What Fuels Your Fire?

Why do you do what you do?  What is your motivation?  Why do you get up in the mornings?  What is it that is fueling you? 

This morning, I want us to consider what really is your fuel.

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Looking at this scripture, we see that there are opposing sides – two parts that are going in different directions.  There are differing ideas that lead us in different directions.  I propose that these differing sides also reflect two different ways that we 'fuel the fire' within us.

First, we have the understanding of the earthly way to go.  These are some of the characteristics that stick out to us:

                Bitter envy, selfish ambition, boastful, falsehood – these lead to disorder and wickedness.

These don’t sound appealing to us at all as Christians.  But just because it doesn’t sound appealing or like something we would do, doesn't mean that we don't do these things.  We will look at this more in a moment.

One the opposing side is:

                Pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, no partiality or hypocrisy – leads to harvest of righteousness, sown in peace.

These sound great!  This is the obvious choice.  I can hear us now thinking that we know the answer to this question on the test. 

The problem is that this world is part of the first side.  It is all about getting what we can for ourselves.  It is about conflicts and disputes.  It is about our inward cravings.  It is about going after your desires no matter what is in the way.  We are taught to achieve our goals no matter what it takes. 

So, if the world is part of the first side and that is what we know…what happens?  We end up doing what verse 2 in chapter 4 says…we commit horrible sins (murder specifically mentioned here), we covet (see what someone else has and really want it bad).  Since we can't have what we want, then we cause conflict – do what it takes so we feel better about ourselves and/or get what we want.

We also end up asking for things we don't need or things that are not in our best interest.  We do this because we are led by the world.  We do this because we covet and we ask God to give us what someone else has.  This verse shows us that we don't get because we ask in our own desires.

If we are led by the world in too many cases, what can we do?  Verse 7 and the beginning of 8 help us bring it back into focus.  We are to submit ourselves to God.  We are to give ourselves over to Him and along with all of our selfish ambitions.  We draw closer to Him and in doing so, we cleanse ourselves of where we have gone wrong and repent…getting back on the right track with God.  Only submitting to Him will get us there.

For a moment, let's look at what fuel's your fire.  What gets you up in the morning?  It isn't just your alarm clock.  You get up because you have things to do.  You know you have to get up in order to go to work or you have to get the kids to school or you have to go to an appointment or you have to get ready for something.  You get up because you have a reason.  Many of those reasons are earthly.  We have to make money to support our families.  The kids have to get to school for an education.  We have to go to the appointments for our health or whatever.  We have good reasons for doing that.

But, if that is what fuels our fire, our fire will be put out really, really quickly.  We will grow weary and tired.  We will not want to continue to do those things because they are driving us crazy.  We will dread Monday mornings because they are the start to the madness.

What would happen if instead of that fueling our fire, our fire was fueled by a desire to follow God?  What if we got up, not to go to work, but to grow in our relationship with Him?  What would happen if we got up with a desire to know Him more and serve Him and give Him our best?  That doesn't mean we don't go to work…no because we look at work differently.  It is then our avenue of service.  We don't dread taking the kids to school because that helps them with their avenue of service.  We don't get up because of the load of work we have that day but because we have a desire to follow God and see just what He has for us.  We look at people differently…we look at the world differently…we look at life differently.

It doesn't mean that everything goes great…but even in adversity, God is there!  It is an opportunity to learn and grow and become a little more like Him each day.

So, to wrap it up…what fuels your fire?  What will get you up in the morning?  May we submit to Him and draw closer to Him beginning now.  He might just fuel your fire within!

Fulfill your calling

Last week, we looked at having faith in the Lord, rather than in ourselves.  Faith in ourselves or earthly things will not get us far.  We should put all our faith in Him.

This week, I want to look at a scripture which gives us some things to consider at people of faith and followers of Jesus Christ.  Initially, you may think that this is only for preachers.  However, this is for all ministers and if you have been called, then you are given a responsibility to minister.

2 Timothy 4:1-5

This scripture begins with a charge…something to do that is important.  This is important to the Lord.  The charge is to PREACH THE WORD! 

You may be thinking that you don't preach and you don't want to be preached to.  But, I challenge you to read on.  There are many important lessons behind this charge.

There is a problem that is coming and Paul is aware of it.  In fact, this is a problem for many in our world today.  The problem is that people only want to hear what is pleasing to them.

In other words, we want our cake and eat it too.  We want to have Jesus but without any strings attached.  We want to follow Him when it is convenient and makes us wealthy.  We want to know Him but don't want to get personally involved…we just want great times.

That isn't how the gospel is presented at all.  We aren't suppose to change the gospel so that people like it better.  The gospel is really about "getting your hands dirty".  It is about doing what God calls us to do and that often means spreading the message and showing love to those we don't associate with.

Often, the gospel is about doing unto the least of these.  It isn't really about us at all.  That in itself is a shift for our culture.  The gospel is about us being obedient to the call and spreading the love of Jesus to everyone.  It is not about what we can get out of it. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we end up doing many, many thankless jobs.  That means that we end up getting our hands dirty and then no one may not even notice.  That's okay!  It isn't about us at all.  If we make it about us, we have taken Jesus out of the equation. 

We are to be watchful.  That means that we need to keep our eyes open.  We need to keep our eyes open to the opportunities right before us.  But, it also means that we need to keep our eyes open to deception.  Don't fall into traps because it sounds good to us.  The gospel is not about easy living and rewards here on earth.

We are to endure.  We will often find that what we do doesn't seem to help anyone or make a difference.  There will be times when we question our call.  We will wonder if we have it right.  But, when adversity comes, hang in there.  Listen to the Lord who is leading and guiding, even in the midst of problems.  Many times, problems in this world do not equate to problems for the Lord.

Finally, do what you are called to do.  Do whatever it is that is your ministry.  I know that many are still looking for their ministry.  Some have felt a leading to do something but are running scared.  Do what you are called to do.  God is with you all the way.

So, MINISTERS (aka people of God), let us run the race that is before us…moving forward for Him…doing what He calls us to do…nothing more…nothing less. 

Faith...Where is it?

Not too long ago, I went through some of the important parts of who we are as Christians and challenged each of us to re-think different parts of Christianity.  We looked at rethinking what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a steward, what it means to worship, what it means to serve.

Today, I want us to really consider what role our faith plays in our lives.  I want to challenge you today to rethink faith.

To begin, let's look at just a few of the places where Jesus either commends for having faith or scolds for lack of faith…

Matthew 8:9-10 – the centurion has great faith

Matthew 8:25-26 – disciples have not enough faith

Matthew 9:21-22, 28-29 – woman's faith is reason she is healed, blind men healed according to their faith

Matthew 14:29-31 – Peter has faith but lets the circumstances take his faith away

Matthew 15:28 – woman's daughter is healed because of her great faith

Matthew 16:7-8 – disciples lack faith in what He is teaching them

Matthew 17:19-20 – Disciples receive a lesson on faith due to their lack

Notice a theme in these verses.  First, the disciples seem to continuously lack faith.  They are the very ones who are walking with Jesus!  They seem Him do incredible things day in and day out.  They experienced His power.  Yet, Jesus reminds them over and over again that they lack faith. 

We also see many times that they are fearful, not fully given over to Him and sometimes just seem to forget Who they are serving and following.  They do lack faith on so many occasions.  Yet, the people Jesus encounters have great faith.  They have the faith that can move mountains, and it does.  People receive healing and their faith is reinforced. 

We often say we have faith, but seem to doubt God can do anything.  We grow discouraged because things aren’t going our way.  We are reminded that just because things are not like we want them, we are to be obedient and have faith that God is in control and can handle anything we encounter.

God is bigger than any problem we face, but it certainly is difficult to remember that when we are in the storm…even though He has brought us through more storms that we can even remember or imagine. 

The people Jesus commended believed in His power despite what others said or did.  They knew that if they could just touch his garment or get His attention or sit at His feet, things would change.  They knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt.  They knew it. 

We forget that we serve that same God…that can do anything.  He may not do it our way, but He can do it!  We come to Him doubting or with strong faith until the storms really kick up.  Then we are ready to throw in the towel and do things our way

That isn't the God we serve.  Our God never fails.  I don't know why things happen no more than you do.  But, I know that if we put our whole faith in Him, things change.  Maybe our situation doesn't change, maybe it is us who changes.  Maybe our situation does change.  Maybe nothing seems to change at first and we have to be diligent about coming before Him.

We also have to be about His work.  How dare we feel like we have faith but aren't obedient.  If God calls us to do something, part of faith is that we do it.  We do it because He gives us the strength and the power to do it.  There isn't anything about us…it is all Him.  But if we aren't obedient, we are showing Him that we lack faith that He really can take care of us.

So, do you find yourselves with the people who had the faith or with the disciples who were lacking?  Where do you stand today?

For our good

I have talked about this several times, but it bears repeating…God is God and we are not...we do not know what His ultimate plan is and why things happen the way they do.  There is nothing wrong with that.  If we knew His plan, we would be on the same level He is on and I don't want to serve a God that I am on the same level with…

My God is mighty and strong…He is the great creator, yet loves you and me individually.

He is also a God that doesn't like sin.  He doesn't want His children to go the wrong way.  He wants good things for His children.  But, when we go our own way and do it the way we want it, we have to be brought back to the right place.  That takes discipline.

Last week, we talked about how God let David know that He knew what had happened and that it wasn't acceptable.  He wanted David to see the mistake he had made and repent.

There were harsh consequences to David's sin.  God wants us to be on the right path and do the right thing.

Sometimes the punishment we seem to be going through may seem unfair or unbearable.  We are always seeing things from our perspective…through our own lens.  And often, what we see as discipline is really not.  It is just all part of a plan and design that we just don't get. 

Let's look at Hebrews 12:11-17 for insight.

When it is discipline, it is important to remember that God wants what is right and sometimes that discipline is painful.

But, the discipline is not just for discipline.  There is a reason for it.  We should learn from it, repent of the sin and become stronger as a result.  We use the big 'sin' word in church but not so much in the world.  Sin is basically when we do something in disobedience or don't do something we should be doing.  Sins have a wide range and a sin is a sin.  We judge the type of sin, but in reality, when we sin, we need to be brought back on the right path.

Discipline is often painful in order to redirect us and lead us on the right path.  What discipline do you remember most when growing up from your parents?  You don't remember the daily redirections…if you did, you wouldn't have had to have them.  You remember the big discipline…the time you had your car taken away (I did)…or the time that you had to do extra chores that took a long time.

You remember what you did and you most likely made a concerted effort not to do that again.  God wants the same for us. 

He wants us to walk upright spiritually and be able to 'hold our heads up high' and to be holy.  We can't do that unless He shows us the way.  When we go our own way, we have to be brought back to the proper place.  Our way will always lead to destruction but His way is holy.

Many times, we don't feel like we should undergo punishment…this is our life and what you do shouldn't affect anyone else.  That just isn't reality.  Reality is that our lives are all intertwined.  The quote that 'no man is an island' is true.  And especially if we are truly living as Christians, we are living in community. 

When we consider that what we do not only affects us but affects many others as well, discipline is even more needed.  God hasn't called us to do what we want, when we want, and just to call on Him when we get in trouble. 

Living as a Christian is a lifestyle.  We do the things we do because of the One we serve…the One who takes care of us and loves us unconditionally.  And yes, we have to be brought back to a right place so that we learn and grow and become more like Him.

Our perspective should be an eternal one…not a temporary one.  If it is, discipline is a way of shaping us into a holy life and inspiring others to do the same.