back to the basics

Fellowship in the King – I Dare You

Posted on by chgruver

Last week in our going back to the basics we took a look at worship, and how it is our way of expressing our love and gratitude towards God. This week we will be looking at a similar concept which is that of fellowship; the definition of which is, “friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests.” In regards to how we as Christians view fellowship a great passage to look at is that of Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Stir Each Other Up

The first thing we notice is that the author of Hebrews calls the believers to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” This phrase “stir up” had me curious what some of the other translations used, and I saw phrases such as encourage, stimulate, spur on, and the good old King James calls us to provoke each other. I will say the translations that use spur on, and provoke as well as others that use stir up bring a stronger sense than just to encourage. What the author is wanting us, and was wanting the believers to whom he was originally writing, to do was more of a challenge.

When I think of encouragement I think of someone suggesting a change or an action, more of being a cheerleader. Where stirring up or provoking something is to aggravate it, much like poking a sleeping bear. It is like when many of us were younger and would among our friends dare each other to do stupid stunts. The author of Hebrews is saying think of ways to dare each other, to challenge each other. As men this should speak to us we should find a way to be competitive with each other.

Love and Good Works

So what is it we are to dare each other with, various ways of showing love and good works. We should be thinking of ways to challenge each other to show Christ’s love to our fellow man. We should find ways to dare each other to put our faith into action. One of my favorite passages is in James where he is talking about faith without works is dead. He is not saying we are saved by any sort of works, but that good works should flow out of our faith.

Iron Sharpens Iron

But how does this competitive attitude towards love and good works promote fellowship? Well it is the concept found in Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” You see when in Christian fellowship we are challenging each other to a sort of do better than this in love and good works, we should be pushing each other to focus more on Christ. We are not telling each other see what I did, I bet you can’t out do it. Instead we are saying see this action, I bet you can do better than this. We are not trying to bring our actions or ourselves glory but we are trying to build and strengthen each other to bring glory to God.

Fellowship does not stop here though, next time we will look at the next part of Hebrews 10:24-25, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.”

A Heart of Worship – Renewal of the Mind

Posted on by chgruver

So last time we started to look at how presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice is an act of worship; today we will continue on looking at what it looks like to be this living sacrifice. The passage we have been looking at has been Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” In verse one Paul mentions that we are to present ourselves as a living sacrifice; in verse two he gives us a glimpse of what this looks like.

Do Not Be Conformed

The first thing Paul mentions in Romans 12:2 is that we are not to conform to the ways of this world; this is the biggest part of being a living sacrifice. You see as men we are told by the world we have to live and act a certain way. The world tells us we need to do what we need to do to get ahead. Do you need to lie to get a promotion, the world tells us that it is okay. The world often tells us to do things that are contrary to what is right. This is because the biggest thing that the world tells us is that we are number one. We are told that we should view ourselves as the most important thing around, the world is all about pride.

To do as Paul states and not conform to the world we need to step away from pride, and take on humility. We need to understand that there is someone out there greater than we are and we need to place our focus on Him; for while the world tells us that we are to look at anything other that God as being the most important thing in our lives, God states that He is to be our all in all. The world tells us to look to ourselves and find strength in ourselves; God says to look to Him and find rest as He will be our strength. We live in a society where what God calls us to do is often looked at as weakness; our society and culture states that pride is good, to be humble is weak, and to be weak is bad. This is why not conforming to the world is a sacrifice, because we are willingly making ourselves look weak in the eyes of the world.

Be Transformed

It doesn’t just stop with turning away from the ways of the world; because as we stop doing what the world tells us and start looking toward God we find that we eventually change. In Psalm 37:4 we are told, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” When we go after God rather than the world God changes our heart, He makes it so that we start to desire more the things He wants. This is the renewal of the mind Paul tells us about. You see we cannot renew our mind to focus on the things of God when we are following the world and being focused on ourselves; this includes even noticing the constant blessings that God bestows on us.

Discern God’s Will

It doesn’t end with us having a renewed mind, renewed desires; as our mind and desires become more in line with God’s we are better able to discern God’s will. This is because as we look more to God and our desires are changed they become more along the lines of God’s will; we start asking how certain decisions will bring glory to God rather than the world’s question of how those decisions would bring glory to ourselves. You see through not conforming to the world and transforming our minds we are offering ourselves to God in an act of submission stating “rather than looking to glorify myself, how can I bring glory to Your name Lord?” This is what it means to be a living sacrifice and this is in one basic sense how we are to worship God.

A Heart of Worship – Living Sacrifice

Posted on by chgruver

So this week we are looking at worship and last time we looked at what worship is and why as Christians we worship God. Today I want to look at Romans 12:1-2 and what it says about our worship. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Living Sacrifices

We see in Romans 12:1 that Paul is telling the believers in Rome that they need to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. The big thing about this statement is that it is an act of humility and submission. I know as men those are two words we do not want to be associated with us, but that is what it means to be a living sacrifice. This is because in most cases a sacrifice was killed before being placed on the altar, but as a living sacrifice we are able to get up and walk off; this is where the humility and submission comes in. We are submissive because as a living sacrifice we are willingly placing our lives into God’s hand, allowing Him to do what he wants with us, to use us how He wills. We show humility because the act of presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice shows we understand it is not about us, that there is someone greater than we are.

Spiritual Worship

Paul then tells us and the Roman believers that the act of presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice is an act of spiritual worship. This is because of that attitude of submission and humility required to first present ourselves as a true living sacrifice. You see as a believer when we submit ourselves to God as a living sacrifice our hearts are crying out to God because of His love for us. We are saying to God that out of our love for what He has done for us, we realize that He is sovereign and greater than we are. That because of who God is we willingly submit to Him, we will never be perfect but we are holy and acceptable to God because out of our hearts we are turned towards Him. So what does it look like to be a living sacrifice? We will look at that next time as we look at Romans 12:2.

A Heart of Worship – Why We Worship

Posted on by chgruver

Over the last couple of weeks we have been looking at going “back to the basics” in regards to our faith. We have looked at first the most essential basic, that of whether we are a Christian, to then why it is important to study the Bible. This week I want to look at a basic that is often misunderstood; the concept of worship. Today I want to look at what worship is and why as Christians we worship.

So What Is Worship?

When I was in seminary in one class I remember learning that the origins of our word worship comes from an old term worthship or one showing the worthiness of something or some one. So you see in terms of worship we are to be expressing to God how we view him as being worthy. I often think of the scene in the movie “Wayne’s World” where Wayne and Garth meet Aerosmith and fall down saying “We’re not worthy!”

To some people the concept of worship is often closely tied to that of praise music; which wile there is nothing wrong with singing praises, many of the Psalms call for us to sing praises as a part of our worship, that is not all worship is. I often think of the story behind the song “Heart of Worship,” where it was written after the pastor at a church decided the church would take a month of worshiping God without using music. This is because we often look at worship as being the praise music but often do not even take the time to contemplate the meaning of the words or sing the songs without really meaning what we are singing.

You see it is when we take the time to meditate on the words, take them to heart, and sing the songs from our heart when they become a part of our worship; worship is an action that comes out of our hearts and not just a routine. We see this throughout the Bible, Isaiah 1:10-17, Micah 6:8, James 1:26-27, and Jesus through the Gospels point out that this is the problem with the Pharisees; they think keeping a set of rules, following traditions, is more important than a heart yearning for God.

So Why Do We Worship?

So if our worship is from our heart and not just a set of repetitive actions to be checked off a list, why do we worship. The simple answer is because in our hearts we know God deserves our worship; but it is deeper than that. There are many verses in the Bible that tell us why we are to worship God. In Hebrews 12:28 it is because He has given us a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Psalms proclaim it is for the glory due to Him. Psalm 100 tells us that He is good and His love endures forever. In 1 Peter 2:10 we see that it is because we have received mercy. Essentially we are to worship God because of who He is, and what He has done for us; for the mercy and grace He has shown to us through his work on the cross and the free gift of salvation.

 

Why Study The Bible – Equips Us For Service

Posted on by chgruver

Well today we will wrap up looking at 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and the importance of studying the Bible. So far we have seen that the Bible helps to make us wise regarding salvation, showing us God’s plan for salvation and how we are saved; and we have seen that the Bible was inspired by God and is profitable for living out our Christian faith. Which leads us into today’s topic. In verse 16-17 we see Paul tell Timothy regarding the Bible, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped mfor every good work.” Where we will look at today is that it helps us to be complete and equipped for every good work.

Complete

In verse 17, Paul starts out by telling Timothy that by being in the Scriptures “the man of God may be complete,” other translations may have perfect. The first thing to notice is that it is “the man of God” that is made complete. What Paul is getting at is that what he is saying pertains to believers. A person can read the Bible all they want, but unless the Holy Spirit is working in them they will never gain the full benefit of what the Scriptures contain. They may see it as suggestions to good moral living with a collection of stories; but never understand that it is the divine truth, God’s holy word.

So what does a believer gain from the word? It makes them complete or in some translations perfect. What the word Paul used here is getting at is not being sinless or that sort of perfection but rather it is the concept of being in fit shape or in fit condition. To be made complete through study of the Word is to put us in a place where we are the most effective when God uses us. Think of it like a car, you can do the bare minimum to keep a car running; but put it in the hands of a good mechanic to fine tune it and suddenly the car does not just run but it runs at its peak performance. The Christian is much the same way when the Holy Spirit works in them through the study of Scripture.

Equipped for Service

We then go on to notice that Paul states that not only are we made fit for service but the Bible will also equip us for service as well. What Paul is getting at is that through studying the Bible we are given the tools needed to do God’s work. Now the works that Paul is speaking of here are those that come out of our faith, they are an expression of our faith. Studying the Bible is what gives us the power to live out our faith. Often we state we feel we do not have what we need in order to do what God has called us to do, but Paul is stating here that we have all that we need and then more, all we need to do is to spend time in God’s word.

Why Study The Bible – God Breathed And Profitable

Posted on by chgruver

So this week we are looking at the Bible and why it is important to study it; last time we looked at how a knowledge of Scripture helps you to come to a knowledge of salvation. Today we are going to look at the next aspect of why studying the Bible is important. In 2 Timothy 3:16 we see, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Paul tells Timothy two things here that make studying the Bible important; it is inspired by God and it is profitable.

God Breathed

The first thing that Paul mentions in this verse is the importance of the source of Scripture. I know when writing research papers there are different types of sources, where the professors want you to use as many quality sources as possible, sources that are accurate and reliable as opposed to the random rants of someone on the internet. What he points our is that Scripture was inspired by God, or as we see in some translations that it was God breathed. What this means is that what we see in the Bible was in a way dictated to the authors by God; but in a way that was more in terms of thoughts and concepts, as God’s truth flowed through the minds, souls, hearts, emotions, and personalities of the various authors. This is seen by each writer having their own style and presentation; Paul uses a different vocabulary than James, and Luke writes to the Greek mind while Matthew speaks more to the Jews. It all however, is God’s truth breathed into the writers.

Profitable

The next thing we see is that not only is the source of Scripture important, but the uses of Scripture is important. Paul gives a list of ways that the Bible is to be used by stating that in each of these areas Scripture is profitable, it brings about the best results. The four areas in which Paul lists Scripture as being profitable all work together in helping the believer grow. First is that of teaching or in fancy terms doctrine, it is learning what is right. That is followed up by reproof, or telling us what is not right. So with these first two aspects Scripture tells us what we should be doing and what we should not be doing; what our goals should be and what we should try to avoid. Then there comes correction, this is where Scripture helps to tell us how to get right; especially when we fail, as we all will do at one point or another. Finally Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness, or how we are to stay right. These last two go together because as we are shown how we have failed and how to get right with God, we then are shown how to remain that way. This is not a one time deal, it is a life long process that we must all endure; and that is what Paul is getting at with how Scripture is profitable to us. It brings us to salvation, to faith in Christ, but then leads us through maturing in our faith.

Why Study The Bible – Makes Us Wise For Salvation

Posted on by chgruver

After coming to faith in Christ studying Scripture is probably one of the more important aspects of the Christian life to look at. So why is it important to study Scripture? Paul gives us a good look at the reason for the importance of Scripture and being well acquainted with it. In 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Paul writes, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” Today what I want to look at is what Paul tells Timothy in verses 14 & 15, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Continue In The Word

You see the Word of God is what helps us to counter temptation, and defeat Satan’s lies. Looking at society and our modern culture, temptations, deceit, and evil seems to prevail and the only weapon we have that can effectively deal with it is the Bible. So why do so many of us seem to disregard and avoid studying the God’s Word? Some may think it was good for when we were young, or that it is irrelevant to our lives now. Nothing is further from the truth, if anything as we get older our need for the truth found in the Scriptures increases as we face more temptations. This is why Paul told Timothy to continue in what he had learned.

Know From Whom You Learned

The second part of this was that Paul not only was reminding Timothy to continue in what he learned from the Scriptures; but reminded him who it was that he learned it from. You see as we study Scripture it is important that we pay close attention to who we learn from. You see if we are learning from those with a firm foundation of faith, then we will be less likely to fall into faulty doctrine. Timothy had learned from his grandmother and mother, then later as an adult learned from Paul; basically the three greatest Christian influences in Timothy’s life was the source of his learning what was in the Scriptures. This is also why as men we need to be the spiritual leader in our homes to help teach our children and raise them up in the Word.

Wise For Salvation

So now we get into one of the major purposes for the importance of the Scriptures, it has the ability to lead one to salvation. It is not the Bible that saves us or our studying it; but it is what helps to point us to Christ. How does the Bible lead us to salvation? First it points out our need. It shows us how we can never measure up to the perfection that God requires. However, it doesn’t just point out our need for salvation but reveals to us God’s plan of salvation. Finally the Bible helps to nourish us by giving us assurance of our salvation and helping us to grow spiritually.

Back to the Basics – A Changed Life

Posted on by chgruver

So in looking at the getting back to the basics and more specifically the basic of what it means to be a Christian we saw that first we are saved by grace, then last time we saw how as a Christian our focus will change from other stuff, including ourselves and our family, to being focused solely on God. Well with a change in our focus eventually our lives will change. One verse that comes to mind is Psalms 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” So now let’s take apart this verse and see what I mean by it leading us to a changed life.

Delight Yourself In The Lord

The first thing the psalmist mentions in this verse is that we are to delight ourselves in the Lord. You see this is where that change in focus comes in. When we start looking towards Christ and making Him our all, our one and only desire is where the changed life comes from. Jesus states in Luke 14 that one must hate his family in order to be His disciple, this means that there is nothing else in our life that takes our attention from God. So you see when we are focused on God we look to Him for everything. When times are good we look to God in gratitude, when times are bad we look to God for sustenance; no matter what the situation we are to look to God as He should be our All in All.

The Desires Of Your Heart

So what happens as our focus shifts from us and onto God? Well according to this verse we are given the desires of our hearts. So what are the desires of our heart? What exactly is it that God is giving us as we delight in Him? Will he give us all the things we want? Things such as money, fame, material things? No I don’t think that it is quite that simple. You see what I believe God is giving us is not those things that we want, the things that we desire; but rather God is actually changing our desires, He is actually giving us His desires. You see as we are walking in God’s will, focusing on Him we start to desire the things that God desires.

So what do these desires look like? James puts it like this, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Then Micah states it as such, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” You see the desires God gives us is that we are focused on serving others rather than ourselves. You see the Christian life is a progression, we are saved which leads to a change in our focus; that change in focus then leads to a change in our life. As Christians we are called to “be holy as God is holy.” Yet while we know it is an unattainable goal, it is still a goal that we should strive towards; or as I have heard it put we are not sinless, but every day we should sin less.

Back to the Basics – A Changed Focus

Posted on by chgruver

Last time we looked at how we are saved by grace. Today we will look at another aspect of what makes a Christian, a change in focus. Let’s start this discussion by looking at what a Christian is, looking at society some people may think that because they regularly attend church services, do good deeds, their parents were and their parents’ parents were Christians, or maybe they have actually been baptized that they are Christians. These are all good things but they are not what makes a Christian; Jesus stated in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” What this means is that faith in Christ is what defines a Christian. So what does faith in Christ look like? Well there are a number of ways to describe a Christian faith.

I Am Second

The first way to describe a Christian faith would be that I take the view that I am second and God should come first in my life. On paper, or the screen, it sounds easy but in application it can be rather difficult. You see we have had an issue of seeking our own personal interest as long as man has been on the earth. Don’t believe me look at Genesis 3:6, Eve saw that the fruit was good to eat, desirable, and able to make one “wise.” You see Satan used the hook that the fruit would make them like God to get them to eat, He played to their self interest over reliance on God.

You see putting God first is not just a catchy phrase or the clever name of a movement, but a daily struggle we must face. Paul puts it this way, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” In other words we lay down our desires, wants, interests and give them to God. He will then give us what we need, His desires, and His interests. Our focus needs to change from putting ourselves first (which society tells us we should look out for only ourselves) to looking to what God wants from us.

All In

The thing is we cannot leave the description of the Christian faith at just putting God first in our lives, rather we need to make Him and His will our sole focus. Let me put it this way in a number of sports they have what is called a leader board and as long as you are on the leader board you are still in contention to take first place. What this means is that if there is anything that can take your focus it is on your spiritual leader board, God wants it so that second place does not even come close to ranking on your leader board. Now I am not saying we need to become monks and live a life of 24/7 church services but as Paul told the Colossian church in everything we do we should do it for God and give Him thanks. When working at your job, work in such a way to bring glory to God, even if it is stocking shelves at the grocery store or cleaning bathrooms. When hanging out with your friends act in such a way to bring glory to God, even if the others are treating the servers at the restaurant in a terrible manner look at them and treat them as a child of God.

Now one thing I do think needs mentioning is that this is not easy, in fact Jesus said it was hard (Matthew 7:13-14), but it is a goal we should aim towards. The secret is that the more we focus towards God the easier it becomes. Now we will never be perfect and we are all bound to slip at times but that is where God’s grace and forgiveness comes in, which we will talk about next time.

Back to the Basics – Saved By Grace

Posted on by chgruver

With our next conference coming up, where the theme is “Back to the Basics;” I figured it would be best to take a look at some of the basics. Now when thinking of getting back to the basics there is one concept that needs to be dealt with before any others. We can read Scripture and study the Bible, have a quiet time, and even attend church but unless we have given our life to Christ it is useless. The first basic that needs to be dealt with when getting back to the basics is the question of “Are you a Christian?”

So what does it mean to be a Christian?

I know those of us that are Christians, and even some that are not, are well aware of the vocabulary we use when trying to find out whether someone else is a Christian. We use phrases like “given your life to Christ,” “asked Jesus into your heart,” or “are you saved.” You see to be a Christian means that we are saved from a life of sin and spiritual death. So now the question is not what is a Christian but how are you saved? Paul probably puts it best when writing to the church in Ephesus, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Saved by Grace Through Faith

The first thing Paul tells us is that we are saved by grace through faith. So what is grace; some people will use the phrase “God’s riches at Christ’s expense” to describe what grace is. Essentially it is receiving something that was not earned or deserved. You see God bestows upon us salvation not because we have earned it or deserved it, but because since we believe and trust in Him He desires to give it to us. Paul told the church in Rome that while we were enemies of God Christ came to die for us. You see would you willingly die to save the life of someone you know that hates you? Would you lay down your life for someone that would rather have nothing to do with you? This is what God did for us.

Not by Works

As I previously mentioned God’s grace is not earned or deserved, so Paul following up his statement about being saved by grace through faith with it being a gift of God and not by works is to help explain how we are saved. You see it is not because we said a prayer, got baptized, feed the homeless, give to charity, or even attend church whenever the doors are open; our salvation is not the result of anything we can say or do. Our salvation is freely bestowed upon us by God because of our faith in Him. Paul explains it earlier in Ephesians 2 by stating that we were dead in our trespasses. Think of it this way before Christ we are each laying on a gurney dead, Christ walks up with a defibrillator charges it up and then discharges it into our dead body to bring it back to life. This is much like how God gives us the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins and turn us towards God in faith.

Now we cannot just leave it with that we are save by grace through faith and not by works, because Paul didn’t leave it there. In Ephesians 2:10 he continued, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” So we are not saved by works but we are created for good works. What this means is that while works do not save us, our salvation does get proven by the good works we do. In other words our Christian faith should result in a changed life, which we will dig into next time.