No Good Deed… When God Puts a Limit on "Good Works" - Purity 934
Purity 934 01/06/2023 Purity 934 Podcast
Purity 934 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a thriving corn field underneath an
exquisitely blue sky with idyllic cumulus cloud formations comes to us from
yours truly as I captured this peaceful scene on Waite Rd in Easton back on
August 13th of 2022.
Well, It’s Friday and while I pulled the short straw
and have to work tomorrow, I know that for most today is greeted with joy or at
least relief as the first work week of 2023 will draw to a close at “quitting
time” later today and I am choosing to rejoice with those who will be rejoicing
and pray that all who read or hear this message have an easy day at work and a
wonderful weekend.
One sign of a healthy, growing, mature Christian is seen
by one’s ability to share in the joy of others. Rather than giving into feelings
of envy or coveting someone else’s good fortunes, our hearts thrive when we can
share in someone else joy rather than lament over our perceived lack.
One of the prayers from Dr. Neil Anderson’s “Overcomer’s
Covenant in Christ” is to “choose to adopt the attitude of Christ, which was to
do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind” to “regard
others as more important than” ourselves, “and not merely to look out for” our “own
personal interests but also the interests of others”, knowing it is more
blessed to receive.
So as Christians who seek to do the Lord’s will, we
try to adopt an attitude that considers the needs of others and to look for
opportunities to “do good works”, to help others when we can.
When we walk in the Spirit where we are drawing
close to God and listening for His guidance, occasionally we will receive
intuitions or promptings to step out and do good works. Some of these promptings or opportunities are
pretty easy to recognize. If your local
church is organizing an event where you can serve the church or the community
in some way, that’s a wide open invitation
to step out in faith and lend a helping hand.
Now that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to say “Yes” to everything,
nor does it mean that you should exercise “your freedom from legalism” by
saying “No” to everything!
We have to be discerning in doing “good works” and
be sure that we are doing them for the right reasons and with the right
spirit. If you are signing up to do “good
works” because you think it will make God love you more or that He will accept you
more, I would invite you to review the teaching from Dr. Anderson’s “Victory
over the Darkness” to gain the understanding of who you are in Christ and to accept
the fact that God’s love and acceptance are not impacted by your efforts. God
loves and accepts us according to His grace, not our works.
If you become frustrated or angry or feel you are
doing “good works” out of obligation, you should probably take a break from
them because you are probably burned out or operating from a self-focused attitude
that has forgotten all that you have received in Christ and that it is a
blessing to be able to represent His kingdom and to do the good works He has prepared
for you to walk into. We don’t “have
to” do good works, we are blessed to “get to” do good works and to give God
glory. If you don’t feel “blessed” by
the ”good work” you do for God, you may need to remind yourself of who you are
in Christ and what that means.
Without Christ, we are eternally lost. We are dead.
Did you forget that? We don’t operate by
obligation. We could never pay back God for what He did for us. It’s not about
that.
But if we truly grasp and meditate on all that we
have in Christ, we should have a well spring of joy in our lives that never
runs out. When we focus on the world or ourselves instead of focusing on what
God has done for us, that joy can dry up. So abide in Christ, in prayer, worship,
praise, and meditation, to keep your joy flowing, so you can have an abiding
peace and joy that will naturally lead you to step out into good works.
I will keep it real and admit that sometimes
frustrating things or circumstances can arise and the outcomes of our good
works can be less than we expected, but when your motivation is to surrender to
the service of the Lord for His glory and out of the joy of your
salvation, you will be able to endure
the negative and accept the results for what they are or as another lesson for
growth on the path to sanctification.
I often share the story of organizing “bell ringing”
for the salvation Army during Christmas time at my former church and how a colleague was less then joyful to be standing outside
in the cold in the early morning hours as we partnered to do the first shift on
the opening weekend of that Christmas drive a couple of years ago. Although he was enthusiastic to sign up, he
wasn’t “feeling it” early that morning.
But I showed him how it was done and impressed upon him that we were
blessed to be out there collecting funds for a good cause and greeting people with
a hearty “Good morning!” and “Merry Christmas”. It was awesome to his grumpiness disappear, as
his frown turned upside down and he gave into the “joy set before us.”
We later went to lunch and were talking about our
recovery ministry and a woman in the restaurant overheard us and came over to
tell us her testimony of how the Lord had led her out of the darkness years ago
and how she was over 30 years sober because she trusted God to bring her out of
her addiction. We were blessed by her
testimony and encouraged her to keep on walking and talking with God and she
seemed to appreciate it because even though she had the victory she seemed to
need to get her “joy” back and so she tapped into ours because we were openly
rejoicing over what we had done and by what God was doing in our recovery
ministry and the good works of the day.
Joy is infectious. Its is the fruit of the Spirit and
it grows when we praise the Lord and follow where He leads us.
Now I have to ease back on the joy meter a little
here. I definitely want to encourage you to operate in joy and seek good works
to give God glory but we also have to be discerning and realize that some of
the “ideas” we get to do good works are not necessarily “God breathed” and we
have to be open to His guidance when He calls us to ease back or to walk away
from situations that we thought were a “good work” but either prove to be our
own ideas or that our “work here is done”.
I have two examples of this.
Years ago I saw on social media that a Facebook friend
was having difficulties with the new housing that they were blessed with. They
needed furniture and a few things around the apartment needed fixing. Feeling that this was a great opportunity to do
good works, I offered up to bring over some old furniture right away and to try
to see if I could possibly help with some other things. I was encouraged to help this “friend”
because they had made some posts about going to church and turning over a new
leaf from their previous broken existence.
So I rushed over and delivered the furniture but after I talked to them
for a few minutes “my spirit” told me to “ease back” and walk away because their
faith was surface level and disingenuous and perhaps a “scam” because they were
obviously still living a sinful lifestyle and their requests for additional
help seemed opportunistic. They didn’t seem to be working towards righting
their situation but seemed to have their hands out to take whatever they could
get. When we discussed their “new found
faith” I got the impression they had found a local church that was giving to
them and they were gladly accepting their help but they were only in it for what
they could get. So I felt foolish, I
gladly gave what I did without regrets but pulled the plug on that “good work” project
and encouraged them to stay connected to that local church to receive the help
and guidance they needed.
Was that mean? No, I don’t think so. Is this a good
testimony, where this friend went on to be strong in the Lord and to be transformed. No unfortunately it is not. It appears that
my spirit was right because as far as I know they quickly gave up their new
faith.
I’m sure there are some who would say that I should
have done more and that I could have turned things around, but I don’t think
that is the case. That was years ago,
and I have continued to be “out there” encouraging and inviting people to the
ministries I have done and to follow the Lord, but I still haven’t heard from
this person.
The other example was similar. I recently decided to
bless a person with Christmas card and very small and modest gift, a $5.00,
gift card because I felt lead to bless
them. This person is on public assistance I believe, is distant family, and has
special needs. We have been chatting on
FB messenger and they asked about a Christmas card and asked for gift, a $30
dollar gift card to a restaurant. I
decided to be kind and send them a Christmas card and obviously a more modest
gift. I had considered giving the full
amount but something in “my spirit” told me that what I sent was “enough”.
I felt good about it. “Look at me, sending a gift to
one of the “least of these”, right?
Well, now I know why my spirit told me that my meager
gift was “enough?’ Just like my previous
experience, this “friend” seemed energized by my giving and quickly told me
about the fact that their birthday is this month and they asked for 2 – or 3
gifts cards ($30 or $40 dollars each, please) and a “small handheld computer”.
I didn’t really consider sending the money but
offered to send them my old laptop and actually started to prepare to ship it
to them.
But before I got a chance to send it out, they contacted
me again asking for the gift cards. When
I made it clear that I wasn’t going to send them any, I realized that maybe that
the fact that my spirit told me “$5 was enough” meant that I wasn’t necessarily
“called” to bend over backwards to “bless” this person. Maybe my idea to do
this “good work” was more about stroking my ego than answering the Lord’s
call.
So I asked if my old lap top, from 2014 with windows
7, was something that they wanted. They
quickly replied that they wanted a “hand held” computer – indicating that what
I wanted wouldn’t be welcome and that they basically wanted a “new”
computer.
It was at that point that I realized that “I was
done”, this wasn’t necessarily something I was “supposed to do” and if anything
it was either a lesson for me to be discerning or possibly a lesson to this
person to pursue work to obtain what they desired. They admitted that they wanted a “paying job”.
So I don’t know
if this interaction will light a spark and move them seek employment or if it
was just a lesson for me to be discerning in offering help. My offer of an old lap top seemed to be a
good idea but could be seen to be an insult.
We have to be careful when we seek to help the “least of these” not to
give “less than” what they desire or need.
I think that our “benevolent ideas” are so benevolent when we give people
our junk. This why some charities refuse to take used toys or items. It isn’t really
a blessing to receive junk.
So my magnanimous attempt to “be nice” ended up
opening my eyes to this and have humbled me.
Causing me to warn all of you to be discerning in “answering the call to
“do good works” and to be sure that our attempts to offer help or meet needs
will meet the expectations of and actually bless the people we want to
help. And so I join with the Apostle
Paul who prayed:
Philippians
1:9-11 (NKJV)
9 And this I pray, that your
love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
10 that you may approve the
things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the
day of Christ,
11 being filled with the
fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and
praise of God.
As representatives to the King, we want to do right
things for the right reasons, using our knowledge and discernment to be filled
with the fruits of righteousness and to do “good works” that will actually give
glory to God.
So I encourage you to do good works but to be led
the Spirit and to know when “enough is enough” or when to say “No.” and when to
“turn and walk away.” When we do things
in our own strength or to stroke our egos, they usually result in a mess and
cause us to think that “no good deed goes unpunished” but in truth these “failures”
should humble us and cause us to see that we may have misread our signals or
have been given the opportunity to learn patience and wisdom from our
mistakes.
We learn as we go, right? So keep walking and talking with God and try to listen every once in a while. Sometimes He may tell you back off, rather than press in.
___________________________________________
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 A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER TWO
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN CREATION
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory, and honor, and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were
created” (Rev. 4:11).
Having shown that sovereignty characterizes
the whole Being of God, let us now observe how it marks all His ways and
dealings.
In the great expanse
of eternity which stretches behind Genesis 1:1, the universe was unborn and
creation existed only in the mind of the great Creator. In His sovereign
majesty God dwelt all alone. We refer to that far distant period before the
heavens and the earth were created. There were then no angels to hymn God’s
praises, no creatures to occupy His notice, no rebels to be brought into
subjection. The great God was all alone amid the awful silence of His own vast
universe. But even at that time, if time it could be called, God was sovereign.
He might create or not create according
to His own good pleasure. He might create this way or that way; He might
create one world or one million worlds, and who was there to resist His will?
He might call into existence a million different creatures and place them on absolute equality, endowing them with
the same faculties and placing them in the same environment; or, He might
create a million creatures each differing from the others, and possessing
nothing in common save their creaturehood, and who was there to challenge His
right? If He so pleased, He might call into existence a world so immense that
its dimensions were utterly beyond finite computation; and were He so disposed,
He might create an organism so small that nothing but the most powerful
microscope could reveal its existence to human eyes. It was His sovereign right
to create, on the one hand, the exalted seraphim to burn around His throne, and
on the other hand, the tiny insect which dies the same hour that it is born. If
the mighty God chose to have one vast
gradation in His universe, from loftiest seraph to creeping reptile, from
revolving worlds to floating atoms, from macrocosm to microcosm, instead of making everything uniform,
who was there to question His sovereign pleasure?
Behold then the
exercise of Divine sovereignty long before man ever saw the light. With whom
took God counsel in the creation and disposition of His creatures? See the
birds as they fly through the air, the beasts as they roam the earth, the
fishes as they swim in the sea, and then ask, Who was is that made them to
differ? Was it not their Creator who sovereignly
assigned their various locations and adaptations to them!
Turn
your eye to the heavens and observe the mysteries of Divine sovereignty which
there confront the thoughtful beholder: “There is one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory” (1
Cor. 15:41). But why should they? Why should the sun be more glorious than all
the other planets? Why should there be stars of the first magnitude and others
of the tenth? Why such amazing inequalities?
Why should some of the heavenly bodies be more
favorably placed than others in their relation to the sun? And why should
there be “shooting stars,” falling stars, “wandering stars” (Jude 13), in a
word, ruined stars? And the only
possible answer is, “For Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11).
Come
now to our own planet.
Why should two thirds of its surface be covered with water, and why should so
much of its remaining third be unfit for human cultivation or habitation? Why
should there be vast stretches of marshes, deserts and ice-fields? Why should
one country be so inferior, topographically, from another? Why should one be
fertile, and another almost barren? Why should one be rich in minerals and
another own none? Why should the climate of one be congenial and healthy, and
another uncongenial and unhealthy? Why should one abound in rivers and lakes,
and another be almost devoid of them? Why should one be constantly troubled
with earthquakes, and another be almost entirely free from then? Why? Because
thus it pleased the Creator and Upholder of all things.[1]
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
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