Doing What Servants Do!

 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 13:1-3

“…let us throw off…

“…let us run with perseverance…”

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus…”

“Consider Him…”

“…so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Have you ever been guilty of thinking of the Christian life as passive?

Do you know what I mean?

Maybe you’ve said to yourself:

“I am saved so I now I get to coast until heaven!”

As I read the passage above I am struck by the fact that it is a life filled

with action and purpose.

No ho-hum. 

No boredom.

No sedentary life.

You and I are in a race and it cannot be completed lying on the couch!

We are to be servants.

What do servants do? They serve!

Luke 17:7-10

 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep.

Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,

‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?

 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 

Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  

So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say,

 ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

One way we serve is by staying in the race! 

Don’t give up – persevere!

Lighten Your Load

 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 13:1-3

Imagine running a race with a backpack loaded with bricks.

Do you suppose it might slow you down just a bit?

I have seen, and you probably have too, runners who routinely will prepare for a race by adding weight either on their back or sometimes on their ankles.

That is great for training but unwise on race day.

The writer of Hebrews admonishes us to throw off everything that hinders us in the race.

Sound advice, wouldn’t you agree?

 Still, we sometimes carry many burdens and many hindrances on our back and in our lives as we attempt to run the race.

Our perception of God is often some of that weight.

Instead of recognizing His love and encouragement as we run the race we instead accuse Him of tripping us or intentionally sabotaging our efforts.  

God allows trials in our lives but He is not cheering on our defeat.

He expects that through the tests and trials we will call out to Him and know Him as our strength, that strength we need to persevere.

So today, throw off that weight that accuses God of

indifference at best or being your adversary at worst.

Instead, understand that God is your coach, your trainer and the one who most wants to see you successfully finish the race!  

How Many Races Will a Lukewarm Runner Win?

 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

I Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you run to win?

Do you set out to do your very best or is second best good enough?

Paul doesn’t tell us to run in the hopes of at least, perhaps, maybe achieving an Honorable Mention.

We are encouraged to run in such a way as to win the prize.

How does an athlete do that?

The next sentence answers the question for us – it is done by strict training.

I can see a correlation between the verses above and the words of Jesus in Revelation 3:15-16

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”  

I would picture the runner who is determined to win the prize as “hot”.

The person, who cares less and does not even show interest in the prize, is “cold”.

For them, it is not even a race, it is a fun run.

Who is lukewarm then?

That would be the runner who is in it halfheartedly.

Maybe they entered out of obligation or at the insistence of family or friend but there heart is just not in the race.

Maybe they saw and heard the cheering crowds in the stands and got into the race for the applause and approval of man and had never taken the time for strict training.

The lukewarm runner is easily dissuaded.

The pace of the race becomes too brisk.

The pain and endurance required to faithfully complete the

race is no longer popular or fun.  

The lukewarm runner never really entered to win.

They certainly would not adhere to strict training or the self-discipline the training demand.

Are you running the race hot, cold or lukewarm?

Are you in it to win it?

“…run in such a way as to get the prize…”

Running Your Race

         Runners take your mark…

                                                Get Set….

                                                                  Bang!

                                       And the race is on….

 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

I Corinthians 9:24-27

The Apostle Paul uses the example of a race to illustrate our salvation.

This is not a race, however, that we run in competition with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Instead it is a race, which when faithfully run, will, among other things, bring my flesh into submission. Our bodies, as Paul speaks above, become the servants – or slaves – and not the master. As we run the race we learn to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ rather than to the impulses and cravings of the old nature.

As you can imagine this is not a sprint but a life long race.

The prize is not a celebrity endorsement contract, or our picture on a Wheaties cereal box but it is an eternal, incorruptible crown! We will look more closely at different aspects of this race throughout the week but let me encourage you with this; if you’ve fallen; if you’ve stumbled; if you’ve disqualified yourself, get back in the race and God Himself will be your strength and conditioning coach, bringing you to the finish line!

Homework Anyone?

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,  and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

 Ephesians 3:16-19

We were challenged last Sunday with some homework.

It was this: pray the above scriptures daily and see how your life changes.

Have you done that?

If so, don’t stop.

I would even encourage you to begin to pray it for others as well.

But there was more homework…

In addition to the prayer there were also three questions to pose to yourself (and maybe others) as you take stock of the impact God’s love has had in your life.

Here they are –

How has God’s love in you made a difference in the way you show love to others?

How do you think others would describe the difference God’s love has made in you?

What might be hindering you from loving others the way God loves you? 

In this blog it is not typical for me to simply copy the notes or comments from the outline given on Sunday but I think the value of doing that this week is great so I have done just that.

Obviously, you can read this blog and do nothing with the prayer or the questions.

The same is true of the outline from Sunday.

But if you use them as suggested there is great opportunity for you to grow spiritually.  

Won’t you take the time after reading this to go back through and

take some spiritual inventory?

Use the prayer and the questions to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you

about the love of God being more greatly manifested in your life.

By doing so may you become more and more “…rooted and established in love…”

Love Without Fear

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

   God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

I John 4:16-18

We have been reviewing the purposes of God’s love this week.

             We have said that His love has four primary purposes that include:

That we might be God’s dwelling place on the earth.

That we might receive personal revelation of God.

That we might make a personal declaration to the earth.

Today we look at the purpose of God’s love in removing all forms of fear in our lives.

Is there fear in your life?

I suppose that if we answered honestly most, if not all of us, would have to say yes.

We have known and received Gods’ love, but His love is not yet perfected in us.  

If it were, we would be without fear.

Jesus was without fear.

We find that in Him, the love of the Father was made perfect.

When I am fearful, I am failing to trust that the love of God can keep me in all the struggles and trials of life that I am facing.

I am currently unemployed and looking for work.

I would be dishonest with you if I said that I am never in fear of being able to provide for my family, pay the mortgage, etc…all the things that any one of you would face if you were without a job.

So where does the love that casts out all fear come into play?

I love God and He loves me.

I must remind myself that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.

As I stand in that promise and trust Him, the fear that I have melts away.

What difficulties are you facing today?

Is it something too big for God?

Surrender your fears to Him and know the love He has for you will work through those difficulties.

Remember that we are told that perfect love drives out fear.

We are never promised that perfect love drives out problems.  

Instead, bring those problems to the one who loves you and trust that He will see you through each and every one of them.

In closing, let me repeat some often mentioned words in scripture:

Fear not and Be not afraid!

A New Command?

“A new command I give you: Love one another.

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:34-35

            Have you ever wondered why Jesus would tell the disciples to love one another and then call it a new command?

What was so new about loving one another?

I thought that command was around forever?

I believe the key lies in the very next verse when Jesus says: “As I have loved you.”

We are told in Romans that God demonstrated His love for us.

How did He do that?

Through Jesus, the Word made flesh.

Jesus became a living display, a demonstration of the Fathers’ love.

The love of the Father, as revealed through His Son, had not been seen before.

So Jesus links together for us the new command of not simply loving one another but loving one another as Jesus loves us.

His love was evident by His actions.

His love was to lay down His life for us.  

Not simply to surrender it to a force greater than His but to voluntarily lay it down.

That was a new command indeed.

Under the law, I might be persuaded to leave some crops in the field for the poor to glean but certainly not lay down my life for those less fortunate than me, not to mention laying it down for my enemies!

And yet, Jesus demonstrated the love of the Father, while we were yet sinners.  

In other words, Jesus displayed Gods’ love to His enemies – He extended Gods’ love to His enemies – including you and me.

A hot topic in the job market now is personal branding.

Labeling and marketing yourself in a way that sets you apart from everyone else.

What ‘brands’ you and makes you unique?

As disciples, we should be ‘branded’ by our love.

Love for the Lord, love for one another, love for our neighbor and love for our enemies. 

In doing this we make a personal declaration to the earth that we belong to Christ.

“A new command…As I have loved you…”