The Bible tells us how to live. Not necessarily as a list of rules, but, more like guidelines. Sometimes we confuse the Bible with a list of rules and then we really worry about whether we’re keeping them all or not. I know I used to live that way. The problem with trying really, really, really hard to keep all the rules and constantly worrying about whether or not you’ve made it through the day without any wrong doing is unrealistic. Of course you don’t make it through the day without doing wrong.
So maybe now you’re wondering what’s the big deal then if I mess up? Does it matter? Yes, it does, but maybe not for the reason you think. I want you to consider the most important question behind every action you take. The question is one word. “Why?” Your honest answer to this question is what God is ultimately interested in.
For example; you should ask “Why do I go to church?” The answer to that question is important to God. And it’s important for all of us, really. We’re all in this church thing together. The reality is that God knows. He knows why. And the reason you go matters more than the fact that you attend. If a person considers the Bible as a list of rules, then going to church becomes something that is important to do because it’s a rule. In other words, I go to church so that I don’t make God mad. The irony is that the person going to church because they believe it to be a rule has already ticked off God. He’s not interested in church attendance. If He was then we would have a Scripture that said, “Thou shalt not miss church or thou wilt be punished.”
Since I grew up thinking that the Bible was a list of rules I would read a verse like Hebrews 10:25 and think that if I missed church I was breaking one of God’s rules. “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” The word the NLT translates as neglect means ‘to abandon’ or ‘desert’. And so a lot of folks who think the Bible is a list of rules will think this is one verse that says, “go to church.”
Now, I’m not suggesting that it’s a good thing to miss our worship time. What I’m teaching is that why you go is more important than the fact you’re in attendance. Let me ask it this way; is it possible for a person to neglect the church, it’s mission and purpose and yet still be physically in attendance on Sunday? Hebrews 10:25 provides the motive for why God wants us to spend time together. He says He wants us to encourage each other. So is it possible for someone to attend a worship time, to be present, but, completely miss the purpose for being there? I believe it is. This is why attendance is not the rule, but, encouraging each other is the guide that shapes our purpose for worshiping together. This is just one example of how it’s important for us to grasp a deeper truth, and we do this simply by asking ourselves, “why?”
We can apply this understanding to every Scripture in the Bible. It’s more important to ask WHY am I doing something, rather than, WHAT must I do? Ah, now if you’re someone who thinks the Bible is a list of rules, you will point to Acts 2:37 where the folks who heard Peter preach the first sermon after Jesus death and resurrection asked, “What should we do?” And Peter replied, “repent and turn to God.” Turning to God or giving your life to God is not an action, it’s a change of heart, mind and attitude. Then Peter told the people to “be baptized.” But, I don’t see this as a list of rules. The question these people asked, wasn’t the best question. “What must I do? Is not as good a question as; Who must I become?” God has always been more interested in a person’s heart, attitude and purpose than He is in what a person does. Obedience alone is not enough; obeying God with the right heart is what He’s after.
Let’s take a look at another Scripture with this understanding. 1 Thessalonians 5:18; “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” When I read Scriptures like this I wonder how it’s possible to be thankful in every circumstance. Frankly there have been moments as we have journeyed with Jared’s cancer treatments that I have found myself to be the opposite of thankful. It was especially hard for me at the beginning of our journey when Jared was first diagnosed. We weren’t sure what we were dealing with and the answers weren’t forthcoming from the doctors and nurses. For example, I had questions about how long the treatment process would take. I wanted to know if treatment would be a few months, a year, or more? Would he survive this? Will his leg be amputated? These were just some of the questions and initially the response to all of these questions was “we don’t know.” I thought at first that they were keeping us in the dark because they didn’t want us to know. That maybe we would lose hope if the predictions were too negative. Or they didn’t want to be too positive because they didn’t want to mislead us.
I struggled with being thankful through the first few weeks. I failed miserably actually. And I wasn’t too happy with the notion, that in my heart, I knew what God expected from me. God wants me to be thankful. This isn’t a rule. This is about my heart. Sometimes my kids wills say things that make me think about a different perspective. Linden updated his facebook status on Christmas, "well its been an interesting Christmas, staying in a hotel, waiting and waiting for Jared to clear so we can go home, staying at the hospital with Jared, but even though we didnt celebrate it normally we still had a great time, being a family and celebrating Jesus birth.... it might look like God brought a horrible storm but really what he brought was love and created a stronger family"
Think about what this Scripture says. God says, “Be thankful.” So I ask “why?” And He tells me, “Because you belong to Jesus.” I belong to Jesus. My family belongs to Jesus. Even in my darkest hour, when I’m most frightened, sad, lonely, angry, bitter, and tired, I belong to Jesus. This is the heart of Scripture.
Are you absolutely certain this morning that you belong to Jesus?
Let me illustrate it this way, Romans 12:13 says, “Always be eager to practice hospitality.” Now, let’s say Kristi and I invite you over to our house and Kristi makes her world famous Chicken casserole, we call it Mandy Burkett’s Chicken and it’s delicious, and we have a salad, and pie, cake and ice cream too. And out of gratefulness for all the food we provided you said "thank you." How would you feel if I responded with, “Well, the Bible tells me to practice hospitality so we’re just being obedient. Have a nice day.” Would that make you feel that we invited you over because we loved you, we liked being around you, we appreciated you? I’m not thinking so.
Jesus followers understand that love for God and others is the motive that drives our actions. We don’t serve because we have to. We serve because we love God. God’s Word stops me here and quietly reminds me that it’s not my love for Him that’s even worth talking about. I belong to Jesus, because God loves me. I can’t brag on myself and say, “I’m a good Christian person because I love God, regularly attend church, I give money, and I preach on Sunday.” Big deal! I am who I am and I do what I do for one reason…because God loves me. God deserves the glory for saving my flawed life. I belong to Jesus because God loved me enough to send Jesus to die for my sinful nature. I can live with God in heaven not because I do some good stuff, or even religious stuff, I can live with God in heaven because I belong to Jesus. Everything I am, own, have, possess, use, and live with belongs to God not to me. He loves me. This is why I’m motivated by love.
I find that when I lack love, in other words, when I’m being selfish, then I’m not thankful. And I’m certainly not encouraging.
I have more to be thankful for than I can count and certainly more than what I can share with you, but, I’m going to share a few things I’m thankful for.
Just so you know, I’m thankful for Jesus, my wife and my kids, and all of that is a given. Like I said, if I started listing all the people and all my blessings that I’m thankful for we’d be here all day. So these are three things I’m thankful for that I want you to know about this morning.
First. I’m thankful for Weymouth. I’ll always remember the first time I went to the Post Office here in town and Earl, who I didn’t know at the time, mentioned me by name. “How do you like Weymouth, Daren?” I don’t think I had been in town for more than two or three days and already the post office knew who I was. I was a little weirded out. I think the notion that I lived in a small town, in that moment, started to sink in. When I was a kid, I lived in a small town, but, I went to a large High School. We had as many kids in our marching band that attend SMBA. So I’m not really used to the small town. But I like it. Even today many folks who I see in the store or at the Diner or around town will come up to me and ask me how I’m doing. Folks ask about Jared all the time. And I have no idea who I’m talking to. And frankly I’m embarrassed to say, “uh, thanks for asking about how we’re doing, what’s your name?” But I like the fact that we live in an area where people look out for each other. I like how we come together as a community to help folks. Whether we’re raising money for Hurricane Sandy victims or we’re helping a kid with cancer I have witnessed the power of giving in this community. We’re thankful to be here. We, my family and I, love Weymouth.
Second. I’m thankful for this church, the Weymouth Church of Christ. I believe that we are on a journey together. I don’t have an agenda about where we’re going, because it’s the power of the Holy Spirit who will lead us. I believe that many of us know there is more to our faith walk in Jesus and I appreciate that we’re taking steps to discover what that means, through our small groups, community work, and our worship. As I drive around Nova Scotia, I’ve noticed many church buildings that are now museums or community centers, or just closed and rotting. I’m sure we don’t want this to happen here. I appreciate that we’re not interested in building a museum. We’re here to involve our lives in a movement of the Holy Spirit. I don’t know all the opportunities God will present to us, but, I am sure He will provide us with plenty of occasions to share the message of Jesus with our community. And I’m thankful that this church is open to those possibilities and that we are interested in a Jesus life and doing that life together.
Third. I’m thankful for our kids. Not just my kids, but, yours too. We are blessed with children and teens who love the Lord and seek His life. Not many churches around here are led in worship by teens who love Jesus. Our kids are awesome! We have a huge responsibility here to mentor these young people. To partner with them and show them what a life in Jesus looks like. We all share the responsibility for this. The main reason I left a 20 year career in youth ministry was because I was sick and tired of kids graduating from high school and their faith at the same time. What I was doing, what the church was doing wasn’t working. And instead of reshaping our values, priorities and our programs the church just wants to keep doing the same thing, the same way, and we’re going to continue losing our kids when they leave home. It’s not good enough for me to assume that at some point they’ll return to faith. The statistics show that the church is doing a lousy job of raising kids who love Jesus and have genuinely given their lives to Him. We don’t raise our children to love Jesus by providing a ton of expensive programs. I’ve done that. It doesn’t work. I like what we’re doing here. We involve our kids in our life with Jesus experiences. One of my favourite things our kids did last year was the relay for life. I loved that our kids made a team by themselves, raised the money by themselves. They worked hard. And from what I understand, they’re doing it again. And we had adults who partnered with them. That’s what it’s all about. I’m thankful for the way we’re raising our kids. We have more work to do, and areas to improve, but we have a great foundation. And I’m thankful.
As we close out our year and start a new one, I just felt it was important to share these things with you. God has never been after your worship activity. He told Saul through His prophet Samuel, "I desire obedience rather than sacrifice." 1 Samuel 15:22 Hosea says the same thing, “I want you to show love,not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
Jesus wants us to understand this. He said, “Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” Matthew 9:13
Any time Jesus quotes a Scripture and then tells us to invest some time in learning what it means, it’s a good idea to do just that. Obedience is the heart and sacrifice is the worship activity. It's possible to go through the motions of worship with the wrong heart. Jesus said so, "they worship me with their lips, but, their hearts are far from me."
You need to examine your perspective of faith and your walk with Jesus and find that it is grounded in obedience (heart) rather than activity (worship). You may be doing some good stuff, but, if you're not doing that good stuff with the right heart, you're in trouble with God. Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven"
The Bible isn’t a list of rules. The Bible is a relationship waiting to happen. You need Jesus. And Jesus isn’t going to leave you because you mess up. If Jesus leaves your heart it will be because you pushed him out with your attitude and lifestyle. The fact that Jesus loves me enough to stick with me even though I battle with temptation, I’m not always thankful, I get angry, and let opportunities pass by to share His name with others, I am forever grateful. I’ll sum up with the words of Paul, “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 7:21-25
Is there any other reason to be thankful than this one? Praise God.
Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
I hope you know you weren’t raised to new life to follow a bunch of rules. You were raised to new life so that you can do life with God forever. Heaven starts today if you want to give your life to Him. Thank God.
