"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand."
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"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice. 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be known unto God."
For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.”
I want to focus our thoughts on this text on the words, “but by love serve one another.” We have been called to serve the Lord. But how do we serve the Lord? The paradox is that God does not need for us to serve Him, but we need to serve Him. There is nothing that we can do that will add or take away from God. He is totally secure within Himself. But God knows that we need to serve Him. Our service to God/Jesus will ultimately make a difference in our lives and in the lives of other people. God does not need us, but He has made us so that we need Him. After all, we were created in His image to have fellowship with Him and to worship and serve Him. What should this service entail? Paul wrote, “but by love serve one another.” Serving God is rooted in our love for all people, and It is especially rooted in our love for fellow Christians. Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.” We are in fellowship with each other, and this fellowship is crowned with the love that we have for each other. We should not primarily serve out of a sense of duty, but we should serve out of a sense of love. This is how Jesus served, and it made a difference in the lives of the people that He touched. It is our duty to serve, but it is also our pleasure to serve and it is our privilege to be used of God to serve others. This does not mean that we will always be subservient to others, but that we will serve them as Jesus did. Whatever service we render to our fellow Christians or to anyone else, should be done in love. We should not only serve out of a sense of love, but we should enjoy the service that God leads us to do for others. At this point, you might be asking, “but what is this service that I am to render?” It is whatever God leads you to do at a particular time. This service might be to just say a kind word to a lonely person. It might mean visiting a lonely elderly person in a nursing home. It might mean going on a mission trip to another state or another country. In other words, there is no limit to the forms that our service can take. Whenever we serve we need to keep the admonition of Psalm 100:2a in mind: “Serve the Lord with gladness…” We are not to serve the Lord grudgingly. We should be glad that God is willing to use us in His service. I have said and written this over and over again: We are not doing the Lord a favor by serving Him. He is doing us a favor by letting us serve Him. If we take the attitude that serving God is a privilege granted to us by Him, we will be more likely to serve Him gladly, whatever form that service may take. One thing that we need to remember is that, ultimately, serving God means to serve and minister to people. No matter what form your service might take, it will benefit other people. I joyfully remember this when I preach. All we need to do is to look at the ministry of Jesus in the four gospels. His teachings and His miracles benefitted people. Indeed, the sacrificial death of Jesus was for the benefit of people. This is why Jesus calls us to serve Him by ministering to others in His name. In John 13, Jesus did something that totally surprised His disciples. He washed their feet. The Creator and Savior of the world washed the dirty feet of His disciples. If Jesus, the Son of God, can stoop to wash people’s feet, we can stoop to do whatever we need to do serve Him – and do it lovingly and gladly. Bro. Joe “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.
o "I love the Lord, for He heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. 2. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live."
“But this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. 7. Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that you in all things, may abound to every good work.”
I know that giving is not one of the favorite topics to write about, but it is an important aspect of Christian living. In 2 Corinthians 9 Paul reminded the Corinthians of their promise to send a love offering to the famine-stricken Jerusalem Church. In this challenge Paul gave them, and us, an excellent profile of Christian giving. The motivation for Christian giving Verse 6:“But this I say, he which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” Paul used an agricultural analogy. If a farmer sows few seeds, he gets a small crop. If he sows a large amount of seeds, he gets a large crop. This obvious illustration makes sense for givers as well as for farmers. It is a simple analogy, but when it comes to getting Christians to be generous givers it becomes a little complicated. One motivation for giving is that the more we give the more we receive. This was not a new concept. Malachi 3:10 stated the same principle. In this verse, God challenged Israel to tithe and see, “If I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” It is really true that we cannot out give God. When we give generously, our hearts are open to receive the bountiful blessings of God. These blessings can be spiritual as well as physical. Furthermore, the amount of the gift is determined by the ability of the giver to give. (Read about the“widow’s mite” in Mark 12:42-44.) The attitude of Christian giving Verse 7: “Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” The Corinthians were to give cheerfully, knowing that their gifts would meet a lot of needs in Jerusalem. When we give, we should not consider what we have lost, but that we have made an investment in God’s work. This knowledge should make giving a pleasure, not a mere duty – “of necessity.” We are to do it for Jesus in order to fulfill His purposes in our community and in the world. “For God loves a cheerful giver.” Let me reword this: “God loves it when we give cheerfully.” I don’t think that this changes the meaning. God does not stop loving us if we do not give cheerfully, but He really loves it when we do. The grace of Christian giving Verse 8: "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work." The grace of God is included in everything that we do, and that includes giving. In His grace, God has given us everything that we need in order to share Him with others. The nature of grace is to give. This is true of God’s grace towards us and it should be true of His grace at work in us. In a real sense, how we give determines how we live. In God’ abounding grace, we can “abound to every good work.” As we give, so will we live; therefore, we should abundantly give so that we can live abundantly. A cheerful giver is probably a cheerful person. A generous giver is a generous person. Bro. Joe “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” 1:7
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." 9:10 The two verses printed above are familiar to us and we often hear them quoted. They sound good, but I’m not sure that we understand what they really mean. At least, we do not understand their spiritual depth, nor do we understand what a difference heeding them can make in our lives. Without appearing to be all-wise, I want to share my thoughts on these verses when I read them this morning. Both of them begin with “the fear of the Lord…” This sounds ominous to people who are not familiar with the Bible. It is not telling us to merely be afraid of the Lord, but to hold Him in great reverence. This is illustrated for us in Exodus 3:5, where Moses encountered the Lord at the “Burning Bush.” He was told: “Draw not near here: put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” The ground was holy because God was there. Moses was not told to run for his life, but he was to simply take off his shoes in reverence for God. I think that we can say that this means that we should never take God lightly, and that we are to always take Him seriously. We can make light of, and joke about many things, but God is never a joke and He is never to be taken lightly. Hey, He’s God! Both verses tell us what the fear of the Lord is the beginning of: 1:7 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” 9:10 tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” In other words, if we do not fear and reverence God, we are not very smart. Wisdom is defined as “prudence and common sense” in The American Century Dictionary. The same dictionary defines knowledge as, “the sum of what is known.” It is possible to have a form of knowledge without wisdom. The fear of God takes both into account. This means that when we act counter to what we know about God, we are not acting in wisdom. Prudence and common sense would tell us that it is smart to have enough reverence and respect for God to take His will and His way into account in our actions. I don’t suppose that there is a person on this earth who acts in perfect knowledge and wisdom in obedience to God, but we need to try. The Bible is replete with stories about people who stepped outside of the wisdom and knowledge that they had of God, and paid a dear price for it. One glaring example is Israel. They were warned when they went into Canaan not to get caught up in the religions of the people who already lived there. First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles all remind us of the foolishness of not fearing God more than the desire to sin. Both verses close with words to the wise: 1:7 “…but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Obviously, the world’s definition of fools is different from the Bible’s. For example, to the world, Paul would have been a fool for continuing to preach Jesus and start churches in spite of persecution. The world would consider a person who stands on the word of God against public opinion, a foolish person. But according to 1:7, Paul was a wise person, for he stood on the wisdom and instruction of God. Fear of God has to trump fear of the world for one to be considered a wise person according to the Bible. 9:10 concludes: “….and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Do you see how these two verses, separated by eight chapters, fit together like hand and glove? A person who has understanding knows that he or she needs to be right with God. To not be right with God is to be foolish. To the world, this might be a matter of opinion, but in the Bible it is not. We can’t decide to live how we want to live and ignore the word of God. Most of us probably know this by experience. If you do not, thank God for it. Based on these verses, are you a wise or foolish person? Consider the importance of the wisdom and knowledge of God in your life. Bro. Joe And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.”
I had a thought the today: "God, I know that all people are not going to love me, but please give me the grace to love them."
There is no way that we can make every person on earth love us. There will be inevitable personality differences. I know that I have met some people, and after a few minutes of acquaintance, I knew that they were going to be difficult for me to love, and that they would have a difficult time loving me. The religious and political differences between us were just too great. There was not a point of connection that we could make. The only point of connection that we had was that we were both human beings. My question to myself is, is being fellow human beings enough for me to love another person? There is a part of me that says "no" to this question. Given our political and religious differences, where is the connection to be made? That is a good question, and it is a difficult to give an honest answer. There is a powerful inclination to love those who agree with us and see the world as we see it. We can discuss world issues with those who agree with us and shake hands with them and gladly call them friend. But what about those who do not agree with us? I can only answer this as a believer in Jesus Christ. I ask myself, "Did Jesus die on the cross for this person?" If my answer is "no" then I believe that Jesus did not die for the whole world, but only for those in the whole wide world who agree with me. This might limit the circumference of Christ's love to a corner of Southwest Georgia. (A small corner of Southwest Georgia.) This made me take another look at John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 tells us that God loves the world. It does not limit the love of God to a small corner of Southwest Georgia, where I live, but it says that God loves the world. We used to sing a song in church when I was a child: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world." I never questioned the reality of the truth in this song, but the practice of the proposition of this song was another question. Did I really believe that Jesus loved "all of the little children of the world"? I truly believe that now at the age of 88, but did I believe that at the age of 10? I think that I did believe that, but I did not realize the implications of what it meant. It took a few years for that implication to become clear to me. Jesus really does love all of the people of the world. I spent several years in my years of ministry as an Associational Missionary in Southwest Georgia. One of my personal ministries was to both of the prisons in Mitchell County, the county work farm, and the Georgia State Prison. That work involved all who would come, as the song of my youth said: "Red and Yellow, Black and White, they are precious in His sight." The song, however, did not warn me that they would be felons. If I was going to spend hours each week in those two prisons, I really had to believe "red and yellow, black, and white, (and felons) they are precious in His sight." I spent twenty three years in prison ministry, and I really came to believe that "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight." This article is long enough. Believe the message of John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Bro. Joe "For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7.For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8. But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
These verses prove a important biblical fact, God loves us. This means that He loves me, He, loves you, and He loves those that we have a difficult time loving. Paul pointed out in verse 7 that there are not many people who would give their lives for someone else, even for those who are "righteous." Yet God loves us in spite of our unrighteousness. He loves us enough that He sent His Son to die for us. We are reminded of us this in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." I spent several years ministering in two prisons on Wednesday and Fridays of each week. Can you imagine what it would take for a convicted thief or murderer to finally realize that God still loves him. I do not know if many of them had ever heard that God loved them. But when they heard it, they were glad. I prayed that when the men left prison, they would take that message with them. I know that some did, but, like many in our churches, the message did not stick with some of them. I am wondering if this message has gotten through to you! Yes, He knows everything about you, but He loves you anyway. It is possible that the fact that God loves you had eluded you. Do not let this happen. God loves you! When the Lord inspired Paul to write Romans 5:8 and for John to write John 3:16, He wanted those who read it to really believe and take it personally. I wonder if you have taken Romans 5:and John 3:16 personally? When you read it, you can read it as though it was written to you, for it was! It would be a pity for a person to read this good news and ignore it as though it did not refer to them. It does refer to you! It is God's good news to all of those who will read, or hear it, and believe it. If that reality has not gotten through to you, let that happen now. Jesus loves you! Confess your sins to Him. Ask Him to forgive you - for He will if you sincerely ask for His forgiveness. Invite Jesus into your heart and life. If you know that you are a Christian, seek His forgiveness and ask for Him to have greater input, and influence, in your life, and for you to be a more effective witness for Him.. Selah Bro. Joe |
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