Monday, October 22, 2012

Service

It has long been my dream to preach in the church. To share my enthusiasm and my passion for God. To admonish and challenge His people when needed and to cheer and encourage them as well. 

I believe that, for many people, the minutia of life obscures opportunities for service to God. We get distracted in our pain, our worries, and our struggles to make ends meet or to make our marriages work or to hold on to our jobs in an uncertain world that God becomes something we do instead of a loving Father who cares.

On the other hand there are many of us who become comfortable to the point of couch potatoism. We are confident in our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We share Him with others. We give to His church. We serve when asked... In other words we do ENOUGH. We become complacent because the idea of ENOUGH makes us lazy and we no longer exhibit the passion, the excitement, or the urgency that we once did... Our fire is banked and is no longer the shining beacon it once was.

On the last hand, I know we only have two but work with me here, lol. 


We have people who allow fear or anxiety keep them from where they could be... I fall into this last category. I want to preach... but struggle with anxiety and dislike being the center of attention because of this. I feel called to preach and yet rarely leave my home and even then only with a trusted few.  I want to preach despite that in my church family such opportunities are nearly non existent... Now I have spoken at an evening service so there is hope for the future and I pray that God gives me the strength, patience, and fearlessness to do so again when the opportunity arises. For the rest of us who allow fear or anxiety interfere with the work of God, I call on you to examine yourself and abandon your fear. Give it to God for perfect love drives out all fear! If you fear change pray that God shares His vision with you so you can get excited about it and in your joy forget your fear.

Above all we must remember that we are the children of the most high God. It is something we ARE, not something we do or simply believe...

Love

John 13:34-35 (MSG)
"Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."

I think this is one of the most profound statements made by Christ in the New Testament. It is often overlooked because there was no great miracle, no flashing lights or prophetic promises... just a simple statement made to those closest to Him. 

Earlier Jesus stated that the Law and the Prophets could be summed up in two all encompassing commands: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. But now He is telling His followers that He is giving them a NEW command... in the same way I loved you, you love one another.

First off, this is amazing because Jesus is revealing his Godness here because he is giving a New Command! He is, in essence, changing... or better said, updating, the Law. The Law is the cornerstone of Jewish faith. It is the contract if you will... the very covenant between the Jewish nation and God Himself... so only God Himself has the power to alter its terms and conditions.

Secondly, this simple command removes many barriers and stumbling blocks from our paths as we try to negotiate a love based faith. Before we were to love others as we loved ourselves... but many of us don't know how to properly love ourselves. We are filled with self loathing, guilt, anger, disappointment and disdain. We overeat, indulge in addictive behavior, make painful choices and often spend so much time doing unto others that we serve out of desperation of conviction and emptiness.

We forget that, as Psalm 24 points out, as we walk with God... He will sustain us, feed us until our cup overflows and that it is this overflowing that empowers us to share our blessings with others... But Jesus removes much of our excuses and our trials with this new Command. No longer are we to love others as we imperfectly love ourselves... NO, now we are to love others as HE LOVES US!

That's Agape Love...

The kind of love described in 1st Corinthians chapter 13. This is often read at weddings, and that is appropriate, but we need to remember that this love is the kind of love God has for us, his chosen and / or adopted children. And it is this love that Jesus has now commanded us to share with others:

1 Corinthians 13
The Message (MSG)
The Way of Love


If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.



I love the Message translation... that last bit may be more familiar when stated this way: Faith, Hope, and Love... and the greatest of these is Love. Have you ever wondered why Love is the greatest of these things? Because Love is the only one that will last eternally... remember, Love never dies! When we are rejoicing in heaven there will be no need for faith or hope because our hopes will have been realized and our faith will have been confirmed... but Love, Love is everlasting, eternal, it NEVER DIES!!

It is this that Jesus commands us to share freely with others.

In a world that constantly changes it is amazing that the thing Christ wants us to exhibit above all else is a thing that is everlasting!

So, smile more, say thank you more, offer the blessings of God on those who serve you, look for ways to show love and concern... it doesn't have to cost you more than a moment of your time... hold open a door, or an elevator; help a person pick up something they've dropped; and let that harried overworked waitress or gas station attendant know that you appreciate the thankless job they do.

Finally, make an effort to do the one thing that is most motivated by love... and is often difficult to even comprehend... FORGIVE. Forgiveness is not something we offer when a person comes to us repentant and begging for it... it is not dependent on the actions of the other party at all... it is something we need to decide to do and then do it... while praying for the strength to release our anger, bitterness, and even hatred against the person or organization who has wronged us.

There is a song... yes I know I just love sharing the lyrics to songs... that illustrates this remarkable thing called Forgiveness. It is by Matthew West and it was inspired by the true story of a woman whose daughter was killed by a young drunk driver. She knew in her heart that she would never be able to truly recover from the loss of one of her children if she held on to the bitterness and anger, so she visited the young man in prison and forgave him. This resulted in a relationship building between the two that eventually lead to him finding Christ... he wanted to know the God that would lead her to forgiving him... when he, himself, was unable to do so... its called, appropriately enough, Forgiveness:

Forgiveness by Matthew West
from the album Into The Light


It's the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don't deserve

It's the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just to real
It takes everything you have just to say the word...

Forgiveness
Forgiveness

It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It's always anger's own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge 
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It's the whisper in your ear saying 'Set It Free'

Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible

Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

It'll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it's power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
The prisoner that it really frees is you

Forgiveness, Forgiveness
Forgiveness, Forgiveness

Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness

I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, Forgiveness


"All Scripture quotations in this publication are from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group."