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Obedience is “working out”
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Matthew Henry commentary
I have been studying this morning for Sunday’s message on Philippians 2:12-13. I thought this commentary by Matthew Henry was so good, I decided to share it with you. Take your time to read it, there is a LOT there.
Phiippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you 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; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
He exhorts them to diligence and seriousness in the Christian course: Work out your own salvation. It is the salvation of our souls (1 Pt. 1:9 ), and our eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9 ), and contains deliverance from all the evils sin had brought upon us and exposed us to, and the possession of all good and whatsoever is necessary to our complete and final happiness. Observe, It concerns us above all things to secure the welfare of our souls: whatever becomes of other things, let us take care of our best interests. It is our own salvation, the salvation of our own souls. It is not for us to judge other people; we have enough to do to look to ourselves; and, though we must promote the common salvation (Jude. 3, ) as much as we can, yet we must upon no account neglect our own. We are required to work out our salvation, katergazesthe. The word signifies working thoroughly at a thing, and taking true pains. Observe, We must be diligent in the use of all the means which conduce to our salvation. We must not only work at our salvation, by doing something now and then about it; but we must work out our salvation, by doing all that is to be done, and persevering therein to the end. Salvation is the great thing we should mind, and set our hearts upon; and we cannot attain salvation without the utmost care and diligence. He adds, With fear and trembling, that is, with great care and circumspection: “Trembling for fear lest you miscarry and come short. Be careful to do every thing in religion in the best manner, and fear lest under all your advantages you should so much as seem to come short,’’ Heb. 4:1 . Fear is a great guard and preservative from evil.II. He urges this from the consideration of their readiness always to obey the gospel: “As you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, v. 12. You have been always willing to comply with every discovery of the will of God; and that in my absence as well as presence. You make it to appear that regard to Christ, and care of your souls, sway more with you than any mode of showing respect whatsoever.’’ They were not merely awed by the apostle’s presence, but did it even much more in his absence. “And because it is God who worketh in you, do you work out your salvation. Work, for he worketh.’’ It should encourage us to do our utmost, because our labour shall not be in vain. God is ready to concur with his grace, and assist our faithful endeavours. Observe, Though we must use our utmost endeavours in working out our salvation, yet still we must go forth, and go on, in a dependence upon the grace of God. His grace works in us in a way suitable to our natures, and in concurrence with our endeavours; and the operations of God’s grace in us are so far from excusing, that they are intended to quicken and engage our endeavours. “And work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for he worketh in you.’’ All our working depends upon his working in us. “Do not trifle with God by neglects and delays, lest you provoke him to withdraw his help, and all your endeavours prove in vain. Work with fear, for he works of his good pleasure.’’—To will and to do: he gives the whole ability. It is the grace of God which inclines the will to that which is good: and then enables us to perform it, and to act according to our principles. Thou hast wrought all our works in us, Isa. 26:12 . Of his good pleasure. As there is no strength in us, so there is no merit in us. As we cannot act without God’s grace, so we cannot claim it, nor pretend to deserve it. God’s good will to us is the cause of his good work in us; and he is under no engagements to his creatures, but those of his gracious promise.
Even though it is Monday
Even though it is Monday
John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you
Do you put your God in a box? Do you think that you know what he can and will do? How big would that make your God? I took my oldest son to a prayer meeting last night that I knew might be a little out of his comfort zone, but he insisted on going; I do not think he will ever be the same. He saw what it was like for almost an entire church to come to the alter and pray for almost an hour I believe. He saw people truly not ashamed of their faith; he saw people that did not limit their God; he saw people who desired for God to truly work in their lives. He saw more than just Sunday Christians.
Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” Do you really think that the Creator of the universe thinks and moves as you think he does or should? Do you believe he is predictable? God is moving in parts of this world outside of soft America just like he did in the Bible. There are the evidences of the power of God in the moves of God in third world countries. If you do not believe in the miraculous, ask any missionary what they have witnessed that no human explanation can give. They will tell you of the healings and miraculous works that only can be explained by faith in God.
If your God is found in a box at a place you worship on Sunday, my heart is sad for you. Dr. Michael Brown asked last night after a powerful message, “Do you truly want God in your life?” He gave the examples of how it would change us; he gave the examples of how He would prick where it hurts of the sin in our lives. The more of God is evident in our life, the more our life will be less of our own. Everything you do will be different; sadly some remained seated and did not go to the alter; they wanted to remain comfortable in their faith. Are you a lukewarm Christian? Do you really want to know how Christ views lukewarm Christians? Revelation 3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Get on fire for God. Move forward in your faith today. Let everyone know that you are a Christian. Live out your faith this Monday, even though it is not Sunday.
No, you are not #1
No, you are not #1
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
I could go down a road that our society has cleared for me. I could talk about how our society has a sect called “self” that is bred into our minds. How we are always taught to look out for “#1”, because nobody else will. Nobody else will because they are too busy being selfish themselves. Our society breeds pride, how that we can do anything that we put our minds to. We can accomplish any goal, and if we struggle, their are sub-sects that have all sorts of self-help agendas and teaching materials to aide along the way. I grew up a country boy; to figure out how to accomplish the tasks yourself using ingenuity. Anyone that has grown up on a farm will understand how farmers can make anything work better, or different that it was originally designed. So much of this life in which we live breeds pride. Pride is the root of all sin. Pride is why Satan was cast from the heavens when he wanted to be like God.
Paul was dealing this in his letter to the Philippian church. So many teachers and preachers were taking advantage of Paul’s imprisonment. They were seeking to elevate themselves at Paul’s expense. They had likely suffered bruised egos when Paul began to preach. People were drawn to the power of the Gospel, and not the teachers and preachers in the church any longer. The teachers and preacher now saw the opportunity to regain their status as they preached Christ, and likely slammed Paul for his imprisonment. You can only imagine how they could have easily said God would not have allowed Paul to be imprisoned if he was truly a man of God. What they did not know what that God was using Paul in prison to get the Gospel into the Roman military, and the Roman hierarchy, places that Paul would have had great trouble reaching if not being imprisoned and going into Rome as a Trojan Horse.
My testimony is one rooted in pride. God still has out his hammer and chisel whittling away at my pride every single day. Even when it is masked to others, even when it seems hidden deep to me, He points it out to me as painful as it is sometimes. Paul is truly calling for a self-evaluation in this passage; a deep look at one’s motives can many times reveal what we did not see, nor want to see. It is of no coincidence that Paul uses the greatest example of humility in Christ in the text following; Philippians 2:5-11. Christ was and is God. Christ lowered himself to become his creation, a man. To live and experience life as a man. At any point He could have changed his mind and stopped history and life as we know it. He spent 33 years culminating his humility with the most unimaginable death on a cross to give us what we do not deserve. Don’t let the world convince you that the world owes you anything; you owe everything to Him.
Way back when……
Way back when……
Romans 10:6-10 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, ” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So many times this ministry is early morning; a time of reflecting on my quiet time with God before facing the day. This morning I had a later start, and I had a scripture that I was searching for that took some time to find above. It was after prayer, that I found it. As the day went on, this passage preoccupied my thoughts for much of the day. It is the Gospel found, and the means of attaining it, through a humble confession to it. Following the tug that God places on your heart, your heart yearns for it and you either answer that tug He places there, or you deny it, or find false hope in attaining it in religiosity. You will pay eternally for your mistake in that false hope.
God has placed such a burden on my heart this week for the lost; even greater is the direct ministry need for our youth. I am stepping way out of my comfort zone trying to learn about children and youth ministry for our church; I am seeking counsel from those that are gifted in that area, for I am not. It is painfully clear that I am not gifted in that area to be honest. I look back at those that invested in me in my youth, and even subconsciously, how large a role they played in my life even when I was running fast and far from God. Did anyone invest in you for Christ early in life? Did you come to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, only to turn your back on him like I did? He will take you back; he never really left you to begin with. He has been there all along pricking you where it hurts as you lived your life of sin. He was your conscious talking to you all the while you were trying to silence him in so many ways. Stop trying to silence him and confess to him your sins, and plea for him to forgive you for them; he will.
How can we as parents not seek to invest in our kiddo’s? How can we as parents not seek to share with them the eternal hope found in faith in Jesus? Moses stressed to Israel the importance of investing in our children in Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. There are so many children out there facing so many things that we cannot imagine. There is so much more to see than what you see. How can we not take any and every opportunity to present that eternal hope found in the Gospel? How can we not give them something through Christ that gives them what they cannot attain here? God is truly burdening my heart for our youth. If you remember when someone invested time with you at an early age sharing the Gospel; shouldn’t you make that eternal investment yourself? If you are just feeling convicted for the life you have led since that investment, repent and believe on the One who will always forgive you when you ask. Even if you left him since childhood. It is never too late.
Kiddos could teach us a thing or two
Kiddos could teach us a thing or two
Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
We have completed our first vision phase at Lakehaven Community Church, which has allowed me to move onto the next step of the vision. The next step is the reworking of the Sunday School and youth programs for a central focus. All aspects of our youth programs should work together, and have a common theme. In vision casting, if the program does not move a step closer to the goal, it is moving a step away. What would be our central vision? It is found in the scriptures before this one above, that Moses wrote to the Israelites. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. Everything we do must point them to the greatest commandment found in verse four. Everything we do must point them to Jesus Christ who provided the way for us to reach our God that we love with all our heart, soul, and strength.
What was Moses saying here? You shall remember all that God has done for you and your people. You shall never forget all that He has done for you. It shall be shared with your children. God shall be such a focus in your home that all of your home seeks to know and share their love for him with each other. He shall be so central in your home, so central in your daily life, that He is a part of your every day. How will you praise him in the morning; how will you praise him during the day; how will you praise him in the evening? This is much more than blessing each meal, this is having a heart such as verse four. This is not religiosity, this is a relationship. It is not a heart bound in religion that meets the law of habits and requirements, it is a heart full of the joy of being His child, and redeemed by his Son Jesus Christ.
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” 16 And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them. There is a simplicity found in our children for which we as adults have much to learn. The ways of the world have yet to deeply corrupt their minds. They accept and know God with a purity that we can only desire. They have such great faith that God can show us himself through them. They trust, know, and love their God and Savior with the purity found in verse four. We must seek to be like them in that purity and love; and seek to exemplify it in our home every single day.
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