Sanctification Before Service

How many of us Christians want to do something great for God? How many of us want to do the big things for God, be a missionary, lead a ministry, or start an organisation? I would say probably most of us want to do the great things we see in the Bible. We see the great Biblical figures and think "I want to do something great like that!" But there's a problem with this. Every Biblical character we see that is labelled as "great" also had sinful donwfalls. David had his sin with Bathsheeba leading to murder. Samson lived most of his life in sin. Moses disobeyed God and had anger issues. Lot lived in one of the most wicked cities then got drunk and slept with his daughters. Solomon had many wives and concubines. Each Biblical figure also had their downfalls which means they were nothing special. They were simply people chosen by God to carry out his plan. 

Think about this for a minute. God created every single person to have ever lived, but did not create a higher class or "race" of humans to do great things. He used ordinary people in great ways. We are all equal creations in God's image and when we die, it doesn't matter whether you were a king or peasant, we are all humans accountable to God. David was a mere sheppard boy. Moses was a Hebrew baby that was in danger of being murdered at birth. Samson was a common boy born to a common woman. The difference is that God used them, even if some were not initially willing. But God does not always call everyone to a large ministry or to lead a church. He has a mission for each person on all different levels, all of which are important. But sometimes, I think we get too tied up in trying to do the great things, that we miss the small things.

In the book of Luke, we see two woman who are contrasted that are sometimes overlooked. Luke chapter 10, verses 38-42 says,

• 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. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. 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. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

I think this verse applies to each of us and has one main mesage to it. We see two different people with two different ideologies.

Martha was the busybody. Jesus came to visit her house and what do you do to prepare for guests? She was in the kitchen preparing the meal, serving the food, and working to be a great host. I'm sure she cleaned up her house with maybe some last minute tidying to make the place spotless. She probably had her best china and silver out on the table to be used. She was serving to her best efforts for Jesus.

Then we have Mary, Marthas sister. Unlike Martha, Mary did not work to prepare the meals or clean. Afterall, it's Marthas house isn't it, not Marys? She, instead, hung out with Jesus and listened to him. Martha was obviously irritated with Mary when she said "dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?"

There is an obvious difference between these two women and Jesus addresses this in the last two verses of the passage. How often are we like Martha? Trying to keep busy doing things for God? Leading the small group Monday, perticipating in the nursing home ministry Tuesday, attending the Bible study Wednesday, volunteering at the community meal Thursday. We work so hard to serve Christ and try to please him, but what is our motivation? Is it out of love and wanting to genuinely serve God? Or is it to satisfy the rest of the church and keep your holy "status"? Or maybe your belief is that your good has to outweight your bad? But we, like Martha, miss the point.

Having quite a bit of experience in ministry and service in the church, I know a thing or two about trying to be involved in all of the service I can be. But I noticed something, maybe not right away, but I noticed something. Yes, I was growing in Christ, but what was my focus? My focus was on serving, not growing in Christ.

You see, Martha was doing her best to serve Jesus, but that is not what Jesus calls for. He tells her "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things." Martha was to caught up and worried about the service and not actually listening to God. However, Mary was said to have "chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

God calls us to grow closer to him in our relationship. That is the true purpose of our Salvation. Yes, it keeps us out of Hell, but it's ultimately so we can have a relationship with God and live with him eternally. And God wants us to focus on growing closer to him through our prayer life and meditation in his Word. Mary understood this and wanted to just spend time with Jesus. Neither of them cared about the food or how clean the house was. Mary wanted to just have that time with Jesus and Jesus with her. And Jesus praised her for it.

We try too hard to "serve" God when really we just need to spend time with him. We try to do the great things by being in service for God, when we really need to spend more effort on the small things and strengthening our relationship with God. When we grow closer to God, he will give us opportunities to serve. We cannot lead others if we can't lead ourselves and we can't guide people spiritually or serve spiritually if we don't have a close relationsip with Christ.

David spent his life trusting God as a boy, long before God used him to slay Goliath. Samuel spent his childhood growing and learning before God used him as a priest. Solomon spent his life living for God and building a relationship with Christ before becoming king. The point is, before God can use us effectively, we must have a close, growing relationship with him. Sure, you can work your way into a ministry, but how effective will you be if God does not bless that ministry because it's outside his will? We must be called into whatever field, ministry, or service we are involved in. If not, it will lead to suffering of some sort. Serving God in a ministry is a priviledge he gives us and is a great satisfaction, but must be in his timing. Don't worry about trying to get involved. Spend your life just living for God where you are and whatever God has in store for you will be presented to you at the right time.

This doesn't mean that if an opportunity presents itself, to not get involved or capitalise on it. God does call us to spread his word and do everything to our best. But we should not spend our energy on trying to be "busy" for God instead growing closer to him. Jesus even tells us that the greatest commandment is not to put in so many ministry hours a week. It's not to go to church so many times a week or be involved in so many volunteer positions. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus tells us, "...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." How do we love God? Spend time with him and do as he asks. How do we love our neighbor? By being the Christian testimony that will lead them to Christ. That's a lot different than spending hours a week trying to be busy in service.

How To Be Single

It seems like as time goes on, fads and trends change and those things which were popular even when I was a kid is now considered obsolete. Anything from movies, to music, to games, to clothing styles. But one thing seems to stay: having a girlfriend or boyfriend. It seems like dating someone isn't just to have a relationship, but to have some sort of "status". Singleness has become almost been labelled a curse in our culture. As I went through high school, it was always the focus of every lad and las to be going out with someone. Most people can't even understand the concept of remaining single or can't stand the fact that they are single. Afterall, doesn't Genesis tell us that it's not good for man to be alone? (Gen. 2:18)

I want to propose a concept that is foreign to most people. I want to propose the idea that singleness is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Paul even tells us in the Bible that it is good to be single. Whenever I speak on this issue, I always have at least one person who disagrees or gets rubbed the wrong way and I believe that is because too many people want to date too badly. They want it too much and I think that is why we have a problem with it in our world. However, I don't want this post to be misinterpreted. First, I'm not saying dating (or courting) someone is bad. For Christians, this can be a hard area because our world presents a warped idea of dating. But having that relationship can be a great thing. Second, I don't want to leave the impression that everyone (and in particular, teenagers) have a bad view of dating or think singleness is bad. I have actually been seeing more and more youth realising that dating is not a necessity in high school.

The problem our world has with dating is a perverted concept of the purpose of dating. I won't go so much into that because it is a whole topic on it's own. But we seem to focus so much on dating and even as Christians, we want to learn the Biblical ways to go about dating. It seems like there are endless posts on Facebook about dating and relationships, but how many do we see on singleness?

I want to look at, what I think is, one of the best passages talking about singleness in 1 Chorinthians 7:25-38.

• Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away. But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry. Nevertheless he that standeth stedfast in his heart, having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth well. So then he that giveth her in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better.

As I always do, I would like to break this verse down and examine everything it's telling us. Overall, this verse talks about singleness pertaining to primarily, but not exclusively, to young people. In this passage, Paul is essentially pouring out his heart of what he has learned and giving his wisdom. The theme of the whole is that it is good to remain single for Christ's sake.

I am going to examine this verse, but will also, like Paul, give you some of my wisdom and what I have learned over the past few years. I may be young, but I have a lot of experience in being single. In high school, I thought I had to always have a girlfriend and pretty well always had one. In college, I thought the same, but had a harder time with finding a girlfriend. Until recently, I was single for about 6 years and have learned a lot in those years.

One of the first points Paul makes that I want reveal is that being single opens you up to grow more and do more for God. Not that married people can't, but I agree with this passage. Whether you agree or not, having a significant other takes some of your time and energy. You think about them frequently, you do things with them, and put a lot of energy into getting to know the person and making them happy. In all of that, it can easily distract you. I noticed this in high school when my grades dropped. And that takes away from the purpose God has for singleness.

You see, God has a special purpose and mission for each of us for each stage of our lives. In your single stage, you have the opportunity to focus on growing in Christ and learning what God wants you to do, fulfilling his work. As Paul wrote this passage, he implies that he was single, doing God's work. If he would've had a wife, he might not have been able to travel to spread the gospel. His wife probably would've wanted to settle down, raise a family, have a house. Not to mention she would've been devistated with the amount of times he was in prison. My point is, he was able to 100% do God's work without having the distraction of a spouse. That's not to say having a spouse is a distraction, but realistically, you cannot put 100% of your effort into God's work when you also have to put effort into a spouse. Paul urges the single people to remain single and fulfill God's plan (the reason we are here anyways). But he does not discourage marraige as we see in the end of the passage.

The reason, I believe, for singlehood, is to discover what God wants you to do with your life. In Genesis, we are told that the wife is created to be a helpmeet to the husband. If the husband does not know what God wants him to do, how is the wife to know what she is to help the husband with? If you do not know what God wants you to do, you probably aren't ready for marraige. As I get older, I am at a good marraige age. But it seems the older you get, you more you see areas you need to grow in before you're ready to have a family.

Enjoy being single! God has different stages for our lives and has a plan. I can say that I don't want to be in a position where I'm trying to overstep God's tyming, which seems to be a real problem nowdays. Let things happen in God's time and don't rush into relationships. Take advantage of being single. Too many young people want to rush into having a relationship, but aren't ready for one. Ultimately, the purpose of dating or courting is to find a spouse. If you are in high school, or are not in a position to lead a family, what is the purpose of dating? Realistically, a high schooler (or middle schooler) or someone who is jobless is not in a position to have a family and really probably shouldn't be getting into dating yet. That's not to say you can't start exploring what God expects in relationships. But this stage in your life is intended to live for God and do things for God as a single. That is what  Paul is stressing.

For some people, that can be hard, I know. I was one of those. I was always depressed if I didn't have a girlfriend and would stoop low to get one. I was desperate in high school and college. But as I got older and started to realise that God has a plan for singleness, I became more content. When you are content as a single and serving God as a single, you will be content as a couple. When you are content as a couple, you won't try to rush the relationship beyond God's tyming. Most people try to find happiness in relationships, but that is not where happiness is found. It is found in being in God's service. When you are happily serving God, it doesn't matter where you are, you will be happy. Ultimately, the relationship is not about the two people, it is about God. When God is the centre of the relationship, the relationship is more successful. And that is what singleness is about! It's about growing close to God and making him the centre of your life. That also means you should find a boyfriend/girlfriend that has done the same thing.

I know that some people will disagree with me and that's OK. Just know that singleness is not a bad thing. As a single, I have travelled the world and gotten to do things and participate in hobbies that I probably wouldn't have been able to otherwise. As stated before, I'm not against dating, courtship, or marraige. God created relationships and wants us to have those relationships. But what I am saying is that if you are single, enjoy being single and don't rush into relationships just for the simple fact that you want a boyfriend or girlfriend. Use this tyme to grow in Christ and he will bring the right person to you.