The following is a sermon transcript from our Sunday Service at The Rock Church in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Each week, we gather to worship, learn from God’s Word, and grow together. This transcript is provided as a free resource to encourage and equip you in your walk with Christ. While you’re welcome to read and share this content for personal use, we kindly ask that it not be redistributed or published elsewhere without prior written consent from The Rock Church.
People pleaser or God pleaser? Well, that’s a great question. As a Christian, I certainly want to please God in all that I do. But I find myself in the position of wanting to please others. So how do I understand the difference between the two or some combination of both? Here’s a simple way to evaluate your motives:
- Do I fear man more than I fear God?
- In other words, do I care more about what people think than God thinks?
And it’s usually characterized by this unhealthy fear of man. Oh no, what if I say the wrong thing? What if I have to tell someone something they don’t want to hear? There’s no question that this is not an easy task. It’s not an either or scenario. Oh, I only care about pleasing God. Who cares if I come across poorly or abrasively? Well, no, that’s not healthy either. There should be a sense that in desiring to please God above others, I won’t be wracked by fear, but instead peace.
But what if I want to please God so much that I’m afraid of disappointing him? Oh no, I’ve fallen into sin again. God is not happy with me because my Christian performance is not what it should be. You see, we as humans have unhealthy fears and are more driven by guilt and dread than love and acceptance.
Now, this doesn’t mean that because God has accepted me in Christ that I can live however I want. Oh, my sins have been forgiven, so what’s the big deal if I fall into some habitual sin? What does it matter if I grieve the Holy Spirit a little bit? What does it matter if this sin keeps me from running the race of faith with endurance? Well, it matters a lot.
And so to answer all of this is always with the concept and understanding of grace. It’s always grace that teaches us what a healthy reverence for God looks like, that we seek to please God because we love him. And why do we love God? Because he first loved us.
And I’m not going to dwell on my setbacks and my failures. I’m going to press on. I’m going to move forward to the goal, to the prize of Christ for all of my life. My motivation to please God comes from a place of acceptance, that I’ve been adopted into God’s family as his dear child. It’s that we serve a good father who loves his children.
It’s not, oh no, I messed up again. God the Father is going to punish me. It’s that, oh no, I messed up again. God’s grace is going to sustain me. It’s his grace that’s teaching me to deny sin and worldly passions. It’s his grace that shows me just how much better the Christian life can be when I embrace his grace fully.
And the way we please God is by trusting that any good of eternal significance is a credit to the Spirit of God. And all the bad is a credit to us and our flesh. Yes, if I’m a people pleaser, I need to learn how to say no when appropriately, but more importantly, if I’m a God pleaser, I need tolearn how to say yes to all that honors Christ.
The Christian life is an active, vibrant life where the energy is from the Holy Spirit working in us for God’s good pleasure. It’s knowing that in my flesh dwells no good thing. And so I need to protect myself from myself. And how I live matters not just for myself, but also for the church. I need to understand my tendencies towards sin and guard myself against the evil that so influences me.
Today we’re looking at the two kinds of widows, but the principles very much apply to us today. So take note if you’re writing it down, the big idea: protecting oneself from evil and living a life that pleases God are both active pursuits guided by Christ.
Four key points:
- God delights in believers’ good works, notice, driven by faith in Christ. That’s an important distinction.
- God’s displeased with the believer who neglects or pledges to Christ in service to the church.
- The believer who remains steadfast in her calling in Christ actively guards herself from evil.
- Lest the believer must know when to offer aid personally and then when it’s the church’s duty to do so.
So let’s look at the first one. God delights in a believer’s good works driven by faith in Christ. Verses 9 to 10, it’s 1 Timothy chapter 5. We’ll read again together. Let a widow be enrolled, put on the list, offered aid. Let her be enrolled in that if she is not less than 60 years of age, having been the wife of one husband and having a reputation for good works if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
Now, let’s take a moment to unpack this understanding for what we’re talking about when it comes to good works. In what context? To whose benefit? For what motivation? Particularly this issue of motivation is of the greatest importance to us. Why? Because there are many churches that believe you’re saved by faith, through grace, in Christ. But when it comes to this issue of good works, it starts to get a little confusing. Some become what’s known as fruit inspectors. You’ve heard the term? The leadership team examines each church member to see how much fruit they are bearing in their lives.
Okay, Sally, it’s time that we meet with the elders after church today. We’d like to provide you with an assessment of how you’re living as a Christian. And after a lengthy interview process of prodding and examining, they find many faults. They let Sally know that she needs to try harder. Read her Bible more. Pray more. Serve more. Love her husband and children better. And how does Sally feel after leaving that meeting? She’s crushed by all the weight of the responsibility that solely rests upon her, her strength to be a better Christian. This is the great tragedy of the church, keeping guilt and judgment on believers.
Some churches go as far to say as this, Sally, as elders, we really don’t think that you’re a Christian. As we hear about all of your sins, we just can’t understand how a Christian could act like that. The kind of religious hypocrisy by the leaders of churches is damaging and destructive. Oh, but pastor, if you preach all of grace, then people will not be concerned in the very least about their sin. Oh no, that’s not what I’m saying about that at all. All of us have sin in our lives. Now, of course, there are disqualifying sins that preclude believers from being in leadership. But what I’m saying is that all believers in Christ, would you agree with me? We wantto truly grow spiritually. It’s just a matter of what is motivating us in that process. Because we all know that we are called to pursue holiness, to live lives of purity, to not allow the world and the desires of the flesh to lull us back into captivity. You see, the issue of motivation is the key.
There are many non-believers that are solely focused on good works because they think in some way it will come back to them, you know, the form of karma, or they think the more good works they will do, the better they can feel about themselves. There’s this overcompensation. And many even think that their good works are what pleases God and makes the chances of them getting into heaven that much greater. The reality is that all good works apart from faith are dead. What do I mean by that? Consider a scripture from the Old Testament, Isaiah 64 and verse 6 says this: All of us, all of us have become something unclean. And here’s the key, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy cloth. What was that? All of us have withered like a leaf and our guilt carries us away like the wind. Notice the emphasis on the word all, mentioned three times in this verse, it’s inescapable.
Apart from Christ, we are in Adam. What do I mean? We are dead in our sin. He’s our federal head. We are corrupted. In sin, everything that we do, even as Christians, our motives are still polluted with sin.
Now, we could look back at the widow in 1 Timothy 5 and say, Wow, what an example of what a faithful woman of God should look like. And many of the ladies here are looking at this long list and thinking of themselves, on the one hand, oh, I’ll never be like this kind of woman. Or while others are saying, okay, pastor, I’m ready. Tell me how I can do it. I can do it. I can be better.
Now, I want to point out some issues with both of these approaches. In the first is of defeat. It’s saying that I don’t trust that Christ can work powerfully in my life. And in the second, it’s trusting that in my flesh I can get better.
So how should we all understand good works? Notice what the confession says. This is chapter 16 and paragraph 2. They’re going to throw it on the screen. I’ll read it to you. We’ll read together. So these good works done in obedience to God’s commands are the fruit and evidence of a true and living faith. Through good works, notice this:
- Believers express their thankfulness,
- Strengthen their assurance,
- Build up their brothers and sisters,
- Adorn the profession of the gospel,
- Stop the mouths of opponents,
- Glorify God.
Believers are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works so that they may bear fruit leading to holiness, leading to Christ, and having the outcome eternal life. I mean, that’s a sermon right there. There’s so much scripture packed into that paragraph, but the point is that we should be concerned with our good works, but not out of guilt or fear, but out of confidence in Christ. The only way we can grow in grace is by looking to Christ that he is able to transform us. Yes, there’s nothing better than sensing that God is using you, that he’s speaking through you to encourage another believer, to see a need in the body of Christ and serve and meet that need.
It’s all these things, but it’s more than simply the people of the church. It’s also those outside the church. Notice what the widow makes a practice of doing. She showshospitality and cares for the afflicted, understanding that hospitality in that day involved taking in strangers. Now clearly I would not advise that approach in our modern context. Remember many years ago a brother in the church would take in homeless people to his home and it created a number of problems.
But what hospitality looks like today is opening your home maybe to your neighbors. That’s right, the pagans. Bring them in. It’s saying, hey guys, let’s set up some time. Let’s come on over so we can get to know each other a little bit. And there of course is no agenda.
I remember one particular neighbor that I was encouraging to come over sometime. He would tell me, he told me later, yeah man I knew that you were a Christian and I just thought you were trying to convert me. That’s why I was hesitant. It’s true, many unbelievers understand Christians as simply trying to convert them. Trying to make them to sign on the dotted line so they can get another notch in their belt.
I believe that the key to all ministry is time spent with people. It’s amazing what happens when you just spend time with people. And yes, as we’ve said before, the front yard mission, talk to God about your neighbors before you talk to your neighbors about God. I still got my tic-tac-toe board. My neighbor’s name is on the bathroom mirror and I’m asking Lord, how long before I get to talk to them?
Now the interesting thing about the widow mentioned here in the text is that she didn’t necessarily have to bring up her own children. What about those women who weren’t able to have children? Well yes, I think that’s in view here as this widow could have taken in orphans. It’s this whole idea of caring for the afflicted. Who are the afflicted among us? Certainly the orphans being moved from home to home. It’s those abused women, either verbally or physically.
And what did Jesus say about this? It’s of course Matthew 25:35,36, says this:
- For I was hungry and you gave me food.
- I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
- I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
- I was naked and you clothed me.
- I was sick and you visited me.
- I was in prison and you came to me.
Jesus said, if you’ve done that to any of these, you’ve done it unto me. I love what Martin Luther says. God doesn’t need our good works. Do you hear me? I don’t think you heard me. God doesn’t need our good works, but our neighbors do. And when they see the good works, they glorify God and think, wow, there’s something different about those Christians. They do really care for the poor, the needy, the outcasts, the downtrodden.
God may give you a heart for a people or group that are afflicted. It could be:
- The single mom.
- It could be adopting a child.
- It could be prison ministry. Go see Alan at the end of service. How many years did you do prison ministry? Thirty? Thirty years.
- It could be a missions trip to serve in those countries that are less fortunate.
And the amazing thing happens when we are engaged in serving others with a need. We sense the joy from Christ. First time I remember started serving in a church about 20 years ago, I was given the job to run the sound and pull out the chairs and put out the speakers. Wonderful joy feeding the homeless, getting to know the people.
But in all of that, notice the more important ministry is what happens in the home. Because if the home life is not good, ministry outside the home won’t be good either. Ministry at home is always the first priority. If you’re a mom, it’s fulfilling your duties to your children, respecting your husband. If you’re a dad, it’s providing for your family, investing in your children, loving your wife.
So you can see the list here in verse 10. There’s really three categories of ministry:
- Ministry at home.
- Ministry in the church.
- Ministry outside the church.
Regarding ministry in the church, that’s the reference to washing the feet of the saints. In fact, at the close of the service, I’m going tohave the deacons bring forth some wash bins and ask all of the widows to wash all of your feet today. Who believes me? That was a joke. Again, we understand scripture in this way. The text was written for a particular audience at a particular time. But there’s always a timeless truth that we can apply.
So what’s the timeless principle of feet washing? It’s by love, serving one another in Christ. It’s doing the lowly things, man. Because that’s what foot washing was reserved for, for the lowest of the servants. How many of you like to be known as the lowest servant? It’s a dirty job. Remember, they walked around in their sandals all day, all kinds of gross. Their feet were in rough shape. So to wash the servants, to wash their feet, man, that was only the servants did
In fact, John 13:14, when Jesus said, if I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. In other words, if Christ washed the feet of the disciples, then we should do the same. There’s no task that’s beneath us. If Christ is calling us to us, we should joyfully submit ourselves to it.
And again, looking at this list in verse 10, I’m reminded of the third use of the law. Remember we talked about this before? There’s the first use of the law. The law is the mirror. It’s the Ten Commandments. It’s man, you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and you are without hope in your sin. You need Christ. Come to Jesus. The second use is the civil restraint in our society that we need. But the third use is for believers. We give the law as a guide, as an instruction, as a, hey, this is the way. This is the good way. Walk in this way.
Remember, this verse is not telling you that next week you need to start a ministry to single moms and adopt children. That’s not the point. The point is that good works in the believer have a purpose. Yes, to strengthen our assurance of salvation, because it’s works that are wrought in faith in Christ. It’s not that we create good works for the sake of feeling better about ourselves or earning God’s favor. It’s that we would love and serve the Lord as we love and serve our family, our church, our community. Those are good things that help to open a door for the gospel when otherwise it would be slammed shut.
This is how we build a good reputation with those within the church and outside. This is how the widow did it and how the church could say, yes, this is truly a widow that we want to help and support. But our pursuit to please God is motivated by love, by our acceptance in Christ. It’s a prayer that says, oh Lord, use me as you see fit. I’m not going to create plans and then just say, Lord, well, bless the plans that I’ve created.
And again, it starts at the home and then in the church and then in the community. This pleases God because all of our good works are in Christ. In other words, God is already pleased with us because we have been declared not guilty. The Father sees the very righteousness of Christ as a covering over us.
I love the song completely known, completely loved. Completely known, completely loved. I’m covered by my Savior’s blood. I’m robed in white and God is pleased to see His Son when He looks at me. Whoa. And it’s from the joy of our salvation that we say, Lord, I want to love and serve others so that they may know you. That they may know the power of the gospel unto salvation. That Jesus died for them, for their sins.
We’re asking God, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So don’t let guilt or fear motivate you. Let the love of God in Christ be your focus that if He’s calling you to good works, He will provide the strength necessary.
That’s the first thing. God delights in a believer’s good works driven by faith in Christ.
Secondly,God is displeased with a believer who neglects their pledge to Christ in service to the church. Verses 11 to 13. Christ and Service to the Church, verses 11 to 13. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
Now, Paul makes it clear which widows should receive aid from the church, but he also explains why these younger widows should not. Oh, Paul, so harsh. Where’s the grace? Where’s the forgiveness? Maybe this poor young widow has had a lot of trauma in her life and she just can’t seem to shake it. Why would you tell the church that this kind of widow should not get any help at all? And that’s ultimately the issue here, that this widow has neglected her pledge to Christ, her service to the church.
It’s these younger widows who have struggles with sin that they’re so severe that they find themselves in full rebellion against Christ. In other words, they’re saying, Lord, I have all these desires and I want them filled more than I want you. I don’t care what happens. It’s so strong that their desire for marriage is corrupted. Instead of desiring to marry because they want to honor Christ, respect their husband, love their children, they simply want a way out. Okay, Lord, just give me a husband so that I no longer can be in sin. I don’t care who he is. Just give me a man.
Paul says, sister, you got it all wrong. I don’t think you really understand what you’re saying. You’re making your faith of no value. You’re making it void. You’re emptying it. What happened? Remember when you first got saved, how the Lord opened your eyes to the truth, how the word of God became alive, how the Lord Jesus was working in your lives, but now you just want a man to satisfy your pleasures? Paul’s saying that this younger widow is condemned by God, stricken, removed from the family of faith. That’s it. I’ve had enough. You’re shenanigans. You’re dismissed. No, no, no, no, no. Of course not.
But there’s a real sense that God is dealing and going to deal with these issues of sin in our lives. It happens through his gracious discipline that the correction that God provides may seem difficult while it’s happening, but it produces in you something wonderful. In fact, Hebrews 12:11 says, for the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are being trained by it. Yeah, we’re in a training school. The Lord is the teacher teaching us how damaging sin is in our lives.
Let’s not abandon our pledge to Christ. Let’s consider what desires have drawn us away from Christ and let’s put them to death. Let’s put to death all the deeds of the flesh lest we indulge and that indulging only grows.
But not only that, this poor young widow has turned her back in service to the church. Instead of learning to be busy about the things of the Lord, she makes it her habit and practice to be idle. And we know what happens when we sit in the idle seat. It’s the temptation that comes and begins to arise. And before you know it, spiritual destruction is upon us.
Instead of taking advantage of being single and serving the Lord in a greater capacity, there’s an aimless wandering. We’re left without purpose thinking, oh God, I’ve become useless in your kingdom. And if useless in the kingdom, might as well indulge in the desires of the flesh.
This younger widow finds herself getting bored. So what does she do? Well, she starts visiting all the members of the church and not having anything useful or wholesome to say, she gets into the gossip. You heard about so-and-so? Oh,yeah. Have you heard about Sally’s kids? Yeah, they are out of control. In fact, Sally has no idea how to raise her children? Do you know how to raise your children? And worst of all, it always comes with this preface. Maybe you’ve had this happen to you. We need to pray for Sally. Really? Why? To which she responds and then goes on and on.
You see, gossip is saying something about someone you would never say to them face to face. Instead of the young widow being concerned about her own affairs, how to please the Lord by serving Him, she’s concerned about everyone else. In fact, every conversation she starts is always about other members of the church. It’s never about herself, about her own struggles, her own pain, but rather putting others down in order to elevate herself. It’s being consumed by issues that are insignificant without a care for the weightier matters. In fact, that was the issue of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They were all about the externals, but their hearts were far from the Lord.
It’s one of the dangers of good works wanting to be noticed, wanting others to think highly of you because look what I do for Jesus. What is this young widow saying that she shouldn’t? Well, we don’t know. But it’s not only what she says, it’s how she says it. And without even realizing it, she’s neglected her pledge to Christ, but also her service to the church. God’s not pleased with that.
And how do we protect ourselves from that? How do we ensure that we keep our pledge to Christ? Lord, I’m for you and your church. Well, first, it’s being aware of those desires that are drawing you away from Jesus. And the best place to start is your thought life. What are the things that consume your minds? What are the things that you’re always thinking about? What will make me happy? Oh, once I retire, things will get better. Or once I finish this work week, man, I’m going to enjoy myself. Or once those kids get older, I can enjoy life again.
And we think the next best thing is all we need. Instead, it should be, Lord, I want to be satisfied in you today. I want to be used by you to declare your gospel to lost people. It’s a mindset that says, Jesus, you are first in my life. I don’t want to abandon my faith.
I don’t want to be the way Paul said to the church in Galatia. Man, it was great how you started out in the faith, realizing the Spirit was doing a work. But look at you now, trying to make it perfect in the flesh. How foolish. It’s all this talk about being better and trying harder and applying all these formulas. I’m so tired of it. The power’s gone. The joy of being used of the Lord in the service of his kingdom, in his church, and his community.
The wonderful thing about the Christian life is that it’s a lifestyle of repentance. We’re never too gone that the Lord can’t bring us back. In fact, Spurgeon said this, there is no sin too great that God cannot forgive. No wound too deep for God not to heal. And no soul too far for God that is not able to reach. But it was also Thomas Watson who said, till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.
But thankfully, Paul doesn’t just have pity on the young widow and say, oh well, she’s lost in her sin. She’ll never find a way to freedom. No, it’s the next point where we learn the remedy. That’s the third point. The believer who remains steadfast in her calling in Christ actively guards herself from evil.
Look at verses 14 to 15. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan. As I read from that confession a few moments ago, chapter 16, paragraph 2, and there’s copies under the seat, that there’s a way to stop the mouths of opponents. It’s by staying focused on your calling in Christ. For the young widow, it’s getting married, but doing it for the right reasons. What are those reasons? Well, to bearchildren, to manage her household. Anyone here think that raising their children and managing the home is not a full-time job? That raising their children and managing the home is not a full-time job.
Okay, I didn’t think so. And while that at times feels overwhelming, there’s another sense of the lasting fruit of the ministry in the home. Consider the impact of raising children in the fear of the Lord. It’s much like making disciples who make disciples. How’s that? Well, the prayer is that your children will grow up in the knowledge of Christ and his grace. It’s that they would marry then another believer and raise more children in the knowledge of Christ. Do you see?
Let me just encourage the moms right now. I want you to know and understand that all of your efforts and toil are having an impact for generations. That is a worthy cause. But not only that, while you’re busy at home laboring and serving in the Lord, you don’t have a lot of time to fall into idleness and gossip and being a busybody. You’re too busy teaching and training and setting the example for your children. And guess what happens when your opponents see your life, how dedicated you are as a mother and a wife? Well, it gives them no opportunity to say anything evil about you.
You see that in verse 14? The adversary is actually not a reference to Satan, but instead those who are adversarial to the Christian faith. Isn’t it true that unbelievers are always looking carefully to find fault in the few to lay blame on the whole? They want to say, oh yeah, those Christians, I can’t believe it. Look at them now, gossiping and idle. Boy, the whole church must be like that. No, don’t give them opportunity.
I remember I was sitting in the backyard and made a comment about the yappy dog in the neighborhood. And I said out loud in my neighbor’s earshot, man, can we take care of that dog? Maybe I said, can we kill the dog? Sorry if I offended anybody, but he responded right away and said, oh, pastor, I don’t think that’s how you should be talking right now. I actually gave him a scowl. I was a little angry. I was like, how dare you? I was guilty.
See, the Greek word for slander, it actually is the picture of a handle. And what happens when we live in an open sin for all to see? We’re actually giving the enemies of Christ a handle to hold on to. Let’s give them nothing to hold on to so that finding slanders is like them trying to restrain the wind or grasp some oil in their hands; they can’t do it.
The harder they try, the more difficult it is. Now, this doesn’t mean that we try to be perfect people. No, of course not. We need to be real and genuine, that we struggle in many ways, but we’re not running towards sin, the things that bring reproach upon the name of Christ and his gospel
So remain steadfast in your calling, whether that be in the home, in the church, in the community. This will help guard ourselves from ourselves, being so busy about the things of the Lord, we have no time for the sin and the things that draw us away from Christ. And that leads me to what Paul says in verse 15, that some widows have actually strayed after Satan. Wait a minute. These are believers. In other words, they’ve turned aside from the narrow path and into destruction.
They’ve been seduced by Satan into error. Now, keep in mind, believing widows, they are Christians, but have fallen victim to the strategies of Satan, the adversary of God and Christ. And they did so because their desires met with idleness and couldn’t let go. May it not be said with us, giving no occasion for reproach upon the name of Christ and his gospel.
Lastly, the believer must know the difference when to offer aid personally and when it’s the church’s duty to do so. It’s verse 16. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows.And that’s where this discernment comes in because some people will say that the church always needs to offer assistance when there’s any need that arises. Now surely if you’re a believer and there’s someone in your family who is a widow, the Lord is saying you are the one. Take care of her. Don’t just relinquish your duty and give it to the church.
But what about other matters? What about someone in the church that has a need? Well let your first instinct be what can I do to help before asking the church what they must do to help. The amazing thing is that God always takes care of his church family and he uses people in the family to do so. Many times there are needs that arise and by God’s grace someone in the church steps up and says I can help. This is so important because the church can then could be easily overwhelmed with all the needs of the people.
This is what happened in Acts chapter 6. The deacons were appointed for the care of the widows. They were being neglected. The structure wasn’t set up yet for the church to handle the needs. So the deacons were appointed so that the elders could be dedicated to the ministry of the word and prayer.
So crucial that we work together as a team helping one another. We’re different in many ways but we can each help in different ways. As it’s been said before it’s either time, talent, or treasures:
- Some of us can give of our time to sit with a widow and listen.
- Some of us give of our talents by helping a widow repair something in her home.
- And others of us can offer financial support to meet a particular need.
And the church can then focus on ensuring that the people of God are being spiritually equipped for every good work that he’s called them to. That’s when the body of Christ is functioning the way it should be. Healthy and strong, loving one another as Christ has loved us.
So when you see a need in the body of Christ, first ask, can I help before you tell the church to help?
So as we close this morning, I’ve been talking about a life that pleases God, one that’s rich in good works, driven by faith in Christ, not manufactured, not contrived. It’s the ongoing challenge not to neglect our pledge to Christ, not to abandon our faith to the desires of the flesh, but service to the Lord Jesus.
And the remedy for such staying focused on the calling that Christ has for you, whether in the home, in the church, in the community, knowing that there are times when you need to help and other times the church. It’s all of this flows from grace. It’s the grace of God that teaches us in the school of faith, raising up students to be leaders who will multiply to advance the kingdom of God and his gospel.
So my application is what good works is God calling you to? Could be just focus on the home. Or is it saying, you know what, I’ve been attending here for a while. It’s time to get more involved. Or maybe you could do the simple thing of inviting your neighbors over to your home for dinner.
All of these good works are born out of faith fueled by the love of Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Don’t be anxious for good works because that’s what you have to do. But instead, what is the Lord calling you to and trusting that God is going to supply the grace that you need to carry forth the calling.
So let’s take our one minute moment to consider that challenge. What’s that one thing God is calling you to do? Ask him now to provide the grace needed for whatever it is. And then I’ll close in prayer before we come to the table.
We come as your dear children asking you to supply richly all the grace that we need to carry forth the calling on our lives. Jesus, your love is greater, is deeper, is wider, is longer, is higher. And there’s nothing that can separate us from you. The height nor depth nor anything present or anything to come, nor angels or principalities. We’re safely secure in your family. And we’re grateful for that reality. Being in Christ, the old man is dead and the new has come.
So Lord, we want to keep looking to you, Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith. The one that started a good work and will. Author and finisher of our faith, the one that started a good work and will bring it forth to completion. The one who is faithful even when we are faithless. All of your rich promises we receive today as we prepare for your table, as we remember your sacrifice, as we proclaim your gospel for your kingdom and glory. In Jesus’ Name, amen.
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