Set Your Affection
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2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Times when we are not excited about what God has given us
When we relegate where God has put us as a duty, rather than an adventure we miss God’s presence guiding and empowering us
Finding joy and excitement in
Marriage
Raising Children
Work
Relationship with Jesus
In your church
God wants you to be content in what God has given you
When you stop finding joy in what God has given you, your flesh will justify that it’s acceptable to find pleasure in what God has not approved for you.
When you are discontent with what God has given you, you will be in a place of unhappiness
Contentment is a decision
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; And be thou ravished always with her love.
Ravished = passionate, so in love that you don’t want to lose
We’re not trying to just coexist in our relationships
Every God-given relationship
Passionate about our Spouse
Passionate about God’s Word
Feelings will never
Passionate about our children
In love with your children
Passionate about our Work
Energy
Passionate about our Church
Loving one another
Loving the unsaved
Loving those who have been hurt
Loving
Passionate about Prayer
What are we passionate about
Passionate about Our Lord
We Choose where our affections are Resting
5 Beloved, thou doest faithfully whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers;
You choose where you set your affections.
We only have a set amount of affections
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
What to seek first is a decision that we make
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Whatever you do - That means there is a decision
I’m going to teach my children for God’s glory
Work for God’s glory
Study for God’s glory
Serve others for God’s glory
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
A heart filled with love as we serve the Lord in all we do.
Familiarity can lead to discontentment
marriage
children
church
Loving your family
Loving your church family - heartily
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
God is going to have all of my heart
all of my soul
All of my mind
What do you get most excited about ?
We have no right to come to church and have a bad attitude to another Christian.
We have no right to respond to others in discontentment
Familiarity
Commonplace
Be Vigilant That We Don’t Have A Shallow Familiarity With God - That Destroys Faith
You may know many facts about the one true God, the Lord, the God of Scripture. But do you know God, the living God? Do you have an abiding knowledge of him, such that you know him deeply and experientially today? If you have that abiding knowledge, there will not be fear or guilt or apathy or indifference or boredom or bitterness toward God.
There will be awestruck wonder, all-consuming reverence, and deep gratitude. When we lack these, God is becoming or has become commonplace to us. The affection that should be directed toward him alone is now directed someplace else. The hope that should rest solely in His plans and power has been placed, by your heart, in another thing. And so, you become like these Nazarenes. Like them, you need Jesus to replace your shallow familiarity with something else. But with what?
We need Jesus to replace our shallow familiarity with the kind of knowledge of Him that comes when we recognize and embrace who he is, all he’s done, and what he will yet do. The kind of knowledge that causes us to realize we didn’t know him like we thought we did.
Now notice verse [57]. Matthew says, “they took offense at him.” Interesting phrase. They were offended by Jesus. This language was used by Jesus back in Matthew 11:6
6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.
In chapter 8, the prophet Isaiah describes the coming Messiah, the future Savior, like this: “He will become…a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling…and many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken.”
Why would they stumble? Because they misunderstand God’s plans and the Savior’s purpose. They want something in this life that the Messiah won’t give them. So, they reject him.
The people of Nazareth who were offended by Jesus were those who were confident that they knew God’s plan for his kingdom work and Jesus was obviously off-base. From their perspective, Jesus is dead wrong. These people hear Jesus, but they think they know better than him when it comes to God. Their confidence is vain confidence. It is conceited. They have a high view of themselves.
In John Bunyan’s 17th century book called Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan uses allegory to describe the journey of a Christian through this life to what he calls “the Celestial City,” to eternal life with God. The main character, who he calls “Christian,” faces many challenges and many ups and downs along the way. At one point, Christian is accompanied by a friend, named Hopeful, and as they search for the right way, they meet a man called “Vain Confidence.” They ask Vain Confidence if he knows the way to the celestial gate, and he says he does. So, they follow him, but when night falls, he is far ahead and they lose sight of him.
Bunyan writes, “Therefore he that was ahead of them, being Vain-confidence by name, because he could not see the way ahead of him, fell into a deep pit; it was a trap specially prepared by the prince of that region for the purpose of catching vain-glorious fools so that they might be dashed to pieces in their fall. Now Christian and his companion heard him fall. So they called out to learn how Vain-confidence was doing; but there was no reply except for some groaning.”
“Vain Confidence” thought he knew the way, much like these Nazarenes who rejected Jesus. They think they know the way to God, they know God’s plans, and a Suffering Messiah, with a humble, slow-growing kingdom that is not visible right away, couldn’t be the plan of God. No way, no how. That’s their self-centered view.
And so, notice again Jesus’ reply. Verse 57, “Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” [58] And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. The gospel of Mark tells us he did do a few miracles there. Mark says, “he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.”
It was not that Jesus was stripped of his power, but that Jesus reserved his powerful works for those who would believe. His miracles were not simply an entertaining sideshow. They were meant to testify to his divinity. But those with vain confidence would only stumble over Jesus. They would be tripped up. And they would be unable to bask in awe of God incarnate.
They thought they knew God’s ways, but The Way was standing before their eyes, and they knew him not.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Have you been stripped of the awe of God because in your circumstances you think you know better than God?
Jesus describes the way to God as one of humility, of sacrifice, of suffering, and a way that requires God’s mercy and grace. Rather than being propelled upward to God by his Son Jesus, will you stumble over Jesus? We all need Jesus to replace the vain confidence that we have in ourselves, but with what?
With confidence in Jesus himself, in his sufficiency to redeem us, and in his power to save and change us.
With confidence in Jesus himself as the only one who could live a righteous life in our place. With confidence that Jesus alone, no other god no other religion or system belief, only Jesus can give us the right to become children of God – not by works, but by faith alone.
Marriage
Children
Parents
Church is divine
2. Be Vigilant To Continue In Awe Of God.
When I, in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration
And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art
With a deep knowledge, the kind that comes through sound, God-centered worship which leads you to see and acknowledge your sin and your need for Him. The kind of deep knowledge that comes when, as you face trials and difficulties, you go to the cross, where you find a Savior who has suffered and who understands.
The kind of deep knowledge comes in the context of relationships in the body of Christ. God has established the community of the church as the place where we build one another up, he says
Ephesians 4:13 KJV 1900
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Putting all of our heart in whatever we do
When we pray together in just a few minutes
We are not just acting and reacting -
When we interact with our family - there should be an aspect of awe because these relationships are supernatural
We are to be operating in Awe in our relationship with God
Operating in awe in our relationship with our spouse
Why did you marry your spouse
David’s Psalm of praise.
1 I will extol thee, my God, O king; And I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
2 Every day will I bless thee; And I will praise thy name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.
4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, And shall declare thy mighty acts.
5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, And of thy wondrous works.
6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: And I will declare thy greatness.
7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, And shall sing of thy righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; Slow to anger, and of great mercy.
9 The Lord is good to all: And his tender mercies are over all his works.
10 All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; And thy saints shall bless thee.
11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, And talk of thy power;
12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall, And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
15 The eyes of all wait upon thee; And thou givest them their meat in due season.
16 Thou openest thine hand, And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways, And holy in all his works.
18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, To all that call upon him in truth.
19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him: But all the wicked will he destroy.
21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: And let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Please help my heart to be right
My affections to be in the right place