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What is your idea of devotion to the Lord? What does that look like to you? Is it showing up to one service, Sunday morning & Sunday night, Sunday AM & PM & Wed. Night? If your idea of whole devotion to the Lord starts and ends with what you do on Sunday’s & Wed. then we have missed the boat. The boat left the dock days ago and in is out to sea. How can loving the Lord with all our heart soul strength & mind be something we only do during select moments of our lives. I think the reason we all struggle with devotion is because its hard. It’s also hard to qualify what exactly does devotion imply or entail. I think we try to with God what we do with everything in our lives. We put it in a time slot. If I do this so many hours of the day, if I serve more or think about God more than I do everything else then I’m devoted. The word means to continually attend or serve someone. Best idea or picture of devotion that I could come with is Jesus. Think about Jesus for a moment. He came to do the will of the father. He is about his fathers business. As he goes from town to town what is he doing? He is interacting with the world to influence it for God. Everyday. When things were not going his way, yes. When it was difficult, yes. When his family and even his own disciples were distracted he was focused on the mission. He did not waiver. He did not let anything distract him from wholly devoting Himself to the Father. Distraction I believe are the real threat to whole devotion to the Lord. I think Paul guided buy the H.S. to the church in Corinth felt the same way. 1 Cor. 7:35
This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
Why is Paul saying this. The goal of all this so that you can secure undistracted devotion to the Lord. The goal for all of us should be undistracted devotion to the Lord. If we are going to be wholly devoted to the Lord we need to get rid of distractions. WHY?
We live in a world full of distractions and we need to understand that distractions are dangerous. Distractions can be devastating. A mother who is driving her children to school turns her attention for just a moment to arbitrate a squabble between her children or to fasten a child’s seat belt, and fails to heed a stop sign. A businessman driving to the airport takes his eyes off the road for just a moment to dial a number on his mobile phone or to change the tape in his stereo, and fails to observe a stalled car directly in his path. Following alcohol and drugs, I would guess that distractions are one of the major contributors to automobile accidents.
Some of us are more susceptible to distraction than others, but all of us are easily diverted from our mental focus. For example, you and I would both be distressed to know how many times in this sermon your attention will drift from our text and what I am saying to something else, like the football game which starts half way through this sermon, or the dinner warming in the oven, or the guests coming this afternoon, or the ministry group meeting tonight. We are constantly forced to refocus our minds, which drift so easily. Brothers and sisters distraction or devastating to our faith and our devotion to the Lord. Our faith can be shipwrecked and we can even loose our faith because of distractions. The world is full of distractions. Everything is a distraction. It seems as if everything is made to be a distraction. bill boards signs with flashing lights commercials. Its funny because distracting people is one of the common tactics used talking about the issues. I watched an interview recently and the host kept asking direct questions and instead of just simply answering with a yes or no they danced all around and brought all these other things that had nothing to do with the question. They think that if they focus on all this other stuff we will be distracted and loose our focus on the question.
Paul in 1 Cor. 7 is trying to say is that we are easily distracted with worldly things. Let me give you some biblical examples of people who were distracted by worldly things.
Mary & Martha Luke 10:38-42.
Disciples who’s the greatest Lk. 22:24-30.
Judas distracted by money Jn. 12.
peter distracted by the waves Mt. 14:30
But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.”
And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.”
But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”
But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
What is distracting you. What is keeping you from being wholly devoted to the Lord? Technology. Is it a particular app. take it off your phone. is it your phone, learn to turn it off and put it away. Is social media, is it streaming networks? Is it fun distractions, hobbies etc. is it money and obtaining more stuff? Is it certain friends? video games, sports. women, men?
the promise of tomorrow
pursuit of perfection
the regret of yesterday
accumulation of possessions
the desire for wealth
the need for notoriety
constant comparison
pursuit of pleasure
victim mentality
We need to get rid of the distractions in our life so we can be wholly devoted to the Lord.
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
replace those distractions with Godly things.