Welcome!
Today: Free to serve God
Passage: 1 Peter 2
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. (1 Peter 2, NIV 84) –emphasis added
Live as free men (women), and be submitted to God; live as servants of God
Can you be a servant and be free at the same time?
Good question! That is the uniqueness of serving God. God does not micro-manage us. He gives us freedom, even as His eyes are always upon us.
That’s one reason we call Him “father”
Today, many people ask this question about the church: “what’s going on with the church? Why isn’t God doing anything, even as (many) things are done wrong?”
If we observe the way God acts, we will find the answer
Adam sinned. God had given him freedom of choice, which God never violates
David sinned. God did the same thing. God did not interfere with David’s freedom
But God does question afterwards
See the letter to the seven churches in Asia (Rev. 2 & 3) God was watching, even as they took these different tracks. But then, God runs a report on them. Each church was responsibile to correct what was wrong, as per God’s report.
You and I are free. We can use or misuse that freedom. But one day, we will stand before the Judge of all judges, our very own Jesus Christ!
We can do something for God every day, or we can just do nothing and enjoy life
That day will surely come. Until that, things may go just like that
God is looking for some who are crying out to God seeing the wrong things. He is about those who stand in the gap, and stand for the truth. Such will always be a few, but are very special to God! (Ezekiel 9:4)
Church is the place where we get reminded of sin and sanctification, the wrath of God and the grace of God. When church starts saying and doing what everybody else is doing out there, it is no longer church, in God’s eyes
The body of Jesus cannot behave very different from Jesus, and be very friendly with the world. That is deception!
Church is (to be) like a hospital, where we are spiritually diagnosed and treated
Unfotunately, some churches only diagnose people and sent them home with a warning! some other churches never bother to diagnose or heal. And then there is this third category, that gives the same tonic of grace to people every Sunday, like a cure for all. Looks kind of nice, but very different from the Jesus way!
When church becomes more gracious than God, there is a problem!
May God bless and guide you right
BG
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I thank you for your concern for me, my family and the church. Help me to guide my life and my family in the right direction. I pray that church will do what it should do, so that many will be healed and sanctified. Amen
“Whether we do what we are supposed to do or not, God will do what He has to do”