"Ministers’ Minute"
Volume I Number 4
ARM
INTERESTING FACT! ARM's
Bible Outreach sent 196 cases of Bibles to institutions in
March of 2002. In the last 15
months, ARM has
sent 4,128 cases of Bibles to institutions. That's about 140,000 Bibles!
DEALING WITH THE WORLDLY CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURE: John 21:15-17; Rev. 2:2-5; Cor. 3:1-3 INTRO: (Read John
21:15-17.) Say, if the Lord came to your house and sat down to visit with
you, what do you think he'd say? Perhaps He would ask, "Do you love
me?". Peter had denied even knowing Jesus at the time of the
crucifixion, and his fellowship with Christ was damaged by his sin. After His
resurrection, Jesus joined His disciples for breakfast. After breakfast, He
asked Peter the question, "Do you love Me?" three times. Do you know what He was
doing? He was reinstating Peter after his three failures. Three denials, three
questions. Jesus brought Peter back in line by bringing him back to the
basic issue: "Do you love Me?". He wanted Peter to realize that DEVOTION comes
before DUTY. (Read Revelation 2:2-5.) Notice that when Jesus looked at the Ephesian church, He saw a
lot of good things: good, hard, continuing work; an abhorrence of wickedness;
faithfulness in hard times; and sound doctrine. But they didn't score so well in one particular area: They had
left their first love, Who is Christ. The DUTY that was the result of
DEVOTION had taken the place of DEVOTION! Now, three out of four isn't bad. They had good deeds, they
served God with endurance, and they were sound in doctrine. They just needed to
work harder on the love thing. But Jesus explained that none of these things mattered if they
didn't love Him first and foremost. He had taught sometime earlier that we are
to love Him more than we love anything or anybody else. I think today's church needs a warning. This church needs
a warning. We need to be reminded that none of what we do -- none of our
ministry, none of our efforts -- mean anything if we are not doing out of our
love for Christ. I suspect that many of us are serving because somebody's got to
do it, or because we love children, or because we like to help people, or
because we feel guilty not serving. Jesus is saying, "Without your love for Me
being what it ought to be, nothing else you do really matters." He never
intended DUTY to replace DEVOTION. Now, I realize that our love will waver from time to time. And
it'll never be all that it ought to be. But like Peter and the Ephesian church,
we've got to recognize when we've left our first love, and repent and come
back. A love relationship is always a struggle. We struggle to keep
love alive. We struggle to be faithful. Many of us have love crises with
God from time to time. Our priorities get messed up. We become self-centered. We
become DUTY-oriented, instead of DEVOTION-oriented. We have a problem with
CARNALITY or WORLDLINESS, which is a spiritual state in which a born-again
believer knowlingly and persistently lives to please and serve self rather than
Christ. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Paul talks about worldly Christians.
(Read 1 Cor. 3:1-3.) Please note what he says... First, I. A WORLDLY CHRISTIAN MAY BE A GENUINE
CHRISTIAN. The Corinthian Christians had left their first love. They were
carnal -- worldly. But notice that Paul addresses them as "Brothers." And
he begins his letter to them with these words: "To the church of God in
Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy..." It
wasn't that they weren't Christians; it was that they were too worldly to be of
any heavenly good! God's people have always been flawed. Saul consulted a medium;
David committed adultery and murder; Solomon asked God for wisdom, but looked
for meaning to life in possessions and in loving "many foreign women";
Paul struggled daily against the desires of his flesh. I'm not perfect, and neither are you. That doesn't mean we
aren't Christians, no more than a husbands and wives aren't husbands and wives
because they lose their love for one another. II. A WORLDLY CHRISTIAN IS PROBABLY A STAGNANT CHRISTIAN. Paul tells the Corinthians that they "are still worldly."
We Christians start out as "babes in Christ," feeding on milk, but we're
expected to grow and move up to solid food. As the Corinthians, we often stay
immature and stagnate. Have you ever met any 50-or-60-year-old "infants in
Christ"? I have too. Too many Christians don't appear to be much different from
non-Christians, except for their involvement in "church work." They were born
again, but they've never produced the fruit of the Spirit. Paul talks about this
in Galatians 5:19-23... (Read Gal. 5:19-23.) Too many of us are still engaged in "acts of the sinful
nature." We are worldly. III. A WORLDLY CHRISTIAN MAY BE A FLESHLY-MINDED CHRISTIAN. (Read 1 Cor. 3:3.) Too many of us have developed a mind-set of disobedience -- we
are willfully continuing our sinful ways, being controlled by the old person we
used to be rather than by the new person we have become. We don't HAVE to be this way. We are this way because we choose
to follow our flesh instead of the Spirit. In Romans 7 Paul explains his
struggle... (Read Romans 7:14-25.) Through the power of Christ, we can overcome our
fleshly-mindedness. IV. A WORLDLY CHRISTIAN IS PROBABLY A REBELLIOUS CHRISTIAN. He says in verse 4: "For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and
another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men?" What was going on? I'll tell you. They had not submitted to the
Lordship of Christ. They were in rebellion. They were acting like heathens!
A visitor might be impressed by our worship assembly, and think
us to be genuine Christians. But what if that same visitor heard us in our small
gatherings, in our home lives, and in various conversations and dealing with
problems and criticizing one another? That's carnality. Jesus hates
that. CONCLUSION: Most kids like to play in dirt. Give most kids a big dirt pile
and they're happy as can be. They try to eat it, they smear it all over
themselves. Dirt is the favorite toy of most little kids. And we don't give it a
second thought. "It's just the way kids are." But have you ever seen a grown man or woman playing on a dirt
pile like kids -- eating it, and smearing it all over himself? We'd think that
was weird, mighty weird, wouldn't we? Well, there are two many Christians who haven't grown up
spiritually. They continue to "play" and feed upon the "dirt" of this world. If
they were brand new Christians, we could understand. "They just don't know any
better." But there are Christians who've been exposed to the truth and will of
God for many years, week after week, month after month, and they don't seem to
know how to stay out of the mud. The dirt and mud of worldly living can look good only to a
Christian who's left his first love. It's time to come back. Jesus wants you to love Him more than
anything or anyone else. He wants to show you something that's so much better
that you'll never want to play in the dirt again! PRAYER: INVITATION:
Greetings in
Christ! This issue of MM deals with the "Worldly Christian." Founded
primarily on I Cor. 3, this message by Larry Farthing describes the situation of
the carnal Christian, how he got where he is and how he may renew his faith,
growth, and fervor for the Lord. We pray it is of help and encouragement
to you! Thanks for your prayers and support of ARM's ministry.
If we may be of service to you or your church, provide information, or bring a
presentation to your church or missions committee, please let us
know! Blessings! --Rod Farthing (Unsubscribe info
below)
Rod
Farthing
"Remain faithful unto death .." Rev. 2:10B
To Jesus Be True
in 2002!