“Serving Others Is Natural For A Christian”

The title of today’s blog pretty much sums up the entire blog. Our good works do not grant us Salvation but instead are a result of Salvation. Works alone will not save you; your belief in Jesus Christ is the means in which one is saved. I want to post a passage of scripture that I read last night that I believe is a great place to park for today.

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

We see here that Jesus is showing us what it looks like to be a Christian. That is by caring for those who are in need. Once you receive Christ into your heart, this behavior should be second nature. Galatians 5:22-23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law”. If you noticed in this parable, the sheep (believers) said Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, or in prison, and helped you? What amazes me is that they didn’t even know that they did these things. That’s because serving others is not forced for a believer its natural. They weren’t doing them to earn salvation but they where doing them because they had salvation. Christ response was “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”

We also must be careful how we treat others that we don’t know. You never know who you could be helping. Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it”. Paul makes it pretty clear that serving others is a way of serving Christ. Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

I thought it would be great to end today’s blog with a prayer for use all. If we are not careful we all could fall into the category of not exemplifying Christ in our actions.

Father we ask that you would make us more sensitive to the opportunities we have to help others. Help us not to be selfish in our serving. For you gave your son willingly to come and die for our sins. We ask that his life would be a light for us as servants. As your son said in Matthew 20:28 “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. So we ask that you would help us to give of ourselves to help those in need. We thank you for providing all that we need, and we ask that you put in our hearts the willingness to want to help people. We ask this in your Sons name Jesus Christ Amen.

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“Hope in Heaven”

So many unbelievers have questions about Heaven. Questions such as, where is Heaven? Is Heaven a real place? What is Heaven like? My question to the believer is, are you prepared to help an unbeliever understand this place we call Heaven.

Heaven is a place that we as believers put all of our hope. But if you were to ask some Christian to take you in the Bible where it speaks about this place they would have no clue where to go. I believe it’s important for use to know what the Word says about this place we will spend eternity, after all we will be there a very long time :-). In this short but much needed blog concerning Heaven, it is my hope to help us understand Heaven a little bit better.

There are tons of scriptures that can help us to understand Heaven. In the New Testament alone, the word “Heaven” is found 276 times.

Most of us know heaven as the place of “No Mores”. Revelation 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." But there is so much more to Heaven then what he will do for us. Let’s see what we will do for Him. Revelation 22:3 “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him”. Isn’t that a great thought, we will be able to Worship God without the curse of sin! There won’t be anything to cloud our vision, we will for the first time be able to see God face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12 “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Anyone that tells you they have seen Gods face is not telling the truth. Not even Moses was granted access to see Gods face, only his back. Exodus 33:20 "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" So I find great joy in knowing that one day I will see God face to face.

Not only will we be able to see God face to face, we will also be able to behold this beautiful place that he dwells. I can’t even imagine how beautiful Heaven will be. Revelation Chapter 21 does a great job explaining what heaven will look like, but even after reading it I can’t imagine its beauty. I mean seriously there will be no sun or the moon to shine on it, God will give off its light. And there is no temple in Heaven because God the father and his Son Jesus Christ are its temples. There will also be twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates, I hope Archangel Michael is at my gate I will be starstruck :-).

So I ask you, have you secured the hottest ticket in town? As Toby Mac said do you have your ticket to ride to the other side? Well there is only one way to get a ticket, and that is by believing in Christ Jesus. John 14:6 “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”. I want to see all of you in Heaven, there is still room! So I beg you, give your life to Christ, if you haven’t all ready!

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"Idolatry, Idolatry, Idolatry"

Last week we spent a few minutes talking about the sin of pride. This week I really want to spend some time talking about another sin that goes unnoticed and that is idolatry. The definition of Idolatry is the worship of idols or excessive devotion to, or reverence for some person or thing.

The scriptures are adamantly against idolatry, and the reason is because it simply puts something else in the place of our God. Since the beginning, God’s covenant with Israel was based on worshiping Him and Him Alone. Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me”. God’s holiness is so powerful that he doesn’t even want us saying the names of false gods. Exodus 23:13 “Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips”. We must be careful that we respect and reverence our Holy God at all times. Unfortunately the Old Testament shows us time after time of how the Israelites went back worshipping false gods. They were stuck in a pattern of idol worship, punishment, restoration and forgiveness, followed by a return to idolatry, and the cycle would start back over.

The most prevalent form of idolatry in Bible times was the worship of images and statues. We must ask ourselves how idolatry plays out in modern times. Well most people do not bow physically before a statue. It is my experience that idolatry is a matter of the heart. It’s shown when we succumb to Pride, self-centeredness, greed, materialism, gluttony, and dependence on a man or woman (Boo Lovin).

We could spend hours on this topic but because of time I want to focus on two of these forms of idolatry. “Materialism” and “Gluttony”!

Worshiping materialistic stuff is a very common form of idolatry. People want the newest items, clothes, gadget, cars, homes, and not to mention all of the stuff that goes in a home. My wife and I just purchased our first house and in purchasing the house we realized that we needed stuff to go in the house. So we bought a flat screen and a few pieces of furniture and quickly realized that our rush to fill the house could become a form of idolatry. My wife said to me one night going to bed we have spent a lot of money on stuff but have we helped anyone else? This question rung in my spirit for the whole week. When you worship materials it keeps the focus on you and not God. Indulging in our materialistic desires is Satan’s trap to keep our focus on ourselves.

Now let us talk about a less noticeable form of idolatry called Gluttony. This is a form of idolatry that I struggle with. Anyone that knows me knows I love to EAT, but if we are going to line ourselves up with the Word of God, then gluttony is not acceptable. Gluttony is simply a desire to consume more than that which one requires. Gluttony is one of those sins that I have ignored for years and I’m sure many others have also. We are often quick to label smoking and drinking as sins, but for some reason gluttony is accepted or at least tolerated. We must view gluttony as a habit that must be broken. If we are unable to control our eating habits, we are probably also unable to control other habits. Did you know Proverbs 23:2 says “Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony?” That’s one of those scriptures that makes you scratch your head. I heard someone say the other day that people that give in to gluttony dig them selves a grave with there teeth. The bottom line is nothing should control us but our Father in Heaven.

So as we are ending today’s blog I encourage you to pray that God would reveal the areas where other things are before God. Our hearts and minds must be centered on God and on others. This is why when asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” Matt 22:7. When we love the Lord and others with everything that is in us, there will be no room in our hearts for idolatry.

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