Confirming One’s Calling and Election
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,a make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Friday, December 30, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Defeating the Slavery of “Bad Habits”
"He who conquers himself in the little things will also do so in the great ones.” If we are attentive to the little things, the habits of sin which seem insignificant but which in fact are the very chains of our slavery, we will conquer the great. We mustn’t feel that we are ignoring the larger issues of our spiritual life by focusing on what seems small, insignificant details, for it is in conquering the little things that the great become prone to fall.
Today, a few brief words from our Fathers among the saints on the subject of habits, specifically bad habits and the slavery that they impose upon us, and by looking at this slavery of habits, of habituation, to see also what the Fathers have to say about how to overcome them. Every Christian person struggles constantly with the fact that, despite the desire, often very sincere, to live a godly life, to live in a holy way, we find ourselves constantly repeating patterns of sin, patterns of impure thought, of action, of behavior, word, and deed.
Perhaps the verses from the Scriptures which resonate most of all with so many of us are those of the Apostle, St. Paul: “Lo, I do not do what I wish to do, and the very thing I wish not to do, this is what I do.” How many of us have felt that these are our words, when we find again and again our same habits of negative behavior emerging despite our repentance, or what we thought was our repentance, despite our desire and our will. We find ourselves, as it were, shackled by these patterns of behavior. And if we have felt frustrated in this, and all of us, when and if we are honest with ourselves, admit that we are frustrated with this, it is perhaps a great comfort to note that our Fathers, the saints of the Church, identified this long ago as part of the ongoing daily struggle of Christian life.
In the fourth and fifth century, one of our great Fathers whom we quote and discuss and hear so often. St. John the Golden-mouthed, St. John Chrysostom, said, “There is no tyranny so unbearable as a habit. It is with reason that it is to be called a second nature.” Our habits, says St. John, are tyrants, and they are the most terrible of all. I wonder myself if this is often because we do not identify them as being tyrants, as exercising what St. John calls this great tyranny.
It is easier to combat a thing when we recognize that it is our foe, but so often we don’t see our little habits here and there as enemies, as obstacles, as things which exercise tyranny over us. So they become part of us, part of our daily life. As St. John says, it’s not without reason that they can be called almost our second nature. Our habits, whatever they may be, whether it is short-temperedness, arrogance, responding too quickly when someone wrongs us, overtalkativeness, inquisitiveness, whatever it is, these become so in-built into our day-to-day behaviors that they become like a second nature, and the real tyranny of our habits is that this second nature becomes so strong, so dominant, that we often think of it as our first.
But the Fathers always remind us that our true nature, as creatures fashioned by God after his own image and in his likeness, our true nature is one of holiness. And when we find ourselves slipping into contemporary phrases, like, “Oh, to err is human,” or “This is simply what I do. It’s human nature, after all,” let us always be reminded by the Fathers that it is not human nature to sin. Our sinfulness and our sinful acts may be so habituated into our lives that the second nature, as St. John calls it, seems to us more real than the first. But as Christians we live ever in the knowledge and the great hope that this is habit, this is tyranny—but habit and tyranny can be overcome.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, a great 19th century saint, once said, “Immoral habits are like shackles. They deprive man of his moral freedom and forcibly keep him in the stinking swamp of the passions.” That second nature, as St. John called it, that great tyrant of our habits is, for St. Ignatius, the shackles that bind us in a murky swamp. Like any shackles, they restrict our freedom. Human nature is free. Human persons are created in freedom, even as God is free.
Yet we sometimes forget, when we discuss the effects of sin on human life, that freedom, free will, is itself something which sin disfigures. Very often when we discuss sin and fall, we seem to speak of human freedom as if it remained inviolate and unscarred by sin, but the Fathers of the Church tell us clearly that even our moral freedom is shackled down by our sin, and more specifically by our habitudes of sin. When I constantly act in a certain immoral way, St. Ignatius says, that action, that habit, shackles me so that when I am faced with a choice, do I behave thus or differently? I am bound in to my habits. I naturally, it seems, act in a sinful manner. This is the great, the fearful, the terrifying reality of what sin does when it becomes enshrined in our day-to-day habits.
This is the reason for many of the Fathers that the “big sins,” as we often think of them, are often less dangerous in the spiritual life than the little ones. Those great acts of obvious, remarkable sin are easily identifiable, and though it may take us some time and some coaxing, we are generally eager and willing to repent of such things, to set them aside and to say, “No more. Never again.” But we are all to ready to overlook the little things, the little immoral acts, the small sins, as we so like to characterize them: the little fact that I happen to be short with people, the fact that I tell a little fib here or there, that I do harbor angry thoughts—but they’re just little things, and I never act on them aloud. These are the sorts of excuses that we make for ourselves, day to day, all the time.
But the danger here is that these sins become habits that become built in to our very day-to-day lives. They become a second nature, and then that second nature, like shackles binding us into the mire, suddenly takes over, and we find ourselves almost unable to act apart from it. This is the danger of the “little sins.”
But it is important that we say that we find ourselves almost unable to act, for we are not, in truth, unable. Our second nature may be the one that rules us, day to day, but it is not our true nature. So how do we overcome these habits which become so fundamental to our day-to-day lives?
St. Isaac of Syria has this to say: “It is impossible to surmount the great if one does not conquer the insignificant.” When we approach our ascetical life, the correction of those things which keep us from a life of holiness, very often we are tempted to turn immediately toward the great things: our great deficiencies, our great intentions. But St. Isaac makes very clear: we cannot surmount these great, these significant, if we do not first surmount the little, the seemingly insignificant.
In our day-to-day life, it is the little habits which bind us, which enslave us, far more than the great. The great may be those that plunge us down into the depths of the sea, but we are prone to them. We are able to be influenced by them because our little day-to-day habits have already chained us into a position of slavery. So we must act on the little things, those small gestures of sin which permeate our day-to-day life. This is where the ascetical struggle must begin.
Abba Isaiah of Scetis takes the same message that we just heard in St. Isaac of Syria, but he gives it from a different perspective. Rather than saying what cannot be done, he tells us what can. Abba Isaiah says: “He who conquers himself in the little things will also do so in the great ones.” If we are attentive to the little things, the habits of sin which seem insignificant but which in fact are the very chains of our slavery, we will conquer the great. We mustn’t feel that we are ignoring the larger issues of our spiritual life by focusing on what seems small, insignificant details, for it is in conquering the little things that the great become prone to fall.
It is in making small steps of progress that we travel down the road into the kingdom. If we try to leap down this road by huge jumps and bounds, we find very quickly that we fall, and we fall hard, and our progress is thwarted; but if we take small steps, addressing the habits which enslave us, which tyrannize us, if we can liberate ourselves by God’s grace and by the ascetic practices of the Church from these things, then our steps become sure and solid, and lead us into the kingdom.
May it be that in our day-to-day life, when we encounter ourselves in these situations, we remember the words of the Fathers, who see so clearly what our real spiritual condition is, and who give us, as great pastors and guides, the keys to moving forward in true repentance to a real redemption. Through the prayers of St. John, St. Ignatius, St. Isaac, and Abba Isaiah, and of all the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Today, a few brief words from our Fathers among the saints on the subject of habits, specifically bad habits and the slavery that they impose upon us, and by looking at this slavery of habits, of habituation, to see also what the Fathers have to say about how to overcome them. Every Christian person struggles constantly with the fact that, despite the desire, often very sincere, to live a godly life, to live in a holy way, we find ourselves constantly repeating patterns of sin, patterns of impure thought, of action, of behavior, word, and deed.
Perhaps the verses from the Scriptures which resonate most of all with so many of us are those of the Apostle, St. Paul: “Lo, I do not do what I wish to do, and the very thing I wish not to do, this is what I do.” How many of us have felt that these are our words, when we find again and again our same habits of negative behavior emerging despite our repentance, or what we thought was our repentance, despite our desire and our will. We find ourselves, as it were, shackled by these patterns of behavior. And if we have felt frustrated in this, and all of us, when and if we are honest with ourselves, admit that we are frustrated with this, it is perhaps a great comfort to note that our Fathers, the saints of the Church, identified this long ago as part of the ongoing daily struggle of Christian life.
In the fourth and fifth century, one of our great Fathers whom we quote and discuss and hear so often. St. John the Golden-mouthed, St. John Chrysostom, said, “There is no tyranny so unbearable as a habit. It is with reason that it is to be called a second nature.” Our habits, says St. John, are tyrants, and they are the most terrible of all. I wonder myself if this is often because we do not identify them as being tyrants, as exercising what St. John calls this great tyranny.
It is easier to combat a thing when we recognize that it is our foe, but so often we don’t see our little habits here and there as enemies, as obstacles, as things which exercise tyranny over us. So they become part of us, part of our daily life. As St. John says, it’s not without reason that they can be called almost our second nature. Our habits, whatever they may be, whether it is short-temperedness, arrogance, responding too quickly when someone wrongs us, overtalkativeness, inquisitiveness, whatever it is, these become so in-built into our day-to-day behaviors that they become like a second nature, and the real tyranny of our habits is that this second nature becomes so strong, so dominant, that we often think of it as our first.
But the Fathers always remind us that our true nature, as creatures fashioned by God after his own image and in his likeness, our true nature is one of holiness. And when we find ourselves slipping into contemporary phrases, like, “Oh, to err is human,” or “This is simply what I do. It’s human nature, after all,” let us always be reminded by the Fathers that it is not human nature to sin. Our sinfulness and our sinful acts may be so habituated into our lives that the second nature, as St. John calls it, seems to us more real than the first. But as Christians we live ever in the knowledge and the great hope that this is habit, this is tyranny—but habit and tyranny can be overcome.
St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, a great 19th century saint, once said, “Immoral habits are like shackles. They deprive man of his moral freedom and forcibly keep him in the stinking swamp of the passions.” That second nature, as St. John called it, that great tyrant of our habits is, for St. Ignatius, the shackles that bind us in a murky swamp. Like any shackles, they restrict our freedom. Human nature is free. Human persons are created in freedom, even as God is free.
Yet we sometimes forget, when we discuss the effects of sin on human life, that freedom, free will, is itself something which sin disfigures. Very often when we discuss sin and fall, we seem to speak of human freedom as if it remained inviolate and unscarred by sin, but the Fathers of the Church tell us clearly that even our moral freedom is shackled down by our sin, and more specifically by our habitudes of sin. When I constantly act in a certain immoral way, St. Ignatius says, that action, that habit, shackles me so that when I am faced with a choice, do I behave thus or differently? I am bound in to my habits. I naturally, it seems, act in a sinful manner. This is the great, the fearful, the terrifying reality of what sin does when it becomes enshrined in our day-to-day habits.
This is the reason for many of the Fathers that the “big sins,” as we often think of them, are often less dangerous in the spiritual life than the little ones. Those great acts of obvious, remarkable sin are easily identifiable, and though it may take us some time and some coaxing, we are generally eager and willing to repent of such things, to set them aside and to say, “No more. Never again.” But we are all to ready to overlook the little things, the little immoral acts, the small sins, as we so like to characterize them: the little fact that I happen to be short with people, the fact that I tell a little fib here or there, that I do harbor angry thoughts—but they’re just little things, and I never act on them aloud. These are the sorts of excuses that we make for ourselves, day to day, all the time.
But the danger here is that these sins become habits that become built in to our very day-to-day lives. They become a second nature, and then that second nature, like shackles binding us into the mire, suddenly takes over, and we find ourselves almost unable to act apart from it. This is the danger of the “little sins.”
But it is important that we say that we find ourselves almost unable to act, for we are not, in truth, unable. Our second nature may be the one that rules us, day to day, but it is not our true nature. So how do we overcome these habits which become so fundamental to our day-to-day lives?
St. Isaac of Syria has this to say: “It is impossible to surmount the great if one does not conquer the insignificant.” When we approach our ascetical life, the correction of those things which keep us from a life of holiness, very often we are tempted to turn immediately toward the great things: our great deficiencies, our great intentions. But St. Isaac makes very clear: we cannot surmount these great, these significant, if we do not first surmount the little, the seemingly insignificant.
In our day-to-day life, it is the little habits which bind us, which enslave us, far more than the great. The great may be those that plunge us down into the depths of the sea, but we are prone to them. We are able to be influenced by them because our little day-to-day habits have already chained us into a position of slavery. So we must act on the little things, those small gestures of sin which permeate our day-to-day life. This is where the ascetical struggle must begin.
Abba Isaiah of Scetis takes the same message that we just heard in St. Isaac of Syria, but he gives it from a different perspective. Rather than saying what cannot be done, he tells us what can. Abba Isaiah says: “He who conquers himself in the little things will also do so in the great ones.” If we are attentive to the little things, the habits of sin which seem insignificant but which in fact are the very chains of our slavery, we will conquer the great. We mustn’t feel that we are ignoring the larger issues of our spiritual life by focusing on what seems small, insignificant details, for it is in conquering the little things that the great become prone to fall.
It is in making small steps of progress that we travel down the road into the kingdom. If we try to leap down this road by huge jumps and bounds, we find very quickly that we fall, and we fall hard, and our progress is thwarted; but if we take small steps, addressing the habits which enslave us, which tyrannize us, if we can liberate ourselves by God’s grace and by the ascetic practices of the Church from these things, then our steps become sure and solid, and lead us into the kingdom.
May it be that in our day-to-day life, when we encounter ourselves in these situations, we remember the words of the Fathers, who see so clearly what our real spiritual condition is, and who give us, as great pastors and guides, the keys to moving forward in true repentance to a real redemption. Through the prayers of St. John, St. Ignatius, St. Isaac, and Abba Isaiah, and of all the saints, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Sunday, December 18, 2016
The Exodus Song (This Land Is Mine) by Andy Williams
This land is mine
God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land to me
And when the morning sun
Reveals her hills and plains
Then I see a land
Where children can run free
So take my hand
And walk this land with me
And walk this lovely land with me
Tho' I am just a man
When you are by my side
With the help of God
I know I can be strong
To make this land our home
If I must fight, I'll fight
To make this land our own
Until I die, this land is mine
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
I Will Exalt
Your Presence is all I need
It's all I want, all I seek and
Without it, without it there's no meaning
Your Presence is the air I breathe
The song I sing, the love I need and
Without it, without it I'm not living
I will exalt You, Lord, I will exalt You, Lord
There is no one like You God
I will exalt You, Lord, I will exalt You, Lord
No other name be lifted high
There will be no one like You
And no one beside You
You alone are worthy of all praise
There will be no one like You
And no one beside You
You alone are worthy of all praise
Monday, December 12, 2016
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Not what I want but what You want
1 Peter 4 The Message (MSG)
Learn to Think Like Him
1-2 Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.
Learn to Think Like Him
1-2 Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Do good
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
James 2:14-26
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
God “will repay each one according to his deeds.” To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek. For God does not show favoritism.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Trust in the LORD and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[a] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
God “will repay each one according to his deeds.” To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Greek. For God does not show favoritism.
"God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed."
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Since it is likely that, being men, they would sin every day, St. Paul consoles his hearers by saying 'renew yourselves' from day to day. This is what we do with houses: we keep constantly repairing them as they wear old. You should do the same thing to yourself. Have you sinned today? Have you made your soul old? Do not despair, do not despond, but renew your soul by repentance, and tears, and Confession, and by doing good things. And never cease doing this.
- Saint John Chrysostom
- Saint John Chrysostom
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Condition of the heart
What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
..it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and defile many.
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Love keeps no record of wrongs
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.
..it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and defile many.
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
Love keeps no record of wrongs
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.
Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.
A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Our Change of Masters
C. H. Spurgeon.
Romans 6:16-18
Know you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin to death…
1. Man was made to rule. He was intended for a king, who should have dominion over the beasts of the field, etc. Yet is it equally true that he was made to serve. He was placed in the garden to keep it, and to dress it, and to serve his Maker. Throwing off his allegiance to his rightful Master, he has become the slave of evil passions.
2. When God of His infinite mercy visits man by His Spirit, that Spirit does not come as a neutral power, but enters with full intent to reign. Man cannot serve two masters, but he must serve one. Alexander conquered the world, and yet he became the captive of drunkenness and his passionate temper. Rome had many slaves, but he who wore her purple was the most in bonds. High rank does not save a man from being under a mastery: neither does learning nor philosophy. Solomon, the most sagacious ruler of his age, became completely subject to his fleshly desires.
3. Who, then, shall be man's master? Our text speaks of "being made free from sin," and in the same breath it adds, "Ye became the servants of righteousness." There is no interregnum. Man passes from one master to another, but he is always in subjection. Consider —
I. OUR CHANGE OF MASTERS.
1. In describing this revolution we will begin with a word or two upon our old master "sin." We were not all alike enslaved, but we were all under bondage.
(1) Sin has its liveried servants. If you want to see these dressed out in their best or their worst, go to the prison, or to the places of vicious amusement. Many of them wear the badge of the devil's drudgery upon their backs in rags, upon their faces in the blotches born of drunkenness, and in their very bones in the consequences of their vice.
(2) But great folks have many servants who are out of livery, and so has sin. We were not all open transgressors. Selfish caution restrains from overt acts of transgression. Hypocrites are worse slaves than others, because they are laid under the restraints of religion without their consolations, and practise sins without their pleasures.
(3) The servants of sin are not all outdoor servants. Many keep their sin to themselves. They are excellent in their outward deportment; but they are the indoor servants of Satan for all that.
(4) There are, however, many who were once outdoor servants, sinning openly and in defiance of all law.
2. Believers are made free from sin.
(1) From the condemnation of sin (Romans 8:1).
(2) From the guilt of sin. As you cannot be condemned so does the truth go further, you cannot even be accused. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"(3) From the punishment of sin.
(4) From its reigning power.
3. How came we to be free?
(1) By purchase, for our Saviour has paid the full redemption money.
(2) By power. Just as the Israelites were the Lord's own people, but He had to bring them out of Egypt, so has the Lord by power broken the neck of sin and brought us up from the dominion of the old Pharaoh of evil and set us free.
(3) By privilege. "Unto as many as believed Him, to them gave He the privilege to become the sons of God." His own royal, majestic, and Divine decree has bidden the prisoners go forth.
(4) By death. If a slave dies his master's possession in him is ended. "He that is dead is free from sin."(5) By resurrection. A new life has been given to us; we are new creatures in Christ Jesus.
4. Ye became the servants of righteousness. A righteous God has made us die to sin; a new and righteous life has been infused into us, and now righteousness rules and reigns in us. The text says we are enslaved to righteousness, and so we wish to be.
II. THE REASONS FOR OUR CHANGE.
1. We changed our old master because we were illegally detained by him. Sin did not make us, does not feed us, has no right to us whatever. Besides, our old master was as bad as bad could be. We ran away from him Because we had never any profit at his hands. "What fruit had ye then?" Ask the drunkard, the spendthrift, any man that lives in sin, what he has gained by it, and we will find it is all loss. Beside that, our old master brought shame. "Those things whereof ye are now ashamed." Moreover, its wages are death.
2. But why did we take up with our new Master? In the first place, we owe ourselves wholly to Him; and in the next place, if we did not, He is so altogether lovely, that if we had a free choice of masters we would choose Him a thousand times over. His service is perfect freedom and supreme delight. He gives us even now a payment in His service.
III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS CHANGE.
1. That you belong wholly to your Lord. Numbers of professing Christians seem mostly to belong to themselves, for they never gave God anything that cost them a self-denial. But if you are really saved, not a hair of your heads belongs to yourselves; Christ's blood has either bought you or it has not, and if it has, then you are altogether Christ's. You are the slave of Christ; you bear in your body the brand of the Lord Jesus, and your glory and your freedom lie therein.
2. Because you are Christ's His very name is dear to you. You are not so His slave that you would escape from His service if you could; you want to be more and more the Lord's. Where there is anything of Christ there your love goes forth. Haydn one day turned into a music seller's, and asked for some select and beautiful music, and was offered some of his own. "Oh," said Haydn, "I'll have nothing to do with that." "Why, sir, what fault can you find with it?" "I can find a great deal of fault with it, but I will not argue with you, I do not want any of his music." "Then," said the shopkeeper, "I have other music, but it is not for such as you." A thorough enthusiast grows impatient of those who do not appreciate what he so much admires. You can be no friend of mine if you are not a friend of Christ's.
3. All your members are henceforth reserved for Christ. When Satan was your master you did not care about Christ, you went wholly in for evil. You did not require to be egged on to it. Now you ought not to want your ministers or Christian friends to stir you up to good works; you ought to be just as eager after holiness as you were after sin. As you have given the devil first-rate service, let Christ have the same. Some of you never stood at any expense — I wish we could serve Christ thus unstintedly. The poor slaves of sin not only do not stop at expense, but they are not frightened by any kind of loss. See how many lose their characters for the sake of one short hour of sin. They ruin their peace and think nothing of it. They will lose their health, too; nay, they will destroy their souls for the sake of sin's brief delights. In the same way should we serve our Lord. Be willing to lose character, health, life, all, if by any means you may glorify Him whose servant you have become. Oh, who will be my Master's servant? Do you not see Him? He wears upon His head no diadem but the crown of thorns; His feet are still rubied with their wounds, and His hands are still bejewelled with the marks of the nails. This is your Master, and these are the insignia of His love for you. What service will you render Him? That of a mere professor, who names His name but loves Him not? That of a cold religionist, who renders unwilling service out of fear? Do not so dishonour Him.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Trust in God, do not fear what men can do for He is your refuge and your confidence
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?
The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 118:6, 56:11, 121:7 ,8, Psalm 146:3, Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 125:1, 62:8
The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.
Don't put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion; they will not be defeated but will endure forever. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 118:6, 56:11, 121:7 ,8, Psalm 146:3, Proverbs 3:5, Psalm 125:1, 62:8
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Be not Conformed to This World
Be not Conformed to This World
Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good…
It will be recollected by some who are present, that sometime since I made use of this text in preaching in this place, but the object of this evening's discourse is so far different that it is not improper to employ the same text again. The following is the order in which I design to discuss the subject of
CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD
I. To show what is not meant by the command of the text. II. Show what is meant by the command, "Be not conformed to this world." III. To mention some of the reasons why this requirement is made upon all who will live a godly life. IV. To answer some objections that are made to the principles laid down.
I am to show what is not meant by the requirement, "Be not conformed to this world."
I suppose it is not meant, that Christians should refuse to benefit by the useful arts, improvements, and discoveries of the world. It is not only the privilege but the duty of the friends of God to avail themselves of these, and to use for God all the really useful arts and improvements that arise among mankind.
II. I am to show what is meant by the requirement.
It is meant that Christians are bound not to conform to the world in the three following things. I mention only these three, not because there are not many other things in which conformity to the world is forbidden, but because these three classes are all that I have had time to examine tonight, and further, because these three are peculiarly necessary to be discussed at the present time. The three things are three departments of life, in which it is required that you be not conformed to this world.
They are BUSINESS, FASHION, POLITICS.
In all these departments it is required that Christians should not do as the world do, they should neither receive the maxims, nor adopt the principles, nor follow the practices of the world.
III. I am to mention some reasons for the command, "Be not conformed to this world."
You are by no means to act on the same principles, nor from the same motives, nor pursue your object in the same manner that the world do, either in the pursuits of business, or of fashion, or of politics. I shall examine these several departments separate.
First Of Business.
1. The first reason why we are not to be conformed to this world in business, is, that the principle of the worlds that of supreme selfishness. This is true universally, in the pursuit of business. The whole course of business in the world is governed and regulated by the maxims of supreme and unmixed selfishness. It is regulated without the least regard to the commands of God, or the glory of God, or the welfare of their fellow men. The maxims of business generally current among business men, and the habits and usages of business men, are all based upon supreme selfishness.
Who does not know, that in making bargains, the business men of the world consult their own interest, and seek their own benefit, and not the benefit of those they deal with? Who has ever heard of a worldly man of business making bargains, and doing business for the benefit of those he dealt with? No, it is always for their own benefit. And are Christians to do so? They are required to act on the very opposite principle to this: "Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." They are required to copy the example of Jesus Christ. Did he ever make bargains for his own advantage? And may his followers adopt the principle of the world a principle that contains in it the seeds of hell! If Christians are to do this, is it not the most visionary thing on earth to suppose the world is ever going to be converted to the gospel.
2. They are required not to conform to the world, because conformity to the world is totally inconsistent with the love of God or man.
The whole system recognizes only the love of self. Go through all the ranks of business men, from the man that sells candy on the sidewalk at the corner of the street, to the greatest wholesale merchant or importer in the United States, and you will find that one maxim runs through the whole, to "buy as cheap as you can, and sell as dear as you can, to look out for number one," and to do always, as far as the rules of honesty will allow, all that will advance your own interests, let what will become of the interest of others. Ungodly men will not deny that these are the maxims on which business is done in the world. The man who pursues this course is universally regarded as doing business on business principles. Now, are these maxims consistent with holiness, with the love of God or the love of man, with the spirit of the gospel or the example of Jesus Christ? Can a man conform to the world in these principles, and yet love God? Impossible! No two things can be more unlike. Then Christians are by no means to conform to the business maxims of the world.
3. These maxims, and the rules by which business is done in the world, are directly opposite to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit he exhibited, and the maxima he inculcated, and the rules which he enjoined that all his followers should obey, on pain of hell.
What was the spirit Jesus Christ exemplified on earth? It was the spirit of self-denial, of benevolence, of sacrificing himself to do good to others. He exhibited the same spirit that God does, who enjoys his infinite happiness in going out of himself to gratify his benevolent heart in doing good to others. This is the religion of the gospel, to be like God, not only doing good, but enjoying it, joyfully going out of self to do good. This is the gospel maxim: "it is more blessed to give than to receive." And again, "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." What says the business man of the world? "Look out for number one." These very maxims were made by men who knew and cared no more for the gospel, than the heathen do. Why should Christians conform to such maxims as these?
4. To conform to the world in the pursuits of business is a flat contradiction of the engagements that Christians make when they enter the church.
What is the engagement that you make when you enter the church? Is it not, to renounce the world and live for God, and to be actuated by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and to possess supreme love to God, and to renounce self, and to give yourself to glorify God, and do good to men? You profess not to love the world, its honors, or its riches. Around the communion table, with your hand on the broken body of your Savior, you avouch these to be your principles, and pledge yourself to live by these maxims. And then what do you do? Go away, and follow maxims and rules gotten up by men, whose avowed principle is the love of the world, and whose avowed object is to get the world? Is this your way? Then, unless you repent, let me tell you, you will be damned.
It is no more certain, that any infidel, or any profligate wretch, will go to hell, than that all such professing Christians will go there, which conform to the world. They have double guilt. They are sworn before God to a different course, and when they pursue the business principles of the world, they show that they are perjured wretches.
5. Conformity to the world is such a manifest contradiction of the principles of the gospel, that sinners when they see it, do not and cannot understand from it the true nature and object of the gospel itself.
How can they understand that the object of the gospel is to raise men above the love of the world, and above the influence of the world, and place them on higher ground, to live on totally different principles? When they see professing Christians acting on the same principles with other men, how can they understand the true principles of the gospel, or know what it means by heavenly-mindedness, self-denial, benevolence, and so on?
6. It is this spirit of conformity to the world, that has already eaten out the love of God from the church.
Show me a young convert, while his heart is warm, and the love of God glows out from his lips. What does he care for the world? Call up his attention to it, point him to its riches, its pleasures, or its honors, and try to engage him in their pursuit, and he loathes the thought. But let him now go into business, and do business on the principles of the world one year, and you no longer find the love of God glowing in his heart, and his religion has become the religion of conscience, dry, meager, uninfluential anything but the glowing love of God, moving him to acts of benevolence. I appeal to every man in this house, and if my voice was loud enough I would appeal to every professor of religion in this city, if it is not. And if any one should say, "No, it is not so," I should regard it as proof that he never knew what it was to feel she glow of a convert's first love.
7. This conformity to the world in business is one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the way of the conversion of sinners.
What do wicked men think, when they see professing Christians, with such professions on their lips, and pretending to believe what the Bible teaches, and yet driving after the world, as eager as anybody, making the best bargains, and dealing as hard as the most worldly? What do they think? I can tell you what they say. They say "I do not see but these Christians do just as the rest of us do, they act on the same principles, look out as sharp for number one, drive as hard bargains, and get as high interest as anybody." And it must be said that these are not things of which the world accuse Christians slanderously. It is a notorious fact that most of the members of the church pursue the world, as far as appears, in the same spirit, by the same maxims, and to the same degree, that the ungodly do who maintain a character for uprightness and humanity. The world say, "Look at the church, I don't see as they are any better than I am; they go to the full length that I do after the world." If professing Christians act on the same principles with worldly men, as the Lord liveth, they shall have the same reward. They are set down in God's book of remembrance as black hypocrites, pretending to be the friends of God while they love the world. For whoso loveth the world is the enemy of God. They profess to be governed by principles directly opposite to the world, and if they do the same things with the world, they are hypocrites.
8. Another reason for the requirement,
"Be not conformed to this world," is the immense, salutary and instantaneous influence it would have if everybody would do business on the principles of the gospel. Just turn the tables over, and let Christians do business one year on gospel principles. It would shake the world. It would ring louder than thunder. Let the ungodly see professing Christians, in every bargain, consulting the good of the person they are trading with seeking not their own wealth, but every man another's wealth living above the world setting no value on the world any farther than it can be a means of glorifying God. What do you think would be the effect? What effect DID it have in Jerusalem, when the whole body of Christians gave up their business, and turned out in a body to pursue the salvation of the world? They were only a few ignorant fishermen, and a few humble women, but they turned the world upside down. Let the church live so now, and it would cover the world with confusion of face, and overwhelm them with convictions of sin. Only let them see the church living above the world, and doing business on gospel principles, seeking not their own interests but the interests of their fellow men, and infidelity would hide its head, heresy would be driven from church, and this charming, blessed spirit of love, would go over the world like the waves of the sea.
Secondly. Of Fashions.
Why are Christians required not to follow the fashions of the world?
1. Because it is directly at war with the spirit of the gospel, and is minding earthly things.
What is minding earthly things, if it is not to follow the fashions of the world, that like a tide are continually setting to and fro, and fluctuating in their forms, and keeping the world continually changing? There are many men of large business in the world, and men of wealth, who think they care nothing for the fashions. They are occupied with something else, and they trust the fashions altogether with their tailor, taking it for granted that he will make all right. But mind, if he should make a garment unfashionable, you would see that they do care about the fashions, and they never would employ that tailor again. Still, at present their thoughts are not much on the fashions. They have a higher object in view. And they think it beneath the dignity of a minister to preach about fashions. They overlook the fact, that with the greater part of mankind fashion is everything. The greater part of the community are not rich, and never expect to be, but they look to the world to enable them to make a "respectable" appearance, and to bring up their families in a "respectable" manner; that is, to "follow the fashions." Nine-tenths of the population never look at any thing higher, than to do as the world does, or to follow the fashions. For this they strain every nerve. And this is what they set their hearts on, and what they live for.
The merchant and the rich man deceives himself, therefore, if he supposes that fashion is a little thing. The great body of the people mind this, their minds are set upon it, the thing which they look for in life is to have their dress, equipage, furniture, and so on, like other people, in the fashion, or "respectable" as they call it.
2. To conform to the world is contrary to their profession.
When people join the church, they profess to give up the spirit that gives rise to the fashions. They profess to renounce the pomps and vanities of the world, to repent of their pride, to follow the meek and lowly Savior, to live for God. And now, what do they do? You often see professors of religion go to the extreme of the fashion. Nothing will satisfy them that is not in the height of fashion. And a Christian female dress-maker who is conscientiously opposed to the following of fashions, cannot get her bread. She cannot get employment even among professing Christian ladies, unless she follows the fashions in all their countless changes. God knows it is so, and they must give up their business if their conscience will not permit them to follow the changes of fashion.
3. This conformity is a broad and complete approval of the spirit of the world.
What is it that lies at the bottom of all this shifting scenery? What is the cause that produces all this gaudy show and dash, and display? It is the love of applause. And when Christians follow the changes of fashion, they pronounce all this innocent. All this waste of money and time and thought, all this feeding and cherishing of vanity and the love of applause, the church sets her seal to, when he conforms to the world.
4. Nay, further, another reason is, that following the fashions of the world, professing Christians show that they do in fact love the world.
They show it by their conduct, just as the ungodly show it by the same conduct. As they act alike they give evidence that they are actuated by one principle, the love of fashion.
5. When Christian professors do this, they show most clearly that they love the praise of men.
It is evident that they love admiration and Italy, just as sinners do. Is not this inconsistent with Christian principle, to go right into the very things that are set up by the pride and fashion and lust of the ungodly?
6. Conforming to the world in fashion, you show that you do not hold yourself accountable to God for the manner in which you lay out money.
You practically disown your stewardship of the money that is in your possession. By laying out money to gratify your own vanity and lust, you take off the keen edge of that truth, which ought to cut that sinner in two, who is living to himself. It is practically denying that the earth is the Lord's, with the cattle on a thousand hills, and all to be employed for his glory.
7. You show that reputation is your idol.
When the cry comes to your ears on every wind, from the ignorant and the lost of all nations, "Come over and help us, come over and help us," and every week brings some call to send the gospel, to send tracts, and Bibles, and missionaries, to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge, if you choose to expend money in following the fashions, it is demonstration that reputation is your idol. Suppose now, for the sake of argument that it is not prohibited in the word of God, to follow the fashions, and that professing Christians, if they will, may innocently follow the fashions: (I deny that it is innocent, but suppose it were,) does not the fact that they do follow them when there are such calls for money, and time, and thought, and labor to save souls, prove conclusively that they do not love God nor the souls of men?
Take the case of a woman, whose husband is in slavery, and she is trying to raise money enough for his redemption. There she is, toiling and saving, rising up early and sitting up late, and eating the bread of carefulness, because her husband, the father of her children, the friend of her youth, is in slavery. Now go to that woman and tell her that it is innocent for her to follow the fashions, and dress, and display like her neighbors will she do it? Why not? She does not desire to do it. She will scarcely buy a pair of shoes for her feet; she grudges almost the bread she eats so intent is she on her great object.
Now suppose a person loved God, and the souls of men, and the kingdom of Christ, does he need an express prohibition from God to prevent him from spending his money and his life in following the fashion? No, indeed, he will rather need a positive injunction to take what is needful for his own comfort and the support of his own life. Take the case of Timothy.
Did he need a prohibition to prevent him from indulging in the use of wine? So far from it, he was so cautious that it required an express injunction from God to make him drink a little as a medicine. Although he was sick, he would not drink it till he had the word of God for it, he saw the evils of it so clearly. Now, show me a man or woman, I care not what their professions are, that follows the fashions of the world, and I will show you what spirit they are of.
When the cry comes to your ears on every wind, from the ignorant and the lost of all nations, "Come over and help us, come over and help us," and every week brings some call to send the gospel, to send tracts, and Bibles, and missionaries, to those who are perishing for lack of knowledge, if you choose to expend money in following the fashions, it is demonstration that reputation is your idol. Suppose now, for the sake of argument that it is not prohibited in the word of God, to follow the fashions, and that professing Christians, if they will, may innocently follow the fashions: (I deny that it is innocent, but suppose it were,) does not the fact that they do follow them when there are such calls for money, and time, and thought, and labor to save souls, prove conclusively that they do not love God nor the souls of men?
Take the case of a woman, whose husband is in slavery, and she is trying to raise money enough for his redemption. There she is, toiling and saving, rising up early and sitting up late, and eating the bread of carefulness, because her husband, the father of her children, the friend of her youth, is in slavery. Now go to that woman and tell her that it is innocent for her to follow the fashions, and dress, and display like her neighbors will she do it? Why not? She does not desire to do it. She will scarcely buy a pair of shoes for her feet; she grudges almost the bread she eats so intent is she on her great object.
Now suppose a person loved God, and the souls of men, and the kingdom of Christ, does he need an express prohibition from God to prevent him from spending his money and his life in following the fashion? No, indeed, he will rather need a positive injunction to take what is needful for his own comfort and the support of his own life. Take the case of Timothy. Did he need a prohibition to prevent him from indulging in the use of wine? So far from it, he was so cautious that it required an express injunction from God to make him drink a little as a medicine. Although he was sick, he would not drink it till he had the word of God for it, he saw the evils of it so clearly. Now, show me a man or woman, I care not what their professions are, that follows the fashions of the world, and I will show you what spirit they are of.
You tempt yourself to pride and folly and a worldly spirit.
Suppose a man that had been intemperate and was reformed, should go and surround himself with wine and brandy and every seductive liquor, keeping the provocative of appetite always under his eye, and from time to time tasting a little; does he not tempt himself? Now see that woman that has been brought up in the spirit of pride and show, and that has been reformed, and has professed to abandon them all; let her keep these trappings, and continue to follow the fashions, and pride will drag her backwards as sure as she lives. She tempts herself to sin and folly.
12. You are tempting the world.
You are setting the world into a more fierce and hot pursuit of these things. The very things that the world love, and that they are sure to have scruples about their being right, professing Christians fall in with and follow, and thus tempt the world to continue in the pursuit of what will destroy their souls in hell.
13. By following the fashions, you are tempting the devil to tempt you.
When you follow the fashions, you open your heart to him. You keep it for him, empty, swept, and garnished. Every woman that suffers herself to follow the fashions may rely upon it, she is helping Satan to tempt her to pride and sin.
14. You lay a great stumbling block before the greatest part of mankind.
There are a few persons who are pursuing greater objects than fashion. They are engaged in the scramble for political power, or they are eager for literary distinction, or they are striving for wealth. And they do not know that their hearts are set on fashion at all. They are following selfishness on a larger scale. But the great mass of the community are influenced mostly by these fluctuating fashions. To this class of persons it is a great and sore stumbling block, when they see professing Christians just as prompt and as eager to follow the changing of fashion as themselves. They see, and say, "What does their profession amount to, when they follow the fashions as much as anybody?" or "Certainly it is right to follow the fashions, for see the professing Christians do it as much as we."
15. Another reason why professing Christians are required not to be conformed to the world in fashion is, the great influence their disregarding fashion would have on the world.
If professing Christians would show their contempt for these things, and not pretend to follow them, or regard them, how it would shame the world, and convince the world that they were living for another object, for God and for eternity! How irresistible it would be! What an overwhelming testimony in favor of our religion! Even the apparent renunciation of the world, by many orders of monks, has doubtless done more than anything else to put down the opposition to their religion, and give it currency and influence in the world. Now suppose all this was hearty and sincere, and coupled with all that is consistent and lovely in Christian character, and all that is zealous and bold in labors for the conversion of the world from sin to holiness. What an influence it would have! What thunders it would pour into the ears of the world, to wake them up to follow after God!
Thirdly. In Politics.
I will show why professing Christians are required not to be conformed to the world in politics.
1. Because the politics of the world are perfectly dishonest.
Who does not know this? Who does not know that it is the proposed policy of every party to cover up the defects of their own candidate, and the good qualities of the opposing candidate? And is not this dishonest? Every party holds up its candidate as a piece of perfection, and then aims to ride himself into office by any means, fair or foul. No man can be an honest man, that is committed to a party, to go with them, let them do what they may. And can a Christian do it, and keep a conscience void of offense?
2. To conform to the world in politics is to tempt God.
By falling in with the world in politics, Christians are guilty of setting up rulers over them by their own vote, who do not fear nor love God, and who set the law of God at defiance, break the Sabbath, and gamble, and commit adultery, and fight duels, and swear profanely, and leave the laws unexecuted at their pleasure, and that care not for the weal or woe of their country, so long as they can keep their office. I say Christians do this. "For it is plain that where parties are divided, as they are in this country, there are Christians enough to turn the scale in any election.
" Now let Christians take the ground that they will not vote for a dishonest man, or a Sabbath breaker, or gambler, or whoremonger, or duelist, for any office, and no party could ever nominate such a character with any hope of success. But on the present system, where men will let the laws go unexecuted, and give full swing to mobs, or lynch murders, or robbing the mails, or anything else, so they can run in their own candidate who will give them the offices, any man is a dishonest man that will do it, be he professor or non-professor. And can a Christian do this and be blameless?
3. By engaging with the world in politics, Christians grieve the Spirit of God.
Ask any Christian politician if he ever carried the Spirit of God with him into a political campaign? Never. I would by no means be understood to say that Christians should refuse to vote, and to exercise their lawful influence in public affairs. But they ought not to follow a party.
4. By following the present course of politics, you are contributing your aid to undermine all government and order in the land.
Who does not know that this great nation now rocks and reels, because the laws are broken and trampled under foot, and the executive power refuses or dare not act? Either the magistrate does not wish to put down disorder, or he temporizes and lets the devil rule. And so it is in all parts of the country, and all parties. And can a Christian be consistent with his profession, and vote for such men to office?
5. You lay a stumbling-block in the way of sinners.
What do sinners think, when they see professing Christians acting with them in their political measures, which they themselves know to be dishonest and corrupt? They say, "We understand what we are about, we are after office, we are determined to carry our party into power, we are pursuing our own interest; but these Christians profess to live for another and a higher end, and yet here they come, and join with us, as eager for the loaves and fishes as the rest of us." What greater stumbling-block can they have?
6. You prove to the ungodly that professing Christians are actuated by the same spirit as themselves.
Who can wonder that the world is incredulous as to the reality of religion? If they do not look for themselves into the scriptures, and there learn what religion is, if they are governed by the rules of evidence from what they see in the lives of professing Christians, they ought to be incredulous. They ought to infer, so far as this evidence goes, that professors of religion do not themselves believe in it. It is the fact. I doubt, myself, whether the great mass of professors believe the Bible.
7. They show, so far as their evidence can go, that there is no change of heart.
What is it? Is it going to the communion table once in a month or two, and sometimes to prayer meeting? In that a change of heart, when they are just as eager in the scramble for office as any others? The world must be fools to believe in a change of heart on such evidence.
8. Christians ought to cease from conformity to the world in politics, from the influence which such a course would have on the world. Suppose Christians were to act perfectly conscientious and consistent in this matter, and to say, "We will not vote for any man to office, unless he fears God, and will rule the people in righteousness." Ungodly men would not set men as candidates, who themselves set the laws at defiance. No.123
Every candidate would be obliged to show that he was prepared to act from higher motives, and that he would lay himself out to make the country prosperous, and to promote virtue, and to put down vice and oppression and disorder, and to do all he can to make the people happy and holy! It would shame the dishonest politicians, to show that the love of God and man is the motive that Christians have in view. And a blessed influence would go over the land like a wave.
IV. I am to answer some objections that are made against the principles here advanced.
1. In regard to business.
Objection. "If we do not transact business on the same principles on which ungodly men do it, we cannot compete with them, and all the business of the world will fall into the hands of the ungodly. If we pursue our business for the good of others, if we buy and sell on the principle of not seeking our own wealth, but the wealth of those we do business with, we cannot sustain a competition with worldly men, and they will get all the business."
Let them have it, then. You can support yourself by your industry in some humbler calling, and let worldly men do all the business.
"Objection." But then, how should we get money to spread the gospel?"
A holy church that would act on the principles of the gospel, would spread the gospel faster than all the money that ever was in New York, or that ever will be. Give me a holy church, that would live above the world, and the work of salvation would roll on faster than with all the money in Christendom.
Objection. "But we must spend a great deal of money to bring forward an educated ministry."
Ah! if we had a HOLY ministry, it would be far more important than an educated ministry. If the ministry were holy enough, they would do without so much education. God forbid that I should undervalue an educated ministry. Let ministers be educated as well as they can, the more the better, if they are only holy enough. But it is all a farce to suppose that a literary ministry can convert the world. Let the ministry have the spirit of prayer, let the baptism of the Holy Ghost be upon them, and they will spread the gospel. Only let Christians live as they ought, and the church would shake the world!. If Christians in New York would do it, the report would soon fill every ship that leaves the port, and waft the news on every wind, till the earth was full of excitement and inquiry, and conversions would multiply like the drops of morning dew.
Suppose you were to give up your business, and devote yourselves entirely to the work of extending the gospel. The church once did so, and you know what followed. When that little band in Jerusalem gave up their business and spent their time in the work of God, salvation spread like a wave. And I believe, if the whole Christian church were to turn right out, and convert the world, it would be done in a very short time.
And further, the fact is, that you would not be required to give up your business. If Christians would do business in the spirit of the gospel, they would soon engross the business of the world.
Only let the world see, that if they go to a Christian to do business, he will not only deal honestly, but benevolently, that he will actually consult the interest of the person he deals with, as if it were his own interest, and who would deal with anybody else? What merchant would go to an ungodly man to trade, who he knew would try to get the advantage of him, and cheat him, while he knew that there were Christian merchants to deal with, that would consult his interests as much as they do their own? Indeed, it is a known fact, that there are now Christian merchants in this city, who regulate the prices of the articles they deal in. Merchants come in from the country, and inquire around to see how they can buy goods, and they go to these men to know exactly what articles are worth at a fair price, and govern themselves accordingly.
The advantage, then, is all on one side. The church can make it for the interest of the ungodly to do business on right principles. The church can regulate the business of the world, and woe to them if they do not.
2. In regard to fashion.
Objection. "Is it best for Christians to be singular?"
Certainly; Christians are bound to be singular. Then are called to be a peculiar people, that is, a singular people, essentially different from the rest of mankind. To maintain that we are not to be singular, is the same as to maintain that we are to be conformed to the world. "Be not singular," that is, be like the world. In other words, "Be ye conformed to the world." This is the direct opposite to the command in the text.
But the question now regards fashion, in dress, equipage, and so on. And here I will confess that I was formerly myself in error. I believed, and I taught, that the best way for Christians to pursue, was to dress so as not to be noticed, to follow the fashions and changes so as not to appear singular, and that nobody would be led to think of their being different from others in these particulars. But I have seen my error, and now wonder greatly at my former blindness. It is your duty to dress so plain as to show to the world, that you place no sort of reliance in the things of fashion, and set no value at all on them, but despise and neglect them altogether. But unless you are singular, unless you separate yourselves from the fashions of the world, you show that you do value them. There is no way in which you can hear a proper testimony by your lives against the fashions of the work, but by dressing plain. I do not mean that you should study singularity, but that you should consult convenience and economy, although it may be singular.
Objection. "But if we dress plain, the attention of people will be taken with it."
The reason of it is this, so few do it that it is a novelty, and everybody stares when they see a professing Christian so strict as to disregard the fashions. Let them all do it, and the only thing you show by it is that you are a Christian, and do not wish to be confounded with the ungodly. Would it not tell on the pride of the world, if all the Christians in it were united in bearing a practical testimony against its vain show.
Objection. "But in this way you carry religion too far away from the multitude. It is better not to set up an artificial distinction between the church and the world."
The direct reverse of this is true. The nearer you bring the church to the world, the more you annihilate the reasons that ought to stand out in view of the world, for their changing sides and coming over to the church.
Unless you go right out from them, and show that you are not of them in any respect, and carry the church so far as to have a broad interval between saints and sinners, how can you make the ungodly feel that so great a change is necessary.
Objection. "But this change which is necessary is a change of heart."
True; but will not a change of heart produce a change of life?
Objection. "You will throw obstacles in the way of persons becoming Christians. Many respectable people will become disgusted with religion, and if they cannot be allowed to dress and be Christians, they will take to the world altogether."
This is just about as reasonable as it would be for a temperance man to think he must get drunk now and then, to avoid disgusting the intemperate, and to retain his influence over them. The truth is, that persons ought to know, and ought to see in the lives of professing Christians, that if they embrace religion, they must be weaned from the world, and must give up the love of the world, and its pride, and show, and folly, and live a holy life, in watchfulness, and self-denial, and active benevolence.
Objection. "Is it not better for us to disregard this altogether, and not pay any attention to such little things, and let them take their course; let the milliner and manta-maker do as they please, and follow the usages of society in which we live, and the circle in which we move?"
Is this the way to show contempt for the fashions of the world? Do people ordinarily take this course of showing contempt for a thing, to practice it? Why, the way to show your abhorrence of the world is to follow along in the customs and the fashions of the world! Precious reasoning this.
Objection. "No matter how we dress, if our hearts are right?"
Your heart right! Then your heart may be right when your conduct is all wrong. Just as well might the profane swearer say, "No matter what words I speak, if my, heart is right." No, your heart is not right, unless your conduct is right. What is outward conduct, but the acting out of the heart? If your heart was right, you would not wish to follow the fashions of the world.
Objection. "What is the standard of dress? I do not see the use of all your preaching, and laying down rules about plain dress, unless you give us a standard."
This is a mighty stumbling block with many. But to any mind the matter is extremely simple. The whole can be comprised in two simple rules. One is Be sure, in all your equipage, and dress, and furniture, to show that you have no fellowship with the designs and principles of those who are aiming to set off themselves, and to gain the applause of men. The other is let economy be first consulted, and then convenience. Follow Christian economy; that is, save all you can for Christ's service; and then, let things be as convenient as Christian economy will admit.
Objection. "Would you have us all to turn Quakers, and put on their plain dress?"
Who does not know, that the plain dress of the Quakers has won for them the respect of all the thinking part of the ungodly in the community? Now, if they had coupled with this, the zeal for God, and the weanedness from the world, and the contempt for riches, and the self-denying labor for the conversion of sinners to Christ, which the gospel enjoins, and the clear views of the plan of salvation, which the gospel inculcates, they would long since have converted the world.
And if all Christians would imitate them in their plain dress, (I do not mean the precise cut and fashion of their dress, but in a plain dress, throwing contempt upon the fashions of the world,) who can doubt that the conversion of the world would hasten on apace?
Objection. "Would you make us all into Methodists?"
Who does not know that the Methodists, when they were noted for their plain dress, and for renouncing the; fashions and show of the world, used to have power with God in prayer and that they had the universal respect of the world as sincere Christians. And who does not know that since they have laid aside this peculiarity, and conformed to the world in dress and other things, and seemed to be trying to lift themselves up as a denomination, and gain influence with the world, they are losing the power of prayer? Would to God they had never thrown down this wall. It was one of the leading excellences of Wesley's system, to have his followers distinguished from others by a plain dress.
Objection. "We may be proud of a plain dress as well as of a fashionable dress. The Quakers are as proud as we are."
So may any good thing be abused. But that is no reason why it should not be used, if it can be shown to be good I put it back to the objector
Is that any reason why a Christian female, who fears God and loves the souls of men, should neglect the means which may make an impression that she is separated from the world, and pour contempt on the fashions of the ungodly, in which they are dancing their way to hell?
Objection. "This is a small thing, and ought not to take up so much of a minister's time in the pulpit."
This is an objection often heard from worldly professors. But the minister that fears God will not be deterred by it. He will pursue the subject, until such professing Christians are cut off from their conformity to the world, or cut off from the church. It is not merely the dress, as dress but it is the conformity to the world in dress and fashion, that is the great stumbling-block in the way of sinners. How can the world be converted, while professing Christians are conformed to the world? What good will it do to give money to send the gospel to the heathen, when Christians live so at home? Well might the heathen ask, "What profit will it be to become Christians, when those who are Christians are pursuing the world with all the hot haste of the ungodly?" The great thing necessary for the church is to break off from conformity to the world, and then they will have power with God in prayer, and the Holy Ghost will descend and bless their efforts, and the world will be converted.
Objection. "But if we dress so, we shall be called fanatics."
Whatever the ungodly may call you, fanatics, Methodists, or anything, you will be known as Christians, and in the secret consciences of men will be acknowledged as such. It is not in the power of unbelievers to pour contempt on a holy church, that are separated from the world. How was it with the early Christians? They lived separate from the world, and it made such an impression, that even infidel writers say of them, "These men win the hearts of the mass of the people, because they give themselves up to deeds of charity, and pour contempt on the world." Depend upon it, if Christians would live so now, the last effort of hell would soon be expended in vain to defeat the spread of the gospel. Wave after wave would flow abroad, till the highest mountain tops were covered with the waters of life.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Do not judge, do not condemn, Forgive
Do not judge, or you will be judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Do not take a reproach against your neighbour, Do not slander or gossip about others, Speak to edify and with grace.
O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
But who honors those who fear the LORD;
He swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He does not put out his money at interest,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Love one another deeply
Do not judge, or you will be judged. For with the same judgment you pronounce, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Do not take a reproach against your neighbour, Do not slander or gossip about others, Speak to edify and with grace.
O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
But who honors those who fear the LORD;
He swears to his own hurt and does not change;
He does not put out his money at interest,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.
Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Love one another deeply
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Imitate God, be holy
But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
Imitators of God
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
Love your neighbour as yourself
The Greatest Commandment
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these.”
Imitate God, be holy
But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
Imitators of God
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
Love your neighbour as yourself
The Greatest Commandment
Now one of the scribes had come up and heard their debate. Noticing how well Jesus had answered them, he asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is One Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these.”
Monday, October 31, 2016
Verses on God's unending love
top-7-bible-verses-about-unconditional-love
What would you do if you believed that whatever you attempted, whether you soared or failed, would end in you being loved and held close by God. What would you attempt? Whom would you reach out to? Where would you let your heart lead you? The crazy thing is that we already have that security. We are assured of God’s presence throughout our lives, and yet, we hold back. We waiver. What we can be if only we dare to believe that we are forever loved. He tells us this is so, repeatedly, in the verses above, and throughout the Bible. We cannot earn it, and we cannot lose it. So let us live in it and give it back to Him with no strings attached. Just freely, abundantly, and as best as we know how, unconditionally. - extract
What would you do if you believed that whatever you attempted, whether you soared or failed, would end in you being loved and held close by God. What would you attempt? Whom would you reach out to? Where would you let your heart lead you? The crazy thing is that we already have that security. We are assured of God’s presence throughout our lives, and yet, we hold back. We waiver. What we can be if only we dare to believe that we are forever loved. He tells us this is so, repeatedly, in the verses above, and throughout the Bible. We cannot earn it, and we cannot lose it. So let us live in it and give it back to Him with no strings attached. Just freely, abundantly, and as best as we know how, unconditionally. - extract
Thursday, October 20, 2016
The Lord be exalted. He takes pleasure in His servant’s well-being
...who loves to see his servants do well
..who delights in the welfare of his servant
...who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant
...who delights in the peace of his servant
God is glad when all goes well for his servant.
Psalm 35:27
...who loves to see his servants do well
..who delights in the welfare of his servant
...who delights and takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant
...who delights in the peace of his servant
God is glad when all goes well for his servant.
Psalm 35:27
Sunday, October 9, 2016
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Sunday, October 2, 2016
The one claiming to abide in Him ought also walk just as in the same way that He walked.
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice andobserve everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them
The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
“The scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So practice andobserve everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them
The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Friday, September 30, 2016
Monday, September 26, 2016
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
I. WHAT IT IS.
1. You must be considerate and thoughtful, not rash and heedless. Take time to think; learn to think freely — to think for yourselves, of yourselves.
2. You must be cautious and prudent, not wilful and heady. Fix rules of wisdom. Use reason and conscience. Be diffident of your own judgment. Study Scripture.
3. You must be humble and modest, not proud and conceited. Be not above your business, above reproof, above religion.
4. You must be temperate and self-denying, not indulgent of your appetites.
5. You must be mild and gentle, not indulgent of your passions.
6. You must be chaste and reserved, not wanton or impure.
7. You must be staid and composed, not giddy and unsettled.
8. You must be content and easy, not ambitious and aspiring.
9. You must be grave and serious, not vain and frothy.
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isaiah 64:8
I. WHAT IT IS.
1. You must be considerate and thoughtful, not rash and heedless. Take time to think; learn to think freely — to think for yourselves, of yourselves.
2. You must be cautious and prudent, not wilful and heady. Fix rules of wisdom. Use reason and conscience. Be diffident of your own judgment. Study Scripture.
3. You must be humble and modest, not proud and conceited. Be not above your business, above reproof, above religion.
4. You must be temperate and self-denying, not indulgent of your appetites.
5. You must be mild and gentle, not indulgent of your passions.
6. You must be chaste and reserved, not wanton or impure.
7. You must be staid and composed, not giddy and unsettled.
8. You must be content and easy, not ambitious and aspiring.
9. You must be grave and serious, not vain and frothy.
But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. Isaiah 64:8
I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. Isaiah 48:10
Monday, September 19, 2016
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Question: "What does it mean to be still and know that I am God?"
Answer: This popular saying comes from Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; / I will be exalted among the nations, / I will be exalted in the earth.”
This verse comes from a longer section of Scripture that proclaims the power and security of God. While the threat the psalmist faced is not mentioned specifically, it seems to relate to the pagan nations and a call for God to end the raging war. Here is the whole psalm:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Notice that the majority of the psalm is written in the third person as the psalmist speaks about God. However, God’s voice comes through in verse 10, and the Lord speaks in the first person: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Be still. This is a call for those involved in the war to stop fighting, to be still. The word still is a translation of the Hebrew word rapa, meaning “to slacken, let down, or cease.” In some instances, the word carries the idea of “to drop, be weak, or faint.” It connotes two people fighting until someone separates them and makes them drop their weapons. It is only after the fighting has stopped that the warriors can acknowledge their trust in God. Christians often interpret the command to “be still” as “to be quiet in God’s presence.” While quietness is certainly helpful, the phrase means to stop frantic activity, to let down, and to be still. For God’s people being “still” would involve looking to the Lord for their help (cf. Exodus 14:13); for God’s enemies, being “still” would mean ceasing to fight a battle they cannot win.
Know that I am God. Know in this instance means “to properly ascertain by seeing” and “acknowledge, be aware.” How does acknowledging God impact our stillness? We know that He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), omnipotent (all-powerful), holy, sovereign, faithful, infinite, and good. Acknowledging God implies that we can trust Him and surrender to His plan because we understand who He is.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. It was tempting for the nation of Israel to align with foreign powers, and God reminds them that ultimately He is exalted! God wins, and He will bring peace. During Isaiah’s time, Judah looked for help from the Egyptians, even though God warned against it. Judah did not need Egyptian might; they needed reliance on the Lord: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
When we are still and surrendered to God, we find peace even when the earth gives way, the mountains fall (verse 2), or the nations go into an uproar and kingdoms fall (verse 6). When life gets overwhelming and busyness takes precedence, remember Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Run to Him, lay down your weapons and fall into His arms. Acknowledge that He is God and that He is exalted in the earth. Be still and know that He is God.
http://www.gotquestions.org/be-still-and-know-that-I-am-God.html
Answer: This popular saying comes from Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God; / I will be exalted among the nations, / I will be exalted in the earth.”
This verse comes from a longer section of Scripture that proclaims the power and security of God. While the threat the psalmist faced is not mentioned specifically, it seems to relate to the pagan nations and a call for God to end the raging war. Here is the whole psalm:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Notice that the majority of the psalm is written in the third person as the psalmist speaks about God. However, God’s voice comes through in verse 10, and the Lord speaks in the first person: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Be still. This is a call for those involved in the war to stop fighting, to be still. The word still is a translation of the Hebrew word rapa, meaning “to slacken, let down, or cease.” In some instances, the word carries the idea of “to drop, be weak, or faint.” It connotes two people fighting until someone separates them and makes them drop their weapons. It is only after the fighting has stopped that the warriors can acknowledge their trust in God. Christians often interpret the command to “be still” as “to be quiet in God’s presence.” While quietness is certainly helpful, the phrase means to stop frantic activity, to let down, and to be still. For God’s people being “still” would involve looking to the Lord for their help (cf. Exodus 14:13); for God’s enemies, being “still” would mean ceasing to fight a battle they cannot win.
Know that I am God. Know in this instance means “to properly ascertain by seeing” and “acknowledge, be aware.” How does acknowledging God impact our stillness? We know that He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere), omnipotent (all-powerful), holy, sovereign, faithful, infinite, and good. Acknowledging God implies that we can trust Him and surrender to His plan because we understand who He is.
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. It was tempting for the nation of Israel to align with foreign powers, and God reminds them that ultimately He is exalted! God wins, and He will bring peace. During Isaiah’s time, Judah looked for help from the Egyptians, even though God warned against it. Judah did not need Egyptian might; they needed reliance on the Lord: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
When we are still and surrendered to God, we find peace even when the earth gives way, the mountains fall (verse 2), or the nations go into an uproar and kingdoms fall (verse 6). When life gets overwhelming and busyness takes precedence, remember Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Run to Him, lay down your weapons and fall into His arms. Acknowledge that He is God and that He is exalted in the earth. Be still and know that He is God.
http://www.gotquestions.org/be-still-and-know-that-I-am-God.html
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, 'Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
Count your blessings
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. Psalm 103:2
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Nothing in the life of a man that loves God is evil, random, or vain. In contrast, EVERYTHING, even those things that we do not accept pleasantly, is a part of God's recipe for the good.
ALL THINGS, i.e. everything that has happened, happens or will happen, WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD to those who love Him.
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.
ALL THINGS, i.e. everything that has happened, happens or will happen, WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD to those who love Him.
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Don’t Waste Your Life
Campus Crusade Christmas Conference | Minneapolis
Message by
John Piper
Topic: The Unwasted Life
As we meet tonight on this 29th of December, 2003, the body count of those killed in the earthquake in Bam, Iran, stands at about 25,000. That’s a lot of human beings snuffed out in one morning. You feel the personal magnitude of it when you read of a father digging for his family and passing out when he uncovers the hand of his dead teenage daughter, or when you read of an infant found alive in the arms of his dead mother.
What gives this year-end calamity an added apocalyptic feel is not just its magnitude—almost ten times the human loss as our own 9-11 disaster—but the other catastrophes that happened in the last several days in addition to this earthquake: 13 people swept away in a mudslide in California, 6 buried in an avalanche in Utah, 111 killed in a plane crash in Benin, 198 poisoned by a gas leak in China. And those are just the ones which made the news. We would be stunned speechless if we watched the car accidents in which 50,000 people died in America this year.
What Does Jesus Want Us to Learn about Our Lives from These Calamities?
One answer is given in Luke 13:1-5. People asked Jesus about a calamity in which Pilate had killed people while they were worshiping and mingled their blood with their sacrifices. Jesus answers:
Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Jesus could weep over people’s heartbreaking losses (Luke 19:41; John 11L35). And the Bible tells us plainly, “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). But when the racking emotions are eased a bit, the questions come, and Jesus does not settle the issues with sentimentality. He deals with ultimate reality. He deals with God and sin and judgment and salvation.
He says in effect: "Are you astonished at the death of the Galileans? Are you astonished at the deaths of those who were crushed when the tower of Siloam fell? I will tell you what to be astonished at: be astonished that the tower did not fall on you." If Jesus were here tonight, and we came to him with the death toll from the earthquake in Iran asking him to give an accounting for God, one of the things he would say is: “Be astonished that this hotel has not collapsed with you in it. For unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Which means all of us deserve to die right now and to perish forever.
Our Lives Belong to God
Which leads to this conclusion and sets the stage for my message tonight: Your life is in God’s hands and hangs by a thread of sovereign grace. God owns every soul. He made us and we belong to him by virtue of his being our Creator. He can give and take life as he pleases according to his infinite wisdom, and he never does anyone any wrong. He created human life, and he decides what human life is for.
When Job lost his ten children in an Iran-like calamity (the house collapsed), the Bible says: “he tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. . . . And said . . . ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’” (Job 1:20-21). The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away! Or, as Job says later, “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).
When Hannah was thanking God for her son Samuel after years of barrenness, she said, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6). And God himself said in Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”
If any of us lives through this message tonight, it will be a sheer gift of grace. James, the brother of Jesus, put it like this:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
If the Lord wills, you and I will live through this message. And if he does not, we won’t. Our life is not our own. It belongs to God. I have no right to take your life. And you have no right to take mine. But that is not because our life is our own, but because our lives belong to God and he has the right to take both of us any time he chooses. Your life belongs to God, and he decides what life is for.
Don’t Waste Your Life!
Oh, how jealous Jesus was, therefore, that people not waste their lives. Most of you are students here, and your lives are very much in front of you. At least you feel that they are. They may not be. You may have already lived most of your life. But if God wills, many of you have several decades to live on the earth before you die and give an account of what you did with your life. And how jealous Jesus is that you not waste it.
If he were here, he might make this point with these words: A person’s “life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Accumulating things is not what life is for. And then he might tell this parable:
The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” 18 And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20 But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:16-21)
Oh, how jealous Jesus is that none of you here tonight be called a fool by God because of the way you used the gift of life! Life is not for the accumulating of things. This night your life will be required of you, and then whose will these possessions be? No sane person on his death bed ever was comforted by his possessions.
Oh, hear the words of Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:24-26)
It is possible to waste your life. Few things make me tremble more than the possibility of taking this onetime gift of life and wasting it. Every morning when I walked into the kitchen as a boy I saw hanging on the wall the plaque that now hangs in my living room: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” And now I am almost 58, and the river of life is spilling over the falls of my days with tremendous speed. More and more I smell eternity. And oh, how I want to use my life well. It is so short and so fragile and so final. You get one chance to live your life. And then the judgment. I speak as a father who has children your age, and I am jealous with Jesus that they and you not waste your life.
One of the great tragedies of American culture is the way billions of dollars are invested to persuade people my age to waste the rest of their lives. It goes by the name of retirement, and the entire message is: you’ve worked for it, now enjoy it. And what is the “it”? Twenty years of play and leisure. While the world sinks under the weight of millions of healthy older people fishing, cruising, puttering, playing golf, bridge, bingo, shuffle board, and collecting shells. All of this in preparation for meeting Jesus Christ face to face with nail scars in his hands.
And that is exactly the way you will waste your life in fifty years if you do not make some radical decisions now, and set your face like flint to walk another way. Oh, that you might all come to age 65 with fire in your bones, and say, “Now! Now! With my simple pension and my remaining energy and my new freedom I will pour out my life for Christ and his kingdom, so that when I meet him—which I will do any day now—I will smile at his words, ‘well done, good and faithful servant,’ instead of those awful words, 'Fool! How did all that pointless play put my glory on display?'"
What Is the Essence of the Unwasted Life?
So if you ask me tonight, All right, tell us then, what is the unwasted life? What does it look like? What is the essence of the unwasted life? I just mentioned it: A life that puts the infinite value of Christ on display for the world to see. The passion of the unwasted life is to joyfully display the supreme excellence of Christ by the way we live. Life is given to us so that we can use it to make much of Christ. Possessions are given to us so that by the way we use them, we can show that they are not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure. Money is given to us so that we will use it in a way that shows money is not treasure, but Christ is our treasure.
The great passion of the unwasted life is to magnify Christ. Here is the text that, perhaps more than any other, governs what life is really about:Philippians 1:20-21. Paul says, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Paul’s all-consuming passion was that in his life and in his death Jesus Christ be honored, that is, that Jesus Christ be made to look like the infinite treasure that he is. The reason you have life is to make Jesus Christ look great. There is one central criterion that should govern all the decisions you make in life and in death: Will this help make Jesus Christ look like the treasure he is?
You can see this in the way Paul talks about the two halves of his statement in verse 20. He says that his passion is that Christ be honored (or magnified, or made to look great) whether by life or by death. There is the life half of the verse, and the death half. How does Paul show that Christ is his treasure by life?
The answer is given in Philippians 3:7-8:
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.”
In other words, Paul displays the worth of Christ by counting everything else as loss for Christ’s sake. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of Christ.” Which means that the life that displays the worth of Christ—the unwasted life—is the life that uses everything to show that Christ is more valuable that it is. Money is used to show that Christ is more valuable than money. Food is used to show that Christ is more valuable than food is. Houses and lands and cars and computers are used to show that Christ is more valuable than they are. Family and friends and your own life are a place to show that Christ is more valuable than any of them.
The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus in our lives is by treasuring Christ above all things, and then making life choices that show that our joy is not finally in things or even in other people, but in Christ.
And the same is true in the second half of what Paul said in Philippians 1:20, namely, his honoring Christ by the way he dies. “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” How is Christ honored—how do we make much of Christ and display his worth—by our death? He gives the answer in the next verse (21): “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Why is death gain? It’s gain because verse 23 says, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Death is gain because death means more of Christ. It means to depart and be with him—with him!—and that is far better.
How do you show that Christ is a treasure in death? By experiencing death as gain. Christ will be most magnified in you, in your dying, when you are most satisfied in him, in your dying. When Christ is more precious to you than all that life can give, then being with him through death will be gain. And it will be plain to all that Christ is your treasure, and nothing on the earth.
Here is the essential lesson for living the unwasted life and dying the unwasted death:
Life and death are given to us as means of displaying the supreme value of Christ.
The supreme value of Christ is displayed when you treasure him above all earthly things and all other earthly persons.
This treasuring of him above all earthly things and persons is most clearly seen in what you are gladly willing to risk, or to sacrifice in order to enjoy more of him.
Here is the radical way Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Christ refused to remove Paul’s painful thorn in the flesh:
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” [There’s more of Christ!] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Magnifying the surpassing power of Christ in his own weakness and pain was Paul’s supreme passion! I will rejoice in whatever makes Christ look magnificently satisfying—including all my pain.
Are You Going to Throw Your Life Away?
So I ask all of you now, are you going to throw your life away with the rest of the world by striving to minimize your suffering and maximize your comforts in this life? Are you going to work for the bread that perishes? Build bigger barns? Lay up treasures on earth? Strive for the praise of man?
Or will you see in Christ crucified and risen, bearing the sins of his people—will you see in this God-Man the all-satisfying treasure of your life? Will you say with Paul, “To live is Christ and to die is gain . . . I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”?
I believe with all my heart that when God raises up a generation like this—and I pray that you are that generation—the completion of the Great Commission will come to pass. Because it will not come to pass unless a generation is joyfully willing to lay down their lives. The remaining unreached peoples of the world are almost all in dangerous places. If your generation buys into the American mindset of preserving comfort and safety and security and ease, you will be passed over, and God will get his work done another way. And over your generation—as over much of mine—will be written “Fool! Whose will these things be?” And the tragic word: “Wasted!”
But if your passion is to display the worth of Christ, and thus to treasure him above all things, and thus to risk and sacrifice for the display of his supreme value, then I do not doubt that God will use you mightily and that the commitments you make to the hard places of East Asia or the Middle East or North Africa or post-Christian Europe or urban America, will be fulfilled. And in those places the glory of Christ will shine through you and thousands of people will see and put their trust in the Lord.
And over their lives and over your life will be written the words: “This life was not wasted. This life gladly displayed the glory of Christ, both in life and in death.”
Campus Crusade Christmas Conference | Minneapolis
Message by
John Piper
Topic: The Unwasted Life
As we meet tonight on this 29th of December, 2003, the body count of those killed in the earthquake in Bam, Iran, stands at about 25,000. That’s a lot of human beings snuffed out in one morning. You feel the personal magnitude of it when you read of a father digging for his family and passing out when he uncovers the hand of his dead teenage daughter, or when you read of an infant found alive in the arms of his dead mother.
What gives this year-end calamity an added apocalyptic feel is not just its magnitude—almost ten times the human loss as our own 9-11 disaster—but the other catastrophes that happened in the last several days in addition to this earthquake: 13 people swept away in a mudslide in California, 6 buried in an avalanche in Utah, 111 killed in a plane crash in Benin, 198 poisoned by a gas leak in China. And those are just the ones which made the news. We would be stunned speechless if we watched the car accidents in which 50,000 people died in America this year.
What Does Jesus Want Us to Learn about Our Lives from These Calamities?
One answer is given in Luke 13:1-5. People asked Jesus about a calamity in which Pilate had killed people while they were worshiping and mingled their blood with their sacrifices. Jesus answers:
Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Jesus could weep over people’s heartbreaking losses (Luke 19:41; John 11L35). And the Bible tells us plainly, “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). But when the racking emotions are eased a bit, the questions come, and Jesus does not settle the issues with sentimentality. He deals with ultimate reality. He deals with God and sin and judgment and salvation.
He says in effect: "Are you astonished at the death of the Galileans? Are you astonished at the deaths of those who were crushed when the tower of Siloam fell? I will tell you what to be astonished at: be astonished that the tower did not fall on you." If Jesus were here tonight, and we came to him with the death toll from the earthquake in Iran asking him to give an accounting for God, one of the things he would say is: “Be astonished that this hotel has not collapsed with you in it. For unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Which means all of us deserve to die right now and to perish forever.
Our Lives Belong to God
Which leads to this conclusion and sets the stage for my message tonight: Your life is in God’s hands and hangs by a thread of sovereign grace. God owns every soul. He made us and we belong to him by virtue of his being our Creator. He can give and take life as he pleases according to his infinite wisdom, and he never does anyone any wrong. He created human life, and he decides what human life is for.
When Job lost his ten children in an Iran-like calamity (the house collapsed), the Bible says: “he tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. . . . And said . . . ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’” (Job 1:20-21). The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away! Or, as Job says later, “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).
When Hannah was thanking God for her son Samuel after years of barrenness, she said, “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up” (1 Samuel 2:6). And God himself said in Deuteronomy 32:39, “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”
If any of us lives through this message tonight, it will be a sheer gift of grace. James, the brother of Jesus, put it like this:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
If the Lord wills, you and I will live through this message. And if he does not, we won’t. Our life is not our own. It belongs to God. I have no right to take your life. And you have no right to take mine. But that is not because our life is our own, but because our lives belong to God and he has the right to take both of us any time he chooses. Your life belongs to God, and he decides what life is for.
Don’t Waste Your Life!
Oh, how jealous Jesus was, therefore, that people not waste their lives. Most of you are students here, and your lives are very much in front of you. At least you feel that they are. They may not be. You may have already lived most of your life. But if God wills, many of you have several decades to live on the earth before you die and give an account of what you did with your life. And how jealous Jesus is that you not waste it.
If he were here, he might make this point with these words: A person’s “life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Accumulating things is not what life is for. And then he might tell this parable:
The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, “What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?” 18 And he said, “I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” 20 But God said to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:16-21)
Oh, how jealous Jesus is that none of you here tonight be called a fool by God because of the way you used the gift of life! Life is not for the accumulating of things. This night your life will be required of you, and then whose will these possessions be? No sane person on his death bed ever was comforted by his possessions.
Oh, hear the words of Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords:
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:24-26)
It is possible to waste your life. Few things make me tremble more than the possibility of taking this onetime gift of life and wasting it. Every morning when I walked into the kitchen as a boy I saw hanging on the wall the plaque that now hangs in my living room: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” And now I am almost 58, and the river of life is spilling over the falls of my days with tremendous speed. More and more I smell eternity. And oh, how I want to use my life well. It is so short and so fragile and so final. You get one chance to live your life. And then the judgment. I speak as a father who has children your age, and I am jealous with Jesus that they and you not waste your life.
One of the great tragedies of American culture is the way billions of dollars are invested to persuade people my age to waste the rest of their lives. It goes by the name of retirement, and the entire message is: you’ve worked for it, now enjoy it. And what is the “it”? Twenty years of play and leisure. While the world sinks under the weight of millions of healthy older people fishing, cruising, puttering, playing golf, bridge, bingo, shuffle board, and collecting shells. All of this in preparation for meeting Jesus Christ face to face with nail scars in his hands.
And that is exactly the way you will waste your life in fifty years if you do not make some radical decisions now, and set your face like flint to walk another way. Oh, that you might all come to age 65 with fire in your bones, and say, “Now! Now! With my simple pension and my remaining energy and my new freedom I will pour out my life for Christ and his kingdom, so that when I meet him—which I will do any day now—I will smile at his words, ‘well done, good and faithful servant,’ instead of those awful words, 'Fool! How did all that pointless play put my glory on display?'"
What Is the Essence of the Unwasted Life?
So if you ask me tonight, All right, tell us then, what is the unwasted life? What does it look like? What is the essence of the unwasted life? I just mentioned it: A life that puts the infinite value of Christ on display for the world to see. The passion of the unwasted life is to joyfully display the supreme excellence of Christ by the way we live. Life is given to us so that we can use it to make much of Christ. Possessions are given to us so that by the way we use them, we can show that they are not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure. Money is given to us so that we will use it in a way that shows money is not treasure, but Christ is our treasure.
The great passion of the unwasted life is to magnify Christ. Here is the text that, perhaps more than any other, governs what life is really about:Philippians 1:20-21. Paul says, “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Paul’s all-consuming passion was that in his life and in his death Jesus Christ be honored, that is, that Jesus Christ be made to look like the infinite treasure that he is. The reason you have life is to make Jesus Christ look great. There is one central criterion that should govern all the decisions you make in life and in death: Will this help make Jesus Christ look like the treasure he is?
You can see this in the way Paul talks about the two halves of his statement in verse 20. He says that his passion is that Christ be honored (or magnified, or made to look great) whether by life or by death. There is the life half of the verse, and the death half. How does Paul show that Christ is his treasure by life?
The answer is given in Philippians 3:7-8:
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.”
In other words, Paul displays the worth of Christ by counting everything else as loss for Christ’s sake. “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of Christ.” Which means that the life that displays the worth of Christ—the unwasted life—is the life that uses everything to show that Christ is more valuable that it is. Money is used to show that Christ is more valuable than money. Food is used to show that Christ is more valuable than food is. Houses and lands and cars and computers are used to show that Christ is more valuable than they are. Family and friends and your own life are a place to show that Christ is more valuable than any of them.
The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus in our lives is by treasuring Christ above all things, and then making life choices that show that our joy is not finally in things or even in other people, but in Christ.
And the same is true in the second half of what Paul said in Philippians 1:20, namely, his honoring Christ by the way he dies. “It is my eager expectation and hope that . . . Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.” How is Christ honored—how do we make much of Christ and display his worth—by our death? He gives the answer in the next verse (21): “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Why is death gain? It’s gain because verse 23 says, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” Death is gain because death means more of Christ. It means to depart and be with him—with him!—and that is far better.
How do you show that Christ is a treasure in death? By experiencing death as gain. Christ will be most magnified in you, in your dying, when you are most satisfied in him, in your dying. When Christ is more precious to you than all that life can give, then being with him through death will be gain. And it will be plain to all that Christ is your treasure, and nothing on the earth.
Here is the essential lesson for living the unwasted life and dying the unwasted death:
Life and death are given to us as means of displaying the supreme value of Christ.
The supreme value of Christ is displayed when you treasure him above all earthly things and all other earthly persons.
This treasuring of him above all earthly things and persons is most clearly seen in what you are gladly willing to risk, or to sacrifice in order to enjoy more of him.
Here is the radical way Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where Christ refused to remove Paul’s painful thorn in the flesh:
He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” [There’s more of Christ!] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Magnifying the surpassing power of Christ in his own weakness and pain was Paul’s supreme passion! I will rejoice in whatever makes Christ look magnificently satisfying—including all my pain.
Are You Going to Throw Your Life Away?
So I ask all of you now, are you going to throw your life away with the rest of the world by striving to minimize your suffering and maximize your comforts in this life? Are you going to work for the bread that perishes? Build bigger barns? Lay up treasures on earth? Strive for the praise of man?
Or will you see in Christ crucified and risen, bearing the sins of his people—will you see in this God-Man the all-satisfying treasure of your life? Will you say with Paul, “To live is Christ and to die is gain . . . I count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord”?
I believe with all my heart that when God raises up a generation like this—and I pray that you are that generation—the completion of the Great Commission will come to pass. Because it will not come to pass unless a generation is joyfully willing to lay down their lives. The remaining unreached peoples of the world are almost all in dangerous places. If your generation buys into the American mindset of preserving comfort and safety and security and ease, you will be passed over, and God will get his work done another way. And over your generation—as over much of mine—will be written “Fool! Whose will these things be?” And the tragic word: “Wasted!”
But if your passion is to display the worth of Christ, and thus to treasure him above all things, and thus to risk and sacrifice for the display of his supreme value, then I do not doubt that God will use you mightily and that the commitments you make to the hard places of East Asia or the Middle East or North Africa or post-Christian Europe or urban America, will be fulfilled. And in those places the glory of Christ will shine through you and thousands of people will see and put their trust in the Lord.
And over their lives and over your life will be written the words: “This life was not wasted. This life gladly displayed the glory of Christ, both in life and in death.”
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