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Luke 6:22-23 Have you ever heard someone say that when it comes to relationships; “It’s the little things that matter”? What do you think they mean by that? For me it is how we live and act day in and day out toward another person that says what we think about them, how we feel about them and so on.
It is not the big things we do, like bringing flowers once or twice a year, the big gift at Christmas, birthdays and so on but the little thoughts we put into action day after day. These are the things that tell someone what we truly think about them, whether we truly love and value them and enjoy being with them. The way we act day in and day out tells others what is in our hearts and minds, what we really care about.
Have you ever considered that the little things we do on a day to day basis can make a difference for all eternity? How we treat the people we live with, work with, go to school with and even those we invite for dinner, all can make a difference in eternity. Every action we take as Christians has an eternal consequence both positive and negative.
In this new series we are beginning we are going to see how this works out. We will look at what Jesus and the Bible teach about the rewards we will receive in heaven, to be enjoyed for all eternity. When it comes down to the teaching about what happens when we leave this earth in death or by rapture, no one speaks or teaches more about it than Jesus. When He taught the people they were in awe of His teaching because He taught like no other they had heard. From the time He was 12 the people were in awe of His understanding of the scriptures and spiritual things.
Luke 2:47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.
Later, when He formally began His public ministry in Galilee, people were again amazed at His teaching, the authority He taught with. When Jesus gave the message we know as the Sermon on the Mount, where our passage comes from, the people were again in awe; Matt. 7:28–29 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. People knew there was something different about Him.
It is amazing that as many times as people have read our passage, that they have missed a great truth in it. 1 out of 10 commentaries picked up on what we are going to study. Many people believe from this passage that if we suffer persecution for being a Christian or taking a stand for Christ, that they should be joyous over the persecution that comes from it. Maybe they look at the example of the early disciples and how they reacted for being persecuted and think that is the way we need to respond, the attitude we need to have.
Acts 5:40-43 Wouldn’t it be great if we could have this kind of attitude toward suffering for Christ? Is this the reality of it though?
But, when we look at our passage I don’t think this is what Jesus is telling us we should rejoice over. Why, because of the 7 or 8 words in our passage, depending on the translation, that tell us we should rejoice because of another reason; Luke 6:23 “because great is your reward in heaven.” The little things we do here, like putting up with religious persecution, will have great consequences for us in heaven, for all eternity. Jesus is saying that because we stand up for Him He will reward us when we get to heaven to be with Him. Matt. 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.
What we do because of what we believe will be rewarded. There is a difference between believing and doing. We will be rewarded for behaving in a certain way, standing in our belief rather than running away from those who persecute us or because we receive pressure for our faith. The act of doing, our behavior, comes from what we truly believe. James 2:14-18 Saying; “Cowboy up or Cowgirl up” when we get hurt. Jesus isn’t telling us to Cowboy up through the pain and suffering of persecution, He is telling us that we can rejoice in the fact that when we suffer for His sake He will reward us for our behavior.
Knowing that Jesus appreciates what we put up with here, in all the little things we do for His sake, can and will make it easier for us to walk through them. Maybe this is what the disciples were rejoicing about when they were flogged for preaching Jesus at the hands of the religious leaders. Ever notice that the persecution that hurts the most is from those who are supposed to be your allies?
By the way this is not the only place Jesus talks about the rewards we will receive for the little things we do here;
Matt. 16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
Matt. 19:21 Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 14:14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The little things we do for Jesus will make a difference for all eternity and they won’t be missed because God is keeping track of them for us; Rev. 20:11-12
Another thing we will learn, in our series, is that we will gain more by serving the Lord than we could ever imagine.
There are 2 keys that the Scriptures point out that will determine everything about our eternal life, the life we have after death or rapture;
“Not what you know but who you know that gets us places.”
The first key is belief, belief determines where we will spend eternity, either with God in heaven or apart from Him in Hell.
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
The second key is behavior; the little things we do daily will determine how we spend eternity. Matt. 25:34; “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 45–46 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Behavior is the key we will be focusing on in the series we are beginning today. Behavior includes the actions we make and the work we do. Remember though that belief always precedes behavior and the behavior determines the rewards.
What we believe should determine how we behave and determine how we approach daily life differently than we used to.
Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. The little decisions we make, like how we spend our time and money, can become opportunities of great promise. What we do today and everyday following can and will matter for all eternity. One of the first things Jesus did when He began His public ministry was to set right the wrong understandings people had about God and His word and will. It was something He continued to do throughout His ministry.
I believe He did this because He was concerned about where and how we would spend eternity. God sent Jesus to teach us the whole truth about living for Him and the wondrous prospects of it, now and especially in eternity.
The rewards Jesus promises for our behavior as believers are a comfort to those who are committed to Him when troubles come for our faithfulness to Christ.
Benediction: Heb. 12:1–3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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Have you heard the saying Two Faced? What does it mean to you? Two Faced: when a person acts a certain way in one place and differently in another. Can you think of any examples? Do we as Christians tend to act one way when we are in church or at a Bible study and then differently when in another place? If so then do we fit the definition as being Two Faced? How then should we act everywhere? One of the greatest blocks for our walk in a loving relationship to God is the duality of life we try to live in, being 2 faced. It seems for many Christians spiritual things go in one part of our lives while secular things go in another part. We act differently in the 2 different worlds we live in. In other words we act as Christians at worship service and Bible studies and the rest of the time we live and act in a secular manor, that is; not controlled by a religious body or concerned with religious or spiritual matters. We live a worldly life.
This leads to a divided, two faced, lifestyle instead of a unified life, of Christian witness, bringing little peace in us as we move back and forth between them. Yes, we can partly blame this on the sin nature and the sin in the world which we struggle against its effects in daily life. But, when we come to faith in Christ as Lord and Savior we have entered in to a second world, the spiritual. In the spiritual we find hope and a sweeter life spent in fellowship with Christ. There are joyful times of worship and experiencing the presence of Christ, being discipled, learning from Him through the Holy Spirit, from the word of God. But, then there is the other world we must walk in, the secular. This includes our jobs, our relationships with non Christians and all the ordinary activities of life, eating, drinking, bathing, sleeping, and taking care of our physical needs and so on; the mundane things of life here on earth in the flesh. Too often we find that when we come to the end of the day we have much to confess from these daily activities and where they took us, because we acted two faced in them. Worse yet 2 faced in worship and fellowship with the Lord. Isaiah 29:13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Often we may go about our day to day works longing for the day we will be with the Lord enjoying His eternal presence. Verse 8
It seems we are caught in a trap we desire to be at home with the Lord but know we are not yet finished here. So, we walk the fence between the 2 worlds, spiritual and secular. Still there is no peace, little joy or strength while trying to manage life on the fence, often being 2 faced about which world we live in.
The Lord wants us to know that this is not biblical at all. The scriptures tell us we will have this longing for the other side while we are stuck in this one. Vs 1-5. But we are also told we can live in the spiritual the whole time we are in the secular. Vs 6-10. Jesus is the perfect example of one who was never 2 faced while He walked the earth. During His life here He lived in the knowledge and understanding that the Father was with Him every moment of every day and there was no distinction between His living in the secular and the spiritual. John 8:29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” As Jesus walked the earth dealing with the problems of the secular world He always acted in peace and poise. Even when the weight of the world’s sin pressed upon Him as He get closer and closer to the cross, He still was certain of the spiritual and its realities. He never acted differently when in different places. He was always mindful of His Father’s business, seeking to glorify Him.
The Apostle Paul tells us that we should live as Jesus did, glorifying God in everything we do, even the mundane. 1 Cor. 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Every act of our lives, whether spiritual or secular can be done for the glory of God, living to please Him as it says in verse 9. Knowing that we are God’s chosen people and that He provides everything thing for us, all our needs, we can give thanks and praise to Him for them. What do we have that is truly a gift but taken for granted? When we seek to live out the righteousness of the kingdom of heaven, giving thanks to God for our every meal, snack, drink, paycheck, clothes we wear, our sight and whatever else we have in the secular world we will glorify God. Matthew 6:25-34 This living in the spiritual 24-7 will not be an easy task. We have life long habits that need to be broken. Sheri’s saying; took you a long to get the way you are, not going to change overnight. These bad habits of 2 faced behaviors will have to be conquered by prayer and dependence upon the Holy Spirit working in us. It will take conscious effort on our part to get the idea that the secular work and mundane acts we do daily can be an act of worship acceptable to God through Christ.
We will face opposition for our efforts to live to please and glorify God in our everyday living. Our sin nature will not cooperate easily nor will the devil like our decision to live to please and glorify God. 1 Pet. 5:8–9 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, Between the sin nature and the devil, they will do all they can to trip us up from living to please and glorify God daily. They will cause confusion and discouragement. But remember we have chosen to live to please and glorify God while we are stuck here in this body and because of that we will be rewarded for all our efforts to do so. 1 Cor. 3:12–14 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. We must be steadfast in our faith offering all our daily acts up to God as worship, believing He will accept every one of them. We must plant in our minds that our every act, day or night, are for His glory, to please Him, because our walk in the spiritual far out weighs the secular.
Our prayers must be reminders to God that it is our desire that all we do be done for His glory and pleasure. Even the daily mundane tasks can be done in prayer thanking God for the ability He has given us to even carry these out. We must believe as Jesus did, that God is with us every minute of everyday and every act we commit is for His glory because we are living to please Him. Eph. 6:7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, Don’t misunderstand though, not every act is of the same value as others. Paul worked as a tent maker during his ministry. This was not as important work as the epistles, the letters, he wrote to the churches to train them up in the Lord. The most important thing we can do, the only thing that will matter throughout eternity, is to lead someone to Christ. This will have effect for eternity. The rest will make a difference when we are tested for our faithfulness. These will be the daily acts we do in moral and spiritual integrity, concerned whether we do them for the Lord or not. 2 Cor. 10:17–18 But, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. When we do the secular duties in a way to please God and glorify Him there will be quality in our work, whatever it is. We must be careful not to be tempted to let our thoughts lead us to actions that are not glorifying to God. We do this by putting each one through the lens of Jesus. 2 Cor. 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. We must avoid thinking that the things we do are of less value than those of others. Each one of us has a gift to use from God and if we use it for His glory that is all that matters to Him.
If we live out our lives in both worlds with a true heart intent on pleasing and glorifying God we will not be 2 faced in our actions and always pleasing to Him because He judges our heart intent. Proverbs 21:2 All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart. Our motive is everything, if we sanctify ourselves to God, to live to please and glorify Him, there will be no common or mundane task we do. Every one will be done as a deed acceptable to God through Christ. Hen we will have peace and satisfaction while stuck in this earthly Tent of the body, living is a secular world, but acting only as the Christian witness we are supposed to.
Benediction: 1 Thess. 5:23–24 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
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What are some things you can think of that are opposite of what you think they mean or are? For example; the word peruse, what do you think it means and how do people use it? To look over something quickly. What it really means is to read or examine something, usually in a careful and thorough way or taking time to do it. What about irregardless? Same as regardless, in spite of or ignoring setbacks, hindrances, or problems. Can you think of others? It seems there are things out there that we do and use which should be done the opposite so to be right. Think about politics and common sense. There is even great evidence building that the dieting craze has it all wrong and should be doing things just the opposite of what is strongly recommended. Do you know what the greatest opposite is that is affecting all of humanity? It is the way we as a human race promote the opposites of what God says we need to be doing to find true happiness. If we were to look around the world today we would find that the qualities the world lifts up in human character, because character comes before behavior, are just the opposites of what God says they should be in the Beatitudes. Instead of being poor in spirit the world says there should be great pride. Instead of mourners we find people absorbed with self seeking pleasure, instead of meekness there is arrogance, instead of hungering after righteousness there are those who will do anything to get richer and richer, instead of mercy, our streets and schools are filled with cruelty, instead of pure hearts, we find every kind of moral filth and pornography at the finger tips of those who desire it, instead of peacemakers, people fight and act resentfully toward others, instead of rejoicing in our religious mistreatment, we look for any way we can to fight back. This is all from a society that claims to be so advanced and civilized. There are few places one could go, if any, to get away from such opposite thinking. If you think about it there are all kinds of media available that encourages this kind of behavior. There are books and websites promoting doing the opposite of what you think should be done.
This lifestyle of living opposite to what Jesus said would be best for us has taken a toll on our world today. It is not a good toll either. Living opposite of what God desires for us is sin and sin affects those involved in it and those around it. Psalm 32:3–4 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. There is a passage in the OT that talks about the sins of the father passed down to the 4th and 5th generation, these are the affects of sin that are carried onto the next generation, alcoholism, abuse and the like. All this negative living has created sickness and disease as well as psychological ills that effect many today. A whole industry has arisen to deal with them, the affects of man’s sin upon themselves and others because so many promote opposite living to what God desires for us. All of our heartaches and many of our psychological ills come from our sins or those of others. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice and greed are the source of so much human despair and pain. Then the physical effects that come along with them can be worse than the ills that attack us without notice.
The words Jesus spoke to us in this passage are a gift to show us how to live life free from the torment of our own sinful selfish desires which have a negative effect upon us. We would do well to listen to His words of heavenly wisdom and truth. That is what they are; truth, God’s own truth to us and a sinful world. This section of Matthew is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus straightens out man’s wrong thinking about living and pleasing God. Jesus clears up the misgivings of people who tried to reinterpret God’s truths. In the next section Jesus clears up these opposites and gives what they were meant to mean. You will see again and again where Jesus says, “you have heard, but I tell you.” The problem was then and still is today that people won’t listen to what Jesus says, John 3:11-12 What Jesus is trying to teach from the beatitudes is the person who is meek will have the most peace to live and walk on the earth just as He did. 1 Peter 2:19-25 The only way we can find true rest for souls is to find our rest in the greatest example of meekness that walked the earth, in Jesus. Matt. 11:28–30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Only in Jesus will we find the place to lay our burdens down. The burden is one all the human race bears, consisting of all the effects of opposite living. The definition of burden here is a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion, an accurate definition. Rest is a release from that burden. This is only something Jesus can do for us and then He teaches us how to live in right relationship to God and to others, teaching us His meekness. Now we carry a heavy burden of pride, a labor of self love, which reveals itself as sorrow when someone slights us, speaking badly of us. As long as we lift ourselves up as little gods there will be those who speak ill of our idol. Here we will find no rest or peace because we will expend endless effort to protect ourselves when we should just rest that into the hands of Jesus. We don’t have to carry those burdens any longer. Jesus teaches us to not care about what others think, who is greater or lesser than another. Just rest in Him and have peace for who we are in Him, sinners saved by grace and hopefully maturing.
The meek person isn’t concerned about their own sense of superiority or inferiority. Even though we may be strong and bold as a lion in our moral life, we should not be fooled about who we are. We need to accept God’s estimate of who we are; knowing we are as week and helpless as God says we are and from God’s point of view, that we are more important than the angels. We need to understand that the world will never see us as God sees us and we shouldn’t care. We don’t have to care because we know that when Jesus returns all things will be revealed for what they truly are. 2 Thess. 1:5-10 The meek person will also have rest from the pretense that the world puts upon people; to be something they are not, keeping up with the Jones’. We carry so many burdens today that we don’t need to. These burdens are killing those who are weighed down with them, eating away at their insides. This is why Jesus says we must become like little children; Matt. 18:3 And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Little children don’t care about what others think or what they have. They have hearts not yet filled with jealousy and envy. The whole advertising industry focuses on the bad traits in people to get them to buy things they don’t really need, bigger and better.
Only when we kneel at the feet of Jesus, surrendering ourselves to His meekness, will we find rest from all the world’s evils. Then we won’t care what others think about us, but only what God thinks of us and if He is pleased with us. 1 Thess. 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. The heart of the world is breaking under the load of opposites they have taken upon themselves. The only release from that burden is the meekness of Christ who is willing to take up our burdens if we are willing to lay them down. Jesus asks us to come to Him and lay down our burdens and then to take up His yoke so He can teach us what it means to live out the beatitudes and find the peace we need to live in the world today, how to be free from the heartaches and headaches it offers. When we take up His yoke He will carry our load and we will learn from Him coming closer to God because those who are pursuing God will only ind Him by living the way He determined not by living opposite to what He commands.
When Jesus spoke these words to the people of His day, the Jews, they believed the only way the kingdom would be ushered in would be by a great war and force of arms. They were living in opposites then as well. The blessedness, happiness, Jesus spoke of does not come from one’s outward circumstances but from inner satisfaction and sufficiency in spite of the circumstances. This is what Jesus promises those who put their trust in Him, just the opposite of what the world teaches. The Beatitudes are based upon character, character comes before behavior. So to have our behavior changed we must turn to Jesus for Him to change our character so we can then live out the beatitudes in our lives. Benediction: 1 Thess. 4:1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
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Do you all know what a grandfather or grandmother clock is? Have you ever looked inside to see the workings of the clock? It is a maze of gears and rods and cogs, a projection on the edge of a gearwheel that engages with corresponding parts on another wheel to transfer motion from one wheel to the other. What happens if one of the cogs in the clock slips out of place or gets broken? The clock will either; not work or will work improperly, is this correct? Lets think of another example; what happens in the workings of a family when the children act like the parents making all the decisions for the family, how it will work and what it should do? I believe all we have to do to prove this out is look at our society today and see the wrecked homes and juvenile crime rate to see what happens in that context. For things to work properly there needs to be a right relationship in them. Take any part of creation; if there is not a right relationship between the parts then there is disharmony, it will not work properly. It is the same for us as well in life as we have discussed. The reason there is so much disharmony in the world today is because people are out of sink with God. This all began at the fall of man into sin. A sharp change entered into the relationship of man and God, our creator. When sin entered the world man adopted an altered attitude toward God, which damaged the Creator – created relationship. In which there was harmony, true happiness and fulfillment for man.
It was at this point that salvation became a need for man to return to the state of harmony that existed previously with God, our Creator. A satisfying spiritual life will begin for us when we choose to change our relationship with God from sinful rebellion to a complete submission to Him and His will over our lives, honoring Him, our creator above all else. I am talking about after we have asked Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior, not the leading of us to the point of new birth in Christ. Rom. 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. When we receive Jesus we are put right judicially before God opening the way for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and begin His work. But is our whole attitude changed toward who will rule over us? The story of the Prodigal Son is a great illustration of this change of will that we all must have. The Prodigal brought a whole world of trouble upon himself when he turned his back on his father’s relationship with him, as his son, not the head over the father. When all was said and done the consequences of his poor decisions and rebellion against his father’s authority, he realized that he would be happiest in total submission to his father than in his sinful rebellion which only caused pain and strife in his life. When it comes to our relationships we must understand our place in them or they will not work well. For us as believers we must put God back in the place He was before our sinful rebellion. God must be the focal point of our lives, directing us just as the old time mariners used the stars to guide them on their journey and safely to their destination. Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end. Many of the problems we face in the church today are from the unwillingness of Christians, us, to allow God to be the director and guide of our lives, for Him to be our ruler. It seems we are often diverting from the course laid out for us so we can indulge our sinful selfish appetites and carnal ways. We excuse them away as meeting our need or giving us satisfaction, when all the time we know it is against what God wants for us.
If we can get back into proper relationship with God, putting our will aside, being the cog, we will grow in love for the Lord and experience times of reverent admiration of God, knowing a joy unspeakable in our hearts. So, just as the prodigal son had to discover his rightful place under his father so we need to put things back in order in our lives, exalting God as head over our lives, because all things exist for His glory and pleasure. Rev. 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” This means we belong to Him and exist for His pleasure. We are cogs in the mechanism of God’s creation, be it highly loved and valued cogs. We owe God every honor that is in our power to give and we will not find true happiness doing anything else. 1 Cor. 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. We owe God every honor that is due Him. It is a voluntary offering of honor, exalting Him to His proper place. The moment we make up our minds to exalt God above all else, we remove ourselves from the rat race of the world. This means we will find ourselves out of step with the world and there will be heat for that, in spite of it we will find ourselves making progress toward the holy life we are called to. 1 Peter 1:13-21 When we choose to be the cog God designed us to be we will begin to see the world in a different light, a new power will take hold of us, surprising us by the new way we react and do things. Our break with the world will be in direct relation to our changed relationship to God. It will be clear and evident because the world does not honor God. There will even be those who call themselves Christians who pay little honor to God in their lives. God is exalted only in some areas of their lives and not all. They will criticize us for our stand. We need to make sure we are not among these by testing ourselves with a simple but straight forward test; we need to ask ourselves who or what is exalted above God in our lives?
The Prodigal son exalted worldly living above all else and became a slave to it until he hit bottom. John 8:34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So, does God rank higher than money, the approval of men, personal ambition, self will and human love in our lives? If any of these things are exalted above God in our lives then we are truly not honoring God above all else in our lives. The proof of the test is proven out in the choices we make daily. Luke 16:13 Psalm 96:1-10a When we live out our lives, shining this tune, we will have a victorious spiritual experience. When we can say “Be exalted O God above all else in my life” the thousands of minor problems of life will be solved at once. Our lives as Christians will cease to be complicated and the answers will become simple; will God be exalted in this decision or choice? When we do this, if something comes to knock us off course it will be easy to again regain because our spiritual compass will direct us back again quickly. Remember when we honor something above ourselves we become slaves to that thing or person. Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. We were made in the image of God so it is not a long hard stretch to make Him our all in all again, submitting ourselves totally to Him. We were created for such a relationship and there we will be at home as the prodigal was when he returned there. There is more to this; If we honor God above all we will be honored by Him as well. 1 Samuel 2:30b But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. John 12:26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Our lives given to honor God above all will find the fulfillment of being honored back by God. In our desire for God in our lives we must remember that God has a desire as well; those who will make a once for all decision to honor and exalt God above all else, are precious treasures to Him. In these He finds a canvas to display His kindness to us in Christ. With these God can work unhindered, being God over our lives. This is not an easy decision to make. If we choose God above all else we will experience grief from without and within. There will be a battle to fight with the flesh and the spirit. It will take some time to get our whole being in line. But if we will stay the course keeping our focus on who is in charge we will pass the test and win the war. It will mean that we have to pray over every detail seeking mercy from God to help us. But remember this is something that God desires for us so He will answer our prayers. Benediction: Psalm 96:7-10a
Pursing God # 9
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This weekend we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave. It is the culmination of what must have been the longest 3 days of the 1st disciples walk with the Lord. Having their great hopes in who Jesus was and what they could accomplish with Him, dashed upon the rocks of religious contempt, only to go to the heights of joy because they saw their Master alive again.
What a roller coaster ride it must have been for their emotions. When they watched the soldiers pound the nails into His wrists and feet and then raise Him up on the cross, bloody, beaten and disgraced, hanging naked upon the blood stained wood, how lost and hopeless they must have been. But then on the 3rd day the news comes from the women who had gone to the tomb that Jesus was not there, He had risen from the dead and was alive. One after another the testimony came of seeing Jesus alive. Once again their hopes rose up with in them and their faith, in who Jesus is, started to bloom and grow.
If you think about it, of all the important things the Bible teaches, faith ranks high on the list. Faith is a principle that we see again and again in the scriptures. Heb. 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. We have studied this in our series of pursuing God. Faith is an all important part of the life of a believer.
When the news of Jesus, raised from the dead, came to them it was faith that took this news and brought it home to their hearts so they could believe. It was faith in Jesus that prompted them to move forward in belief to the next steps of their walk with Him, spreading the gospel. Faith, it seems, can get us anything and take us anywhere for the kingdom of heaven. 1 John 5:14–15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. Think about it, without faith in Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, there is no forgiveness of sin, no deliverance, no salvation, no relationship with God and no true spiritual life at all.
Faith is so important and indispensible in our pursuit of God, we should be very concerned whether we have this gift or not. But we might want to know what it is that we need so desperately. We need to ask what is faith and do I (we) have it.
There have been many attempts over the centuries to define what faith is; for some it is believing a promise, for others it is taking God at His word, believing all that the Bible says is true and then stepping out, in faith, acting upon that belief. Story of the priests stepping into the flood waters of the Jordan before they pile up so the people can cross. Joshua 3
The odd thing is that even though the scriptures put a high emphasis on faith, they make no great effort to define what it is. There is only one, somewhat, definition of faith found in the Bible; Heb. 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Notice that even here there is no real definition of faith but rather the function of it, how it works and not what it is. This passage shows the result of faith rather than to define what it is.
Maybe God in His wisdom knew it would be better for us to not have a clear definition of faith because we would then look for loop holes in it or look for ways we could work for it; increase it by our own strenuous efforts.
Instead He gives us the function of faith, how it works out in our lives. Faith is a gift we receive from God; it can not be worked for; Eph. 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— Faith comes from hearing the word of God. Rom. 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Again we see here that there is a function to faith, hearing of the word. Faith is better lived out functionally rather than defined literally. Faith is seen and understood when it is in action. James 2:14-18
In the passage we began with today we can see that Jesus shows us from the OT how faith works. He refers to Numbers 21:4-9. Using this passage Jesus explains to His hearers how they can be saved. He tells them that it is by believing, an action and function of faith.
To look, as Moses told the people to do, is the same, synonymous, with believing. Looking and believing are the same act of faith. While Israel looked with their eyes they believed with their hearts. Faith is the gaze of the soul on the saving act of Jesus and upon a loving, caring God.
There are several passages in the scripture which point this out; Psalm 34:5 Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. Psalm 123:1–2 I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till he shows us his mercy. Those who look to God are acting out in faith, believing Him to do what is right and what is needed.
So, when it comes to us and the faith we need to live in this world and walk in relationship with God, we must look to Jesus, believing in all He has done for us and looking to His example of how to do it. Heb. 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Believing, having faith in action and function, is directing our heart’s gaze upon Jesus. It is lifting the eyes of our minds to Him just as John the Baptist did with his disciples when Jesus returned from being tempted in the wilderness. John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! We must never let our gaze drift from Jesus, but keep focused upon Him for the rest of our earthly lives, because there we will find the faith needed to carry on. There will times when it is difficult because the distractions of the world will come, but the more we move our focus back to Him the easier it will become to look steadily upon Him. Emergency services train so that actions become reflex. When we commit to look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, establishing our heart intent upon Him, God takes our intention and makes allowances for us and the thousands of distractions that come from an evil world. He knows the intent of our hearts, set upon Jesus and once we know we have done so it will become a reflex action to look away from the distraction to the living Lord once again. 1 Peter 4:1–2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. Faith is the least of all the self regarding virtues. Its very nature is to be looking away from itself and to be even almost unaware of its own existence.Much like the eye which sees everything in front of it yet never sees itself and pays no attention to itself. When we look to God in faith we no longer see ourselves.
The person, who has struggled to purify themselves and experiences nothing but failure repeatedly, will only experience relief when they take their eyes off themselves and focus on God. When we look to Christ the very things we have been trying to do by self effort will get done. It will be God working then and not us.Faith is not a meritorious act, something we can gain for ourselves; the merit is in the One that faith directs its gaze at, in Jesus. Faith is redirecting our sight from ourselves to God, focusing on the resurrection power that He has to work in us.For us to live in the resurrection power of Christ we must take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on Him from whom the power to believe flows.
For those who desire to climb to the highest heights of heaven in relationship with God, we must focus on God and His word to us because the word will help us lift our eyes up to the Lord, where faith has its beginning and its growth.Today we celebrate who Jesus is and what He has done for us by rising from death. If we take what we hear and apply it to our lives in faith we can live in the resurrection power He made available.
Benediction: Rom. 10:8–11 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
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Have you ever had someone come up to you and ask you if they could have a word with you? When they did what was the first thing that came to mind? “Oh no I am in trouble now!” In reality when someone comes up to you and says something like that it could mean you are in trouble with them or it more likely means that they have something important to tell you. When someone wants to have a word, it is a medium in which thoughts are expressed. Speaking with someone is our sharing our words with them so we can communicate to them our thoughts, ideas, desires, troubles and the like. It is our way of expressing something to them. When we come to the Word of God we can see clearly from it that it is in the nature of God to speak, to communicate His thoughts to others through words. God is always seeking to speak Himself out to His creation. He fills the whole of creation with His voice. Psalm 33:6–9 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. God speaks and life comes. The voice of God is the most powerful force in all of creation because in His voice is the power filled word.
The Bible is the written word of God and in it is the power of God speaking. It is more than just words written down, but is the word of God which has power to go to work in us. Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. When we think about God creating all things, what is the picture that comes to mind? A carpenter with his hammer and saw ready to go to work or some other picture? This is not at all how God functions. The passage that we looked at in Psalm 33 tells us that God spoke and all things were created. God made what is, from that which did not exist. Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. God spoke and it came to be long before His word was given to man in writing and He continues to speak to man through all He created. Rom. 1:18-20
He is still speaking to us through His word and through creation. He speaks His words to us and He lives in them because they are spirit. Just as God breathed on clay and it came to life, as man, so He breathed upon it again and it returns to clay once more. Psalm 90:2–3 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” This happened at the fall of man into sin where God decreed death as the penalty of man’s sin, death is separation from God. No another word had to be said about the matter, all one has to do is to look back over the history of man and we will see that death entered into the world from that point on. God’s spoken word was enough. Just as death went forth from God speaking, so life goes forth from God’s Word coming to us. John 1:1-5 The Word of God came, bringing life and light with Him, available to all who will listen, those who are spiritually in tuned. John 12:28–29 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. When the Father spoke to Jesus people said it had thundered. What they heard was beyond their conception because they were not in tune with the spiritual, so it seemed mysterious to them. This is one of the problems we are having today; people, when they hear the sound of thunder think it is mysterious, looking to science to explain it away. While the person who is in relationship with God falls on their knees in worship saying “God”. We live in a secular age, our thoughts and habits are like those of scientists and not worshippers. Most Christians are more likely to explain it away than to worship.
But God’s voice still sounds and searches for those who will hear; Rev. 3:6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. But most are to busy or to stubborn to give attention. Most of us have had an experience which we have not been able to explain; a sudden sense of loneliness, a feeling of wonder in the face of universal vastness or the like. Something that makes us know we are not alone. These and others like it may have been moments when God’s voice reaches out to our spirit’s to speak comfort, peace or His presence to us. When God speaks His voice is friendly. There is no reason to fear it, unless one has decided to resist it. It is a friendly voice that we should not fear because the blood of Jesus has covered the human race and all of creation so that everyone and all things can be redeemed, reconciled to God. Col. 1:19–20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. The heavens and earth are filled with the good will of God; the perfect blood of the atonement secures this. So, who ever is willing to listen, will hear God speaking to them. But, it must be done with a heart of faith though, blocking out all the noise of the world and even popular religion. Most religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make man dearer to God. But those who know God and are open to His words speaking to us know God tells us to be still not busy and blusterous. Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” If we are chattering on and on we will miss the wonders God desires us to know. Our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silent worship.
One of the best things we can do is to get alone with our Bibles spread open before us. Then we may draw near to God and begin to hear Him speak to our hearts. It will be in those times that the Holy Spirit will open the scriptures up to us in new and wonderful ways. God speaking to us like dear friends or dear children. Then will come the light and life, the ability to see and rest in the embrace of Christ. The Bible will never be a living book to us unless we are convinced that God is still speaking. If we try to live the word of God in a dogmatic way we will find ourselves steeped in legalism, feeling like a failure over and over. Acts 15:5-11 Much of our religious unbelief is due to a wrong conception and wrong feelings about the scripture. Many believe that God just poked His head into our reality and laid out His law and salvation and then went back to where ever He was before. This has left many with the notion that the Bible is a record of what God said for that brief time when He showed up here.
If this is what many believe then how could they think or believe that God has a plan for their lives now. Why would anyone with this perspective even want to know about God other than to use His word as a weapon to beat others up with it? The fact is that God has spoken from the very conception of creation and He still speaks today to any and all who will listen. It is in the nature of God to speak, to reveal His will. The second Person of the Trinity is even called the Word of God. He is the Word come to life, to give life through the Spirit. He had the last word on the matter of salvation; Heb. 1:1–2 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Bible is the outcome of God’s continuous speech, the infallible declaration of His mind for us, put into words we can understand. It is a book that is still speaking to the hearts of those who are willing and open to listen.
If we want to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, pursuing our relationship with Him, we must open our Bibles expecting to hear Him speak to us. Don’t think we can just pick it up here and there at our convenience that will not work. It must be a continuous habit of opening and waiting to hear the voice, the word of the living God speak to us here and now for the here and now, as He has spoken to the saints of the past and continues to speak to the saints of this day. Are we listening? Benediction: Hebrews 3:14–15 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
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What is real to you? How would you define what is real? What are the requirements that would make us believe something is real? Name some things that are real… flesh and blood, dirt, grass, sky. What is real that we can not see or touch? Electricity, radio and TV signals, cell phone signals, gravity and wind. What else? I believe that we conclude that something is real when we can see and feel its effects on us or other things, a light bulb glowing or a cell phone ri
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A dear friend comes to you telling you that they have fallen in love with someone and they are so excited about the relationship. There is only one problem; the other person acts lovingly toward them and is considerate, giving and all the other qualities one would want in a relationship but they won’t open up. It seems that the other person is guarded, holding back some of themselves, not giving themselves totally to the relationship.
What would you advise this person to do? What if it were they who were the one holding back, not opening up, what would you say then? Maybe you are in that kind of relationship where one of you is holding back, not giving yourself totally to the other. What are you or they missing out on if that is the case? Sure you are missing the intimacy that you could experience with the other person, that deep connection we make when we open our lives up to another. People who have been burned in relationship are the most difficult to open up because they know what it feels like to have your guts ripped out by someone you love. So, they tend to hold back, are reserved with their whole self, so not to get hurt like that again. It will take the right person with patience and perseverance to get into their lives again in deep intimate ways. When that person comes along they will once again open up and trust and give finding the intimacy we all long for.
There is one who waits for us to come to Him with open hearts and spirits to develop that deep relationship with. One, who will never let us down, hurt us or walk away from us and has great patient perseverance. It is the Lord who waits behind the veil of us to come. He waits for us to remove the veil that we put up that separates us from the depth of relationship He desires with us and that we truly desire but are unwilling to risk tearing down. It is because we refuse to tear down the veil that separates our hearts from His that we do not have the depth of relationship with God we truly desire. The veil separating us is the sin nature, shutting out the light of God that wants to enter in. We have failed to tear it away because we allow our sin nature to go unchecked, unjudged for the evil that it is. We have failed to crucify it and its sinful desires. Too often we excuse it away as our being only human and the like. Rom. 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— We fail to allow the sin nature to be completely crucified because we are not honest with ourselves about it, seeing it for what it is.
Is there anything you would not do for the one you truly love? If we truly desired to pursue a deep relationship with God, a burning passion for Him in our spirits and hearts, we would push through the veil of sin that separates us from God, facing our weaknesses asking God to forgive us for those sins that have separated us. We would then ask Him to go to work in us cleansing us and bringing us to the place He desires us to be. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Heb. 12:1-3 In our verses here we have an encouragement to throw off all that hinders us from having the kind of relationship with God that He truly desires and the one we truly desire. We can see from times past that there were those who were able to do this, those who are listed in chapter 11. They had a depth of relationship with God that no matter what they were fully invested in their relationship with God. They are our examples of where we need to be heading. Getting rid of those things that hinder us, things that weigh us down, slow us down, in having the kind of relationship God wants for us with Him. We need to fix our eyes on the goal of relationship with God through Christ, just as Jesus had His eyes focused on the goal of our salvation, pushing through all the obstacles that would keep us from God. Jesus is our greatest example of what it means to push forward for the sake of relationship. Just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him, of opening the way for us into a relationship with Him, and the Father through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, so we must endure. Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, We have to ask ourselves if we will allow our selfish sin nature to keep us from a burning relationship with God. That self- righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-loathing, self-admiration or any other of the self’s in us that keep us from the true depth of love we can experience with God. Gal. 5:24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Will we not stop and recognize the things in our lives that keep us from God, the things that weigh us down. Will we allow the light of God to shine into our lives and expose those things that are weighing us down, holding us back, so that we may confess and turn from them? Eph. 5:8-17
We will only experience this when we experience God moving in our spirits, by allowing Him to go to work in us to destroy all that would keep us from the depth of relationship we long for. 1 Peter 1:2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Someone you love suffering through withdrawal from drug addiction, lots of pain. Heb. 12:3 Jesus suffered at the hands of sinful men, we will suffer a great deal of pain and opposition from the sin nature when we are withdrawing from it, giving ourselves over to God. That suffering will be a cleansing from that which for so long kept us from God, as He tears away the things that separate us from Him. So what should we do in the times of pain and suffering while the sin nature is being torn away? Hold tight to our faith in Christ. That alone will get us through. Remember that in the times Jesus suffered and was tempted, He went to the Father in faith through prayer to gain the strength He needed to get through. Heb. 2:13 “I will put my trust in him.”
When Jesus prayed to the Father it shows us that He lived by faith just as we do. We also need to pray in those times when we are tested and tempted, to gain the strength to get through.
Just as Jesus suffered the pain of the cross, crucifixion, so we must take up our crosses and suffer the death of our sin nature, which keeps us from pursuing God. Phil. 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, This needs to be our mantra, that no matter how painful it gets at times it will all be worth the pain. Fix the fix. Don’t get trapped in the idea that this is something we can get accomplished ourselves, we can not do it on our own. God must be the one to do the work in us. We are only to trust Him and give way to His work in us. Phil. 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. We must confess all the sins revealed to us by Him, repenting of them, turning away from them, rebuking the self life, considering it crucified. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
If we want to enter into the Holy of Holies, behind the veil to be with God we must insist that He do the work in us that needs to be accomplished, crucifying the sin nature in us. Taking up our cross is giving ourselves’ over to God completely, surrendering to Him.
A.W. Tozer puts it this way; “The cross is rough and deadly, but it is effective. It does not keep its victim hanging there forever. There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies. After that is the resurrection glory and power. The pain is forgotten for the joy that the veil is taken away. We have entered in actual spiritual experience to the presence of the living God.”
This is what we are to focus on, Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. The goal of all that we will suffer is the depth of relationship available to us with God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It will take us allowing Him to tear away the veil of sin nature from our hearts so to open us up to the beauty of depth of relationship never known before. It will all be worth it as it says, for the joy set before Him He endured. This can be our joy as well.
Benediction: Eph. 2:4–7 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Listen now (Open Message then to listen now or to Save: Right Click and ‘Save Target as’) You are a young woman who has recently met a young man. The 2 of you have spent hours talking together about everything, or at least it seems so. You are so thrilled about him that you are just bursting at the seams. What is the first thing you want to do? Call your best friend and tell her all about this time you spent with him. She asks you: “What is his name and what is he like?” How would you respond? You would begin by telling her all about him and what he is like, his characteristics. You might even give names to those qualities that have drawn you to him, like Mr. Right. The words you use to describe him will tell about his character and his personality. You may even identify some of the things in your own life that might keep you from being all you can be in the relationship, things that might get in the way. But a good friend will advise you that these are all things that can be worked out together with him if there is truly a loving relationship there.
Moses was in the wilderness working as a shepherd. He was on the run from Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian for beating an Israelite slave. He had been gone from there for many years. When God comes to Moses in a burning bush and calls him to the work of leading Israel and into relationship with God. God tells Moses to go to the Israelites and tell them that God has sent him to rescue them from slavery. But Moses wants to know who he should say has called him to do this. God tells Moses to tell the Israelites that it was God, the great I AM who has sent him.
That He is the LORD, YAHWEH The covenant name of the God of Israel, the covenant keeping God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of their fathers. This name became so sacred to the Israelites that they chose to call Him Jehovah, so not to insult His holiness by speaking His name. Instead they revered His name so that it was not to be spoken. To bad they were still separated from God by the veil of their sin and rebellion. They could not enter directly into His presence. This is the same One who invites us His chosen children into His holy presence, into relationship with Him. He invites us to come behind the veil and has given us the authority to come boldly into His presence. What is He like who waits behind the veil for us to enter? Isn’t this the question most people want answered when we tell them we have entered into a relationship with someone? So, what is God like? He is an eternal God, Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. He existed before time began and will continue to exist after the end of time. Time has no effect on God in any way. Why? Because He is immutable, unchanging, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, Malachi 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” He is as dependable today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow. If He says He will do or not do something that is the way it will be. To change is to go from better to worse or worse to better. God cannot change because He is perfect. If He were to become better, more perfect than He would not be God, immutable, unchanging, the “I AM who I AM”.
He is omniscient, all knowing; Ps. 139:1-6 There is nothing He doesn’t know now or that will be in the future or even happened in the past. He is. He knows in one free and effortless act all matter, all spirit, all relationship and all events. Nothing surprises Him. He is omnipresent, present everywhere; Psalm 139:7-12 There is no where we can go to hide from Him; no act that we could commit that He would not know about, even the darkness is like daylight to Him. Love, mercy and righteousness make up His character along with His holiness. There are no figures of expression that could describe how great these characteristics are and no examples that would give a full or clearer picture. There is only one example that could help us to understand Him better, fire. He appeared to Moses in the burning bush, as a Pillar of Fire to the Israelites in the wilderness and when the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Tabernacle, He was there present as the Shekinah glory. At Pentecost He came down as tongues of fire resting upon the disciples. The writer of Hebrews relates: Heb. 12:28–29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” The brilliance of the fire brings light and life, warmth and comfort. It is untouchable but inviting and comforting. Something you want to be around but cannot touch. A person’s soul mate. For one to be in relationship with God it has to be more than just an intellectual relationship, it needs to be a spiritual one. Without the spiritual there is no connection. John 4:24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is spirit and the only way we can know Him is by our spirits connecting with His. In our spirit the fire of God must glow or our love for Him is not true. Eph. 2 passage on the reviving of our spirits. Think of the disciples who changed the world for Christ. The thing that moved them to do all they did, to make all the sacrifices they made was a burning love for God in them, burning in their spirits. 2 Cor. 5:11-25 It has been the same for generations since. Those who had a burning passion for God in their spirits did great things for God. Think on a Teen who sneaks out to meet their girl or boy friend. Think of King David, he had a burning passion for God, his soul panted after God, for fellowship with Him. Psalm 42:1–2 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? God is so wonderful, so delightful that He can meet all the demands of our hearts for the true fulfilling relationship we need, that we were designed for. Those who have entered into the presence of God, seen His glory are changed forever. Nothing will ever be able to substitute for the presence of God in their lives. These are the ones who can speak with authority of relationship with God. 2 Cor. 12:2-6 These are not those who have only studied and read the Bible, these have experienced God through His word and His Spirit. Luke 24:31–32 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Now, Wait! Don’t think that these are any more special than any of us, they are not. The only difference is that they pushed forward in their relationship with the Lord, into the throne room of God, to experience Him in their lives.
They and we can do so because it was Jesus who made the way possible for us. He opened the way when we could not. So, why do we wait outside the veil? God is calling us to enter in to be with Him. Song of Solomon 2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. God is calling out to us as Solomon called out to his love and she to him, to come and dwell in the place where they could be together, sharing their love for one another, with one another. A love that burned deep within each of them every minute they were apart. This is the way that God is calling out to us. We must remember that God included this love book in the scriptures, Song of Solomon, because that is the way He yearns for relationship with us. He waits behind the torn veil for us to come.
If you were to share with a friend what kind of relationship wait for you if you were willing to commit to it, what would they tell you? You have told them of all the wonderful qualities of the one who waits for you, what will they say? Stop hanging around here get going into the arms of the one who waits for you. The great I AM. Will we wait or will we go? What is keeping us from going? This we will look at next time.
Benediction: Rev. 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
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Why do most people desire to have children? Why are some willing to put themselves through such an ordeal, at times, to do so? Then when we do have them they can be so hurtful to us by some of their words and actions, whether intended or accidental, that it often feels as if a knife has cut through our souls. Why do we have this desire within us as couples to have children as part of our lives? I believe we desire to have children because it is a way for us to share our love for each other in a greater way, through a family, increasing the love by spreading it out to our very own offspring even though we know there will be times they hurt us. One of the early church fathers, Augustine, once said about God; “You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.” I believe that what Augustine is saying is the reason for the creation of man and mankind’s history because God desired to share His love, through the Trinity, with us, His children, formed in His likeness and formed for relationship with Him. Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,” God made us for Himself. This is the only satisfactory reason for why the heart of man longs, feels empty, until we come to know God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. No matter what man’s so-called higher learning may try to convince us of, that we evolved or that we are independent spirits seeking self fulfillment, or any other momentary idea pushed forward, none truly answer or fulfill the longing of our hearts until we come into relationship with God through Jesus Christ. There seems to be a deep emptiness in every human being that can only be filled by the infinite, eternal presence of God. I believe this is why people will go from thing to thing to thing trying to find that which is missing from their hearts. Acts 17:20–21 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.” (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.) Even the people of Paul’s day were searching for what was missing from their lives, when all the time it is only God that can fill that emptiness in us. Today’s self help books and infomercials. God made us for Himself. That is why we have this longing in us, as the Westminster Catechism teaches; “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The 24 elders before the throne of God agreed as seen through their actions before God. Rev. 4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” God formed us for His pleasure and fellowship with Him, so we could enjoy the mingling of our personalities, His desire for our relationship with Him. Psalm 37:4 Delight in the Lord
Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered, is a wonderful example of this fellowship with God. The close relation-ship they had with Him. Gen. 2:15-25 Those who have little children or younger siblings; when they draw a picture they run before you to get your approval. No matter where Adam went in the garden, God was with him. It would be easy to imagine that when Adam was naming the animals, each one he named, he would have looked to his heavenly Father for approval. Then when Eve comes along, Adam would have shown her all that the Father had created for them. She would have been in awe over it all, all that God had made for them and their happiness. But even more so, she would have been in awe of the fellowship they shared with God, the times He walked with them and talked with them, explaining things to them. Why questions of a 5 yr. Old. Answering all the whys they had, there in the garden with God as He answered softly with loving words to their hearts. Worldliness creeps into our children. But then sin entered into the bliss of the situation and mankind knew they had done wrong before God. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. For the first time in their relationship with God they feel ashamed because they knew they had done harm to their relationship with God. So they hid themselves from the One who loved them so, because sin separates. Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Now because of sin and its consequences man was cast out from the presence of God. Gen. 3:23-24
Now their lives were lived in separation from God, the Biblical definition of death. Not at all the life God desired for man but the consequences of the decisions of man. Yet, God still yearned for the relationship He had created man for with Him. So, God continues with the plan He had from before creation to redeem man back unto Himself. 1 Peter 1:18-21 Christ would come and heal the rift of sin between God and man, restoring the way to relationship with God and man. Mediator to restore our relationship. Heb. 10:19-20 So, it is by His sacrifice that we can once again enter into a loving presence of our God. But we need to take the step toward God by recognizing who we are before Him, sinners who deserve death, separation from God. But realizing that God has done the work for us to return unto Him.
Think of the Tabernacle of God, built by Moses under the direction of God. It symbolizes man’s state before God; The walls and the curtain represent our sinful state, separated from God. To gain access to Him we must go by the way of sacrifice, the bronze altar, Christ’s sacrifice for us. Then we can be washed clean, the laver. Now we are clean before God but to come into His presence, into true fellowship with God, this will only come as we move through the Holy place, through the Light of the Golden Lamp stand, Jesus, the Light of the world. Through the showbread and wine offering, Jesus body and blood given for us, the fellowship offering before God and the blood, sprinkled, that makes us holy and righteous. Then and only then can we enter into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, to see His glory and experience His presence. This is what the writer of Hebrews refers to in these verses. God desires a deep relationship with us and we know in our heart of hearts that is what we need and desire most, what is missing from our lives. Not just the fact that our sins are forgiven but that God desires that we push forward into the Holy of Holies, to be in His presence and to live in that presence. Children restored to their Father.
This is more than just a decision to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior over our lives, to have our sins forgiven. This is a desire from our hearts to live our lives out in relationship to God through experience. Getting to know God better and better, relating to Him and He relating to us and our walk with Him, experiencing Him in our lives daily. Knowing His touch, His words, and His love in us. Spouse bringing kids to your work, they run and jump into your arms. God is waiting there for His redeemed children to push their way forward into His presence. He waits beyond the veil that kept man so long from His presence but now is opened by Jesus so we can enter in. Matt. 27:50–51 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Who is it that waits beyond the veil that separated us for so long? God, Himself waits for us to enter in; One God, the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible. The Lord Jesus waits, the Only begotten Son of the Father, begotten before anything existed, God of God, Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten not made, of the same substance with the Father. The Holy Spirit waits, the Lord, the giver of life, He who proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who with the Father and the Son is worship and glorified. They wait for us to push forward into His presence, with confidence.
God has left evidence of His desire for us to come. Acts 17: 24-28 He has revealed Himself to us again and again so that we might desire to come. He waits to show Himself to us in the fullness of His glory. He waits for the humble and pure in heart, because of the work of Jesus in their lives. He waits for us to come.
The world is going to hell in a hand basket because of its lack of knowledge of God. The church is starving for the presence of God. The cure for both is for us to push forward in relationship with God, to be aware that we are in Him and He is in us, through Christ. When we take this reality to heart it will burn away the impurities in our lives and begin to move us to a deeper relationship with God, who waits for dear His children, to enter in. Benediction: Rev. 1:5b-6 To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.