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I’m preaching this weekend - Ray is enjoying the great So Cal weather. Right now in So Cal it’s pouring down rain. Sun is out here.
Granted - its 17 degrees here and you don’t have to shovel rain.
But I digress…this weekend I’m continuing our series through 1st John. You can’t love the world and love the Father.
Thanks for leaving me such an easy topic to preach on, Ray.
At Life Group Sunday night:
“What are you preaching on this weekend?”
GE: “If you love the world, you can’t love the Father.”
Conversation killed.
Later - “So I better go shop like crazy this week, right?”
Honestly, I love my stuff like anyone else. I love skiing, video games, tv’s, cell phones, ipods, and computers. I love a great big fat juicy steak and long dinners with friends. I love my house and my DVR. While I don’t make a ton of money, I make more than most in the world and I’m not signing up to make any LESS than what I do.
So I feel the tension. But then I ran across this quote from a guy named Warren Wiersbe:
Worldliness is not so much a matter of activity as of attitude. It is possible for a Christian to stay away from questionable amusements and doubtful places and still love the world, for worldliness is a matter of the heart.
I’m still putting it all together - hopefully I’ll have SOMETHING by Sunday - but I think I see it. Some of the most “pious” people I know are also the most hateful. They’ve got all the right actions and behaviors but they still function on a world system. Top-down leadership instead of servant. Keeping track of wrongs instead of forgiveness. “What have you done lately” mindset instead of grace.
Or more pointedly - having your own agenda for your own glory instead of having His for His glory.
To me that’s more convicting. Am what I am doing, saying and becoming more about Him or more about me?
We did a retreat for middle school boys about becoming men of God. A couple of the dads complimented the team on what a great weekend it was then asked why we didn’t talk about marriage and being a great husband and dad.
Steve, my middle school guru had a great response. “What if your son never gets married? Could he still be a man of God single? If he gets married - great. May he be a great man of God who happens to be married. What if he never has kids? What if for some crazy reason he trades the middle-class suburban dream for a single life in Tibet telling people about Jesus?”
We were all speechless. Steve had hit a nerve in us all. Most us function out of the mindset of what brings us the most glory or what’s best for us.
Regardless of how moral or right the decisions may be - if it isn’t about the Father or his Glory - it may just be TRUE worldliness.
Still marinating…
4 responses so far ↓
1 MikeS // Jan 31, 2007 at 10:03 am
G - I have struggling with some people who have that “worldly” idea of what I’m supposed to be as a pastor - top down instead of servant, keeping track of wrongs instead of forgiveness, what have you done for me lately instead of grace.
It’s only one person, but why is it that they are usually the most vocal and, at least attempt, to persuade those around them?
And thanks to Steve - I loved being married to Karen, but what if I remain single to serve God? I wish we could have had children, but we couldn’t, so can I still be a “man” of God? I think so. I HOPE so, because I that is exactly where I am right now.
Sorry for the downer and long comment. But this post really hit a nerve - not an angry nerve, more like a painful one.
Mike
2 Grant // Jan 31, 2007 at 11:15 am
I think it’s a losing battle to persuade what the job should be. I think the more someone bangs on the table as to what we should be or act, the more insecure they are with their own stuff.
Steve also had another line that he’d repeat to us - “Shut up and serve.” Great advice…words matter but not as much as serving out of love.
3 MikeS // Jan 31, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Good words.
4 ray // Feb 2, 2007 at 9:17 am
Easy topic? I never promised you a rose garden - in fact, since you and I now live on the Ice Planet, Hoth, we will more than likely not see a garden until the year 2012. Praying for you this weekende - swing for the fences! Rs
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