Practice? Preparing
and Walking in Victory Every Day – Purity 739
Purity 739 05/24/2022 Purity 739 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo on a rainbow over a fenced in manicured lawn comes
to us from a friend who captured this backyard scene from their suburban home
in Jefferson Iowa back on May 13th and shared it on social media
proclaiming: “God’s promise in the sky this morning!”
Well, it’s Tuesday and although the promise of the rainbow is
God’s promise to all living creatures on the earth that He would not allow
floodwaters to destroy all life again. see: Genesis 9:12-17, it should also remind
us that God is sovereign, and that wickedness will be judged according to His
word (Mal 4:1), as scripture also promises the return of Jesus Christ to rule
and reign and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1) as
this current world will be burned, (2 Peter 3:1-18).
So any fears about a global loss of life due to the melting of
the polar ice caps can be put to rest, but just because the world is destined
to be destroyed and remade doesn’t mean we should not be good stewards to it as
man’s original purpose was to “subdue” or govern (Gen 1:28 NLT) the earth. We are supposed to take care of it.
That’s why last night, I didn’t just allow nature to continue to
take its course unheeded and spent two hours mowing the lawn around my
house! You know, many things are
subjective in terms of what we “ought to do” in life but I think we can all
admit that a lawn that is regularly maintained is more appealing than one that
is uncared for. I mean check out the
lawn in today’s photo! I think they even mowed it in patterns. That’s pretty
sweet!
Anyway, I certainly didn’t mean to be doom and gloom this
morning by reminding the dark side of the promise of the rainbow, but inherent
in it is the indication that there is a God who is in control who will judge
wickedness and there is a need to be made right with Him.
Unlike my efforts at taming the lawn around my house which is
rewarded and accomplished based on the sweat of my own efforts, God’s level of
holiness is not something we can satisfactorily accomplish by our works.
But God was gracious and made a way for all mankind to be saved:
through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
As
Romans 10:9 (NKJV) tells us
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.
And
Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) proclaims that it is not our
works that save us as it says:
8 For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should
boast.
So, if we place our faith in Christ, we are good to go,
right? Yes, of course! But Christ’s
earthly ministry shows us that we are to:
Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV)
19 Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
So we are to follow Christ in all that we do and be
‘fishers of men (Matt 4:19).
Some may say: Yeah but
If we are really saved, do we really have to worry about obeying the
word of God? We are forgiven, can’t we just chill?”
As Christian there is an expectation that we will changed,
repent of our sins, and pursue a righteous life based on the word of God as
Christ taught his disciples and the multitudes who came to hear Him speak:
Matthew 5:48 (NKJV)
48 Therefore
you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Perfect!?!? Relax no body is perfect, except Jesus, as 1 John 1:9 proclaims if we say we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves. But just like my unruly lawn that will grow all over
the place if not tended to, it doesn’t mean that we just let “nature take its
course” and allow sin to remain unchecked in our lives. And as much as 1 John 1:9 tells us that we
sin, the rest of that letter to the church is written so that we may not
sin.
So the implication is that we should
“practice” to approach perfection.
Now I may never have the “perfect
lawn”, but if I am diligent to mow it regularly it will be easier to tend to
and the fact that it has been dealt with and I am taking measures to control
it, I will have a measure of peace about
it that I can maintain.
Likewise, because of Christ our sins
have been “dealt with” once and for all. We are forgiven and are freed from it
(Romans 8:2). But we have to make our
freedom from sin evident in our lives by making the volitional choice to turn
from our worldly ways and decide to live according to God’s wisdom.
Like breaking any bad habit, our
success in overcoming one bad habit is greatly increased when we replace it
with a good habit. Instead of smoking,
I’ll take a walk or go for a run or read a book or whatever. This simple demonstration of behavior
modification is demonstrated in the New Testament Epistles to the church that
are filled with practical advice on Christian living.
When I first made Jesus my Lord and
Savior, I understood that Christians should read the Bible and pray. So early on as I really wanted my faith to
be “real”, I adopted both prayer and Bible reading and developed what I now
think of as my “daily spiritual practice”.
Simply, each morning I set time aside to read God’s word and to pray. These core disciplines have renewed my mind
and have developed a close personal relationship with my Heavenly Father.
This “practice” has not exactly made
me perfect yet but I can attest to great victories over some of my besetting
sins, bad habits, and negative mind states. Although I was “saved” the instanc
I placed my faith in Christ, the victories in these areas were the result of my
commitment to follow the Lord in these core practices daily and to the
willingness to follow the Lord’s leading in other good works that have
developed my faith and spiritual gifts.
When it comes to our faith, far too
many Christians aren’t “practicing” and just show up on “game day” at their
weekly worship service, and unfortunately their own testimonies and frequent
requests for support and prayer reveal that they are not enjoying the abundant
life of freedom and victory that is available to them.
I honestly believe that vast
majority of the church does not even know that freedom and victory over sin and
negative mind states is even possible. I
knew before that before I was able to overcome the multitude of my problems, I
thought those Bible promises were “pie in the sky” promises that didn’t apply
to the real world.
But then I “practiced” and knew
experientially that the “real world” was under the sovereign control of the
very “real” and very alive God who had graciously brought me into His royal
family through faith in Jesus Christ and had given me the power to resist the
world, the flesh, and the devil, and experience the victory and freedom that is
available to all who choose to walk in the Spirit.
In Allen Iverson’s “famous rant”,
about “Practice” which was 20 years ago, people have wrongly assumed that he
didn’t value it. But the context of that
interview was in the wake of a loss, where
he was honest about the scrutiny he was under and because he didn’t have success,
he found himself being questioned about the reason why he didn’t succeed. After that outburst, where he was really
just marveling over how practice was being focused on when the important thing
was the game he just lost, he reiterated his beliefs that practice was very
important. And it is.
Whether it is basket ball or
following the Lord and attempting to overcome our sin, bad habits, and negative
mind states, we need to be diligent in practicing the fundamentals.
Practice has a purpose and that
purpose is victory, freedom, and peace.
So keep walking and talking with
God, every day. If we want to be right
with God and to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, we have to diligent
in seeking the Lord through the practices of prayer and Bible Study. Through our efforts of prayer and Bible, we
get to know God more and we get to know what it is we “ought to” do as
Christians. And when we do what God
indicates what we “ought to do”, we will experience victory over the darkness, freedom
from the chains that used to hold us done, and the peace that comes from living
a righteous life according to God.
______________________________________________________________
Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book
for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Romans 1:2-3 (NLT2)
2 God promised this Good News
long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures.
3 The Good News is about his
Son, Jesus. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line,
Today’s Bible verse reminds us that the Good News was predicted in the
Old Testament and Jesus Christ is the fulfillment.
The Bible is the story of God and it points to Christ as the Messiah.
It is simultaneously a proof of the truth of scripture and a proof of Jesus as
the coming king.
Today’s commentary on this one is short. Read the Bible to know story
and see that it is a true story that is good news to all who put their faith in
Christ.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and
sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today
we continue sharing from John Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Life”.
As always, I share this
information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase John
Pipers’ books for your own private study and to support his
work. This resource is available on many websites for less than
$5.00.
2. We make much of
Christ in our secular work by the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our
creativity and industry.
It
is helpful to ask how human beings differ from beavers and hummingbirds and
spiders and ants. It helps get at the essence of how humans honor God with
their work. These creatures are very hard workers and make very intricate and
amazing things. So there must be more to our God-honoring work than such
creativity and industry—unless we are willing to say that we glorify God with
our work no differently than the animals.
Deputies
of God Subduing the Earth for His Glory
What’s the difference?
Consider the first biblical words about man’s creation. “So God created man in
his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and
fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the
earth’ ” (Genesis 1:27–28). Our creation in God’s image leads directly to
our privilege and duty to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. In other
words, we should be busy understanding and shaping and designing and using
God’s creation in a way that calls attention to his worth and wakens worship.
Being
in the image of God means at least that we should image forth God. We should
reflect what he is really like. And we should do that not to make ourselves
look great (as imagers) but to make him look great (as Creator). People make
images of famous people to honor them. God made man in his own image so that he
would be seen and enjoyed and honored through what man does.
Then
he said, first of all, that what man does is work. He subdues and takes
dominion over the earth. This implies that part of what it means to be human is
to exercise lordship over creation and give the world shape and order and
design that reflects the truth and beauty of God. God makes man, so to speak,
his ruling deputy and endows him with God-like rights and capacities to subdue
the world—to use it and shape it for good purposes, especially the purpose of
magnifying the Creator.
Work
Is Not a Curse; Futility Is
So if you go all the way
back, before the origin of sin, there are no negative connotations about
secular work. According to Genesis 2:2, God himself rested from his work of
creation, implying that work is a good, God-like thing. And the capstone of
that divine work was man, a creature in God’s own image designed to carry on
the work of ruling and shaping and designing creation. Therefore, at the heart
of the meaning of work is creativity. If you are God, your work is to create
out of nothing. If you are not God, but like God—that is, if you are human—your
work is to take what God has made and shape it and use it to make him look
great.
How
We Differ From Beavers
But here is where the
beavers come in. A beaver subdues his surroundings and shapes a dam for a good
purpose, a house. He seems to enjoy his work; and even the diligence and skill
of the beaver reflects the glory of God’s wisdom.
All
things bright and beautiful,
All
creatures great and small,
All
things wise and wonderful,
1The
Lord God made them all.
And
God is glorified in them all. “Let the rivers clap their hands … the hills sing
for joy … and the heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 98:8; 19:1). So what
is the difference between a human being at work and a beaver at work? Or for
that matter, a bee or a hummingbird or an ant? They all work hard; they subdue
their surroundings and shape them into amazing structures that serve good
purposes. The difference is that humans are morally self-conscious and make
choices about their work on the basis of motives that may or may not honor God.
No
beaver or bee or hummingbird or ant consciously relies on God. No beaver
ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty and makes a moral choice to
pursue excellence because God is excellent. No beaver ever pondered the
preciousness and purpose of God and decided for God’s sake to make a dam for
another beaver and not for himself. But humans have all these potentials,
because we are created in God’s image. We are created to image forth God in
these ways. When God commissions us to subdue the earth—to shape it and use
it—he doesn’t mean do it like a beaver.
He means do it like a human, a morally self-conscious person who is responsible
to do his work intentionally for the glory of his Maker.
To
be sure, when God sends us forth to work as his image-bearers, our ditches are
to be dug straight, our pipe-fittings are not to leak, our cabinet corners
should be flush, our surgical incisions should be clean, our word processing
accurate and appealing, and our meals nutritious and attractive, because God is
a God of order and beauty and competence. But cats are clean, and ants are
industrious, and spiders produce orderly and beautiful works. And all of them
are dependent on God. Therefore, the essence of our work as humans must be that
it is done in conscious reliance on God’s power, and in conscious quest of
God’s pattern of excellence, and in deliberate aim to reflect God’s glory.
Doing
Good Work and Sleeping Well
When you work like this—no
matter what your vocation is—you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of
the day. It has not been wasted. God has not created us to be idle. Therefore,
those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of God-dependent,
world-shaping, God-reflecting purposeful work. “Sweet is the sleep of a
laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will
not let him sleep” (Ecclesiastes 5:12). Jonathan Edwards made it a rule that
personal piety to the neglect of secular duties is hypocritical. He described
his own wife (“the person”) to illustrate the opposite:
“Oh how good,” said the person once, “it is
to work for God in the daytime, and at night to lie down under his smiles!”
High experiences and religious affections in this person have not been attended
with any disposition at all to neglect the necessary business of a secular
calling, to spend time in reading and prayer, and other exercises of devotion;
but worldly business has been attended with great alacrity, as part of the
service of God; the person declaring that it being done thus, “’tis found to be
as good as prayer.”
True personal piety feeds
the purposeful work of secular vocations rather than undermining it. Idleness
does not grow in the soil of fellowship with God. Therefore, people who spend
their lives mainly in idleness or frivolous leisure are rarely as happy as
those who work. Retired people who are truly happy have sought creative,
useful, God-honoring ways to stay active and productive for the sake of man’s
good and God’s glory.
To
be sure, we should help each other find and keep work. We should care about the
larger problem of unemployment. It is not first an economic problem, though it
is that. It is first a theological problem. Human beings are created in the
image of God and are endowed with traits of their Creator that fit them for
creative, useful, joyful, God-exalting work. Therefore, extensive idleness
(when you have the ability to work) brings down the oppression of guilt and
futility.
So
the second way we make much of God in our secular work is through the joyful,
trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry. God created us
for work so that by consciously relying on his power and consciously shaping
the world after his excellence, we might be satisfied in him, and he might be
glorified in us. And when we remember that all this God-exalting creativity and
all this joy is only possible for undeserving sinners like us because of the
death of Christ, every hour of labor becomes a boasting in the cross.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join
our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in
Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can
also find it on Apple podcasts
(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The
mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts,
Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com.
These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTxjSNstREpuGWuL0bF3U7w/featured
Email
me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class
materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My
wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group:
Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask,
Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.