Oughtionomous

I’ve just returned home not so long ago from our Friday night mens study. It’s just a small group of us who have committed to reading our way through the gospels 1 chapter a day. We’ve already made it to John chapter 16 and I really feel that as Christians many times we don’t spend enough time reflecting on the words of Jesus himself and really working our way through the things He had to say to us and his disciples.
All too often we look to the writings of Paul and the other disciples and focus on those rather than the actual words of Christ Himself, not that they are unimportant or anyway less inspired, but just that we sometimes lose focus on how deeply important the words of our Saviour are.

Tonight I was impacted by a number of things in Matthew 6.

Fasting
Matt 6:18b
“..And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

I don’t know about anybody else, but fasting has not been a regular part of my life in the last few years. The context of what Jesus is saying in this section clearly refers to the pious and selfish reasons the Pharisees had for fasting. It was to be seen by others and they wanted to be recognised for their “great” sacrifice towards God.

In my own life I have found that times of fasting have lead to a heightened awareness of the Spirit and a more real presence of Christ. It has also lead to Him pointing out sin in my life that I had either become tolerant of or was not even aware of. As we studied the passage tonight I really felt the desire to make fasting a more regular part of my life and to do it not to seem more spiritual but to realise that God provides for me materially in so many ways and I never really take the time to thank Him for it or be grateful for His provision.
I’m challenged now to really try and make it a more regular part of my Christian walk.

Anxiety/Worry
Matt 6:33
“But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

How often have we heard this verse quoted? How often have we sang it? Yet I really don’t make this a focal point of my life.
As a husband, store manager and a person involved in some church ministries I don’t always seek first His Kingdom. I many times seek to get “the job” done or “the ministry” done, rather than looking at the greater perspective. I become worried about the little details of things and become consumed with them rather than how I can best serve God and further His Kingdom.
I become worried about the future of my family, the job situation and how we’ll manage our targets, staff issues etc. etc. The list goes on, but seldom do I step back and look at the big picture and realise that the sovereign God of the universe is in control and that I need to trust Him and make Him the focus of EVERY activity, secular or otherwise, and seek to have Him as Lord over it all.

A little know story about D.L. Moody the great American Evangelist sprung to mind as I studied this passage tonight. I don’t ever see myself as this man, but I sure want to make as many strides toward it as I can.

It was during this first visit to Britain that Moody heard the words which set him hungering and thirsting after a deeper Christian experience and which marked a new era in his life. The words were spoken to him by Mr. Henry Varley, the well known evangelist, as they sat together on a seat in a public park in Dublin. The words were these: “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to Him.” “He said ‘a man’” thought Moody, “he did not say, a great man, nor a learned man, nor a ‘smart’ man, but simply ‘a man.’ I am a man, and it lies with the man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I will try my utmost to be that man.” The words kept ringing in his mind, and burning their way into his soul until finally he was led into the deeper, richer, fuller experience for which his soul yearned. The impression the words made was deepened soon afterward by words spoken by Mr. Bewley, of Dublin, Ireland, to whom he was introduced by a friend. “Is this young man all O and O?” asked Mr. Bewley. “What do you mean by ‘O and O’?” said the friend. “Is he out and out for Christ?” was the reply. From that time forward Moody’s desire to be “O and O” for Christ was supreme.

That is the man I desire to be, I want to be “O and O”.

Here is an excerpt from 4 questions to ask a pro-choice president, a sermon excerpt from John Piper in 1993. As I read them it makes me angry that a person today could say yes to any single question below. Any person who says yes to any one of these is clearly denying the fact that in their heart they are burning to say no, but their postmodern, selfish and depraved mind and will, will not allow them.

Ponder these questions as pro-choice Obama steps into his presidency.

1. Are you willing to explain why a baby’s right not to be killed is less important than a woman’s right not to be pregnant?
2. Or are you willing to explain why most cities have laws forbidding cruelty to animals, but you oppose laws forbidding cruelty to human fetuses? Are they not at least living animals?
3. Or are you willing to explain why government is unwilling to take away the so-called right to abortion on demand even though it harms the unborn child; yet government is increasingly willing to take away the right to smoke, precisely because it harms innocent non-smokers, killing 3,000 non-smokers a year from cancer and as many as 40,000 non-smokers a year from other diseases?
4. And if you say that everything hangs on whether the fetus is a human child, are you willing to go before national television in the oval office and defend your support for the “Freedom of Choice Act” by holding in your hand a 21 week old fetus and explaining why this little one does not have the fundamental, moral, and constitutional right to life? Are you willing to say to parents in this church who lost a child at that age and held him in their hands, this being in your hands is not and was not a child with any rights of its own under God or under law?
- John Piper

I began reading through the Bible on the 2nd January this year. I’ll admit that I haven’t been that consistent in my reading but I have found that reading large chunks of Scripture really helps to put everything into context in the world around me and helps me focus on the Word for the day.
If you’re interested in joining me on my journey through the Bible this year let me know!
Maybe never read any of the Bible and think it’d be a good thing to do. I challenge you to do it this year, it’s only 2 or 3 chapters a day and it really is enriching. There’s a few of us doing it and if you start now you’ll get most of the way through the Bible this year.