I should mention that this is not a question about money. As Pastor Sam said during Sunday's sermon, "God wants me more than He wants my help." And when God says He wants us, He means every fibre of our being. Our nature, our character, our will, our behavior. God wants every area of our life submitted to Him.
One of the consistent tactics of the devil is to convince God's people that they do not need to give themselves to God completely. So we have Christians who say they love God, but whose lives lack evidence of complete surrender and submission to Him.
God is so good: He has given us, through the apostle Paul, a detailed list of the nature, character, will, and behavior of those whose lives are not fully submitted to God. (The bracketed words are from the footnotes found in the NET Bible, accessible online at http://bible.org.)
"For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh [which is dominated by sin], but through love serve one another [in a humble manner]. For the whole law can be summed up [fulfilled] in a single commandment, namely, You must love your neighbor as yourself. [Leviticus 19:18] However, if you continually bite and devour one another [that is, if you are harming and exploiting one another], beware that you are not consumed [destroyed] by one another. But I say, live [conduct your life and behavior] by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition [hostile] to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious [clear and evident]: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery [witchcraft], hostilities [acts of hatred], strife [discord], jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying [acts of envy], murder [murders], drunkenness, carousing [orgies], and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!" (Galatians 5:13-21)
Perhaps the most disturbing part of this passage of Scripture is not the list, but Paul's comment: "I am warning you, as I had warned you before." His beloved church in Galatia seems not to have heeded the first warning. Perhaps some of us are in the same position-- we have heard this before, but we have not heeded.
Paul says in Galatians 1:6, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ, and are following a different gospel." Based on the Galatians 5 list, this "different gospel" is rooted in the worship of self and self-satisfaction, even at the cost of exploiting other Christians in the process. In short, it is serving as an assistant to the devil. No wonder God, through Paul, says "Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!"
So as we pray and prepare to give towards our Lifestyle Stewardship campaign on October 28, let's remember that the giving campaign is ultimately a question of our lifestyle.
Take my body with its passions,
Raw emotions coursing through,
Tempted to follow worldly fashions;
I submit this flesh to You.
Take my mind, its selfish thinking,
Envies of those I should love,
Angry outbursts, gross self-serving;
Purge my heart, my dross remove.
Test me in Your precious desert,
Try me in the Garden prayer:
"Not my will, but Thine, my Father!"
Though it costs, please take me there.
Make my mind the mind of Jesus.
Make my body Your delight.
Fill me with Your gentle Spirit.
Woo me to the good and right.
-G.A.R.
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