1 Corinthians 6
Freedom From Binging!
Have you spent any quiet time with God lately?
To binge is “to indulge in an activity… to excess” (dictionary). This term is popularly used for how many people do media consumption—watching countless hours of shows at a time to complete whole seasons in short order; we call this “binge-watching.”
I had someone say to me recently that there is less than 5 seconds between one show ending and the next beginning. Why? Because they know that the average attention span of their younger viewing audience is that of a goldfish, which is about 9 seconds. They want to grab you before something else gets your attention.
Paul addresses the entire church in a multi-chapter dialogue about church discipline and the damaging effects of sin, but the principles he give us apply to how we personally live our lives. Listen to one of these principles from 1 Corinthians 6:12, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful for me,’ but I will not be dominated by anything.”
Paul addresses food and sex in these verses. Why is Paul dealing with such personal issues in our lives? Because God cares about our sensuality and what is competing for our attention. He cares about what we binge on because, as Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
What dominates your mind’s thoughts, your heart’s desires, and your body’s neediness? I encourage you to take 15 minutes today, turn off all gadgets and sounds and just listen to where your mind goes, to what your heart feels, and what your soul yearns for. What is distracting you from focusing on God’s Word and Spirit?
Seize the moment and be quiet before God. Invite God into these places. Be free from that which seeks to dominate and distract you from God.
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1 Corinthians 5
With You in Spirit!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, September 22.
I miss seeing so many of the people I used to see on a regular basis a little over six months ago. As social creatures, it is a challenge to maintain the strength of community when our paths are not physically crossing on a normal basis.
Paul knew this and wrote a lot of letters to the churches he once gathered with physically. He reached into their world even though he couldn’t be physically present. He stated in 1 Corinthians 5:3, “Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit.”
That is the reason why Pastor Ken and I are doing these daily phone calls to you every day for 189 days and counting, and why Delora is sending out so many emails to you from the church. That is our modern day equivalent of attempting the same thing to each of you. We desire to be together—to remain united in the Word and Spirit. We are still a community, even if our paths aren’t physically crossing on a normal basis.
Seize the moment and reach out to your church family today and let us know what is going on in your life.
As we enter the fall of 2020 and school has begun and many activities are starting to pick back up, I truly hope you will let us know how you are doing. Send us an email or card, text us, write a letter, make a phone call… If you are not returning to the church gathering because you do not yet feel safe, we understand and are as patient as you need us to be. But if there are other reasons you are not returning to the church gathering, we want to know and learn from you what is going on in your life. We want to be with you in spirit until we can be physically present once again.
Have a wonderful day!
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1 Corinthians 4
The Aim of Apprenticeship is Love!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, September 21.
If you want to become a master electrician, you must start as an apprentice. Every student needs a teacher. We all must learn from someone!
Paul explains his heart for this truth in 1 Corinthians 4:14-17, “I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.”
Jesus’ call to be a disciple is a call to apprenticeship—to submit one’s life to God by becoming like our Master Teacher Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
To what aim? LOVE!
But, let’s be honest: we need someone to learn from on how to do this God’s way. Yes, of course, we are called to follow Jesus and not man, agreed, but we need someone to show us what following Jesus looks like. It has always been this way, even from the very beginning of the church.
Every apprentice needs a master teacher. Here’s how to choose a good one:
- LOVE! You will know by their love for God through their personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
- LOVE! You will know by their love for the Word of God and how they are humbly learning to obey all that Jesus teaches through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
- LOVE! You will know by their love for you and people; not just church people, but the people they encounter.
Seize the moment and faithfully obey the Lord by loving others well (F.O.L.L.O.W.).
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Responding to the Presence of Jesus – Week 2
Truly Follow!
“Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Philippians 2:1-5
Last week, as Jerry was preaching on knowing the difference between the Omnipresence of God and the manifest presence of God and why we need to gather, the Lord spoke this scripture to me. I knew that I would be sharing today, focusing on responding to the presence of God by following Jesus. As I was reading through the passage, I did not see the word ‘follow’ appear even once, no matter what translation I read (NIV, ESV, NLT, KJV, NASB). So, I was like, “Okay, God…how does this show us how to follow?” I prayed over it , thought about it, even talked with Jerry about it, and then it hit me during the closing prayer of our Elder’s meeting…it could be an acrostic…a group of words who’s first letters make up the word you want to remember. And this is what I felt the Holy Spirit give to me:
F – Faithfully
O – Obeying the
L – Lord by
L – Loving
O – Others
W – Well
Faithfully (meaning full of faith, being consistent or resolute, in a manner that is true to the facts or the original) Obeying (submitting to the authority of) the Lord (Jesus Christ, whom you invited into your life to be your Savior), which means your follow His commands by Loving Others Well.
If you look back at today’s scriptures, Paul was telling the Philippians there are conditional clauses in being a true follower of Christ. Let’s examine those together!
I. The IF Clauses… if these things are present in our life
Imagine how much that would change Facebook and Instagram if we flooded it with testimonies, rather than rants and raves of how we were done wrong that day.
Testimony of God whispering to us and getting us up early in the morning to spend time with Him (a quiet time on the porch, a walk in the woods, a drive down a country road)
~A scripture that has spoken to you
This is why it is important to start the day in God’s Word
Later in the day you find God brings that scripture back to your remembrance and you are either able to share it with someone or it encourages you in that moment.
“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.”
Philippians 4:4-9
~Finding peace in the storm
Recognizing that He is the Rock and has us hidden in the cleft of the Rock!
~Feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit wrapping His arms around you, assuring you of God’s presence with His peace and mercy
During a loved one’s surgery
~Realizing His presence in your day to day situations.
ILLUS: Sitting on the front porch this past Tuesday after date night and watching the sunset.
Send a card, make a phone call, drop something off on their porch, give them a ‘Pentecostal handshake’
~Giving of your time, treasures or talents without the expectations of getting something in return.
Seeing a need and meeting that need by helping them move, or clean up their yard, or helping put in a hot water heater or buying the food of the person behind you in the drive thru.
II. THEN prove it…let others and the world see the evidence.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 15:13
It is God’s desire to see us not only restored in relationship with Him, but also with one another, bringing healing over past hurts.
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
John 13:35 (NLT)
~Henry County 500 met on 8/30/2020. 440 people in person, many more met virtually, for a time of prayer, worship and reconciliation. From this, a group has formed and are planning to continually meet to help bring about peace and unity, not only across racial boundaries, but denominational and non-church groups, agreeing that it not for a political agenda, but for the glory of God.
~Opportunity to serve a fellow pastor and his church. Two Sundays of filling the pulpit at First Assembly of God.
Charles Stanley wrote:
“The joyful unity of believers in Christ offers a powerful testimony to the world that the gospel of love we preach is real, unique, powerful, and welcoming to whomever will believe in the Lord Jesus. It is only through the gospel that people from every nation, race, language group, and socioeconomic level find forgiveness and peace and can join together in harmony.”
III. How are we to do this?
“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.”
James 3:13-16
“But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.”
James 3:17
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Romans 12:10
“But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble… So, if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.”
1 Cor. 8:9,13
“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
Ephesians 4:2
Conclusion:
“But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25-28
So we are called to truly follow Jesus by faithfully obeying the Lord by loving others well.
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Hymn: Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Come Behold the Wondrous Mystery
Seize the moment today and reflect on these words:
What a foretaste of deliverance, How unwavering our hope
Christ in power resurrected as we will be when He comes.
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If you would like to read the words to this hymn click on this link:
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1 Corinthians 3
God’s Fellow Workers!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 18.
Did you know that we are all in this together and not a single one of us is more important than another? We may have different gift, callings, and responsibilities that we must stand before God to be held accountable for, but we each have great potential to make an eternal impact on our communities.
Listen to Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:3-9, “For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”
This passage is for more than just the leaders of the church—it is for all of us! It is always about God and what God is doing through His people. We are called to be one unified body. We are God’s fellow workers!
This means we are called to follow the example of Jesus Christ: Are you sacrificial in your love and forgiveness to others? Are you serving people in the name of Jesus Christ?
Seize the moment and walk in step with the Spirit and you will find yourself in step with God’s people. Remember, it is agreement with the Head of the Church—Jesus Christ—that causes the members of the Body to walk in alignment with one another. Regardless of whether or not we agree with one another on a myriad of other issues, let us be God’s fellow workers! For His glory!
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1 Corinthians 2
The Goodness of the Mystery!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, September 17.
Do you like a good mystery?
I enjoy a good suspenseful mystery novel. One of my favorite story tellers is a Christian author named Ted Dekker. The thing about reading a great author is that you learn their style and start finding the meaning behind the mystery; you can more easily see the insights along the way; and find the small details that seem insignificant at first, but you learn to recognize them as keys to another layer of the story that has not yet been revealed.
The bottom line is that you start looking for the mystery everywhere because you believe the mystery is good!
The Apostle Paul speaks of the mystery of God throughout 1 Corinthians 2. Verse 7 overtly explains, “but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory.”
Though there is much mystery in our lives and in what is happening in the world today and how God can possibly use it all for His purposes and to His glory, let me share with you the greatest mystery of all: you can know personally the ultimate Storyteller! The more you spend time getting to know Jesus Christ and listen over and over again to Him, through His Word, the more your mind and heart are opened to the small details that seems insignificant at first, but we learn are keys to another layer of the story that is still unfolding in us and through us.
Seize the moment and spend time with the great Storyteller. His mystery is good so trust Him with your story, so that every detail points to His Story! To God be the Glory!
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1 Corinthians 1
The Family of God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 16.
Did you know that your church is called to be one big happy family? That sounds wonderful until you commit your life to actually bring it about.
All our families have problems—communication and conflict—so, just imagine how difficult it is being a big old healthy church family when we are bringing more than one family dynamic and those issues together to have all things in common and as Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 1:10, to live with no divisions among us, in perfect unity in mind and thought.
True confessions? This is an impossible expectation from my experience! You want to talk about dysfunctional families, try putting dozens or hundreds of family units together… It’s not just impossible, it’s an insane social experiment!
Welcome to Paul’s letters to the family of God located in ancient Corinth, which probably could have earned the honor of most dysfunctional family in the history of the New Testament Churches. Listen to Paul start off the conversation with them in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29,
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
Paul agreed with me: “IMPOSSIBLE!” Paul knew and taught the Corinthians and I am teaching you today: what is impossible for us, is possible for God! When the church lives up to God’s commands, then the world will see and give God glory!
Seize the moment and trust God to do the impossible in you and through you for His glory!
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Romans 16
Building Strong Bridges!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, September 15.
Do you know how to make strong bridges?
Listen to a couple quick excerpts from Romans 16:1-16:
- Verse 1, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church…”
- Verses 3-4, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me.”
- Verse 13, “Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.”
Do you hear Paul building strong bridges with the Romans?
What do I mean when I say that Paul is building bridges? Allow me to explain with a little story telling of my own.
At the end of 2009, my family transitioned from pastoral ministry in the Silicon Valley of northern California to pastoral ministry in the corn belt of east-central Indiana. Needless to say, when you move over 2,500 miles away, from urban to rural, there will be some major cultural issues that have to be navigated, even when you speak the same language and are citizens of the same country. Listen to what other people did to help our ministry and life in a new community start well.
Like in Paul’s letter to the Romans, before we even got here, people reached out to us. Then, we were welcomed to our new home when we drove into town, even with snow on the ground and icy streets. As we got moved in, whether it was meals or a leaky toilet, people were available to help us. We needed help and when it was extended to us, we received it thankfully. And because of that we knew we were loved and a part of a new family immediately!
How are you building bridges with people in our community and in your neighborhood? How about in our church? What are some practical steps you can take today to help someone feel like they are loved, welcomed, and wanted?
Seize the moment and take personal responsibility as a bridge builder to one person or one family today
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Romans 15
Hope, Harmony and Hospitality!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, September 14.
The Christian life is marked by certain attributes clearly laid out for us in Scripture. Let’s look at 3 H’s found in Romans 15:4-7, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.”
The first is Hope! Hope is faith focused on the future. When we lose hope, we lose our ability to see God working in and through us to bring about His purposes for the future.
How is your hope?
The second is Harmony! In Jesus, we become as one in family. Harmony is the process of bringing together that which is diverse for the same purpose—to lift up the Name above all names so that all people came come and see what the Lord has done for them. In our diversity, we have unity in Jesus Christ!
How is your harmony?
The third is Hospitality! It is not about simple smiles and a façade of caring; it is truly meeting the needs of the other. Christians are called to be the hands and feet of Christ with arms wide open and hands outstretched!
How is your hospitality?
These 3 H’s—hope, harmony, and hospitality—serve one purpose: to make the Presence of God known in and through the Church—the body of Christ!
Seize the moment and respond to the presence of God.
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Responding to the Presence of Jesus – Week 1
“The Manifest Presence of God!”
Key Verse: Matthew 18:20
Jesus makes a promise that is so profound, but has it become common place to our modern church-going ears?
It’s the promise of His presence! This sermon series asks us, how are we, each of us, responding to the presence of Jesus?
“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Jesus has promised us His presence, when we gather as His people and when we go on mission in His name—He is with us! What exactly has Jesus promised us?
“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
What is our responsibility in this passage? When does Jesus promise to be in our midst?
“But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
What is our responsibility in this passage? When does Jesus promise to be in our midst?
Today, I am not tackling the majestic doctrine of God’s attribute of omnipresence, which teaches us that God is everywhere and that God has been, is currently, and will always be present. Rather, I am tackling the more mysterious doctrine of God’s activity of manifesting His presence—the experiential reality of when God’s makes His presence known to those He chooses to reveal Himself in this way.
We see this in the Old Testament: God’s presence was the life source and the testimony of Israel! God’s presence marked both their gathering and their going! Without God’s Presence, there was neither a community of God nor a mission of God! All that God’s people are to be and are called to do depends on Him.
Listen to Moses lay this out very clearly in his discussion with God in Exodus 33:12-16,
Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?”
Literally, it was God’s presence with them that made them His people. Apart from His presence, His people were the same as all other people. His presence means the favor of God and the rest of God. It is more than His omnipresence to all the world, there is something special about His promised presence.
God promised that His presence would actually reside with His people. Interestingly, God had previously met with them more directly, but in Exodus 20:19 the Israelites asked Moses to speak to them on behalf of God so that God would not directly manifest Himself to them. They equated God’s presence with death. God honored that wish and a mediator has been necessary ever sense.
We see this with the building of the Tabernacle in Exodus 25:8-9, “Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it.”
“Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon saying, ‘Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My commandments by walking in them, then I will carry out My word with you which I spoke to David your father. I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.’”
“Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”
The gathering of God’s people is connected to the mission of God, both of which are dependent on God’s presence. We can neither gather nor go without God first gathering with us or going with us. Both are for His glory! When you dwell upon this for a long time you come to this question: Are there any promises any more important than the promises of God to either give or take way His presence? What else could possibly matter?
In fact, our continual awareness of God’s manifest presence is the culmination of His promises. It is synonymous with seeing His glory! When you say you want to see His glory or experience His glory, then what you are praying for is essentially an Isaiah 6:1-3 moment:
In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
This is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so very important! It was for this very reason that Jesus Christ came and revealed to us the glory of the Father. So that we may experience His manifest presence as the one final mediator between a holy God and a fallen humanity. As Jesus Christ said Himself in John 17:4-11,
I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
It is for the glory of God that God has made Himself known to us through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
The Holy Spirit dwelling in us is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, but it is not enough to know that God is with you—His manifest presence is meant to be just that: manifest! Tangible, visible, expressible… God’s presence changes everything! We are transformed by His presence! Our gatherings and our goings are transformed by His presence! That is why we invite the Holy Spirit in our worship and pray invocations at the beginning of services.
Just as our fellowship with God is dependent on God’s manifest presence in us, so is our fellowship with one another. Listen to 1 John 1:1-3,
What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
Our gathering and our going is 100% dependent on the promised presence of Jesus Christ manifesting in and through us. We have no life apart from His eternal life dwelling in us.
Are you struggling with the gathering or with the going? Is the gathering anything but alive? Is the going anything but joyful?
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Hymn: I Surrender All
I Surrender All
“Anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life wlll lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Brokenness is a prerequisite to blessing and usefulness. We can never achieve spiritual greatness until we have fully surrendered ourselves to God, giving Him authority over every area of our lives. Judson Van De Venter, the author of “I Surrender All”, said: “For some time, I have struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At the last pivotal hour of my life, I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life and I became an evangelist. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, he caused me to sing.” Many other evangelists, including Billy Graham, claim that he greatly influenced their lives and ministry.
Seize the moment today, and make a fresh surrender to His will and lordship. You will find a renewed enthusiasm for Christ as your surrender all! And all means all and that’s all all means!
YOUTUBE:
If you would like to read the words to this hymn or hear the melody played, click on this link:
https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/441
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Romans 14
Focus on What Matters Most!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 11.
How do you remain focused on what is most important in life? Do you get caught up with things that at the end of the day miss the mark on what matters to God?
In Romans 14:17-19, Paul continues to teach us about how we are to live as citizens of Heaven on the earth, teaching, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”
It is so easy to focus on what is important to man and miss what matters to God! Paul teaches us that what matters to God are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit!
First, the kingdom of God is from the inside out. The righteousness of God has been imputed on you! It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives through faith, not by works! Faith is a gift that must be received with humility.
Second, the kingdom of God is one that reconciles relationships, first vertically with God and then horizontally with one another. Peace is the presence of God in a broken world, through us: we have been called to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Third, the kingdom of God exhibits the glory of God through joy; we are called to be joyful messengers. Jesus wants your life to be marked by the fullness of His joy (John 15:11). This is a true abiding joy that is anchored in us through the sealing and anointing work of the Holy Spirit.
Seize the moment and walk in God’s sovereign grace: You are a citizen of Heaven so learn the difference between what is important to God and what is important to man; then choose wisely how you shall live. What defines your identity determines how you will live!
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Romans 13
The Kingdom of God is a Relational Kingdom!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, September 10.
The Apostle Paul focuses us on what is the crucial human need of our lives: relationships. As one of my old pastors, the Rev. Ren Wallen, used to say, “The Kingdom of God is a relational kingdom.” It was the lens through which he not only saw the gospel, but called the church into obedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ.
Paul commands in Romans 13:8-10, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
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Romans 12
Freedom from Hate and Bitterness!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 9.
Have you ever wanted to strike back at someone? Have you ever been consumed with vengeance?
In Romans 12:17-21, Paul explains how we are called to live out the forgiveness of Jesus Christ towards other people, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
This is a hard word to many of us! We can’t do this on our own strength, but only by the Spirit.
Hate and bitterness are a poison that spread quickly throughout our lives. There is only one antidote—forgiveness and grace! Entrusting the situation to God and trusting Him to bring vengeance and justice is the only way to find rest for your soul. You are called to live out your faith in an evil world by doing good!
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Romans 11
God’s Grace Tells a Better Story!
Romans 11
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, September 8.
Have you ever felt defeated and disqualified?
Paul begins Romans 11 with an Old Testament reminder of Elijah from 1 Kings 17-19. Paul teaches us that God’s grace tells a better story in Romans 11:1-6,
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Romans 10
Keep the Word of Christ First!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, September 7.
We live in such a loud and fast world. How in the world are we expected to remain focused on what matters when so many agendas keep coming at us? What steps are you taking to keep first things first?
In Romans 10:17, Paul explains that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Are you hearing the word of Christ in your daily lives? How? Think about how you have or have not created effective rhythms of life that keep the word of Christ first in your day and before you throughout your day. If you are to remain faithful in today’s loud world, you must find ways to do so.
Why? It has been said that to walk with Christ faithfully we must have the gospel preached to us daily. We are that easily distracted and overrun by the many messages bombarding us. We live in a loud world and God does not compete with it. His invitation has been made and the announcement has gone forth… Are you listening? Not just once upon a time, but today: Who are you listening to today?
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Responding to the Priorities of Jesus – Week 7
“Jesus’ Priority is for your Faithfulness!”
Key Verses: Matthew 25:14-30; John 17:4
September 6, 2020
Today, we are going to end our sermon series entitled “Responding to the Priorities of Jesus!” by looking at how we should respond to the priority of Jesus to be on mission with Him—to “Go!” as He commands us His disciples in Matthew 28:18-20 and empowers His Church in Acts 1:8. It is the heart of this message to call you to a faithful life as measured by the only true comparison of successful living: Jesus’ life. Truly, how we define success has great power over our daily lives and how we feel about the lives we are living.
Jesus prayed in John 17:4, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” We are to seek Him first (Matthew 6:33) and pray for with our whole hearts to be found faithful in Him! Faithfulness to the God who has chosen and called each of us to walk in the good works He has prepared us (Ephesians 2:10). This, ultimately, is the way to mission fulfillment—your and my faithful living is found through abiding in Him and bearing His fruit (John 15:1-17)!
Jesus was faithful with what God asked Him to do. Please remember that Jesus didn’t do everything He could have done, but He did everything that was asked of Him. He did not heal every person, feed every person, or respond to every human need or societal injustice of His time, but Jesus, without equivocation, did all that was asked of Him by His Father. This biblical reality of Jesus’ life is the heartbeat of this sermon. To emphasize that the call to “Go!” is first and foremost a call to be faithful to God, not successful in your own endeavors or goals.
How quickly and easily we make it all about us and our goals when faithfulness to the mission is all about Him!
Please turn with me to Matthew 25:14-30 and let us learn from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents.
Jesus’ words of praise for each disciple who stewarded his or her talents wisely was, “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master [italics added]” (Matthew 25:21, 23).
It is critical to note that the word Jesus used was “faithful” and not successful. The Greek word translated “faithful” is πιστός; Jesus not only used it in the Parable of the Talents, but Paul also used it to describe his disciple Timothy in 1 Corinthians 4:17, “For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful [italics added] child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church.”
Both Jesus and Paul made it overt and clear that “faithful” is what is desired of God’s chosen servants.
Faithfulness is the covenant priority of Jesus Christ for each of His follower’s lives. This is where so much tension exists in the hearts and minds of Christians today: What does it mean to be faithful? One of the most dangerous questions that Christians and church leaders ask alike is What does a successful church look like?
People ask this question constantly, but not always consciously, when they are deciding to attend, or remain, at a church. We apply a rubric of success to determine if such and such a place is worthy of our presence and time and financial support. Forgetting, the entire time, that God is measuring us by the plumb line of His Son.
Christians and church leaders must return to the priority of faithfulness because for far too long the local church has reaped what it has sown by forgetting that what God is looking for, in word and deed, is our faithfulness to Him, not the multiplicity of definitions of success by the people of God.
Jesus’ last words to Peter in John 21:15-22 were neither “tend My Lambs,” “shepherd My sheep,” nor “tend My sheep,” but rather the very direct, “You Follow Me!” Jesus finished with Peter in the same exact place He started with Him: “Follow Me”. In order for Peter to accomplish all that God intended for him to accomplish, what mattered most was that he was in a discipleship relationship with Jesus Christ. The same is true for members and leaders of churches today. Many churches are struggling today because the leaders have lived out of the mistaken idea that Jesus’ desire for His church leaders is their successful accomplishment of a mission, rather than their faithful commitment to His clear invitation to relationship (“Follow Me!”).
I am not saying the church does not have a mission, but I am saying that the church can only accomplish the mission of God when it prioritizes union with the God of mission. Apart from Christ, I can do nothing! Apart from the presence of God, the church can accomplish nothing of missional value, no matter how much it grows in worldly success. The presence of God is everything to accomplish the mission; it always has been.
A heavy yoke has been passed down to twenty-first century church leaders who are striving to be accountable to the myriad of ideas of what a church should look like and what it should be doing in order to be successful. As a beloved pastor to pastors stated to his fellow American pastors in the late twentieth century:
American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches… But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. … The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns… .[1]
When a pastor tries to make your church successful, that pastor is making a decision to have hundreds of opinions attempt to define his or her job description and the focus of that church’s energies and resources. That is slavery and a recipe for failure at every level.
Church researchers passionate about returning the church to its intended mission state that “most Christian churches today need to undertake a radical re-evaluation of what Christian ministry really is—what its aims and goals are, how it proceeds, and what part we all play in its exercise. This may require some radical, and possibly painful, changes of mindset.”[2]
What do we learn from the Parable of the Talents? We learn that in order to be found faithful by God we must take what He has entrusted to us and multiply it for His glory. To put it very succinctly, Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
The mission of God is about not hiding your light or burying your talent. It’s about believing God for what He has given you and investing it or shining it forth. If you pay attention closely, the only person in the parable who was worried about success was the one whose fear bound him up to hide his talent (Matthew 25:24-25). I extrapolate from this that when you know the character of God, you have no reason to worry about success!
Pastor Kent Hughes and his wife Barbara concluded, “we found no place where it says that God’s servants are called to be successful. Rather, we discovered our call is to be faithful.”[3]
Paul stated in 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy [italics added].” Not surprisingly, the same word πιστός is translated “trustworthy” in this passage. This is the calling of all Christians, above any model of church growth or job description of missional living: our entire lives are to be conduits and testimonies of God’s grace working in and through us. We invest our talents! We SHINE!
Sadly, faithfulness to God is not the twenty-first century American Church’s driving expectation for themselves, nor is it most church’s definition of success for their pastors or church leaders. Listen to Pastor Kent Hughes and what he learned from his pastoral “dark night of the soul,”
When success in the ministry becomes the same as success in the world, the servant of God evaluates his success like a businessman or an athlete or a politician. Subconsciously I was evaluating nearly everything from the perspective of how it would effect church growth. I realized that I had been subtly seduced by the secular thinking that places a number on everything. Instead of evaluating myself and the ministry from God’s point of view, I was using the world’s standards of quantitative analysis.[4]
When this ministry couple finally learned this lesson, there was tangible transformation in Kent as a person and pastor. His wife, Barbara, testifies,
The presence of the success syndrome has been lifted from [Kent], and it seemed he had eased back into freedom we all have in Christ. We had discovered that the miserable yoke of worldly success is so crushing, because it is a burden that God’s servants were never meant to bear.[5]
It is only in the easy yoke of Jesus that a pastor can be transformed from the inside out and start leading the church forward with a new mindset—faithfulness! There must be a return to the heart of Christian ministry:
The great message that we have to carry, as ministers of God’s Word and followers of Jesus, is that God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love and has chosen us to proclaim that love as the true source of all human life.[6]
This is God’s mission! This is how we are to respond to Jesus’ invitation to participate in His mission.
The journey to faithfulness is a transformative one that must begin in the heart of each person. The Greek word μεταμορφόω, translated “transformed” in Romans 12:2, is where we get the English word metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is described as “the process by which a caterpillar enters into the darkness of the cocoon in order to emerge, eventually, changed almost beyond recognition.”[7] Jesus made it very clear that this was an impossibility apart from God, intentionally, because it is our stories being transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ that lifts up the name of Jesus Christ to a world that so desperately needs to see and experience God.
You can listen to the message here.
You can watch the message HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1987), 1-2.
[2] Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything (Youngstown, OH: Matthias Media, 2009), 17.
[3] Kent & Barbara Hughes, Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome, 35.
[4] Ibid., 29-20.
[5] Ibid., 106.
[6] Henri J. M. Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York, NY: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989), 30.
[7] Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms, 12.
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Hymn: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Robert Robinson’s father passed away when he was a young man and his mother could not control him, so she sent him to London to learn the trade of barbering. Instead, he found himself in a gang, drinking and causing all sorts of trouble. One night after they had been drinking for a while, he suggested that they go to the tent meetings being held by George Whitefield and heckle him while he preached.
But once he heard the voice of this great preacher, he immediately sobered up. The words of his message haunted him for nearly 3 years until he gave his heart to the Lord on Dec. 10, 1755. He soon entered the ministry and at the age of 23, he wrote this hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday. It was his prayer that the Holy Spirit would flood into our hearts with streams of mercy, enabling us to sing praises to God and remain faithful to Him.
Seize the moment today to sing the words of this song “Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace, Streams of mercy, never ceasing, calls for songs of loudest praise.”
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Romans 9
The Grace of God’s Choosing!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, September 4.
What a great day! It was 1991 and my mom watched from the front door of my childhood home in South Windsor, Connecticut. There it was, the envelope from the admissions department of the United States Military Academy. I had walked through the arduous process of receiving a congressional nomination, had taken and retaken standardized testing, and made every effort to secure my appointment to West Point. When the letter came saying that I had been chosen, I raised up my arms in what was the greatest accomplishment of my life up to that point. As I celebrated, my mom cried tears of joy and pride. We had worked hard for me to be chosen to become a member of the Long Gray Line.
Now, fast forward to 2002: What a glorious day! I stood in the living room of that same house on Carriage Drive. I had been chosen again, but this time not by any effort or merit, but by God’s sovereign grace. My mom cried tears of joy and astonishment this time at the news. This time, with my wife on my arm, we stepped out in faith because we had been called to the pastorate and I was leaving my army career behind. It was by God’s grace that we were taking steps toward seminary.
Paul illuminates God’s work and not our own in His sovereign choosing. Here is a glimpse from Romans 9:20-21,
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Seize the moment and find rest in what only God can do: rest in the grace of God’s salvation!
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Romans 8
Setting Your Life on the Spirit!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, September 3.
Who or what influences your heart and mind?
There is an old Cherokee proverb of two wolves fighting. Each wolf represents something within the person: one the evil a person can do and the other the good. Which one wins? The one you feed!
Listen to Paul in Romans 8:5-8, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
God’s wisdom empowers the person’s individual responsibility to choose how to live his or her own life.
Here are three practical tips on how you can do this on a daily basis:
- Choose each day which wolf you will feed. May your first action be a prayer of dedication when you ask the Holy Spirit to superintend your day. Design the beginning of your day to set your mind and heart on God.
- Throughout your day, capture moments to remind yourself of the Spirit’s presence. Use your phone and technology wisely, set up tangible reminders, and find friends who can help.
- Take care of yourself and eat healthy, make time for personal care, and get to bed on time so that you are well rested to start your next day in step. Feeding the Spirit includes taking care of your body; it is the “temple of the Holy Spirit.”
Seize the moment and set your mind and heart on the things of the Spirit throughout your day.
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Romans 7
Power over the Sin Nature!
Romans 7
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Wednesday, September 2.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Why did I do that?”
Paul did! Paul wrote in Romans 7:15, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
We have a choice at those moments: to either look for blame outside of ourselves (play the blame game) or to take personal responsibility for what we have done or said.
What do you do? Do you blame your upbringing or the society around you? Do you blame your Creator for making you that way? Are you always finding reasons to blame someone (anyone) outside of yourself?
If so, you are not free in Christ! You are bound up in your sin nature which seeks, above all, to remain hidden, but in control.
The key is to take responsibility of your personal agency and be set free from the sin nature. Just read Romans 7 to learn more.
We are not victims! God did not leave us powerless!
Seize the moment: The next time you are feeling seduced by the philosophies of this world to blame someone else or some situation for your sin, just go straight to Jesus Christ and ask for forgiveness for your sin. He is ready and willing to forgive you so run quickly to His throne of grace with confidence.
Don’t delay! Don’t debate! Don’t rationalize! Just run into His embrace and find grace!
I promise you that this honest decision and act of humility will save you a world of heartache. In fact, it will change your whole life! This is a daily way to find freedom and experience peace and rest in the Lord’s loving embrace.
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Romans 6
Free from Shame!
Do you want to be set free from feelings of shame?
Shame is a powerful emotion! It can be demoralizing, debilitating, and destructive when it gets a choke hold on your soul. It is defined as “a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming, or impropriety; a condition of humiliating disgrace or disrepute; something that brings censure or reproach.”
I want you to be free from shame! More importantly, God wants you to be free!
Listen to Romans 6:20-23, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Shame is a real condition between you and God that is caused by your sin and experienced in the truest depths of your soul! It is a manifestation of the enmity—the strife—between you and God.
For this very reason Jesus came–to remove the conflict between you and God—to restore you back into a right relationship with Him!
On the Cross, Jesus Christ took the death you deserve for your sin that manifests these feelings of shame in your soul. Through faith in Jesus—true confession and repentance of sin—you are no longer a “slave to sin”, meaning, you have been rescued from the vicious soul cycle caused by unconfessed sin: the shame and remorse that seek to bind you.
Jesus wants you to live free from sin and fully alive in God’s peace.
Seize the moment and bring all of your sin, shame, and remorse to the throne of grace.
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Romans 5
Messy Church!
Are you willing to let your church become a messy church?
I’m not talking about the bathrooms or building or property management. I’m talking about the church! Listen to Romans 5:6-8 closely, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Did you know that fishermen don’t catch clean fish? If we are to be fishers of men and women (Mark 1:17), then we must realize that, just like with catching fish, people are caught dirty (the “still sinners” of Romans 5:8).
Now, you can go to a restaurant and pay good money for the professionals to serve you up a cleaned and well-prepared fish in a beautiful environment, but I guarantee somewhere along the line someone caught that fish while it was still dirty from swimming in its natural habitat. That fisherman had to be willing to get dirty himself to catch that fish.
Churches should be more like the fisherman’s humble shack than the patron’s pristine restaurant!
Every person that Jesus Christ died for is still dirty with sin when the Holy Spirit leads them to a church gathering! The only place that will be a beautiful pristine restaurant with perfectly prepared fish is Heaven when all the family of God will be face-to-face with Jesus Christ. Glory to God!
Until that Day, we should expect messy…
Seize the moment and let’s gets messy for the Kingdom of God!
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Responding to the Priorities of Jesus – Week 6
e2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Jesus’ Priority for You is to Become Gentle and Humble in Heart!”
If Christian discipleship is the work of the church, then the formative work of the Holy Spirit is the heartbeat of all that we do. We call this spiritual formation. When I use the word spiritual and formation together, I am talking about how the Holy Spirit is the acting agent in fulfilling Jesus’ promises in you and through you. You are incapable of doing them on your own. So, let me say it simply and directly: Spiritual Formation is the heart of the church because apart from the work of the Holy Spirit we can neither become like Jesus Christ nor live as Christians. Christian witness/mission/outreach is all about Image Bearing! It’s all God’s grace!
Christian Discipleship is the intentional journey of living your life like Jesus Christ. One of the greatest dangers in the church is conformity to outward observances of Christian discipleship with no heart transformation. The world calls that “fake it unto you make it”, but we all know what it really is—acting (“hypocrisy”). Discipleship must happen from the inside out, not the outside in. Christian spiritual formation can be defined this way:
The Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself. [It] is focused entirely on Jesus. Its goal is an obedience or conformity to Christ that arises out of an inner transformation accomplished through purposive interaction with the grace of God in Christ. “That Christ be formed within you,” is the eternal watchword of Christian spiritual formation (Galatians 4:19, PAR). This word is fortified by the deep moral and spiritual insight that, while “the letter of the law kills, the spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6, PAR). Christlikeness of the inner being is not a human attainment. It is, finally, a gift of grace.[1]
Jesus’ desire for your spiritual formation is to be the priority of your life. Listen again to his famous invitations of discipleship. From Mark 1:17 and Matthew 11:28-30:
- “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17)
- “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Jesus’ invitation into Christian discipleship comes with a goal: to become something that only Jesus, the Promise Giver can do in us through God’s grace! Next week, I’ll be focusing on the priority of mission (“the fisher of men”), but today I am focusing on what must happen within you for your mission work to have any eternal results (You must become like Jesus who is “gentle and humble in heart”).
I believe that if you miss this you will miss the abundant life, no matter how hard you work for Jesus because to do any work for God apart from God is to carry a heavy burden that will crush you. We can’t be like Jesus or do the work of Jesus apart from Jesus living in the center of our lives—our hearts! Spiritual formation is the inner renovation of the outward person—is it the becoming the new wine skins, the new tree, so that you can carry the new wine and bear the fruit of the Spirit.
To do any work for God apart from God, even if in the Name of God, is to fall short no matter the appearances of success or godliness because if there is one thing we learn over and over from the Bible: God looks to the heart, not the appearances (1 Samuel 16:7)!
And what is God looking for in the heart? He tells us over and over again in the Bible: humility (God-reliance!), not pride (self-reliance!).
What does it mean to that Jesus’ priority for every one of His disciples is that we become like Him, “gentle and humble in heart”?
Without a big long research discussion about it, Jesus’ priority for every one of us is our complete submission to the Father’s will. To be conformed to His image (Romans 8:29)—the image of God (Genesis 1:27). This has always been God’s plan for us—to be His Image Bearers!
Humility, at its core, humility, is a revolution over the central command of your life. Because all things flow from your heart—guard it (Proverbs 4:23). You or God will rule your known universe—salvation is found in the reality of that—look to the fruit of your thoughts and action and you will know if you are humble or proud.
“But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, ‘God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”
This is not new…this was not something Jesus brought into the world. It was what Jesus and His Father and the Holy Spirit created into us from the very beginning. When we act in proud ways, we are screaming out in rebellion against the God who made us to be yoked to Him and to no other, including our own lives.
“Humus is the Latin word for earth (a rich and nutrient-filled soil) and is also the root word for human. Humility is derived from the same word, humilitas, one who is grounded or near to the earth.”[2]
“Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Let’s agree to some basic, but highly controversial, biblical anthropology: man was first formed by God of the dust from the ground. Humans are designed to be humble by the very fact of how we were created—of the earth, but given life by the very God who made us! Apart from God’s grace we have no life, so to believe we have ever had life apart from Him is the root of pride. This is why the origin story is so controversial—it’s a battle for supremacy.
I have heard it said that the greatest deception is when a proud person considers himself or herself humble. The easiest way to explain this is to remind you that you are a container (“jar of clay”) for glory, not the glory itself (2 Corinthians 4:7-9). When we lose sight of this or forget it or deny it, pride sets in and humility is lost.
Moses was considered the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). Now consider this: Moses led the Israelites out of slavery to Egypt in the first exodus, but who led all humans in the second exodus out of slavery to sin? Who is considered the second Moses, with even greater authority and standing than the first Moses? Jesus, the new Moses! Yes, humility is essential! God trusts humble vessels with His works because “jars of clay” don’t seek to rob God of the glory that is only due to God alone. They simple shine forth!
Throughout church history, it has been said that humility is the queen of the virtues. Because, at its heart, humility is about seeking first God and His rule for our lives. Humility is about our rejoining in the effort for which we were designed—to be Image Bearers of God! To work the ground from which we came. To love one another as He first loved us. To build and expand a community of people that will live willingly and lovingly under the teachings of God, most clearly seen and experienced through Jesus Christ.
To be humble is to be completely submitted to the heart of God for your life. Listen to Jesus talk about this from the Gospel of John 5:19; 8:28–29; 12:49–50; 17:4, 7–8, 20–21:
Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. … When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. … For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me. … I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. … Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. … I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
I close with this practical example from Jesus and the great test of our humility. Turn with me to John 13:5-15,
Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
We are to become gentle and humble in heart, like Jesus. How, by taking on His lifestyle and doing what He did. If this was the life and teaching of our Master and Teacher, then it must become our lifestyle, too. But I warn you, again as I did in the beginning of this teaching time, that to do this apart from spiritual formation is to attempt love, service, and forgiveness by your own power and strength. And if there is one thing that we need to be warned of, it is our pride to think that we can do anything apart from God.
The first step to true humility is a full surrender to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. The renovation of your heart and life; the revolution for your soul, starts with His grace, His love, His service, His forgiveness. All else flows from His heart…
The second step is to do it again and again, every day, every moment of your life. To remember that you are a vessel to shine forth His glory… what a privilege!
[1] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ (Carol Stream, IL: NavPress, 2012), 22-23.
[2] Brenna Davis, “Humus, Humiliy, and Human.” (February 26, 2020). Accessed August 30, 2020. https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/humus-humans-and-humility. I attribute my awareness of this idea to the Rev. Rex Espiritu who shared it with me for the first time nearly a decade ago in a private discussion.
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