Today, there are all types of addictions and many who have them:
One in four Americans are nicotine addicts. They are dependent on smoking.
One in six Americans are shopping addicts. They always having to be buying and taking advantage of every sales event.
One of every seven Americans are addicted to internet surfing and role game-playing.
One of every eight Americans has a significant addiction to alcohol or drugs.
One in nine Americans are addicted to porn.
One in every ten Americans are addicted to gambling.
Then, there are those who are addicted to sugar, food in general, sports, and the list goes on.
I believe that a person can become addicted to just about anything. Are all addictions bad?
In a sense….no!
Did you know that the Apostle Paul praised one family in the church for being addicts?
1 Corinthians 16:15 reads this way in the KJV - “ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints.”
The Greek word translated “addicted” in the KJV is Tasso. It means ‘to wholly give oneself to something’, ‘to devote oneself completely to something’, ‘to appoint oneself to a position or task.’
Most modern translations have the verse saying that the household of Stephanas “devoted” themselves to ministering to the saints. And, when you read this and other New Testament passages regarding Stephanas and his family, you will find that they did devote themselves to other Christians by showing hospitality, meeting basic needs and assisting and supporting preachers such as Paul. Their life was consumed with looking for opportunities to serve other Christians. They were, in a good sense, addicted to the ministry of the saints.
Today, I want to look at some things that we need to be addicted to as Christians. I want to look at four things to which, according to God’s word, we need to show great dedication and devotion.
1. Addicted to the Ministry of the Saints.
I suppose our first addiction has already been highlighted. The Apostle Paul highly commends the family of Stephanas for dedicating themselves to serving other Christians. Paul holds them up as an example for all of us.
Before I speak about serving one another, I need to speak about association. In order to begin serving one another, we must have contact with one another. There has to be interaction.
One things that catches your attention in reading about the Early Church is the fact that the early Christians were in frequent contact with each other. They were with each other quite a lot -
Acts 2:44, 46, “And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common….And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart.”
The early Christians were around each other a lot. In fact, it says that they gathered together daily…some in the outer Temple and some in each other’s homes. They would have meals together. They prized fellowship with one another and shared in spiritual gladness.
I truly believe that is something that we need to do much more of. Many of us do not see each other except at our Sunday worship service. What is worse is that its not uncommon to go the whole week without even talking to each other. In an age of telephones, cell phones and instant messaging, that is a shame.
Fellowship is vitally important. Fellowship promotes spiritual growth. It provides an opportunity to encourage each other in our Christian walk. It provides peer support for Christian living. It provides opportunity to get to know how each of us are doing so that we might know if there is a need to serve.
Paul commands us, in Romans 12:10, to “be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”
I would like to urge each of us to place a higher priority on our fellowship. Make a point of, at the very least, making a phone call each day to a member of our congregation. It doesn’t have to be a long call or a deep conversation. Just a check to see how we are doing. Calling a different member each day would be a mutual blessing.
And I would like to see if we can’t get together - as a congregation - during an evening sometime in the midst of our week. Surely, if the early Christians were able to meet daily, we can make time for each other more than a mere once a week.
Becoming addicted to serving fellow Christians must begin with getting devoted to fellowship
Another Spiritual addiction we need is:
2. We need to be addicted to Prayer.
In Romans 12:12, Paul said that we are to be “devoted to prayer.” To further underscore how addicted we need to be, Paul admonishes us, in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, to “pray without ceasing.”
We all want to have a close relationship with God. We all want to feel His presence in our lives. Yet, we neglect the single most effective way in which we can connect with God - that being prayer. How can we have a real relationship without communication? How can we enjoy His fellowship unless we seek it through prayer? We have the promise, in James 4:8, that if we “draw near to God and He will draw near to [us].”
Why do we lose our battles with temptation? Why do we grow weary under our burdens? Why do we lose heart in our tribulations? Why do we stagnate in our spiritual lives rather than grow? In most cases, its because we do not discuss our situations with God and communicate our needs. We lack strength, we lack grace, we lack peace, we lack courage, we lack boldness, we lack confidence, we lack victory because we don’t ask for it. James 4:2 state it forthrightly: “You do not have because you do not ask.”
In Luke 18:1, Jesus said “that at all times [we] ought to pray and not to lose heart.” Peter implores us to pray, in 1 Peter 5:8, “casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. Paul says, in Ephesians 3:16, that through prayer we can “be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.” And, Hebrews 4:14-16 encourages us: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.”
If we are too busy to pray, then we are too busy period. Jesus was a busy Man yet He still knew that prayer was essential for His life with the Father. He was addicted to prayer. Luke 5:16, “He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”
Let’s develop an addiction to prayer. It will change our lives. Colossians 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it.”
3. We need to be addicted to Spiritual Praising!
Here is another area that we neglect in our day-to-day lives - praising God. Yet, we find the following command in Hebrews 13:15, “Through [Jesus] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.”
How often do we take time to praise the Lord? How often do we praise God for His greatness? And His widsom? And His righteousness? And His love? And His mercy? And His goodness? And His patience? And His faithfulness? How often do we express our reverence and our awe and our admiration?
We need to become addicted to praising God because He is worthy of our continual praise. From what we know about God through His Creation and through His Word, we know that He is worthy of praise. From what He has done in our lives and from what He continues to do and from what He promises that He will do in the future, we have every reason to praise Him. He deserves it.
As David says, in Psalms 33:1, “O you righteous ones, praise is becoming (appropriate, fitting, proper, right) to the upright.” Praising God should come natural to the upright. Especially praise should come natural to the Christian - 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
The primary reason that we should develop the habit or addiction of praising God is that He is worthy and deserving of it. But, there is another reason why we should be active in frequent praise - it is spiritually pleasurable.
David points this out in Psalms 147:1, “Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.” Praising God, whether it be in word or song, is pleasant; that is, it feels good and is satisfying.
Speaking for myself, if I am feeling down or blue or discouraged….there are few things that can lift my spirits and encourage me more than praising the Lord. I don’t think that I am alone in this regard.
If we are not yet addicted to praise, then the prayerful words of Psalm 51:15 should be ours - “O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Thy praise.”
4. We need to be addicted to Church Attendance.
Our God desires the worship of His people. Each day He wants us to worship Him through righteous conduct, prayer and praise. But God has also made it known that He desires His people to join together for group worship one day out of the week - Sunday.
God has made it known that He desires Christians to devote just 2 hours of our 168 hour weeks to assemble together with other Christians to offer-up worship to Him.
For us Christians, those two hours should be the most precious two hours out of our 168 hour weeks. So special should we consider those two hours of assembly worship, that we should build our whole calendar around those two hours. Nothing should interfere with those two hours. They should be considered sacred.
We need to develop the addiction of regular, unswerving attendance of church worship. We read, in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
Sunday worship is not only meant to glorify God - which is the top priority - but is also the means by which we stimulate (inspire, motivate) each other to have a greater love for God and mankind and to stimulate (inspire, motivate) each other to be obedient in performing good deeds during the week to come. It is a weekly opportunity to encourage each other in our faith.
There isn’t hardly anything that should be of more importance to us than to glorify God and to stimulate and encourage the members of our local spiritual family. If something else seems to be more important, then we need to evaluate the priorities of our life.
David said, in Psalms 122:1, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
David had it right. We ought to be glad when Sunday comes. We ought to look forward to the assembly. And, when we arrive at the assembly, ask not what the service can do for you but what you can do to make the service all that it can and should be. We need to pour forth the whole of our heart and mind and soul and strength for God and each other during our service.
Let’s develop an addiction to church attendance. Let’s not forsake the assembling of ourselves. Let’s be dedicated to the weekly service.
There are many kinds of addictions that each of us needs to get rid of. Today, we have found there are some spiritual addictions that we need to cultivate. Let’s devote ourselves to -
1. Serving our fellow brethren by ministering to them
2. Prayer
3. Praise and
4. Church Attendance
Become addicted and see if you don’t grow spiritually in the process.
