Month: January 2012

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Rom 12:2

Have you ever been faced with a big decision, and you didn’t know which way to go?  You wrestled with the possibilities, you bit your nails, and you cried out, “Lord, show me what to do!”  One word from His throne would bring the peace you so desperately needed, but can we really know the will of God for us?  This verse says, “Yes, we can!”

So, what is the key to dispelling the confusion in such circumstances?  According to our text, it is detaching ourselves from the world and daily refreshing our minds in the Lord.  He is not a God of confusion! (1 Cor 14:33) He is pure and perfect light that dispels the darkness.  When speaking of the coming of the Lord, Paul said that day would not catch the children of God unaware: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Th 5:4) Why not?  Because “You are all sons of light and sons of the day.” (1 Th 5:5) So if we, as children of that Light, are in darkness, where must the problem lie?  With us, not with God!

In the familiar words of John Newton, “I once…was blind, but not I see!”  The children of God can see!  When Jesus came into the world, He came to give “recovery of sight to the blind”. (Lk 4:18) Yes, He did this physically, even healing a man that was blind from birth, but more importantly, he healed men of spiritual blindness!  He brought to light things that were hidden.  He revealed secrets to those He saved.  He told His disciples they had blessed eyes because He was showing them clearly things that were once only seen in shadow. (Mt 13:16) Part of the great blessing bestowed upon the saints of God per Eph 1:1-9 is that God has “made known to us the mystery of His will”.  So, if we are hindered at times from knowing that will, what has caused this temporary blindness?

Our text says that it is due to us being too involved with the things of the world.  We can’t fight the good fight of faith that way because, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life”. (2 Tim 2:4) “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (1 Cor 15:33) Conformity to the world WILL cloud our judgment.  If we would know the mind and will of God, we must be transformed (from the Greek word that we get our word “metamorphosis”) by the renewing of our minds.  One brother pointed out last week that the word  “renewing” reveals the constant need of this transformation.  It’s not a one time thing.  It is a daily renewal.  We don’t bathe once a month!  We must continually be cleansed “with the washing of water by the word”. (Eph 5:26) We must constantly war against this flesh while diligently seeking God every second!

And, where is the battleground?  It is the “renewing of your mind” that is necessary!  That’s why we are admonished as we are in Phili 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”  It takes work to “meditate on these things”.  With the constant barrage of ungodliness in our day and age, everything seems to be pulling us to think on things that are just the opposite, but, is anything too hard for those that have God dwelling in them?  No, we are able because it is “God who always leads us in triumph in Christ”! (2 Cor 2:14) Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth, and you’ll find that the will of God will be clear. (Col 3:2) You can do what you want because your desires and decisions will be in line with His mind.  “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He SHALL direct your paths.” (Pr 3:6)

Jamie

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“Let love be without hypocrisy.”
Romans 12:9

Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart! (1 Sam 16:7) God weighs the motives behind what we do. There is a fearful scene described for us in Mt 7:21-23. To read that some will hear the Lord’s judgment in this text is disturbing, but to find out that this story describes the experience of “many” should prompt us to carefully examine our own hearts:

 21 “Not everyone who says to Me,‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day,‘Lord,Lord,have we not prophesied in Your name,cast out demons in Your name,and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me,you who practice lawlessness!’

You understand that these aren’t the unbelieving do-gooders of the world like Bill Gates who was quoted as saying, “Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning.”  No.  The individuals Christ is referring to in this text ARE sitting in churches on Sunday morning.  These are professing Christians!  How can a man be so busy doing many works in the name of Christ and yet be told by the Lord he was only practicing lawlessness?  It’s because the motivation behind what he did was all wrong!  As David said in Ps 7:9, ” the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.”  God looks on the heart!

Why do we do what we do?  Practical Christianity is not conformity to a list of do’s and don’ts.  Judaism had turned into that in Christ’s day, and God was displeased with it.  If we’re just trying to keep a set of laws like they were in an attempt to please God, we’ve got the same problem they had, namely that, “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight,for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”  The law will always condemn us if by it we seek for acceptance with God.  Our justification must be based on what Christ has done, not what we do.  Rom 10:4 tells us that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”  He has satisfied the law’s requirements for all who believe in Him!  A Christian lives godly because he knows he IS accepted by God through Jesus Christ and loves God so much for that acceptance that he wants to do be obedient to His word.  Practical Christianity is a life of service to God motivated by love.  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (Jn 14:15) Only through love, the proper motivation, can we rightly relate to the law for ” love is the fulfillment of the law” ( Rom 13:10)

So, what is the key to loving without hypocrisy, as our text instructs us?  How can we serve others in sincerity?  How can we obey God’s command to forgive someone that has taken advantage of us and do so from the heart as in Mt 18:35?  The preceding parable gives us some insight.  The servant should have been willing to forgive his fellow servant a small debt because his master had forgiven him a great one! (see Mt 18:21-35) When we are aware of the great mercy God has shown us, in spite of our unworthiness, we will show mercy to others from the heart!  The depth of our love depends on the depth of our awareness of our forgiveness.  If we aren’t aware of the great mercy of God, then we will love very little, and it will be accompanied with hypocrisy.  “…to whom little is forgiven,the same loves little.” (Lk 7:47) How can a man do many wonders in the name of Christ and one day hear, “I never knew you”?  Because, apart from love, every good work is of no profit.  “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Cor 13:3)

Jamie