Being doers of the Word and not just hearers!
Sermon by Cornelius Jaikar
The preacher started with meditating on Ezekiel 33:31-32 and said that a similar behaviour is prevalent these days too where people go to church for a variety of reasons including charismatic speakers, technologically advanced setup, good music and sound, fellowship, opportunities to dress up, and convenient timings. Even churches are catering to these needs to keep the audience engaged. But the real purpose to go to church must be to encourage one another for good works (Hebrews 10:24-25) and to seek the truth.
David did not worry about being dressed up/new clothes or what people would think when he immersed himself into worship on hearing about the arrival of the ark of the covenant. We should ensure that worship is always all about Him. One must go to church not because they are part of any team or when they have responsibilities and roles assigned to them. The primary motive should be to be in His presence with fellow believers; the focus should be Jesus Christ.
The preacher said that he likes smaller churches because they have lesser distractions and he can focus on God and His word. He spoke of the story of Ezekiel and the dry bones and said that God can give life to dry bones. When we go seeking the truth, it has the power to bring our spirits back to life. God is ready to do this time and again, that is, revive us when we go dry. We need to check whether our spirits are still alive. Are we ready to be drawn to the truth and to the living God who can give us life?
When we come to church, do we ask our fellow believers how their spiritual life is?That should be our concern! We struggle with so many things to keep ourselves comfortable in the temporary life but Christ spoke of the kingdom of God and life after death and about eternity. Can we shift our focus to this spiritual life? Let us try not to indulge into things of the world and make Jesus our primary focus. We have been hearing such messages often but applying the word is difficult. Let us understand that the truth has the power to free us from these useless pursuits; Jesus came to set us free from the bondage of sin; this truth has to be told to the world and the gospel is the truth.
We rely not on God but on people, on ourselves and our understanding. We have made a commitment once but can we check again if we are actually free. We do not spend enough time with the word so as to be transformed. We have to be His disciples and must follow Him constantly. Not meditating enough on God’s word leads us into a worldly life. Jesus showed how to live a Christian life but we have to make a choice to do the same. We have the word but are we able to live the word?
Let us focus on separating wants from needs. We needed a saviour and we have one. Now we are ordained with the responsibility of seeking and sharing the truth with the world: Jesus reconciled God and man; all our sins are forgiven and there is hope of everlasting peace for all on earth who believe. Obedience is better than sacrifice so we must obey the Great Commandment and sow the seeds. The fruit is not our responsibility as it is up to God to water the seeds we sow.