Christ First then Service

2 Corinthians 8:5 – “…and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”

Throughout the world, there are many days that are deliberately set aside to celebrate an event, a person, or even a food item. In America alone, we have a special day for almost everything. We have days like Talk like a Pirate Day on September 19, National Pretzel Day on April 26, Memorial Day on every last Monday of May, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on every third Monday of January. We celebrate tons of holidays, but the truth is after a while, we forget why we celebrate a holiday in the first place. We go through Memorial Day without even taking a few moments to thank God for the people who gave their lives for this country. We go through Veteran’s Day not even taking an opportunity to call a veteran we know in our lives and thank them for their service. We celebrate Easter searching for eggs without a thought of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we go through Christmas buying presents, having parties, singing carols, and spending time with family without even considering the birth of our Lord, for whom the whole event is commemorated. After celebrating these holidays countless of times, we begin to forget why we celebrate the day in the first place.

 
We do this quite often with projects in our live as well. For example, there is a story about a town enclosed by hills. Every week, as the hills eroded, boulders would roll down the hill and come near the town. To prevent the town from being surrounded by massive boulders, the people voted to have different townspeople take turns bringing boulders out of the city every week. Eventually, decades down the road, the hills surrounding the town were completely gone so boulders no longer rolled down to the town, yet the townspeople continued the tradition of sending a townsperson out each week to remove a boulder. Finally, nobody had an idea why they were doing this task, they just found a random rock in town and took it outside of the city each week. They had eventually forgotten the purpose of doing the task.

 
I personally experience this in the field of scientific research. When I first began doing an experiment my supervisor used to ask me why I performed every step, because by knowing why I did each step I would never forget to do it and would understand which were critical steps and which were not. But over time after performing the same experiment over and over, I eventually forgot why I performed certain steps, I just did it because “I had to.” If anyone would have ever asked me why I did it, I would tell them, “I don’t know. I was told I had to.”

 
Sadly, this same exact experience happens in our spiritual lives. So many Christians are inspired to serve the Lord and jump into a ministry, spending countless of hours discipling others and winning others to Christ so that they can bring honor and glory to God. Unfortunately, as they serve, the ministry then becomes more important then God who they perform the ministry for. They begin to neglect their own personal relationship to perform the ministry. They begin to forget to love others in exchange for getting a job done. Martha did this when she was serving Jesus when He came to her house. She went through the hustle and bustle of preparing food and her house for Him, but she forgot that what God really wanted was her attention as Mary her sister gave Him (Luke 10:38-42). When Martha asked Christ to rebuke her sister, Christ answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

 
In our passage from 2 Corinthians 8, Paul told the Corinthian church to give like the church in Macedonia to help their fellow brethren. But as he spoke about the Macedondian church, described a key aspect of their character in verse 5 stating, “…they gave themselves first [bold personally added] to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” The church in Macedonia did not concentrate on their giving of tithes and offerings to help serve the ministry primarily, but instead they first focused on the thing of real importance, giving themselves to the Lord. The Lord does not desire our sacrifices, money, offerings, and service, what He really wants is an obedient heart of service to Him – a heart that is fully given over to Him. “To obey is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22) As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must remember that our job first and foremost is not to a ministry or to people or to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ or even the church, it is to Jesus Christ – the One who we have given our lives to. This does not mean that we neglect the giving, the tithing, and the service, because they are all important, but this means that we must first correct our relationship with Christ then focus on the actions, for the actions will come naturally with the right relationship to God, not the other way around. Always remember Christ first then service.

Why Serve the Lord? You Can’t Help It. You are Who You are!

Personal Note:  I apologize for not posting for almost a week.  I have just been struggling with writing, but hopefully, we will be getting back on track.  Keep pushing on for Christ.

1 Peter 1:22-23 – “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God…”
Have you ever heard somebody give the excuse, “I can’t help it. It’s just who I am,” when he answers your question of “Why did you do that?” It is actually a pretty common answer that is given by teenagers when questioned by their parents as to why they had a problem at school. You might have even given this answer a few times in your life. In most cases where this excuse is used, the guilty person is usually just trying to get through an awkward situation without having to think or answer the question truthfully. Instead, he just blames it on genetics. But in a select few cases where a person is usually talking about an unusual characteristic about himself (not necessarily in a “Get in Trouble’ situtation), this statement is actually true. Some people just can’t help certain characteristics of themselves coming out – It is just who they are.
For example, if a person owned a wolf as a pet, just like in Call of the Wild by Jack London, and trained it to be obedient to all his commands, to never bite anyone, and to patiently stay calm instead of instinctively hunt and fight, if that master decided to leave it in the woods, the wolf would eventually pick up most of its wolf-like instincts once again. It may retain some of the training, but the wolf would still be a wolf and would act like it. Another more graphic example is with the Siegfried and Roy magic act at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. These men Siegfried and Roy are famous for taming these beautiful white tigers that perform in their magic shows. A few years ago though, one of the tigers actually mauled Roy. Although they had trained the tiger for years to become “domestic,” the tiger still retained some of its natural insticts and attacked the magician. It couldn’t help it; the tiger just did what tigers do.
Now, certainly human beings can have much more control over our impulses than animals, yet just like these animals, if a characteristic is truly part of who we are, it cannot help but show in our lives. Although a pauper may dress like a prince, the actions of the pauper will display that he is a pauper. This idea is spiritually true as well.
In 1 Peter 1:22-23, Peter gave the believers another reason to live obedient righteous lives for Christ, lives that represented what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, lives that were pure and full of love. The reason he gave was simple – live like a disciple of Jesus Christ because you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. He reminded the believers that they were born again, meaning that they had put away the old sinful ways of the flesh that lead to death and had been raised into the new life in Christ that will never perish. He simply tells them that used to be of perishable seed and have now been born to seed imperishable. Peter understood that a person who has been truly changed by Christ cannot help but begin to reflect the characteristics of Christ; it just flows out naturally, just like a dog will be a dog and a tiger a tiger. I am almost certain that when he wrote this letter he must have thought about what Christ spoke of when warning about false teachers in that they would know them by their fruit. A thistle cannot produces grapes, likewise a vine cannot produce thistles. Each produces its own fruit. Therefore, a person who has been born again to imperishable seed can no longer live to the flesh but begins to show the fruit of the Spirit in his life (love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc. – Galatians 5:22-23). In the same manner, a person who is an unbeliever may show some fruit that looks spiritual but in the end account for nothing without the blood of Jesus Christ changing him from the inside out. He becomes nothing but a dirty cup that is beautiful only on the outside.
You are what you are. If you say you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, then His fruit should be produced through you, for He lives in your heart. You should not need any other reason to live for Christ if you call yourself a disciple – you can’t help it, it’s just who you are.

Why Serve the Lord? Because It is a Witness

I Peter 2:12, 15 – “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation…For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”
When I was in high school, one of my favorite shows on TV was Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The show was basically a reflection of what you would find in a Ripley’s Museum (although I have never been in one), in that, for one whole hour, the host introduced outrageous things that one could barely believe was true. For example, once it showed a person painting masterpieces on a grain of rice. Another time it showed a person who ate cockaroaches all the time, which doesn’t sound too surprising until you consider that he ate them live. Other weird things that they showed included a guy who could pull a truck with his eyelid and a person who could have a snake crawl through his mouth and nostrils at the same time. At the end of every show the host would then say something along the lines of “Believe It or Not,” to ask the viewers to consider if they thought what they saw was real or not. After seeing it on the show, I tended to believe what I saw, but in many cases, we don’t actually believe what we see. Due to the bombardment of ads we receive everyday from billboards, TV, radio, and even social media, we have become quick to denounce and even mock claims made about a product. Unless, we have tested the product for ourselves, we just automatically assume that the product being sold is not up to par to how the ad described it. In a sad way, this way of thinking is very similar to how unbelievers think about Christians.
Today, many unbelievers tend to discount who Christians say they are, because they have met many hypocrites. They have found that too many Christians say that they have Christ’s love yet display no love for their neighbor. They have found that too many Christians that say that they are righteous, holy, and pure yet go out filling their hearts with things that involve sexual immorality though they might not actually be participating in it. Because of these hypocritical actions, we give unbelievers more and more opportunities to mock Christianity, to mock what Christ has done in our lives. Sadly, this incorrect living has been going on even since the beginning of the church, which is why Peter felt prompted to tell the believers in our passage today that one fo the reasons they should live holy and righteous lives is so that they can put those unbelieving evildoers and mockers to silence for their foolish talk through their Christian example.
In 1 Peter 2:12, Peter tells the believers that one reason why they should live holy and righteous lives is so that they may be witnesses to the Gentiles. The verse specifically states, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” The verse consists of two sections, one that describes how a Christian should keep his conduct honorable and one that describes the results of a Christian who keeps his conduct honorable. As Christians, our conduct must be kept honorable, which in the Greek actually means “beautiful.” So our conduct is not only supposed to be righteous, pure, and holy, but also beautiful and attractive towards unbelievers. Now, this may sound slightly contradictory, because it is difficult to please both sides, but in a way this is actually possible, for the Bible speaks of at leasts two people who grew in favor with both God and man, Jesus Christ and Samuel. So, how does this look like in real life? First, one must be right with God, meaning that a person’s life and conduct must match what is taught in God’s Word. Second, one must be right with man, meaning that although he lives according to God’s principles, he should never act in a way that is judgmental or condescending. For example, Jesus Christ lived without sin, yet He never looked down upon those who were considered sinners of that day whether they be prostitutes or tax collectors. He grew in favor with both God and man as He grew up. A life that is lived out in a manner that is completely sold out to God is usually a life that will draw unbelievers to it, for it is a life that is beautifullly sacrificed for the King. The second part of this verse speaks of the results of a Christian’s honorable conduct, which is that in the end of time, when Christ returns, those who are evildoers who spoke against you will glorify God. This result may not sound like much, since its obvious that all people in the end of days will come to declare Jesus Christ as Lord, but here it states that they will glorify God, which is even more than just the declaration of Christ as Lord but the praising of Christ as Lord. This means that these evildoers have most likely become believers in that they are not just doing it because they have to but now doing it because they want to. Although they may mock at the start, unbelievers will come to realize the truth of the Gospel in your life and respect what Christ has done in you and many may even become believers and disciples as well. This is the result of a Christian living a holy and righteous life – unbelievers come to see and know Christ through your good conduct.
Why should we continue to live for Christ as disciples of His?  Because our lives are a living example and advertisement of what Christ has done in you. Your life will become the witness that shifts mocking into praise, pride into humility, and ridicule into worship. We must live out holy and righteous lives because we are witnesses to unbelievers.

The Cost of Discipleship

Luke 14:25-35 – “Now great crowds accompanied Him [Jesus], and He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a  foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.”  Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.  So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.  Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?  it is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile.  It is thrown away.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'”  

Take a piece of paper right now and write down the three most precious things in your life.  They do not need to be in a specific order.  They do not need to be material objects although they can be.  They just have to be the three things you treasure the most in this life.  The three things that if you could only possess three things it would be those things.  If you were Gollum from Lord of the Rings, you might write down “The One Ring to Rule Them All.”  If you were Sherlock Holmes, you might write down your best friend Watson.  If you were in love, you might write the person you are in love with.  If you were Lebron James, you might write down your only NBA championship ring.  Now, that you have written down your list, which one of these items would you be willing to give up?  Could you give up any of them?  Would you be willing to give this up for Jesus Christ, even if you got nothing else in return?  Consider these questions as you read the rest of this devotional.  Today, I am asking you to count the cost of discipleship.  Today, I am asking you to reconsider and redecide whether you truly want to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout the Bible, God has made clear that He is not willing to share His position of first place in the hearts of His followers.  In Exodus 20:5, He states, “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God…”  In Isaiah 42:8, He states, “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.”  In Deuteronomy 6:13-15, it states, “It is the LORD your God you shall fear.  Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear.  You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you — for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God — lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and He destroy you from off the face of the earth.”  These are only a few of the verses that speak directly to this issue.  We also see it implied throughout other passages in the Word, such as, in Genesis, where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac to test whether Abraham’s devotion was fully given to God or to his son.  Our God did not change from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and we see this same demand given to the disiciples of Jesus Christ here in our passage today in Luke 14:25-35 – “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own ilfe, he cannot be my disciple.”

A disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who is not only a student of the principles that Christ taught but an adherent, meaning a follower, a person who will stick to and allow the Lord to be King over his life.  Just as with anything else in life, Jesus Christ asked the large crowd following Him at the moment to count the cost.  He reminded them that if they were building a house, before they would even start laying the foundation of the house, they would count how much it cost lest they leave the project unfinished.  He reminded them that if they were going to war against another that they would consider if they could win in the first place, because if they could not, they would surrender.  So why would they not consider the cost of following Him?  They needed to count the cost,  “Everything.  If you are to follow Me, it will cost you everything.”

I am currently at a stage in my life where I am considering what I want to do with the rest of my life.  Yes, it is true that I probably should have made that decision quite a whiles ago, but I am seriously contemplating the issue now.  As I think about this question, I look into every career option counting the costs and benefits of each career.  If I were to get at PhD in a biological science alone, I would have to spend almost six years of my life performing research with a minimal stipend for living.  Then, I would spend the next six years after obtaining the PhD with a “limbo” position called a post-doc, where I would be working under someone for a barely liveable salary.  Finally, I would be able to have a professor position at a university, where I would struggle year after year to obtain grant money to continue research and pay my salary.  But throughout all of this, I might discover something that will put me in the history books, like Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine or Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine.  The benefit does not seem to outweigh the cost.  If I were to get a MD degree and become a doctor, I would possibly end up making a huge income after eight years of schooling, but I  would come out of school with piles of debt that extend for miles high.  It definitely has a huge cost, but the benefit might be just as great.  I am currently doing this with every single career option that I am considering – something that I am certain that most of you have also done with big decisions in your life.  The funny thing is that most of us have not counted the cost for discipleship.  We have taken the choice to follow Christ lightly and have not considered the cost, making our witness and testimony in reality fairly weak.  He asked for everything, are you willing to give it all for Him?  From this point forward, we will do three things:  1)  We will consider the cost of following Christ, 2)  We will consider the benefit of following Christ, and 3)  We will decide whether we will follow Christ or not.

The first thing that we will consider is the cost of following Christ, which has already been stated over and over – Everything.  Can you give up everything for Christ?  Can you take all three things on that list and lay them on the sacrificial altar to and for Him?  The reason I bring this question up to you today is because this is the same exact question that the Lord has been asking me lately – “Are you willing to give this up for me?”  For my list of three things, I would write my faith, my parents, and the rest of my family.  When I think about my faith, I know that the Lord does not necessarily need to ask me to give that up, because my faith is in Him.  But am I willing to give up my traditions and ideas of what the Christian faith should be like and follow His commands and His rules though it may not be according to what I originalyl thought?  Yes, I believe I am willing to.  When I think about the rest of my family, I feel like if He told me to leave them all and go and serve Him, I might be able to do that, since I already pulled off a year away on the other side of the country.  But when  it comes to my parents, I have to pause and reconsider the cost.

Just three days ago, I experienced one of the most horrific experiences in my life.  I can easily say that I have never had a more difficult experience than that.  Thursday night, around midnight, my dad and I had just finished watching Hoosiers on television.  He had stepped up and went to the bathroom before heading to bed, while I waited for the end credits to roll up on the screen.  Suddenly, I heard a huge thump coming from the bathroom.  I figured that my dad had dropped something so I headed over there to see if he needed help picking something up, when my eyes saw the one thing I feared the most in life.  I saw my dad on the floor not responding and unconscious.  I had never understood before that time what it was like to have one’s heart stop and one’s breath taken away but I understood right then and there.  As I failed to wake him for the next five-ten minutes, I had thought I had lost my father.  I cannot describe the feelings and thoughts that were rushing through my mind at that moment.  The only thought that really stuck was “Please Lord, You can’t have him.  I’m not ready to lose him yet.”  Thankfully, he regained consciousness and is now healing from the ordeal, but this incident has given me the opportunity to reconsider the cost of discipleship.  Was I willing to give up my dad to God’s will?  Would I be willing to give up my mom to God’s will?  Could I hate my father, my mother, my future wife and children, and even my life for Christ?  At that moment, the answer was clear – “NO!  No, I could not.”  Then, I could not be His disciple, for the cost is everything.  I could not like Keith Green said, “Pledge my life to heaven for the Gospel.”  I could not pay the cost.

I thought about this again tonight as I lay by my father’s side, “Am I willing to give him up for Christ?”  The truth is the decision came long and hard, but my answer finally came to a Yes, but not because I was ready to give him up, not because I felt like I could, but because I knew that when the time came, Christ would make me ready to handle the loss, all I had to be was willing to allow Him to have it.  Take a look at your list of three items.  Can you seriously give these up for Jesus Christ?  He asks that you hate all of these things in comparison to your love for Him.  Can you love Him that much?  Can you pay the cost?  You might not be ready to but are you willing to?

Now, like in every decision, you do not only count the cost, you must weigh the benefits, for sometimes, when the cost is high, it may be all worth it for the benefit that you will gain.  What do you get for giving up everything to the LORD?  The answer is just as short as the answer for the cost – “Christ.”  This is who you get for your giving up everything.  You get Jesus Christ.  Surprised?  I know.  So many people today teach that if you follow Jesus Christ, you will receive tons of blessings in this life.  There is this idea that is going around that “If you are good, your life will be good in an earthly sense.”  Look how Christ follows up in vs. 27, after telling the people that they needed to give up everything for Him, He tells them what they have to pick up – their own cross.  That does not sound anything like the prosperity preaching we hear today.  In exchange for the heavy cost of everything, you get a cross and the opportunity to follow Christ.  Is that worth it to you?  Are you willing to give up everything to have Jesus Christ and Him alone.  Yes, of course, Christ promises that you will have a home in heave, so you will be getting that.  Yes, of course, Christ promised that you get to partake in His glory.  But these are all just added things and to tell you the truth, these are given to everyone who chooses to make Christ Savior and Lord.  You do not need to be a disciple to have these things, you just need to be saved.  If you are to become a disciple what you are guaranteed is Christ and Him alone.  I want you to take a moment and consider if God took all these benefits away – no eternal life, no home in heaven, no promise of any of that.  If all He was to give you was Himself and freedom from sin and guaranteed persecution and difficulty, would you still give it all up for Him?  This is what He demands of each and every one of us.  Is Christ enough for you?  He is the benefit of discipleship.  (In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus also states that the person who gives everything up for His sake and the Gospels will receive a hundredfold in return, as well as, eternal life, but that will also come with persecution.)

Now knowing the cost of discipleship (EVERYTHING) and the benefit of discipleship (CHRIST), you can make an informed decision as to whether you still want to be His disciple.  In vs. 33, Christ states, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”  He is asking you today at this exact moment, what is your decision?  Will you give up everything to have Him?  I have been careful not to write “just Him” because you are not getting something small and insignificant, you are receiving the Lord of the Universe as your own personal Lord.  You are having the Ruler of the Universe as your own personal Guide.  You are receving the Prince of Peace as the Peacemaker of your heart.  You are receiving a great benefit, though the cost may be very high.  Christ asked the great crowds that followed Him that day, whether they were willing to pay the cost, and He is asking you today the same question.  Are you willing to pay that cost?  If not, you calling yourself a Christian is as good as salt that no longer has the salty taste – useless and only for throwing into a pile of manure.  But if you are willing to, then you can become a great disciple of Christ. Make the choice today.  You never know when your life will be over.  My dad’s accident happened suddenly and who knows how long your life will be?  You can finish reading this blog and just stop dead in your tracks right after.  You must make the decision today.  You must listen to today.  Can you give it all up for Him or not?  This is the Cost – Everything.  This is the Benefit – Christ.  This is the choice – Discipleship.

Why Serve the Lord? For We Have His Family Name

1 Peter 1:15-16 – “…But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.'”
In many different cultures, a person’s family name (last name) is extremely important, in that, whenever a person carrying that name does something it is not only associated with that person but his whole family. If the man did something of honor, his family would receive praise; but if the man committed a heinous crime, his family would receive the blame. Due to the value of the family name in these cultures, children are taught at a very young age to live up to the family values so that no disgrace would fall upon the family. Disney got this right when they depicted the family’s concern for their reputation in the movie Mulan. Due to my Chinese roots, I was taught from childhood to watch my actions so that it would reflect well on my family. Because of this upbringing, I easily understood the concept of protecting the name of Christ when I became a Christian.
When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are adopted into God’s family, meaning that you have basicallly obtained Christ’s family name. This is why people who have made the decision to follow Christ are called Christians – Christ followers. Since we now carry His family name, it is our obligation to live up to the characteristics associated with that name. For example, Christ’s name is associated with love; therefore, love should be outpouring from our hearts. Not a love that is of human understanding but agape unconditional love. Christ’s name is also associated with justice, meaning that the decisions we make in our life should be just decisions. And most certainly, Christ’s name is associated with holiness. The word holy means “to be separated,” and in the context of Scripture it almost always means to be set apart away from sin and devoted to God. For example, whenever in the Old Testament when a person burnt a sacrifice on the altar in the Tabernacle, what was burnt was considered holy, for it was set apart for God. One of the key reasons why we need to live just and holy lives is because our Heavenly Father is holy, and we are carrying His name – we are associated with holiness. For a Christian to not live a holy life is like a dog not knowing how to fetch. It should be so natural that if it doesn’t happen one should be surprised.
In addition, we must remember that since we carry the name of Christ, we are also adding associations with the name Christian. If we fail to live holy lives and instead live according to the flesh, committing heinous sins, then from that point forwad, people will associate that sin with Christians. It has already happened with the word hypocrite. Due to the disobedient actions of a few Christians, the current way people think of Christians is hypocrites. Would we like immoral, promiscuous, short-tempered associated with our God? Of course not, so why would we allow that to be in our lives, we who bear the name of Christ?
Be ye holy, for your God is holy.