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Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Blessed are the merciful – That is, those who are so affected by the sufferings of others as to be disposed to alleviate them. This is given as an evidence of piety, and it is said that they who show mercy to others shall obtain it. The same sentiment is found in Matthew 10:42; “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward.” See also Matthew 25:34-40. This should be done with a wish to glorify God; that is, in obedience to his commandments, and with a desire that he should be honored, and with a feeling that we are benefiting one of his creatures. Then he will regard it as done to him, and will reward us. See the sentiment of this verse, that the merciful shall obtain mercy, more fully expressed in 2 Samuel 22:26-27; and in Psalm 18:25-26.

Nowhere do we imitate God more than in showing mercy. In nothing does God delight more than in the exercise of mercy, Exodus 34:6; Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9. To us, guilty sinners; to us, wretched, dying, and exposed to eternal woe, he has shown his mercy by giving his Son to die for us; by expressing his willingness to pardon and save us; and by sending his Spirit to renew and sanctify our hearts. Each day of our life, each hour, and each moment, we partake of his undeserved mercy. All the blessings we enjoy are proofs of his mercy. If we, then, show mercy to the poor, the wretched, the guilty, it shows that we are like God. We have his spirit, and shall not lose our reward. And we have abundant opportunity to do it. Our world is full of guilt and woe, which we may help to relieve; and every day of our lives we have opportunity, by helping the poor and wretched, and by forgiving those who injure us, to show that we are like God. See the notes at Matthew 6:14-15.

Cross References:

Proverbs 11:17 A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself.

Proverbs 11:25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 18:33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

James 2:13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!

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14 l“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 mNor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so nthat1 they may see your good works and ogive glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We have all read the above verse before and at times pretend to not really understand it.  It came up on my daily verse widget and I decided to look a commentary on the verses.  What I found was very interesting and needed to be shared.  What I will be posting is not the entire commentary but a portion and it is coming from the Barnes’ Notes on the Bible.

Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Let your light so shine … – Let your holy life, your pure conversation, and your faithful instructions, be everywhere seen and known. Always, in all societies, in all business, at home and abroad, in prosperity and adversity, let it be seen that you are real Christians.

That they may see your good works – The proper motive to influence us is not simply that we may be seen (compare Matthew 6:1), but it should be that our heavenly Father may be glorified. The Pharisees acted to be seen of men, true Christians act to glorify God, and care little what people may think of them, except as by their conduct others may he brought to honor God, yet they should so live that people may see from their conduct what is the proper nature of their religion.

Glorify your Father – Praise, or honor God, or be led to worship him. Seeing in your lives the excellency of religion, and the power and purity of the gospel, they may be won to be Christians also, and give praise and glory to God for his mercy to a lost world.

We learn here:

1. that religion, if it exists, cannot be concealed.

2. that where it is not manifest in the life, it does not exist.

3. that “professors” of religion, who live like other people, give evidence that they have never been truly converted.

4. that to attempt to conceal or hide our Christian knowledge or experience is to betray our trust, injure the cause of piety, and to render our lives useless. And,

5. that good actions will be seen, and will lead people to honor God. If we have no other way of doing good – if we are poor, and unlearned, and unknown yet we may do good by our lives. No sincere and humble Christian lives in vain. The feeblest light at midnight is of use.

“How far the little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world!”

Cross References

Matthew 9:8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

1 Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Related articles

• Light of the World (thewomanatthewell.wordpress.com)
• This little light of mine (liftupavoice.wordpress.com)
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• Attracting The Lost- by Julie Ackerman Link (rogersparkbreakthroughgroup.wordpress.com)

Articles of Faith: Sanctification

We believe that sanctification is the process by which according to the will of God, we are made partakers of his holiness, that it is a progressive work, that it is begun in regeneration, and that it is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Sealer and Comforter, in the continual use of the appointed means, especially the word of God, self-examination, self-denial,watchfulness and prayer.

Romans 8

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Philippians 1:²⁹ For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,

It is odd to have God’s will and suffering in the same sentence.  We all go through so much in this world and it seems as if everyone is against us.  We spend so much time asking “Lord why?”  We look everywhere to find someone who will tell us why or to tell us it will get better. We look for someone to tell us that it doesn’t have to be this way.  We search out those who have answers to make the suffering go away.  At the very same time we often are looking for God’s will.  This is because during our searching for ending the suffering, someone has told us that we are not in God’s will so we suffer.  Someone of us have been told that if we are suffering its because we are out of His will.  Others will say that it’s Satan himself attacking us.  During this valleys of our lives we see those we deem as sinners, living the life we feel that we should have.  Again, we can find those who will second that motion and claim to know how to give that to us.

We foolishly believe that it’s all about us and it’s not at all.  What we endure is not at all about us or geared to disrupt us.  Satan and his demons seek one thing and that is to rob God of his glory.  How does a person who does not know God or care to worship God affect his glory?  Not at all so why wreck their lives?  The wrath of God is already on them and it is a waste of Satan’s time to harass them (Romans 1:18-25).  With this in mind, Christians should really stop envying the wicked and start praying for them instead.

So how does any of this fits in with the will of God and our current sufferings?  How does our trials and tribulations get into this misery that we endure from time to time?  1 Thessalonians 4:³ says that God’s will is that we be sanctified and what does it mean to be sanctified?  To be sanctified is to be holy and how are we made holy?  The process of sanctification is governed by the Holy Spirit as we renew our minds and no longer be conformed to this world.  It is the process of denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following after Jesus Christ.  It is not being ashamed of the Gospel.  It is the process of killing sin in our life and bearing the fruits of righteousness.  It is the process of living for Christ and Christ living for us and through us.  Sanctification conforms us to the image of Christ and it was God’s will and purpose from the foundation of the world.  Without following after this will of God, without delighting in this we will receive nothing else(Psalm 37:4, Matthew 6).

To be with God and for Christ it will for certain put us at odds with the world.  This world culture and God are at odds as this is nothing in this world that agrees with God.

James 4

⁴ You adulterous people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

1 John 2

¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[d] is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 3

¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[b] if the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

So the world attacks us and the demons of hell as well all to steal God’s glory.  They attempt to show God as a lair and unfaithful.  Satan attacks our integrity, our hearts and our treasures which usually lead right to our hearts as well as desires, pleasures, ambitions, source of contentment and discontentment.  These sufferings, trials and tribulations are usually connected to pride, idolatry, covetousness, self reliance, disobedience and rebellion.  Our suffering is because we are possessors of salvation and God has promised to not lose one.  If anyone of us claim to not have these issues then the truth is not in us at all.

Job 1: ⁹ “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. ¹⁰ “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. ¹¹ But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

But just like Job even though we have these sins in our lives that doesn’t mean that our lives are without giving glory to God.  And its the areas of our lives that bring God glory that Satan desires to destroy and these areas are the fruitful areas God wishes to grown and cultivate.

John 15

¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Romans 5

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

So the Lord uses the attacks of the enemy to strengthen us and to encourage growth.  Our sufferings brings us closer to God as we depend more and more on Him.  Just as in Job’s case the removal of things refocused God as the center of his life.  Just as Jesus in the wilderness as he was tempted called upon the word of God by way of the Holy Spirit.  And it is the Holy Spirit that oversees the sanctification.  So the things we go through are meant for evil but God uses those things for good for us in our sanctification.

 Philippians 1:12-14

¹² Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,^[b] that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³ As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard^[c] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴ And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

In our suffering, when we can rejoice because we know God is in control and it is God who is leading us through it we bring glory to God.  We shine light on Jesus Christ and it promotes the Gospel to all who are watching.  Our sanctification process, shows God’s faithfulness to keep us saved, it shows God’s love for Jesus and us as well as showing his grace and mercy.  Job’s suffering also reminded me of who God was and is.  It reminded Job and it will remind us of who is taking care of us.  It reminds us of is deserving of all the praise and glory.  Our suffering and sanctification reminds us to be humble and thankful.

Deuteronomy 8

¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

Ultimately, all that we go through is for the glory of God.  We share in the sufferings as we share the same cup which Christ drank from.  How we deal with the suffering reflect on the God we say that we serve.  How we deal with the suffering reflects on how well we know God and how well we think we know him.  If you think being a Christian means an easy life, you are sadly mistaken.  Our 1st century brethren  spent their time being executed for believing in Jesus Christ.   Allow you sufferings and trials to draw you closer to the Lord not further away.  Don’t just pray but read and study the word of God… Seek God’s face.

1 Peter 4:¹² Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

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1. Lack of contentment; dissatisfaction with one’s circumstances.
2. A person who is dissatisfied, typically with the prevailing social or political situation.
3. A restless desire or craving for something one does not have.

Hebrews 13:5-6

5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, ”The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Philippians 4:10-13
10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Philippians 3:8-21

⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

¹²Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

¹⁷Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. ²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

The Contents of a Heart of Discontentment:

What are the things that lay at the bottom of a heart of discontentment? These are a few but let us not over look the deep idols in our lives as well.  Let us not over look the true things that direct us and guides us.

Ingratitude:  Grumbling and murmuring over the things we want as well as the things we don’t have.  A heart that is void of thanksgiving and satisfaction of our lot in life.  It is a ingratitude that blinds us to just how much that has been given, even when we deserve nothing. Our lives are filled with frustration because we wrestle daily with the accumulation of things to make us content

Arrogance:  We strongly believe we have a better plan for our lives than God does.  We feel that if we were in control that we would be content and happier.  We secretly and sometimes openly think that we are god.  It is frustrating to see that we have so little control over life and God as we continue to do external deeds hoping to control a sovereign God.

Lust and greed: To put it as simply as I can, “I want more!” and what I have is not enough.  We become completely and utterly dissatisfaction with our blessings.  We are never happy with what we receive even when its good, it’s still not good enough.  We are discontent brats.

Having a discontent heart almost killed me and it threatens to ruin my relationship with God. My mind was flooded with thoughts of how I wanted my life to go.  My discontent dominated my prayers as it was all I begged for.

I had become so consumed with my lack until I couldn’t see what was in front of me. Every time I came to my senses I would reconcile my ingratitude towards God with me speaking for him saying “he wants me blessed with things”.  My sin was great and even now, I can find a minister who would support my heart.  We would invent a theology or doctrine with scriptures from all over the bible. Every one of the scriptures would be out of context no doubt. This doctrine will usually put money in the minister’s pocket and make us feel better for a little while. I have spent so much of my time on this roller coaster. The carts are all riding a track that was planned by an engineer and it can’t be changed. Yet we all climb aboard with the goal of changing the immutable. We never entered the ride in the right frame of mind. Our minds are not renewed or directed correctly. We can’t enjoy the roller coaster because we can’t stop thinking that we can do better. I never knew how to enjoy a gift. I had to learn how to enjoy the gift that happened when the free gift was all I had. We make such a big deal about stewarding earthly things but what about the heavenly thing. We underestimate how much we really are like Adam and eve. We are in our gardens with our own selfishness as our forbidden tree.

Genesis 3:1-7

¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

A Quote from C. H. Spurgeon

These words (Philippians 4:11) show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. “Ill weeds grow apace.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man as thorns are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and brambles; they come up naturally enough, because they are indigenous to earth: and so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education. But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plough and sow; if we want flowers, there must be the garden, and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated; it will not grow in us by nature; it is the new nature alone that can produce it, and even then we must be specially careful and watchful that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us. Paul says, “I have learned . . . to be content;” as much as to say, he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain to the mystery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the gravea poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome. We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities, and share the cold dungeon with him, if we too might by any means attain unto his good degree. Do not indulge the notion that you can be contented with learning, or learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally, but a science to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it be, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Content.

It is and was my obsession with self-comfort that fueled my discontent. As Christians we find ways to make it ok because in our eyes God only wants to bless not discipline us. We want to believe God does not punish good people. R. C. Sproul Jr. said “people sin first and then create worldviews to justify the sin; people don’t create worldviews and then sin”

Meaning that a lot of what we “believe” about God’s character or what we choose not to know is because our view is set up to justify our sins.  We create views that mask the seriousness of the discontent in our hearts.  We willingly call it ambition and not what it really is, Idolatry.

My heart was discontent because I didn’t get the glory meant for Christ. Of course we don’t say it like that. But we really want and desire something more than God. We become frustrated because we are not where we feel we should be in life. We believe that our plan is better and that we are doing the right things so why God is responding. Because if he would just bless us we will bless others. And so to get our way we pray selfishly with prideful humility. We feel that we are only asking for what god promised, right?  Like Adam and Eve we have been giving the greatest gift in the world and still it isn’t enough.  We believe God doesn’t care or is listening because we don’t have “that” like a little child.  Adam and Eve was given the world and desired, lust, and hungered for a single tree.  What made us take it against God’s will was the lie that we would be like him.  We want more because we think if we have it that it will make us whole but only submission to Christ can do that.

Matthews 6:25-34

²⁵ ”Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ^[a] 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ ”Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When we minister like he called all of us to, when we put his will First, when we desire his glory only and when Jesus Christ becomes all we need, the heart will start to be content.  We need to repent for the grumbling and asks the Holy Spirit to teach us to be content. We ought to look to Christ as an example.  Just as Jesus’ desire for God’s will was greater than his own in that he suffered for us and he was content with whatever was to come. Paul was able to count all things as rubbish when compare to Christ because he had no further ambition but to be used by God.

With a discontent heart, when we receive from God it will only highlight our discontent. This kind of heart will reject ministry because it is so focused until don’t care about what it has received; it only sees what it wants.  Discontentment hinders joyful obedience; it becomes hard to follow a God whom you don’t trust with the planning of your life.  Discontentment leads to covetousness. That very thing that would make you content becomes our salvation.  ”If I just had this”, this is idolatry and its core. What drives are fear of confession discontent and moving toward contentment is that we are afraid if we become content that God will leave us there.

We cannot hope to begin to travel down the road of contentment until Jesus becomes enough.  Christ is our first and ultimate gift and if we don’t see him that way we will never be satisfied.  God’s gift to all mankind is reconciliation to himself through Christ.  He is precious to the Father as he should be precious to us.  If we don’t see the gospel, the cross, Jesus Christ, our redemption and our salvation as being above all then we can never hope to be grateful.  If our hearts are not filled with thanksgiving for receiving a gift of life without earning it, how can anything else make us content?  When God’s grace through Christ changes our heart we don’t ultimately care if life goes the way we want ask long as we have Jesus.

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A Living Sacrifice
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,  but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2

When I think and meditate on this scripture so many things come to mind.  There are several other passages of scripture that fits with this.  These scriptures add even more substance to what Paul is speaking to; Psalm 51:16-17,  Romans 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:20,Ephesians 4:1, 1 Peter 2:5.

It is funny how when we wish to sin with the body, we ask God to “know” our hearts.  Yet we must present to our Lord our bodies as we do not belong to ourselves.  This is a part of our worship to God.  We use the term “heart” so loosely and I doubt we really know what it means.  I heard a pastor describe the “heart” as being made up of three components.  The heart consist of; the mind, emotions and will.  People are directed by whatever is going on in their minds, which is encouraged/fueled by their emotions and driven by their will.  So whatever idea, ideology, philosophy, beliefs etc. in the mind is used to reason with.  This lays down a foundation that their person stands on, aka their principles or standards.  These principles start walking themselves out but can’t do that without fuel or passion.  This passion is provided by an emotional attachment to the principles.  How strongly we believe in whatever “wisdom/knowledge” we have going on in our minds work with our deep emotions.  But it is our will to see these things through that give life to it all.  This is our heart.  When we watch an athlete give it his all on the field and play through adversity, we say; “that guy has heart”.

This heart is what directs us and it is what directs me.  The question now becomes what is in our minds, what is our passion (emotional fuel) and what is our will focused on or around?  There is a big difference in the responses of a Christian and a non-believer as Paul makes known.  Essentially, the question that starts the self-examination is why I do the things that I do?  What is driving me to be me?  What pushed me to make that choice? What made me respond the way I did? What is directing my path and my life?  What is it that I’m living out loud for the whole world to see?  What am I living out right now?

The quickest way to the answer is to ask this, what is it that we treasure?  What is of value to us?  Still don’t want to be honest, who do you do not want to disappoint?  What do you  yearn for, what do you carve to have?  What do you desire to be a part of?  This sounds like an addiction doesn’t it, it does not look  like someone who is free or someone who has an absolutely free will?

Paul writes:  I appeal to you therefore, brothers,  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Some may try to take this at face value and shout “legalism” but external expression is not what Paul is talking about.  The Lord is always concerned about the heart and  its motives.  The intend of the heart is key to what the “branches” are connected to.  It is what the branches are connected to that influences the fruit.  The fruit is that bodily expression of the heart.  How we present ourselves reflect back to God.  If a gardener had vegetables that looked bad and were rotten,  what does that say about the gardener?  We are not talking about salvation but worship and God’s glory.  We are talking about being fruitfulness but yes there is a correlation to having true salvation.  True salvation comes by faith alone in Jesus Christ and it is that salvation that reconciles us to God.  Being reconciled reconnects us to the true vine, we are now alive in Christ and not dead in sin thus we bear fruit.  We now should bear fruit which is now deemed holy because God is holy.  God is gloried by our fruit because it reflects the grace, love, mercy and power of God to bring the dead back to life.

Presenting ourselves to God as living sacrifice is a part of our worship as we have been bought by a price.  That price is Christ’s blood, we are bought by something more precious than gold.  From the very beginning we are set a part for God’s work, his holy work to complete his purposes and not our own.

Ephesians 2:⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

God already has our business plan set and in order.  The course has been set by the heavenly Father and being obedient to that by willingly giving ourselves over as slaves of righteousness is apart of our service to him.  Yet, so often we decide to do other wise and give our bodies over to do evil.  Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.  

We do not even choose to focus our minds on the things of God as we avoid the word of God.  We don’t realize that the words recorded in the bible are inspired by the very same spirit that dwells within us.  Or maybe we do and just refuse to listen or yield to the Holy Spirit.  We want the things that the world has and chase after the world’s gods.  The things of this worldly life directs so much of our desires and fuels so much of our passions.  We don’t realize that our love of the world has made us enemies of God.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

It is the love of these things that directs us and not a renewed mind.  Our love has conformed us as we love what they love and what matters to them matters even more to us.  It is this same love that causes us to gather to ourselves spiritual leaders who will tell us that having such desires is okay with god.  Even though Jesus says in Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”   

Is what this world has to offer more attractive than what God offers?  Is gaining a foothold in this life worth the consequences?  Is it worth that much to us? Mark 4:19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.  Is it worth conforming to its ways only to set us against God. As the worldly desires direct us to  align with the ruler of this world.  Is allowing it to direct us going be worth it?  60 years of being its slave compared to paying for it for all of eternity?

But its not just a renewal were we don’t do as they do but we don’t see like they see, we don’t think like they think, we  don’t interact like they do.  It means we don’t respond like they do, we don’t feel they we they do, our answers are not like their answers, our reasons are not their reasons.  Why we love is not why they love.  We see the world, life, living, each other, death and all of the above through the eyes of Christ.  Our minds operate in the midst of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Christ is our heart and our eyes are on the cross.  When you live gospel centered, it changes you and all the things that use to be important mean nothing as our standard is Jesus.  A renewed mind loves because God loved first.

1 John 4:¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

When Christ is everything to you, everything else is garbage and your eye sight changes forever and it is now Him that directs you.

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11

Who can honestly say that Jesus is worth that much to them?  Can we count all of our possessions as a loss for the sake of Christ?  Look at our lives and all the things that direct us and ask yourself would you count them as nothing compared to doing God’s will?  Would we suffer to losing it all in order to have righteousness through faith in Christ?  Is losing the friendship of others and their respect worth it for us?  How much do we enjoy slavery to sin?  How much do we enjoy conformity, do we fear being called a Jesus freak so much that we deny Jesus three times?  People don’t die for righteousness, we die to protect our “good” name and not the name of the only begotten Son.  We hate to been seen as different so bad that we run and hide.  But the twelve did the same thing and then they saw the risen  Christ and the fear of God became greater than the fear of man.  We can all be directed by fear at times but which fear is directing and driving us?  Reverence of God or shame of God?  When your mind is renewed  and has become gospel centered.  you can’t do anything but live it.   The gospel is a part of you in that you see life and live it by way of the gospel thus making everything you do ministry.  All of life within the world is born out of sin.  All of mankind is seeking reconciliation by any means.  So let our fear of the Lord lead us to share the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:11).

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John 4:20-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We can all find ourselves in a situation just like the woman at the well.  We can hold onto external worship, religion, or external objects of worship in an attempt to cover up sin.  We can point out how they are doing it wrong or different.  We can sit back and critique all that others do as we do a slight of hand on our hearts.  We do it so easily and not even give it a second thought.

Have we gotten to the point that God needs an ad campaign? Does God need to entice people to worship him? If you need a church to provide you with certain perks in order for you to worship then just don’t go. Why I say just don’t go? Because at this point you are incapable to worship in spirit and in truth. Your worship comes from self comfort, self worth, self worship and glory from other people. Your place of worship is a status symbol.

Has a minister, preacher, pastor, teacher or just someone who is walking with the Lord ever questioned you?  How did you respond?  Did you question their lifestyle or try to call attention to a portion of their life that is questionable?  Did you try to make a case about how “that it really isn’t important”?   Did you show that your way is more modern and not corrupted like the “church?”  Did you try to show that you are doing the same thing just not held down by the other stuff?  Do you even hear what is being said?  Are you even listening to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you in that moment?  Do you understand that because you can sound right it doesn’t mean it is?  Do you understand that God’s word can only be interpreted in such a way that it agrees with the entire Holy Scripture and not just a small part?  How many times have we literally disregarded whole books at a time to feel better about the world we have created?  How many times have we compromised God’s truth to make adjustments for our desires?  How many times have we lowered God’s holiness so that someone we admire can still be a part of our lives and influence us?

As Christ makes mention of the woman’s sin, she changes the subject to her worship habits.  What we don’t see without real study of what is revealed here is life changing.

“The Samaritans (Hebrew: שומרונים‎ Shomronim, Arabic: السامريون‎ as-Sāmariyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group of the Levant. Religiously, they are the adherents to Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian Exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel, as opposed to Judaism, which they assert is a related but altered and amended religion brought back by those returning from exile. “

Looking at who the Samaritans were; now think on those who call themselves “modern”.  Think of those who call themselves “spiritual” and not “religious”.  Think about “new agers” as they combine other “belief systems” to make one that seems similar but not like Christianity.   The Samaritans had taken the Torah and did away with the Books of the Prophets and all that they said.  They decided to worship in a place of their choosing and not where God had commanded.  They based their entire religion on half of the information.  They did this because they felt that what the Jews were doing was wrong.  Why? Because of the Hebrews who rebelled before God passed judgment on Israel.  We do it ourselves more often than we would like to admit.  We have all thrown the baby out with the bath water because we judge God based on non-believers who say “Lord, Lord” as though they know God and he knows them.  So we take out what we don’t want to be held accountable for.  We black out those things we have no intention to take to heart.  We remove those things that will conflict with the lifestyle we desire to live.  We re-interpret God’s attributes, laws, commandments, Spirit, meaning and doctrine to make room for those who we desire to fellowship with.   The theme that runs throughout is a conforming to the world.  Whether if we know it or not we have made an idol or a new God; a new religion and if we put Jesus Christ in it, he is not the Son of God.  This is why in verse 22, Jesus tells her that she worships what she does not know.  The woman as well as all of the other Samaritans is not worshiping God at all.

Think about this seriously…

Christ goes on to say,  John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We base so much of what we do towards God on what we want to do and what we are comfortable doing.  More times than most all that we are willing to do for God in the form of worship is external gestures. We all try to create a place of worship and a “new thing” or “new way” of worship.  We dress it up and call it pure because we have made it pure.  We take out what we feel is tradition based on our own wisdom.  The driving fact is that how we were taught to worship by people who were sinners just like us don’t seem right.  We feel that if what they were learning and doing was so in line with God, that their lives would be reflecting that.  Not once do we think about the real issue which is the person’s heart and not external actions.  Yes, we do have a part to play in how others see Christ but our obedience to Christ is not resting on how well a sinner follows Jesus.  I have myself been over critical of others and how they behave.  I have also thought to myself how I would do it differently.  But the wisdom of God and the Holy Spirit teaches has changed me.  My eyes see fruit; my heart feels for those who honestly choose to see God’s word with closed eyes.  I stop condemning because my Savior does not condemn.  Now I pray for them and try to instruct them as the Holy Spirit leads me to.

Romans 14

13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesusthat nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Jesus instructs the woman that the time is coming and has arrived when we will worship God in Spirit and in Truth.  A time when it will not matter where we worship God.  The Jews worshiped at the tabernacle because that is where God had put his Spirit.  It was before the veil that was before the Holy of holys, where only one high priest entered.  Now Christ sits on the throne of grace for us as we can approach him whenever we want.  It is our hearts that is circumcised and not our external flesh.   It is not the offerings that God delights in but a broken heart where a man worships God from the soul in complete truth to the Holy Scripture.

Psalm 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God area broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

We cannot say we are worshiping God when we refuse or don’t believe in all of him.  And if we reject parts of his word we don’t and can’t accept all of him as Lord.  The entire word became flesh not just some.  If we break one law and keep all the rest, we still sin against all of it.  If even our greatest accomplishments are seen as holy by the entire world it is as filthy rages in the eyes of God thus sin.  We can only be seen as clean, righteous, holy and acceptable through faith in Jesus Christ who is the complete word in the flesh.  We can’t worship the Father in spirit and in truth without Christ as our savior who is the truth.   It is Christ that gives us the Holy Spirit, who helps us to worship God as the spirit that dwells within us is God the Holy Spirit.  This is what it means to worship with the soul.  It can be shown externally but it doesn’t have to all the time.  It is deep and meaningful; it is beautiful as well as inspiring.

Romans 8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit ofhim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodiesthrough his Spirit who dwells in you.

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Matthew 5:43-48

New International Version (NIV)

Love for Enemies

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I have heard often about how the world doesn’t need God to be good.  I heard those who don’t believe in Jesus Christ, that they do not need Jesus to do the right thing.  I have heard how “religion” causes more harm that good.  I have heard how we would all be better off without religion but mainly Christianity.  As Christianity is blame for all of the world’s major issues and people use the flaws of men professing Christ as a litmus test for morality.  But in this quest to toss God out and this Jesus because He is not needed to be moral, they miss the point entirely.

Christianity is different as the faith does not encourage the believer to be “good”.  Some may gasp at that statement but the word of God says that no one is good.  When the people referred to Jesus as “good teacher”, his reply was “why do you call me good? no one is good but the Father.”  When the rich young ruler began to lay out his case for his goodness or moral uprightness, Jesus put his morality to the test.  In Romans 1, 3 and 8, a case is made that we reject truth, a holy God, don’t seek good, are not good and can’t hope to be good or obey God because we are incapable of doing so.  So if we can’t hope to be good or moral, why would morality be the end goal of an entire faith?

If this is so, there would be no one after Moses and the Law of God.  The golden rule that so many hold to don’t understand the golden rule at all.  The golden rule is the ten commandments broken down to its main core.  The purpose of the Law was not to give us a way of life but to show that we are living a sinful way of life.

Romans 3:¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰For by works of the law no human being^[c] will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Galatians 3:¹⁹Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. ²⁰Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. ²¹Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²²But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

So those who hold to a “law” imprisons themselves to that law and is forced to keep that law perfectly or they are forever lost without redemption.  Those that try to live a moral and ethical life according to a set of rule are doomed to failure because within their laws, they are hopeless.  They are hopeless because they are to inconsistent to live to the guidelines of morality that they themselves set out.  Even according to man’s own standards everyone is evil.  If that be the case, how would we fair against God’s standards?  In our case we constantly change,  amend, ratify, retire, legislate and create more rules and laws.  We “reform” bills and laws to make moral adjustments to offset or counteract our sinful tendency to be consistently self serving.   In the introductory scripture, Jesus is not addressing unbelievers but those that are following him and the twelve disciples.  He addresses the “golden rule”,  he talks about loving your enemies and praying for those that persecutes them for their beliefs.  He says that even pagans love those that love them.  Even pagans can be moral and actually anybody can be nice to the person who is being nice back.  It is easy to treat people right who have not crossed us.  I can quickly call myself a good person if I just avoid “bad” people.  But he says that God sends rains to the just and the unjust so we have no right to pick and choose who we love.  Doing so is not moral nor good yet still that is not the point Jesus is about to drive home.  He first gives the example of God showing mercy on everyone, good and evil, righteous and unrighteous.  Then Jesus ends by saying be like your heavenly Father, thus be perfect and show love to all.  To show love to all is to not condemn but offer life just like Jesus Christ.  To be perfect is not to be morally perfect but holy just as The Lord is holy.

¹⁴As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, ¹⁶since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,

But how can be holy?

1 Peter 1:¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action,^[a] and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:²²Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³ since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

To be a Christian is not to be moral but to be holy.  To be holy, set your mind and heart on Jesus Christ. You live for Christ and not yourself…  You live out your salvation in Christ.  You do not live out your moral do’s and don’ts list.

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Matthew 5:43-48

New International Version (NIV)

Love for Enemies

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor^[a] and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Commentary

Love Your Enemies

Jesus demands not only that we not resist evil people assaulting our honor or possessions (vv. 38-42) but that we go so far as to actively love our enemies.

Jesus Demands Love Even for Enemies (5:43-44)

When Jesus explains his final quotation from the Bible, Love your neighbor, he adds to the quote an implication some of his contemporaries found there: hate your enemy. He is probably speaking of all kinds of enemies. Personal enemies were common enough in the setting of Galilean villages (Horsley 1986; Freyne 1988:154), but Jesus’ contemporaries may have also thought of corporate threats to Israel or the moral fabric of the community (see Borg 1987:139). Whereas the biblical command to love neighbors (Lev 19:18) extends to foreigners in the land (Lev 19:33-34; compare Lk 10:27-37), other texts hold up a passionate devotion to God‘s cause that bred hatred of those who opposed it (Ps 139:21-22; see also 137:7-9). Popular piety, exemplified in the Qumran community‘s oath to “hate the children of darkness,” may have extended such biblical ideology in Jesus’ day (see Sutcliffe 1960). Jesus may well mean both personal and corporate enemies (Moulder 1978).

Jesus builds a fence around the law of love (Mt 22:39), amplifying it to its ultimate conclusion (compare Ex 23:4-5). In so doing, he makes demands more stringent than the law. He also makes a demand that can require more than merely human resources for forgiveness. Corrie ten Boom, who had lost most of her family in a Nazi concentration camp, often lectured on grace. But one day a man who came to shake her hand after such a talk turned out to be a former prison guard. Only by asking God to love through her did she find the grace to take his hand and offer him Christian forgiveness.

Since Jesus does not say exactly what to pray for our persecutors, some of us have been tempted to pray, “God, kill that person!” Needless to say, the context makes clear that Jesus means to pray good things for our enemies. Old Testament prayers for vindication (such as 2 Chron 24:22; Jer 15:15) still have their place (2 Tim 4:14; Rev 6:10), but our attitude toward individuals who hurt us personally or corporately must be love (Lk 23:34; Acts 7:60). Again, Jesus’ words are graphic pictures that force us to probe our hearts; they do not cancel the Old Testament belief in divine vindication (Mt 23:33, 38; Rev 6:10-11), but summon us to leave our vindication with God and seek others’ best interests in love.

Jesus Appeals to a Positive and Negative Example (5:45-47)

First he provides the ultimate moral example: God (vv. 45, 48). Jewish teachers generally recognized, as Jesus did, that God was gracious to all humanity, including the morally undeserving (for example, Sipre Deut. 43.3.6); they also saw rain as one of God’s universal signs of beneficence. But after adducing the ultimate moral example, Jesus adduces an example from the opposite end of his hearers’ moral spectrum (vv. 46-47): he provokes his hearers to shame by comparing their ability to obey the love commandment with that of tax-gatherers and Gentile idolaters, the epitome of moral reprobates (Mt 6:7; 20:25; 18:17; compare, for example, Sipre Deut. 43.16.1). One whose righteousness would surpass that of scribes and Pharisees (5:20) must exemplify a higher standard of righteousness than loving those friendly to their interests.

Jesus Demands That We Be Perfect like God (5:48)

What Jesus illustrated with graphic, concrete examples earlier in the sermon (vv. 21-47) he now epitomizes in a summary statement that forces us to go beyond mere examples. We can appeal to no law to tell us that we are righteous enough-that would be legalism. Instead, we must desire God’s will so much that we seek to please him in every area of our lives-that is holiness. Jesus says that God’s law was never about mere rules; instead, God desires a complete righteousness of the heart, a total devotion to God’s purposes in this world.

That God becomes the standard of comparison suggests that Jesus’ instruction here is exhortation, setting a goal, not assuming a state to which the hearers have already come. (The issue of whether any Christian is perfect is irrelevant here. All of us can learn to better reflect God’s character; at the same time, God promises us power to overcome any given temptation; and if we can overcome any temptation, we should choose to say no to every temptation.) And as long as God represents the moral standard, none of us has room to boast; all of us must unite as brothers and sisters in need and seek God’s kingdom and righteousness with all our hearts.

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While pastoring in the U. S., I received phone calls from lawyers quite often saying they were “Christian lawyers” looking out for the “rights” of pastors and if I ever needed good legal counsel they were readily available.

That is the sad state of affairs in the world in which we live.

However, Jesus said servants have no rights. Read carefully His words to would be followers:

q       “Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).

q       “And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also” (v. 40).

q       “And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two” (v. 41).

q       “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you” (v. 42).

Have you ever seen those posted in a law office?

Christians have no rights to retaliation, “getting even,” to their own time, money, etc.

How can this be?

We are stewards of God’s possessions. He owns it all, and we belong to Him.

The apostle Paul reminded members of a church that was quick to enter into lawsuits, “You were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23).

Even how we use our bodies is to be in accordance with God’s perfect will (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:17-20; 7:23-24; 2 Cor. 6:14-18).

If is a strange cry when we hear women say, “It is my body; I can do with it as I please.”

It is hard giving up our perceived human rights. We give them up in order to exercise a greater purpose. The apostle Paul said, “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible” (1 Cor. 9:16). We can sum up his philosophy of freedom in his words in verse twenty-two. “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak, I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.” Paul did not want anything to stand in the way of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

What are the “rights” of the servant of Christ? When we give up our perceived self-rights God takes over and operates according to His rights.

“Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21).

There is a great relief in knowing that we do not have to lower ourselves to “tit for tat, hate for hate,” “eye for eye,” and “tooth for tooth.”

It is easy to become slaves to people and things. “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Or does he?

A better way is to realize that everything we have comes from the loving hands of a gracious God. We receive by giving, and we gain by losing. How can I use what He has entrusted to me in the best possible way to bring honor and glory to His name?

Speaking of the Father’s kingdom Jesus said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). In the context Jesus is speaking of all those things people fight over.

Jesus set the example for every servant. He “committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:22-24).

Selah!

Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006

¹⁶ Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^[a] but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Two men raised by the same Egyptian king and both thought that they was doing what was right. Two very different vessels, one created for destruction and the other for deliverance. Both in the end resulted in God’s glory. So what really makes them different? Pride and humility is what separates Pharaoh from Moses. Our out come rests in the sovereignty of God and his grace. What brings about worship in fear and trembling is understanding this. God gave Pharaoh more pride to further hardening of his heart. God gave Moses more humility by pushing into the desert and tend sheep. Would they have chosen that on their own? Can they complain about their end when without God intervening; death was certain as well as deserved? Now think about how God’s grace has been given and blessed us to just know of Jesus Christ. Now think of how when we believe, we are now keep by God, who “leads us not into temptation but delivers us from evil”. We are keep in his grace as he uses situations to shape us for our good and his glory.

So if God say choose this day, who shall your serve. The very fact that you are where you are so that you can hear the Gospel shouldn’t be wasted. As we will be standing at the red sea with one foot on a chariot and the other in a slave’s sandal.

Do you desire to be used to press people towards God by your persecution or lead them to God out of persecution.

Romans 9:18-23
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory

When we hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ do not turn to your idols and gods. Do not turn to your religion and curse God as you blame him for your love of sin. Don’t hide behind your self reliance. Run to Christ with an open heart and mind that can just for once understand that we are not the center of the universe.