Relighting your Spiritual passion
One the devils greatest devices is
to tempt Christians to loose their passion for serving God. The devil will try
to deceive you, deaden you or devour you and if none of these work he will
settle for discouraging you. That why its very important that follow the advice
that Paul wrote to the Ephesians.
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that
you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
When we put on the whole armor of
God the devil has no power over us because we have studied our enemy and we
know what kind of devices he uses and possessing that knowledge gives us the
upper hand.
2 Corinthians 2:11 lest
Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.
However, sometimes people and
entire congregations lose their spiritual passion. The church at
Revelation
2:1 "To the angel of the
church of Ephesus write, ' These things says He who holds the seven stars in
His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2"I know your works,
your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you
have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them
liars; 3"and
you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and
have not become weary. 4 "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left
your first love. 5 "Remember therefore from where
you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you
quickly and remove your lampstand from its place -- unless you repent.
First of all you will notice that
the church did have some good qualities but they were starting to go down hill
and Jesus basically says that they had left their first love. They had reached
the point to where they were just going through the motions. As a result of
this Jesus tells them that he will remove their lamp stand. You see there is no
reason for a church to have a lamp stand if there is no fire there for it.
Jesus basically tells them they must repent or pay the consequence. While it is
sad to people and entire congregations loose their spiritual passion we must
realize that it can happen to us. That is why it is very important that we test
ourselves to see if we have lost our spiritual passion. Paul tells us to do
this very thing in
2
Corinthians 13:5 Examine
yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test
yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless
indeed you are disqualified.
One the most important things that
we should posses as Christians is love.
1
Corinthians 13:1 Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all
mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to
feedthe poor, and though I
give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Without love you can never have
passion that God wants you to have. A person can do all kinds of wonderful
things but if they do not do it with love it profits them nothing. Let me ask
you a question. Are you on fire for the Lord or are hiding you light under a
basket? If we do not have a zest for serving Christ then he may remove our lamp
stand as well.
How many people do we know that
used to have a fire for the Lord but then it quickly faded away. It is so sad
when allow ourselves to be lukewarm in our Christianity. God never intended for
his children to be mediocre. So what I would like to do this morning is examine
several principles that will help us to relight our spiritual passion.
All of these principles will come from the Words that Paul
wrote to the Philippians.
Philippians
3:12 Not that I have already
attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that
for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to
have apprehended; but one thing I
do, forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize
of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore let us, as many as are
mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal
even this to you. 16Nevertheless,
to the degree that we have already attained, let
us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
Our first point comes from verse
12 in that we need to have the attitude that the apostle did. Notice the verse
again,
12 Not that I have already attained, or
am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which
Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Paul is one of the hardest working
men that you read about in the NT. He even makes this claim himself in
1 Corinthians 15: 9 For I am the least of the apostles,
who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the
But you see it didn’t matter how
hard he labored he had the attitude that he had not been perfected or that he
had attained his goal is being a servant to God. From this we can learn that we
must never get to the point where we think we have done enough for the Lord and
that we can retire for our Christianity because as soon as we start thinking
like that we will loose our spiritual passion. Jesus tells us that,
Luke 9:23 "If anyone desires to come after
Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Jesus makes it easy for us to
understand that serving God is a daily event. I never will forget the story
that my father-in-law told me about one of his Bible instructors at Freed
Hardeman. Everyday when the class would let out he would always tell his
students to stay green. My father-in-law didn’t understand what he meant by
this so finally his curiosity got the best of him and he asked him what he
meant by that phrase stay green. So the teacher explained to him that as long
as they remained green this meant that they were continuing to grow and if they
stopped growing then they would end up like a dead plant that turns brown and
dies. That is exactly the attitude that we must have as Christians if we want
to keep our spiritual passion alive. Lets look at several things that people
like to say that indicates that their spiritual passion has faded away.
1. I have studied the Bible for
years so I don’t really need study that much any more.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
Proverbs
15:28 The heart of the
righteous studies how to answer, But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
1 Peter
3:15 But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you
a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;
These 3 verses teach us plainly
that we should never reach the point where we think we have studied the Bible
enough. It doesn’t matter how many hours a day you study the word of God will
consistently learn new things that you did find the other times you studied. It
also important to study it to keep it fresh on your mind so that you will know
how find things better when you have the opportunity to share Gods Word with
someone else.
2. Some might Oh I’ve prayed
enough for a lifetime.
1Thessalonians
5:17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Luke 18:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that
men always ought to pray and not lose heart,
Do we get any indication from
these verses that we can get to the point were have prayed to much. Of course
not. If we get to the point where we lose our desire to pray to God then we
have defiantly lost our spiritual passion.
3. I have done enough work in the
church its time to let someone else to take over.
1
Corinthians 15:58 Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Revelation
14:13 Then I heard a voice
from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
now on.' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from
their labors, and their works follow them."
When you look at these 2 verses is
should be clear to us that our work does not come to an end until we are not
capable or we die. Notice Paul says that a Christian is to always about in the
work of the lord and John continues that thought by saying that after a
Christian dies then they get to rest from their labors. It really concerns me
when Christians get to the point where they say that someone else can do the
work because I have already done that work for many years. We need to be very
careful when we start thinking this way because we are setting ourselves up to
be idle and when you become idle when you could be busy for the Lord you will
lose your spiritual passion. If you are already in this condition then the way
you relight your spiritual passion is by rolling up your sleeves and getting
busy for the lord.
Our next point comes from verse 13
Philippians
3:13 Brethren, I do not count
myself to have apprehended; but one thing I
do, forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
Again, we see Paul making it clear
that he doesn’t consider himself to have reached his goal as of yet. But notice
there is thing that he does and that is keeping heaven as his and allowing the
things of the past to drag him down. Just think about everything Paul did
before he became a Christian how he persecuted them and hunted them down even
into foreign cities. How watched with great joy as Stephen was stoned to death.
If Paul allowed himself to dwell on all the bad things he did in the past it
would be hard for him to think about going forward. But, Paul understood that
once he became a Christian that not only was his past sin forgiven they were
forgotten. God has the ability to forget those things in our past. But
sometimes we find it very difficult to forget what we have done and if we dwell
on it all the time it will hinder us and keep us from reaching our goal.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and
the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the
race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God.
Notice the writer tells us to lay
aside every weight. This would include our past. If want to be effective for
God and to have our passion burning hot for him then we must learn to forget
those things of our past and keep our sites on Jesus and the hope of heaven.
Our next point comes from verse 14
Philippians 3:14 I
press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
The word press in the Greek means
to strive intensely. The Greeks used it to describe a hunter eagerly waiting
and pursuing his prey. In a
race it described a person who zealously strove for the prize. This tells us
that Paul was striving with ever muscle and ever fiber of his being to reach
his goal of heaven. This shows the passion he had to serve God until his death.
This is the same attitude that every Christian should have when it comes to serving God and seeking the goal of
heaven.
In Mat 10 Jesus was sending his
disciples out on a small mission and he gave them a warning about what would
happen to them but notice what he tells them in verse
Matthew 10:22 "And you will be hated by
all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.
This is what it all about. As
Christians we must endure
all the hardships and all the temptation of this life by keeping our sight on
Jesus and remaining faithful to him. Jesus states those who endure to the end
will be saved and they will receive the crown of righteousness Rev. 2:10.
In order for us to remain faithful and not lose our spiritual passion it takes
an inward determination. If you do not convince yourself of how important it is
to love God with all of your heart, mind and soul how are you ever going to be
able to press forward? If we don’t have a passion for Christ then how is anyone
going to be able to see Christ in us?
Philippians
3:15 Therefore let us, as
many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God
will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let
us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind. 17 Brethren, join in following my
example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
Paul is teaching us that we should
have the same mind as he did. That is not thinking that we have already
obtained our goal but that we should continue to grow and do many things for
the lord as we are able. Notice we are to walk by the same rule and those rules
come from the word of God.
If anyone should have been
discouraged to the point that they lost their spiritual passion it should have been
Paul. I want us to look at the summary of what Paul went through in his walk of
faith.
2 Corinthians 11: 23 Are they ministers of Christ? -- I
speak as a fool -- I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above
measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received
forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods;
once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been
in the deep; 26 in
journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own
countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the
wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in
sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and
nakedness -- 28 besides the other things, what comes
upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.
If Paul could keep his spiritual
passion through all of this it should inspire us to keep our spiritual passion
and even if you have allowed the flame to go out in your life you can relight
your spiritual passion by rededicating you life to Christ again. If we can
follow Paul example we will be able to say what he said at the end of his life.
2 Timothy
4:6 For I am already being
poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on
that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Notice he described is walk of
faith as fight because that is exactly what it is. Day in and day out we must
fight to remain faithful to lord and when we do we can know that their will be
a crown of righteousness laid for us as well.
I hope this lesson has encouraged
you in some way to examine your life and to determine just how great your
spiritual passion is or is not. As long as your living its not to late to
rededicate yourself to God and get your flame burning hot for the lord.