Sunday 08/23/15
Series: The Power of the Gospel XX
Message – The Power to Bear Fruit unto Godliness XVI
We’ve been talking about the Power of God.
There is a difference between being loved & accepted by God and being well pleasing to Him. Many who are insecure in their spiritual growth cannot allow themselves to see the difference, since as Christians, they have a need for God to be pleased with them but they are to gridlocked by fear to believe it has anything to do with what they do or do not do. This is where we get so many goofy doctrines like those teaching us that the sacrifice of Christ not only paid for sins but immediately made us well pleasing to God even when we live lives devoid of good fruit dur to our lack of trust in His inner workings.
In the parable of the four hearts the Good Heart is the one which fully pleases God.
Decisions
When I have considered this whole thing, my heart has settled on one focal point as being of greatest importance concerning our decisions.
What is the center of our decisions? Desire
Desire is good
God made it – the enemy THROUGH THE weakness of the flesh has distorted it but, desire in and of itself is a God given thing and therefore cannot be bad.
We are supposed to be the salt and light of the world, but we are not making people thirsty or showing them the way.
As the world looks at the church they see a group of people who are either….
- Live lives exactly like theirs – filled with worldly pursuits and desires only Christianized by throwing in a few out of context passages that makes God obliged to cooperate with my worldly pursuits.
- A group of stoics who wrestle SO hard against fleshly desires without resting in Christ to overcome through them – that they live lives largely bereft of desire.
What does David say about God and desire?
“A Michtam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. (2) O my soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” (3) As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” (4) Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips. (5) O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. (6) The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. (7) I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. (8) I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. (9) Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. (10) For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. (11) You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” ~ Psa 16:1-11
Original desire is good – perverted desire is bad…lay that aside.
Thinking it through….
Brain storm – looking at what we know of the garden, or Creation – what do you believe God’s intent, purpose & desire was?
He desired beautifully open and receptive hearts that looked to Him and desired Him enough to know Him and in the knowing to completely trust Him.
Jesus never demonized desire – He worked with it!
Luke 12:4-34,
(4) “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
(5) But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!
(6) “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.
(7) But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
(8) “Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God.
(9) But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.
(10) “And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.
(11) “Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
(12) For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
(13) Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
(14) But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”
(15) And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
(16) Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.
(17) And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’
(18) So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.
(19) And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ‘
(20) But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
(21) “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
(22) Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
(23) Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
(24) Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
(25) And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
(26) If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
(27) Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
(28) If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
(29) “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
(30) For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
(31) But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
(32) “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
(33) Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.
(34) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Notice that Jesus confronted ungodly desires….but, He did not instruct us to become stoics, by chastising us for having desires in the first place. No, rather He told us to refocus our desires on things that are good…that are from God.
Don’t be deceived
James tells us,
(13) Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
(14) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
(15) Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
(16) Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
(17) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” ~ James 1:13-17
He gives us three things not to be deceived about
- Being tempted to do evil will draw us away from God.
- Desire is where temptation gains our attention
- All good gifts come from God – not the world or our own pursuits in the world.
Good hearts DO
True religion is to DO SOMETHING consistent with WHO you are.
James refers to pure religion (James 1:26-27), indicating there is also an impure religion which would be external worship but not the practice of that which God demands of man.
Jas 1:18-27,
(18) Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.
(19) So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
(20) for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
(21) Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
(22) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
(23) For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
(24) for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
(25) But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
(26) If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
(27) Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Being deliberate in three things –
Visiting – To look after, with the acc., take care of, tend (Acts 15:36). Frequently used in the Class. Gr. for taking care of or nursing the sick (Matt. 25:36, Matt. 25:43; James 1:27)
- Orphans
- Widows
- Keep unspotted from the world
Unspotted – Although our Lord in 1Peter 1:19 is called ámōmos, without internal sinfulness and spot, and áspilos, without external sin or spot, He is never said to be ámemptos, without accusation or reproach, as He Himself taught in Luke 6:26, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you.” Although He Himself was without internal and external spot or blemish, yet there were those who spoke evil of Him or who brought momphḗ (G3437), blame, against Him which led to His death. We, however, are admonished to walk and live in such a manner that we will not justifiably elicit the reproach of others (Luke 1:6; Php. 2:15; Php. 3:6; 1Thess. 3:13).
Blessings!
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Blessings!
