Exeter
Temple Message notes: Sunday 1st November 2015
Theme:
‘Instruments in the hands of the Master"
Bible Reading: Various
1.
Weapons
“Do not
offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness but rather
offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and
offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” Romans
6:13
The picture Paul paints in the lead up to this verse is of a
battle with Jesus winning the battle to free people who are held captive by sin
and under the sentence of eternal death. Those who choose to trust Christ can
be set free from a shameful past, they no longer face eternal separation from
God, have hope of a future and no longer have to live chained to sinful
patterns of behaviour.
“All your life you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve
started listening to a new Master, one whose commands set you free to live
openly in his freedom!” (Romans 6:13 The Message)
In the light of Christ’s victory sin no longer has any right to
rule over our lives, so Paul says don’t let it.
Instead we need to give everything we are to God and then instead of
being used for the wrong purposes we can be used for God’s glory as
“instruments of righteousness”
The Greek word that Paul uses for instruments is HOPLON which in
the context implies a tool or weapon used for military purposes. We are often
urged to take up the weapons God has provided to fight against evil but here
the idea is that God actually wants to use us as the weapon.
As weapons in his hands we are to be:
A
deterrent
It is not so much that the devil will be put off doing his work
but that the people whom he seeks to control will see our example
Available
We must be in use and readily available.
Usable
The devil is going to laugh in our faces if we attempt to frighten
him without the live ammunition of the Holy Spirit.
2.
Vessels
in his household
“In a
large house there are articles not only of gold and silver but also of wood and
clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses
himself from the latter he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy,
useful to the Master and prepared for any good work.” 2 Timothy 2: 20 & 21
We can be assured that God has created us to be a utensil or
vessel that has a specific purpose in the household of the saints; that is the
Church.
“Each of
us in some ways carries this haunting feeling inside of us that we
are worthless.
Each of us at some point in our lives looks around at the competence of people
in this world and compare ourselves to those around us and say there is no way
that I could do that. We regularly
wrestle not with whether or not God has work to be done but whether or not God
is right in asking us to do it.”
Kyle Hite
Paul likens all Christians
to earthenware dishes or clay pots. “But
we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is
from God and not from us”. 2 Corinthians 4:7
We need to be dedicated and clean. Most of us have some special
dishes that we use only for special occasions. On other days we use our
everyday plates, cups, saucers and glasses. But there are some vessels in our
house that we wouldn’t use to serve food to our guests at all, e.g. the dog bowl
or a children’s potty. Neither should we attempt to serve God with
lives that are not completely cleansed and dedicated to Him for His use. We
need to consecrate our lives to Him entirely.
In practical terms, that means that we decide to live purposefully to
glorify God in all aspects of our lives. It means we will do our job for His
glory. We will relate to our family for His glory. We will worship for His
glory. We will work in the Corps and in the community for His glory.
That’s our part but God has His part.
When we consecrate ourselves to God entirely, the Holy Spirit will
come to fill us entirely, setting us apart and empowering us to live the life
we have committed to living. We cannot be a useful vessel for God on our own.
We need the Spirit to give us the motivation and the ability to
live for Him. He cleanses us, making us vessels fit for noble purposes.
3.
A Letter
from God
“But you
are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare the praises of him who called your out of darkness
and into his wonderful light. “ 1 Peter 2:9
“But you
are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work,
chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for
him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you - from
nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.” (1 Peter 2:9 The Message)
What kind of instrument is being referred to here is not clear
except that it is one that carries a message.
In our modern times we have a thousand and one instruments through which
messages are conveyed, from a postcard to the wonders of the internet.
God reassured Ananias that Paul’s conversion to Christ was
genuine. He told him; “This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before
the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.” (Acts
9:15)
Perhaps it was his own sense of calling to be the carrier of a
message that led him to writes a source
of inspiration to serve God.
There are many kinds of letters. Dead letters are communications
which due to a faulty address, cannot be delivered. Christians are meant to be
living letters of Jesus Christ, bearing a message of good tidings of great joy
unto all the world. A letter is written to be read. Every Christian should let
his Christianity be visible before the world.
‘Let your light so shine
that men may see your good works ... and glorify your father which is in
heaven’. Matthew 5:15
Those who are Christians in name only are simply forged documents
designed to deceive and mislead.
“A living
letter is a mind through which Christ thanks, a heart through which Christ
loves, a voice through which Christ speaks, a hand through which Christ helps”. George Mueller
As Christians our message becomes illegible when we live contradictory
lives. The message is obscured if we live one way at church and another way at
home; if we live one way around our church family and another way around our
friends. When our lives are inconsistent we send mixed messages to an already
confused world. The Bible calls us to be steadfast, unmovable always abounding
in the word of God.
The Bible teaches us that the only cure for an illegible and
contradictory message is a life of holiness.
God bless
Alan
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