Study 47 "Christ's Lordship over my life" (24/6/16)
Looking at Paul's line of argument in Eph 3:14-21 we can see how he takes up a thought in 3:1, interrupts himself, then takes it up again in v.14. After describing Christ's work to unite Jews and Gentiles in the church, he then prays for strength in the inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through vaith, so that we have the ability to grasp the love of Christ, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. This last goal is so ultimate and striking in its extent that we should be led to awe and worship. This is a great basis for giving Christ full control over our lives.
We spent time sharing the areas in our life where Christ's lordship should be manifest. And we spent time exploring Christ's lordship in depth in the following areas:
1. Our leisure time.
I shared that it is difficult for me to surrender this because we may feel entitled to a time for ourselves without anyone (even God) telling us what to do after a hard day's work. The Bible counsels us to spend our days so that we gain a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:12) and to make the best use of our time because the days are 'evil' (Eph 5:16) i.e. we are to adopt a wartime mentality in our approach to the Christian life. Our lives are more than 'stressful' - we live in a world actively opposed to our faith and are engaged in spiritual battle. Wen Ai shared a quote from C. S. Lewis' book the Screwtape Letters: "You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
This reminds us that there are many good things we can do with our leisure time. Some of us have not yet read the Bible from cover to cover. Part of the meaning of Christ's lordship is that we do all that He tells us (Lk 6:46). And this means knowing His will as expressed in His Word.
The Sabbath commands remind us that we are to rest as an expression of trust that God will provide. We are built to need sleep. It is fine to take vacations to relax, although we note that Jesus appeared to be quite taxed in terms on the demands on His time and we have no record that he took vacations...!
2. Our work
We had recurrent discussions on whether we should be seeking occupations that were in line with our giftings and inclinations. Ec 3:22 tells us that it is a blessing to be able to rejoice in our work. Yet there may be seasons in our lives when we are stuck in positions that are unfulfilling and not meaningful.
1 Tim 4:14 is more a call to not neglect the spiritual gifts we have, not a call to use our gifts in particular occupations. We can see that we do not have to do work that we enjoy. This is a luxury of our modern society. Many Christians in the time of the NT were slaves who had no choice as to the nature of their job (nice point, Wen Ai!) and yet were still called to work as to the Lord, not for men (Col 3:24). It does not really matter what job we choose. Here the directive will of God allows us much freedom to choose a job (I refer everyone to the sermon below!)
3. Our possessions
Possessions, especially the expensive and hard-to-obtain ones, can exert an improper attraction on our minds. We buy them with hard-earned money, that Ravi Zacharias calls "congealed life" because we spend time and effort earning it. We reminded ourselves that all we have is really God's. We are His slaves (Ro 6:22). We are not our own, but we are bought with a price (1 Co 6:19-20).
We spent time sharing the areas in our life where Christ's lordship should be manifest. And we spent time exploring Christ's lordship in depth in the following areas:
1. Our leisure time.
I shared that it is difficult for me to surrender this because we may feel entitled to a time for ourselves without anyone (even God) telling us what to do after a hard day's work. The Bible counsels us to spend our days so that we gain a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:12) and to make the best use of our time because the days are 'evil' (Eph 5:16) i.e. we are to adopt a wartime mentality in our approach to the Christian life. Our lives are more than 'stressful' - we live in a world actively opposed to our faith and are engaged in spiritual battle. Wen Ai shared a quote from C. S. Lewis' book the Screwtape Letters: "You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one-the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
This reminds us that there are many good things we can do with our leisure time. Some of us have not yet read the Bible from cover to cover. Part of the meaning of Christ's lordship is that we do all that He tells us (Lk 6:46). And this means knowing His will as expressed in His Word.
The Sabbath commands remind us that we are to rest as an expression of trust that God will provide. We are built to need sleep. It is fine to take vacations to relax, although we note that Jesus appeared to be quite taxed in terms on the demands on His time and we have no record that he took vacations...!
2. Our work
We had recurrent discussions on whether we should be seeking occupations that were in line with our giftings and inclinations. Ec 3:22 tells us that it is a blessing to be able to rejoice in our work. Yet there may be seasons in our lives when we are stuck in positions that are unfulfilling and not meaningful.
1 Tim 4:14 is more a call to not neglect the spiritual gifts we have, not a call to use our gifts in particular occupations. We can see that we do not have to do work that we enjoy. This is a luxury of our modern society. Many Christians in the time of the NT were slaves who had no choice as to the nature of their job (nice point, Wen Ai!) and yet were still called to work as to the Lord, not for men (Col 3:24). It does not really matter what job we choose. Here the directive will of God allows us much freedom to choose a job (I refer everyone to the sermon below!)
3. Our possessions
Possessions, especially the expensive and hard-to-obtain ones, can exert an improper attraction on our minds. We buy them with hard-earned money, that Ravi Zacharias calls "congealed life" because we spend time and effort earning it. We reminded ourselves that all we have is really God's. We are His slaves (Ro 6:22). We are not our own, but we are bought with a price (1 Co 6:19-20).
Comments
Post a Comment