Simplify to Glorify!

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and pesuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:4,5

The apostle Paul knew the key to seeing the power of God move in him and through him. He understood that if he depended on himself or had any inclination to look good before men, God would not manifest His power through him. In the spirit of true humility, the apostle lived a life that depended on God to glorify God. Paul followed Christ's example of becoming nothing so that God would be glorified (Phil. 2:6-11).

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8,9

The manifestation of God's power in the believer's life is by grace so that no man can boast. As long as we think it is because of our own righteousness or our own abilities that God will move in power, we will hinder God's desire to manifest His power for His glory.

"But (the Lord) said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

The key to demonstrating Christ's power in our lives is weakness - complete dependency on God to glorify Him! Pride depends on self to look good before man. Humility depends on God so that He is glorified.

God desires that we simplify to glorify - that we strip ourselves of all that depends on self and everything that we could boast in for our own glory instead of depending completely on God to glorify Him.

"The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, 'Anyone who tembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.'" Judges 7:2,3

God simplified to glorify - He caused Gideon to strip down his army of 32000 men to 300 men to fight against Israel's enemies -

"The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore." (Judges 7:12)!

God demonstrated His power by using man's weakness to glorify Himself. Israel became weak so that she could become strong. She humbled herself by depending completely on God so that He would be glorified through her!

Having understood God's will for us to depend completely on Him so that He will be glorified, I believe we, the Church, need to ask ourselves some honest questions. For example,

• Is it more important to us that we have an attractive, polished event on a Sunday or that people encounter the presence and power of God? Clearly we can have both but what is most important to us?
• If we stripped away the cool venue, the cool music and the fun sermon, what would be left? Could it be we have replaced the fire of God for His sake with a cool meeting for our sake?
• Is what we pray and how we pray, when praying for one another, more important than seeing God touch the other person's life? 
• Is how we worship on a Sunday more important than making room to encounter God?
• Is how we preach more important than making sure we come with a demonstration of God's wisdom and power? Are we more concerned about being acceptable than accurate; being popular than powerful?
• Do we compromise the truth in the name of love for our sake or do we speak the truth in love for God's sake?

I believe it is time for the Church to simplify to glorify. It is time to take a serious look at how much we are doing in our own strength and for our own glory. It is time to strip away everything that depends on self and that is done for our own glory. It is time to depend fully on God so that He will be glorified. It is time for people to experience the presence and power of God in our meetings so they "will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" (1 Corinthians 14:25).

Church, let us simplify to glorify!

Israel and the Church

"His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit." Ephesians 2:17,18

The Glory of the Church

God's desire is for both Jew and Gentile to be reconciled to Him. His eternal purpose, which He accomplished in Christ, was to enable Jew and Gentile through faith in Christ, to be gathered to Him when Jesus comes again  (Eph. 3:11; 2 Thess. 2:1). The Church, made up of Jewish and Gentile believers is the revelation of God's wisdom and the demonstration of the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7; 3:10). The Bible is clear that when Christ returns, "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed" (2 Thess. 1:8-10). Christ is the hope of glory and it is He who indwells the community of believers, His Body the Church. Apart from Christ there is no hope of glory. This applies to both Jew and Gentile. 

Has God rejected Israel?

Christ came first for Israel and then for the Gentiles (Rom. 1:16). God says of Israel, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people" (Rom. 10:21). However, God has not rejected His people but has made provision for them through Christ to come back to Him. The apostle Paul testifies to God's patience with Israel when he declares that even though he was an Israelite himself, God rescued him through faith in His Son (Romans 11:1)!

Is God gathering Israel?

Many people believe that God is gathering the Jewish people to the land promised to Abraham so that at some point in the future God will pour out His Spirit upon Israel and all Israel will be saved. However, this is a view that completely disregards the purpose for which Christ came. It assumes that God will rescue His chosen people apart from faith in Christ. God apparently has a special plan for Israel that is different to His plan for the Church. So while the Church is to go out from Jerusalem and be dispersed among the nations to make disciples of all people (Matt.28:18-20; Acts 1:8), God is gathering the Jews to Israel for His special plan for them. 

The truth is that God poured out His Spirit at Pentecost and Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, explained that this outpouring was the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Acts 2:16-21). The Jewish people in Jerusalem were urged to believe in Jesus, to repent and be baptised. This was God's way to restore His chosen people to Himself and to create in Christ one new man, the Church. Instead of building a temple of stone, God chose to build a dwelling of living stones, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church of Christ. The Church is looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth when Christ comes forth from Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:18-29). 

The Church's responsibility toward Israel

It is because of Israel that salvation has come to the Gentiles (John 4:22; Rom. 11:11-24). Although there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, we owe our "spiritual blessings" to the Jewish people and therefore we should be praying for their salvation as we would for a family member. The Church's responsibility toward Israel is to share with them the Good News of reconciliation to God through Christ. That is what we are called to do as ambassadors of Christ (Rom. 15:27; 2 Cor. 5:18-20). We should not comfort them in their disobedience and obstinacy but urge them to believe, repent and be baptised into Christ. Let us pray fervently for the veil to be removed from their hearts, "because only in Christ is it taken away" (2 Cor. 3:14,15).

Prayer for Israel

Pray for opportunities to witness to Jewish people

Pray for the veil to be removed in the hearts of the Jewish people

Pray for the Church to have a burden for Jew and Gentile alike to be saved

Pray for workers to be sent to share the Good News in Israel and the nations

Pray for the truth to be revealed in the Church concerning God's heart for Israel

Pray for the Prince of Peace to be revealed in Jerusalem and in Israel   

For more reading on this subject I recommend the following article by Adrian Birks: http://thinktheology.co.uk/papers/article/israel-the-church

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Romans 10:1-4

Simplify to Glorify!

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." Psalm 126:5,6

Sacrificial Obedience

Those who wholeheartedly live for God and His Kingdom willingly say "no" to this world and "yes" to God. 

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead at his reward." Hebrews 11:24-26

Moses said "no" to his worldly status and wealth and "yes" to Christ and His purposes because Moses' focus was not on earthly and temporary things but on the heavenly and eternal fruit that sacrifice would bring.

Jesus sowed His life willingly because He was looking ahead. He saw the joy of fruitfulness that His sacrificial sowing would bring!

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb. 12:2 (emphasis mine)

True sacrifice is costly. Jesus sowed His life with tears to return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with Him! We read in the letter to the Hebrews that, 

"During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered" (Heb. 5:7,8).

The suffering spoken of here is not the result of disobedience but the consequence of sacrificial obedience for the sake of God. Jesus chose to lay down His life to please the Father, to benefit others and for the joy of fruitfulness set before Him.

When we say "no" to the things of this world, we make room for God. It costs us and we sow Kingdom seed with tears but we do it because the reward will be far greater than anything this world can offer. 

Living for eternity may bring temporary tears 

but it brings eternal joy!

Sacrifice makes room for God!

Sacrificial obedience is motivated by a desire to see God's Kingdom established on earth as it is in Heaven. God even challenges His people to test Him in this! In Malachi 3:10 - 12, the Lord commands His people to bring the whole tithe to the storehouse so that God can throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not have enough room for it!

For many people tithing is costly. Giving a tenth of one's income can mean saying "no" to many things in this world. However, even if the tithe is sown in tears, it will relase the abundance of heaven! The tithe, sown in sacrificial obedience with tears will bring a harvest with joy!

Sadly many misappropriate these verses and try to coerce God to bless them by giving their tithe. However, those who sacrifice to release God's Kingdom to please the Father, to benefit others and to glorify God are those who will reap a harvest with joy!

Make room for the King!

The Lord is calling His people to make room for Him. The Father wants to manifest His presence, His power and His Kingdom in and through our lives but He needs space. Making room for God means there are some things we enjoy in life that we will need to say "no" to so that His Kingdom can come. God's purpose in getting His chiildren to make room for Him is not to be a spoil sport or for us to be miserable! He wants His people to live for the sake of eternity and to be filled with "inexpressible joy" as we sow our lives sacrificially and receive the abundance of heaven for His glory.  

What is God calling you to say "no" to so that He can manifest His Kingdom in and through your life? How can you simplify your life to live for God? How can you simplify your life to glorify God? Child of God:  

Simplify to Glorify!

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