WEEK # 5: January 30 - February 5, 2011

In today's sermon, I will be talking about the fifth responsibility we have as a church. It's the responsibility to honor God with our lives. I'll be preaching about how to honor God with your work. Throughout the week that will be the theme of these devotions - honoring God with our lives. What does that look like? How do we do that?

When we received Christ as Savior we became citizens of His kingdom and members of His family. Along with those blessings and privileges we also received obligations. The Lord expects us to act like the new persons we have become in Jesus Christ.

He expects His standards to become our standards, His purposes our purposes, His desires our desires, His nature our nature. The Christian life is simply the process of becoming what you are. Read the verses below to get a sense and flavor of this idea/concept/command.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” Philippians 1:27

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1

“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 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..” Colossians 1:9-10


Definition of Worthy:
Honorable, Admirable, Deserving, Virtuous
A man of eminent worth or value; one distinguished for living a useful and estimable life; a person of conspicuous lifestyle choice


Key Verse: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

If you have your Bibles, turn to 2 Corinthians, 3:18, because this text really is the theological anchor for this concept of honoring God with our lives. It says, "And we, who with unveiled faces (In other words, those of us who were Christ-followers — God’s children — should live mask-free lives. It’s not like we can hide ourselves from God or fake God out and pretend we are one thing. God knows us.) all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

This word “transformed” is very interesting. We get the word “metamorphosis” from it. It’s a change from the inside out. Thus, we take 2 Corinthians 3:18 and say that character is an outward reflection of an inward connection. It’s an outward reflection of an inward connection. What’s the connection? The connection is with Christ. Jesus is the author of true character. Jesus affords us an opportunity for character exchange to take place because of what he did on the cross.

The moment I bow the knee to Christ, what happens? My flawed character is transferred over to his shoulders and his flawless character is transferred over to my shoulders. He places the person of the Holy Spirit inside of our lives and the Holy Spirit works from the inside out to produce what? Character.

The Holy Spirit produces character in you and me. The Holy Spirit gives me the discipline to live character out. He gives me the endurance to carry character through. He gives me the courage to stand character up. He gives me the vision to see character on.

But there is a problem> Millions of people fill our churches every week, professing to know Jesus Christ, yet they remain unchanged. How can this be if we are being transformed?

Listen to these Stats: Compare and contrast those in the church with those outside:
Divorce rate = 52% in the church -52% outside the church. Adultery 61% of those inside the church admit to had having an affair in the past year. 61% outside the church admit the same thing.

Cheating in School: 57% of students who claim to know Christ admit to having cheated in the past year on at least five different occasions. 60% outside the church admit to the same thing. Get the Idea? There is a disconnect with meeting Christ and Him changing our lives!

Folks, when a person joins an organization, he obligates himself to live and act in accordance with the standards of the group. He accepts its aims, objectives, and standards as his own. A citizen is obligated to abide by the laws of his country. An employee is obligated to work according the rules, standards, and purposes of his company.

Members of service clubs obligate themselves to promote the goals of the club and to abide by its standards. When someone joins an athletic team he is obligated to play as the coach orders and according to the rules of the sport. Human society could not operate without such obligation. We have a natural desire to be accepted and to belong, and many people will go to almost any lengths to qualify for acceptance in a fraternal order, social club, athletic team, or other group.

Many people will also go to great lengths to keep from being rejected by a group. The parents of the man born blind were afraid to tell the Jewish leaders that Jesus had healed their son, because they were afraid of being thrown out of the synagogue (John 9:22). Although they had seen the result of a miracle that had healed their own son of his life–long blindness, they would not credit Jesus with the miracle for fear of being socially ostracized. For the same reason, “many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God” (John 12:42–43).

Sometimes in the church such loyalties to standards and fear of ostracism do not operate with the same force. Too many Christians are glad to have the spiritual security, blessings, and promises of the gospel but have too little sense of responsibility in conforming to its standards and obeying its commands.

This week, do some personal inventory. Is there any sin to confess? Any attitude to be made right? Any relationship that needs reconciliation? What will you do about it? Psalms 139:23-24 (ASV) says, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting." Will you pray that to the Lord today?

JANUARY 31 - Numbers 15:37-41: What are we to remember?
February 1 - 1 John 2:15-17: What happens to the person who does the will of God?
February 2 - 2 Chronicles 7:14: What does God promise if we renounce our sin?
February 3 - Hebrews 10:24-25: As judgment day approaches, what are we to be doing?
February 4 - Proverbs 29:25: What is the trap spoken of here?
February 5 - Psalm 139: What's the final sentence in this passage mean?

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!

WEEK #4: January 23-29

You were saved to Serve God.

What does that mean? Well, the Bible says this in 1 Peter 4:10 “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” The Bible says that when we come to Christ, each of us is given a spiritual gift. We are then told that our responsibility in the Christian life is to use our gifts to serve others. By serving others, we really are serving God.

Ephesians 2:20 says it like this, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Remember that verse? Folks, you were made to make a contribution, not just to consume. God made you to make a difference. And what matters is not how long you live, but how you live. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of your life. On this planet nobody gets a free ride.

We’re all meant to make a contribution. The Bible says we’re created to serve, we’re saved to serve, we’re gifted to serve, we’re shaped to serve. We’re commanded to serve God back.

Now the Bible has a word for this, it’s called “ministry”. This is a misunderstood word. When I say the word “minister” most people think of priest, pastor. They think of somebody who wears those funny collars, or a robe, and talks like “GOD”, and you know, that kind of stuff! But the Bible says every believer is a minister. Now not every believer is a pastor, but every believer is a minister.

Ministry simply means to serve God by serving others.” You want to know why you’re alive? You were put here to serve God and the way you serve God is by serving other people. Now, some people want to serve God; they just don’t want to serve others. But you can’t do that. The only way you can serve God is by serving others.

Now the good news is that God not only created us for service, He gave us a model. Jesus came to earth Himself and said “This is how you do it. I want you to watch Me”. Notice the next verse, let’s read it aloud together,

Matthew 20:28, “Jesus said, ‘Your attitude must be like My own, for I did not come to be served, but to serve’”. Today, we’re going to look at learning to serve like Jesus. Jesus got it – not only was life not about him, it was all about God –serving God.

One day Jesus was walking down to go to Jericho and some blind men start yelling at him. And the Bible says this (Matt. 20:30-32), “Two blind men shouted ‘Lord, have mercy on us!’…Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’”.

Underline the word “stopped”. Jesus stopped. If you want to be used by God, if you want to serve God, you must be willing to be interrupted. That’s called being AVAILABLE! Would you write that down? You must be willing to be interrupted. Most of Jesus’ ministry and most of Jesus’ miracles were interruptions. Think about it - all the people he healed…the blind man, the lame man, the sick people, the paralyzed man, the dead child…all of them were interruptions. His first miracle - interrupted at a wedding.

The Bible says this, Proverbs 3:28, “Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now”. Servant-hearted people don’t procrastinate. They’re spontaneous, they’re sensitive, and they say “OK, let’s do it!”

Here was John Wesley’s motto:
Do all the good you can by all the means you can by all the ways you can in all the places you can and at all the times you can to all the people you can as long as you ever can.

That, my friends, is greatness. You must be willing to step out and say “OK, out of my comfort zone, God what do You want me to do?” There are hurting people all around us, and the wounded will not wait. We’ve got to help them now.

Now what keeps us from being available? You see a lot of us say “I’d like to be used by God. I’d like His power in my life. I’d like to serve God, but I’m just not available.” And what is it that keeps us from being available? Let me give two common barriers.

Number one Barrier…self-centeredness. The Bible says “Forget yourself long enough to lend a helping hand” (Phil. 2:4). Whenever you see a need right in front of you, guess what? In the Pedlowe family we say it like this – “See a Need - Meet a Need”. God is giving you the opportunity to learn to serve, to learn to be like Jesus Christ.

Folks, the number one enemy of compassion is busyness. We just get too busy! And because I’m so busy, I don’t have time to serve. I’ve got my agenda, my plans, my dreams, my goals, my ambitions. You know what the problem is? We hang this (Pastor holds up a “do not disturb sign”) on the door of our heart, do not disturb. “Don’t disturb my heart. I’ve got my goals. I’ve got my safe little life going here, so don’t disturb me for the needs of other people.” Self-centerdness!

Number two Barrier…materialism. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money” (Lk. 16:13). I’m telling you, you have to declare what’s going to be the #1 in priority in your life! You cannot serve both God and money. It’s an impossibility. You see, you get so busy taking care of things; you don’t have time to take care of people. And that’s a problem.

The most important decision you’re going to have to make in life once you become a believer is “Am I going to be a kingdom-builder or am I going to be a wealth-builder?” Materialism is a barrier to serving. You have to remove that barrier. No one can do it for you. It has to be a conscious act of your will.

Serving means being available. You know what else it means?
Serving also means, serving like Jesus means being GRATEFUL. To serve like Jesus, we have to serve gratefully, grateful that we get the opportunity to serve.

The Bible tells us in John 11:41-42 “Jesus looked up and said ‘Father, I thank You that You heard me. I knew that You always hear Me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here.’”

“I want them to know that I am grateful that you heard Me”. Jesus had an attitude of gratefulness in everything that He did. He started with gratefulness. That was His attitude in ministry. Now you might think “I’d be grateful too if I could raise people from the dead.” However, Jesus was grateful in the tough times. Jesus was grateful when He was criticized. Jesus was grateful when things were not easy in ministry.

That was the attitude that He led in His ministry. Ministry and miracles always happened in this attitude of gratefulness. The apostle Paul was grateful. He said, “I thank Jesus Christ because He trusted me. He gave me this work of serving Him”. And the Bible talked about our attitude of gratefulness in Psalm 100:2 - “Serve the Lord with gladness”.

Now, as human beings we tend to trip over ourselves on the way to serving God, on the way to this attitude of gratefulness. There are some things that get in the way.

One of the barriers is criticizing. When you criticize others, that is a barrier that gets in the way for all of us of being grateful. The Bible tells us over in Rom. 14:4,”Who are you to criticize someone else’s servant? The Lord will determine whether His servant has been successful.” We’re all His servants. Who are you – who am I to criticize the work some one else does for the Master?

When you think about it, we’re on the same team. We have the same goal. We’re trying to make God look good to the world, let the world see how good He really looks. And He’s given us different abilities, different tasks. And to think that somehow we can compare or criticize in that is pretty ridiculous.

The second barrier is our own wrong motivations. The Bible talks about this in Matt. 6:1, Jesus said “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven”. The wrong motivation of showing off. Listen folks, self-promotion and servant hood don’t mix, but it’s easy to get them mixed up.

A lot of our service, let’s just be honest, it can be self-serving at times. We need to be honest with ourselves about that. We serve to get others to like us. We serve to be admired. We serve to achieve our own goals. We serve as sort of a bargaining chip with God…”God I’ll serve and You take care of me here”. All kinds of wrong motivations.

We’re serving but we’re thinking about how noble we are. Let me help you discern in your life - if you have a wrong motivation in serving? Gratitude. This very attitude. Do you have an attitude of gratitude? If not, you’re serving with the wrong motives. And before long you’ll quit, because wrong motives never last.

If you want to learn to serve like Jesus, you have to learn to serve gratefully with a generous heart. You make yourself available. You make yourself grateful.
There’s a third thing. Serving like Jesus means being FAITHFUL.!

Faithful. Now what does that mean? It means you don’t give up. You keep on going. You don’t quit in the middle of your assignment. At the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, Jesus said this in John 17:4, He said “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work” circle that “completing the work” “that You gave me to do”. I want you to be able to say that when you get to heaven.

You completed the work that God gave you to do. Jesus was faithful in fulfilling His service. He didn’t give up. He didn’t give in. He was persistent. And if you’re going to be like Jesus it means you’re going to serve as long as you’re alive. Now you may retire from your job someday, but you’re never retiring from ministry. You’re never retiring from service. Because God wants you to serve the rest of your life. As I’ve said, nobody just gets to coast on through life. God wants us to be giving out.

The Bible says, (1Cor. 4:2) “The one thing required of servants is that they be faithful”. So what motivates us to keep on going? How do we stay faithful? What ‘s the proper motivation for serving God over the long haul?
John 5:30 says “By myself I can do nothing; … for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” Never forget who you are serving.

What will the goal of your life be? Service and sacrifice or comfort and security?
Look at this verse, (Matt. 25:21) “Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things so; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness”. You know, family, more than anything else I want God to be able to say that about you. dedicate your life to serve God and others.

JANUARY 24 - Colossians 3:17, 22-23: What's our motivation to serve?
JANUARY 25 - Philippians 2:1-11: Who's example are we to follow as we serve?
JANUARY 26 - Luke 9:23: What has to happen in us if we are to serve?
JANUARY 27 - 1 Peter 4:8-11: Where does the strength come from to serve?
JANUARY 28 - Proverbs 3:28: When should we serve?
JANUARY 29 - Matthew 25:21: What's the reward for serving?

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!


I have dedicated my life so that when you stand before God one day, that God will look into your eyes and He’ll say to you “Good job! Well done! You did what I put you here on earth to do. You worshiped me, you fellowshipped with other believers, you grew in character to be like Christ, and you served Me, the way I shaped you. Well done! Good job! Come on in and enjoy eternity and all the rewards I’ve planned for you.” I want God to be able to say that about you, because you were shaped for serving God. Well done!

Question - Is God going to be able to say “well done” to you? “You spent your life in serving Me. Well done!” Is there anything in your schedule where you’re giving back unselfishly, or are you too busy? Are you waiting for things to slow down? Or do you have other priorities.

One day Napoleon pointed at a map of China and he said “There lies a sleeping giant. If it ever wakes up it will shake the world.” Every weekend I look at the COV Church family and I say, “There is a sleeping giant. If everybody who came here served here, what kind of enormous, spiritual, nuclear reaction would we see in the San Ramon Valley and California and the world?” I make no apology in saying to you that the most important thing you’ll ever do with your life is serving God in ministry. It’s far more important than your career, it’s far more important than your hobbies, it’s even more important than everything else you can think of because they aren’t going to last. But this is. You were put here on earth to practice serving.

Let’s bow our heads. Would you pray this?

Father I realize that I was shaped to serve You by serving others. Forgive me for the times I’ve put a “do not disturb” sign on my heart. Help me to see the interruptions as opportunities to serve. Help me to make time for what matters most. You’ve been so good to me. I want to give something back. I want to serve You freely and gratefully and faithfully, and I want to practice before I get to heaven so one day I can hear You say “Well done, good and faithful servant”. In Your name I pray, Amen.

WEEK #3: January 16-22

Unity. It is called for in the Bible. It is commanded. It's not optional.

Philippians 2:1-4 (NIV) say this -

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Perhaps the greatest danger facing the church is an attack on its source of authority, namely, the Word of God. Spiritual apathy and a general coldness and indifference to biblical truth and God’s standards of righteousness also pose serious risks. Such indifference is usually denied, often with an aura of self-deceptive sincerity, but it attacks the spirituality of the church.

Equally to be feared is whatever attacks the unity of the church. All of these can disrupt, weaken, and destroy a church by causing discord, disharmony, conflict, and division. When Paul closed his last letter to the Corinthians, he expressed his fear of sins that destroy unity:

2 Corinthians 12:20 (NIV)
20 For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

Apparently the Philippian church faced the danger of discord and division from the personal conflict between Euodia and Syntyche. Disunity is a potential danger for every church, a danger Paul addressed to some extent in every one of his letters to churches. To the church at Rome he wrote,

Romans 15:5-7 (NIV)
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

The foundation for believers’ oneness is the unity God granted in answer to Jesus’ prayer that His people “may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).

Disunity among His people deeply grieves the Lord. It should be every pastor’s, church leader’s, and church member’s prayer that men will not tear asunder what God has divinely joined together in the body of Christ. Because fracturing Christ’s church is one of Satan’s major objectives, the challenge to preserve the unity of the spirit is constant. A divided, factious, and bickering church is spiritually weak. It therefore offers little threat to the devil’s work and has little power for advancing the gospel of Christ. Endeavoring to maintain, or to restore, the spiritual unity of a congregation is easily the most pressing, difficult, and constant challenge for its leaders.

Although sound doctrine, moral purity, and passionate commitment to the Lord and to His work are essential to a church’s effective ministry, they alone cannot guarantee protection from discord. William Barclay perceptively observed that

The one danger which threatened the Philippian church was that of disunity. There is a sense in which that is the danger of every healthy church. It is when people are really in earnest, when their beliefs really matter to them, that they are apt to get up against each other. The greater their enthusiasm, the greater the danger that they may collide. It is against that danger Paul wished to safeguard his friends.

Paul’s concern here is not about doctrines, ideas, or practices that are clearly unbiblical. It is about interpretations, standards, interests, preferences, and the like that are largely matters of personal choice. Such issues should never be allowed to foment controversy within the body of Christ. To insist on one’s own way in such things is sinful, because it senselessly divides believers. It reflects a prideful desire to promote one’s personal views, style, or agenda.

Believers must never, of course, compromise doctrines or principles that are clearly biblical. But to humbly defer to one another on secondary issues is a mark of spiritual strength, not weakness. It is a mark of maturity and love that God highly honors, because it promotes and preserves harmony in His church.

The church at Philippi was for the most part theologically sound, devoted, moral, loving, zealous, courageous, prayerful, and generous. Yet it faced the danger of discord that often is generated by only a few people. Such troublemakers can stir up the contention and strife that fractures an entire congregation. And because disunity is so tragically debilitating, Paul gently but firmly pleads with believers to be constantly and diligently on guard against it.

In 2:1–4 Paul gives what is perhaps the most concise and practical teaching about unity in the New Testament. In these four powerful verses, he outlines a formula for spiritual unity that includes three necessary elements on which that unity must be built: the right motives (vv. 1–2a), the right marks (v. 2b), and the right means (vv. 3–4). Through them, he clarifies why believers should be of one mind and spirit, what is meant by one mind and spirit, and how they can truly become of one mind and spirit.

What is your responsibility? Guard and protect the unity in God's church at all costs. Period. I love you guys. Stay faithful to this command. Deal with issues that come up immediately. Don't allow yourself the luxury of harboring anger, bitterness, jealousy or envy. Squash that stuff any time it rears it's ugly head. I pray these following passages and questions will impact you this week.

January 17 - Colossians 3:12-15: What's the key to unity in this passage?
January 18 - Ephesians 4:1-6: What does it mean to live "worthy" of the calling you have received?
January 19 - 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10: What are we urged to do?
January 20 - Romans 15:5-7: In unity, what are we called to do as a church?
January 21 - 1 Corinthians 10:1-17: What's the command found here?
January 22 - 1 John 2:3-6: What are we commanded to do here?

WEEK #2: January 8-15

There is a cost involved in being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus was very clear about this. Let's look at two passages that teach about this cost.

Luke 9:57-62 (NIV)
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me." But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

In this passage we see a man approached and wanted to follow where they were going. Jesus’ response was that a person desiring to follow Him must give up what others consider necessities. Jesus had no home of His own nor did His followers. They were on their way to Jerusalem where Jesus would be put to death.

Jesus called the next man with the same words with which He had called His disciples . The man’s reply that he first wanted to go and bury his father has been variously interpreted. Some maintain that the man’s father was dead already. It would seem strange if that was the case for he would certainly have been engaged in the burial procedure already. It is more likely that the man’s father was ready to die.

His request was to let him wait just a little while before following Jesus. Perhaps the man also wanted to receive the inheritance from his father’s estate. Jesus’ response, Let the dead bury their own dead, implies that the spiritually dead can bury the physically dead. The point was that proclaiming the kingdom of God was so important that it could not wait. Of course if the man had left and followed Jesus, it would have caused a scandal in the community. But that was less important than proclaiming the kingdom and following the Messiah. A disciple must make a radical commitment.

The third man simply wanted to go home and say good-by to his family. Elijah had allowed Elisha to do this very thing when Elisha was plowing (1 Kings 19:19-20). Jesus’ words underscore the fact that His message of the kingdom of God was more important than anything else—even family members. The message and the Messiah cannot wait. Jesus’ message was more important than Elijah’s message and demanded total allegiance. Jesus’ servants should not have divided interests, like a farmer who begins plowing and looks back. Since Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, the man had to make up his mind right then as to what he was going to do.

Luke 14:25-35 (NIV)
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple.
27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?
29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him,
30 saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
31 "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.
33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
34 "Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

In this passage from Luke we see that large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Jesus intended to impress on the people their need to examine their resolve to follow Him. He was on His way to die on the cross. Ultimately everyone did desert Him when He was alone in the garden and then arrested and put on trial.

To emphasize that discipleship is difficult, Jesus said that one must hate his own family and even his own life in order to be His disciple. Literally hating one’s family would have been a violation of the Law. Since Jesus on several occasions admonished others to fulfill the Law, He must not have meant here that one should literally hate his family.

The stress here is on the priority of love (Matt. 10:37). One’s loyalty to Jesus must come before his loyalty to his family or even to life itself. Indeed, those who did follow Jesus against their families’ desires were probably thought of as hating their families.

The second difficult qualification Jesus stressed was that one must carry his (i.e., his own) cross and follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). When the Roman Empire crucified a criminal or captive, the victim was often forced to carry his cross part of the way to the crucifixion site. Carrying his cross through the heart of the city was supposed to be a tacit admission that the Roman Empire was correct in the sentence of death imposed on him, an admission that Rome was right and he was wrong. So when Jesus enjoined His followers to carry their crosses and follow Him, He was referring to a public display before others that Jesus was right and that the disciples were following Him even to their deaths. This is exactly what the religious leaders refused to do.

Using two illustrations, Jesus then taught that discipleship must include planning and sacrifice. The first illustration concerned a tower. Before a person begins to build, he should be sure he will be able to pay the full cost of the project. Jesus’ followers must also be sure they are willing to pay the full price of discipleship.

The second illustration concerned a king who went out to battle. The king should be willing to sacrifice a desired victory if he senses he is unable to win. This principle of sacrifice is also important in the realm of discipleship: one must be willing to give up everything for Jesus. The people who were following Jesus throughout the countryside of Israel had done that. They had given up possessions and employment, knowing that the message Jesus was proclaiming was the most important thing on earth.

Jesus climaxed His teaching on discipleship by proclaiming that salt is good only as long as it contains the characteristics of saltiness. If it loses its saltiness, it has no value at all and is thrown out. The same is true of disciples. They must contain the characteristics of discipleship—planning and willing sacrifice—or they are of no value at all.

The bottom line: we must be in the business of reproducing ourselves. We must be investing in others. We must be pouring our lives into another. Read the passages below this week. Each day be asking yourself - who is my man/woman? (that I will disiple?)

January 10 - Matthew 28:16-20: What are we to teach our disciples?
January 11 - Ephesians 4:1-15: How do we help others grow up spiritually?
January 12 - Psalm 119: 9-16: What key discipline to all disciples need?
January 13 - 2 Timothy 2:1-13: What are the qualifications of a disciple?
January 14 - 1 Corinthians 15:50-58: What are commanded to do?
January 15 - 1 John 2:1-17: What truths here should we pass on to all disciples?

I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE! (and of course, go make disciples)

WEEK #1: January 1-7, 2011

This year, we're going to do the COV devotions a bit different. I'll be posting a weekly devotion and sharing thoughts on a specific passage of scripture that relates to the message from Sunday. I'll also post a daily reading schedule for you to go through so as to keep you on track to be in the WORD every day during 2011.I will also post a question for each days reading to get you to think through the personal application of God's Word to your life.

MATTHEW 5:13-16

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

In these four verses the Lord summarizes the function of believers in the world. Reduced to one word, that function is influence. Whoever lives according to the Beatitudes is going to function in the world as salt and light. Christian character consciously or unconsciously affects other people for better or for worse. As John Donne reminds us, “No man is an island.”

An ancient Greek myth tells of a goddess who came to earth unseen but whose presence was always known by the blessings she left behind in her pathway. Trees burned by forest fires sprouted new leaves, and violets sprang up in her footprints. As she passed a stagnant pool its water became fresh, and parched fields turned green as she walked through them.

Hills and valleys blossomed with new life and beauty wherever she went. Another Greek story tells of a princess sent as a present to a king. She was as beautiful as Aphrodite and her breath was as sweet as perfume. But she carried with her the contagion of death and decay. From infancy she had fed on nothing but poison and became so permeated with it that she poisoned the very atmosphere around her. Her breath would kill a swarm of insects; she would pick a flower and it would wither. A bird flying too close would fall dead at her feet.

Andrew Murray lived an exceptionally holy life. Among those on whom his influence was the greatest were his children and grandchildren. Five of his six sons became ministers of the gospel and four of his daughters became minister’s wives. Ten grandsons became ministers and thirteen grandchildren became missionaries.
Woodrow Wilson told the story of being in a barbershop one time.

“I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself to have his hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me I was aware I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr, D. L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular affect that his visit had brought upon the barber shop. They talked in undertones. They did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts, and I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship.”

Many years ago Elihu Burrit wrote, “No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness, not only of the present but of every subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach himself from this connection. There in no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark niche along the disc of nonexistence to which he can retreat from his relations with others, where he can withdraw the influence of his existence upon the moral destiny of the world. Everywhere his presence or absence will be felt. Everywhere he will have companions who will be better or worse because of him. It is an old saying, and one of the fearful and fathomless statements of import, that we are forming characters for eternity. Forming characters? Whose? Our own or others? Both.

And in that momentous fact lies the peril and responsibility of our existence. Who is sufficient for the thought? Thousands of my fellow beings will yearly enter eternity with characters differing from those they would have carried thither had I never lived. The sunlight of that world will reveal my finger marks in their primary formations and in their successive strata of thought and life.”

In Matthew 5:13–16 Jesus talks about the influence of His people on the world for God and for good. In His high priestly prayer from John 17, Jesus said to His Father, “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world … As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world”.

1 John 2:15 says,, “Do not love the world, nor the things in the world”. Christians are not to reflect the world but they are to influence the world; they are to be in it but not of it.

When we live the life of the Beatitudes some people will respond favorably and be saved, whereas others will ridicule and persecute us. In the words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, we will manifest “the sweet aroma of the knowledge of [Christ] in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life”.

In either case our lives have profound effects, and even persecution is not to alter our function in the world. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that "we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that [we] may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light”.

Though Jesus was speaking before a great multitude of people on the hillside, His teaching about kingdom life was primarily for His disciples, for those who believed in Him. His concern was for the all of the multitude, and in hearing His teaching on godly living many of them may have been drawn to faith. But the principles He teaches here are appropriate only for believers, for they are impossible to follow apart from the power of God’s own Spirit.

Here in this passage, these words spoken by our Lord on this country hillside,is a mandate for Christians to influence the world. The Beatitudes are not to be lived in isolation or only among fellow believers, but everywhere we go. God’s only witnesses to this world are His children, and the world has no other way of knowing of Him except through the testimony of what we are.

The figures of salt and light emphasize different characteristics of influence, but their basic purpose is the same. They will both be studied from the aspects of the presupposition of the world’s corruption and darkness, the plan for believers’ godly dominion in the world, the problem of the danger of failure, and the purpose of glorifying God.

This week, let your light shine. Influence your world for Christ. I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course. ENDURE!

January 2, 2011: Matthew 9:35-38. Will you be on God's workers?
January 3, 2011: Acts 1:1-8. Where are we commanded to be witnesses?
January 4, 2011: Ezekiel 3:16-27. What are we to warn people about?
January 5, 2011: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23. What is our mission as follwers of Christ?
January 6, 2011: Romans 10:9-15. How are people saved?
January 7, 2011: 2 Peter 3:8-13. How does God view those who don't know Him?