Stop working for God…
I came across this today as I was researching for a message. I am still amazed by how God uses John Piper to blow my mind.
Our very lives hang on not working for God. “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Rom. 4:4–5). Workmen get no gifts. They get their due. If we would have the gift of justification, we dare not work. God is the workman in this affair. And what He gets is the glory of being the benefactor of grace, not the beneficiary of service. – John Piper, Brother’s we are not professionals
I wonder if this is why so many of my friends who love God are so worn out all the time? We are trying to sustain ourselves on “our due” and missing out on the gifts of God.
Bro … this is so what I’m preaching this weekend too! Romans 8:1-4.
Religion points to three things; we ought to, we don’t, and now we are at odds with God. Christianity, the message of Jesus is this . . . what the law could not do, God did by sending his Son to be a sacrifice for sin.
It means this whether you are Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu, Eastern kind of religion, you meditate, you are into New Age, it doesn’t matter. Regardless, if there is something in you, that is still trying to earn God’s favor, you have never accepted the free gift of forgiveness.
If there is something in you and every time you pray, it doesn’t matter what your religious tradition is, every time you pray or when you pray you are like “God, I know I am not worthy, I know I have done these things, but I am trying hard and I am giving more and I am serving more and I quit dating for three years . . . or is it five years . . .” or, “God, I am trying. God I am trying to be such a good law keeper that you will shine your favor on me.”
If there is any of that thinking in your heart or mind regardless of where your list came from, you have never accepted the greatest gift you will ever be offered, the gift of absolute forgiveness and a right standing with God.
Christ fulfilled the law, and we get to live and walk in His Grace!!
Good Word here bro!