We Seek To Honor God In All We Do Series

We Seek To Honor God in All We Do

Matthew 6:24-33

* We are in the fourth week of our five week series on the HBC Core Beliefs. Have you noticed that every belief builds on the foundation of the prior belief. If the first one (The Bible is our guide book) does not become personalized, then you will never believe that God loves us and has a plan for us. If that truth never becomes a personal reality then you will not believe that all people really matter to God. If that never become a reality for you then you will live a live which has as its goal to “seek (or try) to honor God in everything you do. And if we don’t buy into this, then the local church has very little reason for existing.

* Yet as a body, these guiding principles serve as a roadmap for us, both collectively and individually. To complete the mission God has for us and find abundant life, as HIS people, we would do well to make all 5 of these beliefs our personal & collective roadmap for living and life.

* Let’s begin with this question: For those of us who claim to know Jesus in a personal way, are really honoring God in everything we do? There is an old hymn that says, “While passing through this world of sin and others your life shall view, be clean and pure without, within, let others see Jesus in you.” This is what it means to honor God. In the teachings of Jesus we can discover at least 3 actions which control our lives in this matter.

1. The Decision I must Make – The need to make decisions could be viewed as “Bible Study 101.” Look at the text and hear Jesus say, “No one can serve two masters.” If we could learn this one truth, decide about it, and live it out then we would truly honor God. The Biblical illustrations for this being true are many. Consider a few.

* We look in the book of Joshua as he is passing off the scene & hear him proclaim, “Choose you today whom you will serve.” In other words, “make a choice!” Or in 1 Kings we hear Elijah on Mt. Carmel shout, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If God be God, serve Him, if Baal is God, serve Him.” He is shouting, “Decide!” This message is augmented by the words of James (in the New Testament) when he says, “A double-minded person is unstable in all His ways.” Let’s wrap a ribbon about this and tie it together.

* What does it mean to be “double minded?” It means we have 2 masters, bosses, or leaders, who have opposing points of view & we are attempting to please both of them. With two differing guidelines, we find ourselves indecisive and unable to make a decision because we are trying to please or satisfy both masters.

* This is why Jesus lays for the truth that “no one can serve two masters.” To attempt to do so will make you double minded, indecisive, and unstable and that kind of life will never honor God.

* To honor God in all we do means we must make several decisions; the first one is that we must decide what we do with Jesus. When we were in sin, God sent Jesus to die that we might have life. Paul told the Philippians jailer to, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Today the message is still the same for us. It’s THE most important decision we ever have to make. But make no mistake, it’s not the LAST decision you & I will make, in fact, it may be the first, right decision. At this point, we decide who’s we are, what we are, and who we are.

* When we make the decision to follow Christ, we come to understand the terms which Jesus was conveying in our text. Notice the contrast in terms for the person trying to straddle the fence; love and hate, devoted and despise. Every person in this room has to decide who our master really is, who our Lord is, and what our priorities are? Who is it that we love?

* Life is all about decisions. We make decisions every day. It could be that during the week we spend so much time and energy making decisions that when it gets to Sunday we have already decided to not decide ANYTHING. The result is; the most important decision in life is ignored, put off, and wrong. When we decide not to decide for our Lord, we make a decision which for the enemy and the prince of the darkness.