Stewardship and Life Management Three.
This material should be used in conjunction with Dr Harry Wendt’s material, “In Heavens Name, Why on Earth.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
In the last few weeks apart from Nathan Holts sermon last week, we have been looking at stewardship and life management. Now this is quite profound stuff, and getting to the business end of life.
Summing up we got to the point in the first week where we knew that God had a plan; where all humans would live in harmony worshiping Him for what He has done in for us, our ancestors blew it and sin entered the word, we also heard that God is not lost, we are lost and God comes looking for us! Some don’t want to be found, also that God owns everything and we are provided with what we need to live. God provided a way for us to have a relationship with Him through Jesus the Servant King.
In the second week we looked at what the whole Christian life thing is about, and I mentioned Bob Dylan and his chorus line:
You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
.
In the world, we have two options either serving God, which involves a life of service to others, or serving self, self-centeredness, and serving satan.
I firmly believe that in our own minds we have a fairly good understanding of this; well if people have a concept of God they have fairly good idea about this. One thing I’ve noticed about being self-centred in my life is that when I am self-centred it tends to leap up and slap me in the face.
I’ve been using material of Dr Harry Wendt’s to explain this and again I want to look at the third segment of his material “In Heavens Name, Why on Earth?” where Dr Harry looks at obedience, and the how and whys that are tied to this. I will do half of this today and half next week.
Now on a personal note, lots of people, me included have this thing about obedience and that it interferes with freedom, but the opposite is true in God’s plan, in his scheme of things and in obeying him the result is actually a life of true freedom.
Point one: Dr Harry’s notes.
Point two: Instances being Deuteronomy 5:15 “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”
Deuteronomy 24:19-22 “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I command you to do this.”
Illustration 3A
Point three: So if we look at the illustration we see we see that it’s split into two a ‘BECAUSE’ bit and a ‘THEREFORE’ bit!
The top left picture depicts the Exodus-Sinai—Wilderness events of the Hebrew people. The top right section depicts Jesus’ servant life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection, in the text of Luke of the gospels, or in the words of Paul, from 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, it says this, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas,(that’s Peter) and then to the Twelve.” In the Greek text of Luke 9:31 these events are referred to as Jesus ‘Exodus’ which means ‘rescue event’, which he will complete in Jerusalem. The illustration also has Jesus continued presence depicted in the form of a dove superimposed on a cloud , with signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit and the presence of God. Because of the exodus of the Hebrew people and because of Jesus, defeat of sin and death the response that God sought and seeks is the bottom illustration.
That-
Point four: That His people live in serving community and devote life to serving Him by serving others, this sounds a little like our vision statement, “Living for God, serving all people.”, if we look at Ephesians 2;8-10 we see an order for doing this , by grace, through faith, for works of service.
Point Five: Sinful nature reverses the divine order etc. (repeat).
Illustration 3B
This illustration is entitled “Caring for Ourselves to Give of Ourselves.”
Point One:
Point Two:
Point Three: Now this segment shows a person surrounded by four segments and looking at it it’s reasonably hard to get your head around, well for me it is. We are looking at from top left clockwise, volitional, emotional, physical and intellectual powers being illustrated. That word volitional relates to the act or an instance of making a conscious choice or decision.
If we look again at how we are to love God this illustration covers it, Jesus said “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind.”
So to care for and develop yourself these are also the steps!
Point Four:
Point Five:
Point Six: (Come back to this), I find that any day that I can get a bit of exercise is better than a day when it doesn’t happen?
Point Seven: (Come back to this), A correct understanding of His word is key to life, so many get to a point in life where they start to follow his teaching because life has gone pear shaped rather than getting into the word when they first come to faith. The truth is that Christians who fail to do two things often get stung because of their failure to do these things. They are failure to pray and failure to read the word!
Point Eight:
Point Nine: (Come back to this), this sounds like “living for God, serving all people.” As we consider our place before God, how do we stand before Christ who died for our sins who was buried and who was raised on the third day What is it that God asks of us?
To love Him, to serve Him and in serving Him, serve others, this calls for a surrender of our own will and a following of His will for our life. As the music team come and play if this is what you desire to do there is a place here of prayer a place to come before Him and to acknowledge this before Him.
