HOLDING NOTHING BACK

Date: Tue Apr 28 16:54:13 2009

We just went through the Easter season, with much emphasis rightly so on the suffering of Christ on the cross of Calvary, and you must admit that Jesus Christ held nothing back. He went to that cross, despising the shame. He took everything sinful men could hurl at him, He did not regard his body or his life as too much to sacrifice for the sins of the world.

How many of us can say we hold nothing back? Sometimes it is sin we hold on to. The secret sins and pleasures that somehow we treat as our entitlement. A well-known pastor who was in adultery believed that he deserved this affair because he had served God all his life! He started preaching when he was nine, but his sobbing wife in our living room sure showed how wrong he was on simply a human level, let alone his sin against God. Many would not be that backslidden, but still they refuse to put all on the altar. Perhaps more often it is our "rights" that we cling to so strongly. We believe we have the "right" to spend most of our time and 90% of our money in manners that please us. We believe we have given God his due and that we have a life, after all. In some cases, we even post our demands on God's door as Martin Luther did his 95 Theses. Except our demands are not for righteousness as Martin's were, but are for fame, relationships, healing, money, you name it. We command, demand, and generally act like brats who only call home to Dad when they need money or act nice to him when they need something from him.

First of all, ALL of our time and ALL of our money belongs to God. He doesn't cede to us the time we aren't in church or the money that we don't put in the plate. Yet many of us are more concerned about our "rights" than God's "rights". What exactly did the precious blood of Jesus purchase on the cross? 2/168ths of our time (2 hours for church in a 168 hour week) and 10% of our money? 10 minutes of prayer and Bible Study a day? Hardly. He bought us. We are his possession. Possessions are for the enjoyment of the possessor! We have to agree with the Holy Spirit writing to the Galatian Christians through Paul that we are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless we live, yet not us, but Christ who lives in us, and the life we now live is by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.

Do we still think God is holding back on us because he doesn't give us everything we ask him for? Does it mean we don't care about being healed or having enough money to meet our needs? Hardly. God wants us well. Gifts of healing are by the Holy Spirit and are in evidence today as they were 2,000 years ago. In fact, more people are being healed now than were then. God does not delight in sickness or poverty. However, much that is taught today does violence to the scriptures. There were numerous cases in the New Testament where Godly people were not healed. Why, I do not know. When Jesus was here physically, he desired for people to be well. He was the express image of the Father. "If you see me, you have seen the Father". Yet Jesus did not heal everyone even though he could have. We are simply commanded to pray, and in most cases, I believe God's will is to heal people. That is what Jesus demonstrated, healing most he encountered. If he doesn't for some reason, we cannot blame him. Paul asked three times without success. He asked, he did not demand. He did not treat healing as an entitlement, but he obviously believed he was praying in the will of God for it. Paul had unique circumstances that few could claim, so I would never assume that what God had for Paul was supposed to be the case for me. I'd have to hear that from God.

The same is true of money. God promised to supply all our needs as well as the wants that are in his will. The most spiritual people in the New Testament were not all rich. Some of the saints were very poor financially. One cannot cast an aspersion on a Christian who is financially deprived or else we would have to cast aspersions on Paul and on millions of Christians throughout history. We must be sure to seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If we do, the promises for food and clothing are absolute, and often much more is added to us as well. But not always. I have been a Christian for over 53 years, yet some of the most fruitful times of relationship with the Lord were during severe financial deprivation. Paul said he sometimes had a lot and sometimes had a little, but he learned to be content. I have been blessed to have some years when I had a lot and other years (like this one!) when I have had little. There are times and seasons in God, Yet, we are told we do not have because we do not ask. Therefore, we should pray for what we need and for wants that would appear to be within the normal will of God. I do, and I encourage you to as well.

Back to us. What keeps us from seeking first the kingdom? Why do we so often hold something back? I believe there are at least three reasons:

1) We don't believe that God really loves us. We believe his goal is to mold us and break us and take away our fun. A good father does not break the spirit of his children or exasperate them. That is why Paul commanded earthy fathers in Ephesians 6:1 not to provoke their children to wrath. God does not see his job description as provoking us and frustrating us. Our Father God does what is best for his children. He disciplines us and he prunes us and he conforms us to the image of Jesus. Yikes - look what Jesus had to go through! And he was perfect! If we are not disciplined, we are bastards and not sons. I am a son and not a bastard and I have been under the discipline of God to prove it! The Father has a perfect long term plan. As the writer of the Hebrews says, "Discipline is not always pleasant..." What an understatement! We have to know that God's love includes discipline and saying "NO!" to us sometimes. When we learn to conform and say "yes", he will have to say "no" less often.

2) We believe God doesn't really understand. This is a big one. People believe like David Hume that the infinite cannot make himself understood by the mortal. They believe that God is simply too far beyond us. Of course, that has never been the case! God would not be infinite and all-powerful if he were impotent in making himself known to us! However, just to assure us, he sent his only son Jesus to us to be tempted in every way that we are. Yes, men, Jesus was tempted to lust (that is a must when the Holy Spirit says "in every way"). He was tempted by abandonment, by backbiting, by ambition, by partiality, by ALL of it. God did not need to come in to earth as a man to know these things, but he did it so we would know that he knows. Aren't you glad he did? When we are tempted, we must turn to Jesus and ask him what he did to overcome the temptation. We simply have to do what he did to be an overcomer. There is ALWAYS a way to escape. That is God's promise. He asks us to be perfect and he gives us the tools to be perfect. He doesn't hold us accountable for what we cannot do, but instead he sets things up so we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. God really DOES understand.

3) We honestly believe that God will really not hold us accountable for being half-steppers. People believe that because they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, they act as though they have an irrevocable ticket to eternity and the eternal joy of the Lord no matter what they do! They see obedience and the Lordship of Jesus as optional. Ha! Where is that in the Bible? While salvation is by faith and not by works, we must show our faith by our works! Lordship is mandatory. So is enduring to the end. That is how our faith is proven. Some even see holiness as optional. But the Holy Spirit wrote in Hebrews 12:14 that without holiness, no man shall see God! They ignore his commands to be perfect. They say that is just impossible and excuse sin after sin after sin. There is judgment for the believer. Why do you think the Bible says that the Lord will wipe away every tear? We will be crying mighty hard when we are judged for what we have done. How much better it is to follow God now with our whole hearts! It is he who enables us to obey and be holy!

What does it mean to hold nothing back? It means to give it ALL to the Lord. Everything. Every sin, every desire, every goal, every ambition, every business, every possession, every love, every friend... EVERYTHING. He must be Lord of everything. It has been well said that "if he is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all". That is what a LORD is, after all. We often do not realize the absolute and over-arching sovereignty that is resident in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not one leader in a "matrix management system" in charge of the "spiritual" part of our lives. He is in charge of everything. EVERY purchase. EVERY time decision. EVERY movie. EVERY TV show. EVERY book. EVERY magazine. EVERY client. EVERY relationship. EVERY ministry. EVERYTHING.

My friends, hold nothing back. You can't keep it anyway. It is far better to voluntarily lay all on the altar of sacrifice than to have Christ have to take it from you either now or in eternity. We need to lay up treasure in heaven and do everything for the kingdom of God. If we do, we will never regret it. If we don't, we will be seeing others with crowns we could have had to lay at Jesus' feet. Hold nothing back from Jesus. He deserves far more than you could ever give him. Giving our bodies as living sacrifices is just our reasonable service.

Serve the Lord 100% starting this very day! The very best way to commemorate what happened during Easter Season is to have his resurrection power working in you. Hold nothing back!