Christ-Centered Life Sermon V: Slowing Down And Simply Living To Please God Series

SLOW ME DOWN, LORD, THAT I MAY SIMPLY LIVE TO PLEASE YOU

When our grand-daughter was four, we took her to the airport to see the planes and to ride the very fast underground Plane Train. Sitting at the very front of the lead car of the train, looking through the humongous glass front-end at the lighted track ahead of us, with the walls of the tunnel swiftly passing bay, Lauren whirled around, grabbed me and asked in a panicky voice, “Granddaddy, who’s driving this train?”

When I told her nobody was driving the train because it was computer-operated, she blurted out for all to hear, “I want to get off! Granddaddy! I want to get off NOW!” Have you ever felt that you wanted the earth to stop spinning so you could get off? A better idea: “Slow me down, Lord, that I may simply live to please you.” (Poem: Slow Me Down, Lord)

Previously I shared with you that one of my wife’s favorite things to do is to meet fellow retirees and spend a couple of hours working together at a Butterfly Garden sponsored by the CSU Retirees Association, and, in connection with our study about our Lord’s invitation to come apart and rest awhile, I shared a lesson to be learned by studying one of God’s most beautiful creations: A butterfly, when pursued, always seems to be just beyond your grasp, but if you sit down in a quiet place, and be still, a butterfly may very well alight upon you.

God’s Word tells us: “Be still and know that I am God” - more than just a beautiful poetic thought spoken by the Lord to the psalmist, but rather a spiritual principle for mature Christians to live by, simply to allow God’s Spirit to alight upon you and give you peace. Slow down . . . know that He is God . . . simply live to please Him.

In his first letter to the Church at Thessalonica, Paul cautioned Christians there to slow down in their rush to deal with troublemakers who had come to their city to incite violence (so intense that Paul had to be secretly ushered out of the city for his safety).

Despite hostility toward Christians by Jews who had gone to Thessalonica to disrupt Paul’s preaching of the gospel, and to incite violence by accusing Paul of acting against Caesar, the Church withstood attempts to demoralize them, became strong in the Faith under the leadership of Timothy whose encouraging report to Paul is the basis for this lesson on living to please God --- I Thessalonians 4:3-8 . . .

Aside from all that Paul had to say about sexual immorality – which he had no choice but to deal with, due to the godless culture out of which Gentile converts to Christianity had come – the main point that Paul strives to get across to those who came out of paganism was (is) this: “It is God’s Will that you should be sanctified.”

The issue before early Christians was basically no different from the issue we face in the twenty-first century: The purity of a new life in Christ versus the impurity of a pagan lifestyle. Only via sanctification can that issue be resolved!

Sanctification is one of three major components of the Christian Doctrine of Salvation: Redemption --- Sanctification --- Glorification.

“I have been saved. I am being saved. I shall be saved.”

“I have been redeemed. I am being sanctified. I shall be glorified.”

Dr. Herschel Hobbs, long-time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City and author of Fundamentals of Our Faith, describes “the threefold nature of salvation”:

(1) Instantaneous salvation – Redemption from the penalty of sin, based on:

Acts 2:21 . . . 16:31 . . . Romans 10:10 . . .

Deliverance from the penalty of sin occurs as soon as a sinner repents of the sin of unbelief and truly believes in (accepts) Christ as Savior and Lord. This is a fixed condition. All who are truly saved persevere - “endure to the end”.

Instantaneous salvation is synonymous with being born again (John 3:3-7) . . . enrolling in Jesus’ school (Matthew 11:29) . . . adoption into the family of God (Romans 8:15-23).

(2) Continuing salvation – Sanctification – growing in grace, knowledge and Christian service, based on: 2 Peter 3:18 . . . Philippians 2:12-13 . . . 2 Corinthians 1:6 . . .

By grace through faith our souls have been saved from the penalty of sin. Yet, God has ordained that believers in Christ should walk in good works for the salvation of their Christian lives - Ephesians 2:10 . . . Philippians 2:12-13 . . . This continuing salvation is sanctification – growing and developing into the likeness of Christ our Lord!