Do We Come to Worship God, Or To Feel Good About Us?

Too many people who come to Church on Sundays  are looking  for the Worship leaders to make them feel good.  They desire that they receive something out of the worship service.  They want the pastor to say things that make them feel good about themselves.  The idea of church is no longer about coming to worship God but is about making oneself feel good, we hope that songs will bring a good feeling to us and we do not even take time to notice the words we sing.  We wage wars inside the church about how to worship forgetting what true worship is all about.  As I was reading one night I came across this thought: “We [Americans] interpret everything through a lens of pragmatism, through a transactional understanding of the world.  Many of us come to church Sunday after Sunday with the expectation of receiving something … But God does not exist to be useful.  God exists to be adored, simply because of who He is. True worship is, at its core, an act of senseless , wasteful, indulgent beauty.” (Skye Jethani)

              How many of us fall into this trap of thinking that we come to church and it is not our responsibility to be prepared to worship?  We come but we are not prepared. We believe that the worship leader should come and be passionate and make us ready to worship.  We serve a God who does not take orders from anyone, who created the universe and sent His son to earth to die on a cross for our sins, so we could be saved and have true life.  Yet we cannot come into His house of worship and be ready to worship Him.  We have the mindset that if we do not like what is happening or we aren’t moved enough it is someone’s fault but not our own.  King David said; “The one thing I ask of the Lord—the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple. Then I will hold my head high, above my enemies who surround me. At his Tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.”(Ps 4,6)

I want you to think about this when you come to church each Sunday, have you prepared yourself to come and to worship.  Have you like, King David said, today I want to go and seek God, I want to delight in His word, I will sacrifice with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music.  You see we mistakenly think that church is about us, but it is not about us at all it is all about God, we are called to passionately love God with everything we have and we are to praise His name.  Church is all about God and we must come prepared to worship God.  Think about what Peter tells us, “get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing. You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.  And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ.”(1^stPeter 2:1-5)  We are to no longer live as we did before we must live to please and to worship God, we are to do without expecting anything back.  We are to crave God’s word.  We are to come and be passionate in our worship of God.  

Worshiping God Everyday Not Just Once A Week:

We are commanded to love God with all our mind heart and soul, if we are to follow this commandant does it not then mean we must worship God every day?   Realizing that most people think of worship in the corporate sense not in an only one person thing, let us redefine the parameter of worship, shall we?  Let’s  begin to widen worship to our everyday living. Knowing that worship is showing love and respect to God, the question we have to ask is how do we do that in everyday living?  Paul tells us this in Romans 12:1-2, “dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 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 know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.”   As we read what Paul is saying here, we begin to see that being a Christian is more than us feeling good about ourselves.  It becomes a lifestyle of showing respect and love to God by allowing Him to transform our behavior.  We are to give up our own way of thinking and allow God to transform our wants and desires. 

We begin to worship God everyday through our everyday activity in how we treat others.  Are we treating them with same type of love that God has given us, are we working hard for the company we work for.  What type of attitude are we having?  How do we spend our free time,  are we busy doing what the world does or are looking into Gods word and going to prayer?  Many may be saying I don’t understand, are you saying we should be more focused on God then ourselves, should we no longer worry about what we may be missing in order to bring glory God?  Yes, that is what I am saying, we must no longer worry about the things that we want, we must begin to learn how to live for God, to worship Him from our hearts not with our words.  The world tells us do what you please worry about advancing yourself, yet God desires for us to love Him and to advance in Him.  He sent His own son to die on a cross so that we may find freedom from this world and from sin.  Yet so many people instead of truly serving God, desire to remain in the world because they are afraid of what they might miss out on.  Paul told the Philippians, “For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die. For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.  Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don’t know which is better.  I’m torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me,  but it is better for you that I live.  I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith. Then when I return to you, you will have even more reason to boast about what Christ Jesus has done for me.”(1:20-25)

No matter what we are doing we are to live for God, I can’t say it any better than how Francis Chang says it in his book Crazy Love; “To be brutally honest, it doesn’t really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory—whether eating a sandwich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04 a.m. so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four-month-old take a nap. The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift.”

Chan, Francis (2010-01-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (pp. 42-43). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

Is life Truly About Us being Happy?

I hear people talk about how all they want is to be happy, that life is all about being happy.  I hear it out of the mouths of those who go to church and do not go to church.  Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty fame has coined the phrase “happy happy happy”  But is this taught in the bible?  Does God want us to just be happy?  As I was studying this afternoon I ran across what Paul wrote to the Philippians, “for I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die.  For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.  Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don’t know which is better.  I’m torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me, ²⁴ but it is better for you that I live. I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith. Then when I return to you, you will have even more reason to boast about what Christ Jesus has done for me” (1:20-26)  Let us stop and think about when this was written Paul was in Rome under house arrest not allowed to go where he wanted.  Yet he says “I will always be bold for Christ.”  This life I live is not about me but about Christ, not about whether I am happy but I’m I living for Christ.

          If we are living for Christ then we are attaining joy, something so much better than happiness, we are going to have the eternal joy that comes from knowing God.  The Psalmist wrote “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness….Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure  and kept myself from doing wrong? … When I thought how to understand this,  It was  too painful for me— Until I went into the sanctuary of God”(Ps 73:3, 13, 16-17) I like how Francis Chan explains this piece of scripture.  “It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others’. But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.”  What God desires for us is that we be happy but that we find the joy in life that only he can provide us.

         Chan, Francis (2010-01-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (p. 42). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

Truly Worshiping God

I decided to do the next few weeks on worship. I began to pray and God brought me down a path that I would not have suspected.  I, like many people, thought of worship as something we do during certain times of the day, and on Sunday mornings.  As I began this study I looked up the meaning of worship Merriam-Webster tells us that worship is, “the act of showing respect and love for a god especially by praying with other people who believe in the same god.”  I hope you took note of the first part of the definition it tells us that worship starts by showing “respect and love.”  We cannot worship God if we do not love God or respect God.  God tells the people of Israel this in Deuteronomy 6:14-19; “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, for the Lord your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you and wipe you from the face of the earth. Do not test the Lord your God as you did when you complained at Massah. You must diligently obey the commands of the Lord your God—all the stipulations and laws he has given you.  Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you. Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the Lord solemnly promised to give your ancestors.  You will drive out all the enemies living in your land, just as the Lord said you would.”

 Do you see what God is telling His people? You cannot go after other gods, or things, you must love me first, follow the commandments I have given you.  How many times do we put other things before God, how many times do we say I love the things of this world more than I do God.  We want to come to church and say I’m going to worship God today and honor God today, but in our hearts we really do not.  We decide  that during the other six days of the week we are not going to show respect to God, in how we speak, in what we think, or what we watch.  Instead of bringing Glory to God we decide to bring glory to ourselves.  What if I told you that the life you live is not about you at all?  What if I told you that the life we live is to be all about God?  Does that scare you a little bit, are you worried about what you might miss out on?  It shouldn’t scare us at all.  God is a loving God, He sent His Son to earth to die on a cross for our sins, so we may be saved from our sins.  We must Allow God’s Holy Spirit to enter into us and begin to change the way we think, the way act and respond to the things of the world.  We must allow God to circumcise our hearts. It is through the process of circumcision of the heart that our hearts are cleansed and we begin to truly focus on God.  We read in the old the new testament of this:

Deuteronomy 30:6  “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live”

Romans 2:28-28 “For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the Jewish ceremony of circumcision. No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not a cutting of the body but a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. Whoever has that kind of change seeks praise from God, not from people.”

Philippines 3:3 “For we who worship God in the Spirit^* are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.” 

Listening While Praying:

Romans 8:26-30 says “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress.  For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.  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.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory”  What is Paul telling us here is some wonderful truths about God.  One, He knows us better than we know ourselves and His spirit helps us and guides us in prayer.  This also tells us that we need to be listening to God when we pray, what is God trying to tell when we pray? 

You may be saying what do you mean we should be listening, is God going to speak to us in an audible voice.  No that is not what I mean at all.  But I believe many of us may not go into our prayer time ready to really have a two sided conversation with God.  Let us stop for just a second and look at how we get ready for our Sunday morning service.  We come to sanctuary, we get seated and we listen to the opening song, then pray, then we sing more.  Then the pastor gets up and speaks.  Why do we do this?  We Do it to prepare our hearts and minds to hear God speaking to us through His word, through what He has told the pastor to speak on that day.  Many of us may read our bible then pray then get up and leave.  What if we really prepared to come to God and have true communion with Him. Maybe listen to some worship music, quite our hearts, read His word, write down those things that God brings to our mind.  Pray to God, then when we are finished be quite for a few minutes  and see what He may have to lay on your heart. Write it down if your journal, read whatever piece of scripture He may lay on your mind, leave changed. 

What is so great about God is He has given us His spirit to guide and direct us, as we read His word and pray, His spirit guides and directs us. Richard Blackby explains it like this; “when the Holy Spirit reveals a truth to you in prayer, He is present and actively working in your life. This kind of prayer is a divine encounter. Here's what happens as you seek God's will in prayer: God takes the initiative by causing you to want to pray. The Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, reveals God's will to you. You pray in agreement with the will of God. You adjust your thinking and attitudes to God's truth. You look and listen for confirmation or further direction from the Bible, circumstances, and the church (other believers). You obey. God works in and through you to accomplish His purposes. You experience Him as the Spirit revealed when you prayed. Praying and reading your Bible are inextricably connected. The Spirit of God often uses the Word of God when you pray. When I pray about something, Scripture often comes to mind, and I immediately open my Bible to the passage I believe the Spirit of God brought to my attention.”

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (pp. 160-161). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Hearing God’s Voice:

We live in a world that says we cannot hear God’s voice, even in today’s church many people say we can’t hear God’s voice.  They say He doesn’t speak to His people anymore, that was an Old Testament thing. Yet then we run across scripture like this in John “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is what I do in the name of my Father.  But you don’t believe me because you are not part of my flock.  My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them away from me.”(10:26-28)  What are we to do with this, it is basically saying that we as followers of Christ should know His voice when He speaks to us.    For us to hear the voice of God and recognize it we have to have a true and meaningful relationship with God.  God speaks to us through different ways but for those who follow, when they hear His voice they know it is His.  For years I didn’t understand what all that meant but the closer I have grown to God the better I understand it.  God speaks to us in a way that we know it is Him. It isn’t some coming down in the clouds moment such as seen in Monty Python’s Search For The Holy Grail.  But in the stillness of our heart, or when we are praying and we are still for a moment to hear His voice.  Richard Blackaby explains it this way in his book Experiencing God; “Knowing God's voice is not a matter of honing a method or discovering a formula. Recognizing God's voice comes from an intimate love relationship with Him. Those who do not have the relationship do not hear what God is saying (see John 8:47). Since God will uniquely communicate with you in the intimacy of your walk with Him, your relationship with Him is of utmost importance.”

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (p. 125). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

How Does Prayer Really Work?

Many people believe that prayer is something that gets us what we want; it is us asking God for what we want.  Then when that doesn't work the way they wanted, they get mad and proclaim God doesn't exist or He doesn't care.  Let us take a quick look on how prayer really works.   We first must understand that prayer is a tool for people to come into communion with God.  It is through prayer that the sinner comes to God and prays for forgiveness (Luke 22:32, James 4:7).   It is where the believer gathers strength (Jude 20, Matthew26:41), and so many other wonderful things.  So how does prayer work then?  We read In Psalm 66:18, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, my Lord would not have listened.”  We find out from this piece of scripture to be heard we must confess our sins and give our lives over to God.  Many people say I prayed once and nothing came of it, did they confess their sins did they truly want to come into communion with God or did they want to get something from God without having to change their lives?

We must pray in faith, we must pray knowing that God is going to answer and we are going see some great and amazing things come from pray.  “But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. People like that should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. They can’t make up their minds. They waver back and forth in everything they do.”(James 1:6-8)  As we pray we need to pray in line with Gods will, not our will or what the world prays for but for the things of the Kingdom of God.  “we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will.  And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for.”(1^st John 5:14-15)  We need to be sincere in our prayers as well, truly seeking out God and not our own wants.  “And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s people, ²² let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”(Hebrews 10:22)  We are to also pray presently without begging or trying to bargain with God.  We are to continue to pray for some things for a long while until God answers them.

Matthew 7:7-11 we read this;  “Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.  For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.  You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?  Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!  If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”  God has given us a powerful tool in prayer. All we need to Ask, Seek, And Knock.  But too many times we do not understand this wonderful gift that God has given us.  We grow in faith through prayer, we get wisdom through prayer, we come into communion through prayer. 

Shifting From Flesh to Spirit

I have come to notice that we as a people have this idea of making God into what we want God to be.  If we want to do something that is not biblical we come up with a thought that makes it ok.  We say things like, well, I accepted God and His love and I am sure that is enough.  God’s love is more than enough to cover all my sins past, present, and future.  I noticed that so and so whom I go to church with watches this show so it is ok.  But as we begin to dig deeper into the word the God we come across pieces of scripter like this one, “Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.”(John 3:19-21)  This is Christ talking in this piece of scripture; He’s saying that we who come to God must come to hate sin.  Not flirt with the idea of hating sin, not commit sin and then repent later even though we knew better.  But to truly come to a place in our life where we love the light and despise the dark.

We must shift from lust of the flesh to living in the spirit, Paul talks about this in Romans 8:1-17.  This is what the first two verses of say; “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.”  Did you see that Paul says we are freed from sin through the power of the life-giving Spirit, God’s Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and body and gives us the power to conquer sin.  We must realize that we no longer need to live under the control of the flesh, our bodies are filled with corruption and sin but we can take hope in knowing that Christ conquered all that through the cross.  We no longer need to live in the darkness but we must live in the Spirit.  Deep in our hearts the Spirit is ready to guide and direct us closer to God, we must work hard to no longer live in the darkness.  Verses 9-12 tell us; “ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.  The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.   So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.  For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”

 Let us give up living in the flesh and become strong in the Spirit let’s allow God to truly rule our lives.  Let us stop making excuses and start living in the light and being the light.  Let us stop lying and saying we are following while we are only following who we want God be.  “We are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. ⁷ But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.  If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. ⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” (1^st John 1:6-11)

It’s Time For A Shift:

We don’t think about it often but there comes a time in our lives when shift is needed, many times when shifts happen we do not realize it because they occurs naturally.  Such as going to college or getting a new a job they happen and we just go with them not even realizing that we have made a shift in our lives.  This is what is called a small shift, but then there comes times in our lives when we sit down and realize we have to make a big shift.  Let us for just a second look at what a shift is, if you can remember back to earth science you may  remember studying about  earthquakes.  If you remember an earthquake happens when there is a shift in the plates.  These shifts can cause a lot of damage, many of us still remember the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.  When the earth shifted that day it caused a massive tsunami and relocated Japan on the map.  But can we as people make these kinds shifts in our own lives that will change the world around us?  Of course we can the bible is filled with true stories of people who  made shifts in their lives to live for God and see how they can work in the world around them and see people come to God because they heard the Holy Spirit talking to them and they responded. 

The Thing about making this shift is that it is not an easy shift to make for us.   Christ tells us this in Luke 9:21-27; “Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about this.  “For I, the Son of Man, must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “I will be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. I will be killed, but three days later I will be raised from the dead.”  Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.  If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.  And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process?  If a person is ashamed of me and my message, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in my glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.  And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see the Kingdom of God.”

Notice what Christ is telling the crowd, if you want to follow me you must give up your own wants, ambitions and most likely people aren’t going to like you or the changes your making.  If we want to make a difference in our own little circle of people then we must first give everything to God.  We cannot hold back and say I want to keep this little part of my life.  I still want to be able to do this.  No it is all or nothing.  The first shift we must make is that we must stop playing around and begin to get real with God.  In the last few years I have read four books that have opened up my eyes and I have begun to make some changes in my life I now feel God telling it is time to make more.  It is time for us to start getting real with God, and letting go of our own self wants and desires. Three of the books I read told me that I need to start doing in my life, the fourth book was an autobiography of Katie Davies who at 18 moved to Africa and showed obeyed Gods calling to minister to the children and women.  We need to begin to say “we need to shift from being self-centered to being God-centered, to give the things that we want and take up the things of Gods kingdom”.

Wait I Must Serve Others?

We come to a part of Ephesians that can be and has been misinterpreted by many.  As we read Chapter 5:21-6:9  Paul is giving us an outline on how we are to live our lives.  Paul tells us that we are to submit ourselves to one another.  What does that mean? Do we just go around doing what others tell us to do? No that is not what Paul is saying here at all, he is telling us that we are respect one another, we are not to be demanding but be of a humble spirit.  The commentator tells us this about 5:21; “Submission to our fellow Christians, modesty of demeanor, humility, unwillingness to dispute, forbearance, gentleness—these are the unmistakable proofs of the Spirit’s power. . . .Such mutual submission to their fellow Christians should be rendered “in the fear of Christ,” that is, in reverence to him who is recognized as the Lord and Master of all.”^[1]  Paul goes to talk about how the family is work, the word Paul is using in these verses for Submission means to voluntary put ones-self under the control of another.  “Christian wives will be ordering their lives in proper subjection to their own husbands as required in this relation in the Lord, for subjection to the Lord includes loyal living in the home. Submission is not slavish fear, neither is it forced upon her by a demanding domestic despot, but it is voluntary. There is no hint of inferiority, but a matter of authority and responsibility in the home. Husbands and wives are parts of a unit. The question arises, what if the husband is not a born-again believer? The Word of God gives definite instructions covering such a case (I Pet 3:1–7).”^[2]

When it comes to husbands, Paul tells them this “you husbands must love your wives with the same love Christ showed the church. He gave up his life for her.”(5:25)  What Paul is saying here is make sure you are doing all you can do to provide for your wife, do not go make decisions based on only what you want.  Your job is to Show Christ to your family by how you love them.  As we go through the rest of what Paul is telling us on how  we are to live we begin to realize that in all parts of our lives we are to be showing the love of Christ on how we treat one another.  We must look to how Christ lived His life for others not for Himself.  We must respect those who are in authority and show Christ to the world not by words but by actions.  Let us take a look at how Christ showed the disciples how they were to live their lives. “Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love. It was time for supper, and the Devil had already enticed Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.”^[3](John 3:1-5)

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^[1]MacDonald, W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Eph 5:21). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

^[2]KJV Bible commentary. 1997, c1994 (Eph 5:22). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

^[3]Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 (Jn 13:1-5). Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.

We Are To Be Filled With The Spirit

I want to back up and review what we went over last week for just a second.  Last week when we talked about how we are to live our lives being imitators of Christ.  In everything we do we must do it as Christ would do it.  Man, this sounds near impossible, Christ was perfect, He was without sin.  How do we imitate one who is without sin?  For starters we turn our lives over to God, we say I cannot do this on my own I need you God to help and to guide me.  I believe that there are far too many people who are saying I want to come to God and be a part of His church but I need to clean up a little, I need to get rid of some stuff.  The problem with that type of thinking is that we cannot clean up the sin in our lives.  Only God can do that.  But we have a great promise in the Blood of Christ, our sins are forgiven and covered by the blood.  So now we have come to Christ given our lives to God, and we are told be imitators of Christ. 

The good news for us is that Paul tells us how we are to go about doing this, the first thing Paul says is leave your old life behind.  No longer are we to live in the darkness but live in the light.  We are to get rid of the sinful nature, put on the nature of God.  Paul says; “So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days.  Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do.  Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”(Eph 5:17-20)  Notice that Paul tells us to be careful about how we live, do not live as fools.  I find this to be really interesting advice of all the things Paul could have said about how we live our lives, this is what he tells us.  But if we think about it this is truly some of the wisest advice one could be given.  So many people in today’s society are no longer living as wise people but as fools, and are proud to put on the internet for everyone to see.  There are whole shows of people making fools of them.  

How do we stop living as fools, we start by being thoughtful using the mind that God has given us. We are to “let the Holy Spirit fill and control us.”   Many people seem to think that once you been filled by the Holy Spirit you are good to go, after all it’s not like you can be unfilled right?  Wrong we can easily be unfilled; we must be vigilant in our relationship with God.  We must continually be putting our focus on God and His Word so that we will be filled with His Spirit.  As we grow closer to God the more we are going to come a where of the things we must change in our lives. If we want to live our lives for God and filled with His Holy Spirit we must give up our lives, the commentator puts tells this:

1. Confess and put away all known sin in our lives (1 John 1:5–9). It is obvious that such a holy Person cannot work freely in a life where sin is condoned.

2. Yield ourselves completely to His control (Rom. 12:1, 2). This involves the surrender of our will, our intellect, our body, our time, our talents, and our treasures. Every area of life must be thrown open to His dominion.

3. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Col. 3:16). This involves reading the word, studying it, and obeying it. When the word of Christ dwells in us richly, the same results follow (Col. 3:16) as follow the filling of the Spirit (Eph. 5:19).

4. Finally, we must be emptied of self (Gal. 2:20). To be filled with a new ingredient a cup must first be emptied of the old. To be filled with Him, we must first be emptied of us.

An unknown author writes:

Just as you have left the whole burden of your sin, and have rested on the finished work of Christ, so leave the whole burden of your life and service, and rest upon the present inworking of the Holy Spirit. Give yourself up, morning by morning, to be led by the Holy Spirit and go forth praising and at rest, leaving Him to manage you and your day. Cultivate the habit all through the day, of joyfully depending upon and obeying Him, expecting Him to guide, to enlighten, to reprove, to teach, to use, and to do in and with you what He wills. Count upon His working as a fact, altogether apart from sight or feeling. Only let us believe in and obey the Holy Spirit as the Ruler of our lives, and cease from the burden of trying to manage ourselves; then shall the fruit of the Spirit appear in us as He wills to the glory of God.

^[1]

  

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^[1]MacDonald, W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Eph 5:18). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

A New Creation Through Christ

We are getting to a part in Ephesians that we could easily just skip over if we wanted to stay the same.  If we wanted to go the easy route and just let our relationship with God be a casual thing, but we don’t want to do that.  Paul talks about how our relationship with Christ does more than change us.  Let us take a quick look at what Paul says here in chapter four starting at verse 17-24; “With the Lord’s authority let me say this: Live no longer as the ungodly do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They don’t care anymore about right and wrong, and they have given themselves over to immoral ways. Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed.  But that isn’t what you were taught when you learned about Christ.  Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception.  Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.  You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness—righteous, holy, and true.”

Paul very bluntly says stop listening to what the world is telling you on how you should live your life.  The world is full of sin so just stop being foolish and trying to figure out how you should live by buying self-help  books, watching Dr. Phil, or where ever you get advice, just stop.  Why? Because these people do not know God, they have hardened their hearts.  We must come to the understanding that if we want to grow in God we must put the world behind and live for God.  As Paul puts it we “must put the new man on and get rid of the old.  The Greek word Paul uses for new means having a different quality or nature.  This means we are no longer the same, God enters into us and changes us from the inside out.  We are to no longer live as we used to, we are to take on the nature of God.  Christ says that we are to be born again, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”(John 3:3)  Peter tells us the same thing, “For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”(1^st Peter 1:23)

We are to no longer live as we lived before Christ, we are to allow God to change and recreate us. Paul says if you lived as a thief, stop, if you lived deceiving others, stop.  So how do we live then?  “Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”(Eph 4:32)  We are to live in love with God we must put all hate, all sin behind and live a life that that no longer puts us in the center but puts God and His love in the center of our lives.  We no longer get mad at people but instead we love them.  

Our Responsibilities:

As we look at the first part of Chapter four of Ephesians we see Paul talking about us being untied together through God and His Holy Spirit. We talked about being united with God in-depth last week. So I’m not going to go real in-depth on it here.  We know that it is Gods desire for us to united with Him, to allow Him to be our King and to follow Him.  God created us and it is through His grace that we have salvation.  It is His church that He uses to get His message out, and that is what we are going talk about here.  What Paul goes on to talk about here in chapter four is the church, he says in verses 11-13; “ He is the one who gave these gifts 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,  until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.”

Let us understand what Paul is saying here, let us not get into a debate on what these gifts are or how we can find out what gift God has given us.  The key words that Paul uses here are, “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church.”  What does that mean to us?  That means that as we mature in our relationship with God we are to focus less and less on ourselves and begin to focus on God’s Church. We all have been called to go and make disciples.  Paul is saying we have a responsibility to take care of those who are new to the faith, those who do not know God, those who may be struggling in their faith.  We are to build them up help them become strong and mature in Christ.  Paul is talking to us, those who are a part of a local church who are already mature in our faith.  He saying that we must not just sit on the sidelines but we are to get ourselves into the game.  We must work on helping those who  need help in knowing the Lord or growing stronger in the Lord.  

Not to worry those of you who new to the faith, listen to what Peter has to say to you, “So get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing.  You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk,  now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness”(1^st Peter 2:1-3)  What does this mean for those who are new to the faith it means that you should be looking for opportunities to grow in Christ, bible studies offered at your local church, ask your pastor about books he may recommend.  Whatever you can find you need to seek it out in order to grow.  As Paul says, “ Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth.  Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.  Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”(Eps 4:14-16)

The Power of Prayer and Love:

When we read Ephesians 3:14-21, we can do one of two things first read it and not even realize what great promises and power is in it.  Second we read it and sit back let Paul’s words sink in and be changed forever.  These few verses tell us a great deal, it tells us how we are to live our lives, it tells us of the power of God.  Paul says in the verses 14-17; “when I think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.”  Paul says that just at the thought God’s wisdom and plan that it drives him to prayer.  What does Paul pray for? That Christ will give us might inner strength that we may grow deep in God’s marvelous love.  Paul doesn’t want the people of God’s church to just be content with attending church once and while and praying on the run.  No, he prays that we will grow strong in God’s love.   That our lives are going to be controlled by the fact that we have allowed God to make are hearts His home.

In verses 18-19 Paul continues with by saying, “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 really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”  Paul is praying that we experience the love of Christ, we won’t understand but it will change us forever.  I believe that too many times we are allowing our own wants to control how we experience God.  We have it in our minds that God loves us and wants to give us all that we need and want.  That He wants to make us comfortable.  Sometime we even get confused and because we want something we decide that it is what God wants for us. But what if we started to ask God to revel to us what it is He desires for us to do in our lives.  What if instead of saying I want this so bad that it is what God wants for me too.  The problem is we then pray for it and when the answer comes back no, we get mad.  What Paul is saying is that he wants to see us come and allow God to become a true part of our lives.  Christ said; “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”(Jn 14:23)

Paul then ends this prayer with; “Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.   May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.”(vss 20-21)  Paul is telling us let God make His home in you, empty yourself and let God fill you with His love and power.  Then you will see God do some awesome things in your life.  Let us stop trying to get God to do what we want Him to do and pray for His guidance, let us give God our lives for real.  Henry Blackaby tells us this, “God wants us to align our lives with Him so He will accomplish His divine purposes in and though us. God is not our servant to bless our plans and desires. He is our Lord, and we must adjust our lives to what He is doing and to the ways He chooses to accomplish His work. If we will not submit to God and His ways, He will allow us to follow our own devices. But be sure of this: we will miss God's activity, and we will not experience what God wants to do through us to bless others. As Christians, it is not only important what we do but how we do it.”

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (p. 96). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

What is the Mystery?

In the first part of Chapter three Paul talks about how He was chosen to bring the word of God to the Gentiles.  “As you already know, God has given me this special ministry of announcing his favor to you Gentiles.”(vs3:2)  Paul brings this up for the reason that he wants to talk about the mystery that God has revealed to him.  What is this mystery, is it that the Gentiles are now able to  be saved?  If we look at the Old Testament we can see that is not the mystery, let us look at several passages; “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Isa. 11:10). Another: “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isa. 60:3). Isaiah also wrote: “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:6). Zechariah also mentions it: “And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee” (Zech. 2:11). And Malachi: “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of host” (Mal. 1:11).

As we look at those pieces of scripture we see that the Jews understood that at some point everyone would be able to be saved.  So what is this big mystery Paul is talking about that has been revealed to him?  Paul reveals to us what this answer to this mystery is in verse six; “this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus.”  What Paul is saying would come to be a shock to all Jews, for none them would have ever thought that God would allow anyone else the same rights and more than what they had.  As one commentator writes, “In other words, converted Gentiles now enjoy equal title and privileges with converted Jews.  First, they are fellow heirs. As far as the inheritance is concerned, they share equally with saved Jews. They are heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and fellow heirs with all the redeemed.  Then they are fellow members of the same body. They are at no distance or disadvantage now, but share a position of equality with saved Jews in the church.  Finally, they are fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel. The promise here may mean the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:8; Gal. 3:14), or it may take in all that is promised in the gospel to those who are in Christ Jesus. Gentiles are copartners with Jews in all of this.  None of this was true in the OT dispensation, nor will it be true in the coming kingdom of Christ.  In the OT, Israel held a distinct place of privilege before God. A Jew would have laughed at any suggestion that a Gentile held an equal share with him in the promises of God. It simply was not true. The prophets of Israel did predict the call of the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6; 56:6, 7), but they nowhere hinted that Gentiles would be fellow members of a body in which Jews did not have any priority.  In the coming kingdom of our Lord, Israel will be the head of the nations (Isa. 60:12); Gentiles will be blessed, but it will be through Israel (Isa. 60:3; 61:6; Zech. 8:23).  The calling of Israel was primarily, though not exclusively, to temporal blessings in earthly places (Deut. 28; Amos 9:13–15). The calling of the church is primarily to spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). Israel was called to be God’s chosen earthly people. The church is called to be the heavenly Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2, 9). Israel will be blessed under the rule of Christ in the Millennium (Hos. 3:5); the church will reign with Him over the entire universe, sharing His glory (Eph. 1:22, 23).   Therefore it should be clear that the church is not the same as Israel or the kingdom. It is a new society, a unique fellowship, and the most privileged body of believers we read about in the Bible. The church came into being after Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit was given (Acts 2). It was formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). And it will be completed at the Rapture, when all who belong to Christ will be taken home to heaven (1 Thess. 4:13–18; 1 Cor. 15:23, 51–58.”^[1]

All this being said, what does it mean for you and me; it means that when we come to Christ we are accepted into His Kingdom.  That means first, that we no longer belong to this earth, we are connected to God through the Holy Spirit.  God works through the Holy Spirit to strengthen us, comfort us and Guide us. It means that we are now able to go to God in prayer with great confidence and boldness. “I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.  And we can be confident that he will listen to us whenever we ask him for anything in line with his will. And if we know he is listening when we make our requests, we can be sure that he will give us what we ask for.”(1^st John 5:13-15)  It means that we are no longer living for ourselves but for God who created us and loves us.  We no longer need to fear death.  But it also means we come to the understanding that we are to go and be the church, we are to go out and let people know who Christ is.  We no longer are able to live for ourselves and our wants we must begin to seek out what it is that our King and God desires of our lives. 

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^[1]MacDonald, W. 1997, c1995. Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (Eph 3:6). Thomas Nelson: Nashville

Brought into the Family of God:

As we begin to read the second the half of Ephesians chapter two, it can be a little difficult for us in today’s church to grasp what Paul is trying to tell us.  The reason for this is because for most of us we do not fully understand the history between the Jews and the Gentiles.  Most of us realize that the Jews considered that anyone who was not a Jew was consider a Gentile or as they would call them the Uncircumcised, the Jews would not allow the Gentiles to come into the Temple.  They had a spot on the far outer court that they were allowed to enter into, but it was made know if they enter into the temple they would die.  In verses 11-12 when Paul says, don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called “the uncircumcised ones” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.  In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.”  Paul really means that we had no hope, without Christ coming and dying on the cross we would have no right to be in a relationship with God.

Paul goes on to tell us this in verse thirteen though, “But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ.”  This is the wonderful news of Christ that through His blood all mankind now has access to God, we no have a curtain or wall separating us from God.  Christ came so that all mankind can come to God and receive citizenship into Heaven.  When we read verses 14 through 18, Paul goes on to explain how Christ came fulfill the law to do away with the system that kept all mankind away from God.  When Paul talks about how the death of Christ “ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles.”(v15)  He’s  not saying that Christ came to get rid of the commandments and that we are able to go do whatever we please.  He’s saying that Christ got rid the laws and rituals that kept all man away from God’s love.  We are no longer dependent on the Jewish laws of sacrifice, that was what the cross was for. Christ was the final and prefect sacrifice.  Bringing us together with the Jews in peace through Christ. 

As we get to the end of chapter two Paul tells us how we are no longer strangers or foreigners but all citizens and a part of God’s family.  “When you come to Jesus Christ, you are not only brought into a body, but you are also brought into a place where you stand before God on a par with anybody. I stand with you and you stand with me on equal footing. So today there should never be a point of separation for believers on any basis at all. We have been made one in Christ. If you are a believer in Christ—it makes no difference who you are—you and I are going to be together throughout eternity. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for us to speak to each other every now and then down here, would it?

The contrast in the passage is really between the Jew and Gentile. The Lord Jesus Christ is the peace that has been made between them. The middle wall, the fence, or partition, the enmity between the two, has been broken down. He has made a new man. We have been put together in Christ, and He has made peace. It means that we now have peace with God, and we should also have peace with each other.

God’s reconciliation is already complete. He is ready to receive you if you are ready to come. Therefore, the message that goes out is “… be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). If you will be reconciled, you will be brought into a new body, a body of believers, and it doesn’t make any difference whether you are Jew or Gentile. The color of your skin makes no difference. White, brown, red, black—all are one in Christ. We have been made one, new men, and we should have peace.”

Let Us Talk About Faith

A couple weeks ago we talked about how it’s by God’s wonderful grace that we receive salvation through, with that also come the thought what about faith?  Where does faith come into play, many people say they have faith in something but what does that mean when we say we have faith?  Let us think about those who put their faith in a public figure who is running for president.  Many times if one who put their in Mr. X and says that is who needs to by our next president they may put a yard sign in their yard.  But the ones who really have faith in Mr. X go and volunteer at his local campaign office making phone calls telling their friends how he is going to change things in Washington.  Their faith in Mr. X changes how they spend their time and maybe even how they think.  Yet somehow when we talk about faith in God many times it’s not so much talking about how we live our lives but it is how we need more faith to see God working through prayer.  Do not misunderstand what I am saying, I believe in the power of prayer and believe that we see God working through prayer and that faith plays a part in that.  But is Paul referring to faith in a context to prayer in Ephesians when he talks about in chapter 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ^ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ^ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

As I study this piece of scripture and begin to look at other pieces of scripture I begin to realize that faith in God is much more visible then we tend to think of it being.  Faith in itself as we read here is a gift from God.  What does that mean for us?  For starters it means we cannot go around bragging about how much faith we have or even saying because of my faith in God I have seen many prayers answered.  It also means that faith in God is very much a working of God in our souls, much like the cleansing of our sins, Paul went on to say; “we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” It is our faith in God that is going to create and make us holy.  That means that our lives are to be lived out in faith.  Does this mean we say I have not been given the gift of Faith therefore I cannot be saved?  No by no means is that what Paul is saying, the truth being that if we say I do not have faith in God what we are truly saying is that I do not want to change my life, I want to continue my life in sin and not give it up.

Let us look at 2^nd Corinthians 3:12-18; “Since this new covenant gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory fading away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and even to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.  Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil and they do not understand but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.  Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.  And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”  What is Paul saying here is  that we have a choice we can either follow God putting our trust in God and  allow Him to reveal Himself through us and how we live our life.  Or we can choose not to accept the gift of faith and allow our hearts to be hardened to His word and go on living a life in sin.  The choice is ours, do we want to shine for God letting His spirit guide and direct us going where He wants us to go witnessing to those we are called to witness to when times are tough and we don’t know how we are going to make praising God and letting others know we serve a God of love and have nothing to worry about?  The choice is yours.