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.

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