“Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
Before we make a decision to do something we should ask if we are doing it for the glory of God. I do not know what “it” means for you. “It” can be to sing in the choir, teach a Sunday School class, do a good deed for a neighbor, or whatever. The point is that whatever “it” is it should be for the glory of God. There are at least three ways that we can determine whether or not something is done for God’s glory. First, if you do this thing will you be able to thank God for it. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us of the importance of this: “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” You will know in your heart whether you are serving for the glory of God, and when it is done, you will be thankful for the opportunity of doing it. Psalm 100:2 tells us to “serve the Lord with gladness.” This means that God lets us serve Him, and when we do a service for Him, whatever it might be, we should gladly do it and we should thank Him for letting us serve Him. If you serve only to receive the praise of people, you are not doing it for the glory of God. This was a prevailing sin of the Pharisees in the New Testament. Jesus said that they prayed gave alms and tithes, etc. for the glory of people, not for the glory of God. Second, if you do this thing can you do it in Jesus’ name, or will you do it in Jesus’ name? Colossians 3:17 reminds us: “And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Notice that this verse also tells us to be thankful that we are allowed to serve God in some way. We need to ask ourselves, if we do this thing, will it be worthy of the name of Jesus. I don’t know if we would take this to the extent that if we water the flowers, we will do it in the name of Jesus and for His glory, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. We need to ask if a service that we are going to render is worthy of the name of Jesus. Third, if you do this thing will it ultimately bring glory to God? 1 Corinthians 10:31, our text written above, tells us to be mindful of this. In Matthew 5:16, Jesus said: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.” If you do “good works” in order for people to say what a great person you are, you are not doing them for the glory of God. Again, this does not mean that we should not get a sense of satisfaction out of what we do. God would certainly not demand that of ys. But we should be careful that the focus is on God and not just on us. I will confess after preaching hundreds of sermons over the years that this motivation is not always easy, because we want to know that what we do is appreciated, but we should be careful anyway that God gets the glory. Are you doing "it" for the glory of God? Bro. Joe
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“Wherefore, my beloved brothers, let every man (and woman) be swift to hear….”
I think that you will agree with me that we do more talking than we do listening. James has given us good advice here in telling us to be “swift to hear.” If you are like me, you are sometimes thinking of what you are going to say when someone else is talking instead of listening. (I plead guilty, but I will write on anyway.) We need to open up our ears, hearts and minds and be "swift to hear.” I want to share my thoughts with you on this subject. We learn when we listen. Jesus told His disciples at least three times, that He was going to Jerusalem, where He would be tried, crucified and that He would arise on the third day. Evidently, they were not listening. At least they were not listening with comprehension. We need to hear what Jesus is saying to us about our lives. He speaks to us through the Holy Spirit and we need to open our spiritual ears. We also need to listen to each other, for we have a lot to teach each other. We act on what we learn when we really listen and comprehend. Simon Peter was not swift to hear, but when he, and the other disciples, finally understood what Jesus was telling them about his death and resurrection, they began a work that would change the Roman Empire – and the world. The work that Jesus instituted in His early followers continues today and we are a part of it! Like the disciples we need to wake up and hear the command of Jesus to make disciples in all the world. (Read Matthew 28:18-20.) When we really listen, our hearts and lives are changed. I have a vivid memory of when Jesus got my attention and got through to me. I was alone on my bunk one afternoon, probably while I was on night duty, on the USS Hornet, when the Lord spoke to my heart clearly and distinctly. I did not hear His voice, but I knew that He was speaking to me. I can’t explain to you what happened that day, but take my word for it – it happened. That experience of listening changed the direction of my life to this day. I did not become “saintly,” and still haven’t, but I knew what Jesus wanted with my life from that day forward. I dealt at age twenty with what Jesus planted in my heart when I was twelve years old. Enough about me. I hope that you are listening with your ears and your heart. If you will, you will learn, you will act on what you hear and your life will be changed. Try it! Bro. Joe “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity. 2. For they shall soon be shut down like the grass and wither as the green herb.”
Psalm 37 is one of my favorite psalms. If you are a regular CouchPotatoRedux reader, you know that I write a lot of my blogs from the Psalms. A few just stand out to me, and this is one of those. For the next few days I will be sharing with you from the first few verses of this psalm. I hope that you will gain some spiritual insight from them as I have over the years. Verses 1-2 remind us that we are not to fret ourselves because of wicked people, we are not to be envious of the “workers of iniquity." We are also reminded that they will be cut down like grass. I wondered where I would go with this, because our lives are not consumed with those people as much as we are consumed with the needs of our own lives. I want to pick up three themes from these two verses and share my thoughts on them with you. The first thing that David reminds us of is not to fret. Today, we are more likely to say worry instead of fret. We should not let the “evildoers,” like Isis, be causes of worry for us. Worry won’t change those evil-acting people. Instead of worrying about them, we should pray for them. Pray for God to give them dreams, or some encounter with Christians who will witness to them. Maybe instead of those Christians losing their heads, the “evildoers” will lose their hearts to Jesus. In any case, we just need to stop worrying and fretting about anything. If I was a betting man (relax I’m not lol) I would bet that you worry more about children, grandchildren, illness, etc. more than you worry about Isis. In Matthew 6:33-34, Jesus said “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for these things (food, clothing, etc.) for the morrow shall take thought for things of itself. Sufficient unto today is the evil thereof.” The second thing that David reminds us of is not “to be envious of the workers of iniquity.” Those workers of iniquity will have to answer to God for their greed. Why should we envy people who get rich off of the drug trade? Why should we envy their big cars and big houses? (Just saying) Here again, I imagine that our worry with envy is in our daily lives, where we envy our neighbors who have more than we do, whether they be “workers of iniquity” or not. We should not be envious ---- period. The last commandment of the Ten Commandments, tells us not to covet anything that belongs to our neighbor. There is not a hair’s breadth between coveting and envying. James warns us in his epistle of envy: “But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” The third thing that David reminds us is that all of the evil works of the world, and all of the world’s riches are all temporary: “For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” First Peter 1:24-25 is a stark reminder of this: “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof fades away. 25. But the word of Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.” What have we learned from these two verses: (1) Do not fret and worry. (2) Do not envy. (3) Nothing in this world lasts forever; therefore, fret, worry and envy are just a waste of the precious little time that we have on this earth. Let’s give ourselves to higher things. Bro. Joe “But if we walk in the light as He (God) is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
1 John is one of my favorite “go-to” books to find encouragement and enlightenment. John was an eyewitness of most, if not all, of what Jesus did in His earthly ministry. In this text, he gives us an encouraging word of walking in God’s light. I found three components here that encouraged me, and I trust will encourage you. Light “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light…” Everything about the triune God has to do with light. Jesus referred to Himself as the “light of the world.” (John 8:12) In the Bible, God is always referred as not just being in the light, but that He is the source of the light. John shared this thought with us in Revelation 21:23: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did light it, and the lamb is the light thereof. Jesus promised in Matthew 5:16 that we are the “light of the world.” His light shines through us. We walk in the light that we might shine the light of Jesus on the world. Are you walking in the light? Fellowship We have fellowship with one another…” As we walk in the light, we are in fellowship, or partnership, with each other. This refers to everyone who is “washed in the blood of the lamb.” I know what you are thinking; you are thinking what I am thinking, i.e., we don’t appear to be light sometimes because of breaches of fellowship. But just as the light is not from us, we have to remember that our fellowship is bound together with God. 1 John 1:3 refers to this: “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” We might act like burned out bulbs sometimes, but God’s light never fades. New Testament churches had troubles just as we do, but the light continues even until today. According to Jesus “the gates of hell will not prevail against” His church. Cleansing “And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanses us of all sin…” In 1John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We can walk in the light, and have fellowship with God and one another, because of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. He forgives us and cleanses as we repent and confess our sins. Jesus knows that none of us are perfect and that we need His forgiveness, and He forgives when we come to Him for it. Thank Him!!! Are you walking in the light with fellowship with God and with your fellow Christians? Have you sought His forgiveness to cleanse you to make your light brighter? Bro. Joe “Let all bitterness, and wrath and anger, and clamour (brawling), and evil speaking (slander) be put away from you, with all malice. 32. And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake forgave you.” We have all been told at some time in our lives to behave ourselves. This means that there is a right way to behave and a wrong way to behave. This is what Ephesians 4:31-32 is all about. This text gives us examples of what we should not do and what we should do. We do not need to take these words lightly, because the effectiveness of our witness for Christ is at stake in our choices. This is a message to individuals and to people who are members of churches. God is telling us through His word to behave ourselves. There are some things that we need to put away if we are to behave ourselves. (Verse 31) We are to put away bitterness. Bitterness is usually caused by past hurts that have been internalized. Bitterness cannot live in the same heart with love, joy, peace and etc. Bitterness is a bad example to set before the world, but we see it sometimes at work in church and “it ain’t pretty.” As long as bitterness is in your life, your witness will be ineffective. We are to put away wrath/anger (rage). Rage also comes from pent-up anger which has been nurtured for so long that it has multiplied itself. The original cause for anger has probably been forgotten and the rage has taken on a life of its own. This rage makes one act like a non-Christian. Get rid of it. We are to put away clamor (brawling). Brawling is what takes place when bitterness, anger and rage are present. It is usually verbal brawling but fisticuffs at church are not unheard of. In whatever form brawling takes place, verbal or physical, it is a bad witness to the community outside of the church. We are to put away evil speaking, or slander. Slander is what takes place when the other sins mentioned have the upper hand. Slander, or gossip, among church members has been used by the devil to hurt and destroy more churches than we would care to count. When you feel the urge to “bad mouth” someone in your church, remember that you are hurting your church when you do - just don’t do it. We are to put away malice. Malice is entrenched evil in one’s heart, and when it is released from the heart it is nasty, mean-spirited and destructive. It is all of the evils mentioned thus far rolled into one. Really know that Satan wants to use these things in your life, and the word of God reminds us not to let him get by with it. There are some things that we are to add if we are to behave ourselves. (Verse 32) We are to add kindness. Kindness actually required less energy than bitterness or malice. The church of Jesus Christ should be place, above all others, where kindness rules and reigns. This is not always the case, but each of us should determine as far our lives, our behavior, is concerned it will be standard of our church. We are to add tenderheartedness or compassion. Compassion is what separated Jesus from the Pharisees in the New Testament. The Pharisees were legalistic and brutal in their dealings with people. The spirit of the Pharisees still lives. We need to be more compassionate towards each other and towards unchurched people. When a person’s heart is filled with malice it is difficult to be compassionate. We are to add forgiveness. We should be forgiving because we have been forgiven by Jesus. No one comes to Christ without having been forgiven by Him. After all, we serve One who said from his cruel cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do. It takes kindness and compassion to be a forgiving person. For your own sake, for your family’s sake and for your church’s sake be a forgiving person. You will have a fuller and more bountiful life if you will put away the things listed in verse 31 of the text and add the things listed in verse 32. Bro. Joe “The wicked earns deceptive wages, but one who sows righteousness will get a sure reward. 19. Whoever sows righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.” ESV
There is a lot to write about in these two verses, but as I read them this morning what stood out to me was “one who sows righteousness.” These words kind of kindled a fire in my imagination, and I think that it was from the Lord. What does it mean to sow righteousness, and if a person does it what will he or she “sow”? The person who sows righteousness will know for sure that he or she is not sowing his or her own righteousness. If the only righteousness we have to sow is our own, we have nothing to sow. The Bible tells us that we do not possess righteousness, but that it is imputed or given to us by the Holy Spirit. The hardest, and most negative message that Jesus gave was to the Pharisees, who thought that they were righteous. Today, we call this self-righteousness. If we want to “sow righteousness” we will have to realize that it is not our righteousness but the righteousness that was given to us by the Holy Spirit, Who enables us to live righteously. We cannot sow righteousness by bragging about our own righteousness. The person who sows righteousness sows the love that God has given us through His Son Jesus of Nazareth. With a lot of people this might not be one of the first things that they would think of, but in my mind the most important thing that we have to share is the love that God has for us, and the love that He has put into our hearts for our fellow man. I have to admit that it is not always easy to love, but if we want to sow God’s righteousness we will have to do it through love for people. This does not mean that we will always agree with people, nor does it mean that we will never have a negative message for them. Sometimes we disagree with people and remind them of Christian values, because this is also part of sowing righteousness. But we need to always share the message out of love, for this is what Jesus did when He died on the cross. This brings me to the next point about “sowing righteousness,” i.e., that we live the message of love and righteousness that we share. We know that we are never going to do this perfectly, for no one has done this perfectly but Jesus. As already mentioned, we know that we are not sowing our own righteousness, but we want to be careful that we live what we sow. This could mean a lot of things, but Paul brought it to a fine point in Romans 13:15-16: “Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantoness, not in strife and envying. 14. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lust thereof.” Think of this: If every Christian decided that they would be “sowers of righteousness,” we could make an indelible mark on the world. Indeed, if we would live what we have been taught by Jesus, we would make the world a better place. We pray for a revival of righteousness in the world, but the revival does not start in the world, but in the church. (What I mean by “church” is all of the people who profess Christ and who have made a public commitment to Him.) As long as we live like we want, and fight with each other, we are not going to make any mark on the world. As long as we huddle within the four walls of our church buildings and do not endeavor to share the message of love and righteousness that Jesus has given us, we will not “sow righteousness,” and we will not make an impression on the world. Let us decide, then, that we will be “sowers of righteousness,” and get about the business of doing it. Selah Bro. Joe Verse 1: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Verse 8: “A time to love, and a time to hate: a time of war and a time of peace.” Solomon seems to be fatalistic and pessimistic in Ecclesiastes, but if you look beyond what is written you can make sense of his fatalism and pessimism. We have to remember that the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and what is written is truth whether we understand its complete meaning or not. I do have to admit that verse 8 of Ecclesiastes 3 has been off-setting to me at times. I don’t have any problem with “a time to love,” but I have to give some thought to “a time to hate.” Actually, I did give some thought to it, and it was really simple. Solomon did not write that there is a time to hate people. Jesus, especially, never told us to hate people. But there is a time to hate and I will share here some things that we need to hate. We should certainly hate the things that God hates. We find one of these things in Jeremiah 44:4-5: “Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. 5. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other Gods.” God hates idolatry of all kinds, but Israel could not seem to stay away from it. God does not want us to put anything ahead of Him, not because of His insecurity, but because He knows that it is better for us to give Him first place. Therefore, we should hate the things that might call our attention away from God. I could go on and on with this, because there are a lot of things that we know God hates, e.g., adultery, lying, cheating, stealing etc. In other words, we should hate sin in general because God hates sin. We should certainly hate things that keep us from being the best that we can be. There are a number of things that can do this. Some obvious things are alcohol and drugs. Until people learn to hate what these substances are doing to their bodies, they will not give them up. I don’t mean to be an old fuddy-duddy here, but our choices of entertainment and reading might keep us from being the best that we can be. I am certainly not against entertainment, and I am definitely not against reading. I love to read novels as well as other literature, but there are some things that we can read or watch that do not help us become better people. I don’t know what that might be for you, but I know what it means for me. At least we should learn to hate what the wrong kind of entertainment and reading can do for us. I can share with you something that it is always time for me to hate, i.e., when I want to feel sorry for myself. (Oh, come on, you know what I mean.) I think that this is one of Satan’s tools that he uses against us, because when we give in to self-pity, we are not any good to God or people. I have always said that every minute that we spend feeling sorry for ourselves is a wasted minute. The same could be said of hours, days, months and years. I don’t remember that I have ever done anything good or uplifting when I have been inside the trap of self-pity. After years of having plenty of opportunities to feel sorry for myself, I have learned to hate it and to bat it down before it takes hold in my life. I want to recommend the same to you. If you are having a “pity party” at the present time, you need to man or woman up, and get over it. Learn to hate anything that makes you shrink into yourself. I once read that the “smallest package in the world is a person wrapped up in himself or herself.” I don’t know about you, but I do not love feeling small in my heart. There are plenty of other things that we should hate, but people are not in that category. Bro. Joe “And if a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.”
This text is the second of the metaphors that Paul used in 2 Timothy 2 to explain to Timothy, and to us, how we must live if we want to be effective servants in our daily battle against Satan and his army. In verse 4 he used a soldier as an example of obeying orders, and not getting enmeshed in the problems of the world. In verse 6 he used a farmer as an example of one who works hard and reaps the rewards of his labor. In verse 5 he used the athlete as an example of playing by the rules. An explanation is in order here: The word translated “masteries” in the KJV is from the Greek word “athlay.” (It is where we get our word “athlete.”) It referred to one who competed in the “games,” and is a reference to a foot racer. No matter how fast he, or she, can run, he, or she, has to compete by the rules to win. This is true of all athletic contests. I want to give two examples of the importance of playing by the rules. Foot racers have a lane that they must stay in if they want to win the race. If they get out their lane, no matter how fast they are running, it doesn’t count. If we want to be victorious in our faith, we will stay in the lane that is laid out for us. We can say that we need to stay in “straight and narrow way” if we want to live victoriously. Understand that our salvation does not come from staying in the lane, but our effectiveness as Christ’s servants comes from staying in the lane. This means that we need to be careful what we do, what we say, how we treat people, etc. We are saved by grace through faith, but after we are saved we are called upon to work, to serve, and to live the Christian life. The Bible lays out the “lane” that we must stay in if we want our works for the Lord to be effective. Paul gave us an example of this in 1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” He didn’t mean that he would be no longer saved, but that his work for the Lord would not prosper and that he would be sidelined. In other words, Paul wanted to stay in his lane in order to be victorious and prosperous in his service for the Lord. We can also use a football player as an example of “playing by the rules.” A football field is laid out with boundaries in which the game will be played. If a player crosses the boundary line, the play is ruled “out of bounds” and that is where the play ends. No matter how fast a football player is, if he runs out of bounds, the play is halted there. No matter how great a pass is thrown and no matter how great a catch is made, if the catch is made out of bounds, it doesn’t count. As the foot racer needs to stay in his or her lane, the football player has to play within the bounds set out on the field. Let me give an example of how we can go “out of bounds” in our lives. We can say that we love people, but that does not mean that we really love them. If we claim to love people, but we treat them in an unchristian way, we have run “out of bounds.” The Bible tells us that our love for people should be genuine. Another example is how we live our lives. We can talk about and teach that we should live pure lives, but we might excuse impurity in our own lives. We have to be careful about this, because people notice the way we live, and they know when we have run “out of bounds.” I think that you get the idea here that we have to play by the rules in order to be effective in our service for the Lord. This is not a call to be legalistic and self-righteous in our service. It is a call to humbly serve the Lord, knowing that there is a right way and a wrong way to live. That is why Bible study and prayer are so important. It is so easy to get out of the right lane, or to run out of bounds in daily living. James 4:7-8 gives us advice that can help us play by the rules: “Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you….” We need to stay close to the One who is always in the right lane and is always in bounds. He will help us stay there. Bro. Joe “Keep your tongue from (speaking) evil, and your lips from speaking guile. 14. Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace and pursue it.” (I added the parenthesis, and all of the others in the article.) “I will praise You with my whole heart….” |
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