What Can We Do?

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the third Sunday in Lent, the 20th of March, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Each month, I receive a nice newsletter from the Christian Law Association, a group of Christian lawyers who offer free legal help to churches, ministers, or any believer facing a moral dilemma.  The February issue was a little slow in coming, so the January issue sat on my desk for quite a while.  Staring up at me constantly were the words, “What can you do for the Lord in 2022?”

This was the theme of the newsletter’s editorial, but the cover kept asking me that question:  What can you do for the Lord?  What can we do?  So I turned to the Bible for help and inspiration.  And, as usual in such situations, there was the Apostle Paul to offer advice, instruction, and leadership.

Please listen and follow along to the exhortation that Paul gives us as he wrote to the church in Rome in chapter 12 of his letter to the Romans, and I’ll be reading this from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible…

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind He will find acceptable. This is your reasonable service. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the standard of our God-given faith. 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6 In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!

17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,

“I will take revenge;

I will pay them back,”

says the Lord.

20 Instead,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap

burning coals of shame on their heads.”

21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

--Romans 12 (NLT)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for always being present in our life to provide us with guidance when we don’t know which way to turn, with clarity when we are confused, with leadership when we have gone astray.  You give us all this through Your Holy Spirit within us and through Your word as recorded in our Holy Bible.  Forgive us, please, when we don’t spend enough time in prayer and in studying Your word.  Forgive us when we hesitate to do what we know You would have us do.  Please help us be more obedient.  Help us do more to serve You.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who do his bidding.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Help us do more to help others.  Help us really love them, remembering that they are also Your creation and that You love them, too.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Christian author, speaker, and missionary Elizabeth Elliot, in her book A Slow and Certain Light, tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes.  They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians.  She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me - confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped.  But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?"

She suggests that we often ask God for too little.  We know what we need: a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question.  Or perhaps a road sign - something quick and easy to point the way.  What we really ought to have is the Guide Himself.  Maps, road signs, a few conversational phrases are useful things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.

We don’t know the outcome of those two adventurers, but we do know they passed up a perfectly good opportunity to increases their chance of success in their venture.  Right there facing them was someone who had spent a lot of time in the region and with the natives, someone who knew the terrain and the customs of the people.  In short, this was someone who could really help them.  Yet, all they sought were a few conversational phrases so they could chat with the locals.  Call it confidence or call it smugness, they thought they had everything they needed without any further aid than a few sentences to utter.

God gave us His Holy Spirit to be our Guide.  And He gives us gifts and talents to help others.  Ms. Elliot could have been and done both for these adventurers, but they refused her services.  How often do we refuse what the Holy Spirit offers?

We need to listen to the Spirit’s urgings and let Him guide us in our daily walk.  We need to share our gifts with those who need our help.  And we need to take advantage of the talents other folks bring to the table.

So that question pops up again.  What can we do for the Lord?  While this newsletter theme was intended for the New Year’s reader, to go along with any new resolutions for the year, I believe it also follows quite nicely with last week's message on "Righteous Service"

Anything we do for the Lord should be righteous, it should be something God sees as right in His eyes.  Of course, we don’t want to limit ourselves to righteous service only for the rest of the year, but instead extend the practice for the rest of our days on this earth.

Let’s look again at what Paul tells us.  Right at the start, Paul pleads with us to give our bodies to God, to let them be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.  This doesn’t mean we should completely exhaust ourselves and die from our efforts, although that may indeed happen somewhere along the line.  No, Paul is saying that we should give more of our time and efforts in serving our Lord, using our bodies as the tools of service.  He says to let God, through His Holy Spirit, change us into a new person by changing the way we think.  We can’t let the world direct our thoughts and actions, because service in the world’s viewpoint is more about self than about truly helping others.

Paul also cautions us to be introspective, to honestly evaluate ourselves and our motives, so that we don’t end up thinking we’re more than we are, or that we’re better than anyone else.  This is worldly thinking, and not from God.  And it can also lead us into just pretending to love others rather than showing them genuine affection and honor.  This pretense is the work of Satan, not of God.  We can show our true love, for God and for others, by working hard and using the gifts, whatever they are, that God has given each of us, always being eager to help.

And I love the last thing Paul tells us in this chapter.  “Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.”  We defeat the devil when we do good for the right reasons.  We conquer evil by our righteous service.

We all know that none of this is as easy as it sounds.  Paul certainly knew it.  We are weak-willed at times.  We have to live in the world so we are constantly under bombardment from worldly enticements and behavior.  It’s tough to ignore the world viewpoint when it is all around us, ever present in our sight and our hearing.

Please listen to a warning Paul gives in his letter to the Galatians, chapter 5 verses 16 through 26, about making sure that what we do is right in God’s eyes…

16 If you are guided by the Spirit, you won’t obey your selfish desires. 17 The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should. 18 But if you obey the Spirit, the Law of Moses has no control over you.

19 People’s desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful deeds. 20 They worship idols, practice witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are 21 envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: No one who does these things will share in the blessings of God’s kingdom.

22 God’s Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, 23 gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. 24 And because we belong to Christ Jesus, we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. 25 God’s Spirit has given us life, and so we should follow the Spirit. 26 But don’t be conceited or make others jealous by claiming to be better than they are.

--Galatians 5:16-26 (CEV)

It’s hard to ignore the world and the conflicting desires it creates within us.  But we have a secret weapon.  We have God’s own Holy Spirit living within us.  He is our Confidant, our constant Companion, our ever present Guide through this life.  We only have to take advantage of His presence and allow Him to lead us.

People who follow the voice of the world become jealous, angry, and selfish.  They hate each other and are always fighting over things that are not at all important.  They will never know the blessings of God’s kingdom unless they repent and accept Jesus as Lord.  But we who listen to the Spirit’s voice become more loving and happy, more peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.

Are we perfect?  No!  A resounding No!  So we can’t get all big-headed about it, thinking we’re better than others.  But we are being molded into a closer form of perfection, closer to the image of Jesus, by the work of the Spirit within us.

What can we do for the Lord?  Family, we’ve been given gifts by God, the best of which is His own Holy Spirit.  With His Spirit’s help and guidance, we can use those gifts to help others.  We can share God’s love, embodied in Jesus, letting His love shine through us so that others may see the glory of God.  By doing so, we may just help save their eternal life.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You shower us with so many blessings and gifts.  The greatest of these are Your own Son Jesus, Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and the faith to believe.  Thank You, Father, for these wonderful blessings.  And thank You for gifts You provide that we can use to minister to the needs of others.  Father, sometimes we let the world have too much influence over our thoughts and deeds.  Sometimes our motives are not pure and righteous.   Forgive us, Father, when we think more of self and less of true service.  Forgive us when we hesitate to use the gifts You have given us.  Please help us be courageous yet selfless in our work to help others, as we strive to show them Your love through our love.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You showed us just what righteous service looks like, how it acts, why it does what it does.  You used the gifts Your Father gave You, most notably the power of His Holy Spirit, to show Your love to us all.  Thank You, Lord, for setting such a clear example for us to follow.  Too often, though, Lord, we let the world and its views shape our thoughts and actions.  We become complacent with things the way they are, not willing to take any risks to serve You by helping others when they need it the most.  Please, Lord, help us be bolder in our service.  Help us make better use of the gifts our Father gave us.  Remind us that we can do even greater acts than You because of the Holy Spirit leading us from within.  Show us a clearer view of what we can do for You, this year and for the rest of our life on this earth.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.