Live for the Lord - Whispering Hills Lectures 2024
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Intro:
Intro:
Good evening. (Thank you to Matt and the elders for inviting me).
“Live for Jesus, O my brother, His disciple forever be; Render not to any other, what alone the Lord’s should be.”
“Live for Jesus, wandering sinner, Under Satan serve no more; Of the promised prize a winner Thou may’st be, when life is o’er.”
“Live for Jesus in life’s morning; At the noontide hour be His, And at eve, when day is turning, and inherit endless bliss.”
“Live for Jesus, live for Jesus; Give Him all thou hast to give; On the cross the world’s Redeemer gave His life that thou mightst live.”
The words of the hymn “Live for Jesus” by a woman named Eden Latta — One of my favorites.
My topic tonight is “Living for the Lord.” (When I first got this topic, I thought - “Wow, this is going to be a LONG sermon! Like, we could preach the whole New Testament, right?!” Obviously, we won’t have time for that tonight, but we want to hit some of the highlights)
As we begin tonight, what all comes to your mind when I say those words?
“Living for the Lord ...”
What all does that entail?
Well, that’s the wrong question.
The correct question is - “What does living for the Lord NOT entail?”
And the answer is that EVERYTHING in our lives are involved in should be dictated by the fact that we are … LIVING FOR THE LORD!
Why?
Because we’re Christians!
Col. 3:17
And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Because Col. 3:23 says
And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,
What are we saying?
We’re saying that EVERY FACET OF OUR LIVES should be characterized by the fact that we are living for the Lord!
That means my entertainment choices are going to revolve around the question: “Will my Lord approve of this?”
My attire (the things I wear), my speech (the things I say), my actions (the things I do), my thoughts (what’s in my mind), and the places I go — ALL are dictated by whether or not the Lord would approve.
And I can give you a verse for each one! :)
Multiple verses actually!
My attire:
Gal. 3:27 -
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Some translations say “have CLOTHED YOURSELVES with Christ.”
Somebody says, “That’s talking about SPIRITUALLY clothing yourself with Christ!”
(And you’d be right). But does anyone want to accuse Jesus of one who would wear something inappropriate?
(No? Why not?!)
Because He wouldn’t wear something inappropriate, and neither should we as we clothe ourselves with Him!
You could also look at what the Bible has to say about “modest apparel” or “respectable apparel,” right? (1 Tim. 2:9-10).
What about my speech?
We could list several verses here:
James 1:26 immediately comes to mind:
If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.
I also think of Matt. 12:36
But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
And Eph. 4:29
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
Entertainment choices:
In Romans chapter 1 Paul gives us a long list of sinful practices, right?
And what does it say at the end of the chapter?
Rom. 1:32
who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
My actions:
This one really is a broad topic?
What verse DOESN’T cover our actions?!
But that said, there are a couple that really quickly come to mind.
James 1:22
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Mat. 7:21
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
My thoughts:
This is an easy one: Php. 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
(Or “think on these things.”)
You could also look at 2 Cor. 10:5, which talks about “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
(How about that?!)
The Places I Go:
“Be careful little feet where you go!” (We often sing that song with the children, right?)
Where does the idea come from?
How about Psalm 1, right?
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
So what we’re saying in the introduction tonight is that EVERY FACET OF OUR LIVES …
All these things we just mentioned and more … (Could’ve mentioned how we vote, who we marry, how we rear children - On and on we could go!)
ALL aspects of our lives are dictated by our relationship with the Lord!
So with that in mind, let’s get to our main text tonight …
I thought about where I wanted to go for a main text for this topic “Living for the Lord,” and there’s several that we could have picked (that’s the Beauty of the Bible — You find the same message taught throughout!) :)
But I decided that we would go to …
Romans 12:
Romans 12:
Such an important chapter!
I’ve often heard it said that Acts chapter 2 is “the hub of the Bible.”
I think of other really important chapters like Matthew 5-7 (the Sermon on the Mount) and many others.
And when I think of Romans chapter 12, I think we might do well to call it “where the rubber meets the road,” so to speak!
Why?
Because the Christian life is described as a TRANSFORMATION here — Something that is the result of radical change!
The Greek word translated “transformed” in verse 2 is metamorphoo and it really is the idea of a METAMORPHOSIS (a GROWTH process, a transformation)!
And thus, when a person comes up from the watery grave of baptism (Rom. 6:1-7; Col. 2:11-14), is he a changed creature?!
You better believe it!
But is he DONE? Is that IT?!
No, really it’s only the BEGINNING of the Christian life!
He is expected to continue with UPWARD TRAJECTORY to GROW as a Christian each day!
Thus we have passages like Gal. 5:22-23 (the fruit of the Spirit) and 2 Pet. 1:5-9 (the Christian virtues!)
So we have to transform, and Romans chapter 12 (in part) will tell us how to do it!
Rom. 12:1-2
Beseech - Beg!
A living sacrifice - Gal. 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Holy - “Be ye holy, for I am holy” we’re told repeatedly in Scripture!
Acceptable to God? What does that imply? (We can live UNACCEPTABLY before God, can’t we?!)
Reasonable service - God has not asked too much from us!!!
Do not be conformed to the world - This is hard!
It’s not easy because we are IN the world, and the world doesn’t like us!
In fact, Jesus said that if the world HATES us, know that it hated HIM first (John 15:18)!
Transformed - Metamorphoo!
The Renewing of your mind - That’s where it starts!
You’ve got to change your mindset if you’re ever going to become a Christian!
And you’ve got to change your mindset if you’re ever going to GROW as a Christian!
You’ve got to be willing to LEARN something from the Word of God!
You’ve got to be TEACHABLE!
And then notice this last part - That you may PROVE what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God!
Sounds like God has expectations for how we’re supposed to live, right?!
Some of these folks who abused God’s grace (And maybe unintentionally) - But they treat God’s grace as a LICENSE to live in unrepentant sin - They need to re-read this verse! (Rom. 6:1ff)
Rest of Romans chapter 12 - Read through and comment quickly!
Well, let me make a quick point that I want to stick in your mind, and then I’ve got a couple more verses and the lesson will be yours …
And the statement that I want you to think about and I want to be seared into your mind is this …
You Cannot Live for the Lord and Continue in Willful Sin:
You Cannot Live for the Lord and Continue in Willful Sin:
You cannot live for the Lord … and live in willful sin!
Let that sink in for a moment.
There’s various verses you could look at:
Rom. 6:1ff that we briefly mentioned earlier.
1 John 1:5-10 which talks about continually walking in the light.
But the main one I want to look at right now comes from Hebrews chapter 10.
We often quote this section (and rightly so) when it comes to problems with ATTENDANCE:
Now mind you, I believe a Christian with an attendance problem (a Heb. 10:25) problem first has a Matt. 6:33 problem!
But he needs to hear this too!
So let’s read it!
Heb. 10:24-39 (Read in Bible and comment).
What does that say about sinning willfully?
It says we better not do it!!!
Alright, final passage.
Turn with me to ...
1 Cor. 6:9-11:
1 Cor. 6:9-11:
You cannot live for the Lord and simultaneously continue in the sin of fornication …
You cannot live for the Lord and simultaneously continue in the sin of idolatry!
You cannot live for the Lord and simultaneously continue in the sin of adultery!
(Go down the list).
BUT …
But take great comfort in the last verse, verse number 11!
“And such WERE some of you. But you were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God!”
In other words, they were CHANGED! They REPENTED and obeyed the Gospel!
In other words, they didn’t remain in their sins!
And neither should you!
(Thank you).