WE HAVE ENTERED AN INTENSIFIED PERIOD OF LAWLESSNESS AND SPIRITUAL BATTLES OF THE END TIMES!!! THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE BUILDING OF THE KINGDOM FOR GOD IN PREPARATION FOR HIS SECOND COMING!!! PART 12 GENESIS 2:15 “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” In order to understand how to disciple nations and begin to build God’s Kingdom in this world, it is imperative that we refer to God’s instructions to Adam at the very beginning in the Garden. If God’s instructions to him had been obeyed, then Adam would have transitioned from innocence to holiness and the Kingdom of God would have manifested more fully in the entire world. The reason is that the quality of life of man affects every aspect of God’s creation (ROMANS 8:18-22). Since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (HEBREWS 13:8), the basic commands He gave Adam still apply to us. We have already discussed the first command in PART 8 of this series, which allowed Adam to eat the fruit from any tree in the Garden, including the Tree of Life, but not eat the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Let us now examine the second command given Adam in GENESIS 2:15 above, and let us focus on the first part of that command. Adam was commanded to “dress” the Garden. The Hebrew word for “dress” was “avadh,” which meant “to work, to till, to tend, and to serve.” It is obvious that God was commanding Adam to serve Him by working, tilling, and tending the Garden. This word also refers to any work or labor in any occupation which the Law given to Moses restricted to only six days a week, so he could rest on the Sabbath. The Sabbath rest applied to both people and animals. “Avadh,” therefore, referred to all different types of work like agricultural, governmental, business, industrial, etc. The word “avadh” was also frequently used in a theological sense of making sacrifices to the Lord (ISAIAH 19:21). This verse reads, “So the Lord will make Himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship (serve/avadh) with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them.” The word “avadh, therefore, referred to all work done in obedience to God, and to man’s act of worship to God through the sacrifices and offerings made to God in the Old Testament. In view of this, the command given Adam to take care of the Garden entrusted to him, was his act of worship to God. This shows that worship is not merely singing and making music to God, but it is also the work done in obedience to God. This concept which describes worship as all the work done in obedience to God’s command is clearly described by Jesus in MATTHEW 15:7-9. “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” ROMANS 12:1 clarifies this concept even further in the New Testament. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” This concept is so important for us to understand, if we are to effectively implement the Great Commission in making disciples of all nations, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded us. In the Old Testament, people slaughtered animals and offered them to God as sacrifices. This was considered their act of worship to God. They would purchase a quality animal without blemish, take good care of it, and then present it to God as a sacrifice. The purchase cost of the animal and the kind of care extended in raising the animal reflected the condition of the heart of the person, which determined the quality of their worship to God. MALACHI 1:8-9, 13-14 describe the people whose hearts were not right toward God, as reflected in the poor quality of the animals offered to God. They also describe God’s reaction to their offerings of worship. “When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you?” says the Lord Almighty. “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will He accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty. And you say, ‘WHAT A BURDEN!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the Lord Almighty. “When you bring crippled, injured or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a Great King,” says the Lord Almighty, “and My Name is to be feared among the nations.” Since God sacrificed the best He had for us, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, we also, like our father Abraham in faith, are required to offer Him the best of ourselves as our spiritual act of worship. Since Jesus had already died for the remission of our sins, God requires us to offer ourselves as “living” sacrifices. The Greek word for body is “soma” and refers to the entire person and not just the body. The Greek word for sacrifice is “thusia,” and describes the complete surrender to God of one’s entire being just as Jesus did to His Father. A complete surrender to God of one’s entire being means complete obedience to God. This refers to our performing the work commanded us by God with a JOYFUL ATTITUDE and the BEST OF OUR ABILITIES. We must submit to God as He works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose (PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13). HEBREWS 10:5-7 describes the kind of sacrifice Jesus offered His Father which we are to emulate. It was nothing less than a complete surrender of His Will to that of His Father. “Therefore when Christ came into this world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings You were not pleased. Then I said, Here I am—it is written about Me in the scroll—I have come to do You Will, O God.” Jesus also described the kind of worshiper His Father seeks in JOHN 4:21-24. The time has already come when the place of worship was not the determining factor for true and acceptable service. Worship could be done anywhere because God’s presence already resides in us through the Holy Spirit. We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. What is important is the quality of our relationship with God. Let us approach God with a true and willing Spirit of Worship and allow the Holy Spirit in us to worship through us (PHILIPPIANS 4:13; GALATIANS 2:20). In order to effectively fulfill the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations, we, ourselves, must first be made disciples. What does it mean to be a disciple? LUKE 9:23 says, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” This self denial is a daily exercise because self always wants to reinstate himself as the lord of our lives. LUKE 14:26-27 describes the requirement for us to be His disciples. We will be completely impotent to disciple nations and teach them to obey everything Jesus commands, if we ourselves are unable to do it. “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.” The love for family in Greek is “storge,” while the love for wife is “eros.” These two kinds of love are likened to hate when compared to the unconditional love of God, which in Greek, is “agape.” Jesus is not actually talking about hating our loved ones, but in comparing it to God’s unconditional love which He poured into our hearts for Him (ROMANS 5:5), it would seem like hate. LUKE 18:29-30 describes another aspect of discipleship for establishing His Kingdom in this world. “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come, eternal Life.” Another large threat to the Lordship of Jesus in our lives is MONEY! MATTHEW 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” 1 TIMOTHY 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” Making Jesus the Lord of our life normally requires the sacrifice of self denial. This daily denial of self is described by David in PSALM 51:16-17. “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” The Hebrew word for “broken” is “shavar,” and it means a shattering of one’s pride, self-confidence, and self-reliance. The Hebrew word for “contrite” is “dakhah,” which means “to crush.” When David sinned, he experienced a shattering of his self-confidence, pride, and self-reliance. His heart was also crushed as he experienced the conviction and ensuing repentance of hurting an unconditionally loving God. This shattering of self is what results in the beginning of our reliance on God as our Lord. PHILIPPIANS 4:13 becomes a reality. “I can do everything through Him Who gives me strength.” It is the actual experience of GALATIANS 2:20 and the full realization of 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 that the Lord accepts as our holy and pleasing spiritual act of worship. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The Life I live in the body, I live by faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” The true worshipers the Father is seeking who will worship in Spirit and Truth are, therefore, those who have completely surrendered their lives to the will of the Father. They are free to worship anywhere and are not confined to religious establishments. They may worship the Father with music and singing, or they may worship the Father by doing the work they are commanded by God to do in the power of the Spirit and with a joyful attitude. GLORY TO GOD!!!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 00:05:42 +0000
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