GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!

                        How many times have you been stuck in a trying situation with your back against the wall, and attempted to reason your way out of it by making a deal with God? You say, “God if you just allow me to get this job, I’ll study my Bible intently for a year;” or “God if you help me do well on this test, I’ll make sure I go to church for the next month;” or even still, “God if you help me get this date, I’ll make sure to share the Gospel with at least one person this week.” We constantly use our relationship with God to make deals with Him, and expect that if we do one thing, God will give us something we deserve in return. Many other times, we will also use our own reasoning and logic to attempt to tell God what we think is best, or what we think He should do in our lives. As if we somehow have necessary input that our omniscient God is forgetting to recognize. We completely disregard His plan for our lives, and expect Him to do what we will.

Since the beginning of Creation, God has always been in complete control, and man has been attempting to take that control into it’s own hands. If you look back at the creation account in Genesis, you will immediately see all forces working to remove the power from God’s plan, and transport it into the will of each individual man. The serpent immediately causes questioning in both Adam and Eve’s hearts, and then they end up rebelling against God, deeming themselves wiser than the God who created them. In Matthew 16: 21-23, Jesus begins to reveal to his disciples the will of God, that He must go to Jerusalem, suffer at the hands of men, and ultimately be killed so that He may rise on the third day. Peter begins to refute the words of Jesus claiming, “This shall never happen to you.” Peter honestly believes that he is doing a good thing for Jesus, telling Him that He is overreacting, and everything will be ok in the end. The response that Jesus gives to Peter reveals everything we need to know about telling God what is going to happen in our lives. Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on things of man.” Jesus tells Peter that all he is doing is hindering God’s good and powerful will in every living person’s life, no good will come from man telling God what to do. Now, this begs the questions:

WHY DO WE THINK WE CAN TAKE CONTROL OF OUR OWN LIVES?

AND

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE TRY?

            We have been provided with plenty of examples throughout the Bible of what happens when we attempt to “make deals” with God, or put the will of God on our own terms. In Acts 5, we are told the story of Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a piece of property in order to tithe the proceeds to the young church under Peter. The only problem with this story happens to be that Ananias and Sapphira withhold some of the earnings from God and the church because they believe it would be more beneficial to them to keep a portion.

“Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God…But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.”-Acts 5: 3-4, 9-10

            Through the Word of the Spirit, we have been provided in this account with the perfect example of why we attempt to take charge of our own lives, and what will happen if we try. Ananias believed that he knew what was ultimately best for himself and his wife; therefore he withheld some of the profit that his land yielded, which he said he would give to the church. All he did was what we attempt to do all of the time. We say we’re going to give everything we have to God, yet we constantly withhold from him. Why do we withhold? Everything that we have is already God’s anyways, yet we have maintained the notion that somehow we possess things outside of that which God has provided, as if we have paved our own route through life. When we deceive, we are not only deceiving the hearts of men, we are attempting to deceive God. Yet God knows everything, so this attempt lies futile, and we end up stuck in a situation that will never end well for us. The good we believe we are doing for ourselves, ends up being polar opposite from the will God had laid out before us (Acts 2:28), and we must be rebuked back into the confines of His will. In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, it was death that they received from the Lord because they were withholding what was rightfully His. While we might not always end up dying physically for the sins we commit, in a sense we kill ourselves spiritually because we limit our own growth in Christ by withholding our lives from Him, our lives which are rightfully His.

            Finally, we receive parting words of wisdom from Jesus, who amidst trials and temptations in the desert, was able to restrain the will of Satan, the only living man who could this, and gave all believers a commandment regarding our own dealings with God.

“YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.”- Luke 4: 12

         Jesus, while resisting temptation in every way, clung tightly to the will of God, because He knew that God’s will reigns supreme in everyone’s life. What he is exclaiming here is this: I know you will be tempted and you will suffer, but the will of God will bring you into ultimate glory. Do not try to escape it or reason with it, but live coherently and joyfully within. For when you are within the will of God, there is no greater joy you can find. Testing the One who created all things, and telling Him you know what should really happen is futile and foolishness. No good will come from finding your own way in life, you will only end up isolated and weary. Go to the One who can give you peace and rest.

Live joyfully and boldly; knowing the Lord your God has given all things for you.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey          

DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE IN CHRIST

“For some slaves, the first step out of bondage is to learn to see their lives with new eyes.”-Kevin Bales

            When you think of a slave, what is your initial thought? For many of us students of American History, we think of slaves in the sense of pre-Civil War times, humans bound to an owner or master, and forced to do manual labor or else suffer torturous consequences. Sadly, in this day and age, the definition of a slave has actually escaped us, it is no longer just bondage servants bound to a master, as many of us believe, it is now much more than that. Slave, in today’s terms, is defined as a person who is entirely under the domination of some influence or a person. This now means we can find ourselves slaves to a job, a boss, a girlfriend/boyfriend, a relationship, education, athletics, technology, drugs, alcohol, and many other things. Many of us find ourselves lost in the world when we find ourselves underperforming or without possession of that thing we have become a slave to. Unfortunately, this view has made its way into many churches and faiths across the world, and caused many people to be crippled in their relationship with Christ. Many people view Christianity as a constricting religion drenched in legalism, and one which causes it’s believers to become slaves to God instead of having a genuine relationship with the God they worship. For those who believe Christianity to be a “straightjacket,” as Tim Keller puts it, the Bible gives a clear-cut response to those people, and reveals truly what Christ did and how we should live in response to his sacrifice.

“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” – Romans 7: 4-6

          For all of those who believe that possessing faith in Christ only constricts and limits the things which you can do, Paul plainly states that all of that constricting legalism previously attached with a relationship with God died with Christ’s sacrifice. No longer are believers subject to the law which reigned over them before Christ came, His sacrifice removed all the constriction from our lives and freed us to experience a right relationship with Him. When he was crucified, all of our spirits were released from bondage, our slates were wiped clean, and we were given the opportunity, for the first time, to enter into the presence of God, truly and wholly His. When Christ died, so died the Law and everything under it, including us, but when he rose from the grave, we arose with Him, and were given His Holy Spirit as our guiding light, not the law that previously guided us. How amazing is that? God himself, came down from Heaven, gave his life for us, and through His resurrection freed us from all lawlessness and malice so long as we strive to mold our lives after Him.

“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly… for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.”- Hebrews 9: 24-28

            Now what is being told here is this: Christ came to earth as a man, not only to demonstrate how to live a right life, but primarily to die on the Cross for all people, and along with his own life also put to death sin for the sake of those who believe in Him. All of the people out there who believe that due to their sin they are somehow separated from God, Christ himself has put to end that train of though, and made it no longer feasible. Christ literally died on the cross so that the separation that sin previously caused has now been filled by his blood, and He has gone into the presence of God on our behalf and made us clean in the sight of God. There is no greater freedom than the freedom that we have received in Christ, we are no longer held captive by pain, addiction, occupation, relationships, or anything else, as long as we put all of our hope and faith in Christ. Christ has made the only sacrifice that was in need of being made, and he did it so that we could live eternally with Him. We have no reason to hang onto anything that this world can offer to us, everything must be offered up to Him due to his sacrifice for us. His only request of us is that we let go of ourselves, give our lives to the will of Him and his Spirit, and constantly mold ourselves in genuine faith in Him. He says that if we adjust our life’s perspective to that which is Christ-centered, He will return for us on day, in eternal glory, and the things of this world will be but an after-thought to us.

            So for all of you that are holding on to things that you believe will give you eternal happiness on this earth, which we all do, I challenge you to let go of them. Remind yourself constantly that Christ died so you would not be held in bondage to anything on earth, and that you would experience ultimate freedom through Him without any Law to live by. In a true relationship with Christ you know what it is to truly live, you have no guilt or shame, you are able to experience true goodness through Him. Obviously no one will lead a perfect life, even Paul made mistakes (Romans 7), but if you are actively seeking a true relationship with Christ, you will experience a freedom from sin that you never had before.

             Christ died for you, to abolish the law that was previously in place, and create a new God-centered order that we all must live by. Experience the freedom offered from him, no longer live in slavery to your sin. Live boldly, love strongly, and constantly mold yourself to God and his will. Nothing will give you more freedom than that.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey 

The Truth In Sacrifice

“Being selfish to me means that you have to look out for yourself and you don't have to sacrifice.”- Herbie Mann

            Sacrifice, as many probably know, is defined as surrendering or giving up something for the sake of another thing. I realize that this is common knowledge among most people, yet it is a concept that many people appear to either bypass completely or have been confused about. Sacrificing, in modern terms, does not mean taking the best animal you have out to slaughter in order to atone for all of your sins, for as we know, the only blood that has needed to be shed, was already poured out for our sins on the Cross by Jesus. Sacrificing in today’s terms means realizing that the one truly necessary sacrifice has already been made for us, so now we have been called to give up everything we have, including ourselves, and follow the One who made the sacrifice for us.

            If we have clearly been given this call and understanding of the term, then why do we constantly turn away from our call, and gravitate towards the things that please us more? Why do we have such a hard time sacrificing ourselves, and living solely for Christ?

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” – Romans 12:1

         Now, I realize this is one of the most well known verses in the bible, yet it is one that people (including myself) constantly skip over. How many times during the day do you genuinely ask yourself if you have given everything you have completely to God, and that you will undoubtedly follow His will not matter what? I would be willing to bet, that if we were completely honest with ourselves we would answer not very much. The thing that jumps out at me in Paul’s words is that he isn’t just saying this would be beneficial, he is pleading with us to do this, to him it is a necessity. Paul knows that in order to live in a truly right relationship with God, we can hold on to nothing that this world has providing us with, but we can only hold on to what God has provided us. It is imperative that we sacrifice all of ourselves to God, in order that his perfect and right will can be done in our lives.

            Now, if you’re like me, your next question is this one, HOW DO I KNOW WHAT GOD’S WILL IS IN MY LIFE, AND IF I AM TRULY SACRIFICING MYSELF TO HIS WILL?

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”- Romans 12:2

            This is what Paul is saying about how we know and understand the will of God, we sacrifice our lives to Him completely, we turn away from the things the world offers us, and through our relationship with Him (reading the Bible, prayer, and community with believers), we allow our minds to be transformed into his will. Now, this may seem like a foreign concept, but bear with me here because what Paul is saying is crucial to our understanding of our sacrifice. He is saying that Christ has made the sacrifice which connects us to God, He has made everything possible for us through Him, and now we must give all of ourselves up to whatever he chooses to reveal to us as our path of life. God will not leave you stranded alone without any knowledge of what He has willed for you, but you do have to work at a relationship and allow Him to transform your mind completely. Starting a relationship does not guarantee that you will automatically know everything that your life will hold, which is why people who are confused as to their own plans in life have not spent enough time digging into their relationship with God.

            Realize this, in order to live the life that God has truly called you too, you must be willing to drop everything in order to follow Him, realize that He has given you all that you have needed, and strive for an active daily relationship with Him. Paul in no way is saying that everything will be revealed to you whenever you read one single passage of scripture, but what he is saying is that in order to figure out what God’s will is for you life, you must be involved in a relationship with God and open to anything that He may decide to throw your way. The whole purpose of this sacrifice is because God gave everything that we may experience true life in Him, but in order to experience true life we must accept the free grace that was given to us on the cross, and give all of ourselves to be molded into the image of Christ. You will never be perfect, but that is no excuse to quit striving to be like Christ, that is all the more reason to try to live like Him. Because He is the only one who can make you whole, and give you a purpose filled life.

            The one thing I have realized in the last few weeks is that although I may get frustrated due to my lack of knowledge of His will, the more I strive to grow in a relationship with Him, the more he reveals to me through His word and the people He has placed in my life. Do not take advantage of the things He has provided, because they have all been given for His purpose.

            Tim Keller stated that “the heart is an idol factory,” but in order to defeat the production of idols within ourselves, we must first surrender our heart to God. The only way to do that is through an intentional sacrifice of our will for our lives, in order to gain God’s will for our lives. He loves you, and will do what is best for you. Live for Him, and Him alone.

God Bless,

Trip Starkey