Our Hearts, God's Home? Part II

I hope I wasn’t misunderstood yesterday. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m against church. It’s just that some of us abuse the gift it’s meant to be. Who’s to blame? Let’s not point the finger instead let’s explore our responsibility. Is it our duty to attend church? Is it our responsibility? What do these words mean? Duty sounds a bit like performance, doesn’t it? Do we build relationships based on performance? When speaking about who repairs our car, we will say yes. When building relationships with one another and with God would we establish them on performance or duty? What about responsibility? It’s related to duty, isn’t it? It’s a choice, usually because we think it’s the right thing to do, yes?

Would you want someone to choose to be your father, mother, or spouse because they think it’s the right thing to do? Would God love you because it’s the right thing to do? God loves each one of us as if we were the only one to love. Wow! Do we love God the same?

Duty and responsibility will fail us eventually. Performance disappoints and burns out. But Love… Paul told the Corinthians “the greatest of all is Love.”

What is love? God is Love. 1 John 4:16,18 “There is no fear in love because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

Punishment conjures up performance- Punishment awaits those who do not perform accordingly. That’s the world’s message. God’s message: “The Lord disciplines those He loves.” He loves us and has plans for us so that we won’t get caught up in performance, duty and punishment.

1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we have asked of him.” This is Love! You can’t get that through performance, you can’t earn it! We have it already, even before we do anything! It’s about who we are to Him, not what we do! How can we know who we are to Him? Spending time getting to know Him! That could mean setting some time each day to listen for his voice, to share our concerns, fears, and thanks. But also through getting to know those around us whereby we share His Love with one another.

1 John 5:3: “This is love for God: to obey His commands. They are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (To overcome the world is to gain victory over the sinful pattern of life. Choosing to obey God over serving ourselves and that which we aim to accomplish and achieve. It’s not impossible for the believer because He’s born again. Holy Spirit dwells in him, has come alive in him because he has believed. Holy Spirit gives strength to those who have put their faith and hope in Jesus. John speaks of double victory: firstly, turning in faith from the world to God; secondly, through the day by day victory of Christian living.

By the world I mean the realm of sin controlled by Satan that is organized against God and righteousness. God’s will forgive those who confess their sins. Hebrews 10:22:

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts cleansed from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together but let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the Day approaching.

1 John 1:9 tells us He will forgive us. He will provide the forgiveness that restores communion with God that was interrupted by sin. He did provide the forgiveness. He gave his only son as an atoning sacrifice for us- that communion with Him could be restored. God knew the power of His Law. Once spoken it could not be changed. Once Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil communion was broken. He was good, now they were of good and evil. They had disobeyed and separated themselves from Him. They had placed their trust in another, subjecting theirselves to his domain.

How could the God of Love ransom them? Rebuilding. Over hundreds of years he began that rebuilding in their hearts. By helping them realize the broken communion between them. His heart was broken for them. Now they would hear the voice of reason instead of the voice of Faith, Hope and Love. We know in part that the ‘greatest of these is Love’; but we need Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts for the revelation that will help us turn our hearts back to God again. It isn’t a turning through choosing to attend church at Christmas or Easter… but that’s one decision that should start us on the journey. From there we shouldn’t remain strangers, but develop relationship with one another as they did when Holy Spirit came upon the first believers- they had everything in common, with glad and sincere hearts they met together daily, broke bread together, went from house to house praising God and God added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Remember when God said to Abram, ‘leave your people and your country and follow me? Remember Abraham was known as ‘friend of God.’ Whose friend are you? What does it mean to be called friend by the creator of the universe? Twenty years ago we and some friends asked that very question. And we’ve been on the journey of our lives with God ever since. We didn’t break away from those in the church whom we loved. All the more are they the ones who spur us on in our good deeds, encourage us and enable us to stretch out His hands to the poor. We went from realizing God had commanded us to go to the poor but there were no poor among us. We searched for them, we went outside our comfort zones into the highways and byways of the inner city of Atlanta and those we found also made room in their hearts for us. No doubt God came to dwell in us all. That one small step on Saturday mornings turned into Tuesday nights and Friday nights and eventually Sunday mornings and then to everyday walking out Christian living with Atlanta’s homeless and poor to linking up in Cape Town, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda and Zimbabwe, Zambia, Congo and ultimately all of Africa until the Dark Continent becomes the Continent of the Father’s Love! That would be one big church if we could ever call everyone to one physical place. But that place is called the Kingdom of God.


S.Hill
bnfrsa@sentechsa.com
Blood N Fire, RSA
Cape Town, South Africa
31 December 2007