Taking God Seriously March 6, 2012 Richard Chapman

 

Taking God Seriously March 6, 2012  Richard Chapman

If what the Bible says is true: that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:10) then what does the Bible mean when it says that we are to “fear the Lord”? Perhaps the most accurate way of expressing this is “Taking God Seriously”. Since we live in a seriously troubled time, why don't we take God more seriously? What does it mean to take God seriously and why is it important? How do we know if people are serious about their faith in God?

A lot of “Christians” simply don't take their faith seriously. They have their fire insurance and for them, following Christ in their daily lives is optional. If they get in trouble, they pray. If they get enough sleep Saturday night, they go to church. Otherwise, they mostly do their own thing.

Thinking on the definition of faith, a potential definition of faith is taking God seriously. Many Christians, who claimed to have faith, do not take God seriously. To take God seriously means to take His word seriously. If a person speaks to us, but we ignore- or even reject- much of what he says to us, we certainly are not taking him seriously. In fact, we are guilty of disrespect.

The same applies to God. If we ignore or reject much of what He says through the Scriptures, we are not taking Him seriously. We are treating Him with disrespect. Yet this is how many Christians are relating to God. They treat His word like a smorgasbord, picking out those portions that appeal to their taste and passing the others by.

There are four practical ways in which God's word applies in our lives: His promises, His commandments, His prohibitions, and His warnings.

Here are some examples of each and how they apply to us:

God's Promises

The four gospels contain many wonderful promises of Jesus, but before we claim these for ourselves it is important to define to who the promises were given. The gospel writers make a clear distinction between words that Jesus spoke to his disciples and those He spoke to multitudes or to individuals who were not disciples. There are more than 900 verses recording words spoken to disciple and about 860 verses addressed to non-disciples.

The distinctive mark of true disciples was commitment. They had made an unreserved commitment to obey and follow Jesus, regardless of personal cost. Jesus Himself laid down this condition: “whoever does not ear his cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple. Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 1:27, 33)

Before we can apply His promises to ourselves, we need to ask, “Am I the person that Jesus is speaking to? Do His promises apply to me? Do I have the right to claim them?” For example, John 14 contains promises such as: “ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. Because I live, you will live also. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:13, 14, 19, 27)

These promises were given only to a group of committed disciples. In Luke 18:28 Peter spoke for them when he said, “See we have all left and followed you.” To claim these promises without fulfilling this condition is not faith, but presumption. We need to ask, “Am I a disciple- or just a church member?”

God's commandments

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him', and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”(1 John 2:3-4)

Our response to God's commandments reveals our true spiritual condition. Obeying them is proof that we know God. The Bible contains many commandments covering various areas of our lives, but Jesus sums them up in one that takes precedence over the others: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciple, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

By obeying this commandment, we fulfill the entire law: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'” (Galatians 5:14). Love is the end purpose for which all other commandments were given: “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,...” (1 Timothy 1:5,6) Any activity, which does not produce love, is wasted effort. On this basis, we must assess our obedience to God's commandments. We need to ask ourselves “Is my life an expression of God's love?”

God's Prohibitions

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in Him.” (1 John 2:15)

God forbids us to love the world. He compels us to make a choice. We cannot do both. It must be one or the other. Either love God or love the world. In the New Testament language, “the world” comprises all people and activities not submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord. As such, the world – whether consciously or unconsciously-- is in rebellion against God.

The pull of the world in all our lives is extremely strong. It offers us many enticements. Some seem innocent, yet can be a clever rebellion against God. The media is a channel of the world's influence, with all the forms of entertainment it offers. Much of media entertainment is permeated by moral and spiritual impurity. We must not voluntarily expose ourselves to anything that glorifies sin and dishonors Jesus Christ (immorality or vile language). Make it a principle not to keep books or other objects that dishonors Jesus. That may seem radical, but Christianity is radical.

God's warnings

In Matthew 23, Jesus is warning against deception: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” In verse 11, He repeats this warning; “Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many.” Deception is the greatest single danger that confronts Christians. Many Christians feel that the warning against deception does not apply to them. This reaction could be an indication that deception is already at work. There is only one sure safeguard against deception: it is to receive the “love of truth”. This goes beyond merely listening to sermons, or even reading the Bible. It is an intense and passionate commitment to the authority of Scripture. It produces within us an instinctive reaction against any message or ministry that is not faithful to Scripture.

God offers each of us this “love of truth”. Are we willing to receive it? Shall we take His warning seriously or shall we ignore it?

A relationship with Christ affects everything about our lives. It affects our reason for living-- why we get up in the morning, why we exist. The whole goal and purpose of our life is to glorify God and to seek God and His kingdom and His righteousness above all things. We owe everything to the Lord. We have no life apart from Christ, we can't call anything our own-- our time, possessions, influence, family, plans, future life. It all belongs to the Lord. Paul says it a different way in Romans 11:36: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” It's all about Him. He is the center of our lives.

In Acts 20:24, Paul says, “But life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love.”

It's not our business endeavors, or friendships, hobbies,s or other temporal things that matters. It's that we do what God has called us to do. If we have any regret when we see God face-to-face, it will likely be that we did not take God more seriously. That we frittered our lives away with meaningless things, with things that didn't have eternal value or significance, because Christ wasn't at the core and the heart of our existence.

What about each of us? Do we take God seriously? Here are a few more questions to ask:

What is my purpose in life?

Why do I exist?

Why did God create me?

Why has He saved me?

Why do I get up in the morning?

What motivates me?

What drives me?

What keeps me going?

God is serious, serious about loving us in any way possible. God is big enough for our anger, small enough for our whispers, and strong enough for our worries. We cannot be half-hearted or nominal Christians. If we are a Christian, we are a new person. There is no reasonable option, but to take God seriously.

The most serious thing a person will ever do is not to take God seriously. Whenever we start taking God seriously, it is then that He will take us seriously!

We waste our time pretending. That is play-acting. And a casual looking for Him will profit us nothing. It is when we seek for Him with “all our heart” that the promise is fulfilled, and we will find Him.

Anyone who is searching and longing can joyfully testify, I found him, I held Him, and would not let go. We need to be like the little boy who said in prayer, “I ain't kiddin' Lord, I mean it.” And, by the way, God knows when we mean it.