Going to Extremes & The First Thing On Our “To Do" Lists – Purity 734

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning! Today's photo of a display of desert fauna and a collection of cacti beneath a clear blue sky with a beam of sunshine pointing to a distant desert peak comes to us from a friend who visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona back on April 7th. Just as the sunbeam seems to be pointing to just beyond that hump in the desert near Phoenix, Arizona, I decided to share this photo to remind us all that while we have reached another hump day by entering into the midpoint of the work week, today is May 18th and we are beyond the midway point of this month. So what am I saying? I don't know, I guess I'm saying that time Time can fly when you're having fun, or it can just fly by. And if we are not intentional about enjoying each day in the presence of the Lord and are proactive about taking care of what lies before us, things can pile up, turning our molehills of problems into mountains. One example of this literally is just outside my front door. As the May weather has brought a heaping helping of both sunshine and rain, nature has responded in force. And even though my beloved wife enthusiastically mowed the lawn at River House a few weeks ago, the grass is reaching for the skies again, and it has been joined by a plethora of weeds that have sprouted up almost defiantly, as if to announce, "We're back!" I took great pains to clear them from my property last fall, after I had been lax in dealing with the edges of my property, where they established a veritable jungle, resulting in the need of a Herculean effort to literally slash and burn them out of existence. So now the pristine conditions of growth have caused them to invade my property once again. So put mow lawn and the edges of the property on the to-do list. So this is a nice reminder to all of us that even though we can be engaged in seeking the Lord and growing in our faith, we still have to take care of the everyday things like maintain our homes, our motor vehicles, and take taking care of ours and our family's health needs. But this is also a reminder to those who are taking care of business with those everyday things to not forsake the assembly of the saints, like going to church, or, uh, your own spiritual development. Uh, walking in the Spirit will lead you to the pathway to peace, but it can't be done to the exclusion of, of the real-world problems that surround us. If we just focus on our spiritual pursuit, the real-world problems will pile up and demand our attention. Working at doing everything right by diligently addressing the needs of our home and families could also bring a measure of peace, as we can congratulate ourselves on getting er done. But if we are not careful, our efforts could result in busyness, as surely there is something else we can do and pride, as we can glory in our abilities to exact control over our, our environments and solve problems in our own strength. This work ethic could also lead to exhaustion, as there is always some— always more to be done in the shifting landscapes of our lives. I was just reminded that the enemy loves when we go to extremes. Recently, I heard a friend's testimony about how differences in doctrinal beliefs between Christians drove the parties to extreme statements and actions that included lies and betrayal, causing the relationship that had been harmonious for over 20 years to be broken. In, uh, An Appeal for a Good Conscience, um, uh, 16th century theologian Richard Sibbes, uh, wrote that the devil is an extremist. He labors to bring people to extremes, to make the outward rituals idols or to make them idol rituals. That is, he wants us to focus so intently on the external aspects of our faith, such as baptism and the Lord's Supper, that we make the ceremonies themselves objects of idolatry, or else get us to care so little for them that they mean nothing at all. The devil gets what he wants either way. Sibbes was writing on how Christians could get caught up on the rituals of religions to the exclusion of our relationship with God. And how the devil delights in, delights in it when we go to extremes. So as we move into the midway point of the week and past the midway point of the month, I would like to encourage all my friends to try to establish a balance between our spiritual needs and our physical needs. Walking on the path of Christian discipleship is supposed to be an all, all, supposed to be all-encompassing, meaning that we invest time in our relationship with the Lord on a daily basis, but we also are diligent to not be so heavenly minded that we ignore or neglect our responsibilities on earth. So our daily lives as Christians should be a mix of both spiritual practices and doing the things that are required at work and at home, knowing that grounding ourselves in our identity in Christ and in our relationship with God will provide us with peace regardless of the circumstances. But it is also wise to manage the circumstances that we can change with our efforts and work. To-do lists are a great way to address needs and schedule the resolution of problems that will keep us on top of things that need to be done and to accomplish what the things we want to accomplish. But we should make sure that our first to-do on our list will establish and maintain our relationship and peace with God, because no matter what we plan for or how successful we are about taking care of business, there will come a time when our efforts will not be successful. Or where we will be severely tested and challenged. And if we are not— and if we are only relying on our own skills and strengths for our sense of worth or for peace, we will experience a great loss when we discover we are not the masters of our domain or the captains of our destinies. The Word of God indicates that we are to be humble and rely on, on Him. It is only because of His grace and mercy that we have what we have in our lives and, and in our salvation. So be careful to avoid extremes in how we walk through this world and to stay in the middle of his presence and love by always recognizing our limitations and our great need for him. Today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verses are Proverbs 2:1-2. They say, "My child, listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding." Today's Bible verse encourages us to listen to the Word of God, to value what it says, and to concentrate on understanding what it says. Today's verse comes from the wisdom literature genre in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs. So it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that it guides us to tune our ears to wisdom and to understand what God is trying to tell us. Understanding something can be multifaceted. As we examine what we are being told, first we have to listen to what we are being told, understand what the message is in and of itself, and then we have to consider the implications of what it means in our lives. What is this saying? What, what's this got to do with me? What am I going to do with this? More and more, as I have endeavored to walk in the Spirit, I have been convinced that the true value of our faith in Christ comes from obeying the Word of God and by applying its wisdom to our lives. To believe it and to live it. Can we say we really treasure God's commands if we don't obey them? Can we say we have concentrated on understanding if our knowledge hasn't changed how we think and behave? Can we say we have listened if our responses don't reflect the wisdom that we have been told? I don't think so. So, like today's verse directs us, let's listen to what the Lord is telling us in His Word. Let's treasure His commands. Let's tune our ears to His wisdom. And let's concentrate on understanding it and then demonstrate that we have heard it, understood it, and treasure it by incorporating his wisdom in the way that we live our lives. As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and, uh, brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Uh, today we continue sharing from John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life, and, uh, today's sections include Clean Noses and Quality Family Time Is Not Life. "Television: The Great Life Waster"—shots fired—"The Weightlessness of God," and "Sorting Out Sudan and Pantyhose." So if you're perplexed and wonder what that last one is, or if you're interested in any of those topics and want to see what John Piper has to say about them, go to mtforchrist.org and you'll be able to read from that short excerpt from John Piper's book. Don't waste your life to get knowledge and possibly wisdom to apply to your life. And, you know, the overall theme, of course, is not to waste your life. And the implication is that a life of faith in Christ is the only life that is not wasted as our life goes on when we have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. So we are to um, to enjoy our lives, um, by pursuing our spiritual identity and our, our identity in Christ and living it out here on earth. And but we also have to take care of the things that, uh, God has entrusted us to— our, our homes, our, our families, and our friendships, and all the other relationships in our lives. Um, and he's entrusted to us the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is. We're not just supposed to keep our light under a bushel, as Christ said. We're supposed to let it shine for the whole world to see. What we have, what we know, has great value. That's why the Word tells us to treasure God's commands. And he commanded us to go into all the world and make disciples and baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, to bring people into the kingdom of God by sharing the good news. So that's what we try to do here on mt4christ.org and the podcast and our YouTube channel. Um, we just want to share the good news and encourage people in their walk, um, that, that, um, you know, we don't have to be disconnected from our faith, that our faith can be a part of our everyday lives, and it doesn't have to be super complicated or super spiritual. A simple acknowledgment of who we are and, and and recognizing God as Sovereign Lord of all creation and our Heavenly Father can be enough to give us the hope that we need. That, you know, this world can seem chaotic and crazy and without meaning or purpose, but that purpose is revealed in the Word of God that shows that there is a Creator, there is a redemptive plan for mankind, and that things will, you know, will change, um, that this will not just, you know, sputter out into a normal, uh, you know, winding down of existence. That the Book of Revelation tells us that there's a coming kingdom where there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and to be a part of it, we need to come to faith in Jesus Christ and, uh, and to demonstrate our faith for all to see. To encourage other people to live and to have peace, joy, and love that comes through, you know, the Holy Spirit working in us and through us to change us and to, uh, to move us along in our lives. Um, let's see. So it's Wednesday. Um, we're moving our— in our lives tonight to a doctrine class at Starpoint Church so we can remind ourselves of, you know, the things that Christians believe. So I'll be joining my wife tonight to fellowship with other believers, that we stand around in our unity of the faith and to remind ourselves what it is we believe. As I stated, I recently heard a testimony about some Christians that had varying beliefs, and the beliefs that came up were the ones in regards to the nation of Israel and end times and things like that. And You know, those aren't— you know, those are compelling concerns and things to think about, but they're not the heart of the gospel. And unfortunately, those extreme views about the end times drove people to extremes and caused relationships to be broken and people's faith to be severely challenged. So I, uh, you know, that's why, that's why we, we preach Christ and Christ crucified, and we try to, you know, encourage, um, stay in the middle of, of the love of the Lord and the truth of the gospel. And to, um, you know, you know, they said to have unity in, in the things that matter and, uh, you know, charity and the things that don't. So, there'll be great differences in practices and beliefs across Christendom, but as long as somebody can tell me they believe the Apostles' Creed, you know, that there's Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone, we can discuss the rest and hopefully encourage each other as we go. I never want to cause disunity or disharmony within the body of Christ through the things I say, even though I am challenged sometimes by people's different doctrinal beliefs and their emphasis on things and what they say and what their words implicate. But I always look for that middle ground and that, you know, in this body there will be, just like any family, there'll be some division and whatnot, but we're to love one another and encourage each other in our faith. That's the thing I want to do more than anything, is to show people that our faith is the answers for everything in our lives, and that we can, we can encourage each other and experience peace and all the other fruit of the Spirit when we walk in the Spirit. And we shouldn't tie ourselves to a system of beliefs as much as we should tie ourselves to our Lord and follow the way he leads us and to invest our time in studying his word so we know what his will is and we don't have to rely on someone else to tell us what to do. We study the word to be approved by God and to treasure his commands and do them. So we encourage that, and one way we encourage that is by sharing the classes we've taught on discipleship that talk about our freedom in Christ. We did Victory of the Darkness, Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all on the podcast and our YouTube channel. And also we share a Bible study that we do once a week with Arthur and Susanna Sincotti. It's called Bible Study with the Sincottis, where it's a bunch of Christians, you know, a few Christians standing or sitting around and discussing the things of God. And the truth that's drawn from Scripture and the way we apply these things to our lives. So if you want to check that out, you don't have a Bible study of your own, check out Bible Study with the Zinkanis. And if you can't get to a class, you know, my podcasts are available on the audio and on YouTube. So if you can't listen on the go, you can sit at home and listen through the TV. Um, and they're all given to encourage you and, and the great freedom that you can understand, uh, and overcoming that you can experience through your faith in Jesus Christ. So that's enough, uh, encouragement for one day, I hope. But I always want to pray, so let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Thank you for the victory and the freedom that you've given us through your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our Lord. Lord, let us never go to too extreme, uh, in what we do, either focusing too much on the spiritual matters, uh, to the exclusion of our, of our real lives, or focusing so much on the problems of this life that we make no room for you. Lord, let us stay in the middle of your love as we walk through today, as we consider the things we need to do. Um, sometimes the things of this world will grab our full attention, but But in our scrambles, we can always say a prayer to you, Lord, like we did yesterday as we face problems that we've seen— seemed insurmountable, that— but we were over— able to overcome and to do it with a measure of peace because of the, the baseline of peace that you've given us in our lives. Lord, we pray for the people listening today, that they would draw into— to who they are in Christ and draw into your love and wisdom by studying the word and applying it to their lives and just reminding themselves to reach out to you, to appreciate what you've given them, and to, to ask for your help and guidance when they need it. Because we know, Lord, that you move things and you, and you help, help us along the path. Lord, we pray for them today to receive blessings of healing and, and guidance from you. Um, Lord, we pray for you to go before all of us today and to open our eyes to see the beauty of this world, to show us the things we need to see and to walk into the things we need to do to represent you here on the earth. Lord, help us to do the best job we can today, um, you know, in our— at work, in our relationships, in our family, as stewards to what you've given us. Lord, when we focus on, on doing what's right according to what you say is right, we know we're walking in the right way, no matter if we succeed or not, um, Lord, because you're always there with us and you always encourage us to keep going and keep doing as you direct us to do. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.