Reaching Together

To go along with the idea of serving....an awesome study by Tim Chaddick and Reality LA

Click HERE to listen and watch!

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L O V E

In my Bible reading this morning I read 1 Corinthians 13. To me it sort of seemed to be a continuation of the theme for my post from yesterday. So now that we know that the first and most important thing is our relationship to God, to worshiping Him and to being holy, what is next? Well a response to a right relationship to Christ is naturally service. So, how do we serve?

Do we serve out of duty, do we serve just to "do" something? I'm going to let scripture answer this one for me. God's word always speaks better than I do. :)

This isn't JUST about service but life in general, and I know that many of us know this chapter, but it is always nice to be reminded and refreshed by the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 13:

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Which Comes First?

Having done a lot of work in the ministry through the years and having worked in various fields and areas with Christians, I find this question to be a place where lines seem to become blurred. Which comes first? Worship? Service? Holiness? Work?

We know that when Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and Martha was rushing around "serving" and "working" that when she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her, Jesus made it very clear that Mary was the one doing the right thing by sitting at the feet of Jesus, by being in a place of worship. We are also told in 1 Samuel 15:22,

"So Samuel said: 'Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.'"

God wants our obedience, our worship, He wants us to be Holy as He is Holy.

Somehow along the way, it seems that service and "doing" things for people has risen to become the most important thing in the eyes of many churches and Christians. I'm not trying to sound like I'm judging, I'm honestly just making an observation. Much importance is put on saving the orphan and feeding the needy, all of which is good and talked about in scripture. But where is the spiritual aspect? Why are we not placing an even greater importance on our hearts and the hearts of those who we are serving? If we feed them and clothe them and save them from worldly troubles but don't feed their souls our point them to Jesus, or lead them to salvation, are we really doing anything for them other than providing a more comfortable road to hell? Service should be an overflow of our relationship to the Lord. It is important, but it is not the most important thing.

Our world is greatly helped and blessed by Christians and Christian organizations....but how much more of an impact would be made on our world, if we as Christians and as churches were MORE concerned with the spiritual lives of our fellow Christians and those we are helping and with being Holy and worshiping God. If those were our main concerns, I really believe that the there would be an even greater outpouring of service in this world.

So where is this all coming from? Well I encountered a lot of service seeming to be greater than worship and holiness through the years and so this theme has been something that is really strong on my heart...and then this morning I read the devotion below by Tozer. It once again reminded me that yes, it is good and great to serve, but we NEED to be worshiping God and we NEED to be Holy FIRST, because these things are the most important. We were created to WORSHIP God! Serving those in the world is secondary to worship and holiness.

Below is the awesome devotional by Tozer.

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Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His
mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Spirit,...that having been justified by His grace we should
become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
-Titus 3:5-7

"To teach that the filling with the Holy Spirit is given to the
Christian to provide "power for service" is to teach truth, but not
the whole truth. Power for service is but one effect of the
experience, and I do not hesitate to say that it is the least of
several effects. It is least for the very reason that it touches
service, presumably service to mankind; and contrary to the popular
belief, "to serve this present age" is not the Christian's first
duty nor the chief end of man....

The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to restore the lost soul to
intimate fellowship with God through the washing of regeneration....
God wants worshipers before workers; indeed the only acceptable
workers are those who have learned the lost art of worship. It is
inconceivable that a sovereign and holy God should be so hard up
for workers that He would press into service anyone who had been
empowered regardless of his moral qualifications. The very stones
would praise Him if the need arose and a thousand legions of angels
would leap to do His will.

Gifts and power for service the Spirit surely desires to impart;
but holiness and spiritual worship come first."

Satisfied

If you know anything about me, you know that I am a "foodie". I very much enjoy food and trying new things and going to new places all over the world and sampling the local cuisine. And if you are a foodie as well, you know how fun it is to do this, you also know what I mean when I say that when you try something new, and it is REALLY good, it just makes you happy, and sort of gives you that "wow, this is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G" feeling. Sometimes the food is so good that there is no need for anything sweet afterward.

Well, tonight, I just had one of those moments, but not with food...I had it during my devo time. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Jeremiah 15:16,

"Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O LORD God of hosts."

I love this verse because I relate to it so much. One, because I'm a foodie and so the analogy naturally works in my mind, and two, because I truly do feel this way about the Bible and the Word of God. And not just about the Bible, but about spiritual truths.

I had barely started my devotional time tonight, when I was hit with one of those truths. I know this quote almost by heart now as I have read this devotional for so many years. Once again this quote has nailed me in the heart, reminding both of how much the Lord loves me, and how I am to serve HIM, and not focus my eyes on the people around me.

Matthew 20:28a says,

"Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister"

and Mr. Oswald Chambers had this to say,

"If we are devoted to the cause of humanity, we shall soon be crushed and broken-hearted, for we shall often meet with more ingratitude from men than we would from a dog; but if our motive is love to God, no ingratitude can hinder us from serving our fellow men . . . When we realize that Jesus Christ has served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness, and sin, nothing that we meet with from others can exhaust our determination to serve men for His sake."

I hope I didn't take so long to lead into this great piece of truth that is was lost on you. How huge is this?!?! So often we take our eyes off of Jesus and serving HIM alone, and we put them on those around us, we begin to serve man, our boss, our co-workers, people at church, our family....all of which is totally and completely good, providing that while we are serving them, our EYES and our FOCUS and our HEART remains gazing on Christ. We can get so down, and depressed and frustrated when we are doing things for 'man' because we are expecting them to 'notice' us and to give us some sort of acknowledgment for what we are doing. Then when the acknowledgment doesn't come our way, we are angry! "How dare they not notice how much I am serving them!" That right there should show us where our hearts are...where our focus is.

As Paul tells us, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men.

When our hearts and minds and eyes are focused on the Lord, we have absolutely no reason to not always do our best no matter what the circumstances are, no matter what the situation is, big or small....and no matter who it is we are serving. Because those things are secondary to the ONE we are ultimately serving...and that should be Jesus Christ. We can never do more than He did for us, and if our hearts are focused on Him, and we find that not one single person says "thank you" to us, it won't even matter, because we aren't looking for a thank you from them anymore...we are awaiting the day when we will see our Savior face to face and hear HIM say, "well done good and faithful servant".

I don't know about you, but that was some heavy stuff for me tonight.....good stuff. The kind of wonderful truth that leaves me satisfied, full and not needing much else.

We have a great God and King and Savior and Redeemer!!!

Grace and peace on your hearts.

Search My Heart

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24

"I believe we should profit immensely were we to declare a
period of silence and self-examination during which each one of us
searched his own heart and sought to meet every condition for a real
baptism of power from on high. ."
AW Tozer