April 20th 2018
Mankind Standing For God And Fulfilling Their Role! – Part 3 of 3
VOW reader once asked a question and this commentary is a third installment trying to answer what I think was being asked! “Have you written anything that concentrates on men standing for God and fulfilling their role?”
Part 3 of 3 - The end is near therefore Pray, Love, Serve, and then Evangelize!
1 Peter 4:7-11 (NIV)
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
When you hear the statement the “The end of all things is near,” does it really strike any feeling of fear in you? We all have some thought about the end times, and most of us only wonder about when that will occur. However, do you know, we are already in the end times. That is to say the end times started when Jesus was born into this world. Yes, there is coming a time when Jesus will come back to this earth, and many people refer to that time as the end times. But when will your end time event occur? It is when you leave this lifetime, either by dying, or it may be by the Rapture! So from this vantage point “The end of all things is near.” To this thought process, Peter wrote, “Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”
What about such a statement that Peter wrote, are you really able to be self-controlled? If not, then is it possible for you to utter a prayer that God will hear and respond to? In part 1 of this commentary we read about how Jesus gave us the power to control our sinful nature. If we cannot actually do this, then you (we) may want to consider praying about getting Jesus’ help to gain control of this sinful part of you (us)! Remember also that Jesus left the Holy Spirit to indwell His followers to support us, and to make it possible to pray getting communication skills that allow us to ask God for help that we may not be able to articulate on our own.
If we can learn from Jesus through the Holy Spirit to love others then we can actually want to serve other people, no matter if they look like us or not. Peter wrote, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” That “covers over” thing goes both ways, so in a congregational setting there should be harmony not only in the singing, but also in the duties to want to serve others. You may say, well human beings have a way of not wanting to serve, but more to be served, and that is true, if you (we) are being guided by the sinful nature. In this country we pride ourselves on being free, but freedom that is individual is not freedom at all! If you cannot love all other people, then your freedom is predicated on freedom by might, not Jesus’ power. If you are not tapped into Jesus, then you are not getting your power through the vine!
Paul in his letter to the church in Rome touched on this. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28, NLT) Have you been called to the service of the Lord? Remember this Paul was not called directly as the Apostles were, and he was a great sinner, as Saul, he was persecuting the early church of Jesus Christ. And in an instant Paul or Saul was transformed into a disciple of Jesus Christ. When you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you too were transformed into His disciple. Therefore, you do have the power to serve others. The power to serve is only possible if we first have the capability of loving our neighbors as ourselves.
You must partake of the love feast through serving in the church of your choice. If you cannot learn to love those people in your church, it would seem somewhat impossible to go out to the people who do not choose to attend a church, and convince them to join the congregation you have chosen to serve! There must be a humility observed by all God’s people, as they must recognize they have been chosen by Him to serve, it is not because you are somehow special.
Of course, you are special to God, and He has chosen you to serve Him! For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time - to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:9, NLT) Remember, you are serving through the grace of God, and therefore, to God you are special and you were selected personally by Him! Even though you are a sinner, Jesus chose you to serve for Him on this earth. Will you accept His choice? Wow, that is grace in action! Have you taken His challenge?
If you are able to serve Him through love and service to the other people in your congregation, then you are ready to serve Him by going out into His kingdom on this earth, and bring people back to Him. No one can evangelize without doing so through the love of God, as God is love!
Jesus offers you the opportunity to serve Him by following His Great Commission. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus has commissioned all those who have chosen to be His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations!” Have you prepared to go out into this world and tell people how your life has been improved by turning it over to Jesus? If not, then those who have not heard, and thus could choose to believe will spend all eternity suffering in hell.
Please remember only Jesus offers salvation, there is no other way, which leads to heaven. Is there someone out there who you could show the way to Jesus? The way to heaven is only through Jesus! Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6) No one can reap their final eternal reward except through Jesus.
What is that final eternal reward? It is for mankind to return to the Paradise of God, without the burden of that sinful nature. Can you point people to Jesus, through prayer, and loving service, so they can choose Jesus as their lord and Savior? John wrote of this promise from the Lamb of God in our book called Revelation. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4) By the grace of God we can be with Him for eternity, and never suffer again! Now that is a promise you (we) can hold on to forever!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
VOW reader once asked a question and this commentary is a third installment trying to answer what I think was being asked! “Have you written anything that concentrates on men standing for God and fulfilling their role?”
Part 3 of 3 - The end is near therefore Pray, Love, Serve, and then Evangelize!
1 Peter 4:7-11 (NIV)
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
When you hear the statement the “The end of all things is near,” does it really strike any feeling of fear in you? We all have some thought about the end times, and most of us only wonder about when that will occur. However, do you know, we are already in the end times. That is to say the end times started when Jesus was born into this world. Yes, there is coming a time when Jesus will come back to this earth, and many people refer to that time as the end times. But when will your end time event occur? It is when you leave this lifetime, either by dying, or it may be by the Rapture! So from this vantage point “The end of all things is near.” To this thought process, Peter wrote, “Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.”
What about such a statement that Peter wrote, are you really able to be self-controlled? If not, then is it possible for you to utter a prayer that God will hear and respond to? In part 1 of this commentary we read about how Jesus gave us the power to control our sinful nature. If we cannot actually do this, then you (we) may want to consider praying about getting Jesus’ help to gain control of this sinful part of you (us)! Remember also that Jesus left the Holy Spirit to indwell His followers to support us, and to make it possible to pray getting communication skills that allow us to ask God for help that we may not be able to articulate on our own.
If we can learn from Jesus through the Holy Spirit to love others then we can actually want to serve other people, no matter if they look like us or not. Peter wrote, “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” That “covers over” thing goes both ways, so in a congregational setting there should be harmony not only in the singing, but also in the duties to want to serve others. You may say, well human beings have a way of not wanting to serve, but more to be served, and that is true, if you (we) are being guided by the sinful nature. In this country we pride ourselves on being free, but freedom that is individual is not freedom at all! If you cannot love all other people, then your freedom is predicated on freedom by might, not Jesus’ power. If you are not tapped into Jesus, then you are not getting your power through the vine!
Paul in his letter to the church in Rome touched on this. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28, NLT) Have you been called to the service of the Lord? Remember this Paul was not called directly as the Apostles were, and he was a great sinner, as Saul, he was persecuting the early church of Jesus Christ. And in an instant Paul or Saul was transformed into a disciple of Jesus Christ. When you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you too were transformed into His disciple. Therefore, you do have the power to serve others. The power to serve is only possible if we first have the capability of loving our neighbors as ourselves.
You must partake of the love feast through serving in the church of your choice. If you cannot learn to love those people in your church, it would seem somewhat impossible to go out to the people who do not choose to attend a church, and convince them to join the congregation you have chosen to serve! There must be a humility observed by all God’s people, as they must recognize they have been chosen by Him to serve, it is not because you are somehow special.
Of course, you are special to God, and He has chosen you to serve Him! For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time - to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 1:9, NLT) Remember, you are serving through the grace of God, and therefore, to God you are special and you were selected personally by Him! Even though you are a sinner, Jesus chose you to serve for Him on this earth. Will you accept His choice? Wow, that is grace in action! Have you taken His challenge?
If you are able to serve Him through love and service to the other people in your congregation, then you are ready to serve Him by going out into His kingdom on this earth, and bring people back to Him. No one can evangelize without doing so through the love of God, as God is love!
Jesus offers you the opportunity to serve Him by following His Great Commission. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20) Jesus has commissioned all those who have chosen to be His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations!” Have you prepared to go out into this world and tell people how your life has been improved by turning it over to Jesus? If not, then those who have not heard, and thus could choose to believe will spend all eternity suffering in hell.
Please remember only Jesus offers salvation, there is no other way, which leads to heaven. Is there someone out there who you could show the way to Jesus? The way to heaven is only through Jesus! Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6) No one can reap their final eternal reward except through Jesus.
What is that final eternal reward? It is for mankind to return to the Paradise of God, without the burden of that sinful nature. Can you point people to Jesus, through prayer, and loving service, so they can choose Jesus as their lord and Savior? John wrote of this promise from the Lamb of God in our book called Revelation. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4) By the grace of God we can be with Him for eternity, and never suffer again! Now that is a promise you (we) can hold on to forever!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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