Spring cleaning – how many of you like spring cleaning?
Well I am one that likes this time of the year. I am just a few short weeks from being done with work and it sure would be nice to hit the summer months with things cleaned up and cleaned out.
The worst areas in my home are my art and craft rooms…. I know a few of you have seen my disasters! I have worked on art and crafts during the year, pulling them out into the living room or dining area, then I have quickly put it back into those rooms when it is time to clean up. Or should I really say I piled things into those rooms. Then there are art shows and activities at my school where I am dragging things in and out of those rooms….well by Spring things are piled up, messy and out of place. So I like to get in there and rearrange and sort and put things back where they should have been put in the first place… Can you relate to this or are you all neater than that!
Spring cleaning can be a blessing or a curse! A lot depends on how we look at things, our perspective. Are you a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person?
Now I could try to walk into those rooms and say to myself… WOW you can barely walk in here with all the stuff you left in the middle of the road! This is going to take forever! Do you really want to spend an eternity cleaning when you are most likely… no absolutely going to make it a mess again! What a colossal waste of time! OR I can do like I do every year at this time, get excited to see my room back in order, everything in its place, I know where things are again and like that things are together. What a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and completion when it is all done.
Our perspective, the way we look at things, determines so much about how we approach things. It can be a help or a hindrance. There was a time in Jesus’s life where he pointed out how much a person viewed their sin changed their attitude about the way they did things. In Luke 7: 28 Jesus is talking to the crowd about John the Baptist.
Luk 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Luk 7:29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John,
Luk 7:30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
Even when rejecting the purpose of God, there was one Pharisee that invited Jesus to his home. Let’s continue in verse 36.
Luk 7:36 -50 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner."
And Jesus answering said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he answered, "Say it, Teacher." "A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon answered, "The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt." And he said to him,"You have judged rightly."
Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little."
And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
Sounds to me like her perspective cleared the way for her heart to show just how much she loved the Lord. It really wasn’t a matter of how many sins she had, it was a matter not being worthy of our Holy Savior. The sad truth is one bite of the fruit was enough to put us into an eternity of hell and put Jesus on the cross.
Simon was judging this woman according to her sins. He didn’t have as many as her… or at least that is what he was thinking.
Let’s change our perspective on this.
If you were asked to join a contest with me to swim to Japan and we all thought we could swim there because we knew we were better swimmers than the next person, we might look down our nose at the other swimmers and think how much better we are than them. The reality is Japan is like 5000 miles away and none of us would make it.
That great distance is way smaller than the gap of holiness it would take to get us into heaven. We can’t get there; we all fall way short of that kind of holiness. It takes Jesus for us to make that trip. That is why one sin is just as bad as a million sins; just one keeps us from communion with God. If instead of counting the sins we have, should we look at the impossibility of gaining heaven without the price that was paid to redeem us, even when we were enemies of God, even if it was only one sin it was too big. We have no righteousness without God.
This should help us to change our perspective on many other things when it comes to God. And since such a great price has been paid for our salvation, as it says in Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
As a slave you surrender all. You are His. You have been bought with a price. There is no other option other than surrender, renounce all that you have, your life. Surrender means you are willing to say to God I am yours for anything, any place, any time.
WE should be zealous, fanatical, fervent, obsessed with God and what he wants because we ARE Saved! It should be a measure of how much we value what He has done, because He has given you grace. We should be excited because we have been given the privilege to pray, to serve him, and love because we have been redeemed! We no longer face an eternity in hell! We love him because he loved us and had mercy on us. Loving God is your spiritual worship or reasonable service. The very least we could do!
Do we have a zealous love for God? Compare your love to Jacob’s (in Genesis) when he falls in love with Rachel. He worked 7 yrs for her, waiting to be wed to her, because he loved her so much. And they seemed to him a short time because of his love for her.
Do we have that kind of great love for God, the kind of love that will keep us working for 7 years without reward? Do we have the kind of love that will keep going 7 more years, even though we are tricked and deceived? Do we love him because He first loved us? Do we love his word, knowing that he will speak to us through it? Do we desire to commune with him in daily prayer? Do we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome? What is your perspective?
Think about the Busers (our missionaries to Paupa New Guinea), who went and accepted mud in their face, rats at their bed nibbling on their toes, malaria carrying mosquitos and untold other hardships. Do you love anything more than Christ? If you do, what are you trying to hang on to? He has given us so much more! Not only has he paid the price to give us the holiness for heaven, God gives us what we need to serve him in the here and now.
2Co 3:5-6 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Are you trying to become more sufficient, to have the right amount of whatever to be a better Christian, with a little more time, effort, or preparation? This perspective is in direct disagreement with the Lord. Once again we can’t get there! We are totally unable to be good Christians, as it said in that scripture, we can’t say we are sufficient or claim that anything comes from us! Quit drowning in your effort. He says that we are not able to supply "anything" that He wants to see. Our sufficiency has to be from God." The sufficient resources for living the Christian life are to be found in God alone. It is through God's grace, His fully adequate supply, God is our source of all that is needed for godly living.
The difference between living by God's supply or by our own resources is a "life and death" matter. "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
Living the Christian life by our own capabilities will spiritually kill us. It will eventually leave us exhausted, discouraged, condemned. Whereas, depending upon the Spirit of God to supply the abundant grace of God leaves us strengthened, encouraged, and comforted. Is your walk stagnating? Are you too tired to pray, to serve, to love? Then you are trying to do things on your own, we need to depend on God.
Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches" (Joh_15:5). We can look to Christ for our very life source. We don't have to produce a life on our own. We can concentrate on abiding (depending) on Him. He makes our lives fruitful and effective. We can look to Jesus for direction and coordination. We can depend upon Him for planning, guiding, and timing in our entire lives. We can anticipate that He will monitor, maintain, and adjust our situations.
WE need to be zealous, passionate, to be like Christ. So when you do anything, say anything, you should worry about how it pleases God. You need to be in constant communion, praying without ceasing, listening to the Spirit, growing in faith and love, which will lead us to great service for our King.
Eph 5:1- Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
We persevere, we endure, and we cling to His word and live for him daily, no matter what comes. In our prayer life, in our service, in our love – How can we do anything less? We need to get the right perspective, our fervency for our Lord, willing to do anything for Him because of what he has done for us.
I have always been amazed at the martyrs listed in Foxes book of martyrs. I didn’t understand how people could get through torture by clinging to Christ, but now I realize it is a matter of perspective. I want to tell you about one of them, his name was Polycarp.
He had been a Christian since he was a child, but the Romans didn’t kill him until he was in his eighties. His death is the first recorded martyrdom in post-New Testament church history. He was a pastor in the early church and had a great perspective about our Lord.
When he was captured by guards he asked if he could spend an hour in fervent prayer (this should be the first place we go to align ourselves with the will of God). This alone made the guards repentant for his Polycarp’s capture.
He was then taken before the proconsul. The proconsul was insistent and said: "Take the oath, and I shall release you. Curse Christ."
Polycarp said: "Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?" …
(at that moment Polycarp served God by proclaiming God’s faithfulness and His saving grace)
But the proconsul said: "I have wild beasts. I shall throw you to them, if you do not change your mind."
But Polycarp said: "Call them. For repentance from the better to the worse is not permitted us; but it is noble to change from what is evil to what is righteous."
(He loved God so much that it didn’t matter what God put into his life, even death. He knew that God’s plan would lead to righteousness, so he put his trust in God no matter what)
And again [the proconsul said] to him, "I shall have you consumed with fire, if you despise the wild beasts, unless you change your mind."
But Polycarp said: "The fire you threaten burns but an hour and is quenched after a little; for you do not know the fire of the coming judgment and everlasting punishment that is laid up for the godless. But why do you delay? Come, do what you will." (at this he showed his love for others, letting them know the price of sin, that there is hell awaiting those that stay in godlessness)
IF we love God, truly love him, we will have the desire to commune with him, follow him no matter where, no matter what, no matter when and then to serve him fully. He has conquered our life and we have surrendered all as a slave to him.
The intimate relationship the Lord wants to develop with us is the joining of a husband and a wife. "You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead" (Rom_7:4). We can count upon Jesus to love us faithfully and sacrificially. We can rest in His constant companionship, never leaving us for any reason throughout our time here on earth.
Joined intimately to Christ, nothing can separate us from the love and kindness that He has for us: "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. . . that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Rom_8:38-39 and Eph_2:7). It’s a matter of perspective.
It is time to ramp up our prayer life, our service, our Love for one another. Are you ready to move in your Christian life to a new level of service? Are you willing to be as committed as Polycarp because of what God is doing for us? Giving your life, your time, your all completely as it is our reasonable service.
We need God; the world is filled with oppression and darkness. People are lost, suffering, starving and dying. They feel despair and hopelessness... We can’t do anything. But God can.
This is not about spiritual gifts this is about supernatural power. Only God can bring wonders of salvation, deliverance, freedom, rescue, repentance, revival, reconciliation, and forgiveness. We need mighty servants of God raised up all over the world to be fervent in prayer, fervent in service, to teach and proclaim His Word, to love the un-loveable. We need boldness and fearlessness. We need supernatural strength to suffer well when suffering is imperative to His glory. He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or think but He commands us to ask and think, and to pray and believe, to seek. It is our turn to turn the world upside down for Christ!
We are here such a short time. You and I will stand in that great cloud of witnesses in the blink of an eye. We want to be among the generations of whom Jesus can say, “Through these women I did great and mighty things. Those people had trust and fiery faith.” Jesus, change our perspective and revive us again.
Let’s pray:
Dearest Heavenly father, Lord God of all Grace, I pray now for myself and the women here. We humbly admit that we have often held a perspective so different from You. We have repeatedly behaved as though the Christian life depended upon what we thought we could do from our own resources, and, Lord, as You have declared, it has brought forth spiritual deadness.
Please teach us to trust in Your Holy Spirit to bring forth into our life the full sufficiency of Your immeasurable grace. Because of your sacrifice for us, let us be willing to serve in any way. Serving not to get saved, but because you died for us so we could live. Let us give ourselves as a sacrifice, holy, set apart, living differently, whether we are in the workplace, in the theater, watching tv, or wherever, let us be concerned about what you would think and how we can be pleasing to you. Let us clean out the clutter in our lives with a new perspective about our serving you.
In your precious name, Jesus. Amen
