Appreciation: For Jesus and Others Who Honor God! 1-3-16 Kelly Durant
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Proverbs 21:21 He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.
2. Do you want to know about the character of a person? Ask yourself, who do they love and appreciate? Who do they talk about and spend money or time on? Are they the vain type of person that idolizes mere men or women in high places of power? Ask, who are their favorite performers, movie stars, or rich and famous ones they look up too? Or do they (or you) speak of what God is doing in their lives or in the lives of others having their pleasure in those who inspire by praising their good deeds? Who we honor says everything about us!
Basically, to appreciate is to reciprocate love! Appreciation is a reaction, something was done for you, and now you seek to return a favor or gesture to reveal your thankfulness. Often you and I cannot return the same value of what was given but to do or want to do something for others and God reveals an honorable heart. Friends are often those whom we appreciate most by often do not get a chance to thank them. Appreciation can be shown in different ways but you must be a support to the person. It also may include being an imitator, admirer, or follower. Appreciating them by sharing with them something of value like giving them a gift is a good thing. Time spent with someone may also reveal that you appreciate their presence and value them as a person. But often people do nothing and they do not even say, “Thank You!”.
Since the year is ending, it is time for an inventory; it is time to do an assessment, who and what do you appreciate in life? Like the old rock song that repeated over and over, “Who do you love?” we need to ask ourselves does our love for someone translate into showing them a meaningful appreciation?
3. Let’s start with priorities, how do you show appreciation to Jesus for His love to you by dying on the cross to give you eternal life? The verse of today are Jesus words, He gives us eternal life and the blessed assurance that no “man” can ever take it away. Eternal life? How amazing! How incredible! Jesus had appreciation for His followers so much so that He granted them ( from the present and the future) life after this life in a perfect utopian heavenly world!
How can you or I ever thank Jesus enough for saving our soul? Eternal life in heaven is something that no amount of money can buy and there is no way to earn it! Eternal life has been the obsession of all cultures since mankind’s inception and is usually the basis for all religions, disciplines, and sacrifices throughout time. Before Jesus, the Hebrews, the Hindus, the Egyptians and all humanity sought ways to gain eternal life and earn position by purification and respect by following Godly standards (laws) which would carry over in the next life. But mankind’s attempts at being worthy and clean are never enough to gain a purified soul acceptable enough for a Holy God who is the embodiment of pure holiness and love.
So how do you and I show appreciation for eternal life? Are you taking it serious how much God loves you? What can you give back to God? I wrote a song inspired by the words of others about 30 years ago and here is a part of it just for a quick reflection:
The gift of God, is eternal life, but it cost Jesus His, to give it to you,
And it will probably cost you yours, to live it too
You are no fool to give a life you cannot keep
To gain a love you’ll never lose
4. For the gift of eternal life people will do anything! Some religions teach you must earn it by being selfless, sacrificial, ritualistic, and generous to their church, or even live separated from society. Some religions also teach that you must kill others who are unfaithful to God (what they think God wants as described by false prophets) so people will also even commit murder and violence. Until when will radicalism dominate submitting people to misrepresented idea of god?! Violence and the murder of the unfaithful brings no justice to any God or to anyone. It is the system of satan and only serves to satisfy man’s lust for power, wealth by robbery, sexual domination being the total opposite of what we know our God of mercy, compassion, and love to be!
Imagine such a perverted way of thinking that in order to please God, to show God appreciation and in order to gain eternal life with rewards you should murder another human being who does not agree with your idea of god?! John 16:2 (b): “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service”. Appreciation and how it should be expressed has always been misguided by those deaf and dead towards God. God sent Jesus as the ultimate example of how we are to live and love. God Jehovah is the only one who taught us how to love through Jesus granting obedient ones eternal life and God will honor them with crowns and rewards in heaven.
5. What I can witness is this, once Jesus really touches your spirit, you will be changed, you will understand that your life is not yours anymore and that you owe Him everything! To show Jesus appreciation I chose as a young man to give up everything to follow Him. I gave up all my possessions, I gave up comfort for poverty in poor nations for 14 years, and I still am giving up all my years in service to Him, I can never pay Jesus back so all I can do is to show Him I love Him by obeying and following Him! Appreciation for Jesus requires being His disciple full of love for everyone, appreciating every soul you meet as a potential future lover of Him!
We know how we all should appreciate God by living for Him worshipping Him, but who should we appreciate in this life? Should not appreciation be shown to those who do the most for God and Jesus? Think about who you know here in the Corps church, about who are obeying the Lord, “serving another in love” as commanded.
Each person according to their talents do what they can for the Lord and sometimes amongst ourselves we are unaware of what the other is doing for God or the Corps because not everyone is here all the time to be informed about it. In general you and I should try to not judge who to appreciate more than the other, but instead just take an attitude to appreciate and love everyone that we know are here for God! It is God that keeps a record of words and deeds.
6. Many times others do many good things for the Corps church that you may not be aware of and often these are things you could not do yourself. For example, some people have a talent to raise several hundred dollars every time they go out ringing the bell for the red kettle and others do not. Some others of you can repair broken doors and locks; others can decorate amazingly while others know how to cook and provide great meals for a hundred people. Each person has value, and to appreciate that try switching the tasks and ask the cooks to repair the sound system!? We all must show honor and respect to one another!
Christmas just passed and in general in the church some people are like the kings who brought gifts to Jesus, compared to those who tithe and give generously, while others, especially in our Salvation Army church, are more like the poor shepherds who were without goods and simply brought Jesus their dedication, honor, and worship.
Someone asked me recently, what did the shepherds give Jesus? (Assuming they gave Him a sheep) The Bible does not record that they gave Jesus a sheep, but they did run to admire and worship him! Maybe they did give Him a sheep, I don’t know, but the important part is they gave Jesus their heart, praise, and worship! That surrendering of the will is what anyone can give and is what God wants! We should not expect people to give what they may or may not be able to give.
7. Do you want to know what has been a hard lesson has been for me in life? It is to appreciate broken-ness and to just work with broken people! Right now many of our volunteers have had bodily injuries and cannot lift more than 10 pounds, some of them are homeless, some of them are not to solid emotionally but do I reject them? No! I appreciate them! At least they are serving God in some manner as best they can around here. Some Christians are too good and too proud to work with a Motley Crew but not me because I know Jesus disciples were a mess, and I know I am still a work in progress!
In this life our Corps church will never be perfect with perfect people altruistically loving and sacrificing for each other to the level Jesus expects. Some of you sometimes I perceive are not happy with each other and you don’t like the way some show or don’t show appreciation to the Corps church as you think these people are benefiting more than giving and in some cases this may be true.
Like it or not, people always are measuring who does what and they comment about it so try to examine yourself well in what you do for God. But also remember none of you are ever seeing the whole picture of all that goes on behind the scenes. Some people with rough edges that may appear undesirable are actually doing God’s work and going out and visiting the sick and helping the helpless while others stay back and clean, serve food, decorate and repair and even provide a gift for someone in need without call attention to it.
8. Concerning the things of God, you and I should concern ourselves with own ourselves first, so ask yourself, do I actually give enough to God as He wants to my Corps, family and friends? Do I do all of what God expects of me? Do I show the appropriate amount of appreciation to God and others? Do I, as in the Proverb of today, concern myself to be full of “righteousness and mercy” which invokes life and honor?
The reality is everyone should take conviction to be more appreciative to Jesus, to their brothers and sisters, and to their Corps church which should shine like a light in the community with evidence of the love a God present in each person. In order to please God we must appreciate every act of kindness, appreciate every visitor, and appreciate and love each other!
There are different types of appreciation. You may appreciate a person who feeds you once, but what about someone who over a course of more than a decade has fed you hundreds of times? Now that is where a deeper appreciation takes place! It is obvious some of the people of this Corps have provided service, food, and acts of kindness for the people of this Corps and for those of the community a few hundred times. Now that is truly worthy to be admired and appreciated on a deeper level! Each one of us will reap what we sew!
9. As human beings and animals of habit we often take for granted the good that others do for us through the church or on their own and sadly we later only take notice of it once it is gone! It is sad reality that ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’? We should all wake up and notice all the good that each person does, whether they be a driver who picks up people on Sundays, or whether they be a cook in the kitchen, or a Bible teacher who brings clarity to God’s word.
But just how missed will you be when gone? We lost several people last year and we all can go with the Lord at any time! Are you someone who did things for God and others, or someone who expected others to do for you? Will they say of you that you were you a faithful servant, faithful in the little things so the Lord appoints you worthy to be in charge of the more glorious bigger things in His Kingdom?
My grandmother use to say some people would not do things neither for love or money, and it is true people are motivated or not motivated to do things as it affects their personal gain but with God things works to the contrary. You are expected to love, give, and serve expecting nothing in return! But the reality is, however, that by being obedient to Jesus, sacrificial, and generous you gain things that money can’t buy such as honor, respect, righteousness, and love! And most importantly, Jesus will grant you eternal life and rewards in heaven!
This year Jesus wants your appreciation to Him to go to a higher more dedicated level so let’s ask God to forgive our past failures and ask Him to give us a love and appreciation for Him so deep that it will sustain you and me to do greater things for Him, the Salvation Army Corps, and all others out there in the community!
