God created us to worship Him. This daily devotional looks at the several forms that disciples of Christ should take to worship Him.
Nuggets
- God calls us to worship Him.
- God calls us to have a relationship with Him.
- God expects us to live our lives according to His character.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
Ooo, baby. This devotion is going every which way but where I thought it was going.
The good thing about looking at different sermons to see what others say is I get their different perspectives.
The bad thing is you never know what perspective you are going to get. You never know what scenic route you are going to take.
So, strap in. Come along for the ride. Hopefully, it will make sense when we get to our destination.
We are going to see what we can gain from these next two verses in Romans 14.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
We’ve talked about what the Sabbath is. We’ve also talked a couple of times about how to observe the Sabbath.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
The Sabbath was always a day designed to rest and remember. We are to focus on and worship God.
The Law of the Sabbath
“One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. Whoever observes the day, observes it for the honor of the Lord. Whoever eats, eats for the Lord, since he gives thanks to God; and whoever does not eat, it is for the Lord that he does not eat it, and he gives thanks to God” (Rom. 14: 5-6 CSB)
God calls us to worship Him.
Transparency. I had a really hard time reading Wardlaw’s and Robinson’s sermons. Wardlaw had a lot of double negatives.
Resource
Both of them were talking about the repeal of the Sabbath.
I was screaming inside, “No, No, No!!! God wants us to worship Him!!!!!!!”
It is okay, Chick. God does want us to worship Him. What it is talking about here is God was changing the way they were to worship Him.
There was almost a visible line — before Christ and after Christ. Before Christ, there was a hope in the salvation to come. After Christ, there was salvation onto which they had to grab.
The Law of Our Relationship with God
God calls us to have a relationship with Him.
God wanted the Jews to change their focus. They were no longer supposed to offer the ceremonial sacrifices to show their devotion to God. They were to live their lives to show their changed character, indicating a deeper relationship with God.
The burning question is, does that relationship with God have the same rules as observance of the Sabbath did?
God has an individual relationship with each of us. In my opinion, He builds that relationship based on what we need to get us to His character. That is what happens on each of our Sanctification Roads – making each of them different.
In a way, you can say it is the same. God is sanctifying us. In a way, you can say it is different. He is sanctifying us differently.
We kind of addressed this recently. I was working on the newsletter last night — well, this morning (couldn’t sleep). We talked recently about essential doctrines.
We all see God differently. We can be right or wrong on some things. We know we won’t get everything right!
We said if we can agree on the bottom line (which Spurgeon called essential doctrines), the others are subsequent to that. One essential doctrine is that we ABCD.
Resource
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Lyth did say so much isn’t set in stone. He wrote, “Under the Christian dispensation much is left to the determination of a man’s own conscience.”
Resource
Lyth gives two caveats:
- There is no room for doubt.
- It affects us alone.
Ooo, baby. Doesn’t Satan try to ramp up our doubts? I think about my own situation right now. I know I’m having these seizures on the left side of my brain. As of yet, I have no idea what is causing them. I have no idea when they started.
Because of that, I have no idea how concerned I should be about them — really. Should I consider this just something to live with? Or is this something really, really serious?
That is just Satan trying to worm his way in between God and me. He is trying to cause me to doubt that God can take care of me.
Satan is not going to get there.
Others cannot break this freedom. We cannot break their freedom.
Oh, yes. It is a two-way street on things that God has not specifically decreed. If we expect others to respect our way of thinking, we have to respect theirs.
The Law of Everything Else
God expects us to live our lives according to His character.
Remember, this is only on things that God has not ruled on. We aren’t rewriting Scripture. We aren’t throwing out the laws and commandments.
Lyth put it this way. He wrote, “It is the right of determining our own conduct in things indifferent.”
Resource
We have to be very careful. We still have the sinful nature in us. Satan is going to try to get us to keep sinning.
We have to daily — sometimes minute by minute — make decisions to follow God’s way. When God hasn’t spelled out what that way actually is, we have to determine what He would do based on His character.
We spent all of last year talking about the self discipline needed to make the right decisions. We also said, though, that we cannot do that without God.
We will need that self discipline as we interact with the world. Questions arise all the time as to what is appropriate conduct for disciples. Worldview people are judging us on what they consider is the law.
If God has not given us a law or commandment on something, we should make decisions based on His character. The What Would Jesus Do? question to get us thinking about the Godview works well.
This is where the second commandment comes into play. “The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself …” (Mk. 12: 31 CSB). Whatever we do should be based on love.
Greene said that we need to strongly believe what are duties are in every circumstance. He wrote, “We should reach conclusions concerning right and wrong upon our own responsibility.”
Resource
That means we have to know what we believe. Knowing what we believe comes from seeking God. When we do all the steps in seeking God, we get a solid foundation.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
Making the Connections
When we are determining how much freedom we have, of course, we need to go to God’s Word. God tells us explicitly how He wants us to live.
We do have to follow man’s laws. Being children of God do not get us out of following the laws of the land.
Lyth reminded us we also have to make sure what we do is “not calculated to offend the consciences of others.” Just because something doesn’t break a law or commandment doesn’t mean it is the best thing to do.
Resource
How Do We Apply This?
Lyth gave us a two-point test we can run things through to see if they pass muster
- Does it give God glory?
- Will we give God thanks?
Resource
So, how do we tie all of this up in a bow? God wants us to worship Him. He wants us to go to His house consistently and praise His name.
Most importantly, God wants us to live for Him. He wants us to exhibit His character and all that we do. He wants us to show His love and His mercy to others as we interact with them.
Father God. We praise you as Creator and Sustainer. We long to exhibit Your love and mercy to others. Show us Who You are so that we may imitate You as we witness to others. Amen.
What do you think?
Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
If you don’t understand something and would like further clarification, please contact me.
If you have not signed up for the email daily or weekly providing the link to the devotions and the newsletter, do so below.
If God has used this devotion to speak with you, consider sharing it on social media.