New Years Resolution..Romans 12: 1-2

Romans 12: 1-2

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Another year is behind us and a new year is here, so what does it means for us?  These two verses are a perfect resolution on how we should begin the new year and each day of this new year.  A year is a measure of time made up of months, weeks, days, minutes, and seconds...all measures of time.  Paul's appeal is for us to use this time recognizing that time is a gift from God which we should use for His glory.

What would the world be like if everyone began each day with the intent to use God's gifts to us...talents, time, and bodies...to show our appreciation to Him (worship)?  If we live each day choosing to worship God by using our time according to His will; our families, our communities, our nations, and our world would be better, acceptable, and perfect.


Verse 2 tells us what it takes in order to be the living sacrifice Paul's calls us to be.  We must not conform to the ways of the world.  We must acknowledge that God's ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)  When we are intentional about seeking God's ways we will be led to Jesus Christ and we will be receive the Holy Spirit.  With His Spirit, each day will be a day of transformation and renewal allowing us to discover and live in the will of God. 

Therefore, let this be our New Years Resolution:
 
By the mercies of God, let us present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship.   Help us to not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The meaning of Christmas..."Eternal Life to all those You have given Him."

John 17: 1-5....After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³ Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴ I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began."

As Jesus prayed just before His death He revealed the reason for His birth...Eternal Life for all who know God and Jesus Christ whom God sent! 

Verse 2 got my attention.  We always talk about the gift of Jesus as we celebrate Christmas, but here Jesus acknowledges that we were given to Him by the Father so that He can give us eternal life.  Through Christ, God has made available to us the gift of eternal life.  We are given from the Father to the Son, and our belief in Jesus brings Glory to God the Father.  Through Jesus, the gift of eternal life is made available.  

In Verse 4 Jesus prays that He is bringing glory to His Father on earth by finishing the work that God gave Him to do.  What was that work?  Our belief in Jesus is the completed work, so we who believe, are given to God by Jesus.   

As we think of Jesus' birth, we need to also remember that Christmas only matters because our belief in God and Jesus Christ reveals His grace and His love...and that our belief is a gift to both Father and Son. 

Our belief in God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is a gift that glorifies God and it is a gift that we can keep on giving to the world so that all who come to believe will have eternal life.

There is another king, one called Jesus!

In the book of Acts, chapters 16 & 17, Paul is accused of causing trouble just because he showed up in towns. 

Acts 17: 6 & 7 says, " These men (Paul and other believers) who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here and Jason has welcomed them into his house.  They are defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus."

When Paul showed up with his message of grace and salvation through Jesus Christ, societies were upset and people were transformed by God's word.   What a reputation preceded Paul.  When he arrived, believers and non-believers expected the status quo to be stirred up.

Does Jesus' Church still "cause trouble all over the world" or has the church just blended into societies?  Do non -believers expect believers to bring a message that is in conflict with the norm or is the message one which conforms to the world?  If the church is not delivering God's word, why should we even show up.

This Christmas season we have the same message that Paul delivered..."there is a king called Jesus!"  We tell the Christmas story, but do we announce the King Jesus.  This is not a story to tell, it's an announcement to proclaim.  The angels didn't tell the shepherds a story about a baby's birth, they announced the Birth of the Messiah!

The Sermon On The Mount....Matthew 5-7

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was a teaching event that really caught the attention of the Jews who heard Him.  Those who heard Him, recognized that He was teaching from and a new perspective. 

The last two verses in Matthew 7 grabbed my attention:  Matthew 7: 28-29  Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

The crowds were taught by one who looked at the world through the eyes of God and not as the world sees.  The sermon begins with  the Beatitudes...the Blessed Are's...which are so contradictory to the teachings of the world.  He points out in  this sermon the contrast between the righteousness of God as compared to what man call righteous...murder as God sees it, adultery in God's sight, forgiveness, judging others, and God's love and faithfulness to us.  This sermon illuminates the difference between our humanity and God's majesty.

As we read the words in these chapters, it becomes very clear that our best is not good enough. Our understanding is lacking. Our knowledge and wisdom are limited.  Our worldly perspectives will be flawed, in every aspect of life, as long as we are looking at the world through our own eyes and using our own understanding. 

We need a Savior and thankfully, Jesus offered Himself.  Through His death and resurrection and with the gift of the Holy Spirit we can see the world differently.  By prayer and reading of His Word, He will transform us into that light He calls us to be.

Matthew 6: 16  "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."

John 4:24, "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

I go to church on Sunday mornings to attend a "worship" service.  I know when I walk into the sanctuary that we will have morning announcements, greeting of one another, an opening prayer, a hymn, an anthem by the choir, a time of offering, the Pastor's prayer, and a sermon message.  We will close with a hymn and if we're lucky we will beat the church down the street to the restaurants.  We all know how slow service can be if the Baptists get to the restaurants first.  

In John 4: 23-24, Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well, what true worship is: 23 "But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him."  24 "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."  Jesus makes this statement as a matter of fact, not as an assignment or command.  He is merely stating a truth.  As we read on, we read that the Samaritan woman acknowledges that the Messiah is coming and that he will proclaim all things to us, at which Jesus replies, "I am he." (vs 26).  So Jesus is proclaiming what worship must be! 

If worship isn't of spirit and truth, it is not worship.  I know that when I feel the Spirit's leading and receive instruction from Him, it is never a routine or everyday, ho hum experience.  I always have a sense of awe and an awareness that God's ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).  True worship is filled with the same awe and awareness.  Worship is a response to God not an assignment from Him.  When Jesus said that the Father seeks such as these to worship him, He is looking at the hearts of the worshipers.  He is not looking at the worship outline or church bulletin to see if it is true worship.

Sunday worship is a time of responding to God....aware that He is seeking us, and rejoicing that we have been found and saved By Him.  His Spirit will rejoice with us as we realize that we are one with Him just as Jesus is.  The Holy Spirit wants us to feel the same connection with the Father as Jesus experienced and experiences today.  God will use our worship time to encourage us and equip us to be better conduits of His love.  Worship is an encounter with God that transforms us and helps us to be joyful and patient even if the Baptists get to the restaurants first.

Acts 2 Peter introduces the world to the Holy Spirit

At Pentecost believers in Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit and it did not go unnoticed by the unbelievers.  Witnesses were astonished with what they saw and heard.  Some wondered what was happening and others assumed that wine was the cause.  The bottom line is however; that when the Holy Spirit is at work, people will notice.

We see throughout Acts, the result of Spirit filled believers.  They performed wondrous works, they spoke powerful words, they endured hardship with joy, and they proclaimed the love of Jesus and the promise of salvation through Him.  The same people who crucified Christ became the first to be offered the gift of His grace and the gift of His Spirit.  As we read these verses, we see how difficult it is for people to abandon traditions and rituals that are embedded in family, religion, and culture.  But when Christ said that we must be born again (John 3: 3), this is what he was talking about.  We  must be born into His family and turn away from all those things which gave us our old identity.  He  wants us to be identified with Him and one with Him as He is one with the Father (John 17: 9). 

When we receive Jesus as our savior, we receive His Spirit and His identity.  However, dying to our old identity is a journey we must choose to travel.  His Spirit will guide us and counsel us on this journey.  Reading the Bible,  Prayer, Meditating on Him, Serving in His Name, and Worshipping Him are all ways to become more like Him.  He calls us to share the Good News which we can only do by His power and clothed in His Righteousness.

Ruth...A story of Adoption, Mercy, and Grace

The Book of Ruth...What a beautiful love story this book is.  It highlights our need for Redemption and God's concern and care for us.  He desires to meet our needs and to save us from this world with its laws and injustice.  It truly shows that God's ways are higher than our own.

Concerning Love...Ruth's love for Naomi is demonstrated when she chose to leave "her people and her gods" (Ruth 1: 15).  Naomi loved her daughters-in-law enough to let them go, but Ruth chose to surrender all she knew to take care of Noami..."Where you go; I will go;  where you lodge; I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God." (verse 16)

Concerning Adoption...Naomi return to Bethlehem, to her kinsmen, with  Ruth and considered Ruth to be family, not a servant or slave.  She was regarded by Naomi as family.  Ruth owned land by virtue of her marriage to Naomi's son, and was therefore treated as a daughter.  God adopts us as His children when we accept Jesus as our Savior.  We become His children and heirs in His kingdom.

Concerning Redemption...In Boaz we see the compassion and care of God.  When Ruth went to Boaz and asked him to redeem them, saving them from the bondage of widowhood and poverty, he demonstrated a desire to save them from that end.  We see a desire to protect Ruth from those who would see  her as less than he saw her...  not as family, but as a foreigner or servant.  We see that Boaz recognized that Naomi and Ruth needed a redeemer, and that he could meet that need.  Boaz shows us the nature of God...His desires for us.

Concerning Grace...When Boaz met with the closest next of kin, who had first right to offer redemption, and ten elders to discuss the redemption of Naomi and Ruth (which was done in accordance with the law) the next of kin refused to do it because Ruth was a Moabite and he would not take her as his wife and damage his own inheritance.  He based his decision on Jewish law.  Boaz then offered redemption and married Ruth....following his heart instead of the law.  This is a good example of Grace.  We cannot earn God's grace, nor can we receive it by following a bunch of laws, which we fail to do over and over.  It is only by His goodness do we receive the gift of grace.

Jesus came to show us God's love, inviting us to become children of God by receiving Him, making His God our God, and by asking Him to redeem us.  Ruth and Naomi recognized that they needed a redeemer and they knew who to turn to.  As Christians, we have already recognized and received the redemption that Jesus offers.  We need to help others recognized their need for a redeemer and introduce them to Jesus.

Mark 10: 45 "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve...."

Jesus spoke these words after James and John came to Him and asked that they be granted seats at His right and left in His glory.  Of course this made the other ten apostles angry.  So here we are; three years into Jesus ministry, approaching Jerusalem where Jesus faces torture and death, and He needs to explain to those who will carry on His ministry how to "lead". 

First I see that he did not scold His disciples.  He did not get angry with James and John for their pride.  He did not point out the jealousy of the other ten.  He used this conflict to point to Himself and the contrast between Him and the rulers of the world...(42-44) "....You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."

After three years of ministry with the disciples, Jesus still had to point to His ministry as serving others and His Father, by giving His life as "a ransom for many".  His purpose was not to lord over the people, but to be their slave; to do for them what they could not do for themselves. 

Jesus' church was born and has lived because believers serve.  Christ did not establish the church as an institution...the Christian Church, but as a body of believers...Christians!  His greatness has not been measured by what people have done for Him, but what people have done for others because of His love being manifested in them by His Spirit.  Jesus' church is full of servants, not leaders.  As His Church, we need to be responding to His leading, His Spirit, and not looking for direction from leaders.  If you think about taking food to a neighbor...do it!  If you are passing a nursing home and you remember that a church member is there, stop and say hello!    If you think about a troubled friend, pause and pray!   That  Still Small Voice is calling us to serve.

Matthew 16...."Blessed are you Simon"...."Get behind me, Satan."

Reading in Matthew 16 yesterday we came across familiar scripture that revealed truths about our human condition that I had not considered before.  Quite frankly, I have always consider my human condition as weak and probably of little use to God.  But in Matthew 16: 15-19 Jesus shows us that, in our human condition, we can receive, share, and do for God just as Jesus did in His human condition.  When Jesus asked the disciples who he was, Peter responded saying that he was the Messiah.  Jesus blessed Peter and said, "...flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven."  He went on to tell Peter that on this rock he would build His church.  This rock was God's word spoken by man for man.  Jesus, being fully human, and very consistent to point out to his followers that his works and words were from His Father, understood that humanity, when connected to God by His Spirit, is the connection God has with us.

Ironically, within a few verses, Jesus also shows us the human condition when His Spirit is not the voice we follow.  In Matthew 16: 21-23, when Jesus is telling the disciples about the suffering and death he would face, Peter rebuked Jesus saying, "God forbid it, Lord."  Jesus turned and said to Peter saying, "Get behind me Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me, for you are  setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."  A couple of things stand out. First Jesus said that he was a stumbling block to Him...Peter was introducing doubt and temptation to Jesus, which Jesus did not want.  In His human condition, Jesus knew that temptation was always going to be used to  separate Him from His Father.  Second, Jesus points to Satan as the source of this temptation and ordered Satan to be behind Him where he could not come between Him and God.  Jesus was not calling Peter, Satan; but he was telling Peter that he was not speaking words from God (as he did in  the earlier verses) but words from Satan.  In our human condition, our natural tendency is to set our minds on human things.  But Jesus admonishes Peter for not setting his mind on divine things.  In our humanity we have the power to decide where we will set our minds.  Jesus set His mind on the Father and on divine things and that is what he wants us to set our minds on.  Satan will use the human things to separate us from God in order that we can become stumbling blocks for others.  The divine things...God's Word, God's Love, God's Grace, God's Forgiveness, God's Son are the things we need to set our minds on and share with humanity.

“No one is good—except God alone."

Luke 18:19

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁹ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone."

I am so guilty of considering myself as a good person...better than many...better than I used to be...I could be worse.  Yet Jesus did not have these opinions of himself, so why should I?  I want people to look at me and see me as a good person; someone they respect, admire, trust, enjoy, and want to be around.  I want to project myself as "good".

This high opinion of myself is evident in my prayer life.  I approach God with gratitude for how he has blessed me and made me a better person and then I  proceed to tell God how he can be a "good god" by doing good things like healing, forgiving, supplying, helping, and fixing.  I petition God in prayer as if Love, Goodness, Righteousness, Mercy, and Grace were not His Nature.  God, by His nature Loves beyond measure, Forgives Mercifully and Graciously, Heals perfectly, and Supplies in abundance.  In prayer, I am asking God to be who He already is.

I need to remember and go to God in prayer in the full realization of His Goodness.  By His Spirit leading me in prayer, my petitions will become praises and His nature will become my own.  I will want  what He wants.  I will see the healing that glorifies Him.  I will be thankful for the abundance of His supply.  I will receive the forgiveness that he so graciously offers.  I will love as he loves; loving people who seem unlovable and those who have hurt me.  I will be joyful, generous, patient, kind, peace loving, faithful, gentle, and have self-control (reject temptation).  (Galatians 5: 22-23...Fruit of the Spirit)

As I grow closer to God through prayer...seeking and desiring to be more Like Christ...I will want people to see His nature and not my own when they look at me.  That is what Jesus showed the world when He came and died and that is what He has entrusted to us, His followers and believers.

"For God So Loved The World..." John 3: 16

John 3:16

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

These words, spoken by Jesus, are the gospel message...the Good News....which the world needs to hear.  Jesus did not come to give us a To-Do list to get into heaven; He gave Himself and the promise that by believing that He is the Son of God, we will be saved and we will receive the gift of eternal life. 

When I proclaimed my belief in Him, I immediately knew that I had recieved this gift.  Over the years, I confess that at times my belief seemed weak and uncertain, but I never fell into unbelief.  It was at those low points when His Holy Spirit, a gift to help me, carried me, loved me, and assured me that His promise of eternity was mine.  Jesus relates to us because He walked this earth  as a man and experienced the same trials and temptations that we face.  That is why he sends His Spirit to abide with believers,  With His help, we feel His love and compassion when we are at our lowest.  He overcomes this world daily as we live this life and he overcomes death with eternal life.

There is power in the name of Jesus and that power is fueled by the love of God for all who believe that He is the Son of God.

Christmas Season Recap

As I look back over the Sermon series during the month of December and we look at Joseph and Mary's journey and the roles of Elizabeth, the shepherds, the wise men, and the angels, we see that God had a mission for all whom he called upon and enabled them to complete their missions (roles) so that His plan could unfold.  The good news is that His plan is still unfolding as He assigns missions to Christ's followers today.  We  must not look back on the birth story as an end event, but must look at it as a beginning of God's redemptive plan for the world. 

As I look forward to a new year, I quite honestly feel somewhat depressed.  I look back and recognize an end of another year and have trouble looking forward to a new year filled with uncertainty.  I think that is the real message we need to embrace from the Christmas story...God sent a chosen few on an uncertain journey to  accomplish what He had already planned.  He is doing the same thing today with us.  The Good News is that He has given us a Counsellor/ Guide; the Holy Spirit, to accompany us on His journey.  Instead of looking back or looking at the uncertainty of the future, we need to crave the voice and the leading of His Holy Spirit.  That is when the certainty of purpose and promise of success will replace the depression and fear that uncertainty brings.