First of all I'd like to thank all of you for your prayers for me over the past 2 months or so. I thank God that He has heard and that He has answered and that He has given me the strength to be here with today.
There are still some problems with my discs, I still have difficulty sitting down and standing for too long and there is a long way to go before I am back to normal, but I know that He is faithful and will use this time for His glory!
Let's read today's main verse Ephesians 1:3 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places'
And let us pray.
What are the benefits of being a Christian? Yes there are future benefits, when I die I will go to heaven not hell (and please don't misunderstand, I'm not taking these things lightly), but what about here and now, on a daily basis?
I mean, there must be some! If we are not being persecuted as many Christians have been and are, and let's rejoice in this time of rest, but if we're not facing persecution then we are battling our 'Old Nature' that sinful nature, and the lust of the flesh! And this battle is constant and it rages! And on top of that we are being tempted and distracted by the cares of this world which only adds to the battles and the difficulties!
And while we have such a wonderful future in store, while we can look to that with a hope that is steadfast and sure, what about today? What is it that sets me apart from the world? What is it that makes me rejoice each and every morning? What are the benefits, now, of being a child of God?
Now this is a question I have been thinking upon a lot these last few weeks in hospital. And Yes things started out like a dream! Ok, I couldn't move and was in complete agony, but my biggest fear was having an operation.
I hurt my back many years ago, and through disbelief and shear stubbornness I never listened to the doctor's advice and continued to do all the things I wanted which were against what the doctors had had said. And this led to back problems every 6 months or so give or take a few.
And one day when I was waiting in the doctor's office there was an older lady, in her 40s I guess, who started chatting to me, and she said 'whatever you do don't have an op! It is very dangerous and only 50% go correctly and there is a big danger you may not walk again! Don't do it!'
Funnily enough, my uncle said the same thing too! So when I went into hospital and the doctors were all saying 'operation, operation' I wasn't too happy and my prayer was 'please Lord no operation'.
So we went for an MRI scan in a different hospital and the doctor there was a Christian guy and he said 'Your MRI is serious. We are famous for treating disc problems without operations, but we all sat down and looked at your MRI and it is serious, 9 out of 10 recommended you to have an operation, but I believe I can treat you without. You see, western medicine is good, traditional oriental medicine is good, but it is God who heals! I will be praying for you, you should pray too!'
So not only was my prayer answered about the operation but also God had brought us into the care of Christian doctors and, as we found out as we chatted to the nurses, Christian nurses too!
And people were texting me and emailing me really from around the world 'We are all praying for you! God is going to heal you!' and of course, this was my prayer too. And I was making rapid progress! The doctor said it would take at least a month, but by the end of my 2nd week I was up and moving with very little pain!
And I was on top of the world! This was my testimony - I was sick and God healed me! But then things changed! I hadn't had a proper shower for almost 3 weeks so I decided to have a nice long, hot shower after which I collapsed and when I came around I was in more pain than I was in when I came in to hospital!
And it took another 5 weeks before I was able to come out of hospital, and although i have very little pain now in comparison to then, my discs are in the same state now as when I went first! Plus he found another disc higher up in a serious way too!
And while I was lying in my bed those next 5 weeks I was there thinking upon this question 'What are the benefits of being a Christian?' what makes me different from those who are not Christian? What evidences of the power of God working in me and through me can these people see? I mean, they haven't known me since I was a child! They haven't seen the change in me from before I met God up to now!
I did have a wonderful testimony to shout out about, but now it's not what I wanted! But surely there must be something! Surely there must be some benefits to being a Christian that those outside of God would long for!
And so I began to read my Bible. Not looking for the normal quotes people say like '...in all things we are than conquerors through Him who gives us strength.' And '... in Him all things are possible' but with no evidence in their lives to back up or prove these promises. But rather I read looking at the lives of the people mentioned and the evidences of God working in them and through them and around them. Things that made other recognize them as men of God!
And I began with Genesis, and in the 1st 2 chapters we see how God created the world and how it was as He intended it to be- 'very good'. And we have Adam and Eve, the 1st people to live in a relationship with God and just how God intended life for those who love Him to be.
They had a beautiful home provided by the Lord. They didn't have to work for their food, it grew by the provision of God. They didn't need to fear the animals or anything else! There was no sickness and no sorrows! And God walked with them!! Not just spoke to them or appeared in dreams but He walked with them!! And this is how God intended it to be! Nothing but benefits!!!
But when sin came in this all changed! Now we're under a curse! Now we need to labour for our food! Now we suffer pain! Now we suffer sorrows! Now we suffer sickness and death! Now we have an enemy and something to be fearful about!
But while some things changed, God's intentions didn't! That's while where He talks about the curse we are now under through sin He also mentions One will come in the future to destroy sin and will make it again possible for us to have that life He intended! But that's not here! Because sin remains here!
No! It's in heaven will we once again walk with God! It's in heaven will we be sin free, sickness free, fear free! It's in heaven will we again live in a place, a mansion prepared for us! It's in heaven we will eat at the banquet table prepared for us! It's in heaven those tears of sorrows will be wiped away!
But that doesn't mean our life here is free from the benefits of knowing God! It doesn't mean that all we have is the hope of that day when we are called home to heaven! What does Paul say 'Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.' (1 Corinthians 13:12)
What we have here, what we see and know and experience in but a poor reflection of what is to come! But a poor reflection is still a reflection! While the benefits in heaven are great and wonderful, still there must be some here! Still we must experience something in our everyday lives!!
Then we come to the Exodus and the Israelites, the chosen people of God who were enslaved by the Egyptians why? Because they were blessed and multiplied and the Egyptians were afraid of them! Even when the pharaoh demanded that all the Jewish boys of 2 and under were to be killed, still Israel were bless by God and multiplied! And the hand of God could be seen!
And so too could the hand of God be seen in the birth, preparation and calling of Moses who was used tremendously to deliver the people out of their slavery and lead them through to the Promised Land!
After hundreds of years of these slaves crying out to God for deliverance and God answers and He answers BIG! 10 mighty plagues! A leader whose staff turns in to a snake and whose are is leprous one minute and healed the next!
Then we have this cloud of pillar leading them by day and a pillar of fire leading them at night. The parting of the Red Sea and the provision of food and water throughout their 40 years in the wilderness! And on top of that, for those 40 years their clothes or their sandals didn't wear out!
And if you follow them into Joshua, as they entered into the Promised Land the people were struck with fear, not because a mighty army was coming, they were slaves who had just spend 40 years in the wilderness! But rather they were afraid of their God! For He was at work in them and through them and around them!
Then we can skip through to Elijah! A man with a remarkable story! A man who prayed for 31/2 years for it not to rain and it didn't, and then when he prayed for, rain it rained! And in the midst of a severe famine he was fed by ravens, and when the food ran out he was led by God into an idolatrous nation and to idol worshiping widow and her son (who greeted him as a man of God) and God feed them for the remained of the famine with flour enough only for 1 small loaf of bread!
And then you read of how, when the boy died, Elijah lay on him and he came back to life! And I don't have to mention Mt Carmel!! His life was full of the benefits of knowing God! And they were more than just words! They were evident to all!
And then we can jump to the Apostles and Paul. Their lives full of miracles and healings and resurrections and revivals! Full of the benefits of knowing God! Paul, do you remember, delivered many times out of the jaws of death, freed from prison, and possibly even once brought back from the dead!
And remember how a poisonous snake bit him and he just shook it off as it was nothing? And John, before his exile to Patmos was thrown into a pot of boiling oil but it had no effect on him!
And these things, these benefits, don't stop with the Bible but carry on throughout history! Throughout the history of the early Church right up until modern times do we hear of the benefits of being a Christian! We hear of how God is working in and through and around people!
And so we come to today and to you and to me. What benefits of knowing Christ are seen in our life? What is it about us that makes people say 'Ahhh, the goes the man of God or the woman of God'? What is God doing in and through your life?
Are the benefits wealth? No, not really! Jesus and the Apostles were really quite poor. And I'm sure most of us here are not millionaires too!
What about health? Again, no not really! Paul suffered an illness for which he prayed a few times for healing and to which God said 'I won't heal you but My grace is sufficient'.
What about safety? Well, Paul suffered many a beating and ship wrecks. All the Apostles were martyred except for John and him they tried to boil in oil but he didn't die so...
What about answered prayer? Yes! But sometimes God says 'Yes', sometimes He says 'No' and sometimes He says 'Wait'. And this has been my battle! Do you know how difficult it is to explain to a non-believer who you've been telling for the last few weeks 'God is going to do this! God is going to do this! Just pray and see!' and His answer is 'No'. It's hard enough to explain to a Christian that God sometimes says no to our prayers let alone someone who is already blinded!
There is only one constant to all these things, in all the lives of all the people who were truly born again and that is the Holy Spirit! It is He who separates us from the world! It is He who changes us! It is He who works in us and through us! He is our benefit! He is our seal! He is our guarantee!
And Him at work in us should, must produce outward manifestations! Like chocolate at work in in me can be seen in the outward appearance. Alcohol at work in someone is evident in the outward actions of people! In the same way, the Holy Spirit at work in me should produce outward manifestations!
And this is your homework. Take a piece of paper, and in your quiet time this week I want you to meditate on this question and pray through this question and divide your paper into 2 with 'Me' on one side and 'Others' on the other and list the benefits of being a Christian under those titles. As you read the Bible, write down who and what. If you read biographies, are mission newsletters, write it down.
And also write about yourself! Each day, how God is working in and through you.
