Let a man so consider
us,
as servants of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of
God.
Moreover it is
required in
stewards that one be
found
faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:1 --
2
As
ambassadors for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we are His stewards and servants
with the responsibility to be faithful as we handle the mysteries of God. Faithfulness is not a faith in what we are
doing; i.e., teaching Sunday school, or feeding the poor, or doing outdoor
ministry, passing out tracts, etc., while all are good things and should be
done, it is why we are doing what we are doing.
James makes it very clear:
"Thus also faith IE itself, if it does not have worked, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I
have worked.’ Show me your faith
without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2: 17
-- 18). Out of our faith not in the
works themselves, rather our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that our
faithfulness based upon Him and not for us to derive some sort piety. James went further to tell us: "But do you want to know O foolish
man, that faith without works is dead" (James numeral 2:20)? Then James ended this chapter with these
words: "You see then that a man is
justified by works, and not by faith only....
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is
dead also" (James 2: 24; 26).
James was not saying that we are simply justified by our works; rather
he was telling us that our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is what brings forth
works for Him, and not just for an individual(s). Salvation comes simply by faith and that faith is a free gift of
God and our works spring from that faith given to us by God: "For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them"
(Ephesians 2: 8 -- 9). The Corinthian church began to allow an
influx of the wisdom and culture of the world in which they live. Not only invade the thinking of the
Christians in that church, this invasion may cause for them to exercise and
practice the gifts that God gave to them, not corporately necessarily, rather
individually, to be more important than their faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They found that by doing such
things they felt rather pious and very acceptable to God. But, were they? No! We are going to find
out as we study this letter to the Corinthian church that Paul had two address
misuse of the gifts that God so freely gave them. Ask your self this question: am I more interested in doing works
so that I feel acceptable and pious, or, am I doing the works solely from
faithfulness to our Lord and Savior, His principles, His precepts, and His
commandments. Are you working,
for your self, or for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many have gone off into practices that are
not only foolish, they are not being done simply because of a person’s
faith. There seems to be a need to have some
sort of euphoric feeling by what a person is doing to make them feel as though
they are acceptable and God’s sight. If
out of your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ comes the works that are so
necessary to demonstrate your faith in Jesus Christ then you are doing exactly
what God has recorded for us and commanded for us. You have a right to rejoice and be grateful for the gift that you
have that you are now using in His service is acceptable by God. Paul had learned how to be a lowly servant
for Jesus Christ. Paul underwent
scourging, beatings, and being left for dead, all because he was preaching the
good news about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All the trials and persecutions that Paul had to undergo did not
deter him from watch he was and what we are: stewards and servants, and
ambassadors. Think about this: God uses
man and women, that is you and me, to spread gospel to all men and women, and
children, everyone in this world. What
a privilege it is to be in the service of our God, and our Savior Jesus
Christ. And we have one thing that no
one else has so that we are able to do this work: THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLING IN
YOU! We have much to give praise to God
for and to rejoice. The question again
for us is that all are we allowing the Holy Spirit to actually to lead us? Are we being led by the Holy Spirit to look
into the Scriptures, and not by some supposed revelation in your mind, although
God does speak to us by means of the Holy Spirit to lead us into His work to
show us how we are to live in what we are to do for Him. It is when we are only doing things by that
which we believe has just come into our mind and those things that we have come
into our mind not being subjected to Scripture that we will not necessarily be
doing the will of God. Rather we will
be doing things that sound good on the face but in the end they are only in
contradiction and opposition to God.
Brothers
and sisters, take to heed what God has inspired them to record revealing to us
how we are to live in this life and the reason why he has left us here, on this
earth, until He comes, or when we die in our soul goes to heaven. Yes, we are to live our life and enjoy all
that we have in this life, but to do so within the realm and scope of His
commandments. Once again, this will
take courage, to stand firm for our convictions and not to vacillate. As St. Augustine so aptly said: "Love
God and live life!" Prepare now
for your worship on Sunday with your brothers and sisters in setting that day
aside for Him as He so instructed us in the 10 Commandments: "Remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day he is the
Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you
shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant,
nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who was within your
gates. For in six days a LORD made the
heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the
seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20: 8 -- 11). There
is where you are to begin to exercise your faithfulness. Question: Will you do it!
So Samuel said:
"For rebellion
is as a sin
of witchcraft, and stubbornness
is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected
the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from
being king."
1 Samuel 15: 21
Praise God for His faithfulness
Richard L. Crumb
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