The Secret of Success for Christians
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Pastor Jim May
1 Corinthians 9:9, "For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?"
Paul wrote this referring to the teaching that he had as a Pharisee where it was required to know the Law of Moses in every detail. Paul said that he was a Pharisee among the Pharisees which meant that no one else could out quote him, or know more than him, and that he was dedicated to perfection in knowing and fulfilling the Law of Moses. Therefore it was no great thing for him to draw upon his knowledge and quote this law from the Old Testament. The verse he quoted is found in Deuteronomy 25:4, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn."
Tonight I want to point out to you that the secret for success, for every Christian, whether called to pulpit ministry, or to work in the church, can be found in these verses. God’s Law is given as a schoolmaster, a teacher, to bring us into the fullness of Christ and to help us know what is required to be successful in from God’s point of view, and that is very often, quite different from what the world considers as the means of being successful.
If you can grasp the truth that is hidden in this simple law, then it will change your life forever. Perhaps you will see the Lord with a new perspective. Maybe you will set free from some things that have kept you limited or held back from being all that you can be in God’s army.
First, let’s look at that word “Muzzle”. What does that mean?
It can mean several things in our English language such as: the mouth, or end of anything where something comes out, such as the muzzle of a gun. In the animal kingdom it describes the jaws, mouth and nose of the animal. But the definition that I want us to mainly look at tonight is this one:
It is a device or a blocking apparatus that is placed over the mouth to limit or stop speech, expression of opinion, or even certain types of actions. In other words, it means that something is there that “bind the mouth.
If were then to look at the verse read before and paraphrase it, giving it meaning for you and I, it would read like this, “Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the worker who labors in the harvest.”
Paul continues with a question and says, “1 Corinthians 9:9-10, "… Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes?
God, in his righteousness and justice, determined that it would be inhumane to force an ox to work all day in the corn mill and not allow that ox to eat some of the corn that he milled.
Jesus said in Luke 10:7 that, "…the labourer is worthy of his hire”, and now we can see that this goes even for ox who are yoked to perform hard labor.
Jesus also said in Matthew 11:29-30, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." So we can see that these verses are talking about much more than an ox. They are talking about every one of us who become disciples. We are all identified with that ox that is treading out the corn, and God is telling us that while we carry the yoke that he places upon us, to do a work for him, that we are to be free from the muzzle and free to be filled faith and hope that is present in our work.
In 1 Corinthians 9:10 Paul answers his own question, "… For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope."
We see so many Christians today who work out of a sense of duty! They seem to have lost hope of ever reaping a real harvest. They just don’t see themselves ever being truly successful in their work for the Lord.
Too often we hear preachers who preach what they have not experienced. How many preach being filled with the Spirit but are not full themselves? How many are teaching others how to be victorious in their Christian walk, and yet their own lives are wrecked by the storms of sin and shame? Their vision has died, their dreams have faded into the past and their hope for success has been shattered. They teach that all things are possible to him that believes, but they wonder why they can do nothing!
Most of the time this happens because we allow ourselves to become muzzled in one way or another. Maybe we allow people to bring us under bondage when we are afraid to speak the truth because they might not like it. We allow ourselves to come under bondage that creates doubt and fear when we are more concerned with what man wants than what God wants.
All kinds of things can enter into our lives, into our minds and into our spirit that tend to muzzle us. They bring doubts and fears that make us wonder if God is really with us, or is he against us.
How can we be successful if we aren’t certain that God is with us in the midst of the battle, or if we aren’t sure that we are walking in his perfect will? Can you see the muzzle?
If we look at the 25th chapter of the Book of Matthew, we can see where Jesus gives us the Parable of the Talents. This story depicts the condition of the disciple who has been muzzled.
Matthew 25:14-25, "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine."
The first two servants stand before their Lord with joy. There is a certain amount of pride for having been faithful and doing what was expected of them. Now they could expect their master to approve of them. They had doubled what had been entrusted to them and their harvest was great. They weren’t blocked in their work for their master by worrying about whether they were doing the right thing. They had no mental or spiritual blocks that said, you can’t do it, so don’t even try. They didn’t listen to the stories of what would happen when they failed. They didn’t use excuses about how the world would mistreat them and steal what they invested. They didn’t complain about being in a hard place to bring a harvest. They had their purpose and they had faith, but most of all, they didn’t let circumstances, the taunting of Satan or of other people or any other difficulty stop them from moving forward and reaping the harvest in spite of it all.
But what about that 3rd Servant, did he stand there with joy? NO, he stood there in shame and disgrace; and why was that? Why didn’t he share in the same feelings that his fellow servants had?
He was a muzzled servant and stood there empty handed. What do you think caused him to become muzzled? What was it that left him standing there that day with nothing to give back to the master except excuses? This whole scenario reminds me of the day when all men shall appear before the judgment in Matthew 7:22-23 where Jesus says, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
You see, either we are being productive for the kingdom of God, reaping a harvest, or we are living in sin, doubt, despair, and fear and allowing those things to muzzle us.
If the statistics hold true, it seems that 1/3 of all those call themselves Christians will stand before the master one day with nothing but excuses and each one will hear him say, “depart from me, I never knew you.”
What does it take to be muzzled? I read a message that said it this way: There are three things that allow us to become bound and gagged in the spirit. Three things happen in the life of a disciple that act as muzzles to keep him from doing what God wills for his life. We need to look at those three things and be careful not to get caught up in them.
1) We develop a wrong relationship with Jesus and a wrong view of who and what he is to us.
2) This wrong relationship always breeds the second thing which is “a Fear Complex”
In Matthew 25:24, the 3rd servant gives us the first step. He said, "...Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man." And then in verse 25 he confesses, "And I was afraid,"
The first two servants had already showed that their master wasn’t such a hard man, but to this servant, his master was hard.
I see a lot of people who look at God with this perspective. I was one of them for a long time until I came to realize that I was wrong. My whole outlook on serving the Lord changed. So many today are not serving the Lord anymore simply because they think that it’s too hard to do so; that God demands more of them than they can give; and that if they don’t give all that God requires, he will somehow get even with them.
The devil is a tricky fellow. He doesn’t try to trap us with temptations that he knows won’t work. He can’t fool us into stealing, into doing something immoral, or to indulge in the pleasures of sin. So what does he do instead? He gets us to think that we serve a fire-breathing, dictator of a God who is ready to smite disobedient children with bolts of lightning out of the sky every time we fail.
Some people grow up in churches that never allow you to feel saved. You’re taught that every time you fail, you lose your salvation, and if Jesus were to come right then, you wouldn’t make Heaven your home. You can’t live without committing sin every once in a while, no matter how hard you try, and so you think, “Why Try? I can’t be perfect and God will accept nothing less than perfection. I’ll never be good enough so I quit.” Our community is filled with relics and wrecks of souls that once served the Lord and gave up because of this kind of thing.
We become fearful of God, and we think of him as an overbearing father rather than a loving father. That causes us to doubt his real love for us and to fear his wrath at any moment. I know because I’ve been there. I’ve experienced this for myself.
Years ago, when my children were small, we were involved in an automobile accident down by Laplace, LA. My wife, myself and two of our kids were injured, and there was a brief time when we were told that the injuries to my son were life threatening.
I was supposed to be at work that day. It was my duty to go, but I didn’t. I stayed home to change the oil in my old Volkswagen. That didn’t take long and we got a call to go boat riding so we went. I was boat riding when I should have been at work.
I can’t tell you how many times I thought, If only I would have been doing what I was supposed to be doing instead of being lazy and taking off, none of this would have happened. I felt like God was punishing me for not doing right. That was my view of God, a God that loved me, but only when I was good. He was vengeful when I wasn’t good and his love would be replaced by evil things that came my way to teach me a lesson.
For a long time I thought that bad things that came my way were the result of my own faults and failures, and that God sent them to get my attention.
How many times have I thought, and prayed, God, don’t do anything to my wife; don’t let her or the kids get sick or injured because of my stupidity. Let me pay my own price, but don’t take it out on them.
I’ve even had those same thoughts as the pastor of this church, and I’ve had a few good church members who reinforced those thoughts by saying, “It’s your fault we aren’t growing. If you did this, or did that, or if you were more educated, or a harder worker, or whatever, then the church would grow. It’s your fault.” And, of course, I would take their words to heart because I know that the buck stops here and that there was probably a certain amount of truth in what was said.
You see, all this serves as a muzzle. If we fear God and doubt his love, or we expect his correction, then it tends to make us less of a servant. How can you really be faithful and do your best when you expect to be reprimanded at every turn for making mistakes?
There are times when we have these fears driving us to do things that God never called us to do. We get so caught up in pleasing the Lord that we neglect our families and our homes. God never intended for the yoke that you carry in serving him to become a yoke that drowned you in church work and took away from your relationships with your family.
1 Timothy 5:8, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
So, do I ignore the work of the Lord and provide for the family, or do I ignore the family and do the work of the Lord? The answer is that you don’t ignore either one and make sure that you do both. That means that we must have a delicate balance between our church work and our home life. One without the other is a disaster waiting to happen.
We need to quit thinking of God as an overbearing father with a big stick and a bolt of lightning to strike us down and start thinking of him as a loving father who only wants to help his children grow and be all that they can be. Yes, sometimes that means a trip behind the spiritual woodshed, but most of the time it simply means that we ask for forgiveness and then move on. We have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ stands there as my lawyer in the courts of Heaven, defending me against every accusation of the devil, because I’m forgiven, I’m covered by the Blood of Jesus and I’m a new creature in Christ. Even when I fail, I can walk on in victory, knowing that all is forgiven and Jesus has given me a fresh start. His love will not let me falter, and his love will lift me up, as long as I keep going back in repentance, he will never stop forgiving.
Our hope is in the love, mercy, grace and forgiveness of sins that are in Jesus. God is love and don’t ever forget it.
Psalms 130:3, "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"
Psalms 103:14, "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."
Psalms 103:4, "Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;"
1 Chronicles 16:34, "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever."
3) The third thing that muzzles a Child of god is an obsession for Safety and Security
Matthew 25:25, "And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine."
That unfaithful servant had no spirit of adventure. He wasn’t willing to take any chances because he feared failure and then feared the wrath of his master for losing his investment.
He was afraid of the competition in the market place. He was afraid that others with greater abilities and talents would steal what little he had been given. So instead of taking a chance, using faith and having clear direction, he decided to “play it safe” and hide his talents.
Does that sound like us sometimes? You bet it does. We get the idea that since I don’t think I can be what God wants me to be, then I won’t risk anything. I’ll keep silent rather than be seen as a hypocrite or a failure. But then, that’s what we really become isn’t it?
Paul wrote these words pertaining to these last days in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them…”
When churches, ministers, teachers and pastors get comfortable with the status quo, their ministry is on the way out and will soon die. If we aren’t ready to risk all, then we will have nothing in the end. We have to learn to launch out into the deep, let down the nets and expect a huge catch, or we will come to Heaven’s shores empty handed.
If we never move in faith, expecting a miracle in spite of the circumstances we can see, we will never accomplish much for the Kingdom of God.
When we lost our church in the fire, it seemed like the end of Victory Temple Church. For a few hours I wondered if we could survive it all. But God kept saying, “Move on. Take the next Step.” And I kept asking, “But Lord, where do I put my foot? I don’t see a step.” So, by faith, not knowing whether we would sink or rise again, we took one step at a time. So many of those little steps in the beginning seemed to take us to another dead end.
First there was the temporary home at the File Depot, but when the landlord said that he wasn’t going to rebuild and we had to move on, then what? The only clear way out of our dilemma vanished into thin air.
Then there was the old casino building at the Cajun Country Inn. God opened the door and we stepped in knowing that it was very temporary. But it was the only answer then. Rent prices were prohibitive. The church couldn’t have survived more than a few months at best if we had to pay those prices and what we could afford wasn’t near big enough. But God kept saying, “Take another step, son. Don’t stop now.” And so we kept walking on thin air and the steps would appear after we stepped out.
Then God led us here, and gave us a building of our own. The church is far better off today, with a membership that has doubled and all of the equipment we need, and with a congregation that is faithful. He has provided and multiplied until we just have to stand back and look at what God has done with amazement. It’s all God – he did the work. All we did was to keep walking by faith.
But every step of the way, Satan was saying, “You’re an idiot. Nobody makes it when this happens. You’re going down for the last time. You aren’t even called to be a preacher much less a pastor. You will be the laughing stock of the community. Victory Temple is no more.”
But I tried the spirits, and this was the spirit of fear and I knew that it was not of God.
I want you to think about this for a moment. How many things never get done in God’s Kingdom because we trade our vision and our dreams for security?
We are more worried about building a “nest egg” or putting away enough for those “rainy days” and we allow the walk by faith to die. We want security, never mind the life of faith and trust in God to provide for our needs.
Cut off that muzzle of security and safety. Step out in faith and watch God move in your life. He won’t show you the victory, and he won’t give you a bigger vision or dream until you step out in faith, believing him for victory in the small things.
So what is the secret of success for the disciple of Jesus Christ? How can we ensure our success in the eyes of God?
1)We must have a right relationship with God based on mutual love and communication with him through prayer and praise.
2)We must break free from those things that hold us in bondage such as fear, doubt and mistrust. Get to know God’s perfect love because perfect love casts out all fear.
3)We must be reckless and step out in faith, believing God for miracles, knowing that God is faithful and will not let us fall. Every great work that God has raised up in the earth was accomplished because somebody wasn’t afraid to take a chance or to risk everything to fulfill the call of God upon his life.
Take off the muzzle and become the man or woman of God that God has called you to be!
