Spiritcode

Commandment 5 (2) Revelation of order

Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:2 -4 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
Although this Commandment is given to children to obey, it actually deals with every single one of us in our relationship to people who have a place of authority in our lives. This teaches us to give a place (honour) to people in God’s authority in our lives in their role of having caring input into our lives. And even though this is a perfect design that God has fashioned for us, we all fall short in our limited humanity in implementing both this authority and our response to it. The purpose and meaning of the following commandment (6), which deals with anger, is made clear when we observe the result of both the failure and success of Commandment Five.

The range of authority and submission structures; God, family (plus delegated to school etc), Church, employment, state.

The range of meaning in the words obey, submission, subjection, rule, power; To God – absolute obedience (hypakouo – listen to and do). To parents – compliance to right order (timao), Church – Trust in and be persuaded by (peitho), state – be subject under God (hypotasso – put in order),

The proper use (and misuse) of authority; From God – totally good. From parents – ranges from good and helpful to unhelpful overprotection, through neglect to abusive. From Church – ranges from truth and love through formal and distant, to manipulation and abuse of power. From the State – ranges from honest and conscientious, through self-serving power and arrogance, to harsh and oppressive, to tyrannical and destructive.

The outcomes of disobedience and ignorance towards this Commandment; The sad result in inter-relational human behaviour is frustration of mutual understanding, confusion of role and identity responsibilities, fear and anger because of resentment, and violence and destruction of life.

The outcomes of revelation, understanding and obedience to the Commandment; The blessings from obedience are; mutual helpfulness, understanding and compassion, acceptance and forgiveness, success in life goals, trust and bonding in families and communities, a spirit of empowerment, love and an ordered and peaceful mind.

If we can have faith to believe in a perfect and complete God who has perfectly designed a Universe that he upholds and maintains by the Word of his power, then we are acknowledging that he is a God of no limitations. That means that God, who IS love, has no limitations imposed upon his loving of us. The reason that he has to maintain the Universe by the Word of his power is that all created things are limited and tend to lose energy and break down into disorder and chaos (entropy) but God is continually bringing order out of this chaos by the Word of his power. Now the spiritual energy of God’s love is joined to the spiritual energy of our inner being through Jesus who has sent us his Spirit, so in the midst of the chaos that we confront in our daily lives, that seems to contradict the order of a perfect unlimited loving God, we can set our minds above the chaos and contradiction, upon this power of his love, that resonates with the spiritual energy of our inner being and restores our soul. This becomes our blow by blow victory of faith in this life on earth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commandment Five The nature of authority

Exodus 20:12 and Ephesians 6:2 -4 “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

The Fifth Commandment is like the first Commandment which was about learning to trust God as our source of life and love and identity and provision, which sets the course for our ongoing relationship with God. There we found our identity as his child made in his Image, and we Honoured the use of his name, then rested in mutual love and collaboration with him. So likewise here, the fifth Commandment sets the course for our relationships with other people, starting with a proper relationship with our parents so that life will go well with us. This Commandment is the foundation for our understanding of the nature of all authority in all its forms. Here we can learn to know who we are, and it works both ways, with parents and children. A child’s role is one of being under the authority of Mum and Dad and that role of being a person under one kind of authority or another lasts us for a lifetime and involves us all in many roles and functions.

So starting with God, and then Family, the other relationships with authority that are dealt with in this commandment are, Marriage, Ephesians 5:22-23, the Church Hebrews 13:17, Employment, Colossians 3:22-4:1, and the State, Romans 13:1ff. And of course, the individual under the Lordship of Christ.

The conflict between Church and State has been an age-old one that has gone on for centuries. Church and State can exist, side by side, as separate entities in themselves, both under the authority of God, because they both serve different purposes. The Church exists as God's authority structure for the sanctification of society on earth. The State is God's instrument for the keeping of law and order, that is why they 'bear not the sword (or whatever weapon), in vain', referring to the magistrates and police and military, and for this reason we pay taxes Romans 13:7 … tribute to whom tribute is due... Order can also involve areas of providing and maintaining infrastructure for the safety and wellbeing of an ordered society.
God will always work through an authority structure, according to the fifth commandment so as to check the unrestrained behaviour of human nature. Much unnecessary and harmful effort has been put in by the Church to run the State, and much unnecessary effort has been put in by the State, to run the Church, when both must be seen as being 'run by God' for His purposes

Resistance to Authority - a self determined life wants to resist any form of outside influence or control. This self determined person sees authority as a threat, and the behaviour that follows may fall into one of the three following categories: Escaping authority, destroying authority, and usurping authority (or taking-over authority). The disorder that these attitudes of unrestraint creates leads to anger and violence and malevolence (Commandment Six). Disorders such as tyranny and fascism led to millions of deaths in the 20th century. There are just causes for resisting such authority (Acts 4 and 5 and current Hong Kong situation).

A key role of authority in all its forms is to bring about agreement and collaboration for godly responsibility and accountability to operate in our lives. Some other key roles are; to care for, protect, direct, and correct. The overall role of authority is always to serve, a privilege that has always been tragically abused in human society. And God always backs authentic authority Matthew 20:20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commandment Four Entering the rest

Is it possible that somebody could live a life with the kind of soul rest and wellbeing that could lift them above all fear and anxiety and produce feelings of good will to others?

Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (The Tithe of time)
Hebrews 4:4 For the Scripture mentions the seventh day saying: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and in another place: “They shall not enter My rest.” (Psalm 95:11 Moses generation)
My rest (God’s rest) – a relational rest of receiving love and favour, from God and from one another

The seventh Sabbath year (Shmita) of trusting God, with dire consequences of not obeying.
Leviticus 25:20-2 I And if you say, 'What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce? Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. (Consequences - 2 Chronicles 36:20-21...Bondage in Babylon till the land had fulfilled its Sabbaths).

Another day – another time – another life
Hebrews 4:8-11 For from the time of Joshua if they had fulfilled God’s rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day (from; hemai – to sit, settle for a time, always defined more or less clearly by the context, ‘back in the day’). There is still therefore a special rest (sabbatismos) waiting to be fulfilled for the people of God. 10. For he who has entered that rest (katapausis – settled down) has himself also ceased from his works the same way as God did from His. Let us therefore make every effort to enter into that rest, so that we don’t fail by following their example of lack of faith and trust.

His rest, that we enter into as Christians, is sharing God’s life together in the finished work of Christ.
God wants us to enter His rest which he entered into when had finished the work of creation and could now enjoy his relationship to it. He now had a family of people made in his image, whom he loved, and who also had the potential for sin and evil, and who were plagued with fear. Yet he knew that his love and mercy could overcome all of these evils in his human family. His Son Jesus would come into history and show us his love through dying for us and rising again and then sending us his Spirit of life. Then we too could enter that rest and settle down to enjoy being bonded to him in love and good will.

Psalm 139:14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvellous, body and soul and how well I know it.
The oxytocin feedback loop

God even created our brain to produce a hormone called oxytocin in our hypothalamus that affects us emotionally to stir feelings of trust and bonding within us when we initiate acts of kindness and goodwill. It has been called the love hormone and generates its own feedback loop. It even has an antidepressant effect and moderates against fear and aggression. On a physical level it also moderates inflammation, improving wound healing. (Spiritual – worship, prayer and intercession)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commandment Three - What's in a name?

Exodus 20:7 You shall not take the name of The Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not bold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Philippians 2:9… God has given him a name above every other name.

Using God's name to increase the significance of our own name and image (Commandment 2).
Matthew 7:22 Lord we prophesied in your name and did miracles…I never knew you…

Responsibility in the testimony of our lives as Christians who bear the name of Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:24 … “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,”… but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Wearing the T shirt in your heart - We have the power to be the worst or the best testimony for the name of Jesus.

Generational curse from Commandment two is linked to idolatry
Exodus 20:5... I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the punishment for the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation…
Deuteronomy 24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
Ezekiel 18:1-4 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel... The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. (written some 850 years later)

The New Testament
John 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
They could not grasp the incredible changes in store for them through faith in Jesus. (1Corinthians 8)
Rom 8:2 The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 
Gal 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,
Jesus death on the cross, ushered in a new beginning for humanity, so we have been set free.
John 8:36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed
It's not that problems are not passed down from generation to generation. But we have the DNA of Jesus as our New Creation beings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commandment two The mag makers

Exodus 20:4 `You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness (embodiment) of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, The Lord your God am a jealous God.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image.
God is serious about the image we are destined to become – The telieos. Only one person has achieved that. We are still on the adventure to inherit the destiny for which we were created – to become the teleios created by God before the foundation of the world. Abraham was told to move out from his place and begin the adventure that would bless all the families in the earth. Moses took Israel out of Egypt to bring them through a wilderness and bring them into the promised land – a natural picture of a spiritual reality of the fullness of God within us. Whatever you’re in that you needn’t be, God wants to take you out then through then into. There is always somewhere to go, a better place to be - and our faith in where we have been placed, by the Father, in Jesus is the first action to take, the first step to take. The commandments embody that journey

The inward destructive work of idolatry
Psalm 135:15-18. The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. 16. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; 17. They have ears but they do not hear; Nor is there any breath in their mouths. 18. Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.

‘For I, The Lord your God, am a jealous God’. This attribute of God's love is his remedy for our idolatry. Godly jealousy, unlike worldly jealousy, so desires the best for us, that it cannot tolerate that anything less be accepted by us. God commits to destroying the self made images in our lives, such as borrowed identities of others or ideologies. So image building is self rejection. The golden calf was a confused concept of what Israel thought to be God himself, not another god (1Corinthians 8:4).

What is our self image?
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image (selem – appearance John 14:9 Psalm 135), after our likeness (dama – manner - active).
Just as Commandment 10 forbids us to covet the things of another person, their possessions, privileges etc. God invites us to seek after living out of his life identity (and to live out HIS life) so we can reflect and display him as being partakers of his divine nature - God’s life as our own identity - no longer I that live. Paul saw that we were potential waiting to happen. We don’t so much find an identity but are found in an identity. When we understand that our lives are 'hid in Christ' and we are content to count all things as rubbish to be 'found in him' and not in some fruitless search for 'self discovery' that exhausts our soul we can be what we are and allow God to work in us to will and to do what is his heart’s desire for us We can live creatively like God, not destructively, but towards a purpose, creatively bringing order out of chaos.

 

 

 

 

 

Commandment One no other gods

Exodus 20:2-3 (RSV). I am The Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. This commandment is about putting God first in our lives.

Whenever we respond obediently to this Commandment both our inner life and outer life become reordered and gain meaning as we enter into the unknown territory of faith and trust Scriptures in the New Testament that parallel the first Commandment in the Old Testament.

1 Corinthians 8:6 Yet for us there is only one God, The Father, of whom are all things, and we live for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him. 7 However, not all possess this knowledge. Also; Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The growth pattern of the pathway of the Ten Commandments takes us all the way around to Commandment number ten, and then leads us right onto Commandment number one again (covetousness/idolatry and a disordered culture). Release from Bondage - Exodus 3 :7. The one ‘I am’ speaks the seven ‘I wills’ We only really know freedom when we have known slavery (Our culture of bondage). This next Scripture contains the phrase 'I will' seven times. It is the pronouncement of the Mosaic covenant

Exodus 6 :5-9 I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. (seven times ‘You won’t’)

The commandments showed Israel the need for this change of heart and mind by revealing the sin and disorder in their lives in a very practical and real way. And this was not designed to condemn them, but rather to bring them 'into the light', where God's love and forgiveness was.

The effect of this first commandment therefore was to reveal to Israel their basic flaw of disobedience, their sin, namely, that they could not put God first in their lives. God knew that this was because of their bondage of heart, and therefore the promise of deliverance and freedom is tied to this commandment.

The new covenant is not ‘I will’ but ‘I have’ (Jeremiah 31:31)

Colossians1:13He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son…T

he most effective means of setting a person free from spiritual captivity is that found in 2 Timothy 2:24-26. (Paul and Silas Acts 16).

Stronghold of praise

 

Job 1:20-21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Let’s have a quick recap of what led to this moment from Job. To set the scene: Job was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. Read Job1:13-18. Out of this context – Job praised the Lord. Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head – expression of grief and mourning
Psalm 8:2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
Psm22:23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!...Where do we get this attitude and the intention to praise the Lord? ‘From you comes the theme of my praise’ (Psalm 22:25). The theme of our praise come from knowing our God. The true reality is…..there is always something to praise God for. There is never a time that God cannot be praised

Life may not always be kind to us…Story of Job shows us that. Loss in our life might not just be down to a bad choice or decision or as some call it ‘bad luck’, or of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It might well be the Devil. Satan wanted to put Job to the test. There will be times when we are tested because of Spiritual Warfare. I can’t begin to understand what it would be like to lose vast wealth to thieves. I can’t begin to understand what it would be like for what could seem like an ‘act of God’ to rob me of the most precious material things in my life and servants and still more wealth be lost. I can’t begin to understand what it would be like to lose 7 sons and 3 daughters. But I can understand what it’s like to experience loss of various kinds. And I do know that at some of the significant times of loss in my life the evil one has used it as an opportunity to try and turn me against God. That little whispering voice in my ear. Is God really your provider? Look how easy life is for that non-Christian…easier than yours. God’s not blessing you…you’ve got nothing compared to others. If God loves you….why is this happening to you and not to them. The best example is the temptation of Jesus. Matt 4:1-11. In simple terms-Jesus tempted re: God provision for his Daily bread – Practical Provision for daily living-God provision for Physical wellbeing – God’s provision for position/status/wealth in this life.
Psalm 137:1-6 Israel had hung up their instruments of worship and praise. What might God do through their praise?

Acts 16:25  At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Imagine if by the Rivers of Babylon there were prayers and singing to God. What might have happened?!
Psalm 8:2 Through praise… A stronghold can be established against enemies. A stronghold is a place…That is fortified and that can be easily defended. A stronghold can be…A place where a group or activity or set of opinions is concentrated. For us to have a spiritual stronghold against our enemies we are to know God personally. We are to recognize the permanent character of our God. Know who He is and what He has done in our hearts and minds. And to praise Him.
A long time ago I discovered something very powerful about praise. I’m sure you all have but I’ll share this anyway. It’s very difficult for me to be praising God and to actively and willingly sin.
If I started to praise the Lord with my heart and mind….Temptation would more often than not- disperse – flee away….My mind and heart would go to a different place. They are no longer focused on the temptation but now focused on God. Jas_1:14 ‘But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.’… Sometimes if may be a direct attack of Satan as in the case of Job….Satan was allowed to touch his life. As in the case of Jesus…Satan was allowed to temp His humanity. In 2Cor12:7 Paul Called his Thorn in the Flesh ‘the messenger of Satan’

This is obviously a massive subject……But simply to say….Praise is a significant part of our spiritual warfare…. Psalm_22:3 (KJV) But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. When we praise God we invite Him into our situation. When we praise our Lord….we adore Him and put him on the throne of our life. Job 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
God will never do wrong to us, and it’s a difficult thing to hold on to but the Lord will allow things in our life that will be true temptations. Why does He allow these things? Why do good people have bad things happen to them. Why do we have to struggle against the sin nature rising up in us? Why do we struggle with the world trying to mould us to conform? Why is the Devil allowed to attack us? I know this one thing. We have a choice…That when life goes wrong for us…..what are we going to do? Complain to God. Blame others. Give up on God….pack it in…Job could have done all that…but what did Job do? Praised God!

All our enemies want to charge God with wrongdoing. Well I won’t have it….Our God is a good God. Bad things started to happen in this world because of the lies of Satan, and continue to do so. But our God is allowing things to work out in His good time. So that as many people as possible will be saved.
There will be no puppets in heaven. Those end up in heaven, heaven on earth too, will be there because they want to be with God.
Until then….I want to encourage you…Are you in pain…..praise God…Are you struggling financially….praise God…Have you lost a loved one…..go to God in praise…Do people mock your faith…..praise God. I don’t say to do this flippantly…But go to God in praise to bring Him close to you in your suffering. Don’t let anything allow you to push God away. Whatever you face….Praise God for being with you all the way. Whatever the situation...Through the praise establish a stronghold against your enemies.

Because the reality is…
Naked you came from your mother’s womb, and naked you will depart. The Lord has given to you and the Lord will take away from you; So no matter what…..Praise the name of the Lord in all things!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ten Commandments 1 a pathway to maturity

 

In the Old Testament the Ten Commandments relationship pathway created order and righteousness and wisdom and faith (trust). This was able to enrich their lives in Spirit, soul and body (Psalm 19).

The first four Commandments deal with our relationship with God, and that the next six deal with our relationships with one another. From this develops purpose, meaning, sacrifice, responsibility and fulfillment.

In the New Testament this pathway works through faith and grace (Romans 8:4). In this ge the Law is written in the heart, where through grace and faith they can be fulfilled and not broken (3000 killed in Exodus 32/3000 made alive in Acts 2)

The children of Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years, and they had lost any understanding of God, not to mention a loving God and that meant that they could not relate to or trust a lawgiver (Just make more bricks). So Moses had a task ahead of him - how to get these people to not just relate to a law, but rather to relate to a loving Father behind that law (just the same today).

The advantage in the Old Testament was that they were confronted daily with the Law and the Sacrifices.
The disadvantage was that they did not have the life of God in the Holy Spirit within them.

A Divine Design for the pathway.
God had concealed an amazing design within the structure of His Ten Commandments, as a sequence of steps where success in any one commandment leads to an understanding of the next. Obedience to the first Commandment gives competence and understanding of the second Commandment, and in the same way, failure in say, the sixth Commandment means a lack of competence and understanding in the fifth.

A Proper Expectation
The Commandments can then be seen to serve as some kind of a map like that of a main roadway, or a railway line, where a person always knows what the next destination will be because they have passed through the last destination. As we go through the Ten Commandments one by one, we will see that there is a principle of growth involved in each Commandment and an experience of faith that will stay with us as we apply ourselves and are obedient to the revelation that we receive at each 'stop' along the way. God intends all growth to be established on a firm basis of experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual sacrifices 3 Praise Thanksgiving and giving

Hebrews 13:15 Therefore through Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good (Acts 11:29 euporia) and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
This Scripture combines three powerful spiritual sacrifices, Praise, thanksgiving, and doing good by giving to those in need.

Praise is a sacrifice of surrender and of worship. Surrender is the magnifying of God in our hearts instead of the magnifying of self and its problems in our minds. This gives rise to hope and faith, and spiritual authority, as God is greater within us than anything that can overcome us (1John 4:4 1John 3:19).
Thanksgiving is the sacrifice of faith and love that is able to praise and magnify God even in difficult circumstances, as God is greater within us than anything that can overcome us.
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That kind of expansion of heart allows a person to move in the grace of reaching out to share and give to those in need. This word to ’share’ here means to give of what you have to those who do not have. It is first seen in Acts 11:29. Then the disciples (in Antioch), every man according to his ability, determined to send relief to the Christians who dwelt in Judaea.

In the next Scripture Paul talks of the sacrifice as a fragrant offering. Paul emphasizes the blessing in the doing of this giving as a reward in itself for them from God, as fruit that abounds to their account. That fruit is that a cycle of goodwill and grace gets set in motion. Paul wanted to be assured that they were living and giving of themselves to God, so as to assure them of God’s provision for all of their needs, and for them to expand in their capacity to receive the fulness of God and to give of God.

Philippians 4:17 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

With this statement he lifts their gift from the level of human compassion and looks upon it in its relation to God. At the same time he states an important principle, namely, that whatever is done for the servant is in reality done for the Master; that whatever is given to a child of God is given to God himself (Matt 10:40-42)

In the world there is an accepted philosophy of the zero sum game. I give so you get and I lose so you win. This is the total opposite to New Testament theology. It is the Good News, the grace that abounds to many. It is a sign or mark of the freedom and faith of a believer (Toronto).

2Corinthians 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (Deut 15:9). And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual sacrifices 2 servant heart

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (logical) way to serve. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern what is the good (beneficial) and acceptable (appreciated) and perfect (completing God’s highest goal for our life) will of God.

There is a logical way to sacrificially serve God and one another that has a higher goal than other goals of just being faithful and doing our duty, or even to getting some kind of calculated reward or ‘good deal’ out of it. That is why we are talking about spiritual sacrifice, which means that if there is something that takes us beyond our selves and into God and is so worth doing, it is worth giving up other things to have that.

And here we have a goal that transcends ourselves and our own needs.
The higher goal is being transformed into the image and likeness of God, with Jesus living within us to know and discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That ends up also transforming the world around us. We are here to make things better than what they are and that is worth doing, worth a sacrifice.

Well, how do we do that?
It is done by understanding that whatever we do, it can always be regarded in our spiritual conscience as ‘good’ and that God ‘appreciates it’ and that it is part of completing God’s highest goal for our life (the perfect will of God) which is to make us the best kind of person we were created to be and enjoying the blessings of his peace and love and joy in the doing and being of that (meditation). We give God all that we are, doing the best we can, aware and grateful for all of our limitations, and he makes us the best we can be. Our faith becomes the co-creative activity of doing life with God that results in the best that can be done. Tis is more of an adventure of discovery than mere duty of service.

Jesus compared the Old Testament total commitment offering, called the Burnt Offering to the total commitment in the New Testament of offering our bodies as a Living Sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:5 … a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure (those things did not tick the box to complete or perfect the goal). Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ (God’s will here means his heart’s desire for us that delights him and us)

Luke 17:5 …Lord increase our faith… This Scripture ends up with the story of servants doing their duty, knowing their place and not taking a place that is not theirs by wanting special attention in being served up their meal before the master had been served up his meal. He puts them in their place and they are called unworthy servants just doing their duty. None of us wants our shadowy self getting in the way and taking the shine off God’s work. And our serving him is not transactional in order to get for our self.

Each of us has a measure of faith, which is the faith necessary for each of us for our own particular servant life in our own particular circumstances and surroundings. That is our personal responsibility, not to be compared to someone else’s area of responsibility for which they get their faith and their grace and complete their goal in and with God.
We can fully believe and hope and expect that God’s supernatural power and love will be released and that we will share in the joy of seeing the result of God at work. Good things start happening that are beyond what we ask or think – wow. That is the logical way to serve and complete the highest goal in life that God has ordained for us. That is worth a sacrifice. That is a magnificent spiritual sacrifice.