. The Bible says we should “pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6) and to “Never stop praying.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Joshua 1:8 says this about reading the scriptures: “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.”
Receive the peace that Jesus offers us each day. Make a daily habit of looking beyond what our tough circumstances to Jesus – and accepting His invitation to receive spiritual peace that transcends the hardships we’re currently encountering.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Is Jesus an Impossible Mentor?
Is Jesus an Impossible Mentor?
Do you set Jesus as a role model? It's impossible to be like Jesus, isn't it? He was the Son of God sent to earth and his life sets the bar impossibly high for any of us. John the Baptist said “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:33-34)
From a Pastor: “I knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left my mouth. Sitting in my office was a young man who had been wronged by someone else in the church. Both men attended our church, and one guy really had wronged the other. But the guilty party wasn’t in the office, the other guy was—and he was full of anger and frustration because of this wrongdoing. That’s when I made my hasty suggestion:
“You could forgive him,” I suggested. “Jesus told us to do just that and He would do this.”
Big mistake.
“Well I’m not Jesus!” he nearly shouted back at me.
Have any of you ever said this? You don’t have to answer!
Note: Let’s quickly see what Jesus did day about this. Jesus talks about forgiveness in both prayer and parable. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” So this is really what Jesus said!
However, this was end of discussion, end of ministry time, end of opportunity to present the one of the most important lesson Jesus ever taught – forgiveness. It was the pastor’s mistake. Not for suggesting a perfectly Biblical remedy (as noted above) to his anger and frustration, but for expressing the solution as to simple and to quick without taking the time to explain this better. The pastor did in such a way the man would consider impossible. To even suggest that he should be like Jesus was not in his ability especially at this time.
It’s impossible to be like Jesus, isn’t it? Jesus was perfect. He led a sinless life. He was God-come-to-earth and his life sets the bar impossibly high for any of us. After all the Bible says that Jesus, “once made perfect….”. There is that perfect “word” right there in Hebrews 5:9.
A central problem in “cultivating” followers of Jesus today is our view of Jesus as the Impossible Mentor since he is “perfect”.
This is really weird since nearly every Believer is willing to acknowledge Jesus as a worthy role model, but almost no one seriously believes it is possible to live up to his example. Our esteem for Jesus’ life of obedience to the Father and our desire to be “just like Jesus” does battle with the deep-seated notion that it is impossible to be like him. Who would choose a mentor who is impossible to imitate? After all Paul writes that “…everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23). Hmmmm!
Some other passages in the Scripture inspire and fill us with confidence. Here is one that has the “bad” and the “good”: “Because one person (Adam) disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God (Jesus), many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19-21)
Some scriptures like this, light the fires of hope in our hearts. Other passages seem too idealistic, too fantastic to find their way into even our dreams, much less our daily lives: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8: 29). Is this possible? Does God really look at each one of us and see a destiny in which we look like Jesus?
Whatever our theological foundations regarding this passage, we should all recognize that it is about God’s intention for each of one us to “become like his Son.” Simply put, God desires to have more children like Jesus. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16), but we become his sons and daughters by adoption. The destiny of those adopted into the family of God is that we, too, should bear the family likeness. That is: we will look just like Jesus. And “..if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
A pastor in a conversation with a dozen young Christians, asked them if they felt it were possible to live a life without sin for even one day. No takers. So he rephrased the question and asked if it is possible to go for an hour without sinning. Only one of them thought it was possible to stay within the will of God for a single hour. I suppose this is not to unusual since Paul says “everyone has sinned” but do you see anywhere that he says that we should just give up trying to be more like Jesus. No!
These questions are not irrelevant. They go to the heart of our life “in Christ.” If our intuition tells us that following His example is impossible, for one day or even an hour, how can we have the confidence to pursue his vision for us? The bottom line is that God has a greater vision for what is possible in our lives than we do. Perhaps the reason the Apostle Paul instructs us later in Romans to “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2) is so we can see the possibilities of a life lived in harmony with Jesus. A practical, day-to-day, moment-by-moment harmony capable of generating the rest and peace he promises.
Let us ponder the foundations of our commitment to be a disciple of Jesus. Here are a few suggestions for meditation and prayer:
• Is it possible to learn from him?
• If Jesus is my mentor, have I committed myself to failure with no possibility of success?
• What kind of Master would invite me to be his apprentice if he thought there were no possibility to follow in his footsteps?
The answers spoken from our heart will determine whether being “Christ like” is possible for us.
In closing let’s look at this final scripture: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. (Ephesians 4:10-13)
Do you set Jesus as a role model? It's impossible to be like Jesus, isn't it? He was the Son of God sent to earth and his life sets the bar impossibly high for any of us. John the Baptist said “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:33-34)
From a Pastor: “I knew it was a mistake as soon as the words left my mouth. Sitting in my office was a young man who had been wronged by someone else in the church. Both men attended our church, and one guy really had wronged the other. But the guilty party wasn’t in the office, the other guy was—and he was full of anger and frustration because of this wrongdoing. That’s when I made my hasty suggestion:
“You could forgive him,” I suggested. “Jesus told us to do just that and He would do this.”
Big mistake.
“Well I’m not Jesus!” he nearly shouted back at me.
Have any of you ever said this? You don’t have to answer!
Note: Let’s quickly see what Jesus did day about this. Jesus talks about forgiveness in both prayer and parable. In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus says, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” So this is really what Jesus said!
However, this was end of discussion, end of ministry time, end of opportunity to present the one of the most important lesson Jesus ever taught – forgiveness. It was the pastor’s mistake. Not for suggesting a perfectly Biblical remedy (as noted above) to his anger and frustration, but for expressing the solution as to simple and to quick without taking the time to explain this better. The pastor did in such a way the man would consider impossible. To even suggest that he should be like Jesus was not in his ability especially at this time.
It’s impossible to be like Jesus, isn’t it? Jesus was perfect. He led a sinless life. He was God-come-to-earth and his life sets the bar impossibly high for any of us. After all the Bible says that Jesus, “once made perfect….”. There is that perfect “word” right there in Hebrews 5:9.
A central problem in “cultivating” followers of Jesus today is our view of Jesus as the Impossible Mentor since he is “perfect”.
This is really weird since nearly every Believer is willing to acknowledge Jesus as a worthy role model, but almost no one seriously believes it is possible to live up to his example. Our esteem for Jesus’ life of obedience to the Father and our desire to be “just like Jesus” does battle with the deep-seated notion that it is impossible to be like him. Who would choose a mentor who is impossible to imitate? After all Paul writes that “…everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Romans 3:23). Hmmmm!
Some other passages in the Scripture inspire and fill us with confidence. Here is one that has the “bad” and the “good”: “Because one person (Adam) disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God (Jesus), many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:19-21)
Some scriptures like this, light the fires of hope in our hearts. Other passages seem too idealistic, too fantastic to find their way into even our dreams, much less our daily lives: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8: 29). Is this possible? Does God really look at each one of us and see a destiny in which we look like Jesus?
Whatever our theological foundations regarding this passage, we should all recognize that it is about God’s intention for each of one us to “become like his Son.” Simply put, God desires to have more children like Jesus. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16), but we become his sons and daughters by adoption. The destiny of those adopted into the family of God is that we, too, should bear the family likeness. That is: we will look just like Jesus. And “..if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
A pastor in a conversation with a dozen young Christians, asked them if they felt it were possible to live a life without sin for even one day. No takers. So he rephrased the question and asked if it is possible to go for an hour without sinning. Only one of them thought it was possible to stay within the will of God for a single hour. I suppose this is not to unusual since Paul says “everyone has sinned” but do you see anywhere that he says that we should just give up trying to be more like Jesus. No!
These questions are not irrelevant. They go to the heart of our life “in Christ.” If our intuition tells us that following His example is impossible, for one day or even an hour, how can we have the confidence to pursue his vision for us? The bottom line is that God has a greater vision for what is possible in our lives than we do. Perhaps the reason the Apostle Paul instructs us later in Romans to “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2) is so we can see the possibilities of a life lived in harmony with Jesus. A practical, day-to-day, moment-by-moment harmony capable of generating the rest and peace he promises.
Let us ponder the foundations of our commitment to be a disciple of Jesus. Here are a few suggestions for meditation and prayer:
• Is it possible to learn from him?
• If Jesus is my mentor, have I committed myself to failure with no possibility of success?
• What kind of Master would invite me to be his apprentice if he thought there were no possibility to follow in his footsteps?
The answers spoken from our heart will determine whether being “Christ like” is possible for us.
In closing let’s look at this final scripture: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. (Ephesians 4:10-13)
Monday, October 15, 2012
Well Done!
Well Done!
What is the most practical parable Jesus ever told? What parable applies more to how we live our lives today, and how God acts and reacts to us, and how we act and react to Him? I think it would have to be this parable that we find in Matthew 25:14-30. In this parable Jesus begins by saying “the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated….”.
It is a rather long parable, so we won’t read the entire scripture. You already know the parable. You’ve heard it many times. We know it as the Parable of the Talents. Also, we need to know that Jesus often used parables or stories to make an illustration.
SO we will just condense it into a few sentences. Jesus said that a master was getting ready to take a long journey. So he called in his servants and distributed his wealth among them. Then he left. And then he came back. And when he came back he called for an accounting, and those who had invested wisely, he rewarded. And the one who did not invest is condemned. That’s the parable.
As I said, it is practical. It applies to our lives because it shows how God treats us, how He reacts to us, and how we oftentimes treat His blessings.
THE MASTER ENTRUSTS HIS WEALTH TO THE SERVANTS
Scene one opens with the master calling in his servants. He says to them, "I am going to entrust you with my wealth." So he gives 5 talents to one, 2 talents to another, and 1 talent to the third. "Talents, money, dollars," - all are synonyms for the same thing. He distributed his wealth among them and said, "While I am gone I want you to be responsible for my wealth."
He is the master. They are the servants. He owns everything. They own nothing. They depend upon him. If he were not generous with them, they would not be able to live. Now he has called them in and said, "I have been watching you. I have studied you. I have concluded that you are faithful stewards."
Now we don’t know how many he had. Maybe he had dozens of servants. But out of all of them he selected these three. He said, "I am going away, and I entrust you with my wealth. You take care of it." That’s the end of Scene 1.
We can instantly draw some parallels to our life. We realize that this master represents God, who has everything. God, who is the giver of life. God, who gives us air to breathe. God, who gives us bodies so that we can see and think and plan and make decisions.
We are the servants. Every day we depend upon His blessings just in order to breathe or to see or to think. We are the servants, and God distributes His wealth among us.
He is always looking for faithful servants. When they are faithful with those talents, He gives them more talents. He is constantly studying our lives, looking for faithful servants.
One interesting part of the story is that He didn’t give the servants the same amount. He gave 5 to one and 2 to another and 1 to another. We may say that is not fair. But then we realize that this master knows His servants. So He gives to each of them, vs. 15 says, "according to his ability”.
If He had given only 1 talent to the 5 talent man, it would not have been good use of his abilities. If He had given 5 talents to the 1 talent man, the 1 talent man would never have been able to handle them. But because the master knew His servants, He gave each one what He knew that one could handle, and then He left.
That’s the way God works, isn’t it? God gives, and then He leaves us alone. He doesn’t coerce us. He doesn’t look over our shoulders. He gives, and then He leaves it in our hands.
He does open doors of opportunity. He gives us visions and dreams. He allows us to see just a little bit of what might be. But then He waits for us to use what He has given, and to see if we will be faithful with it.
THE MASTER RETURNS, and DEMANDS AN ACCOUNTING
Scene 2. He comes back. When He came back, the 5 talent man came in and said, ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. (Vs. 20-21)
The 2 talent man came in and gave the Master the same report and the Master responded to him in the same way as the first servant.
Then the 1 talent man came in. He said, "Lord, I knew that you were a hard master, and that you reap what you have not sown. So I wrapped up the talent and I buried it in the ground. Here it is. No scratches. No mildew. I’ve cleaned it up. It is just exactly the way you gave it to me."
The master called him a "wicked, lazy servant!” (Vs. 26) and in vs. 30, a "worthless servant." And He threw him out into the darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It’s a tough parable, isn’t it? It bothers us, because a lot of us would identify with this 1 talent man than with the 5 talent or 2 talent men. The 1 talent man was just an ordinary person, a lot like us.
He did something that wasn’t all that smart. But he didn’t steal it or embezzle it. He just didn’t invest it. Then when the master came back, he presented it to Him just the way that he had received it.
WHY DID THE 1 TALENT MAN DO WHAT HE DID?
Now let’s concentrate on this 1 talent man for a few moments. Why did he do what he did?
No. 1, he probably did what he did because he felt inferior. When we’re rubbing shoulders with 5 talent people and 2 talent people, and we watch them rubbing shoulders with other 5 talent and 2 talent people, and then we look at ourselves, it is easy to begin to feel inferior.
When you see people doing things with grace and ease, and you have to struggle just to function in the world, it’s easy to identify yourself as a 1 talent person. And most of us would probably put ourselves into that category.
There was nothing really special about the 1 talent man. He didn’t stand out in the crowd. He was an average person, just like us. So he felt inferior.
Secondly, Jesus tells us the man was afraid. He was afraid because he had analyzed the master as being a hard master. You see, he didn’t understand the master. God has expectations, no question about that. But God is not hard. He is gentle and understanding and forgiving and merciful. The man didn’t understand the master. Therefore he was afraid, and buried his talent in the yard.
Let’s ask some hypothetical questions. "What if the 5 talent man had buried his 5 talents in the back yard?" You know the answer. They would have all been taken away from him, and he would have been considered "wicked, lazy, worthless," just like the 1 talent man.
Or what if the 1 talent man had invested his 1 talent? You know the answer. When the master came back, he would have been given more talents. He would have been considered a faithful servant, too.
Now let’s ask another hypothetical question. "What if the 1 talent man had invested his talent and lost it?" But that idea isn’t even suggested. Why? Because God’s Word, I don’t think, never commands us to be successful. There is no scripture where God says, "If you try and fail, I will condemn you." God’s Word commands only faithfulness. "Be faithful" and God will provide the increase.
The principle never changes. All the way through Scripture Jesus is constantly challenging us to invest and reinvest again and again in the Kingdom. And He will always honor the investment. He will never honor those who are afraid and who bury their talents in the back yard.
God’s principles are clear. Jesus said, "As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work." (John 9:4)
The message of the parable has not changed. God is still the master. He is still the giver of all good things. Without His generosity we would have nothing. Where do our talents come from? They came from God. They are His. So He says, "Invest what I have given you and see what will happen."
In just a few days, CHBC will begin “Judgment Day’. Through a series of “scene rooms” the Gospel of Jesus Christ is offered to the people in the area of Pleasant Grove. The last scene is always Heaven. The cast members that have made the decision to accept Jesus as their Savior enter Heaven and come into His presence. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
After this our Jesus character comes to each “visitor” and puts his hands on their shoulders and then, looking each in the eye says: "Well done, good and faithful servant . . . " . Wow what a thought. This should be the goal of each of us – to hear these words at the end of each day. What sweet music to the ears.
But as sweet sounding as they are now, imagine how much more so they will be on the Last Day. When all those countless souls on the left hand will fall before the Lord in dead fear and begin weeping and gnashing their teeth, we who Believe will be among those to whom the Lord Jesus Christ in all His splendor judges you, speaking those sweet, musical words, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful."
Song Well Done by Moriah Peters:
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The Spirit is, therefore I think.
The Spirit is, therefore I think.
It’s important for us to remember because we are surrounded by people who don’t think like we think. We are surrounded by people who have built their lives on a different foundation than the one that we have on Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote: “…where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:20-24)
Christianity does not exist in a bubble. We are constantly exposed to the false thinking and philosophies of this world.
We go to church on Sunday, but the rest of the week we are exposed to people who don’t think like we do.
We go to work or school.
We spend time with co-workers, friends, relatives.
We spend time watching TV, or surfing the internet.
We read, we talk on the phone and so, and so on.
Everyplace we go we are exposed to somebody who doesn’t buy into our Christianity. They may say they do but they really don’t “get it”. Also, some may even reject or mock God’s kind of thinking. AND since a lot of these folks are very smart or very influential, we might be led to doubt or question what we believe. There are going to be times when you and I are going to feel outgunned and outmatched.
So Paul wanted to set the issue straight: On the face of things… we ARE outgunned and outmatched.
“Remember, … that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-27)
And of himself, Paul wrote: “…I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.” (1 Corinthians 2:1) “I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:3)
His point was this: Just looking at the church the world will tend to look at us as being : Not very smart. Not eloquent. Not very important. Unpersuasive. They’ll often see us as weak and maybe even foolish.
So, if that’s true - then how in the world are we ever going to win the world to Christ? We’re not eloquent, we’re not persuasive, we’re not all that important to many people. Guess what? We can’t on our own!
That’s why so many churches and preachers try so hard to be eloquent, and persuasive and important in this world. They build majestic buildings and have powerful preachers and celebrity guests. They rejoice when the newspapers or TV reporters recognize them. And they glory in the praise and applause of the world. They believe that IF they are popular and attractive… that they can win the world over to Christ.
But Paul says…that’s a pipedream. The world isn’t looking for the things God wants to offer
Some of those in the world are looking for miracles, others are looking for wisdom. But God is offering something the world does not embrace.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
So, if we can’t win people to Christ by our popularity… what can we do?
Well, we can learn to rely less on our impressiveness and more on the Spirit’s power.
Paul wrote: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…” 1 Corinthians 2:3
Did you catch that?
It is the Spirit INSIDE of us Christians that gives us the edge in winning the world.
You see, once we became Christians, that Spirit came and set up shop in our hearts.
Peter told the crowd at Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive (what???) the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
You can’t belong to Jesus if you don’t have that Spirit inside of you. “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9b
AND the Spirit is the mark of God’s ownership of us. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13b-14)
So, what Paul is telling us here in I Corinthians is this: The Spirit is what makes us think and live different than the rest of the world. And it’s the Spirit that will make all the difference in our ability to overcome the world.
Centuries ago, a French philosopher named Descartes struggled with the idea of reality. He wondered whether or not he could prove that he even existed (which gives something of an idea of how bizarre philosophers can get). And since he wondered how he might prove that he actually existed, he wracked his brain and struggled with reasonings that eventually led to make his famous declaration: “I THINK… therefore I am.”
That’s nice.
But that is a fairly pathetic statement. By contrast God has something far more impressive to tell you and I. YES, you exist. I created you. But this is what is really good: YOU THINK great things because His Spirit is inside of you. “The Spirit is, therefore you think.” That’s what God is telling us!!!
God’s Spirit inside of us makes us THINK like God thinks.
“And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.… But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14, 16
The Spirit makes us think like God thinks.
It is only thru the Spirit that we begin to understand how God wants us to live. And God’s kind of thinking is not reasonable to the world. How on earth would someone without the Spirit ever understand these teachings:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28-30)
We become wise by being fools for Christ's sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10)
We conquer by yielding (Rom. 6:16-18)
We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
These things make absolutely NO SENSE to those without God’s Spirit inside of them. The King James Bible in 1 Peter 2:9a that we are “a peculiar people”. They might be able to comprehend WHY these statements are true… but they can’t make those principles be part of their lives, because God’s Spirit is not there to guide them into using them correctly.
We need to be so used to being guided by God’s Spirit that we don’t even give it much thought. God’s Spirit should be so much a part of our lives that we couldn’t think of living without His influence.
But we think differently than the world thinks because we have the Spirit of God inside us. It’s that way of thinking that gives us the edge in overcoming the world and winning them to Christ.
Now, how will we know if we have the Spirit in us? Well, Paul tells us: “…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...” Galatians 5:22-23a
When the Spirit is in control of our life - the changes that can take place inside us can make us a force for God.
And that is the power of the Spirit within us - the ability to show that we are redeemed by the change that God’s Spirit brings to our lives.
It’s important for us to remember because we are surrounded by people who don’t think like we think. We are surrounded by people who have built their lives on a different foundation than the one that we have on Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote: “…where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:20-24)
Christianity does not exist in a bubble. We are constantly exposed to the false thinking and philosophies of this world.
We go to church on Sunday, but the rest of the week we are exposed to people who don’t think like we do.
We go to work or school.
We spend time with co-workers, friends, relatives.
We spend time watching TV, or surfing the internet.
We read, we talk on the phone and so, and so on.
Everyplace we go we are exposed to somebody who doesn’t buy into our Christianity. They may say they do but they really don’t “get it”. Also, some may even reject or mock God’s kind of thinking. AND since a lot of these folks are very smart or very influential, we might be led to doubt or question what we believe. There are going to be times when you and I are going to feel outgunned and outmatched.
So Paul wanted to set the issue straight: On the face of things… we ARE outgunned and outmatched.
“Remember, … that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-27)
And of himself, Paul wrote: “…I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan.” (1 Corinthians 2:1) “I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:3)
His point was this: Just looking at the church the world will tend to look at us as being : Not very smart. Not eloquent. Not very important. Unpersuasive. They’ll often see us as weak and maybe even foolish.
So, if that’s true - then how in the world are we ever going to win the world to Christ? We’re not eloquent, we’re not persuasive, we’re not all that important to many people. Guess what? We can’t on our own!
That’s why so many churches and preachers try so hard to be eloquent, and persuasive and important in this world. They build majestic buildings and have powerful preachers and celebrity guests. They rejoice when the newspapers or TV reporters recognize them. And they glory in the praise and applause of the world. They believe that IF they are popular and attractive… that they can win the world over to Christ.
But Paul says…that’s a pipedream. The world isn’t looking for the things God wants to offer
Some of those in the world are looking for miracles, others are looking for wisdom. But God is offering something the world does not embrace.
1 Corinthians 1:18 says “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.”
So, if we can’t win people to Christ by our popularity… what can we do?
Well, we can learn to rely less on our impressiveness and more on the Spirit’s power.
Paul wrote: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power…” 1 Corinthians 2:3
Did you catch that?
It is the Spirit INSIDE of us Christians that gives us the edge in winning the world.
You see, once we became Christians, that Spirit came and set up shop in our hearts.
Peter told the crowd at Pentecost: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive (what???) the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38
You can’t belong to Jesus if you don’t have that Spirit inside of you. “…if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9b
AND the Spirit is the mark of God’s ownership of us. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13b-14)
So, what Paul is telling us here in I Corinthians is this: The Spirit is what makes us think and live different than the rest of the world. And it’s the Spirit that will make all the difference in our ability to overcome the world.
Centuries ago, a French philosopher named Descartes struggled with the idea of reality. He wondered whether or not he could prove that he even existed (which gives something of an idea of how bizarre philosophers can get). And since he wondered how he might prove that he actually existed, he wracked his brain and struggled with reasonings that eventually led to make his famous declaration: “I THINK… therefore I am.”
That’s nice.
But that is a fairly pathetic statement. By contrast God has something far more impressive to tell you and I. YES, you exist. I created you. But this is what is really good: YOU THINK great things because His Spirit is inside of you. “The Spirit is, therefore you think.” That’s what God is telling us!!!
God’s Spirit inside of us makes us THINK like God thinks.
“And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.… But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:12, 14, 16
The Spirit makes us think like God thinks.
It is only thru the Spirit that we begin to understand how God wants us to live. And God’s kind of thinking is not reasonable to the world. How on earth would someone without the Spirit ever understand these teachings:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We find rest under a yoke (Mt. 11:28-30)
We become wise by being fools for Christ's sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We are made free by becoming His bond servants (Rom. 6:10)
We conquer by yielding (Rom. 6:16-18)
We reign by serving (Mark 10:42-44)
We are made great by becoming little (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by being humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We triumph by defeat (2 Cor. 12:7-9)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
These things make absolutely NO SENSE to those without God’s Spirit inside of them. The King James Bible in 1 Peter 2:9a that we are “a peculiar people”. They might be able to comprehend WHY these statements are true… but they can’t make those principles be part of their lives, because God’s Spirit is not there to guide them into using them correctly.
We need to be so used to being guided by God’s Spirit that we don’t even give it much thought. God’s Spirit should be so much a part of our lives that we couldn’t think of living without His influence.
But we think differently than the world thinks because we have the Spirit of God inside us. It’s that way of thinking that gives us the edge in overcoming the world and winning them to Christ.
Now, how will we know if we have the Spirit in us? Well, Paul tells us: “…the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...” Galatians 5:22-23a
When the Spirit is in control of our life - the changes that can take place inside us can make us a force for God.
And that is the power of the Spirit within us - the ability to show that we are redeemed by the change that God’s Spirit brings to our lives.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
How to Look Beyond Romance to Love as Jesus Does
How to Look Beyond Romance to Love as Jesus Does
Many Christians focus intently on finding someone to marry and then trying to live happily ever after in those marriages. They place such importance on romantic love that they may come to think of it as the pinnacle of their spiritual pursuits.
The need to be loved is a natural human emotion that we all desire. Romantic love is beautiful but God's love for all of us is the base of Christian spirituality. In his sermon "A Look At Love" James Merritt states "Love is the thermometer that can take your spiritual temperature. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, love is the one indisputable witness that would convict you of being saved. "
As Christians, our love proves two things. It proves that we are in the family of God because God created this world out of love. He created humans just so He could love us. God created Heaven so that we could love each other eternally. Love also proves our fellowship with God. Our love motivates us to know Jesus wholeheartedly, not just know about Jesus intellectually.
God's pure love for us was clearly shown on the cross when God sacrificed his only Son (John 3:16) so that we may have salvation. However, the kind of love that God offers is not something that is natural for humans. The kind of love that God offers through the Holy Spirit is something that is supernaturally produced through you. This means that if you belong to Christ, Christ lives in you. The kind of never-ending love that defines a true Christian is a sacrificial, selfless, satisfying and sharing love. We need to understand the importance of God's love for us and how we should embrace that amazing love.
Love--just think about that word. That one word can make a heart flutter uncontrollably. It can make the toughest man blush. It can make a grown man cry and women jump for joy.
The world is almost obsessed with this thing called love. The world sings about it, "What the world needs now is love sweet love." Or, "You're nobody till somebody loves you." "It's love that makes the world go around." And we can’t leave out the song “Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places”.
We have an insatiable desire to write about it. Almost without exception, you can walk into any store and just see shelf after shelf lined with romantic novels. Love has taken over the airways. Millions of people wait breathlessly from Friday till Monday to find out, "Will John get Mary, or will Mary forsake John for Luke. Or, will Luke go after Sally before Mary can forsake John for Luke."
God doesn’t place nearly so much importance on marriage as you might think. Yes, God did create marriage to fulfill good purposes in people’s lives on Earth (there’s no marriage in heaven – Matthew 22:29-30). But romantic love is just one expression of love, and Jesus wants those who follow Him to learn how to love as He does.
Focusing too much on marriage can distract you from Jesus’ greater call on your life: to learn how to wholeheartedly love God and other people. Whether you’re single (as I believe Jesus chose to be on Earth) or married, you can learn to love the best when you shift your focus away from romance and toward Jesus’ example. Here’s how:
Realize that singleness and marriage are equally valuable states. Although people in many church cultures unfortunately often make single people feel inferior to married people, God values single people just as much as He values married people. While many churches are oriented around families headed by married couples, from God’s perspective, the worldwide family of believers is what matters most. So if you’re single, don’t feel as if you have to get married to be complete or fully loved, or that you have to settle for a potential spouse whom you don’t truly sense God calling you to marry, simply to get married by a certain age. If you’re married, don’t pressure the single people you know to get married, but give them the freedom to follow God’s plans for them, in His timing. Rest assured that God loves you and wants to work powerfully through your life, no matter what your current marital status.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians: “I say this as a concession, not as a command. But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another. (1 Corinthians 7:6-8)
So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust. (1 Corinthians 7:6-9) and then he says: “Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you.” (1 Corinthians 7:17)
Love your neighbors. Expand your list of people to love to include many more than just the people who are closest to you, such as your spouse (if you’re married), other family members and friends. God’s call for you to love your neighbors means loving everyone you encounter in life – all the people around you now, plus all the people you happen to meet. If you spend so much time and energy focusing on finding or attending to a spouse, your life becomes so centered around marriage, that you can’t faithfully love your neighbors as God intends. Decide to make it a high priority to reach out in love to the people you meet every day – especially people in need (such as those who are poor, sick, imprisoned, or outcasts in society). Spend time daily in prayer and meditating on Jesus’ words in the Bible about loving your neighbors. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you start seeing people as God sees them, and to give the compassion you need to treat them with real love. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:39 that “The second greatest commandment is “Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”
Love your enemies. Jesus says: “… I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:43) “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. (Matthew 5:46-47)
Ask God to help you love those difficult people you know – the ones who won’t return your love. Rather than holding grudges against them, ask the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you through the process of forgiving them. Instead of avoiding your enemies are even just putting up with them peaceably, Jesus calls you to pray for them and express real love when interacting with them. So keep in mind that all people are worthy of dignity and respect because God has made them, and ask God to help you relate to your enemies through the power of His love working through you.
Surrender your personal desires to Jesus so you can pursue what’s best for you. Be willing to surrender your desire for a husband or wife (if you’re single) or for a happy marriage (if you’re married) so those desires don’t dominate your life and prevent you from experiencing the full range of what God intends for you. View your deepest desires as opportunities to give what’s dear to your heart to Jesus so He can give you what’s best for you (which may or may not include your personal desires). Letting go of what you want frees you up to receive what God wants for you, which is beyond what you could imagine for yourself. It also frees you up to follow Jesus’ example of denying yourself so you can fully love others, giving generously however God may call you to do so. Be ready to say “yes” to God when He calls you to sacrifice your time, money, energy, emotions, or expectations in order to fully love Him and other people. Build your entire life around a commitment to serve God, even when it’s costly. Doing so invites God to fill your life with true love. The Apostle John tells us to “.. not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” (1 John 2:15)
Seek God first, before all else. Set your priorities so that you’re giving God more attention than anyone or anything else in your life, including your husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. Recognize that God, who is the source of all love, is worthy of your highest devotion. Keep in mind that when you give God your undivided attention, He will empower you to love others in ways that you couldn’t otherwise. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28)
Open the gift of solitude. When you’re alone with God, you can express your thoughts and feelings to Him fully and listen to His responses without distractions. So spend time praying in solitude regularly. If you feel lonely, let your loneliness motivate you to seek God more. Turn to God – not a romantic partner – to fulfill your deepest needs, because God alone can truly fulfill you, and His love is more than enough to satisfy you.
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. (1 John 4:16)
Many Christians focus intently on finding someone to marry and then trying to live happily ever after in those marriages. They place such importance on romantic love that they may come to think of it as the pinnacle of their spiritual pursuits.
The need to be loved is a natural human emotion that we all desire. Romantic love is beautiful but God's love for all of us is the base of Christian spirituality. In his sermon "A Look At Love" James Merritt states "Love is the thermometer that can take your spiritual temperature. If you were put on trial for being a Christian, love is the one indisputable witness that would convict you of being saved. "
As Christians, our love proves two things. It proves that we are in the family of God because God created this world out of love. He created humans just so He could love us. God created Heaven so that we could love each other eternally. Love also proves our fellowship with God. Our love motivates us to know Jesus wholeheartedly, not just know about Jesus intellectually.
God's pure love for us was clearly shown on the cross when God sacrificed his only Son (John 3:16) so that we may have salvation. However, the kind of love that God offers is not something that is natural for humans. The kind of love that God offers through the Holy Spirit is something that is supernaturally produced through you. This means that if you belong to Christ, Christ lives in you. The kind of never-ending love that defines a true Christian is a sacrificial, selfless, satisfying and sharing love. We need to understand the importance of God's love for us and how we should embrace that amazing love.
Love--just think about that word. That one word can make a heart flutter uncontrollably. It can make the toughest man blush. It can make a grown man cry and women jump for joy.
The world is almost obsessed with this thing called love. The world sings about it, "What the world needs now is love sweet love." Or, "You're nobody till somebody loves you." "It's love that makes the world go around." And we can’t leave out the song “Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places”.
We have an insatiable desire to write about it. Almost without exception, you can walk into any store and just see shelf after shelf lined with romantic novels. Love has taken over the airways. Millions of people wait breathlessly from Friday till Monday to find out, "Will John get Mary, or will Mary forsake John for Luke. Or, will Luke go after Sally before Mary can forsake John for Luke."
God doesn’t place nearly so much importance on marriage as you might think. Yes, God did create marriage to fulfill good purposes in people’s lives on Earth (there’s no marriage in heaven – Matthew 22:29-30). But romantic love is just one expression of love, and Jesus wants those who follow Him to learn how to love as He does.
Focusing too much on marriage can distract you from Jesus’ greater call on your life: to learn how to wholeheartedly love God and other people. Whether you’re single (as I believe Jesus chose to be on Earth) or married, you can learn to love the best when you shift your focus away from romance and toward Jesus’ example. Here’s how:
Realize that singleness and marriage are equally valuable states. Although people in many church cultures unfortunately often make single people feel inferior to married people, God values single people just as much as He values married people. While many churches are oriented around families headed by married couples, from God’s perspective, the worldwide family of believers is what matters most. So if you’re single, don’t feel as if you have to get married to be complete or fully loved, or that you have to settle for a potential spouse whom you don’t truly sense God calling you to marry, simply to get married by a certain age. If you’re married, don’t pressure the single people you know to get married, but give them the freedom to follow God’s plans for them, in His timing. Rest assured that God loves you and wants to work powerfully through your life, no matter what your current marital status.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians: “I say this as a concession, not as a command. But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another. (1 Corinthians 7:6-8)
So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am. But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust. (1 Corinthians 7:6-9) and then he says: “Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you.” (1 Corinthians 7:17)
Love your neighbors. Expand your list of people to love to include many more than just the people who are closest to you, such as your spouse (if you’re married), other family members and friends. God’s call for you to love your neighbors means loving everyone you encounter in life – all the people around you now, plus all the people you happen to meet. If you spend so much time and energy focusing on finding or attending to a spouse, your life becomes so centered around marriage, that you can’t faithfully love your neighbors as God intends. Decide to make it a high priority to reach out in love to the people you meet every day – especially people in need (such as those who are poor, sick, imprisoned, or outcasts in society). Spend time daily in prayer and meditating on Jesus’ words in the Bible about loving your neighbors. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you start seeing people as God sees them, and to give the compassion you need to treat them with real love. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:39 that “The second greatest commandment is “Love your neighbor as much as you love yourself.”
Love your enemies. Jesus says: “… I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:43) “If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. (Matthew 5:46-47)
Ask God to help you love those difficult people you know – the ones who won’t return your love. Rather than holding grudges against them, ask the Holy Spirit to guide and empower you through the process of forgiving them. Instead of avoiding your enemies are even just putting up with them peaceably, Jesus calls you to pray for them and express real love when interacting with them. So keep in mind that all people are worthy of dignity and respect because God has made them, and ask God to help you relate to your enemies through the power of His love working through you.
Surrender your personal desires to Jesus so you can pursue what’s best for you. Be willing to surrender your desire for a husband or wife (if you’re single) or for a happy marriage (if you’re married) so those desires don’t dominate your life and prevent you from experiencing the full range of what God intends for you. View your deepest desires as opportunities to give what’s dear to your heart to Jesus so He can give you what’s best for you (which may or may not include your personal desires). Letting go of what you want frees you up to receive what God wants for you, which is beyond what you could imagine for yourself. It also frees you up to follow Jesus’ example of denying yourself so you can fully love others, giving generously however God may call you to do so. Be ready to say “yes” to God when He calls you to sacrifice your time, money, energy, emotions, or expectations in order to fully love Him and other people. Build your entire life around a commitment to serve God, even when it’s costly. Doing so invites God to fill your life with true love. The Apostle John tells us to “.. not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” (1 John 2:15)
Seek God first, before all else. Set your priorities so that you’re giving God more attention than anyone or anything else in your life, including your husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend. Recognize that God, who is the source of all love, is worthy of your highest devotion. Keep in mind that when you give God your undivided attention, He will empower you to love others in ways that you couldn’t otherwise. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28)
Open the gift of solitude. When you’re alone with God, you can express your thoughts and feelings to Him fully and listen to His responses without distractions. So spend time praying in solitude regularly. If you feel lonely, let your loneliness motivate you to seek God more. Turn to God – not a romantic partner – to fulfill your deepest needs, because God alone can truly fulfill you, and His love is more than enough to satisfy you.
“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. (1 John 4:16)
Sunday, September 23, 2012
What Spiritual Immaturity Looks Like
What Spiritual Immaturity Looks Like
“When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Every church needs a healthy portion of immature members. After all, new believers start out as spiritual babies with a world of learning and growing ahead. No one is born fully grown.
However, the sad part about this is that many who have been in church most of their lives are still "babies" when it comes to spiritual "maturity". How long one has been in church has nothing to do with this maturity. So having "new" immature member s is good, having "old" immature members is not good. By old and new I am not talking physical age but "church" age. I am afraid there are many members of all churches that have been faithful members for years. They attend, tithe regularly and can quote the Bible, at least some can, but still don't "get it". Sometimes we want to say to these “Have you not ever read any of the Bible”? The writer of Hebrews kinda’ felt this way as we will see later on in lesson - Hebrews 5:12
What spiritual immaturity looks like:
A spiritual infant looks and acts a lot like human infants. They’re self-centered, cry-babies, impatient, helpless, noisy, and messy.
1) Spiritual infants are self-centered. They arrive at church thinking, “What can I get out of this?” Then, they sometimes leave saying, “I didn’t get a thing out of that today.” Church is all about them. Jesus says in one of his parables that “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” (Matthew 13:19)
2) Spiritual infants are noisy. They cry a lot, particularly when they don’t think their needs are being met. The church leadership presents a plan for reaching young adults in the community and the senior adults immediately complain that the church plans to abandon them. That’s immaturity on display.
The leadership asks the church to fund a mission project and someone complains that the girls’ bathroom needs remodeling with that money.
The story of the Israelites in the wilderness is one instance of griping and complaining after another. Poor Moses had to babysit hundreds of thousands of God’s infants for a full generation. No wonder pastors admire Moses so much and identify with him so readily.
Sometimes we need to do as the Psalmist writes, “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10a)
3) Spiritual infants are messy. Toddlers do not clean up after themselves. That’s someone else’s job. On Sunday night after everyone has vacated the premises, walk around the church building and you’ll know in a heartbeat whether the congregation is mature or immature.
4) Spiritual infants are impatient. The crying baby cannot be told that the milk is warming and should be ready in a few minutes. He wants what he wants and he wants it five minutes ago.
“Why did you leave that church?” “We were not having our needs met.” Ever heard that? This is the customer/provider approach to Kingdom work. The church is there to provide services which members pay for with their offerings; if the services are inferior, they withhold their money or even leave. Such is the nature of worldly devotion. Paul says one of the fruits of the Spirit is “patience”. (Galatians 5:22) Note: There are times when one may need to leave a church but only when led to do so by the Lord. Should be a lot of praying involved.
5) Spiritual infants are defined by what they cannot do. They cannot cooperate, cannot submit to others, and cannot understand deep things. They are unable to apologize and mean it, and resist sharing.
They cannot see far away. Suggest the church participate in a community event or send money to missions, and they respond, “Why? What does it do for us?”
6) Spiritual infants are explosive and can “go off” at anything. They were in the hospital and the pastor did not visit them, so they drop out of church. They worked hard on that project and got no recognition from the pulpit so they are ready to quit. Paul tells us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander.” (Ephesians 4:31)
7) Spiritual infants are irresponsible. They’re great at expecting a lot from others and nothing from themselves. They always know who is to blame for all that’s wrong in the church.
It’s the nature of the immature to be childish. It’s the natural order of things for babies to be infantile. We’re not saying otherwise. We love babies.
Babies can love and laugh and add a great deal to any gathering. The biggest huggers in any church and the ones most likely to call out a hearty ‘amen’ to the sermon are the newer members, those “fresh in from the cold.” They add a lot to the church.
But we don’t want to keep our children as toddlers forever. They should grow.
We should not be against spiritual babies: everyone goes through that developmental stage.
But to remain a baby forever is unnatural. And the same applies to “baby” Christians. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:13-14 that “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”
Growing into maturity is the natural order of things. The writer of Hebrews said to some unnamed Believers, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12). Which really means “But you need to return to the first grade and start over with the basic truths of the kingdom”.
We don’t tell our babies to grow. It’s the natural order. If we feed and nurture them, protect and care for them, they will grow.
But Spiritual growth is a choice.
We grow spiritually into Christlikeness by the choices we make–whether to read the Bible and pray, to obey the Lord in a particularly difficult situation, to give our tithes when finances are tight, to share our faith when doing so might be uncomfortable, to resist temptation when its pull was so strong.
We choose to grow by making right choices. And, when we make the wrong choices we choose not to grow. We feel lazy on Sunday mornings and decide to sleep in; we are deciding not to grow. We decide to spend God’s money on ourselves rather than give it in church; we decide not to grow. We go a week without serious attention to the Word of God; we are sentencing ourselves not to grow.
To use Eugene Peterson’s phrase, spiritual growth takes place as a result of “a long obedience in the same direction.” BTW, this is the title of his book.
The Apostle Peter writes “…., you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).
There is a way for God’s children to speed up the maturity process, to grow at a much faster clip than is normally the case.
But you won’t like it.
It’s called persecution.
When believers are persecuted for the faith, when they are harassed and tormented, and some even killed, when being identified as a follower of Jesus Christ subjects one to all kinds of opposition and humiliation, the Lord’s people decide in a hurry to what extent they believe Him and believe in Him, and how important He is to them.
The faithful who persevere in difficult times grow much faster than those who live in safe societies where serving Christ costs them little or nothing. They have to.
But I wouldn’t want to volunteer for persecution. There are easier ways–not to say more survivable ways!–to grow in the Lord.
“When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
Every church needs a healthy portion of immature members. After all, new believers start out as spiritual babies with a world of learning and growing ahead. No one is born fully grown.
However, the sad part about this is that many who have been in church most of their lives are still "babies" when it comes to spiritual "maturity". How long one has been in church has nothing to do with this maturity. So having "new" immature member s is good, having "old" immature members is not good. By old and new I am not talking physical age but "church" age. I am afraid there are many members of all churches that have been faithful members for years. They attend, tithe regularly and can quote the Bible, at least some can, but still don't "get it". Sometimes we want to say to these “Have you not ever read any of the Bible”? The writer of Hebrews kinda’ felt this way as we will see later on in lesson - Hebrews 5:12
What spiritual immaturity looks like:
A spiritual infant looks and acts a lot like human infants. They’re self-centered, cry-babies, impatient, helpless, noisy, and messy.
1) Spiritual infants are self-centered. They arrive at church thinking, “What can I get out of this?” Then, they sometimes leave saying, “I didn’t get a thing out of that today.” Church is all about them. Jesus says in one of his parables that “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” (Matthew 13:19)
2) Spiritual infants are noisy. They cry a lot, particularly when they don’t think their needs are being met. The church leadership presents a plan for reaching young adults in the community and the senior adults immediately complain that the church plans to abandon them. That’s immaturity on display.
The leadership asks the church to fund a mission project and someone complains that the girls’ bathroom needs remodeling with that money.
The story of the Israelites in the wilderness is one instance of griping and complaining after another. Poor Moses had to babysit hundreds of thousands of God’s infants for a full generation. No wonder pastors admire Moses so much and identify with him so readily.
Sometimes we need to do as the Psalmist writes, “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10a)
3) Spiritual infants are messy. Toddlers do not clean up after themselves. That’s someone else’s job. On Sunday night after everyone has vacated the premises, walk around the church building and you’ll know in a heartbeat whether the congregation is mature or immature.
4) Spiritual infants are impatient. The crying baby cannot be told that the milk is warming and should be ready in a few minutes. He wants what he wants and he wants it five minutes ago.
“Why did you leave that church?” “We were not having our needs met.” Ever heard that? This is the customer/provider approach to Kingdom work. The church is there to provide services which members pay for with their offerings; if the services are inferior, they withhold their money or even leave. Such is the nature of worldly devotion. Paul says one of the fruits of the Spirit is “patience”. (Galatians 5:22) Note: There are times when one may need to leave a church but only when led to do so by the Lord. Should be a lot of praying involved.
5) Spiritual infants are defined by what they cannot do. They cannot cooperate, cannot submit to others, and cannot understand deep things. They are unable to apologize and mean it, and resist sharing.
They cannot see far away. Suggest the church participate in a community event or send money to missions, and they respond, “Why? What does it do for us?”
6) Spiritual infants are explosive and can “go off” at anything. They were in the hospital and the pastor did not visit them, so they drop out of church. They worked hard on that project and got no recognition from the pulpit so they are ready to quit. Paul tells us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander.” (Ephesians 4:31)
7) Spiritual infants are irresponsible. They’re great at expecting a lot from others and nothing from themselves. They always know who is to blame for all that’s wrong in the church.
It’s the nature of the immature to be childish. It’s the natural order of things for babies to be infantile. We’re not saying otherwise. We love babies.
Babies can love and laugh and add a great deal to any gathering. The biggest huggers in any church and the ones most likely to call out a hearty ‘amen’ to the sermon are the newer members, those “fresh in from the cold.” They add a lot to the church.
But we don’t want to keep our children as toddlers forever. They should grow.
We should not be against spiritual babies: everyone goes through that developmental stage.
But to remain a baby forever is unnatural. And the same applies to “baby” Christians. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:13-14 that “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”
Growing into maturity is the natural order of things. The writer of Hebrews said to some unnamed Believers, “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12). Which really means “But you need to return to the first grade and start over with the basic truths of the kingdom”.
We don’t tell our babies to grow. It’s the natural order. If we feed and nurture them, protect and care for them, they will grow.
But Spiritual growth is a choice.
We grow spiritually into Christlikeness by the choices we make–whether to read the Bible and pray, to obey the Lord in a particularly difficult situation, to give our tithes when finances are tight, to share our faith when doing so might be uncomfortable, to resist temptation when its pull was so strong.
We choose to grow by making right choices. And, when we make the wrong choices we choose not to grow. We feel lazy on Sunday mornings and decide to sleep in; we are deciding not to grow. We decide to spend God’s money on ourselves rather than give it in church; we decide not to grow. We go a week without serious attention to the Word of God; we are sentencing ourselves not to grow.
To use Eugene Peterson’s phrase, spiritual growth takes place as a result of “a long obedience in the same direction.” BTW, this is the title of his book.
The Apostle Peter writes “…., you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18).
There is a way for God’s children to speed up the maturity process, to grow at a much faster clip than is normally the case.
But you won’t like it.
It’s called persecution.
When believers are persecuted for the faith, when they are harassed and tormented, and some even killed, when being identified as a follower of Jesus Christ subjects one to all kinds of opposition and humiliation, the Lord’s people decide in a hurry to what extent they believe Him and believe in Him, and how important He is to them.
The faithful who persevere in difficult times grow much faster than those who live in safe societies where serving Christ costs them little or nothing. They have to.
But I wouldn’t want to volunteer for persecution. There are easier ways–not to say more survivable ways!–to grow in the Lord.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Obedience!
Obedience!
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. Mark 14:12-17
As I was reading this scripture this week in preparation for our Sunday afternoon Bible Study at CHBC (HINT: We meet at 5:00pm in the WhoSoEver room, if anyone would like to attend.), I thought, “How strange that Jesus would give such “details” about what to do to get ready for the Passover meal.”
Passover was a major event in the lives of the Jewish people. It was in remembrance of when they were captive in Egypt by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh would not allow them to leave Egypt so God had caused several really bad things happen to the Egyptians. The last was the Angel of Death killing the first born of each household that did not have blood from a lamb on the door post. The Jewish were told that by following God’s command about this the Death Angel would “pass over” their house.
Wouldn’t it have been okay to just tell his disciples to all meet at this certain house at a certain time for the meal since Jesus knew where it was going to be? I know that I would have asked this question –“Aw, Jesus, can’t we just meet”? Then I “felt” the answer: “Hayward, it is about obedience, even to small things”. Thus, the title of today’s lesson – OBEDIENCE! Now every one of you may read this scripture and not get the same message as me! However, why would Jesus go through all these steps? Do you think that maybe God through the Holy Spirit might ask us to do things that make absolutely no sense to us but He has a purpose. In some cases the purpose could be just to “test” us in our obedience. Or it could have much more far reaching consequences.
Have you ever made a decision to obey God as a way of life? I’m not talking about obeying once in a while but in every area to the best of your knowledge and ability. Or do you find that there are times when you struggle to do what you know is right and in keeping with His principles? There may be times when it is easy to discern between what is right and in keeping with God’s will and what is wrong and not a part of His plan. In fact, you may actually obey Him at crucial junctures because you want His best. Other times, you may feel as if you are being pulled aside by disobedience simply because you did not do your homework in prayer and the study of God’s Word.
Solomon admonished us to “catch the foxes.” He went on to explain that it is the “little foxes that are ruining the vineyards” (Song of Solomon 2:15). Often the smaller decisions bring about the biggest consequences. A decision to tell a little white lie is very costly because it leads to sin and usually the next step, which is deception. The enemy is very keen. He knows better than to tempt a seasoned believer to flat out be not be obedient to God. Obvious sin always draws a response. Friends and family members usually speak up when you are involved in something that leads to shame, failure and a damaged testimony. You may falsely believe that something perceived as being insignificant is much easier to disguise. It may be for a season, but at some point God pulls the covers back, and the truth is revealed about what you have done.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit in small things can be so very important even though we are not aware of them at the time.
Edward Kimball was a Sunday School teacher at a little church in Chicago, his class was for teenagers. It wasn’t the biggest church in town, actually, it was a rather tiny church. Kimball had a small Sunday School class that consisted of just a handful of kids.
One Sunday a new kid showed up in church all on his own. This kid just showed up at church, he didn’t come with his family and no one from the church brought him. He just appeared.
He went to Edward Kimball’s Sunday School class that morning. Kimball quickly found out that this kid had never been to church before and was completely unfamiliar with the Bible and Christianity, compared to the other teens.
Edward Kimball realized that he needed to talk to this kid one on one about Jesus Christ and so that same week Kimball walked down to where the young man worked, a shoe store. Kimball saw the kid through the window working but hesitated to go in. He knew that he needed to really talk to this kid; again Kimball turned to enter, but again, he hesitated..
I mean who was Edward Kimball anyway? He was just a guy at one of the least significant churches in town, a guy with a relatively ineffective Sunday School class that only attracted a few teens, he wasn’t brilliant or especially articulate, he was just a part time Sunday School teacher and not much more. Has anyone here ever heard of him?
Still, this kid needed to hear about Jesus, and so, one more time Edward built up the courage to enter the store and talk to the kid - this time he followed through. Edward presented the gospel to the new kid as best he could….and the kid responded by giving his life over to Jesus Christ, right there in the store.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have come to know Jesus Christ as a result of this single act of Edward Kimball. This small act that Kimball almost let pass by, quite possibly could have been the demise of our chance to hear about Jesus, if he had not acted. Chances are, we owe our gratitude to this man for our opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, that kid who gave his life over to Jesus Christ that day was none other than Dwight Moody who later became one of the greatest evangelists in the world with hundreds and thousands becoming Christians as a result of his witness.
One of those who came to Christ as a result of Moody’s ministry was the Reverend Billy Graham, who in turn brought millions to Christ, worldwide.
A man few people could name today, a man who wasn’t really anyone, a man who didn’t stand a chance to win the Sunday School teacher of the year award, yet, in one single act, this man set in motion the creation more followers of Jesus Christ, perhaps, than anyone in the history of Christianity. This happened by a simple man doing a “small” thing in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit!
The small things we do in the Kingdom of God will have a greater impact than the great things we strive to do in the Kingdom of God. Let’s say that again, The small things we do in the Kingdom of God will have a greater impact than the great things we strive to do in the Kingdom of God.
You know, doing small things in the Kingdom of God, is well….doing things. When we do little things, we are actually doing the work of the kingdom of God. Now, striving to do great things in the Kingdom of God is excellent, but the truth is, we may simply pass up opportunities God sets before us, by ignoring the small things.
We want to have an impact for Jesus Christ and we may shy away from little things, because we believe, in the end little things will matter little. Yet, the truth is, God calls you to what God calls you to.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells the Parable of the Talents in which three men are given various amount of money, each according to his ability. With what was given was an expectation from God. God has given us whatever He has given us with the expectation that we will use it for the building of the kingdom of God - even in the little things.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit in small things can lead to far reaching blessings. What Jesus did on the cross for us was not a “small” thing but it was “obedience”.
“…he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8
“Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Hebrews 5:8
In closing, Jesus gives a new commandment. One which He expects us to do in obedience to His will: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35
And, the disciples were amazed when Jesus calmed the storm at sea. They said “Even the wind and waves obey him!” Mark 4:41b Soooo, shouldn’t we obedience, even in small things??
12 On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover meal for you?”
13 So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem with these instructions: “As you go into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” 16 So the two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. Mark 14:12-17
As I was reading this scripture this week in preparation for our Sunday afternoon Bible Study at CHBC (HINT: We meet at 5:00pm in the WhoSoEver room, if anyone would like to attend.), I thought, “How strange that Jesus would give such “details” about what to do to get ready for the Passover meal.”
Passover was a major event in the lives of the Jewish people. It was in remembrance of when they were captive in Egypt by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh would not allow them to leave Egypt so God had caused several really bad things happen to the Egyptians. The last was the Angel of Death killing the first born of each household that did not have blood from a lamb on the door post. The Jewish were told that by following God’s command about this the Death Angel would “pass over” their house.
Wouldn’t it have been okay to just tell his disciples to all meet at this certain house at a certain time for the meal since Jesus knew where it was going to be? I know that I would have asked this question –“Aw, Jesus, can’t we just meet”? Then I “felt” the answer: “Hayward, it is about obedience, even to small things”. Thus, the title of today’s lesson – OBEDIENCE! Now every one of you may read this scripture and not get the same message as me! However, why would Jesus go through all these steps? Do you think that maybe God through the Holy Spirit might ask us to do things that make absolutely no sense to us but He has a purpose. In some cases the purpose could be just to “test” us in our obedience. Or it could have much more far reaching consequences.
Have you ever made a decision to obey God as a way of life? I’m not talking about obeying once in a while but in every area to the best of your knowledge and ability. Or do you find that there are times when you struggle to do what you know is right and in keeping with His principles? There may be times when it is easy to discern between what is right and in keeping with God’s will and what is wrong and not a part of His plan. In fact, you may actually obey Him at crucial junctures because you want His best. Other times, you may feel as if you are being pulled aside by disobedience simply because you did not do your homework in prayer and the study of God’s Word.
Solomon admonished us to “catch the foxes.” He went on to explain that it is the “little foxes that are ruining the vineyards” (Song of Solomon 2:15). Often the smaller decisions bring about the biggest consequences. A decision to tell a little white lie is very costly because it leads to sin and usually the next step, which is deception. The enemy is very keen. He knows better than to tempt a seasoned believer to flat out be not be obedient to God. Obvious sin always draws a response. Friends and family members usually speak up when you are involved in something that leads to shame, failure and a damaged testimony. You may falsely believe that something perceived as being insignificant is much easier to disguise. It may be for a season, but at some point God pulls the covers back, and the truth is revealed about what you have done.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit in small things can be so very important even though we are not aware of them at the time.
Edward Kimball was a Sunday School teacher at a little church in Chicago, his class was for teenagers. It wasn’t the biggest church in town, actually, it was a rather tiny church. Kimball had a small Sunday School class that consisted of just a handful of kids.
One Sunday a new kid showed up in church all on his own. This kid just showed up at church, he didn’t come with his family and no one from the church brought him. He just appeared.
He went to Edward Kimball’s Sunday School class that morning. Kimball quickly found out that this kid had never been to church before and was completely unfamiliar with the Bible and Christianity, compared to the other teens.
Edward Kimball realized that he needed to talk to this kid one on one about Jesus Christ and so that same week Kimball walked down to where the young man worked, a shoe store. Kimball saw the kid through the window working but hesitated to go in. He knew that he needed to really talk to this kid; again Kimball turned to enter, but again, he hesitated..
I mean who was Edward Kimball anyway? He was just a guy at one of the least significant churches in town, a guy with a relatively ineffective Sunday School class that only attracted a few teens, he wasn’t brilliant or especially articulate, he was just a part time Sunday School teacher and not much more. Has anyone here ever heard of him?
Still, this kid needed to hear about Jesus, and so, one more time Edward built up the courage to enter the store and talk to the kid - this time he followed through. Edward presented the gospel to the new kid as best he could….and the kid responded by giving his life over to Jesus Christ, right there in the store.
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have come to know Jesus Christ as a result of this single act of Edward Kimball. This small act that Kimball almost let pass by, quite possibly could have been the demise of our chance to hear about Jesus, if he had not acted. Chances are, we owe our gratitude to this man for our opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You see, that kid who gave his life over to Jesus Christ that day was none other than Dwight Moody who later became one of the greatest evangelists in the world with hundreds and thousands becoming Christians as a result of his witness.
One of those who came to Christ as a result of Moody’s ministry was the Reverend Billy Graham, who in turn brought millions to Christ, worldwide.
A man few people could name today, a man who wasn’t really anyone, a man who didn’t stand a chance to win the Sunday School teacher of the year award, yet, in one single act, this man set in motion the creation more followers of Jesus Christ, perhaps, than anyone in the history of Christianity. This happened by a simple man doing a “small” thing in obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit!
The small things we do in the Kingdom of God will have a greater impact than the great things we strive to do in the Kingdom of God. Let’s say that again, The small things we do in the Kingdom of God will have a greater impact than the great things we strive to do in the Kingdom of God.
You know, doing small things in the Kingdom of God, is well….doing things. When we do little things, we are actually doing the work of the kingdom of God. Now, striving to do great things in the Kingdom of God is excellent, but the truth is, we may simply pass up opportunities God sets before us, by ignoring the small things.
We want to have an impact for Jesus Christ and we may shy away from little things, because we believe, in the end little things will matter little. Yet, the truth is, God calls you to what God calls you to.
In Matthew 25 Jesus tells the Parable of the Talents in which three men are given various amount of money, each according to his ability. With what was given was an expectation from God. God has given us whatever He has given us with the expectation that we will use it for the building of the kingdom of God - even in the little things.
Obedience to the Holy Spirit in small things can lead to far reaching blessings. What Jesus did on the cross for us was not a “small” thing but it was “obedience”.
“…he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8
“Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” Hebrews 5:8
In closing, Jesus gives a new commandment. One which He expects us to do in obedience to His will: “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34-35
And, the disciples were amazed when Jesus calmed the storm at sea. They said “Even the wind and waves obey him!” Mark 4:41b Soooo, shouldn’t we obedience, even in small things??
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