Filled To The Brim: Gods Glorification or Self Gratification

An indicator of my satisfaction in Christ is seen best when my cup (my heart) is frustratingly bumped. What spills over shows what I’m satisfied in; Gods glorification or my self gratification. If bitterness is the overflow in my frustration, then I am feasting on my own glory. I am feeding the endless appetite of my own ego with the stale leftovers of self significance.

However, if love for mercy and passion for forgiveness eagerly spring forth; and a sweet enjoyment of Gods sovereignty in the moment, regardless or my circumstance, erupts out of my heart like a dam that is overcome by the pressing water; then I know I am filled with the Spirit of God. I am feasting on His glory and enjoying Him in the fellowship of His Son Jesus.

The Fruit of Both of These Are Significant.

The root of self gratification is vanity. Vanity is the belief that indulging in yourself is more gratifying, more pleasurable, and more satisfying than God. It is a pursuit of "self-seeking"( self interest, self glory, self pleasure, self-gain, etc.) This is blasphemy and very deadly. This is deadly because it is rooted in unbelief; namely that God is not our all in all. Paul warns of self indulgence's deadliness in 1 Timothy 5:6 “ but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.” Jesus warned the Pharisees of their self-indulgence in Matthew 23:25. In verse 27 he said they “…are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” A life of self-indulgence is a dead life. And when your cup is pushed, deadness is what pours out of it. The world sees this on a regular bases and is unimpressed. A cup full of deadness is a dime a dozen and not worth even a sip.

The fruit of God’s glorification is eternal joy. When God call us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” he promises a blessing to the man that trust in Him. That blessing is an absolute and eternal fulfillment in satisfying every dark corner of our vast heart. In Psalm 16:11 we see a glimpse of what awaits us when we empty ourselves and come into the presence of God; “ You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” In His presence we are promised joy and eternal pleasures. All of these pleasures are at the right hand of God. And it is Christ who is seated at His right hand. In Christ "we have the confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God.”(Hebrews 10:19)

The only way to draw near to God with confidence is through Christ. The only way to Christ is to be empty of yourself. There is no room for self-indulgence in Christ. This is what it means to crucify yourself daily. It is so that you may be filled with more of Christ and less of yourself. In doing so God pours His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). The result is His love spilling out of us and onto those who around us; even those who frustratingly bump our cups; intentionally or unintentionally. The world marvels at this and is drawn to drink.

The question I pose to myself and to you is, “What is your cup filled with? Is it Godliness or Godlessness?” If you don't know, watch and see how you react when you are "bumped." Be good and God bless.

Six Charges For My Graduating Senior (Rusty Collins)

1. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

To trust in the Lord with all of your heart is to be undeniably sold out to God through His Son King Jesus. It is to be unapologetically committed, without reserve, to the Lord in the salvation of your soul and the direction of your life. To be sold out is to be confident in His leading, careless in your loving, secure in your yielding, and sure in His salvation.

2. Lean not on your own understanding.

To trust in the Lord with all of your heart is to have a healthy distrust of your self. It is to submit your limited and finite understanding to the infinite wisdom of almighty God. Worship in the words “ I don’t know” and plea for God give you understanding. Hear the words of Jeremiah the prophet as he proclaimed in verse 23 of the 10th chapter; “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”

3. In all your ways acknowledge Him.

In all your ways submit to the Lordship of Christ. In everything you do, whether you eat or drink, you do it all for his glory and by his grace. You have no ownership in your life. You have been bought with a price. You are not your own. You must have no will of your own, only a single pure desire to put Christ on display by abiding in His will. (Believers Bible Commentary pg 798)

4. Do not be wise in your own eyes.

Satan’s self-righteousness banished him from the eternal pleasures of His maker. He believed he was wise in his own eyes. He tried to elevate himself above God. God will destroy the proud. Just as Satan was banished from God’s presence for his pride, so shall you be banished in your self-righteousness from your eternal joy; namely Jesus. It is hateful to God and to Christ to walk in self-righteousness. In doing so you call the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit a liar. Humble yourself before the Lord and He will exalt you. Ask for wisdom and He will give it freely. Heed the warning from Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

5. Fear the Lord.

“The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries all around. His lightening light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim His righteousness and all peoples see His glory!” (Psalm 99: 1-6) Be in awe of His power. Be enthralled by His majestic beauty. Live knowing He can kill your body. Die believing He can destroy your soul! Do this that you may live. He is God and there is no other; He is the Lord and there is none like Him!

6. Depart from evil.

Departing from evil is committing treason against your will and aligning yourself with the omnipotent God. It is setting a course to confront the evil tidings of your heart and to prevail in the command; “ Be holy, for I Am Holy.” (Lev 11:44) The world is evil. Therefore to depart from evil is to detach yourself from the world; which is a holy convocation. R.C. Sproul said in his book The Holiness of God, “ We are to be purified daily in our pursuit of holiness.” Your life will be marked by what you pursue. If you pursue the world, it will be marked with worldliness. If you pursue Christ, it will be marked by holiness.

There is a promise neatly tucked in these charges. If you do these things God promises to direct your path, or literally “make your way smooth and strait.” This does not mean that trouble will not seem to triumph at times in your life. What it means is that no matter what, “All things will work together for the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Manufacturing Jesus: A Plea For God Centered Pastors and Youth Rally's

Being a youth pastor I receive all kinds of mail from many customized ministries. The brochure is typically very flashy, with bright colors, and pictures of people doing radical stunts like sky diving or bungee jumping. The phrases are bold, short, and verb happy. They all come with the same motives and package; to try to sell a manufactured experience of Jesus. They promise to “move” your youth to the next level of Jesus through cutting edge music, energetic speakers (going no more than 15 minutes), a flashy pyrotechnics show, and all the glittery smoke one can imagine. The really successful ones will provide a brief leadership workshop for all youth pastors and their youth workers, that will equip you to increase your youth group and maintain a deep and fervent passion for Christ. In one mailer I found the group brining in a motivational speaker with wonderful credentials for the world, but no connection to the church.

I was not surprised by this considering the slippery slope many of these ministries are riding on. This is devastating to me and I find myself getting disgruntle every time I receive an invite to a three day weekend of hype for Jesus. What is even more disheartening is to watch so many youth leaders and youth fall for it hook, line, and sinker. I yearn for something genuine. I long for something real, and so do my youth. We long for an authentic time with Jesus.

We Are The World

One night I was driving down the road on my way to town pondering this very issue. I found myself trying to figure out why the church is allowing this and what to do about it. My conclusion as to why is simple; we have bought into the “worlds” way of doing things. We run our churches like corporations. We treat worship like a concert (and have made that into a billion dollar industry). We write self-help books on “How To Live Your Best Life Now” or “How To Have a Purpose Driven Life.” Our souls are perishing on fast food sermons that are cheap and quick. And if “I’m not lovin it“, or if I do not feel the “we treat you right” atmosphere, then I will leave and go find a place that will cater to my needs. And rest assured, there are many churches out there to choose from. In the words of the most beloved Michael Jackson (who would be welcome as a worship leader in many of these churches), “We are the World!”

[Of course if our churches are living this way, then it is no surprise that our “youth retreats or youth workshops” are run with the same philosophy. They are just mere shadows of what is going on at the home church.]

Blasphemy and Unbelief

Many of today’s churches believe we must manufacture and assemble our worship services to a “relevant Jesus“. Which means our music must be contemporarily subjective and our sermons must not go above the ankles in the theological swimming area. The reason being is that people “now a days” do not want to hear sin preached from the pulpit and have a lustful appetite to be entertained. Our attention span can only handle information in 10-20 minute sound bites and we must make sure it is uplifting and positive. Anything outside of this will kill the church.

Blasphemy! This very idea is rooted in the unbelief that God is the one who increases and maintains His church. This unbelief takes form in the presumption that man is in control of our salvation via power of manipulation or persuasion. Many evangelicals preach this untruth in the church today. For example, a very influential evangelical of today wrote in his top selling book, “If I can push a persons emotional buttons, I can get them saved.” (paraphrase) To think that we have the ability to save somebody from their complete depravity is not only pampas and arrogant, but is not biblical in any means. The bible teaches something completely contrary to this.

In Acts 2:38-39, Peter concludes a sermon to all who were listening in Jerusalem at the coming of the Holy Spirit, with a call to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all the Lord our God will call.” Further on in Acts 2:47 it says, “ And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Peter preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and trusted that God would add to the church. The two go hand in hand. He did not do a dance or bring in the hottest Messianic Jew to sing a self-centered ballad about God. He simply preached the word. The Lord was adding those whom He was calling. And he was calling them by the testimony of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the word (John 1:1-8). Christ himself is the good news and the truth unto salvation (John 14:6).

Jesus Was A Magnet

Jesus was the center piece of His ministry. Every time he spoke, people by the droves flocked to hear and marvel at his teaching, preaching, and healing. In the gospel of Matthew in chapter 4:24 it says, “… Great multitudes followed him- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.” (cf Mathew 8:1, 18; Mark 3:7,8) They followed him because he healed the sick and taught with authority (Matthew 7:28-29). When he spoke there was power that spawned life in the soul of the lost in concordance with the given promise of His Father (John 6:37,44, 64). Those whom He was calling heard and responded with a sincere heart because the Father was drawing them to add to His church (John 6:44-47). Simon, who was called Peter and his brother Andrew dropped their nets and left immediately when Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19) In verse 21-22, we see the same thing with James and John. They immediately dropped what they were doing and followed Christ after he had called them. Those who hear the gospel (the good news of Jesus) and respond are the fulfillment of the promise in John 6:37, “All that the Fathers gives Me will come to Me.” Jesus is the magnet if you will, that will draw all whom the Father has given to be redeemed for His church. This is still happening today and is still the means in which God is building His church; namely, putting Christ on display through His word and in the lives of His believers.

Putting Jesus On Display

The solution is simple; gives us Jesus. The means is just as simple: put him on display. And what I mean by putting him on display is to preach the word of God! Give us the depths and riches of His truth. Take us diving into the deep end of the vast sea of theology and doctrine. Sing songs that remind me of His greatness in power and wonder in mercy. Tell of the cross, the wonderful cross, in which he bids me to come and die and find that I, may truly live! Equip me with what I need to live a life that puts Christ on display through the truths of his word ( i.e. expository preaching). Don’t be afraid to take me on a 50 minute hike through the mountains and valleys of scripture. Trust the Holy Spirit to sustain me and my youth as we wrestle with the hardships of the text. Do this that we may live with a passion to make Christ supreme! This is what I long for in a youth event! No smoke, no hype, no cutting edge shallow Christian band, no motivational speaker that uses dead business principles in the living church. Just give me Jesus, my blessed Jesus, who is more beautiful than any glitter and comes completely and self-sufficiently intact. Put Christ on display and He will add to His church. It’s a promise!