Keep on Keepin' On
In reading Romans 12:11 it is one mark of a true Christian. Yes, there are others, but let's just focus on the regarding your zeal, your passion, your energy in serving God. Paul writes that the passion shouldn't be lacking when serving the Lord. The spiritual fervor is also part of that passion in serving the Lord. When you read the word, share with or teach others, feeding the homeless, whatever it is, do it with passion. Let that Holy Spirit work through you be the fire that fuels you to serve the Lord. You will know a true Christian by one who is serving the Lord with passion and intensity.
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Love Like Jesus
There are time we read parts of verses and never fully quite understand fully what is being said when it was spoken. For instance, we can read part of a verse like Ephesians 5:2 and simply think that loving like Jesus might mean just being nice. Jesus wasn't a "nice guy." His acts of healing and his service were not because he was nice. It was because he was loving. In love is being nice and acts of kindness, but without love, then can kindness and being nice even exist? Ephesians 5:2 states "And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Remember the part that says "gave himself up." That means sacrifice for others. How do you know when to do that? Would you be willing to sacrifice getting your daily Starbucks and save that money to buy homeless people lunch each day for a week? Would you be willing to do something as small as carry water in your vehicle and pass it out to those that are in need? What will you sacrifice for others that honors God? Without love there is no sacrifice, kindness or being nice.
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What Do I Get?
There are conversations I have had with people regarding their life situations and the Christ-like, God honoring response to an issue rather than the typically unfiltered human reaction. The question that usually comes from a conversation like that is "But why would I do that?" Basically, they are having an issue with not being encouraged to just respond the way that they are accustomed. They don't see the benefit in responding in a way that honors God or shows that they are a disciple/follower of Christ. I will say this, if you are a Christ follower then your focus should not be on "why be loving" but on "how can I be loving?"
Ask yourself "how do I serve the Kingdom of God (in terms of serving those who are poor and less fortunate). If you do not, can you? Of course you can. Maybe you truly cannot afford to buy the homeless food, but one thing people need is time. Would you ever spare some time? Can you spend some time once a month with the homeless in a shelter or some sort of function? You can. Maybe not the homeless, what about the elderly? Kids? The sick? The poor? There are all types of people who could use financial help or just some time. What can you do? Something. If you need some encouragement, read Proverbs 21:13 and know that when you hear that the poor need help and you answer it benefits you. But do it out of love, not obligation.
What about the problems we have with people? There are ways to respond and ways to not respond. First, think about James 1:19 and remember to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. We might think "But they said 'x-y-z'. I cant let them get away with that. My response is, look at how Jesus responded to the Pharisees. Read through the gospels and examine the responses Jesus had. When he "lost his cool" it was because people were being cheated in the church which was also being used for non church/God things. When it comes to people we have to remember to look at the perspective of not just what is best for us personally, but what benefits others and honors God. In Philippians 2:4 we read "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." In verse 3 Paul writes "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." So when you question "what's in it for me", rethink that and turn it into "how can I honor God?"
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'Tis the Season
'Tis the season to be jolly. It's a nice lyric. I don't know anyone who wants to be around a Scrooge type of person during what many call the "most wonderful time of the year" where we are "walkin' in a winter wonderland." But there has to be more about this season than just being jolly. This is the season (in conjunction with Thanksgiving) where many people want to donate their time to the homeless and the less fortunate. Now is a great time to start. I am 100% in favor of that. My hope and aim is that we can do more than just be jolly and joyful and loving during this season. I mean think about it, what if God only answered our prayers during holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas? He loves us all the time (1 John 4:19). We need to be loving all the time to Him and then to others as well because that is how people know we are disciples (followers) of Christ (John 13:34-35).
Psalm 41:1 teaches us that we are blessed for being considerate to the poor. This does not just mean the poor in finances. But, it can also mean the poor in spirit, the poor in health, in relationships. Another word used to replace poor was weak. That does not only cover finances. It covers those who need a shoulder to cry on, a listening ear and a loving heart. It covers those who are sick in hospitals. It covers those going through a rough relationship time as well. It covers the emotionally and spiritually weak. The following verses tell us that there are promises of being sustained by the Lord in our sickbed (we get weak too). The Lord keeps us alive and restores us to full health. We don't do these loving acts because of what we get out of it from God, but we do loving things because we love.
And we can't forget about being joyous during these times. But what are we joyful about? Is it because we love the season and the cold and the fireplace being lit with hot cocoa in our hands? Those are nice things and are very comforting, but are we forgetting to give thanks to God for those nice times that we can have that are very relaxing? We can take for granted the lifestyles we have grown accustomed to, while completely overlooking the provider for us. It's like we only want to thank God when things are going well, but we are to thank God in all circumstances and always be joyous and pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We can't focus on the season without looking at the creator of the season. Can we?
Overall, God wants us to do these wonderful things at all times not just during certain days or months or holidays. He wants us to see Him first (Matthew 6:33). Let us remember to give to others and love others as God loved us first.
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With God All Things Are Possible
Last week we went through Matthew 19:16-22 and discussed the Young Rich Man and his walking away from following Jesus due to not wanting to sell his possessions and give to the poor and needy. We too can depend on earthly riches and affluence to enable a sense of security in life. We all need to make money to survive and not be homeless, but at some point we have survived, but lack faith in God to take care of our needs (Matthew 6:26).
After the young rich man walks away Jesus tells the disciples that it is hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Case in point was this man. We can look at our world today and see how many people who are rich or wealthy not giving their lives to Christ. Think of the celebrities and business owners of billion dollars companies that live in huge homes and own many properties, but would not stop to feed a homeless person.
Jesus then says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The rich focus on money often. It can control life. It is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). You cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24). But you can serve God and be rich. The young rich man was not able to even see this. He only saw what he possessed. Jesus knew that the man loved his possessions which is why he told him to sell them. He didn't say leave them, he said sell them. That still could have left the man with enough money to be fine the rest of his life. We don't know that, but it is possible. He would rather hang on to everything (like a lot of us do but could do without).
Where is your heart? Is it focused on knowing Jesus and seeing what he did for you? Do you know what Jesus did for you? If you don't, then seek him and his will for your life. Are you going to continue to spend more energy on earthly riches and not storing up your treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-20)? It is time to see what abundant life God has for us by following Christ and letting go of our stuff.
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Jesus is the Portrait of Humility
Are there certain jobs or careers or tasks that seem "beneath" you? Would you ever clean a toilet? Pick up trash? Cutting grass? Maybe you see jobs like that or other ones as beneath you. You can try to qualify your pride by saying you are over qualified, but what about when we are serving others. Are we "too qualified" to be humble and serve? If so, then you are also too prideful.
Jesus wasn't prideful at all. He didn't go on and on about all of the works he has done and bragged about being the son of God. He didn't get all the fancy robes and attire fit for a king. Jesus was humble and sought to serve the will of God above all else. We see in John 13:15-17, after Jesus washes the disciples feet that he tells them that he has set an example for them that they are to follow. We are to do for others what Jesus has done for us. This is not to gain something from God or people, but to serve God by serving people.
In John 13:21, Jesus reveals that he knew one of the disciples would betray him. I love that he didn't call out the guy's name and put his name all out there. Jesus was still serving and did not ostracize him. In this day and age, if we feel wronged by someone we ignore them, hate them and maybe even talk about them on social media. Or we may gossip to people about them. What good does that do? How does that glorify God or reflect our walk with Christ. Yes, we are all imperfect, but we need to check our decisions too.
If you are looking for a way to stretch yourself to serve this coming week, Subway has a deal on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. If you buy one sub you get one free. That doesn't mean you eat both, but give one away. Maybe to a homeless person or someone you work with. Anyone!! Click here for to read more on the offer.
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Righteous Judgement
Many people say "don't judge" or "judge not lest thee be judged." They take a Bible verse and misinterpret it by not reading the whole context of the verse, the section of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. The words they quote are from Jesus, but how it is often understood is different than how it is used.
Jesus saw that many judged based on appearance and not on what was the below the surface truth. Have you ever seen a homeless person and thought that they must have done that to themselves? People jump to conclusions and think the person must be a drunk or drug addict. They don't know that there are people with mental issues that have been left to fend for themselves. God knows the context for all of our situations. Just because you see someone at one moment it does not mean that the person is that person overall. We don't need condemnation for our mess ups, we need compassion. Christ was full of compassion whether you were blind (John 9:1-7), and adulterer (John 8:1-11) or a tax collector who was known for taxing too much (Luke 19:1-10).
Jesus was known to also respond accordingly when God's house was disrespected (Matthew 21:12-13) or religious leaders were misleading people (Matthew 23). We cannot judge on appearance and what we think unless it is in line with what God wants from us. We are not judging on personality and fashion sense and character. We don't know why people do what they do. Maybe they weren't raised well? Maybe they were abused? Do you really want to condemn an adult who may have been abused? We don't know motives. We don't have the full picture. I make mistakes and bad decisions just like you do. We can love each other through our sin and help one another with mercy and compassion, or we can condemn and keep reminding people of what they have done wrong. I don't need all of my sins brought up over and over again just like you don't.
It is okay to evaluate and confront a sinful brother/sister in Christ. That takes a judgment. It is a judgment call. We must use proper judgment when seeing who are the false teachers and false messiahs. We must use right judgment in order to serve God and encourage others, lovingly.
To hear a sermon on righteous judgment click here for John MacArthur
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Service When Stressed
For the last few weeks I have had several stressors in my life and a big one which was a lot of school work. That sense of stress felt very overwhelming. I felt like I wasn't going to get everything finished or tended to. I even had two dreams/nightmares Saturday night that my projects were not completed by the rights dates and were incomplete. Pretty scary stuff. But today I realized, after 80% of the stress was completed, I really had been focusing on myself for a while. I wasn't making time to spend with people. I would have a phone call here or there, but I wasn't making time to sit with people face to face. I also wasn't serving in areas where God has shaped me. I was focusing WAY TOO MUCH on myself. Then Monday night, I went for a drive and passed by a homeless man sitting on a bus stop with what appeared to be all of his belongings. Before I left the house I took a cold water bottle with me. I keep these water bottles with me for the homeless people that I see. I was able to give that homeless man that cold water bottle. He didn't speak much English, but was able to say thank you.
When
we serve, it is not out of pressure from others. We serve out of our
hearts and souls with our body in alignment with God's will in Christ's
name for the benefit of those in need to glorify the Kingdom. Matthew 25:40,
Jesus tells us that what we do for the least of his brothers (all
people) then it is like doing it for him. We don't serve for photo
opportunities or to brag about it on social media, we serve out of love,
plain and simple.
By serving in this way, I get to see how something so simple and easy something easy for me can mean so much to someone else. I repeated what I did by giving out two more water bottles last night to another homeless man who resides on a bus stop by my school. I even put the bottles in the freezer for a bit so they would be cool for him when he received them. I do this out of love and their necessity to honor God. The next time you feel stressed, try taking the focus off of yourself and put it onto something else that God could want from you. If you don't know what it is like to know that you have been serving a purpose, I can't explain it, but it is very humbling.
How will you be serving in the future?
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