Jesus did not suggest we enter at the narrow gate, this is a command to all who hear him (Matt 7:13a). We have a decision to make. Will we enter, will we obey, will we become Jesus' apprentices and be with Him? You cannot drift into a relationship with Jesus. Discipleship, obedience to Jesus Christ, walking the narrow way does not just happen. Simply calling yourself a Christian (putting on a label), attending church, reading a bible, saying prayers or trying to be a good person doesn't make one a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. You must intentionally decide to make Jesus your teacher and the director of your life, seeking every day to hear and obey his commands. >>> You either are a disciple of Jesus or you are not. You are either on the narrow road or the wide road. You are either with Jesus or without him.
0 Comments
When Jesus told his listeners to "Enter through the narrow gate," (Matt 7:13), they were not stuck at a crossroads. There is no crossroads. You are either intentionally obeying Jesus, following the narrow path or you are on the wide road that leads to destruction. Jesus, out of unimaginable mercy, opens the gate and calls us to the narrow path that leads to life. We must choose. To not choose is to stay on the, comfortable, broad road. >>> You either are a disciple of Jesus or you are not. You are either on the narrow road or the broad road. You are either with Jesus or without him What are we to make of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 where Paul says, “Women should remain silent in the churches.”? Did he mean it the way we hear it? The first question we need to answer is: Was this a regulation for all of Christ's churches everywhere and for all time? The clear answer from scripture is, "No." At the end of the gospels God chose women to be the first evangelists and to preach to the disciples that Jesus was alive. In Acts 2 we are told the Spirit of God fell on "men and women....sons and daughters" and that both genders would prophesy. To prophesy means to preach and proclaim God's will with authority. In Romans 16:7 we learn that there is a female apostle (yes you read that correctly) named, Junia (a Greek feminine name for which there is no masculine equivalent). Apostle was the highest office of authority in the early church. The evidence from God’s word is clear, woman have God’s permission to preach in church. The second question we should answer is: Was the prohibition against women speaking in church applied only to the Corinthian church? Again the clear answer from Paul's own letter to the Corinthian church is, "No." At the end of chapter 14 in verse 39 Paul encourages both men and women to be eager to prophesy. In 1 Corinthians 11:5 Paul explains that women should cover their heads when praying and prophesying in a worship service (I believe the issue here is the beauty/glory of a women distracting from the glory of God). In First Corinthians Paul actually encourages women to prophesy in church. He wants them to speak. Now the obvious question is: What did Paul really mean in 14:34-35? The key to understanding is to recognize that Paul was condemning a particular kind of speech, namely, inquiry. In verse 35 we learn the women were disruptively asking questions and it was interfering with the worship service. We don't know what their questions were or why they were disruptive, but we do know they were distracting people from worshipping and hearing God's word. We have a clue to the nature of these questions in verse 37. They had something to do with assuming the authority of a prophet. One possible explanation is that these women were once prophetesses in a pagan religion and were questioning Christ's prophets or had questions that were better addressed in the privacy of their own homes (v. 35). Here is what we can be sure of from Scripture: Both men and women have been gifted and authorized to preach and teach and must do so orderly and in be in agreement with God’s word (1 Timothy 1:3-4). Hope this helps you understand the Bible. Blessings, Pastor Tim A Revealing Assumption Those Christians who assume God will guide them, be with them or even transform them, yet are unwilling to practice the discipline of carefully reading and applying His word in community are like people who leave their house in the morning assuming they are dressed, but refusing to practice the discipline of putting on their clothes. Their foolishness is apparent to others first and, unfortunately, to them second. Are you a naked Christ-follower? Get dressed and practice the discipline of carefully reading and applying God's word in community. You will be amazed at what He reveals to you through His word and at the work His word does in you. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. - 1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NIV) Blessings! The church is currently in the season of Lent – that time of the year when Christians go around asking each other, “What did you give up?" But rather than a time to give something up, Lent is the period of time between Ash Wednesday and Easter where the followers of Christ seek to be closer to Him. That doesn't happen by just giving something up. Rather, we practice replacing something natural with something spiritual. We replace a natural practice that brings its own reward with a spiritual discipline that brings the blessing of deeper intimacy with God. Jesus did this. He replaced daily bread with the bread of heaven, God's word (see Matthew 4:4). He replaced lunchtime with the food of doing God's will (see John 4:34). We need to practice Lent like Jesus. Are you giving up lunch? Then replace your lunchtime with time in God's word, in prayer or serving others. Are you giving up chocolate? Replace that sweetness with the sweet presence of Jesus in worship, memorizing scripture, etc. The question we should be asking for Lent is, "What are you replacing in order to practice growing closer to your Lord?" This year our church (San Dimas Wesleyan) is practicing Lent by replacing our time with God time:
It's not too late for you to start practicing Lent. What's your answer to the Lenten Question: What are you replacing in order to practice growing closer to your Lord? Before you continue reading quickly write the words, "my part" on a sticky note or small piece of paper and leave it within reach. Consider this question: Who is responsible for a Christ-Follower's spiritual growth. When Jesus called you to Himself, when you put your trust in Him and became a Christian, you began as an infant. Our heavenly Father's expectation and desire is that you would grow up and become more like His Son. So again, who is responsible to make this happen? Who is responsible for Christian discipleship? The answer is threefold: God, the church and you.
Now I want you to pick up the piece of paper. The responsibility to obey Jesus, to grow spiritually and become more like Him is in your hands. You have the power to decide whether you will remain a spiritual infant or submit to your Father's will and grow up. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. - 1 Peter 2:2 (NIV) Community Bible Experience groups....never too late....
All Obedience Requires A Decision followed by Action Day #3 of our reading through the New Testament begins with a turning point and one of the most important statements in Luke, "Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem." (pg. 25, Luke 9:51). Other Bibles translate the phrase this way: "He was determined to go to Jerusalem" (NASB) and "He set his face to go to Jerusalem." (ESV). Why the dramatic language? Because Jerusalem was the place where Jesus would suffer and die AND it was the place God's mission required Him to go. Jesus couldn't simply dream of going to Jerusalem, He couldn't talk about visiting Jerusalem some day, He could not hope to go there in the future. If He was going to obey the will of God, if He was going to do what His heavenly Father sent Him to do, Jesus needed to actually make the decision and then act on it. All obedience requires a decision followed by action. To put off the decision is really a decision to disobey. Have you decided to follow Jesus? If so, then what actions have you taken since deciding? Are you listening to the will of Jesus found in the New Testament and acting in obedience no matter where it may lead? Are you getting help to do this from a small group studying God's word in your church? If you are not intentionally and actively obeying the will of Christ, whose will are you obeying? For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. - John 6:38 (NIV) What Are You Doing to Grow Spiritually? You have probably heard this definition of adulthood: An adult is someone who has stopped growing vertically and started growing horizontally. Those of us who have reached the age of "physical maturity" may have a hard time remembering the days when we dreamed of getting older, when we longed to grow up. The Christ follower needs to recall that longing and apply it to being a disciple of Jesus. When Jesus' invited us to follow Him, he never said or implied it was a short journey that would reach a destination where we could stop the pursuit. The opposite is true. The invitation to follow Jesus is an invitation to a life of seeking, striving after, and growing up to become like Him. Each follower of Jesus, you and me, have a personal responsibility when it comes to our spiritual growth. In other words, it's on us to take action in order to grow spiritually. There are actually three entities responsible for the believer's spiritual growth:
What are you doing to grow spiritually? Are you striving to hear, understand and live out what your Lord is saying? Have you joined a Community Bible Experience Group to read through the New Testament? If not, how come? What is the reason for your resistance? (Here's a challenge - speak that reason out loud to God and listen in your heart to His reply). Then Jesus called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and FOLLOW ME. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. - Mark 8:34-35 (NIV) Serving Jesus, Pastor Tim It's not to late to join one of our groups this week: · Sundays 9am in the Sanctuary · Sundays 9am in Fellowship Hall · Sundays 9am in the Barn (middle & high school) · Sundays 6:00pm in Fellowship Hall · Tuesdays 11am at the Parsonage · Wednesdays 9am in the Fellowship Hall Growth of any kind is impossible without devotion to the means of growth. Growth results when we are disciplined to practice the means that make us grow. Here are some examples:
You get the point. On Sunday, Dr. Don Shoff challenged us to commit to some vital Christian Practices in 2014. These are also known as "Christian Disciplines" "Spiritual Disciplines" and "Means of Grace.” Reading God’s word and praying daily, sharing our faith, generous giving, fellowship and worship are the main means to Christian maturity. You can listen to the sermon online at sermon.net/sdwchurch. Growth will not and cannot happen without devotion to the means of growth. We cannot become more like Christ, we cannot grow in our obedience to God's word, we will not be transformed, we will be weak in our individual faith and we will be ineffective in our mission unless we are devoted to the means God gave us to grow. This is how the church of Jesus Christ has always grown. When God sent the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the Apostle Peter preached a sermon and 3000 people believed and became baby Christians. By Acts 11, even after great persecution, we find these Christians sending missionaries, teaching others, seeing needs, organizing into action and enjoying true fellowship among people who did not normally associate. How did they do it? The answer is found in Acts 2:42-47. They devoted themselves to the Word of God, they devoted themselves to fellowship, they devoted themselves to worship (communion), they devoted themselves to prayer and they gave and shared generously. Through these means of growth, God formed them into His children and into the church He called and created them to be in Christ. Let’s go and do the same. God is doing something new, we'd rather He do the same old thing. At least this was the attitude of Zechariah (see Luke 1:5-25). He was comfortable with his life and religious routine. When God showed up and through the Angel said, "I have a mission for you." Zechariah didn't want to believe or see his comfortable life disrupted. The irony here is that the comfortable, religious routines Zechariah wanted to hold onto, were meant to prepare him to serve God's purposes, not hold him back from serving.
Mary had a different attitude. When she was approached by the same angel and told the part God had for her she responded, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38, NIV). This young girl with no priestly training who was given the more difficult job said, "Yes, I'm in," when the mature, experienced pastor said in effect, "No thank you." What is your answer to God's call to serve His mission, to do a new work, begin a new ministry or serve new people for the sake of His kingdom? Most of us would admit we tend to be cautious, "mature" Zechariahs rather than excited, surrendered Marys. Perhaps you remember when, as a new Christian, the new things God wanted to do were exciting. God would point out a character flaw or sin in our life and, though painful, we'd praise him because He was transforming us. When there was a call to serve, to share our faith, to minister in the church we would jump at the chance to be on the front lines of God's mission to this world. It's not too late. Like Zechariah, you may have become comfortable in the recliner of your religious routines, not wanting to get up (for the record I hate when I have to get out of my reclining chair). But also, like Zechariah, if you will submit to God's correcting, to His training and preparation, you will discover the desire, the courage and strength to say, "Yes I will serve you and do my part for Your mission." For Zechariah this meant listening to God's commands for the purpose of serving God's mission (remember, Zechariah couldn't speak, which means he became a good listener). It worked, he was transformed, got out of the recliner and served God's mission (read Luke 1:57ff). Will you listen to the word of God (through reading, preaching etc.) with an ear to hear His mission for you? Will you let God get you out of that comfy, cozy recliner to serve His salvation purposes in our world? He will do it if you let Him. |
I can plod. I can persevere in any definite pursuit. To this I owe everything.
- William Carey AuthorMy name is Tim Kirkes. I am honored to be the a child of my heavenly Father, the husband of Lisa, the father of two boys and the pastor of San Dimas Wesleyan church. Archives
March 2019
Categories
All
|