Pastor Leon Seaton

For, For, or With

A man died and met St. Peter at the gate to heaven. When St. Peter looked through the Book of Life he could not find a reason to let the man in. Finally Peter said, “Can you give me an example of a good deed you did?”

“Yes,” the man replied. One time I saw an older man being accosted by a group of young thugs. I stopped my car, grabbed a tire iron and started working on them. I told them to get lost and never bother old people again.”

St. Peter replied, “That’s pretty impressive, but I can’t find it in your record book. How long ago did you do that brave deed?”

“Oh, about 2 minutes ago,” the man replied.

You have to appreciate the joke, but the truth is, our good works, no matter how awesome, sincere or worthy of admiration they may be do not save us.
 

Ephesians 2:8, 9 - “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.”

That being said, we do have responsibilities as Christians. The next verse says, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Attitude is everything when we do the work God calls us to do.

Someone has said that there are three kinds of workers. For example, when a piano is to be moved, the first kind gets behind and pushes, the second pulls and guides, and the third grabs the piano stool. 

We can either work:

For God

With God

The immature person believes that God works for us.

John 15:9-17 -  “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  ¹My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love each other.”

The year was 1990. The peritoneal dialysis nurses had resigned. No one else in the hospital wanted the job because the nurses had to take call – and got called back a lot. It was the only clinic position open – and my doctor told me that I could not do floor duty any more, so I applied.

The truth was, I knew nothing about peritoneal dialysis – I was hired because of my willing spirit. At that time the job called for three nurses. The other two nurses started the week after I began. They were as ignorant about peritoneal dialysis as I was; this apparently did not bother them, it was obvious that they just wanted a pay check.

Every morning they arrived exactly at 8 o’clock. Then they put on their scrub suits, fixed their hair, did their makeup, and ate breakfast. After balancing their checkbooks and chatting for a while, they were ready to start working. At the end of the day they moved the clock up 5 – 10 minutes so they could leave early.

Because they were tenured employees it took awhile, but eventually they found themselves looking for new jobs – with a better attitude, I might add!

Perhaps you know people like that… they are saved, but when it comes to doing God’s work they are more like casual observers than soldiers in the Lord’s army. They frequently absent themselves from the Lord’s House, they seldom read the Bible, and they tip God rather than tithe.

I. Working for God

This means that He gives us an assignment and we do it. No particular relationship with God is required. Many people believe that they are saved by the good works that they do – the way they help their family, the fact that they provide well for their loved ones – or do not cheat on their wife, husband or taxes.

Those deeds are good measures of our moral strength, but the acts do not save us.

The wife or mother that cooks a meal then slams it on the table with a resentful, “There it is, now eat it!” has not fulfilled scripture! She provides more indigestion than she does nutrition.

Jesus may have had this in mind when He inspired Paul to say that God loves a cheerful giver.  (2 Corinthians 9:7)

When we merely work for God we miss the true joy and strength of a personal relationship with Him.

II. God Works for Us

Thinking that God works for us leads to disappointment as well.

Some people have very little interest in Jesus, the Bible, or the church until they have a crisis. Then they run to God with all of their energy – and fear. If they feel guilty for their past neglect they make God great promises. However, they are often disappointed because God may not respond instantly.

Recently a man said that when he was worried about things he would ask his grandmother, “When is God going to answer my prayer?” She would respond, “Honey, don’t worry. God always answers prayer - usually about ten minutes before it is too late.”

Jonah was in this position. He was a prophet of God. However, he was also a bigot. He had absolutely no interest in the salvation of God’s enemies. When God told him to go to Nineveh, he took a ship to Tarshish. (At that time they people believed that God only lived in the Holy Land.) (Like today’s denominations that think they are the only way to God.)

Jonah’s rebellion was not a problem for God. He prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah – then He sent a storm to the ocean. The sailors did their best to save Jonah, but eventually tossed him overboard. The fish swallowed him.

Now, what would you do? Jonah repented! When he went to Nineveh, he preached the gospel and the people repented… Jonah complained.

III. Work with God

Psalm 100:2-5 states, “Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.

To work with God means relationship, it means friendship.

John 15:13-15 - “Greater love has no one than this…that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you.”

James 2:23, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's friend.”

To believe God means to believe what He says – and then do it. Jesus is both fFiend and God. We need to be careful lest we become so familiar with God that we disregard His commands.

You have to love the story of Gideon. He was hiding in a wooded ravine threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites when the angel of the Lord showed up and said, “Hello, mighty man of valor!”  “Who, me?” responded Gideon. God gave Gideon a daring plan, which he fulfilled, even though he had a lot of questions. (Judges 6)

Adam and Eve started out with a beautiful relationship with God. Every evening God came and spent time with them in the Garden of Eden. Things changed when they sinned. They hid from God, and they were tossed out of the Garden because of that sin.

You may feel separated from God because of your sin. This morning He is asking to restore that relationship through Jesus Christ.

Enoch was such a man of God that God just took him on to heaven without him having to die. Genesis 5:24, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.”

Elijah was a great man of God. Even though he grew weary and felt sorry for himself a couple of times, he accomplished the work that God called him to do. He, too, went to heaven without going through death.

Those two men were special cases, so it is a good chance that we will die before leaving this world – unless the rapture takes place first. But that is another message!

We have a friend in God.

The question is, does God have a friend in us? Charles Colson tells the story of how soon after being released from prison; he was the guest speaker at George Washington University. He was speaking to a very hostile crowd in Washington, DC. Questions were being thrown at him rapid-fire, and the crowd was becoming increasingly angry.  One student stood up and referred to a vicious criticism that Henry Kissinger had leveled at Richard Nixon. Then he asked Chuck Colson this question: "Do you agree with this criticism?" Chuck Colson said as he scanned the room, he could tell every ear was listening and every eye was watching to see what he would say.

He took a deep breath, set his jaw, looked straight into the crowd and said, "We all know Mr. Nixon's negative qualities. He's been dissected in the press like nobody in history. I could tell you his good points, but I don't believe I could persuade you to accept them. But what it comes down to is, No, I don't go along with Henry Kissinger's comments. Mr. Nixon is my friend, and I don't turn my back on my friends."

Colson said for an instant he thought the roof would cave in, and it did, but not like he expected. After a moment of silence, the students stood up and gave him a prolonged standing ovation. Why? Because the crowd appreciated his loyalty to his friend. (Found at www.esermons.com)

Rosalie Carter wrote a poem once, entitled, “Only God Gives a Friend.”

I think that God will never send
a gift so precious as a friend;
A friend who always understands
and fills each need as it demands.
Whose loyalty will stand the test
when skies are bright or overcast;
Who sees the faults that merit blame
but keeps on loving just the same.
Who does far more than creeds could do
to make us good, to make us true;
Earth's gifts a sweet contentment lend
but only God can give a friend.

Yes, only God can give that kind of friend and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

Does Jesus have that kind of friend in me? That is the big question for today!

February 15, 2009