What Are We Doing At Abundant Life? Serve Part 1

Romans 12:1-2; John 13:6-7, 12-17.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty on Sunday, May 24, 2020.

We have talked about connecting to Jesus and his people through whole-life worship, and also, growing spiritually to be like Jesus.  These are the first two purposes Christians should be fulfilling. 

Today, we are going to talk about serving.  Those who believe in Jesus are called to serve him. He is the Lord, the master, and we are his servants.  Let’s go to Romans 12 to explore this further.

We selflessly serve Jesus by presenting our lives as a living sacrifice

In verse 1, Paul is clearly using imagery from the temple sacrifices that would have been familiar to his Jewish audience.  Even the Gentile believers would have understood this imagery since their lands were filled with temples to false gods where people brought offerings and sacrifices to them.

Paul calls this a “living sacrifice.”  This is clearly an oxymoron and yet, it makes complete sense once it is explained.  Jesus is the only one who literally sacrificed his life so that our sins could be removed from us.  It has been said that, since he died for us, the least we can do is live for him.  This is simplistic and yet true.  Paul even refers to this as our “reasonable service,” which we will look at in a bit. 

So, what does it mean to be a living sacrifice?  It means that we are living for God’s purposes, and not our own.  It means that we sacrifice the desires of our flesh, and all the ways that we lived before we met Jesus, and pick up the desires and ways of Christ.  Of course, a person may lay down their life in martyrdom, but this is never seen as a means of removing sin.  Thus, even the martyr, who physically dies, goes to be with the Lord and is not really dead.  They are still living.

The word that is translated as “service,” at the end of verse 1, has a religious connection to the ceremonial duties Israel had in the temple.  For Christians, living for Jesus is presented as parallel to the work that priests did in the temple.  This connects to the New Testament concept that all believers are priests before God in the New Covenant.  What we do in this life and the purposes for which we do it requires sacrifice and serving the Lord Jesus.  I have added the adjective “selflessly” just in case a person doesn’t get what sacrificial living really means.

As a living sacrifice, it is important to present ourselves as a holy sacrifice.  This adjective ultimately means that we are declared as belonging to God, or set apart for Him and His purposes alone.  As believers in Jesus, we are to be following Jesus, not the culture of the world around us.  They continue to plunge into ever diverse ways of rebellion against God, but we are to restrain ourselves and live for Jesus.  Of course, this is easier said than done.

Thus, our holiness has two aspects to it.  Our identity as being holy is immediate upon our belief in Jesus and it is inseparable.  It is he who declares us to be one of his holy ones.  We live for him and not the world or ourselves.  In this sense, a person never becomes more holy.  You can’t be declared as holy to any higher degree.  It simply is what you are. 

However, the other aspect of holiness has to do with our practical holiness.  No one perfectly lives their life (both internally and externally) for Jesus and his purposes.  We call this discipleship and “sanctification,” (the process by which one better lives their lives for Christ alone).  In this sense, we can become more holy.  Yet, this should never be confused with salvation.  Our salvation gives us the identity of being holy and cannot be separated by the messy process of discipleship.  In fact, discipleship is a battle that we wage against our own flesh, and should be done in the power and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

May God help us to be secure in the knowledge that we are the saints (holy ones) of God, but may He also help us to be courageous in our battle against our sin and the pull of this world upon our hearts and minds.  Yes, we must keep our faith in Jesus for salvation, but we must also learn to trust in his commands and his example of how to live this life in order to please the Father.

Another concept that is added is that of being an acceptable sacrifice.  We should seek to live our lives as an acceptable sacrifice to Him.  This again relies upon the Old Testament sacrifice imagery.  A sacrificial animal had to fit all the requirements that God had placed upon it.  They were to be without blemish and in the way He commanded.  Without Jesus, none of us can be an acceptable sacrifice.  It can be easy to look at our discipleship performance and think that maybe we are not acceptable.  However, our acceptability comes directly from trusting Jesus for our salvation.  We are acceptable to God because we approach Him with a relationship of faith in His Son. 

This sets up a tension between knowing that we are acceptable because of our faith in Jesus, and the fact that true faith in Jesus will seek to be like him by cooperating with the discipleship process.  We should never deceive ourselves that we can be acceptable without both, and yet the foundation of our acceptance is Jesus, and not our ability to perform.

In verse 2, Paul moves away from the sacrifice imagery and speaks to our lives.  The life of a Christian is not to be conformity, but rather a transformational relationship.  Paul is talking about conforming to this world, but part of that world is the religious pretenders who only conform to an outward veneer of righteousness, and are inwardly one with the world system.  Church cannot become a machine that forces everyone to look, speak, and act like the pastor or the elders.  Jesus is our template, but also the inner source of our transformation.  The world teaches people to conform to the system in order to get ahead.  Many who are nonconformists may make a different way for themselves, but even this is part of the world system.  They have conformed to the world in a nonconformist way.  When we come to Christ, the Father will not accept an outward conformance to Jesus.  If the Church merely duplicates the conforming method of the world and simply uses it for its own purposes then it is not what Christ desires.  We would be relying upon the flesh rather than the Spirit of God.  People do not necessarily need to look a certain way.  There is no power in that.  What we really need is the Holy Spirit within us fueling and directing a change that is more than surface.  It is a complete transformation that is related to the word that we use today, “metamorphosis.”

Don’t settle for a life that isn’t changing to become more like Jesus, but neither settle for a life that only looks enough like Jesus on the surface to get you by.  Paul states that this transformation takes place as our minds are renewed.  The world has taught us all manner of things that are completely hostile towards the things of God.  We don’t often know all the ways that our mindset is actually antichrist, like Judas was.  God’s Word, His Holy Spirit, and the community of mature believers, surround us with the power to change our minds and thus to transform our lives.  This is not merely a power of the mind, but is a mind renewed by the working of God’s Spirit.

Ultimately, Paul says that we will end up proving that God’s will is perfect.  This is one of the ways that we serve Him.  We serve as His proof to the world and to the devil and his angels.  Satan has rebelled against God because he thinks his way is better.  May we live in such a way- you know, like Jesus- so as to prove the Father’s way right.  In fact, our transformation doesn’t stop in this life.  On the day of Resurrection, our transformation will be completed and we will stand beside our Lord Jesus as completed, adult Sons of God.  We will be a myriad of proofs against the will of Satan and those who follow him.

Now, let’s look at one more passage to talk about another side of our service to Jesus.

We selflessly serve Jesus by serving one another

In John 13, Jesus is interacting with his disciples in the last hours before he is arrested and crucified.  There is a duality throughout the first three purposes in which Jesus and his people are inseparable.  I can’t only connect to Jesus.  I also need to connect to his people.  I can’t only grow spiritually as an individual.  I also need to grow as a part of a group of people that are becoming more like Jesus corporately.  So, it is here.  We must serve Jesus, but part of that service is to serve one another with a selfless attitude. 

Jesus employs the washing of feet as a powerful picture to prove to us that he means business in this area of service. He took up a basin of water and a towel, and washed each one of their feet.  Think of it.  They had gone through dinner lying next to each other’s dirty feet.  Not one of them was willing to take the lowest place and wash each other’s feet.  In fact, they hadn’t even taken the time to wash their own feet.  This is important because Jesus did not rebuke them and tell them to wash their own feet.  Instead, he gets up and focuses their attention on serving one another.

Peter is surprised at what Jesus is doing.  Of all of the people there, he was the last one that should do such a menial task.  Peter protests, and, in so doing, becomes a picture of how our flesh protests learning to selfless serve others.  What Jesus was doing was so across the grain of Peter’s own mentality (if we are honest, ours too) that he doesn’t want to accept it.  Humility is not something that our flesh immediately embraces.  Humility simply means that there is nothing that is “beneath me,” when it comes to serving Jesus and serving each other.  When love sees that something lowly must be done, it rises up and goes to work without pride or arrogance.  Our flesh doesn’t like this.  We can only do it if a true transformation is happening in our hearts, minds, and lives.  You could say that it is a test to see if we will follow over the top of the protests of our flesh.

The noble motivation for serving one another is to have our hearts so transformed by the love of God that we now serve each other out of that same love.  However, love is not just a feeling.  It is a decision for a beneficial course of action that is mixed with the understanding that we are obligated by Jesus to serve each other.  Once Jesus took the lowest place, none of his disciples could ever again pretend that service of others was beneath them.  To refuse to serve each other is to demonstrate that we think we are above Christ.  In question form, it is this way.  If taking the lowest place to serve us was not beneath Jesus then how could it be beneath me?  It isn’t.  We either cling to our pride, and then perish, or we surrender it and follow Jesus.  Just like the cross is a hideous image to our flesh, so the basin and the towel are another image that causes our flesh to shrink back. 

Jesus drives the point home in verse 16.  The servant is not greater than the master.  None of us are greater than him, and he took the lowest place.  We can’t out do Jesus, but we can surrender and seek to become like him.

Jesus also calls this an example.  His intention is not to set up a ritual of foot-washing services, although they can serve the purpose of shocking us out of lethargy.  This was just one small area that was relevant to those 12 men in that moment.  Elsewhere in the New Testament, we see Tabitha making clothes for the poor, and others selling some of their possessions in order that widows could receive the care that they needed.  The key is not conforming to a particular act, but rather being transformed into a servant that sees the needs of people and serve them.

In the moment, Jesus washed their feet because his love for them compelled him to do it.  He knew that they would need this lesson in the trying times ahead.  May God help us to see each other enough to know how to use the gifts that He has given us in order to serve one another with humility.

Jesus ends the portion by telling us that we will be blessed by God if we do this.  This blessing is both as an individual and as a group.  Our families will be blessed when we serve one another, and our church will be blessed when we serve one another.

The blessing of God should not be seen as some kind of lucky rabbit’s foot that makes everything go well.  Instead, the blessing is the pleasure of God who walks before you, behind you and at your side.  Lord, we bless you today because you are the source of all blessings.  Help us to learn how to serve like you did.

Serve I audio

What Are We Doing At Abundant Life? Grow Part 2

Ephesians 4:8-16.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 17, 2020.

There is a lot of water under the bridge when it comes to churches.  Many wonderful things have happened through them, but so have many bad things that were not of Christ.  Christian leaders and individual Christians both need to recognize and appreciate the difficulty that we have today.  It is easy to allow the obvious failures of others to blind us to our own failures.   As we talk about this purpose of spiritual growth, it is clear that Christ intends for each of us to grow individually, but not to grow alone.  He intends for us to be within a community, that is, even more a family.  Thus, leaders who are convinced on this point must be sensitive to the prior point that many people are “shell-shocked” on this issue.  A church does not belong to its leaders, and the role of leaders is not for their own benefit either.  Leaders have to learn to navigate the tension of the importance of a growing connection to Christ and his Church, and the fear people have in being a part of “institutionalized religion.”

On the flip side, if you are one of those shell-shocked people who are afraid of institutionalized religion then please recognize that being a leader is not easy either.  None of us are perfect and we do not lead perfect people.  Church is messy because people are messy, but families stick together.  In a culture that has embraced no-fault divorce and holds marriage in no high regard, it is easy to see how people are afraid to join another family.  Christ is asking you to trust his way.  Find a group of Christians who are serious about following and becoming like Jesus.  It won’t be easy, and it will require repentance, forgiveness, and courage on your part, but God will use it to cause you to grow spiritually.  Don’t settle for anything less because it is what God is going to use to make you, and the local church you attend, to become more like Him.  You won’t grow up to be like the Father if you don’t spend time as a part of His family.

Jesus provides for our spiritual growth

In this passage, the Apostle Paul has described the death and resurrection of Jesus.  In verse 8, he says that, when Christ ascended on high (that is, into heaven), he gave gifts to men.  This sets up a whole teaching on why we have leaders and the purpose that Jesus has in giving leaders to his Church.

Yet, we must not read this passage and only focus on what the gifts are.  We must also emphasize the purpose for these gifts, and that purpose is the spiritual growth of all who believe in Jesus.  Jesus has made provision and is still making provision today for our spiritual growth.

There are many things that we can say Jesus has given to the Church, but here Paul is emphasizing different leadership roles in the early Church.  It is interesting that he does not mention Bishops and Elders here.  I don’t think that we should read too much into that because elsewhere Paul makes it clear that they are valid and helpful leadership roles.  Perhaps, he sees them as redundant in regards to the ones listed here in Ephesians 4.

We are told that Jesus gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers to the fledgling Church he had begun.  These roles should not be separated from the individuals who perform them.  If a person who has not been sent by Christ is given one of these roles then it can be damaging to the Church.  Also, a person who Jesus does call to fill one of these roles must continually remind themselves of the purpose that he intends them to fulfill.

Let’s take a quick look at each of these leadership roles and how they benefit believers.

An apostle is a reference to those first century individuals who witnessed the ministry of Jesus and his resurrection.  They were to be the foundational witnesses of what he did and taught to the world.  They often functioned in every level of leadership since they took the Gospel into new areas, preached to the lost, raised up churches from those saved, and nurtured them through teaching and oversight.  They are also described as prophets of God.  They laid down the faith that believers are called to believe and live out.  The New Testament is the record of what they taught.  In this sense, we don’t have apostles like this today, though we may recognize that some today have an apostolic-like ministry because they have influence and authority over multiple groups of believers, and are used of God to take the Gospel into new areas.  Yet, they are not authorized to establish new doctrine that the church is to believe and follow.  This was laid down once and for all by the apostles of Christ (Jude 1:3).

So, how were the apostles a gift to the Church?  They gave a sure and proven foundation of the content of our faith and the purpose of God in Christ.  The fact that this was written down was most often due to people who had different ideas.  Anyone, who has gone online to search for the “truth” on a biblical concept, knows how hard it can be to know who to trust, not to mention that there are umpteen million ideas.  Who can we trust?  Jesus took care of that concern right off the bat by spending 3 years of his life with the original apostles.  Even Paul recognized that he was an oddity as an apostle.  Yet, his writings and ministry were approved by the original apostles, excluding Judas.  We have something solid that we can use through the centuries to measure what all leaders teach and do.  No leader in God’s Church is ever intended to be outside of this.  Even if you are in a group that has let leaders add doctrine to the original, you have the ability to compare what they teach to the Scriptures themselves.  Thus, the written record of the apostles serves as a corrective device for those who seek God.  In fact, Paul stated in Galatians 1:8, “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”  In an age of confusion and spiritual pretenders, it is refreshing to know that a new believer can pick up a Bible and be in direct contact with the pure teaching of the apostles of Jesus.

Let’s move to prophets.  Prophets are those who God uses to speak to the Church regarding specific issues.  They can be past, present, or future things, and their prophecies must always be judged by the leaders and elders of the assembly through a prayerful comparison to God’s Word.  This gifting of some to hear from the Lord is a help to the group as a whole, even though it can be abused by individuals who are not sent by God.  The answer here should not be of fear, but mature respect for the gifts of Christ.

Evangelists are those who were not apostles, and yet had a calling to spread the Good News of Jesus.  They would travel from city to city, encouraging the believers, and calling the lost to salvation.  This is a benefit to believers because even leaders can have tunnel vision.  From time to time, God will send a person from outside the local church to speak a word that shakes us out of lethargy and complacency.

Lastly, pastors and teachers are actually two sides of the same coin.  The language in the Greek gives good reason to think that Paul is presenting these as speaking about one position.  They are the hands-on leadership within every local assembly, watching over the souls of each member and exhorting believers to follow Christ.  As long as pastors remember that they too are sheep who belong to Jesus, they can be a great benefit to those who are helped by their instructions and prayers.

In verse 12, Paul moves from the gift itself to the purpose for the gift.  Leaders must never forget what their job is.  The Church does not belong to them, but to Jesus.  All leadership is supposed to be equipping the Church for the work of ministry, or service.  Part of my growth is to rightly listen to leaders and to learn from them so that I can better serve Christ.  Yet, I must be equipped to serve.  We are equipped with the truth of the Word of God because it helps us to know what serving God looks like.  We are equipped with a presentation of the wisdom and help of the Holy Spirit, which teaches us how to rely upon that same Holy Spirit.  We are given guidance and corrections in love.  Thus, in Christ, we have everything we need to serve him today, and yet we all need to grow in faith and skill so that we can serve him better.  A prayer we should always be praying is this.  Lord, help me to know what ways you want me to serve your purposes.

Leaders should also equip believers so that they can build up the body of Christ.  The body of Christ is an image that sees believers as an extension of Jesus.  He is the head who resides in heaven.  All instructions and directions are ultimately from him.  However, each individual cell is connected to the life of the body so that we can work together for the functions that Christ wants.  The body of Christ can be anemic, diseased, and even dead, if we are not careful in these areas.  Leaders who have lost their way can be detrimental to a particular body of believers.  The key is to recognize that Jesus intends for you to grow in relation to other believers so that his body may be strengthened in order to do his purposes.  You need other believers, companions, brothers and sisters, who are also trusting Jesus, and they need you.  This is a strength that both keeps us going, and makes our work more effective.

The goal of all of this equipping is a unity of the faith, and a unity of the knowledge of Jesus.  Goal may not be the proper word.  However, we must recognize that even the things we do for Jesus are not the end goal in and of themselves.  When we are equipped for serving Christ and strengthening the body of believers, then we can achieve a unity of the faith, which refers to the things that we believe and trust about God.  The Church is not intended to be divided on the foundational teachings of the apostles.  However, through the years, individuals who were proud and full of themselves have pressed their views to the point of fracturing the Church.  The point is not that we all should believe all the same things, but that we all hold to the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints.  It is no difficult thing to determine what the apostles of Christ taught.  It is this we are to unify around, not the additions of others who came later.  Large parts of the Church have cast off the restraints (or better, the protection) of Scripture and have co-opted the Church for the purposes that are not of Christ.  We can never be unified with that, but within our group, we can work for a unity of the essentials of the Gospel.

The unity of the knowledge of Jesus is just as important.  Most cults that have come into existence have done so because they refused to accept the revelation of Scripture regarding just who Jesus was.  Some make him out to be an angel, or a created being.  Others make him out to be a spiritual master who is just one among many.  In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul called this “another Jesus.”

“For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (NKJV)

We are jumping in mid-stream, but Paul is concerned that the Corinthians might listen to ideas about Jesus that are not what they were taught by the apostles who were confirmed by Jesus.  False apostles promote false ideas about Jesus and lead many astray from the true Gospel.

Another way of talking about unity is spiritual maturity.  Verses 14 to 16 bring Paul’s point home.  The whole goal of these gifts is the spiritual maturity of God’s children.  He is bringing us as spiritual infants into His family and then helping us to grow until we become adult Sons of God who can step into the New Heavens and the New Earth by His side.

A person who is spiritually mature is not easily moved by every doctrine that comes along (vs. 14).  Little kids are easily deceived and manipulated.  Imagine a person who comes to faith in Jesus, but never connects to a good group of believers.  They might use the internet to search for the answers to every question that they have.  What will they find?  They will find a sea of confusion blown about by every idea and teaching under the sun.  As much as we may want to believe that God’s Spirit can help us to navigate these waters on our own, that is precisely the point that I am making.  The Spirit is the One who has made it clear to us that our safety partly comes from being in a good, Bible-teaching group.  We cannot ignore that and remain safe by some mystical connection to the Spirit of God.  At that point, we are fooling ourselves. 

Just as God uses individuals to help you embrace the Word of God, so the devil uses individuals to try and separate you from the healthy truth.  There are many who have a flicker of spiritual life.  They want to follow Christ, but are not sure how to proceed.  They exist like a homeless child living outside and exposed to the elements.  Christ desires something much better for you, a spiritual home where you can be cared for, encouraged, and where you can spiritually thrive.

Verse 15 mentions growing up into Christ, which is a great analogy.  Don’t get stuck on how far short of being like Jesus you are.  The real point is this.  Am I growing to look more like him each day?  That might be hard to analyze on a daily basis, but it must be our continual prayer.  Growth is not separate from connection to Christ, but rather an extension of it.  True connection to Jesus allows living truth to flow into my life, and that growth makes me more like Jesus.  It also strengthens my connection to Christ.  May our connection to Christ ever grow stronger.

Jesus is working through all people in his Church to build it up in love.  Verse 16 ends with the analogy of the body of Christ.  Paul sees each part “joined and knit together,” like a family.  We are joined and knit together when we respond to the Spirit of God and learn to love and forgive one another.  We are joined and knit together as we do life together.  Covid-19 is just one example of the kind of things that crop up in the life of a church and require us to grow and bond with one another.  Bonding comes from shared crises and learning to work through them together (not perfection). 

Paul also sees each part “doing its share.”  That share involves spiritual things, but also very practical things.  Instead of seeking for the applause of one another and getting to be something big, we simply need to let Jesus teach us how to do our part.  Lord, help me to do my part in your Church today, so that it may be built up in your love and strengthened for the days that we live in.  In short, help us to grow to be like you!

Grow part 2 audio

What Are We Doing at Abundant Life? Grow Part 1

1 Peter 2:1-3; Psalm 1.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 10, 2020, Mother’s Day.

Today is Mother’s Day and we pray that all you moms are encouraged today.  We use the word “mom,” or “mother,” to refer to that special relationship that begins when a baby is conceived.  The baby is then birthed into the world and needs a lot of help.  A mom’s job is to help that baby grow up into an adult that no longer needs her to change their diapers, feed them, do their laundry, and tell them to clean their room.  This growth is not just physical, but includes mental, emotional, relational, and especially spiritual.  A mom sure has her work cut out for her!

We are continuing on to the second purpose for believers corporately and individually.  We need to grow to be like Jesus.  Just as moms raise babies until they are ready to leave the nest, so new believers need to be helped along by other mature believers.  In short, new believers need to grow, or to mature, in their faith.  This growing is not to be measured against one another.  We all fall short.  Rather, we are measured against Jesus.  He is the full measure of what it means to be a mature Son of God, and compared to him, we will fall short until the day of our resurrection.

Now, let’s look at a couple of passages and talk about the purpose of Growing.

We need to grow up spiritually

To connect to Christ and his followers is not an end goal; it is only the beginning.  1 Peter 1 ends with the apostle reminding believers that they have been born again, or spiritually born from above by the incorruptible seed of God, which is ultimately God Himself, but also involves His Word to us.  In chapter 2, he commands them to desire the “milk of the word,” but he qualifies this desiring with the added description of “laying aside” a number of bad things in our lives:  malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking (aka slanderous and defamatory speech).  Not everyone that he is writing to is a new Christian, but Peter is concerned that they understand what should properly occur.  Newborn babes in Christ need to take in God’s Word and thereby grow spiritually.

Peter only uses the metaphor of milk because that is the only thing that newborns can handle.  However, the apostle Paul adds the concept of solid food to this metaphor in 1 Corinthians 3:12-2.  Thus, God’s Word is compared to food that has some parts that are easily digested by spiritual infants, and other parts that require some spiritual maturity in order to digest.

The digestive process in regard to infants and maturity is an amazing thing.  Milk is a simple food that their body is able to break down for energy.  In fact, you could say that this whole area of salvation and God’s purpose for believers is the milk of the Word.  These are the simple concepts that speak to us of our sinful condition, and yet God’s loving mercy towards us.  The concepts of salvation are the simple things.  Yet, any child who properly takes in the milk they need will also grow and develop the ability to eat more complex meals.

This whole process of maturity brings the infant to the place where they are fully developed and able to digest solid food.  This will enable them to do far more work then when they only drank milk.  Of course, this is a metaphor regarding our spiritual life.  Mature believers should be careful not to push new believers too quickly.  Allow for natural development and absorption of the simple truths of God’s Word into their life.  However, they do need to be challenged to choose to grow, as Peter is doing.  Peter connects spiritual growth to two things.  First, putting off the negative things that would stunt spiritual growth, and going after the thing that will positively cause you to grow, God’s Word.

Now, let’s go to Psalm 1 in order to see another analogy that Scripture uses for spiritual growth.

The analogy from the plant world: a fruit tree

There is a powerful contrast in this psalm between the righteous and the wicked, those who are spiritually alive and those who are not.  However, we will only focus on the development of the person who is spiritually alive.  Here the analogy is not of a child, but of a fruit tree.

Before the psalmist describes the fruiting tree, he describes what it means to be a righteous person who is spiritually alive and blessed by God.  They avoid following those who are not spiritually alive, those who follow the desires of their flesh and their natural mind rather than God.  This is described in three ways.

The counsel of those who are not following God is to be avoided.  You can’t grow spiritually if you are listening to people who are living for their flesh.  Like Adam and Eve with the serpent in the Garden, we can be led astray from the blessing that God has for us.

The path of sinners is a reference to their way of life, the direction in which they are headed.  I’ll give you a hint; it is away from God.   Believers should give themselves to the purposes of God and leave the purposes of this world and their own flesh behind. 

Lastly, the seat of the mockers is a powerful image of those who observe the life of the righteous, ridicule them, and laugh them to scorn.  Like the stubborn thief on the cross, they would rather ridicule the righteous than learn anything from them.

We should also notice that this is the same pattern that Peter used.  Believers are to leave these bad things behind and press into that which will make you spiritually grow.

Verse 2 of Psalm 1 shows us the thing that the righteous go after.  It says that they delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night.  Both are important and are reciprocal.  You won’t meditate on God’s Word unless you are delighting in it, and you won’t delight in God’s Word unless you are meditating on it.  No one is saved in a vacuum.  Someone delivered the Word of God to them that sparked faith in Jesus and a delight in this knowledge about salvation.  That initial new birth is the response to believing God’s Word, and delighting in what it tells us.  Mature believers are to help new believers get into the Word of God and learn to incorporate it into their daily life.

Verse 3 then gives the powerful spiritual image that God intends for us to experience.  We become like a fruit tree that is well-situated next to an abundant water source, which is the Word of God.  Because it is daily drawing nutrients into itself through the aid of the water, it is able to fruit in the proper seasons.  Being a child of God is not just about my character and activity.  It also involves having something in our life that can give life to others.  This is not innate to ourselves, but is the result of a life lived upon the Word of God, and listening to the Holy Spirit.  As we talked last week, being in the Word of God, prayerfully meditating upon it, hearing the Holy Spirit, and then acting in faith is the process that God uses to help us maintain our connection to Jesus and grow into a fruitful tree that blesses others.

This underlines an important principle.  Those who are blessed by God become a blessing to others.  God’s blessing is not about hoarding and taking care of ourselves.  It is an abundant life that blesses all who come into contact with it. 

There are many seekers out there who spiritually do not know their right hand from their left.  They are lost.  Are there any believers in the Church of God who are mature enough and blessed enough to become mothers in the house of God?  Are there any who can birth new believers into the Kingdom and then help them to feed upon the milk of the Word?  Are there any who can do this until they are mature enough to walk on their own?  May God help us not to become stagnant, nor to feed upon stagnant waters, but instead, to be a tree of life that does not wither, and brings forth fruit in the proper season!

Grow I audio

What Are We Doing At Abundant Life? Connect Part 3

Romans 10:13-15; 1 Peter 3:12; 4:7; Romans 8:12-15; Romans 3:20-22; Jude 1:4, 20-21.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 3, 2020.

Today, we will continue in our series on the purpose of the Church and for individual believers.  Before we move to the second purpose, I want to look at four things that are not actually our purpose.  Rather, they are the things that help us to accomplish the purpose.  They are the simple actions of the life of faith in Jesus, and we do them because we believe that Jesus is the eternal Word of God, and our source of life.  Each of these things will enable us to Connect to Jesus in whole-life worship, Grow to be like Jesus, Serve Jesus, and Share Jesus with others.  If they are absent, then our ability in these areas will be impotent.

I need to hear and read the Word of God

Without God revealing Himself to us, we would be at a loss to discover His character and purpose.  The Bible is the proven Word of God and no other religious book even comes close to comparing with it.  In the Romans 10 passage, we see the importance of the Word of God.  The Apostle Paul works backwards, or reverse-engineers, from the goal of a person who has been saved by Jesus in order to highlight what is needed.  He impresses upon us the importance of hearing God’s Word for those who are unbelievers and lost.  People who don’t know God typically don’t read the Word of God for themselves.  Someone needs to bring it to them.  However, once a person hears God’s Word, it becomes the spark that enables them to believe and then call upon the name of Jesus for salvation.  Yet, our need for hearing and reading the Word of God doesn’t end once we are saved.  We can’t do what God wants us to do if we don’t become a person of The Book.

We are going to see a pattern as we go through the purposes.  The very things that help us to receive salvation also become the things that help us in our continuing discipleship.  We will talk more about discipleship in our next purpose, but we must reject the idea that I can survive spiritually without becoming a student of God’s Word.

As we take time to internalize God’s Word through prayerful study, prayerful contemplation, and talking with other believers about it, we receive the Words of Life that give light to our minds and souls.  People may ridicule the fact that it is an ancient document written by men from a strange culture.  However, the words have proven themselves to be more than just the words of men about ancient issues.  It has proven relevant in every age.  Also, some believers may never say such a thing about the Bible, but in practice, they never really read it.  It doesn’t seem practical to them.  A Bibleless Christian is an oxymoron and will hardly accomplish any of these purposes.

Jesus is the Truth and the Wisdom of God.  In an age that likes to talk about “my truth,” it is important to understand that this world is dying from a prevalence of “my truths” and a lack of real Truth.  The biblical phrase for this is, “each one doing what is right in their own eyes.”  Jesus is the blazing revelation of just who God is and what He wants from us.  Any wisdom and truth that is other than him is a pretender, and is actually an anti-truth, anti-wisdom.  Jesus is called The Word of God, so we cannot know him without actually being a student of the written Word of God, which reveals him to us.

This should not be a casual relationship.  It is our daily manna that we need to go out and pick up as the Lord provides.  I cannot lean upon yesterday’s manna, but must go after it each day.  Without it, we will die on the vine in this wilderness-world where truth and wisdom are as rare as food in the desert.

Thus, always remember that our connection to Christ and to other believers is dependent upon the vigor of our interaction with the Bible.  This needs to happen daily in private devotional times, and weekly in interaction with other believers, whether one-on-one, or in a group study.

I need to pray to God

By now, you have realized that I am not telling you anything new.  Everybody knows that Christians are supposed to read the Bible and pray.  However, prayer and reading the Bible are the kind of things that we intend to do, but never really get around to doing.  It is imperative that we stop being lax in this area.  It is not a matter of preference, but spiritual life and death.

Prayer is simple and yet can be more complex.  When churches gather and sing songs of worship to the Lord, they are giving a special kind of prayer.  We are spiritually addressing and praising our Father in heaven.  I need not be in any particular place, nor need I be alone.  The main thing is to speak to God at all times about the things that we encounter.

By the way, technically we are praying to the Father in the name of Jesus.  He is our “access pass.”  However, I don’t believe that God gets angry if we address Jesus in our prayers.  Jesus is the Son of God, and the perfect representative of the Father to mankind.  To pray to Him is to pray to the Father.

In Luke 18:1, the whole purpose of the parable that Jesus goes on to tell is to teach us that we should always pray.  The story is about the persistent widow who wants justice from her adversary.  In this, we find that even those who pray can become discouraged and give up praying like they used to do.  However, we will not receive anything from God without giving ourselves to daily prayer.  Second of all, prayer is not only about getting justice, or getting our material needs satisfied.  It is a daily conversation that we have with our Lord about the things that we are learning.  It is that wrestling of Jacob with the Angel of the Lord.  I won’t let go unless you bless me!  So, let us not kid ourselves.  We will accomplish nothing of value without taking time to talk with God about it.

1 Peter 3:12 reminds us that God is watching all the time and He is listening as well.  He is not a cosmic vending machine, but rather a personal being.  This is a relationship of those who are sentient.  Like any relationship, we can feel like He is not responding as quickly as we would like, or in the manner that we want.  Yet, prayer begins with the simple act of faith that says, “I know He hears me, and I know He loves me.”  Prayer without faith is a sad act of futility, but the prayer of faith of a righteous man is one of the most powerful things we can ever do.

In chapter 4 verse 7, Peter adds another layer to our prayers.  He says that the end of all things is at hand; therefore, we should be serious and watchful in our prayers.  In the context of Scripture, Peter means the end of all things, “as we know it,” or TEOTWAKI in the modern parlance.  This world will not always continue going as it does today.  This is definitely true in the historical arc of change, but it is also true in a greater sense.  When the flood came, it ended one world and a whole new world took its place.  The Second Coming of Jesus will be such an event.

It is easy for us to become inundated by the media and philosophies of this world.  These are dominated by the spirit of this age, which works in opposition to Jesus.  Prayer is a mental exercise, but it is far more than that.  Peter sees our soul as something that needs to be watched over, like a shepherd watching over his sheep.  It is through spiritual vigilance and conversations with the Lord that we keep our heart from growing weary of standing with him against the philosophies of this age.  If you do not pray then this world will grind any faith you have to powder.  The good news is that this world has a way of driving us to our knees.  Don’t neglect this important part of our connection to Jesus.

I need to listen to the Holy Spirit

I could have treated this as part of prayer.  Prayer is not intended to be a monologue, but a dialogue.  Yes, God is not always so talkative, and yet, we must intentionally listen and watch for His responses.

In Romans 8:12-15, we find that it was the Holy Spirit that first led us to Christ and opened our eyes to his saving grace.  It was our listening and responding in faith to the Holy Spirit that brought us through the door of salvation.  This must not stop at salvation.  We cannot pick up our cross and follow Jesus without listening to the Holy Spirit.  Jesus is not physically on this earth.  He speaks to us by His Spirit.

Now, the spirit of this world pulls us into gratifying our flesh.  For some, it is sexual immorality, and for others it is substance abuse.  Some go after spiritual experiences and spiritual power through any means necessary.  The devil cares not what direction you go, as long as it is to gratify your fleshly desires.  These always pull us away from Jesus and his purposes.  Even believers will die if they quit following the Holy Spirit of God and simply follow their own heart.

This begs the question.  To what am I listening?  This is not always so easy to discern.  Sometimes our flesh wants things that look religious and have a veneer of spirituality.  Yet, at their heart they can be only about our pride and purpose. 

Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, we have to move when the Spirit of God is moving.  When He says it is time to repent, then we need to embrace repentance and do it.  When He says it is time to help someone then we need to do it.  This is a subjective area that takes time and is a relationship that needs to grow.  So, I am not trying to strap a legalistic burden upon you, but rather to stir you up to the inheritance in front of you.

God’s Word is the guardrail to learning how to hear the Holy Spirit for ourselves.  It was produced by men who listened to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict Himself, but my flesh will contradict itself all day long.  Having other believers around me is another guardrail that God can use to help us keep on the right path in this area.  Ultimately, we must avoid pride and arrogance in this area.

In verse 15, Paul refers to the spirit of bondage.  Our flesh always leads us into some kind of bondage.  Yes, Americans have great freedoms, but in some ways, we are more in bondage then the slaves ever were.  Learning to hear and recognize the Holy Spirit begins in reading the Words that He inspired.  It is then forged in our prayers to God over time.  Though we will never lack a need to grow in this area, steady faith will bring you to the place where you will recognize that same voice that led you to trust in Jesus in the first place.

I need to choose to live out the righteousness of Christ

It is not enough to hear the Word of God, and to hear the Holy Spirit.  We must learn to exercise our faith by doing, by the actions that He puts before us.  Do I pursue what is right in my own eyes, or do I listen to what God says is the righteous thing that I should be doing?  For the believer in Jesus, there is only one answer.  I want Jesus!

In Romans 3:20-22, Paul talks about the righteousness of Christ versus dead works.  Sometimes people are confused about the New Testament teaching on works.  Always remember that it is not works that are condemned (though sometimes it only uses that word).  The condemnation is technically upon what is called “dead works.”  Dead works are those things that my flesh does in order to achieve or earn salvation, whether from God or from this world.  They are not born out of faith in the leading of the Holy Spirit, but in faith of my flesh that I can do this!  The true believer has come to understand that none of us are able “to do it.”  We cannot be righteous enough to deserve God’s love and presence.  We are saved only by the grace of God.  Yet, we are saved in order to live out the righteousness of Christ.  Yes, it is the righteous works that He did which cover my sins.  However, he also laid down a template for our discipleship.  He has shown us how to become like the Father.  The Holy Spirit will teach us how to say no to ungodliness, and yes to the things that Jesus wants us to do (that reflect the Father’s image).  The things we do in response to the Spirit of God give life and are true righteousness.  Anything I do out of an attempt to force God to give me what I want is a dead work.  So, Christians ought not to put down seeking to live set apart for the Lord, rather than for the world.

In our last passage, Jude 1:4, 20-21, we see the apostle’s concern for how we live.  The early Church had its fair share of false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles.   They tended towards two errors.  Either they promoted legalistic approaches to God, or they promoted using the grace of God as a license for immorality.  Jude warns believers that those who do so “deny the Lord.”  If you have truly received the grace of Jesus then you won’t easily choose to sin.  My sin is what nailed Jesus to the cross.  My sin is what led to his gruesome death.  How can I continue to hold on to it?  Jesus did not go to the cross because he was pleasing his flesh, and your flesh will not lead you towards Jesus.  To embrace sin is to let go of Jesus, period.  Be quick to repent of such an attitude and ask the Lord to cleanse you from such a horrible persuasion.

We could use the word “obedience” here, but that word falls short of what God intends for us.  Little kids need to obey because they don’t understand, even can’t.  However, adults need to believe, to have faith, to agree.  My heart needs to valiantly rise up to the challenge of the Holy Spirit to march on.  Yes, Lord, I hear you.  I will follow.  It is the response of a person who has seen that they not only need Jesus, but that they also love who and what he is; and we want to be like him.

Grace is not a license for immorality; it is the gift of transformation.  God graciously puts His Spirit in your life to enable you not only to connect to Jesus, but also to have His abundant Life pouring into you and creating a life-long transformation. 

May we give ourselves to studying God’s Word, praying to God and worshipping Him, hearing the call of the Holy Spirit, and taking those bold steps of faith to follow Him.  There is no other way to life!

Connect III audio