[Happy memorial Day! We are praying for those who have served in the military, for the families of those who have given their lives in service, and for those who are today risking their lives. You don't have to agree with the war or reasons behind it to pray for our soldiers. Pray for their safety and that God will become a part of their lives.]
1 Corinthians 9:24-26
“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.”
In life, you only get to run this “race” once. Paul’s telling us to run to win! Don’t just go through the motions, and don’t just do “enough” to get by. Olympians devote their lives to train for their sport, and the gold medals they win are just temporary prizes. But our gift from God is everlasting, truly a gift worthy of our devotion.
In the race, focus on the next step instead of the next lap, and soon you will have more laps behind you than ahead of you. Make every step count, let everything you do glorify the Lord. “Let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in our way and get rid of the sin that holds us back.” (Hebrews 12:1)
Our training involves spending time with God, reading His word and being devoted to Him with our prayer life. We must grow spiritually and grow in the knowledge of our Lord, better understanding His Word, His Commands, and His direction for our lives. Paul tells us to live your life with a purpose at every step, so that you may further the Gospel and make an impact for the kingdom of God. Obedience is key.
Related Text: James 4:7
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Acts 14:19-22
“Then some Jews came [to Lystra] from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.”
How much do you love people, and how much do you love God? Go ahead, think about it for a second . . . are you devoted to others in brotherly (or sisterly) love and are you devoted to your obedience to God?
The scripture you just read at the start of this Bible study is a section of the story of Paul’s first missionary journey. (He had 3, not counting his trip to Rome) When he got to Derbe, he turned around and went back through the cities he just preached in so that he could strengthen the new disciples (the people that accepted Jesus when Paul was preaching to them the first time) and encourage them the remain true to the faith they now professed.
But here’s the kicker - the first city he returned to (Lystra) was the city where he was stoned so badly, that the people hurling the rocks thought they had killed him, so they drug him out of the city and left him to rot. He’s going BACK to the place where the people tried to kill him. I mean, he was probably still healing from his wounds when he walked back into town. It’s like that clip from ‘Top Gun’ where Maverick says he’s going to put on the brakes in the plane, and GOOSE says, “You’re gonna do WHAT?” I wonder if Barnabas asked Paul, “We’re going BACK??”
My point is this – Paul loved God so much, and he cared so much about God’s people, that He risked everything, even his life, to share the Gospel and to encourage and strengthen the new believers. So, when you’re faced with a decision of obedience to God, or when the Holy Spirit guides you, are you obedient? Do you love God enough to say yes to whatever He asks of you? Do you love other’s enough to share the Gospel, no matter the obstacles or consequences?
Luke 10:38-42
“As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the preparations that had to be made. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, ‘My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.’ ”
Hebrews 12:1-3
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Luke 15:31-32 (Prodigal Son)
” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
What is your attitude toward someone who had “major” sin in their life, yet found God’s grace and accepted Jesus as their Savior? Are you willing to forgive them and withhold your judgement and “better-than-you” attitude? What goes through your mind when I tell you that David Berkowitz (the Son of Sam killer from New York in the 1970s) accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord and is devoted o prison ministry and to sharing the Gospel with other inmates? Do you tell yourself it’s just an act? Do you rejoice when you hear about someone’s life changing experience with Jesus?
If you remember in the book of Acts, Paul (called Saul at this point) was on his way to Damascus to round up Christians, take them back to Jerusalem, and have them beaten (even to death) as a warning to all other Christians about what will happen if you are a follower of Jesus. When the other disciples heard about Paul’s conversion to Christianity, some believed it was a trick to get close to them so he could have them arrested. But God used Barnabas to show the others that Paul was genuine in his new love for Christ.
Back to the story of the prodigal son, the brother who stayed home was upset that his father was rejoicing when his “bad” son returned home. After all, the “bad” son had wasted money on prostitutes. One brother was in the prison of rebellion, and the other brother was in the prison of resentment, bitterness, and non-forgiveness. Hurt, when held too long, turns to hate. We must release our hurt and forgive others as Jesus forgave.
Colossians 3:12-14
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
(postscript: The mother of Stacy Moskowitz, one of David’s victims, wrote him a letter after many years, telling the imprisoned killer that she had forgiven him for what he did. She would often tell people, ‘This kind of anger can make you sick. Don’t let anger eat you up’.)
Colossians 1:16
Through him [Jesus], God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see.
Everything was created through him and for him.”
Since you didn’t create yourself, there is no way that you can tell yourself what you were created for. Only God can tell us that. Life is about letting God use you for His purposes, not using Him for your own purpose.
So the question is, how can we discover God’s will (or plan) for our lives? God’s Word says, “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11-12
These verses tell us 3 important things: 1.) We discover God’s plan for our life only through a relationship with Christ. 2.) God determined life’s purpose before we existed – without our input. It is His plans for our life, and living obediently to God is living out His purpose for us. 3.) God’s plan for your life fit’s into a much larger overall purpose; God’s got something huge cooking and your life is one of the ingredients.
Colossians 1:10-12
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has chosen you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”
Matthew 5:38-48
38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
In Jesus’ famous Sermon on th Mount, Jesus enhances the Old Testament Law that the people were familiar with. He challenged people to take the Law one step farther: and these were no baby steps, they were giant leaps!
Jesus does this 6 times during Matthew 5. Here are two examples in addition to the 2 in today’s scripture. (That makes 4; go read Matthew 5 and see if you can find the other two times He pushes us to take it farther.)
Old Law #1: Do not murder, you will be judged. (v. 21) New Law #1: Jesus says if you are angry, you are in danger of judgement. (v.) 22
Old Law #2: Do not commit adultery (v. 27) New Law #2: But Jesus says whoever lusts has already committed adultery in his heart (v. 28)
Jesus is concerned with your heart, and any actions that don’t display the proper motives of the heart are empty actions.
Related Text:
1 John 4:7-8
“Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Matthew 5:21-24
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
So let’s all be practical. We’ll finish reading this scripture, eventually log out of facebook and step away from the computer, and step out into our lives. We’ll interact with our friends/family, coworkers and general acquaintances. We’ll also meet people who are rude, people who we don’t get along with, people we can’t stand, and people who don’t like us – for whatever reason. There will be people we do get along with and people we but heads with.
So what do we do?
We pray for the people we can’t stand. We pray for the people who are so dead set against being friendly to us. (the hardest thing we must do is to step back and ask ourselves if we are acting in an un-loving way toward anyone in our lives . . . if we are, the Bible tells us that we must go before God and correct it) We pray for those people who have driven us crazy for so long that we can’t even remember why they drive us crazy. We pray for them, and we also pray that God will change our attitude toward them. Then, we show them God’s love in words, attitudes, and actions.
When you are finished reading this, I encourage you to try to identify a couple of your “enemies” that you might cross paths with today, tomorrow, or when you go back to work next week. Be humble before God and let go of your pride, identify those people you don’t get along with (the reason doesn’t even really matter at this point), pray for them, pray for their hurts, and pray that God will give you the strength to change your attitude toward them so you can show them God’s love. Love them.
Related Text: 1 John 2:9-11
“The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
Luke 9:2-3
“Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: ‘Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic.’”
Think about this situation for a moment. You might normally skim over this moment in scripture because it doesn’t sound like a life-changing memory verse . . . but we are actually getting some incredible insight from Jesus about how to trust Him.
Francis Chan, author of ‘Crazy Love’, says this:
“Back when I was in Bible college, a professor asked our class, ‘What are you doing right now that requires faith?’ That question affected me deeply because at the time I could think of nothing in my life that required faith. I probably wouldn’t be living very differently if I didn’t believe in God; my life was neither ordered nor affected by my faith like I had just assumed it was. Furthermore, when I looked around the classroom, I realized I was surrounded by people who lived the same way I did.
Life is comfortable when you are surrounded by people who are no different than you. That epitomizes what my life was like, characterized by comfort. But God doesn’t call us to be comfortable, He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through.
This place of trust isn’t a comfortable place to be; in fact, it flies in the face of everything we’ve been taught about proper planning. We like finding refuge in what we already have rather than what we hope God will provide. (It’s easier) But when Christ says to count the cost of following Him, it means we must surrender everything.
(Luke 14:25-33) It means being willing to go without an extra set of clothes or a place to sleep at night, and sometimes without even knowing where we are headed.
God wants us to trust Him with abandon. He wants to show us how He works and cares for us. He wants to be our refuge. So, you have a distinct choice to make: 1.) Just continue to let your life happen (which is serving God your leftovers) 2.) Actively run toward Christ
Related Text:
1 John 2:4-6
“The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”
Philippians 4:4-9
“4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
That command can be somewhat perplexing to some people, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Take notice that the verse DOESN’T end with “…unless you’re doing something serious at the moment” or “…unless you’re too stressed to squeeze a little joy in your heart at the moment.” “Rejoice always” is a command given to us all and it has no exceptions and it’s not dependent on the circumstances of our lives. AND, it’s followed up by the charge in verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything.”
When we’re consumed by our problems – stressed out by our lives, our families, our responsibilities, our jobs – we are actually conveying the belief that we think the circumstances of our lives are currently more important than the command of God to always rejoice. It’s like we’re saying that we have the “right” to disobey God because our situation is a little too hectic for joy right now.
Worry implies that we don’t quite trust that God is big enough, strong enough, or loving enough to take care in our lives. Stress says that the things we are involved in are more important than our trust in Him who has victory over everything, even death. Rejoice in the Lord, always, no matter how your day is going . . . God’s love is everlasting and His hope is eternal.
postscript – I posted a Bible Study Guide for you to use on your own when you open up your Bible. You choose the scripture. It’s got 8 questions that encourage you to dig deeper when reading your Bible. ALSO, if you keep them, you will end up with a catalog of what God has been teaching you and you’ll have your prayer requests, praises, and answered prayers at your fingertips. It’s will end up being a road map of God’s work in your life! There are 2 pages, and I posted them as pictures on the Facebook Bible Study page. Click the link below to go to Page 1 (right click the image, save, and print), then click “next” and right click, save, and print page 2.
John 15:13-15
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
A friend is not just a casual acquaintance, but a close and trusted relationship. During the time the Gospel of John was written, friends even referred to a king’s inner circle. In royal courts, the servants had to keep their distance, but the inner circle could speak with the king. Friends of the king received: 1.) close contact with the king 2.) direct access to the king 3.) information from the king
If Jesus calls His disciples friends, then how do friends of the King of kings behave? They stay in close contact with God. They commit to prayer time with Him and they commit to reading God’s Word, and, as scripture instructs us, they meditate upon God’s Word throughout the day. (don’t worry about that word meditate, it just means to focus your thoughts and to think about the Scriptures and how to apply God’s word to your life; no humming required) Think of praying to God as an open-ended conversation with him throughout the day, talking to our Creator about whatever you are doing at any given moment.
God wanst more than a weekend visit, and He wants more from us than simply going through the motions. He wants us to include Him in every moment of our lives, every activity, every conversation, every decision, ever problem, every idea.
Related Text: John 15:1-5
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’”
