Friday 20 September 2013

Pleasing the Spirit!

Galatians 6:8
[8] The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. [9] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. [10] Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

All of life is a Field!
Today, in all we do we will be sowing. But how will we sow today? To please the sinful nature or the Spirit? Sowing covers all we do so Paul says ...

"Whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!"

Sowing to please Self
I find sowing to please self so natural and easy, I can just do it! Everything about it seems good...

  • It happens effortlessly - much easier than sowing to please the 'really hard to please Spirit'.
  • It is usually enjoyable too.
  • It promises payment or reward such as ease, pleasure, popularity, fun, food, advantage, satisfaction
  • I find it easy to all believe its promises. 

But God's word has torn off the deceptive veneer and nailed its real "profit" in these words... 

"from that nature will reap destruction"

Sowing to please the Spirit
I find sowing to please the Spirit is always harder work, and although I believe it is hard work, that 'belief' is a damn lie of the flesh!  'sowing to please the Spirit' is not hard. Jesus said the opposite ...

 "My yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls". 

So if the Lord's yoke is not hard, (the weary find rest!) why is our experience of sowing to the Spirit always harder work than sowing to please the sinful nature? The answer is, it is because our sinful nature is rebellious - it hates God and denies His truth - it is utterly faithless to His promises and actively works against the Spirit for self.

Like the proverbial mum in the supermarket trying to do the simple thing of paying for her goods (sowing to the Spirit) - but the wilful two year old is kicking off big time, screaming, laying on the floor, rebelliously arching his/her back and making it as hard as possible for poor mum to do the simple thing of paying for his dinner - why, because the toddler wants something else! That little toddler in those moments is raw flesh! It is not the sowing to please the Spirit that is hard, it is the rebellious flesh that makes the simple and good thing so hard!

The Diagnosis:
We cannot serve both 'Sinful Self' and 'the Spirit' at the same time. We cannot give in to the demands of the flesh and take on Jesus' yoke - we always choose one over the other.

The Remedy:
Paul writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinth 4:10 & 11

"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

and again ...

"For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake"

This is Paul's choicen, daily slaying the 'self', that is the 'flesh' because Paul knows that our flesh, like Esau of old, will quickly trade our whole birthright for a bowl of crappy lentils!

Have Faith:
Let's stop believing lies of the flesh and ook at the promise of God, allow it to stir your faith and move you to faith filled action ...

[9] Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

You will reap a harvest if you keep sowing to please the Spirit.

So Sow to please the Spirit
[10] Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Doing good to others, especially believes is a large part of 'sowing to please the Spirit'. But remember - we sow to please the Spirit, not ourselves. The service itself may not be pleasing to us.

What 'good' can you do today to please the Lord?

Dealing with that inward groan!
Perhaps you groan inside when you think of slaying self to serve or encourage someone. But that inward groan gives you a great, great opportunity. You get to be like Peter - after fishing all night and catching nothing, Jesus tells Him to ...

"put out a little from the shore and let down the nets for a catch" (Luke 5:3-5)

“Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Peter groaned inwardly at the thought, he would not do it for himself or for anyone else, but only for his Lord. It is great to look up to Jesus and say ... 

"I would never do this for myself or anyone else, but just because it is you that asks, since it pleases you, I will eagerly do it". 

We have the opportunity and the power today, to put a smile on our precious Lord's face. We, in all our smallness, weakness, cold heartedness and fickleness, can actually bring joy to the very heart of the Almighty, just by doing good! What powerful little creatures we are - by the grace of God!

So, let's use that power and do whatever good we can today, to all people and especially the household of faith! Let us be sure to do it for Jesus.

One more thing. When The Lord commanded Peter to lower his nets again, Peter did it .., 

"just because its you that asks"

Peter was not doing it for the catch, He wasn't expecting a catch, but ...

"just because' The Lord asks". 

Jesus told Peter He would get a catch, but that wasn't Peter's motivation. The subsequent catch was a wonderful and unexpected bonus! Let us not serve The Lord for sweeties we think we can get out of Him, but just because He asks, just because we know it is good to do good and it is good to please the Spirit. Then we will be more like Jesus! Then, at the "proper time" we WILL reap a harvest.

First comes the season to sow in faith, then later, at the proper time comes the season to reap. The poor farmer has no guarantee of a crop, perhaps the rains will fail? But for us, we have the guarantee of the Lord's word, we will reap a harvest at the proper time! Rest secure, there will be no failure on the Lord's part to bring this harvest about! So do good today and enjoy the Lord's pleasure in you this very day. One day, the sure bounty will be showered upon you, if not in this life, then even better, in glory!

Let us together, believe today the Lord unbreakable, indestructible, bullet proof word:

Your labour in The Lord is not in vain.

A-men!