Serving in the Church

God tells us in 2 Corinthians 9 that when we serve, sacrifice, or give for the good of his church there is a cascading series of positive effects that should encourage and motivate us to keep at it. He begins with the most obvious benefit that comes from our generous service. God tells us that needs get met (2 Corinthians 9:12). This is obvious, but important. When we get involved, the church is bettered and the people of God are served. God loves that. Secondly, he tells us that when we give of ourselves for the benefit of the church there is also “an overflow of thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12). When Christians are served with excellence and their needs are adequately met, they are prompted to respond with praise and gratitude to the Lord. In this God is directly glorified. Thirdly, our service says something positive about us. It appropriately substantiates our reputation as regenerate servants of Christ (2 Corinthians 9:13). After all, such acts of good are what God said we should be known for (cf. Matthew 5:16; Titus 2:14; Ephesians 2:10; et al.). Fourthly, 2 Corinthians 9 tells us that God’s people will be prompted to “pray” for those who serve them (2 Corinthians 9:14). When we sacrifice for the good of Christ’s followers, they tend to respond by upholding us in prayer. And we all certainly need that. Lastly, we are reminded that when we generously give of ourselves to benefit the church, we are echoing the nature and character of God. The chapter simply ends by comparing such service with God’s grace by adding: “Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). So while you may have many reasons for not serving, sacrificing or giving, be sure to spend some time remembering some of God’s reasons for why you should.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org

Exposing Anxiety

When God confronts the sin of anxiety in Philippians 4, his prescribed remedy helps to clearly diagnose the problem – especially in the lives of those who tend to downplay its repercussions and choose to think that worry is not that big of a deal. In Philippians 4:4-8 the Lord commands five things for those who are anxious and worried. He directs them to rejoice, to be reasonable, to remember Christ’s return, to pray, and to consistently ponder good things. Consider how God’s fix may in fact reveal the depth of one’s entanglement in this sin. If you rarely find yourself spontaneously “rejoicing” and your heart is running low on joy, then maybe you are more worried and anxious than you care to admit. If you can detect that your interaction with others is often less than reasonable, then maybe anxiety has found a home in your heart. If your mind doesn’t regularly turn to the victorious hope of Christ’s second coming, if your prayer life is lagging, and if your thoughts don’t persistently settle on what is honorable, pure and commendable, then it may be time to admit the root problem. As with any sin, recognizing it and confessing it is the first step. Then you can move on to thoughtfully and purposefully employ these five inspired correctives. God is more than ready to give us victory over this destructive sin and to “guard our hearts and minds” (Philippians 4:7) as we confess our sin and respond obediently to his instructions.

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org

Don't Drift

Hebrews 2:1 tells us that “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Much like a leisurely float down a meandering river, if we choose to relax in the Christian life we can be assured that the tide of our culture and the tug of our flesh will draw our hearts and minds away from God’s truth and further down the stream of unbelief and compromise. The world we live in and the bodies we are encased in are not neutral. They persistently and actively work against the desires of our regenerate hearts and the righteous convictions of God’s Spirit. This is why the Bible says to “present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God” and to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:1-2). This is an active, focused, thoughtful work to “pay close attention” to God’s truth. And it is needful because your regenerate heart is designed to be continually “renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Colossians 3:10). So with your full “attention” dive back into the life-changing “knowledge” you find in God’s word and allow your mind to be “renewed”, so that “by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org

Prayer Perspective

We need to remember the greatness of the God to whom we pray. We often pray small prayers for small things because we’ve forgotten the transcendent majesty of our God. Far too often, our perspective is trivial, temporal, and insignificant because we rush to our requests without considering just how “hallowed” his Name actually is (Matthew 6:9). When Nehemiah prayed for the challenges he faced, he reminded himself that he “prayed before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4). Prior to laying his supplications before God he addressed him as “Yahweh, God of heaven, the great and awesome God” (Nehemiah 1:5). It is good for us to say with Jeremiah, “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you” (Jeremiah 32:17). As God himself has said, “Every beast of the forest is mine” and even “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10). So maybe our prayer list needs an overdue adjustment that comes from remembering that when we pray we are addressing the all-powerful, all-sufficient, everlasting King who has, and always will have, the ability to do whatever he chooses to do (Psalm 115:3). So pray big, mindful that he “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).

For more sermons and devotionals on Hard Truth, please go to the Focal Point Ministries website at www.focalpointministries.org