Becoming God's Masterpiece: Part 3

Dr. Eric Geiger, pastor, author, vice-president of LifeWay’s Church Resource Division, said, “The Christian life is not about trying more, it is about dying more.” In our series on Transformation through the month of January, we have been examining how we can cooperate with God in His work of transforming us into His masterpiece. Our efforts are not to be simply trying harder to “do” spiritual things so that God will bless us. It is exactly as Dr. Geiger said; our efforts to cooperate with God’s work in us are all about surrender. We surrender ourselves more and more to Him as we carve out time in our lives for Him. As we invest time in His Word, in prayer, in worship and meditation, God works in us to shape us into the image of His Son Jesus. It’s not about doing, it’s about dying.

On January 15 & 22 we explored how God uses worship and prayer to transform us, and we offered some suggestions on how to incorporate both into our daily routines. Do you remember them?

Worship

• Prepare for Worship – Deliberately set aside everything else, plans for the day, worries and cares, and focus on giving God His due praise and adoration. Confess any known sin and make right any known wrongs.
• Participate in Worship – Sing! Pray! Give! Respond as the Spirit leads! Don’t just be a spectator as others worship God. Worship Him as if no one is present except Him and you.
• Add Worship to Your Week – Make worship a daily exercise. Spend time before God in simple praise and thanksgiving. Add some praise music to your day whenever possible. Sing along. Begin a worship lifestyle.

Prayer

• Set a Time for Prayer – Set aside time to pray. Guard that time as you do every other important appointment.
• Use Prayer Lists – Create lists to aid in focused, deliberate intercession for others. Pray through your lists regularly. Make notes of any answered prayers or situational changes. Keep praying.
• Pray the Scriptures – We can always steer our prayers toward God’s purposes when we pray His Word back to Him. Saturate your prayers with Scripture. (Scripture memorization that was discussed in a previous week helps greatly here!). Allow God’s Word and will to guide and shape your prayers.
• Pray as Communication – Converse throughout the day with God. Shoot “arrow prayers” to Him as you face every new challenge of the day.

As you read and study the Word, pray, and worship daily, God will work the process of transformation in you bit by bit. Go back and watch the “God’s Chisel” video again. Review how the process works. Don’t be discouraged; it’s a marathon not a sprint.

In the closing message of the series we will examine how God uses partnerships in the process of transformation. God works in us so that He can work through us; and as He works through us He is also working in us. It’s an exciting journey. Will you join us?

Are You Born Again?

"Jesus answered and said to him, Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God" John 3:3 (NKJV)

Have you been born again?

BSFL Sunday School commentary for the week of March 28, 2010

Trivialized?   1 Corinthians 11

How did you feel the first time you participated in communion? Do you take it for granted now? How would you react if the usher served you moldy bread at communion? Has communion or other practices of worship such as baptism, music, or preaching become trivialized? Would you serve an important guest a tv dinner? Do you offer Jesus less than your best in worship? This week's lesson is about the attitudes that are essential for meaningful worship. The observance of The Lord's Supper is highlighted due to its malpractice in the Corinthian church. In any corporate worship setting the focus of worshippers should be on Christ, not on others, or the mechanics of worship (music, preaching styles, etc.). The three sections of this lesson provide three guidelines that we all should use every time we participate in corporate worship.

We cannot be truly focused on worship and its only worthy Object when we are at odds with other believers within the church. The Corinthian believers were so focused on themselves that their alleged "love feast" preceding the Lord's Supper observance had turned into a meal of division. Those with means brought much and even became drunk! Those with little or nothing did without and were limited to watching others feast around them. All this in preparation for worship!

I remember homecoming celebrations in a church years ago that were like the Scripture passage above. The church had several families with long histories in the church and all their relatives would come out for homecoming. They would not come in for the service; they would sit outside in the shade and wait for the meal. Our instructions were to place all the food on the long tables outside so that all could share. This rarely happened. Families would keep their food together and eat around the food tables to keep everyone else from sharing what they had prepared. Many new families were left out and ended up eating what they brought in the church fellowship hall. It was painfully evident that they were not welcome.

When believers practice unity it allows the spotlight in worship to be placed upon Jesus. There will be no campaigning for prominence or complaining about who sings or preaches. When we are united in goal and purpose, all that matters is that Jesus is glorified and His gospel is proclaimed. Only He became the willing sacrifice for my sin, dying so that I could live. Jesus Himself was focused on others even on the evening of His betrayal. He instituted the observance of a memorial ritual we call the Lord's Supper; He encouraged His disciples; He even washed their feet, including the feet of His soon-to-be betrayer. Such humility and sacrifice reflected His focus on fulfilling the Father's will and rescuing us from an eternity separated from God. Jesus is worthy of our undivided focus and unadulterated worship! He is more important than who gets his or her own way or who is recognized in the service!

Before each opportunity for corporate worship, pause for self-examination. Are you approaching worship with a clean heart? Are you at odds with another believer? Are you jealous of those who were asked to participate in the service? Are you more focused on the mechanics or methods of worship than Jesus? The Apostle Paul declared to the Corinthians that some of them were suffering God's judgment because of their unworthy actions regarding worship in observing the Lord's Supper. Are you willing to risk God's judgment by viewing worship as something trivial?

BSFL Sunday School Commentary for the week of January 3, 2010

Wrestling with the Meaning of Life     Ecclesiastes 1:1-11;12:13-14

French Philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ." But how many times do we find ourselves trying to plug that hole with something that isn't shaped like God?

We all have responsibilities. The dog has to be walked. The electric bill has to be paid. The bedtime routine has to be accomplished. And after days and weeks and years of the same thing, we find ourselves feeling enslaved to the cycle of life. Our culture will tell us that the way to find true meaning is to abandon that cycle: Leave the family! Abandon the dog! Find yourself! But true meaning in life doesn’t come through abandoning those responsibilities; it comes in realizing that we can connect with God inside and even through that cycle. Without connecting with God, the cycle is monotonous and enslaving. But when we begin to connect with God, we start to see opportunity and meaning even in the small things.

My wife left on a trip today with our two youngest children. They are traveling about seven hours to her parents' home to visit with her sister, who is visiting from Japan. Don't laugh, but this was hard for me. We always take trips like that together. I have traveled many times alone with my career, driving and flying alone. But I have never watched Becky leave for a trip without me. Everything in our home reminds me of her. Everything there reflects her touch. For some reason I am acutely aware of it when she is gone. But everything still bears her mark when she is present. A basket of laundry, neatly folded and ready to be put away. An empty basket beside that one. The extra blanket she always uses on her side of the bed at night, neatly folded on the foot of the bed, which itself is made up neatly. Our kitchen table with chairs arranged around it. Even the empty space in the driveway where her truck is normally parked. All these (and many more) insignificant things take on new meaning because they remind me of her.

What if we lived our lives seeing everything as a reflection of God's touch? What if we realized that every moment has the potential of being a holy moment because God is there in the ordinary? Can we cook a meal at home for love of God, or mow the lawn for His pleasure? Can we do all things as an act of worship to Him and look for His hand and listen for His voice? Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that certain moments of life are reserved for God and certain ones are not. Sundays are for God (at least 2 hours in the morning), and maybe Wednesday nights. The rest is my time, right? The question is not whether He’s there all the time and everywhere; the question is how cognizant we want to be of His presence. Of how much of the void within us that Pascal referred to we are willing to fill with Him.

We have the choice this week of living consciously in God’s presence, or we can just go about our tasks and responsibilities and never recognize His presence. If we never acknowledge His presence, then as the writer of Ecclesiastes said, there will be nothing new under the sun. Or we can choose to simply acknowledge the presence of God in our ordinary lives. That’s when the ordinary starts to become extraordinary.

Until the Whole World Hears Concert Tour

Join members of the Ararat Baptist family on October 15 as we travel to Memphis to hear Casting Crowns and Matt Redman in concert! Sign up to go with us this weekend at church!!

For more information go to www.castingcrowns.com.