How many people have experienced the frustration of trying to solve something without God? How many of you pray daily because you know you just cannot get through your day without God’s help? You know you cannot succeed without Christ in your life, don’t you?
And yet every year at this time, what do we do? We have our grand ambitions for how this year is going to be different. And right up until December 30 we just know we’ve still got time! Some of us will not decide on a pack of gum at the gas station without praying to God first. And yet some of us will plan our entire year full of resolution, without checking in with God, and ensuring that He’s with us every day to help us meet His goals for us!
Some of these goals are pretty lofty. And that’s fine. Go ahead. Set lofty goals. Remember, however, that your New Year’s Resolution is unattainable! You’re going to eat better? Never going to happen! You want to lose weight? Well that’s impossible! This is the year you’re going to have more patience with people: until you get cut off on the highway! You’re finally going to be the parent you always thought you should be: until it’s late at night and you just don’t have the energy to make dinner and read a story to your kid. Is perfection possible? Most would say no! I will say that it is definitely not possible without perfection in Christ!
Let’s vow to make no more mistakes. For my part, I have never made a mistake…once I thought I did but I was wrong! Strive to be perfect! “MATTHEW 5:48: Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect…” the word Christ used that was translated “perfect” is τέλειος [tel’-i-os]: it literally means “mature: consumate human integrity and virtue.” Be MATURE in your faith, in your treatment of others, in your reliance on God!
What would it look like to be τέλειος? Be as close to Christlike as you can be!
BE SINLESS
Christ repeatedly admonished people to do this. Why? Can’t since we are sinful by nature, righ? Because it wasn’t about never sinning, but about refusing to return to a sinful lifestyle. It’s about willful sin. Avoid willful sin, no matter how (humanly) perceptibly small the sin. Christ says to stop deliberately defying God and His laws.
BE ALL ABOUT THE FATHER’S BUSINESS
Christ began His ministry with the words, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The word translated “at hand” is the Greek ἐγγίζω [engizo] and literally means “connected,” which could also be translated comfortably as “with you.” The kingdom is connected to us!
We must preach the kingdom. It is the purest display of love for our fellow man to seek ways of spreading the gospel to others so that they have the opportunity to be saved! We were never created to sit idle but to work. Our entire job was to tend the earth and subdue it. Christ gave us new marching orders, baptize all nations and teach them to obey Christ’s commandments! This leads right into..:
BE TRUE IN DISCIPLESHIP
Discipleship is more than just going to church, studying verses and professing faith. A disciple seeks to emulate the master. Where the master sleeps, the disciple sleeps. What the master eats, the disciple eats. What the master says and does, the disciple says and does also! Christ showed us the way. We need but follow His perfect example.
OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS
But there are so many! They are pretty intuitive for the most part. Of course there are a few we need to remember because we are in bad habits of them: No making God in our own image! This means attributing thoughts, attributes or decisions on things to God that are really one’s own. WE don’t decide what God would be “ok with,” as God has already spelled it all out in scripture, clarified by Christ. Consider the statement and decision by Amy Grant, well-known pop star and Christian pop star, to host a same sex marriage on her property for her neice. She was quoted as saying, “Jesus, you distilled it all down to ‘love God, love each other.’” This statement reveals a marked lack of scriptural knowledge and a willingness to put words in the mouth of God. She decided to invent a God who was ok with something the God of the Bible, as well as science and biology, has clearly been against.
Yet in dealing with people who do not think scripturally or who otherwise think differently than us, we must ensure not only that we are loving to them but never display hatred in our anger at someone who wrongs us! We don’t need to accept the sin of others. But we MUST accept THEM. Scripture is clear on when we are to move on but every effort must be made to educate as many as we can. More on this later!
Steer clear of lusting! Buddy tells of a guy who sees a pretty girl and says he will risk one eye! (Making reference to Christ’s admonition that if your right eye offend, pluck it out). This one becomes increasingly hard as what the majority decides is acceptable in public and on social media deteriorates. Even the provocative dress of adults in public has spread to our youth! Anonymity and the internet makes lust almost second nature. We teach people to dress provicatively, dance seductively and show bodies online and in person for the deliberate entertainment of anonymous onlookers. God considers this adultery and putting out stumbling blocks. Isn’t the devil tempting us enough? Do we need to do so with each other? But remember, we are speaking if WILLFUL sin.
Honor your parents. When you honor your parents you are demonstrating honor and respect for your ultimate Father in heaven. Honoring doesn’t mean aggreement with parenting style, upbringing or treatment. It means giving due honor and respect to parents for their position, even when they may not have been good parents. In emergency services or the military, officers have to be respected for their position. They may be terrible in their positions, but they are owed credit for the position that they hold.
Avoid hypocrisy in judgment, judging behavior and not people. When reading scripture it is critical to read ALL of it. Everyone remembers “judge not lest you be judged.” But we must read the rest of the sermon on the subject.
“Do not judge, so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye!
It is perfectly fine and even expected that we judge behavior. But we need to remember that the scales we use to weigh behavior will be used on us as well.
When I condemn someone’s behavior, whether it’s blatantly sinful or just different than my own, I almost NEVER use the correct standard of judgment.
I pass judgment according to my own strengths and opinions. I don’t have any real addictive personalit, for example. So when I see addictive behavior I have to remember that people have different makeups in their genes. I can’t just condemn a person for being an addict.
Forgive, be ready always. Pray for your enemies because God grants far greater forgiveness to us than we deserve! God hopes in our enemies. So should we! So be accepting of the greatest of sinners in your midst, be compassionate for those who need Christ.
Don’t swear oaths. Christ says let your yes be yes and no be no.when we qualify our oaths with swearing on something, we are throeing collateral in that we have no ownership of.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE SO THAT ALL ARE WELCOME. WALK IN HUMILITY
PRAY DAILY, HOURLY, and in secret
GIVE FREELY AND IN SECRET WITHOUT EXPECTATION OF RETURN!
do you FREELY GIVE and FERVENTLY PRAY?
PROVE YOUR HEART TO GOD
Where is your treasure? Christ is quick to remind us that where our treasure is (what we value most) so are our hearts. Prove your heart by seeking the kingdom before all else! It comes back to Christ’s first ministry words doesn’t it?
MATTHEW 6:33: “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Seeking the kingdom first means that all of our other needs inline with His will are going to be added to us.
LUKE 7:1-10: Be as faithful as the centurion with the paralyzed servant, praying and then letting God work His will!
MATTHEW 10:7-8: “And as you go, preach saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.”
Be willing to be sheep among the wolves…
LOVE
If we truly believe the news we have, do we love others enough to want to save them from themselves, as Christ loves us?
Leonard Ravenhill wrote in Why Revival Tarries (p.32):
Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. “The Consolations of Religion,” was the reply. Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase with a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”? All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon:
“Sir,” addressing the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!
Children have this kind of love:
Doctor Jim Clark was fighting for his patient Liz’s life. The five-year-old had a rare disease and urgently needed a blood transfusion in order to survive. Her only hope was to receive a blood donation from her twin brother: not only because the siblings had the same blood type, but also because he himself had survived the condition that she suffered from. His blood therefore contained an antibody that could save Liz’s life.
When Jim asked the boy if he would agree to give blood for his sister, he was initially hesitant. But when the doctor explained to him that it was the only way to save his sister’s life, he agreed.
The transfusion proceeded. The two siblings lay next to each other during the treatment and the doctor was relieved as he saw color return to Liz’s face. But when the procedure was finished, the plucky young boy suddenly became very serious and asked the doctor a question that he will never forget: “So when will I die?”
The boy must have thought that with his blood donation, he would be literally giving his life to save his sister’s. The doctor reassured him immediately and clarified that of course he wasn’t going to die.
Jim was struck by the profound and pure love behind the little boy’s misunderstanding, and shared this wonderful story on the internet.
It comes down to LOVE: will you resolve this year to up your love game? Will you love Christ enough to be as mich like Him as possible in ALL situations, especially when it will get you chastized, teased, or belittled?
Will you love people enough to lament for their souls and do whatever you can to ensure they have the knowledge to save themselves, and mourn for them if they decide to die anyway?
Will you love enough to suffer on behalf of another for your love? Christ expects nothing less from us. And I want you to know and rest assured, I love each and every one of you with that love! This is going to be a great year! It doesn’t matter what the government throws at us. It doesn’t matter what the haters spew at us. It doesn’t matter what happens. It is going to be an awesome year. It will be awesome because I have all of you! And I peeked at the end of the book. We are on the winning team!