Are we Profitable Servants?

Luke 17:7-10 “But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
And will not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and after ward thou shalt eat and drink?
Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.”

To do what was our duty to do, is to be found faithful in all our gifts and callings.

But everything we’ve been called to do; every work He would require at our hands, has been paid for already.
The full price was paid for by the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The power and plan to do is given to us, by Him; we have but to follow Him and do.

And when we have done that which was our duty to do, as His faithful servants?
We must say we are unprofitable servants; because what we do is not a matter of merit.
We are accountable to Him for our duty.

How is it then, we minister to His satisfaction? What is it that truly pleases Him?

It is what we become, ourselves, under His training, that pleases Him.

If in the end of our training, we are still arguing about the circumstances, or plan, or way, or anything; we are not much pleasure to Him. (Think of your child, who does the chores you tell him, but not until you have to yell at him, or practically drag him out to do it. When he is done, you do not have pleasure in the doing, but rather feel it would have been easier for you, to do it yourself.)
We may do what we are told, finally, for some reason. But the pleasure of the Lord in the doing, is that we are identified with Him in it.
That never happens if we are still at odds, in some way, with Him.

What He wants is a love relationship: so He uses the story of a servant who has worked in the field, yet still is to serve Him, in the house.

When we are busy all day, FOR Christ; we tend to forget (unless we have learned the lesson here), that we also need to Love Christ, personally. (Pictured in the setting before Him the food and drink, personally)
We need to become, under His hand, a loving disciple that will do anything (without thinking of the consequences), to please Him.

(The term, “under His hand”, is another phrase that you used to hear often; but don’t any more. Let me explain: My wife and I are older, and we are used to holding hands when walking, or I have my hand at her elbow, or on her shoulder.
Yes, it is good for balance; but also we can communicate with each other by the hands.
This is the same with the Lord’s hand. His touch, on our eyes, or ears, or shoulder, or elbow to turn us here or there; or away from this or that.
But as I know my wife likes my hand on her, so we should like the hand of God on us.)

The mature love of lovers, knows the things that please. So we should grow up: out of ourself life, into Christ’s life for us; and become lovers of God.

You may say that this parable is of a servant. Yes, and I say let us look to who Jesus was giving this to, and for what reason He gave this.
Jesus had been talking to His disciples about offenses.
There are many in this life: many which we do, and many which come to us. How were they to deal with them?
Rebuke the offender, or tell him you were offended: and if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he turns and does it seven times in a day; yet is sorry seven times, they were to forgive him each and every time.

The disciples, feeling totally inadequate (and who isn’t without the power of the Holy Spirit?), said:

Luke 17:5-6 “And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto the sycamine tree, be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea: and it should obey you.”

Here, then is the setting for the story of the servant: Faith is the workhorse of our Christians lives. It makes God real, and His Word hearable.
So we can know Him.
And we can, by faith have the power of God in our lives, and through them.

As His servants, we are to do our duty, Absolutely.
As His love servants, we are to become more and more in love with Christ; and become all we were created for.
A lover of God is a beautiful creation; for we are formed into His likeness, and character.

 

Keep Thy Heart

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

The heart in Scripture is the soul, or personality of the individual. It is what makes us, us.
It is made up of mind or thoughts; heart, or affections; and will, or the limited power we have to do.

If we are born again (the Bible was written for God’s people), then we are warned to “keep our hearts”.

We are not to let it wander around into things it should not go near.
We are told to hold it close to God, by the exercise of willing love.
(If you say you can not will love; I disagree. If you are talking about the affections which fly here and there; no you can not do much with them, until they are brought into subjection to Christ Jesus.
But when we are born again, we are given power to exercise our will for God in a new way. The will becomes the holder of all precious materials for God. One of these is love. And as such, we will to love what God loves.)
We then will to stay close to the Altogether Lovely One, Jesus Christ.

We have become so surrounded by the World’s terms and definitions about them; that we have forgotten the reality of the power of God in our lives.

The world says love is an emotional response to someone or something.
God says love comes from Him, into our hearts, and is returned to Him by an act of our will.
1 John 4:16,19 “And we have known and believed the love God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
We love him, because he first loved us.”

Believe is another word, the World has misused. It says it is a action of the mind, which grasps the concept of something that has proved itself.

But God says it is an action of the will, whereby we place our whole being on Him, and His Word.
Mark 9:24 “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”are

This father willed to believe. Even praying Jesus to help his unbelief.
To believe is the action of faith.
And faith is placed within us by the Holy Spirit, when we come to Christ.
It works in us to believe: place our whole selves on Christ.

That is the action part, where we do His Will.

So we are told to “Keep our hearts” and we are to do this “with all diligence”.

It takes a lot of effort to keep our hearts close to Christ.
We have a tendency to “slide” away from Him. There are many temptations in this world.
Jeremiah 3:14 “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord;…”

Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

But, as we love Him, we grow stronger and stronger in that love. We are never out of danger, till we reach our home in heaven, but He has made a way of escape, even in the temptation:

1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, BUT WILL WITH THE TEMPTATION ALSO MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, that ye may be able to bear it.

For out of it (our hearts- our souls) are the issues of life.
Issues, or the source of life.
When we are saved, we are given eternal life, which is a condition of life.
(It is not just to live forever. Everyone will live forever, someplace. The born again ones, in Heaven with God, in bliss. The lost, in the Lake of Fire, in torment.)

This condition of life is Christ’s Life within us by the Holy Spirit.
We are to hang on to Him. Steady ourselves with His Arm. (We need a lot of steadying)
And we are to use all the grace that He gives us, to keep hanging on to Him.
He never leaves us, but we often leave Him.
That is why hanging on, keeping our hearts for Him, is so important.

Love Him, for He loved you with an Everlasting Love.
Trust Him, for He is Faithful.
Believe, and Obey Him, for He leads us in the best way to go.

 

To Walk Before God

Psalm 56:13 “For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?”

The term, “to walk with God”, used to be common among Christians. I have not heard it very often, lately.

To “walk”, we need to have the ability to walk, and we need to have a way or path to walk in.

All this is stated here:
“For Thou hast delivered my soul from death…”
This is what Jesus Christ did on His Cross, for us, who receive Him as Lord and Savior.
John 1:12 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

And since He has saved us, He has surely given us the “way” to walk with Him, and the ability (grace) to walk with Him.

“Wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling”
This is what the Holy Spirit does in us, practically, as we deny ourselves, and seek His Will. We are delivered in the circumstances of our lives from sin , self, the world, and the devil.
Jude 24 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.”

3 John 4 “I have no greater joy then to hear that my children walk in truth.”

1 John 1:7 “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.”

All of this is: “That I may walk before God in the light of the living”.
This is not heaven, but here on earth.
To go about our everyday life, walking with the sensible knowledge that:
Our Heavenly Father’s Will is working out, in us and for us.
Our Lord Jesus is interceding for us, that we may obtain all He has for us.
And the Holy Spirit is enabling us, now; moment by moment.

We truly live, as we use the grace given, and walk with Him.

 

The First Principle, Obedience.

Acts 8:1,4-5 “…And at that time there was a great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.”

Jesus had told them to be witnesses to Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

Until the persecution, they had concentrated their activities in Jerusalem.
But now they were forced to flee; and so began the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

Philip was one of the deacons appointed to see to the daily needs of the Church. (Acts 6:3-6)

But now he goes down to Samaria, to preach of Christ.

Acts 8:6-8 “And the people with one accord gave heed unto the things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.
For unclean spirits crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.
And there was great joy in that city. ”

Here was a real Awakening. There was great joy in that city. Surely there would be, since Jesus Christ has come into the hearts and lives of the citizens.

Acts 8:12 “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.”

Soon after this, Peter and John came from Jerusalem, to help Philip, after they heard that Samaria received the word of God.

In the midst of this Awakening, Philip is told to leave there and go down to Gaza, which is desert.

Acts 8:26 “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way which goeth down to Jerusalem to Gaza, which is desert.”

And what was his reaction to this? Did he argue and say, “Lord, I am in a great revival here. I can’t leave now.” ?
No.

Acts 8:27-29 “And he arose and went: (That is Obedience)
And behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had a charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,
was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Isaiah the prophet.
Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”

The Holy Spirit tells Philip, Go near, and join this man.
And Philip runs!
And is given the opportunity to speak of Jesus Christ.

Acts 8:30-34 “And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he should come up and sit with him.
The place of the Scripture which he read was this,
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
and like a lamb dumb before his Shearer, so opened not his mouth:
In his humiliation his judgement was taken away:
and who shall declare His generation?
For his life is taken from the earth.
And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? Of himself, or of some other man?”

This eunuch had been to Jerusalem, to worship. Even though he had been there at the time of Pentecost, he was untouched by all that was going on there.

(Remember, Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was given: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,…
Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together….
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:1-2,4,6,38)

And now, this eunuch was returning home, not knowing of the invitation Peter gave to all who gathered around them. He was looking to the Scriptures, but without understanding.
And Philip, using that very Scripture, spoke to him, of Jesus: Who He was, and what He had done, for the saving of the soul.

Acts 8:35 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.”

Obedience is the first principle of all of God’s Principles. It Honors God, because it is for the Lord.
His Presence is with the one doing it, in a real way.
He honors the one doing it.
He blesses the obedience, whether it is seen at the time or not.
(Obedience in the Greek means “willingly doing what you are told”.
You can do, because you have to, or to gain something.
But Obedience is the willing heart doing, to please our Lord Jesus Christ.)

Acts 8:36-38 “As they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”

Philip was obedient, and the eunuch was obedient, and he went on his way rejoicing.

Acts 8:39 “And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.”

To know about Jesus, is good.
But to truly know Him, is joy.
There was joy in Samaria, and with the eunuch, because of Philip’s obedience.

The first principle is Obedience. For Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15)

 

Overthrowing the Moneychangers

John 2:13-16 “And the Jews Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers money, and overthrew their tables;
And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”

This is the first of three Passovers, which Jesus attends to fulfill His work, after He was baptized of John the Baptist.
He came with no fanfare, but walked into the temple, fulfilling God’s commandment.

There He finds those men which had been allowed to go into the outer court of the temple, to sell their wares.

This would be very convenient. (And how many times we give into the convenient way of doing God’s Will; not His way).
If you had traveled from a far distance, you could not bring a proper sacrifice with you. It would certainly be damaged by the time you got to Jerusalem. Which would not be acceptable. (Deuteronomy 17:1)
So, you would need to buy one there. Certainly at an exorbitant rate!

The priests had an arrangement with the sellers. (Most likely getting some of the money they charged to the visitors.). And so at the time of the Passover, the outer court was turned into a market place.

When Jesus came, and saw it; He drove out the sellers, and reminded all that the temple was God’s house. It was not to be a house of merchandise.

John 2:17 “And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.”

This was the first public rebuking of the Priests, and authorities. It was for His Father’s glory, and they should have easily submitted, if they wanted God’s glory.

But believing in God’s Law, in general; and being corrected by it, are two different things. It requires heart submission, to God. And most of them were not.

Paul said of them, later:
Romans 2:21-23 “Thou therefore which teaches another, teaches thou not thyself? Thou that teaches a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Thou that sayest that a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?
Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God?”

Jesus had ministered with others, and had done miracles; but this was the first time He publicly showed His authority:
He not only demanded the removal of that which was defiling His Father’s House; He drove them out!
He spoke with Power, and used His power to cleanse the Temple! None had done, as He was doing.

There were three years of the ministry of Jesus:

It is not certain when the priests went back to the arrangement of selling in the temple court; but in the third year of His ministry, He came again to Jerusalem.

This time He came with fanfare, according to prophesy; if anyone wanted to really see. (Zechariah 9:9)

Matthew 21:6-11 “And his disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them,
And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way.
And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”

By this time He was recognized, as the one who did many miracles, throughout the land. Not so long ago He had raised Lazarus from the dead. For all these things, the crowds in Jerusalem praised Him.
There were many who believed on Him as the Messiah; but the crowds were looking for miracles, for healing, for a show. (Were they who praised here, crying “Crucify Him”, in a few days?)

Matthew 21:12-14 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all of them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the changers of the money changers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
And said unto them, it is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
And the blind, and the lame, came to him in the temple; and he healed them.”

When He came the first time, He said, “My Father’s House”. Here it is called the temple of God, still. (Later He will say, “your house is left unto you desolate”. Matthew 23:37-38)

But here, in front of all, He said “My house”. Showing clearly that He is the Messiah, that was to come, and restore the hearts of Israel to God. (Isaiah 56:7)
But the leaders refused. He did teach and heal those who came to him, but when it was evening; he left Jerusalem.

Matthew 21:15 “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased.”

After all, He was the Messiah, they would have to submit to Him. This they had refused to do; and still refused.
Their hearts were full of themselves. They had a good thing going here. They were in charge of the money, gifts, and offerings, given to the Lord.
They had influence and power. They had place.
And they did not want the Messiah coming along, and ruining it for them.
(Crazy, right? But how often we feel the same about our plans, and position. If we yield to God, and do His Will; how will that effect us?)

The next day, when He comes back into Jerusalem, to the temple to teach; the chief priests send people to prove Him wrong. Then they could accuse Him of something.

But He knew their tricks, and confused them.
Then He spoke to them, directly:

Matthew 21:31-32 “….Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”

Here is the crux of the whole matter: “ye repented not afterward, that ye might believe”.

John the Baptist had come, preaching repentance; to prepare for the Messiah.
The Son of God had come, preaching the kingdom of God was at hand. Would they hear and enter in?

Isaiah 65:2 “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walked in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”

We seldom understand the grip that the world has on us; until we see it next to Jesus.

Repentance is changing our minds about God; then changing our actions toward
Him.
Repentance toward God, and faith to our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)

 

 

 

 

Being made Conformable

Philippians 3:10-12 ” That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained, neither were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that which I am also apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

“Being made conformable”
To be made “conformable” is to be made pliable in the Lord’s hands.
Yielding to the Holy Spirit’s impressions.
This something Paul had to learn, as he says here; and we have to learn.

The Holy Spirit does not ZAP us with some power which is apart from Himself.
But He fills us with Himself, and His grace (the unmerited favor of power) as we yield.

Yield in scripture is to give in, to submit, to bow our hearts, to Him.

One of the greatest Victories of the Holy Spirit in our life, is that we are made useable.
God can never use the natural man, and bless him as He wants, for the natural man is at enmity with Him.
Romans 8:7″ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

The natural man won’t yield to God’s authority, except in lip service to make himself look good.
So God gives us a new nature. It is His nature implanted within us by the Holy Spirit, when we are born again.
We must yield to the new nature instead of yielding to the old habits, ways, and attitudes, in any given circumstance.
Our adversary, the devil, fights against the new nature, and uses tricks to get us to be unthankful, or discontent with the way the Lord is leading us.
To quench the Holy Spirit’s help by distrust, and worry.

Often we do not realize the subtlety of this weapon; or the extent to which it ruins our peace.
It appears quite reasonable: “You don’t really want to do that, now, do you?”
“Think of what everyone is going to think about you!”
Or, “How rude people are!”

But, Paul says he learned to be “conformable” to the Holy Spirit, in his life’s situations. And we can be, too.

We are not all the same. Some yield easily in this, but not that. And some are just the opposite.
But if you stay at this yielding, He will make you conformable in every situation which comes up.
You will know His Will and the power to do it will come, because you will do His Will.

This is true freedom. Freedom to be what we ought to be.

Resurrection Power:
Ephesians 1:18-20 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”

There are three things promised us:
That our understanding would be enlightened or given light to see His Will, and how we are to do it.

That we may have the confident expectation that God will do what He says where our calling is concerned. That we may know the true riches we have in Christ Jesus, and since they are our inheritance; we may get them into us here, and now.

That we may, by the knowledge of experience, have that same power working in us, by which God raised Christ from the dead.

Philippians 3:12 “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

Paul is saying that he had not attained or become complete in Christ Jesus, yet; but that he followed after Christ, so that he could have in present possession all that Christ had for him. (That is what “apprehend” means)
Because he was Christ’s present possession; he belonged to Christ.
The Lord had empowered him, and would empower him; so he chose to follow on after the Lord, till he had fulfilled the calling Christ gave him.

Philippians 3:10 “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;”

This all begins with us knowing Christ Jesus.
We may know Him a little, or a lot; but there is always something more to learn about our Lord.
He calls us to follow Him.

 

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

In Christ Jesus, we have all blessings. And we need to get them into us, in our circumstances, here.

He has for us: wisdom.
This is special light for those times we need it. (Light in scripture is knowledge. It is showing us what is real. God turns on the light, so to speak, so we can see the truth)
Wisdom is not only seeing things as they affect ourselves, but also as they affect others we may be responsible for, in some way. It is special light for special times.

Proverbs 3:21-23 “My son, let them not depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.”

Christ has for us: righteousness.
This is, of course, His righteousness imparted to us; giving us a right standing before God.
He also works within us righteousness which is obedience to His Will. This is good protection against the tricks of the devil.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect (living up to the light that he has been given in the Word), throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Christ has for us: sanctification.
This is the setting aside of ourselves to God for sacred use, in our everyday living.
We deny ourselves, and be obedient.

Jude 1 “Jude the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:”

1 Corinthians 1:2 “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified by Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.”

1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace be multiplied.”

All the Godhead, is in our sanctification. The Father chose it for us. The Son, through His merits, won it for us. And the Holy Spirit works it within us, everyday.
It is His power within us to enable us to work it out.

Christ has for us: redemption.
This is a wonderfully complete word. It speaks of now, for we are His purchased possession; never to be in bondage to anything or anyone.
It speaks, also, of the coming transformation of our spirit, soul, and body, to heaven forever.
Colossians 1:14 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

In Christ Jesus, we have all these things.
Are we getting them into us?

 

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1 ” I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

When I was first saved, I wondered at this verse:
What does it mean: “Sacrifice”?
Where is the altar? At the forefront of the Church? Or somewhere else?

In a message, I began to understand the verse.
Let me explain what was said.

The word sacrifice in scripture, signifies what is given to God.
We are to give our whole selves over to God.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

When we are born again, we ask that the Lord Jesus come into our hearts and live.
The Holy Spirit then comes into our spirits, and abides with us.

We are to bring the rest of our selves to Christ as His, by a series of choices. Him or self?
Then our souls, which is our personalities, are brought little by little into subjection to Jesus. The souls are that which makes us, us. No two are exactly the same. We believe they are the most precious thing in His creation, since He died to save it.

Our bodies we must give over to the Holy Spirit. This is the sacrifice spoken of here.
He has come to us, and dwells in our spirits, and we must give him our hands, to do what He wants; our feet to go where He wants; and our mouths to speak His words faithfully.
In fact, every part of our bodies must be given to Him, to use as He wants.

This is the “Sacrifice”.

The altar is not the one at the front of the Church, although you may yield to His call to do this there.

But it is the “altar” of our everyday lives. It is there that the “fire” of life, tries us.

Will we stay on the altar and let everything go to Christ?
Or will we crawl off the altar, and go back to the world?

The Holy Spirit to Whom we present our bodies, is the One that empowers us, enable’s us, and works through us to bring His Will to pass.

Romans 12:2 “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

We are not to be conformed to this world’s system.
Now I love nature, the birds, trees, sky, stars, etc. They show forth God’s beauty, and order.
This is not, what the “world” in scripture is talking about.
It is the world’s system: which is corrupt, greedy, seeking power and praise for itself; that is spoken of.

We are not to be conformed to it.
We are to be conformed to Christ (Romans 8:29), and His life in us by the Holy Spirit.

But since we live in this world, how are we to do this?

We are to be transformed: our natural ways of doing things are to be changed into Spiritual ways of doing things.
Of course, this is by the power of the Holy Spirit: His grace enabling us to overcome in each situation. To do His Will, not what I want, or the world accepts.

The thoroughness, and power of our transformation rest with us.
He works within you both to will and do of His good pleasure; but we must work it out.
We must take the grace given at the time, and use it. Whether it is words, power to walk away, power to stand in the day of trouble, etc.
The power comes from the Holy Spirit, but we must yield to Him and use it.

Philippians 2:12-13 “Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

The salvation mentioned here is the salvation of ourselves in our everyday life.
Salvation from sin, and self. (As we have written before, salvation is 4-fold: from the love of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the power of sin, and one day, from the presence of sin. This salvation covers our whole lives from here through eternity)

We are to work out the power of the Holy Spirit, given within: Ability, Strength, Joy, Peace, Patience; all are of Him, but through us.

This is to prove what is that good (we learn that it is), and acceptable (to God), and perfect (bringing us to be what we were created for) Will of God.

 

It is time to Come, for all things are Ready

Luke 14:16-17 “Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.”

Who would refuse a great supper, unless they wanted to dishonor the One giving it?

Luke 14:18-20 “And they all with one consent begin to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I can not come.”

These are ridiculous excuses:
Who would examine a piece of ground in the night? With torches? What would you be able to see?

Or who would check on five yoke of oxen, to see if they pulled together, in the night?
Wouldn’t they take a chance of hurting some of them?

And this last was the worst: In Israel, when you were first married, all you did was go to parties, and dinners. Relatives, and friends, all sought to have you come, to honor your marriage.

But they all refused the invitation; and forfeited the privilege of feasting with Christ.

Luke 14:21-22 “So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.”

The call has issued down through the ages. All who would, have come. To the world they were the poor, downtrodden; and the maimed, halt, and blind. Those who realized they were lost and hopeless without Christ. They were ushered in, to sit at the table, and feast with Jesus.
But there are places yet to be filled.

The last invitation is now going out.
There is an urgency to this last call, as the feast can not begin, until every place is filled.
Luke 14:23 “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highway and hedges, And compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”

So, he sends his servants again. It is late, there is no time now. They must compel them to come in.
“Compel them” means constrain them, or stop them in their tracks and bring them in.
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

To stop them in the highways; going on in their own ways, unknowing or uncaring of Christ and His invitation of grace: make them hear the invitation.

Stop them in the hedges; hiding out, from all the chaos of the world; and speak to them of the invitation, which is being offered to them.

And the Holy Spirit will bring them in, “compel them”; that every place in the feast will be filled.

Luke 14:24 “For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

We don’t like to think of God’s Voice this way.

We don’t like to think of the “down side” to our rejection of God’s invitation to us:
We have put off doing anything, even though we know we should.

We have given excuses for our lack of desire; to know God, or even about Him. Wanting instead to pretend He does not exist, or that He is cruel and not to be yielded to.

But, unfortunately, one day, we will hear His Voice very clearly.
What we hear Him say will be most important, then.

The invitation to fellowship with Him is still be given out. Some are being stopped, now, in their ways, and being presented with it.

What will you do? “Come, for all things are ready.”
There is a place for you, at Jesus table, if you will come, at His invitation.

The Perilous times of the Last days.

2 Timothy 3:1 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”

This “last days” is not the Tribulation Period, but the last days of the Church Age, which is spoken of here.

And why are they perilous? In the Greek, “perilous” means to reduce strength, dangerous.
Anytime we are not at full strength to resist the Devil, or combat the temptations of the world; we are in a perilous situation.

And this is a warning for the Church.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.
Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

Paul was warning that there would come into the Church those who would fit right into the times; but who would not be righteous with God; for they will deny the power of God in their lives to rule and change them.

They will refuse subjection to authority; though they may praise it in reguard to others.

The real telling description of these people, is that they are “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.”

 

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”

We all know about forms. We fill numbers of them out when we send away for something. Our Taxes. For Schools. Etc.

So we know that a form, filled out, gives a lot of information; which could just be false.

This is here expressed, as a form of godliness.
They have filled in all the blanks. Said all the right things, to be accepted, but they are all false; for they “deny” the Power of God, in their own lives.

To deny is to refuse.
They refuse to submit to that power, and receive it, for they don’t really want it or Him.
Luke 5:17 “There came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which are come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”
But they were not healed. Those Pharisees and doctors came to hear Jesus, and after hearing Jesus,and seeing a miracle; they left the very same men.
They could have been healed of their unbelief, but refused.

Perilous times will come. If fact, are here.
And we, as Christians, need to strengthen ourselves in God’s Word for the days ahead.
We need to regain the personal relationship we once had with the Lord Jesus.

God is Almighty. He has promised to save us to the uttermost.
Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Let us receive His Power for our lives. For He is Able.