Living Like We Belong to God - Part I

I Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

Separation is a theme that starts way back in the very first chapter of Genesis:

Genesis 1:3-4 "And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness."

He separated light from darkness, because he saw that the light was good.

Light is a theme that is found in the book of I John. John uses the contrast of light and darkness to talk about how we should be different from the world. (See I John 1:5-7 and 2:7-11) If you read the entire book of I John, you will discover that one of the themes in it is that we are to be different from the world.

• We are to walk in light and not darkness.
• We are to love and not hate our brothers/sisters.
• We are to cling to the truth and not be led astray by lies.
• We are not to sin, but instead we are to obey God.

It is pretty clear that what seems "normal" to us, is something we should ask God about. We are clearly to be different. We are clearly to live so that people around us know that we are His.

Just as the priests of the Old Testament were held to a high standard, we are now the priests of the New Testament era. We have that high standard. It is true that our sins are paid for by Christ's death on the cross, but that doesn't change who God is or what He expects. His standard of holiness has not changed.

God takes disobedience very seriously, and as members of the "fraternity" of all believers, as New Testament era priests, we need to remember what God's standard is. We need to be diligent in our desire and effort to obey God.

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will."

What does that passage tell us to do?

• Offer your body as a living sacrifice.
  
• Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
• Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
  

So what I am encouraging you to do this week is examine this passage. Is your body a living sacrifice? To me that means your body, but also everything that is "packaged" in your body--your mind, will, emotions, choices, etc. Do you lay it all on the altar?

How does your life conform to the pattern of the world? Are there ways in which you conform that aren't sinful in terms of breaking the ten commandments, but they aren't God's best for you? I probably see this mostly in the area of priorities. Soccer game is a higher priority than church. Baseball practice is more important than spending time in God's word. Hobbies are more important than regular participation in a small group. You get the idea.

Are you being transformed? Is your mind being renewed? Transformation is often slow, but when you (or others) compare yourself to how you were a year ago or five years ago, is there obvious change? There should be! You should think different, look different (and I'm not talking about taking off a few pounds or having more gray hair!), act different, and have different priorities in your life.

Talk to me. What are your thoughts about this idea of being different and "Living Like You Belong to God?" Post a comment!

Knowing Him

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." Philippians 3:7-9 (NIV)

"I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him." Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)

The Apostle Paul wrote passionately of his deep desire to know God and communicated his longing for the church at Philippi to know Him as well. Deeply. Intimately. Closely. In ways that are so amazing that nothing else counts as anything. In fact, he calls everything else "rubbish," "garbage," and "worthless" in comparison to knowing Christ.

Have you ever wondered what "everything else" means? Very simply put, it means "everything else." It means being willing to count everything we value as worthless.

One way we can think about that are the distractions in our lives. What are some of those distractions?

Job
Family
Home
Material Things
Sports
Projects
Computer
Hobbies
Electronic Games
Activities (including things we get our kids involved in)
Body Building
Camping
Traveling
and, yes, even...ministry

The list could go on and on, but those are a few that come to mind.

When I think about distractions, I picture myself standing before the Lord someday. My salvation is secure, but I imagine myself mentally running through my life and noticing all the things I thought were important. The community leadership positions I held. The Little League teams I coached. The awards my kids won on their sports teams. The remodeling I did of our homes. The vacations we took as a family. The sermons I wrote and preached. The new cars I bought. The list goes on and on.

I sincerely believe that on that day, all of that is going to seem sorely insignificant in comparison with knowing God. On that day I will see with clear eyes that all of it is garbage and rubbish in comparison to knowing Him.

My prayer is that all of us see with those clear eyes now so that we will make knowing God our number one priority.

Talk to me. What are your thoughts?