Difficulty’s That People Have When Doing Their Best To Live For God
Sunday March 11, 2001
Matthew 6:24
24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Let’s bow our heads.
I want to talk this morning on the troubles that people have trying to keep their relationship with God intact!
You know that scripture says it all!
You cannot serve two masters. You cannot give 100% of your self to either and that what’s necessary if you want to live for the Lord.
We have the same principle in our marriages today.
In the marriage ceremony the minister includes in the vows to both the bride and the groom these words.
“And forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, or him, so long as you both shall live. “
Supposing at that time that the man says ok I love the woman that I am marrying but I also love, Mary, Susie, Debbie and Sandra!
Now I intend to be loyal to my new wife and make her a good husband, but I don’t want to cut my ties with these other women.
I want to be free to continue my relationship with them as well!
Now you say that that type of marriage will never work.
Why?
A happy marriage is based on the fundamental that each one gives themselves completely and entirely to each other.
You cannot be married to two people at the same time!
Likewise, Jesus says that we have to make an absolute decision between God and mammon.
How many of you this morning are doing the same thing to God that the man was trying to do to his new wife?
You know that when we get saved we are getting married to Christ!
How many of you are trying to hold on to the past things in your lives and wondering why you aren’t going forward with your Christian experience?
If we choose God, He has got to be the first and foremost thought in our lives.
We cannot be a person that comes to church on Sunday and praises God and worships Him and then as soon as we get up on Monday morning cuss the first person that pulls out in front of us.
Or the first person that does something that we don’t like.
We have no time off from our serving of God!
We cannot serve God part time.
The principal here is that one must make a definite and complete decision upon whom they are going to serve.
I am sure that there is no one that displeases God more that a person that cannot make a total decision for Him!
You can read in the book of revelation
Revelation 3:15-16
15 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other!
16 But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of my mouth!
That scripture tells us right there what God thinks of a person that can’t make up His mind!
I’ll spit you out of my mouth!
This indeed strong language for the person that cannot determine which side they are on,
“the Lord says He will vomit them up!”
God has no use for someone that has to think for a while whether on not they want to serve Him.
Would you like it if the tables were turned?
What if every time we went to God in prayer to ask Him for help, He said well let me think on this for a while.
I don’t know if I feel like doing anything for you!
I am too busy, I got other things that I want to do!
I ask you this morning, what would that do to our faith?
The trouble with people today is that they want God when they want God, and the rest of the time they do what they want to do when they want to do it!
It won’t work!
God tell us in His scripture that He will do for us if we are living according to His will, and all that we have to do is ask!
God has to be first in our lives ALL of the time!
Not just when we feel we need Him!
Now let’s look at what Paul had to say about going forward for God.
If you will turn in your bibles to,
Philippians 3:9-21
9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God’s law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
10 As a result, I can really know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I can learn what it means to suffer with him, sharing in his death,
11 so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
15 I hope all of you who are mature Christians will agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you.
16 But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already.
17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth.
20 But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.
21 He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere.
Now let’s see if we can break down these scriptures just a little so that we might have just a little better understanding of what they are saying!
3:10. This verse may also be paraphrased:
“In order that I may personally know Him, that I might both experience His resurrection power and share in His sufferings, and thus I will be more and more conformed to His death.”
Paul wants “the righteousness … of God” (v. 9) so that he can obtain a personal relationship with Jesus in actual day-to-day experience.
This knowledge of Christ is obtained by experiencing it in daily problems, daily needs, ministry, and so forth.
We are talking about the same Power that raised Jesus up from the dead!
We need to work towards this kind of an experience.
Knowing Christ also entails participating in His sufferings.
Paul desires to share in the Lord’s sufferings because they bring him into a deeper and more meaningful relation with Him;
Companionship in sorrow establishes the most intimate and lasting of ties, as afflicted hearts cling to each other.
The result of participating in Christ’s sufferings is that Paul is being made like Him in death.
This word “death” has double meaning here, including inward and outward, ethical and physical death.
As Jesus died in regard to sin on the cross, so Paul is doing more and more in his daily life.
And just like Paul we need to be dieing out to self and the sinful pleasures of this world and becoming more and more Christ like.
Now let’s look at the 11th verse.
Philippians 3:11
11 so that, somehow, I can experience the resurrection from the dead!
Like the preceding verse, this one also contains a literal and a non-literal interpretation.
Paul is eager to become more like Jesus in His death (v. 10) so that he can
Progressively experience more of the believer’s resurrection life to be enjoyed now (“newness of life,” Rom. 6:4), and
So that he can someday undergo physical resurrection from the grave, thus experiencing God’s power in one of its greatest aspects.
Philippians 3:12
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.
That objective is to know Christ and all that is included in this knowledge,
That is, experiencing His power, sharing His sufferings, being made like Jesus in death, and experiencing resurrection from the dead.
At this point in his life the apostle Paul does know Christ, but not to the fullest extent possible.
And that is where we are when we first get up from the altar.
We have experienced His power, but not to the degree that we desire.
We have been made like Jesus in our death to sin, but we can die still more to sin and self.
We “walk in newness of life,” but there is room for improvement.
Unlike the perfectionists who claim to be sinless in this life, Paul admits that he is not.
If the chief of the apostles does not feel he has “arrived” spiritually, then neither should we.
I follow after Christ Jesus:
Christ “laid hold of” Paul on the Damascus road for the very objective mentioned in verses 10 and 11: to “know him.”
Do you see that is exactly where we are when Christ comes knocking at our heart’s door.
The exact same condition as Paul!
Paul concedes that he has not yet realized this goal to the full extent possible, but he is in hot pursuit of it.
Man is he ever on fire for God!!!
Now let’s go on with the,
Philippians 3:13
13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
Those things which are behind refers both to his religious credentials, now counted as “loss”, and to his past Christian achievements and successes.
In ever pursuing his goal to know Christ
he refuses to let past guilt pull him down, or to rest on past laurels.
Either could spell spiritual disaster.
Those things which are before refers to his goal of knowing Christ, with all that implies:
Experiencing His power and participating in His suffering, becoming more like Him in death , and experiencing the resurrected life.
Now in the 14th verse we find,
Philippians 3:14
14 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.
The mark is the objective of verses 10 and 11 (i.e., knowing Christ).
The prize is the joyful personal satisfaction of having attained it, as well as the divine commendation and reward to be granted in heaven for having reached this goal on earth.
The high calling of God is the divine summons extended to the believer for salvation.
The call of God is His summons upon the life of His creatures. God’s call has a threefold emphasis.
First, He calls all men everywhere to repentance, that is, the call to salvation it tells us in Acts 17:30
30 God overlooked people’s former ignorance about these things, but now he commands everyone everywhere to turn away from idols and turn to him.
Second, all Christians are called to complete dedication (1 Cor. 1:9). Lets go and read that scripture.
1 Corinthians 1:9
9 God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Third, God calls to a specific sphere of service or ministry, or a “holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9).
2 Timothy 1:9
9 It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life.
He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began—
to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus.
When a Christian senses the call of God in some area of his life, he should quickly respond.
There is present, then, a bit of irony:
perfect (mature) believers are those who admit they are not perfect in any absolute sense.
The apostle urges all mature Philippian Christians to hold his attitude, conceding that none has yet “spiritually arrived” but ever pressing on toward further development.
Remember what Paul said in,
1 Corinthians 15:30-31
30 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?
31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Why did Paul say that?
Because he knew that we would be facing the darts of satan every hour of every day!
But Paul not only knew that we would be facing these trials and tribulations,
but he was trying to give us the assurance that we could still stay on top of the situation by as he said in,
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
These things we must do on a daily basis if we ever want to stay on top with God,
If we don’t keep this prayerful attitude and the close communion with God satan will take over in our lives!
Now let’s go on with the 16th verse
Philippians 3:16
16 But we must be sure to obey the truth we have learned already
Where to we have already attained refers to whatever level of Christian knowledge and spiritual maturity the Philippians have attained since conversion.
They are to walk by the same rule, that is, live in accord with this same level of knowledge and maturity, if God is going to give them further light.
Philippians 3:17
17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
Mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example: Paul asks the Philippians to imitate him.
Paul is telling them to do as I do! Live as I live!
Philippians 3:18-19
18 For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
19 Their future is eternal destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and all they think about is this life here on earth.
For, provides the first reason the readers should emulate the apostle’s life:
There are many professing Christians whose worldly, hedonistic life-style can corrupt them unless they imitate Paul.
These enemies of the cross are described in four ways:
Their end or destiny is destruction, that is, eternal punishment.
Their God is their belly.
In submitting to and being controlled by their earthly nature, they worship their sensual desires by surrendering themselves to gluttony, sexual immorality, licentiousness, and all manner of unbridled lusts.
Their glory or reputation consists in their shame—they are well known indeed, their renown being that of ignominy.
Their mind is constantly on earthly rather than heavenly things.
3:20. Forgives is a second reason for the command in verse 17 to imitate Paul.
It is because our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven.
The apostle’s point is that if they emulate him, they will live like citizens of heaven.
But if they fail to follow Paul’s example, and if they are unduly occupied with “enemies of the cross”.
3:21. When Jesus returns for His people, He shall change our vile [humble] body.
Our new bodies will be fashioned [conformed, made] like unto his glorious body.
The word fashioned denotes internal change.
We will experience an inward transformation of nature, as God makes us in character perfectly like His Son.
Now as we go on we need to see that Paul was telling us to do all that we can do and then Stand on the promises of God.
God will help us to make it through if we will only trust Him!
We have got to know that we cannot work for God as long as we have indecision in our lives.
When we cannot make a decision we go absolutely nowhere!
It is just like a cartoon that I saw a long time ago, it was about a donkey standing between two haystacks.
The donkey was hungry and the aroma of the hay was very appetizing.
He would look towards the one haystack and start towards it and then he would think of the other haystack and start towards it.
In the end of the cartoon there was the donkey still standing between the two haystacks starved to death simply because he couldn’t make a decision!
That was the same as Hamlet in the story of Shakespeare, he never could make up his mind either, remember his line was “ to be or not to be, that is the question “.
He could never decide!
How many of you are that way when Christ is calling at your hearts door, begging you to go to the altar and give your heart to Him?
To go or not to go that is the question, what will people think of me, I will be so embarrassed for the people to see me there and on and on we go and pretty soon we are like the donkey.
God has called us to the end and we are not saved and we die having never being able to make a decision!
Do you know that we have this problem in our everyday live we are constantly having to make decisions.
You see today we a lot of times have someone else making the decisions for us.
Look at the way a judge makes a decision when there is a divorce.
Look at the children that are involved.
No one ever thinks what it does to their lives.
They have to go to dads house this weekend and then back to moms for the week or maybe it’s another schedule.
But whatever it is there is problems look at the kids today they have to serve two masters.
You might say what do you mean by that statement?
Well let me tell you!
They have to live one way at dads house another way at moms house.
When at dads they have to do as he says.
When at moms they have to do as she says and then if you really want to make it hard look at what they have if their mom and dad both get married to someone else.
All of a sudden they have two more different masters, and on and on we go.
Then we wonder why kids today are so much trouble.
Why they don’t mind!
What do you expect?
They have several masters, they see the different ways that there parents live they don’t know which way to go, which way is right, which way is wrong, confusion, confusion, confusion!
So you can see that this thing of trying to serve two masters will not work!
It doesn’t matter if it is between God and the devil on people here on earth it will not work.
There will be nothing but heartache!
You who are here this morning that are from broken homes may say well what can I do?
I already have gotten a divorce and have already married to someone else and there is nothing more that I can do it’s too late.
I am here to tell you this morning it is never too late.
I know that you may have already made changes in you life but it is never too late.
If you haven’t already, you can give your hearts to God and ask Him to forgive you of the sins of your past.
You can ask Him to come into your life and then you can pray, pray, pray!
You see just like the Gentile woman, the children don’t have to be with you to have God come into there life and bring about a change!
Remember me preaching about her in, Matthew 15:21-28
21 Jesus then left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
22 A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter has a demon in her, and it is severely tormenting her.”
23 But Jesus gave her no reply—not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to leave,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
24 Then he said to the woman, “I was sent only to help the people of Israel—God’s lost sheep—not the Gentiles.”
25 But she came and worshiped him and pleaded again, “Lord, help me!”
26 “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs,” he said.
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even dogs are permitted to eat crumbs that fall beneath their master’s table.”
28 “Woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.
The reason that I read that was to show you that God can work on any situation there is.
All we have to do is make sure that our heart is right with Him and once that we have done everything that we need to do is to Stand!
We cannot allow discouragement to cause us to fall!
You know God will not fail us if we are true to Him!
But we must do everything that is right and then Stand, Stand, Stand!
Make sure that our power line to Him is not clipped!
Remember that God works best in the impossible situations, to Him nothing is impossible!
Even though we may not see any changes they are happening.
You see we still have the same God around that has been here since the beginning.
He in not like the president of the United States, He doesn’t get voted in.
He is here till the end.
He is someone that we can count on.
He is the same yesterday today and forever!
Glory be to God!
Let’s
look at some more scripture
Luke 17:28-37
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business, eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building,
29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the hour when the Son of Man returns.
31 On that day a person outside the house must not go into the house to pack. A person in the field must not return to town.
32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife!
33 Whoever clings to this life will lose it, and whoever loses this life will save it.
34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken away, and the other will be left.
35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
36 Two men shall be working in the field, one will be taken and the other one left.
37 “Lord, where will this happen?” the disciples asked.
Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”
You might say what has this got to do with what we are speaking about this morning?
What I am trying to show you is that not making the right decision will not be to your best advantage.
You see take Lot’s wife for instance.
She is a perfect example of not being able to make a decision!
Being the member of a family, which gave us our greatest prophets and purest saints, there was within her the faith of the family.
She knew God, and from her childhood had known the meaning of prayer.
But along with her husband, she had moved into Sodom, the city of sin!
More importantly, Sodom had moved into her!
She wanted God, but she also wanted Sodom.
Finally the day of decision came.
She made a start toward God, but she looked back toward Sodom.
That was her fatal mistake!
She was reaching for the heavens with the one hand and fingering in the sin with her other hand.
She revealed her divided heart by not being able to make the right decision!
And when the end of time comes like the judge that makes the decision for you when involved in a divorce involving children, God will also make the decision for you!
If you are not living for Him, if you have not given your heart to Him, if you have not asked Him into your life,
You will not be happy with the decision that is made for you.
I want you to think this morning about the Ocean as it continually moves, in and out, in and out.
It can never be still.
It can never completely decide, it has the magnetic
Pull from the moon to pull it towards the heavens and the pull of the earth to keep it here.
Thus it is always tossing, and never finds peace and rest.
So it is with man.
Within each of us there are two forces struggling to become our master.
One is our ideals, the call from God, the desire to be good and Godly.
The other is the call of this world, to live in sin and to live with the worldly pleasures and to live for satan.
We may choose the worldly life but even then we will not have any peace,
for you see God will always be there calling out to us just like He is doing this morning!
You see the only peace in this life is when we give our hearts fully to God.
You know, we will always be restless until we find our rest and peace in God!
Consider the picture of our Lord when He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, ( Luke 9:51 ) He heard the voice of inclination, and He also heard the voice of God.
He made up His mind, there was no wavering.
After making His complete decision, we all know that our Lord found both courage and calmness.
He was never really afraid. Even as He hung upon the cross, He shouted, “ Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit.”
Luke 23:46
46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.
You know you might not make up your minds this morning of which Master you are going to serve, but some day if you are not careful the decision will be made for you just like it was made for Lot’s wife!
Let us stand and bow our heads while the music plays, if anyone here this morning has a need the altar is always open!
