An Offering Prayer

Giving is similar to working. It it’s to be of any value, whatever is done for God must be done through God. There is no other way.

1 Chronicles 29:14-18

14 “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. 15 For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. [5] 16 O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.”

All we have is from you, so all we give to you is from you. Thank you!

God’s Work and Our Work

Do you ever wonder whether God is at work in your life? I know of at least one way to tell. He works through our work. You might have expected to hear something like, “He provides for my needs” or “He gives me peace.” Of course, God loves to provide for the needs of his children and loves to give them peace. He also loves to show off his work through their work.

I love to use Philippians 2:12-13 to encourage myself and others that whenever you want to obey God, God is at work in your life. And whenever you actually obey God, God is at work in your life.

Recently, Colossians 1:29 has been a help to me along the same lines: “For this [presenting everyone mature in Christ] I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

Lest we think the idea that God started working through our work in the New Testament, here are two wonderful examples from the Old.

Psalm 127:1-2  Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

And in 1 Chronicles 22:16, David charges Solomon to build the temple with these words:

“Arise and work! The Lord be with you!”

What more can we ask for? Here is provision; here is peace.

Recycling in Public, cont. (Pt. 7 of 7)

[Note: This series of posts was originally presented as the final message in a three part series on experiencing our relationship with God through the Bible, preached at Grace Bible Church (sermon archives) in August, 2010.]

Care Group

Hebrews 3:12-13 ¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  ¹³ But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Our Care Groups aren’t just for support or to exchange ideas about how we think life works. In those gatherings, we want to bring the word to bear on the situations in which we find ourselves. Just two weeks ago in our group, someone had humbly presented a way he was struggling, and the group cared for him. As he was leaving, he said how good it was for him to have truth spoken into his life that night to contradict the lies he was believing, to say, “No, this is what’s true.” That’s what community groups are all about.

Sunday Celebration

Ian spoke on this just a few weeks ago. I just want to bring before our minds again two of the key texts.

Psalm 40:9-10 ⁹ I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD.  ¹⁰ I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

1 Corinthians 14:26 ²⁶ What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

This is what we do when we get together as a family on Sunday mornings.

New Media

Ephesians 4:29 ²⁹ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Facebook, Twitter and blogs are to be used for the sake of the gospel. Our communication, whether private and personal or public and electronic, is to be for building up, to be guided by the gospel.

Beth Horton regularly posts encouraging words via Facebook. Nate Branine blogs his thoughts about the gospel and how that plays out (or doesn’t) in his life. We’ve already heard of how his recycling the word through his blog led to a gospel opportunity at work.

Conclusion

Steph would tell you she’s not good at making the most of every opportunity with our neighbors; I can assure you that I miss opportunities with our children and at work; Nate expressed when we talked that he feels like he doesn’t do a good job at all in this area – and that’s actually a good place to be. None of us do this very well, but Jesus loves to use weak vessels to make his glory known. He could have chosen to do it another way, but he has chosen to work through us. Be encouraged! Let’s recycle the word by faith, and do it in the strength that he supplies. Recycling is Everyone’s Responsibility.

Read. Respond. Recycle. Repeat.

Recycling in Public (Pt. 6 of 7)

[Note: This series of posts was originally presented as the final message in a three part series on experiencing our relationship with God through the Bible, preached at Grace Bible Church (sermon archives) in August, 2010.]

Friends

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he lets them know that their troubles will be over when Jesus returns for them, and that they will then be with him forever. Then he says this:

1 Thessalonians 4:18 ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

As you are encouraged by the word, pass it on. And a few verses later he says:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

A few weeks ago, we were together with some friends and my wife received encouragement from several ladies in our church who were recycling the word. She was given words of encouragement then as well as some passages from God’s word to read later.

Neighbors

Colossians 4:5-6 ⁵ Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders [people who are outside of Christ], making the best use of the time. [That’s the “opportune moment.” The idea of the word time here is the “appointed time,” or “opportunity.”] ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

Just this week Steph was talking with our neighbor (whose husband used to work for the Housing Authority) – and the recent news about the Housing Authority’s chief going AWOL as his home heads toward foreclosure led to one of those appointed times. No politician can solve our problems, and no political figure can save us, only Jesus can.

Recycling at Home (Pt. 5 of 7)

[Note: This series of posts was originally presented as the final message in a three part series on experiencing our relationship with God through the Bible, preached at Grace Bible Church (sermon archives) in August, 2010.]

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

But what does it look like to talk of God’s words when we’re sitting in our house and when we’re walking by the way? Does it mean that all we ever do is sit around talk about God and quote Scripture to each other? No. Bills need to be paid, grass needs to be mowed, basements need to be organized, children need to be cleaned up after (and need to learn to clean up after themselves), homework needs to be done, meals need to be prepared, and the list goes on and on. What do we do with all those things? Who God is and what he has done for us through Jesus must color everything we do. There is no area of life that exists outside of the reality of the gospel. If we believe that, it will change the way we talk about life and how it works.

When a toy breaks, and your daughter asks, “Why do things break?” – that’s a golden opportunity for recycling. Normally we would probably answer with something like, “Well, if you hadn’t just banged it against the corner of the countertop, it wouldn’t be broken.” In this case, that was true. It might be more helpful, though, to say something like this: “Let me tell you a story. Even shiny, wonderful things eventually will wear out and break, just as we will, because of sin. But Jesus came and lived and died so we wouldn’t have to be broken anymore. And one day, there will be a world where people praise Jesus perfectly and nothing ever breaks. Won’t that be wonderful?”

It’s fine to have more formal teaching times with your children, too, but don’t let those times be a substitute for the rising up, lying down, walking by the way times. Your children will pick up on whether the Bible is for all of life or not, and if the gospel really connects to what you do every day.

How We Recycle (Pt. 4 of 7)

[Note: This series of posts was originally presented as the final message in a three part series on experiencing our relationship with God through the Bible, preached at Grace Bible Church (sermon archives) in August, 2010.]

Before looking at the two spheres in which we recycle, in private and in public, another word is in order. We must recycle with wisdom. Both passages we’ve looked at so far highlight that the warning and teaching is done with all wisdom. Wisdom comes from God, and as we saw in first message in this sermon series, the word of God makes the simple wise. We pray for wisdom and we seek it in the word. Some situations will require teaching, others admonishing, rebuking, comforting, or encouraging, and it takes wisdom to discern the difference. So as we seek to recycle, let’s seek wisdom from the Lord.

What is Recycling? (Pt. 3 of 7)

[Note: This series of posts was originally presented as the final message in a three part series on experiencing our relationship with God through the Bible, preached at Grace Bible Church (sermon archives) in August, 2010.]

Colossians 3:16 ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

When the word of Christ lives in you, it comes out of your mouth in teaching, admonishing, and singing.

The point is that all this reading of and responding to the word is not something that we do all by ourselves and is not designed to benefit us only. In fact, this verse has more of a corporate or community emphasis than an individual one. Everything here is plural, and it’s in the middle of a passage that is dealing with how believers relate to each other. It’s easy to see the connection between the content of this verse and what we do here on Sundays. Every week, we hear teaching and we sing together to God. It doesn’t mean we don’t do these things individually or on a one-to-one basis, but we do them corporately, too. We want the word to dwell in us richly when we’re together, and that is usually the result of the word dwelling in us richly all the time.