There is No Neutral
We have a choice as we go through this life: will we live for our story or God's story? From an eternal standpoint its an obvious decision. I once heard it described this way. We can be the main actor in a movie that shows once and everyone forgets as soon as they leave, or we can have a secondary role in the greatest movie ever produced and will be remembered for all eternity. It may sound good to have the name of being the main actor in a movie, but what if the movie is never watched?
We, as people who have embraced the gospel of Jesus, are called to the greatest cause that has ever existed on this planet. This is the original cause. The best cause. We're called to display God's name throughout the earth, for His glory, so that the world can see and know and divert all their pre-existing, but misplaced, worship to the only Being worthy of it: the Creator God. Then, and only then, will the world be satisfied. We're to be crying out with Isaiah to the dissatisfied populace looking for joy in the desert; "come to the waters, come buy and eat. Why do you spend your money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Come delight yourself in abundance." (Is. 55) The gospel is the only cause worth living for.
We are to reflect Christ, who is reflecting the Father, and the world sees the glory of the grace of God through Christ in our lives as we, through the power of the Spirit, radically amputate the petty, selfish worship in our lives and instead live lives of missionary sacrifice that look to the world like our treasure is in heaven and not on the earth. Our goal in life is to have a joy in Christ, (not in the world) that is shaken by no pain, (because He is our Rock in times of trouble) and competed with by no earthly pleasure (because He is the Creator and giver of joy and peace).
So the choice is ours today in 21st century America: will we live for our name and our pursuit of the American Dream? or will we dwell in the world as living representatives of God's glory and for the unending remembrance of His name? In the end we're either promoting God's cause, or the devil's cause.
"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You; for Your name; and Your renown are the desire of our souls." Isaiah 26:8
Listen to the sermon from Sunday 9/21/08
We, as people who have embraced the gospel of Jesus, are called to the greatest cause that has ever existed on this planet. This is the original cause. The best cause. We're called to display God's name throughout the earth, for His glory, so that the world can see and know and divert all their pre-existing, but misplaced, worship to the only Being worthy of it: the Creator God. Then, and only then, will the world be satisfied. We're to be crying out with Isaiah to the dissatisfied populace looking for joy in the desert; "come to the waters, come buy and eat. Why do you spend your money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Come delight yourself in abundance." (Is. 55) The gospel is the only cause worth living for.
We are to reflect Christ, who is reflecting the Father, and the world sees the glory of the grace of God through Christ in our lives as we, through the power of the Spirit, radically amputate the petty, selfish worship in our lives and instead live lives of missionary sacrifice that look to the world like our treasure is in heaven and not on the earth. Our goal in life is to have a joy in Christ, (not in the world) that is shaken by no pain, (because He is our Rock in times of trouble) and competed with by no earthly pleasure (because He is the Creator and giver of joy and peace).
So the choice is ours today in 21st century America: will we live for our name and our pursuit of the American Dream? or will we dwell in the world as living representatives of God's glory and for the unending remembrance of His name? In the end we're either promoting God's cause, or the devil's cause.
"Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth we wait eagerly for You; for Your name; and Your renown are the desire of our souls." Isaiah 26:8
Listen to the sermon from Sunday 9/21/08
posted by copperhill at 9:51 AM
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