Over the weekend, we've been considering the subject
of religiosity or spirituality, and it's a constant
need, it has been, even in Old Testament
times when Jesus was on earth, and throughout
these two thousand years of church history, to
distinguish between what it means to be religious
and what it means to be spiritual.
Because I believe this is the area where
the devil deceives Christians the most.
The devil is a deceiver, he deceives the
whole world, and the area where he seeks
to deceive Christians is to make them think
they're spiritual when they're only religious.
And the example of a religious person would
be a Pharisee.
The example of a spiritual person would be
Jesus Christ himself, the apostles.
And in the conflict that we see in
the synagogues, in the Gospels, in the four
Gospels, you find the conflict is always between
Jesus and religious people, not between Jesus and
sinners.
In all the Gospels, you never find Jesus
getting into conflict with thieves and murderers and
gamblers and drunkards and adulterers, etc.
They had no conflict with Jesus.
They were sinners, they acknowledged themselves to be
sinners, and Jesus said, I came for you
people, and many of them were saved.
But the people who were not saved, and
who missed the opportunity that they had in
their lifetime to fellowship with the Son of
God, they were the religious people, who prayed
and went to church or synagogue and read
the Bible, knew all the doctrines, but did
not know God.
It's possible to know the Bible and not
know God.
The clearest example of that is the devil
himself.
He knows the Bible better than anybody else.
In fact, he knows the Bible so well
that he could even quote a verse to
Jesus to try and tempt him in the
wilderness.
Knowledge of the Bible or knowledge of Christianity
is not what makes a person spiritual.
It's knowledge of God.
So that's what we've been thinking of over
the weekend, and I just want to continue
a little further along that line.
I want to turn, first of all, to
1 Corinthians 10.
In 1 Corinthians 10, we read, whether then
you eat or drink or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.
It's a very simple sentence, perhaps
disobeyed more than any other command by Christians.
You know what it says?
Whatever you do in your life, do it
for the glory of God.
Now, a religious person is one who has
separate compartments in his life, a sacred compartment
and a secular compartment.
Then he classifies his activities as either sacred
or secular.
Going to church, reading the Bible, giving money
for missionary work, all this is sacred.
Doing one's business, living at home, all that
is secular.
And these are like two watertight compartments with
no connection between the two.
Eating and drinking and watching television and all
these things are another compartment.
And religious activities are another compartment, and there's
no connection.
And when a person lives like that, he
will never know God.
And his so-called sacred activities are only
to ease his conscience, because he recognizes that
he must acknowledge God.
So give God his due, and then let
me run my life as I like.
It's like in the Old Testament.
Once they had given God 10% of
their income, they could use the 90%
as they liked.
And it was almost as though they reluctantly
gave 10% to God and said, Well,
God, here's your 10%.
Take it and don't disturb me in the
way I use the other 90%.
That's my business.
Now, when a Christian...
Now, that was okay in the Old Testament.
The law didn't demand anything more than that.
But when you become a Christian, a true
Christian, a child of God, you don't live
by that.
You live by this verse, which says, Whatever
you do, do it for the glory of
God.
It's not that you give 10% of
your money to God and then the 90
% you use as you like.
Everything is to be for the glory of
God.
In the Old Testament, they gave one day
in seven, which they call the Sabbath, to
God.
Do you know why Jesus abolished the Sabbath?
Because He said every day is to be
given to God.
Every day is to be a Sabbath.
You got to be holy on Monday, just
like you got to be holy on Sunday.
You got to live for the glory of
God on Tuesday, just like you live for
the glory of God on Sunday or Monday.
Every day is the same.
He abolished this.
The one day in seven was only a
picture, a taste of what was going to
come in the New Covenant or the New
Testament.
And a person who felt that one day
of fellowship with God would be a burden,
would definitely think that Jesus came with a
heavier burden.
When He said seven days in seven, you
got to have fellowship with God.
But on the other hand, a person who
really enjoyed fellowship with God, I mean, when
a person is truly spiritual, do you know
that his relationship with Jesus, the closest that
you can compare it with on earth, is
two people who are deeply in love with
each other.
Now, if you told two people who are
deeply in love with each other, well, you
can only spend one day in seven together,
they'd be very disappointed.
They'd be delighted if they are told you
can spend seven days together in a week.
That's exactly how a spiritual person sees the
difference between the Old Testament and the New
Testament.
It's not a burden.
It's not a duty that he has to
reluctantly do.
For a lot of people, Christianity and their
demands of the Christian faith are like a
burden.
They're not enjoyable.
And that's because their relationship with Christ is
not what it should be.
They can't do everything for the glory of
God.
They do the minimum necessary to ease their
conscience, to give God his view.
And they say, well, I want to enjoy
life.
And I don't want to give the rest
of my time or my money to God.
Because the devil has deceived them to think
that you're going to be much happier if
you keep God out of your life.
I mean, give him his due, give him
his one day in seven and ten percent
of your income, and then leave him alone
and mind your own business.
Do you really think that's Christianity?
That's not Christianity at all.
That's a false presentation of Christianity.
Because it does not come out of a
love relationship with Christ.
Now I want to show you a verse
in Revelation chapter 2.
When the Lord spoke to the church.
Now this is a Christian church comprising of
believers.
And in those days, they were only born
again Christians.
There were no other type of Christians in
those days, unlike today, where we have nominal
Christians and born again Christians.
In those days, Christians were all born again
Christians.
There was no separate category of people who
happened to be born in a Christian family
and therefore called themselves Christians.
They were born again in those days.
And to this church, the Lord writes this.
He says, I know your deeds.
Revelation chapter 2 and verse 2.
I know your deeds, your toil, your perseverance.
You put evil men to the test.
You expose false apostles.
You got perseverance.
You've endured for my name's sake.
You've not grown weary.
Now what would you think of a church
that had all these good qualities?
They worked.
Toil means they worked hard.
Perseverance means they never gave up.
They did not permit evil men to have
any power in their church.
They exposed false doctrines and people who claimed
to be apostles but were just sort of
cult leaders.
And they endured, suffered for the name of
Jesus.
You would think that such a church is
a very spiritual church.
And that such a Christian is a very
spiritual Christian.
But the Lord says to them, in spite
of all this, I still have something against
you.
And that is, that you have left your
first love.
In other words, years ago, you did this
out of love for me.
Today you're doing the same thing, but it's
not out of love.
And when something is done for the Lord
and it's not out of love, it has
no value.
And therefore the Lord says to them, remember
from where you have fallen.
Verse 5.
So, here's where they were and here's where
they are now.
They've fallen because once upon a time they
did it in love and now they're not
doing it in love.
A spiritual man is one who does everything
for the glory of God.
And everything he does springs out of his
love for Jesus Christ.
And therefore, everything he does is a delight.
He doesn't feel anything in the Christian life
is a burden.
Whereas a religious person feels that Christian activity
is a burden.
He's got to do the minimum required like
go to church once a week.
Anything more than once a week is a
burden.
Because he doesn't have a love relationship with
Christ.
It's like getting married to somebody you don't
love.
Well, your marriage is going to be a
burden.
And a lot of people are married to
a Christ whom they don't love.
Or claim to be married to a Christ
whom they don't love.
That's not Christianity.
That's not what Jesus Christ came to offer.
Jesus said, if you love me, keep my
commandments.
The Old Testament was not like that.
The Old Testament was, if you don't want
to be punished, keep my commandments.
If you want a reward, keep my commandments.
That changed when it came to the New
Testament.
Where Jesus said, if you love me, keep
my commandments.
So, we can do the will of God
with different motives.
Now, I want to show you something from
the Old Testament in Deuteronomy chapter 28.
Deuteronomy 28 illustrates what I just said.
The Lord said to the people under the
law.
And I believe that this chapter describes perfectly
what it means to live under the law.
And the reason I pointed out here is
because even though the age of the law
was finished with the day of Pentecost.
The vast majority of Christians that I've met
throughout the world live under the spirit of
the law.
And what is the spirit of the law?
That's what makes people religious.
A person who lives under the spirit of
the law will never be a spiritual man.
And that's why it's important for us to
understand it.
You see, in Deuteronomy 28, this chapter could
be divided into two parts.
The first 14 verses and then from verse
15 onwards to verse 68.
So, that's the last 54 verses and the
first 14 verses.
And the first 14 verses say, If you
keep my commandments, God says to Israel, you'll
be blessed.
You'll be blessed with prosperity.
You'll be blessed with health.
You'll be blessed if you work in the
city.
You'll be blessed if you work in the
country.
Your children will be blessed.
Your cattle will be blessed.
Your business will be blessed.
And you will never be in debt.
And the Lord will make you the head
and nations will be under you if you
obey me.
It's like offering a reward for obedience.
The remaining 54 verses of the chapter say
the other side of it.
And that is, if you don't obey me,
I'm gonna punish you.
You're gonna get sickness.
You're gonna get diseases from which you'll never
be healed.
You'll be poor.
You may be blind.
You may become mad.
Your children will suffer.
And you'll be frequently in debt.
Your fields will not produce crops.
There won't be rain on your fields.
Your cattle will die.
And your life will hang in doubt.
And you'll live in fear all your days.
So you better obey me.
And that was the threat of punishment.
So we can say that Deuteronomy 28 can
be divided into two sections.
One, the offer of a reward if you
obey God.
And the other, the threat of punishment if
you don't obey God.
That is the principle of life under the
law.
And when a Christian lives, does God's will
or obeys God, on that principle, we can
say he's a legalistic Christian.
He's living under the law.
He obeys because he wants a reward from
God.
He obeys because he's afraid that if he
doesn't obey, God will punish him.
Now that was only a temporary phase in
which God kept people to teach them how
not to do my will.
The law never brought anyone to eternal life.
The law only exposed a man's sin.
The law was like a mirror, a very
faithful mirror, a perfect mirror that showed me
my true condition.
You know, when you go to the bathroom
and you look at a mirror, it shows
you exactly the dirt on your face or
what you look like, but you can't remove
the dirt with the mirror.
And the law could not cleanse anyone.
It could show you what your condition was,
convict you, but it couldn't help you.
When you come to the New Testament, you
have the answer to this cleansing that the
law shows us we need.
Through the blood of Christ, through the power
of the Holy Spirit.
I showed you what the law demanded.
When you come to the New Testament, Jesus
said in John 14 and verse 15, If
you love me, keep my commandments.
Not, if you don't want sickness, keep my
commandments.
Or if you want prosperity, keep my commandments.
No, if you love me, keep my commandments.
It's very important for us, my brothers and
sisters, to understand that anything that does not
originate in love for God, has no value
before Him.
Consider in a home where a wife works
in a kitchen, cooking a meal, and if
it's a wealthy home, let's say they have
a maid in that home, who's also working
in the kitchen, cooking the meal also.
Now here are two women working in the
kitchen.
Both working hard, preparing a meal.
And yet, though the external action is the
same, there's a fundamental difference between the two.
One is a wife, not doing it for
a salary, doing it out of love.
And the other is a maid, doing the
same work for a reward.
There is the difference between a spiritual person
and a religious person.
A spiritual person does not do anything for
reward.
He does not do anything out of fear.
He does it out of love.
The Bible speaks about sons and servants.
And he says, in the Old Testament, God
treated people like servants, but in the New
Testament, it says in Galatians 4, that God
treats us like sons.
Now what's the difference between a son and
a servant?
If a man's running a shop, and he
employs people to work there, they're servants.
And they will work only from a certain
time to a certain time.
And when the time is up, they have
to say, we've got to go.
And they've got to be paid for it.
But a son who works in his father's
shop or business, he doesn't work from a
certain time to a certain time.
He may work till late at night.
And he may not even get paid for
it.
Because he's a son.
And if you examine your attitude towards the
Lord's work, whether it's even a simple thing
like going to a church meeting, you can
take it as an obligation that you have
to fulfill once a week.
Something that you don't really want to do,
but your conscience bothers you if you don't
do it.
So you do it.
And once you've done it, you say, okay,
my obligation's over till next Sunday.
See, there's no love there.
That's an obligation.
It's like paying your income tax.
Okay, I have to pay my income tax.
Otherwise I'll get caught or punished.
So I pay it.
Do you know that the vast majority of
Christians have that type of relationship with God?
God's like an income tax officer who's come
to collect the taxes.
And we go and give our dues to
Him.
Not with any great delight.
That's Old Testament way of life.
And that is not what Jesus came to
give.
Jesus came to lead us into a personal
relationship with Him.
The Bible says that He's our bridegroom.
And we are the bride.
It's a relationship of...
You know, the Bible says that when Christ
comes again, there's going to be a marriage.
It's the relationship of a true Christian with
Christ His Savior is exactly like a fiancé
who is just waiting for her bridegroom to
come so that they can get married.
And who is longing every day for the
wedding day.
And who wants to keep in touch with
her fiancé every day because she loves him.
Nobody has to tell her to call him
up or write letters to him.
No.
And she just delights to do it.
And when she's with him, she's not always
looking at her watch to see whether it's
time to go home.
She wishes, if they're really in love, she
wishes that time would stand still.
And that she could stay with him as
long as possible.
Do you know that this is true Christianity?
That this is the type of relationship that
Jesus Christ came to give us?
Now I want to ask you, is that
the Christianity you have?
Probably isn't.
Probably for you, the Christian life is a
burden.
Something you do to ease your conscience.
Like I said, paying the income tax.
Something you don't really love to do, but
you have to do because you'll be punished
if you don't do it.
Or you'll be rewarded if you do it.
It's exactly like the way we bring up
our children.
I mean, how do we bring up our
children?
With these two things that we read in
Deuteronomy 28.
We offer them a reward if they'll obey,
and so they obey.
Or we threaten them with punishment if they
don't obey, and so they obey.
But we don't want our children to be
like that forever.
I mean, think of the delight that comes
into the heart of a parent when one
day that child obeys you, when he's grown
up, he's 20 years old, and the hope
of reward is gone, and the threat of
punishment is too late now, and he still
obeys you because he loves you.
It's got nothing to do now with hope
of reward or threat of punishment.
He is matured from that to the place
where he loves his dad and mom, and
cares for them, and respects them, and is
glad to obey out of affection.
And think of the delight that comes into
your heart when your son or daughter has
that type of relationship with you, which is
not one of fear, and not a business
transaction.
That's how we know whether we've become sons,
or whether we are still babies.
A lot of Christians are babies.
They seem to be babies forever and ever
and ever.
You know how, supposing the father is a
businessman, and has gone on a long journey,
and when he comes back, what's his four
-year-old son gonna ask him?
His four-year-old son gonna ask him,
Daddy, did you bring me any candy?
Did you bring me any sweets?
And he wants to open up the suitcase
to see if there are any toys for
him.
That's all he is interested in.
What can I get from dad?
What has he brought for me?
And a Christian who comes to God and
is only thinking, What can I get from
God?
What can I get from God?
Every time he prays, he is asking for
something himself.
He is a baby.
The only thing he can think of is
what he can get from God for himself.
Now, you take a 25-year-old son
in that home, when his dad comes back
from his business trip, what does he look
for?
He doesn't go opening the suitcase to see
whether there is any candy or any toys
in there for him.
Unless he is retarded.
What he would ask his dad is, Daddy,
how did the business go?
Did we get some orders?
Can we make some profit this year?
He is more interested in the business.
He is not interested in the candy and
the toys.
And that is the mark of a Christian
who has come into the new covenant.
Who has become a son and is not
a child.
He is interested in the furtherance of the
kingdom of God.
He is interested to know whether God's word
is spreading.
Whether people are getting saved.
Whether the kingdom of Christ is spreading across
the earth.
He is interested in that.
He is interested in his father's business.
Do you remember the words that Jesus spoke
to Joseph and Mary when he was 12
years old?
They looked for him and he was not
with them.
And they went back to Jerusalem and found
him sitting in the temple.
Talking to the great scribes and scholars.
And they asked him, why are you here?
And he said, didn't you know that I
must be about my father's business?
You know, a sense of responsibility towards the
father's business.
Like I said, if a father has got
a shop, would he put his 4 year
old to look after that shop when he
goes away somewhere?
That 4 year old won't sit at that
chair for too long.
Just some friends of his come to call
him to play and he will run away
immediately, leaving the shop empty.
He has got no sense of responsibility towards
that business or that shop.
He is ready to eat and receive all
the gifts that his parents can give him.
And the new clothes and the good food
and the ice cream and all that.
He is happy for all that but to
take some responsibility in the father's business.
Oh no, he would rather go and play
with his friends.
But a grown up son would sit in
that shop till midnight if necessary.
And by that illustration, all of you sitting
here can find out whether you are a
baby or whether you are a son.
You may say you have been a Christian
for 25 years but 25 year old people
can be retarded.
I have seen 25-30 year olds with
down syndrome.
I mean, they are no use to their
parents as they are like little babies.
Retarded and with no sense of responsibility, cannot
take any responsibility in their home.
How many parents would be happy to have
children like that?
How many parents would be happy to have
a child who is 25 years old and
has zero sense of responsibility?
Who is always looking for gifts and whose
mental age is 3.
No father or mother would ever be happy
with such child and I want to say
God is not happy with such children either.
And yet the vast majority of God's children
are retarded.
They have no sense of responsibility towards God's
work on earth.
Most churches are filled with babies who have
no ability to even feed themselves.
They need to be fed all the time.
You know how babies are.
They don't know how to eat food themselves.
They've got to be fed.
A grown up person doesn't need to be
fed.
He can feed himself.
In fact he can feed his younger brothers
and sisters too.
And yet how many Christians are there even
in large churches who can feed others?
They go Sunday after Sunday after Sunday to
be fed.
And so the pastor is weighed down.
It's like he's got 200 little babies lying
there on the floor, kicking their legs with
a bottle to their mouth, drinking milk.
That's how it is in a lot of
churches.
And the pastor is like a mother with
200 babies.
How in the world can he look after
all of them?
Nobody is growing up to take a responsibility
to take care of the others.
To feed them.
To take care of them.
And don't you think a father or mother
would be tremendously disappointed if they had children
like that.
That out of many children only one is
normal.
That is the disappointment God feels in heaven.
When he looks down on earth and sees
so many people who claim to be redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb.
Who say we are born again, we are
children of God.
But who have no sense of responsibility for
God's work.
They do not do everything for the glory
of God.
They do everything for their own gain and
profit.
They evaluate everything, every decision they take by
how it will benefit them.
Not how it will glorify God.
And yet the Bible says, in that verse
we read, even your eating and drinking, you
must think of how it will glorify God.
Let me turn you to a verse in
1 Corinthians in chapter 6.
In 1 Corinthians in chapter 6, Paul tells
us what I could say is one of
the secrets of why he became such a
spiritual man.
And if we take this seriously, anyone of
us sitting here can be spiritual.
Otherwise we will just remain religious.
1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 12 it says,
Paul says, everything is lawful for me, but
everything is not profitable.
Now Paul was a born again Christian.
And when he said about everything being lawful,
he was not referring to all the unlawful
things he had already given up.
We could divide everything on earth into two
categories.
Lawful and unlawful.
Adultery, murder, theft, these are all unlawful.
There are many other things which are lawful.
Now a Christian who avoids all unlawful things,
avoids all sinful things, and does only lawful
things, we would consider such a Christian as
a very good Christian.
Because even such Christians are rare to find,
who avoid all unlawful things, and who never
cheat on their taxes, never cheat other people,
never take advantage of other people, who avoid
all unlawful things, and will only do lawful
things.
But do you know the Apostle Paul was
even one step higher than that.
He says here in this verse, of course
I avoid all unlawful things, that's understood.
But, even among the multitudes of things that
are lawful for me, I still don't do
all of them.
Because I don't have time to do all
of them.
I select from these lawful things what is
profitable.
Verse 12, I select what is profitable, and
I spend my life doing that.
That's how he became a spiritual man.
But a Christian who is not spiritual will
only think in terms of, well that's lawful
for me.
I've been to many conferences where we have
question answer time.
And I've noticed many questions that many believers
ask is, can I do this, what's wrong
with doing that, what's wrong with dressing up
like this, or what's wrong with this other
thing.
And I say these are people who are
trying to see how close to the edge
of the cliff they can come without falling
over.
Now personally I'm not interested in finding out
how close to the edge of a cliff
I can come without falling over.
I'd like to stay far away.
I mean, little children are interested in these
things.
You know when, we have a lot of
our traveling in India is by train.
And one of the things little children sometimes
when they're waiting on a railway station platform
for the train to come, they will compete
with each other to find out how close
can we stand to the edge of the
platform without the train hitting us.
I mean a grown up wouldn't get into
that type of competition with anybody.
I'm not interested in finding out how close
I can stand to the edge of the
platform without the train hitting me.
And this is how a lot of Christians
are living.
What type of movies can I see without
being polluted?
Or how close can I get to the
edge of impurity without becoming impure?
These are babies.
A mature person would say, I don't want
to see how close I can get to
the edge of the cliff.
I don't want to fall over.
I'm not in that type of competition.
How close can I get to the edge
of the platform without being hit by the
train?
I'm not interested.
I want to stay a good distance away.
I want to stay a good distance away
from impurity.
Why is it so many Christians have these
type of questions?
Can I see this?
Can I watch that?
Can I dress like this?
What's wrong with this?
What's wrong with that?
These are little children.
They have no sense of doing everything for
the glory of God.
They are trying to find out where is
the borderline between lawful and unlawful.
Does this come under lawful or does it
come under unlawful?
Whereas Paul says, I'm not interested in finding
out the borderline between lawful and unlawful.
I have no interest in that.
I'm trying to find the borderline between lawful
and profitable.
Which is a much higher level.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Out of all the things I could spend
my life doing, Paul says, I want to
find out what's profitable, not just what's lawful.
Because that's how Jesus lived.
I could spend the money I earn in
many ways, but all lawful ways.
I would not spend my money on anything
unlawful.
But Paul says, I would like to spend
my money on what's profitable.
Profitable spiritually.
Profitable for eternity.
The way I spend my time.
The way I spend my money.
The way I spend my life.
You can either spend it all doing lawful
things and get a good testimony before others.
Or become a really spiritual man and spend
your life on earth in the most useful
way possible.
Let's take an illustration from building a house.
Now you know that when you build a
house, you'd like to budget your expenditure very
carefully.
So that you can get the maximum benefit
out of the money you spend.
You'd buy a bit of property in an
area which would be convenient and good for
you.
And as you plan the house, you say,
well I want to get the maximum out
of the money I spend on this house.
I don't want to waste money on trivial
useless things which are not going to be
any benefit for me in the house.
Now a lot of Christians don't have that
attitude when it comes to the life they
are building.
They don't feel that I've got to spend
my life, my time and my money and
my earthly life in the best possible way.
Because I'm only getting one chance to live
it.
And one day I stand before the Lord
and I look back over the way I
lived.
And I'll tell you this.
Lots and lots and lots of Christians are
going to have tremendous regret in that day
when they stand before the Lord.
Because they'll discover they wasted such a lot
of their life.
They wasted such a lot of their time
and money and life in useless pursuits that
have no eternal value.
They live like babies with no sense of
responsibility.
When God wanted them to be sons.
So this is the thing that hinders the
work of the Lord in the world.
That so few of God's children are growing
up.
So one of the things I find a
great necessity for in every country is the
same.
To challenge people.
To recognize your responsibility if you claim to
belong to Jesus Christ.
Paul once wrote to the Corinthian Christians and
said, He said, I can't give you any
meat to eat because you're still babies.
You still quarrel and fight with each other
and all I can tell you is that
Christ died for your sins.
And that's all that you seem to live
on.
That, oh, my sins are forgiven.
But he says, there are deeper things that
I want to share with you but I
can't share it with you because you're not
mature enough.
I mean, you can't put meat into a
baby's mouth, it'll choke.
It'll die.
And so that's what Paul told the Corinthians,
I can't put any solid food into your
mouth.
I've got to just keep giving you milk.
Because you're not growing up and yet they
were Christians for many, many years.
And the Holy Spirit's written there, written that
down there as a warning for us.
Do everything for the glory of God.
Do you remember in the Sermon on the
Mount how Jesus taught his disciples how to
pray?
Prayer is communication with God.
And what you pray for is a pretty
good indication of where you are spiritually.
If you want to know what your spiritual
level is, just look into your heart and
ask yourself the things that you pray for.
What are the things that you long for
in your life?
In the Old Testament, if you look at
the things people prayed for, it was usually
prosperity and kill my enemies.
You read the Psalms, for example.
If you read the Psalms, it was, Lord,
finish off those fellows who are troubling me
over there and please bless me in every
possible way.
And give me all that I need and
make me rich and prosperous and happy.
And that's how it was in the Old
Testament.
And those were the prayers that the disciples
had heard from childhood in their homes and
in the synagogues.
And then they came in touch with Jesus
and they found he was so different.
He was so different from all their religious
leaders.
And they heard him pray and they said,
Lord, teach us to pray.
And then Jesus said, OK, I'll teach you
to pray.
When you begin to pray, don't start praying
that God will finish off your enemies.
That's not number one.
And don't even pray that God will make
you prosperous.
That's not what you need first.
When you pray, the uppermost longing of your
heart must be, Father, hallowed be your name.
God, the greatest longing of my life is
that your name should be glorified.
That's a spiritual prayer.
Religious people may repeat it like parrots.
But only a spiritual man can really pray
that prayer.
And God, my second request is still not
that my back ache should be healed or
anything like that.
My second request is, thy kingdom come.
God, I'm longing for the day when your
kingdom will be established across the face of
this earth.
I want your kingdom to spread.
And third, Lord, I want your will to
be done on earth, in my life, every
day, exactly like it's done in heaven.
See, this is not like the prayers in
the Psalms.
This is New Testament.
Most Christians are still living in the Old
Testament.
It's almost as though Jesus hasn't come.
It's almost as though the Holy Spirit hasn't
come.
Do you know that on the day of
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon his
disciples, it ushered in a completely new age,
a completely new dimension of a relationship that
man could have with God, which was impossible
under Old Testament times.
It would make a man truly spiritual.
It would make a man follow in the
footsteps of Jesus Christ.
His primary ambition on earth, once the Spirit
of God filled him, would no longer be
to make money, or to be famous, or
to live a comfortable life, or any such
thing.
His primary ambition in life would be that
God might be glorified through his life.
That the kingdom of God could be spread
on earth through his life.
That God's will would be done in his
life, like it's done in heaven.
However painful it may be.
And after we finish those requests, then the
Lord said, then you can go to your
earthly requests after that.
It's not that God doesn't care for our
earthly needs.
It's not that we can't pray for our
earthly needs.
But a spiritual man, a man who's a
real disciple of Christ, would pray like Christ
prayed.
First of all, God, let your name be
glorified.
Let your name be hallowed.
I want your kingdom to spread.
I want your will to be done on
earth.
See, he's not thinking of anything for himself.
Have you noticed in that prayer, which we
know is the Lord's prayer, Our Father who
art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Have you ever noticed that the words me
and my are never found in that prayer?
Even once.
And if you compare that to the type
of prayers the average Christian prays, the average
Christian's prayer has got me and my frequently.
Give me this and my this and my
that and my the other thing.
Give me this other thing.
And yet in the prayer which the Lord
taught his disciples, those two words never occur
even once.
Even when we had to pray for our
needs, he said, pray, give us.
And there's a lot of difference between us
and me.
Us means, I'm thinking of some of the
other people around me who also are in
need.
Not just me.
It's not give me my daily bread.
It's give us.
First of all, I think of God.
His name, His kingdom, His will.
And then when I come down to myself
and my needs, I don't think only of
myself.
I think of my fellow believers, people around
me who are hungry.
Give us our daily bread.
And notice there in Jesus' prayer, that prayer,
give us our daily bread, is, we could
say, symbolic of all our material needs.
But notice, He's thinking of our necessities.
It's not give me my daily ice cream.
It's give me my daily bread.
What is essential.
It's not asking for luxuries.
It's asking for necessities.
A spiritual man, I mean, God may give
him ice cream.
That's another thing.
God usually gives us much more than we
deserve, and much more than we ask for.
But that's something God throws in.
But the spiritual man doesn't ask for it.
That's my point.
I'm not saying he's wrong to eat ice
cream.
I'm just saying that, that's not what he
longs for.
He's not asking for luxuries.
God may give it to him without his
asking.
That's another thing.
But he doesn't look for that.
He wants his life to count for God
before he leaves this earth.
And I want to say to any of
you, if you really want to express your
gratitude to Jesus Christ for dying for you
on the cross, you cannot express it just
by easing your conscience, going to church once
a week, putting a little bit of money
in the offering bag.
No.
It requires a lot more than that.
What would you think of a woman who
gets married and the day of her wedding
tells her husband, well, I'll spend one day
a week with you and give you 10
% of my time or something like that.
Who would want to marry such a woman?
Would Christ want such a bride?
If a man wouldn't want such a wife,
would Christ want such a bride?
Who gives part of her time and part
of her life to him and says, I've
got other interests too.
Well, I think the Lord would say to
such a person exactly what any man would
say to his wife who wants to have
that type of relationship.
Well, you better be occupied with those other
interests.
I'm not going to marry you.
Do you see that the relationship that the
Bible describes of Jesus and his disciples is
exactly like a husband and a wife?
The Bible says, husbands love your wives as
Christ loved the church.
See, that's the relationship that Jesus wants to
have with us.
Exactly like a husband and wife.
One of affection and deep love and care
where everything is done out of love.
That's why we read in Revelation chapter 2
where the Lord says, well, if you've left
your love for me, everything else that you
do has got no value for me.
You might as well not do it.
Whatever you do, do all for the glory
of God.
Now, this type of life, it's impossible to
live it without the power of the Holy
Spirit.
You know, as you hear a message like
this, you can think of the Christian life
and say, what a burden.
Boy, well, it is a burden if you
don't have the Holy Spirit.
It's true.
I fully agree with you.
But it was never meant to be lived
without the power of the Holy Spirit.
You know that?
The Bible says, the Holy Spirit fills our
heart with the love of God.
We love Him because He first loved us.
In my own life, I can testify that
my Christian life is not a boring, you
know, drudgery.
It's exciting.
Because I have sought to live it the
past many years in a love relationship with
my Lord and my Savior.
If it were not that, it would have
been a burden.
Now, I want you to listen to the
testimony of someone who is much older than
me.
And that's the Apostle John.
At the age of 95, he writes these
words in 1 John 5, and verse 3.
Now, remember, this is not the testimony of
a young 25-year-old man.
It's the testimony of a man who is
writing at the age of 95, having walked
with Jesus Christ for 65 years, being filled
with the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost, suffered a lot for the Gospel's sake,
and he says, at the age of 95,
this is the love of God.
1 John 5, verse 3.
This is the love of God that we
keep His commandments, and His commandments are not
a burden.
Think of that testimony.
He says, 65 years, I've obeyed God, and
it's been exciting.
It's not a burden.
I praise God for that testimony.
I want to have that testimony when I
walked with God for 65 years.
To testify His commandments are not a burden.
Why is it so many Christians find it
to be a burden?
Because they don't have a love relationship with
Christ.
As I said, you go to two people
who are deeply in love with each other,
and you ask them, is it a burden
for you to spend half an hour together?
He says, half an hour?
I'm just hoping the time will stop.
We spent 10 hours together.
I didn't realize it's 10 hours up already.
Why is it?
But you put that person to work in
an office with a difficult boss, and he's
just, the whole thing is a drudgery.
You know, that's the type of relationship a
lot of people have with Christ.
It's like working in an office for a
salary.
It's not like a love relationship.
And that's why the Christian life is so
heavy and so boring.
It was never meant to be that.
It was meant to begin with a love
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Do you have that first?
Can you say like John says in 1
John 4, earlier he says in verse 19,
we love Him because He first loved us.
That's why His commands were not a burden.
That's the place where Jesus wants to bring
every one of us into a love relationship
with Him.
That is New Testament Christianity.
That is the purpose of being filled with
the Holy Spirit.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is
not just to give us experiences.
It's to fill our hearts with love for
Christ, with gratitude for what He did for
us on the cross, that we fall in
love with Him.
We're deeply in love with Him and that
any sacrifice, anything we do, we don't count
it as anything because we love Him.
I just want to show you one more
verse before I close.
It's a verse that challenged me when I
was a very young man.
I gave my life to Christ when I
was 19 years old.
And I decided to love Him with all
my heart at that young age.
I had an ambition.
I was in the military.
I was in the Indian Navy.
I had just joined and just been commissioned
as an officer in the Navy.
And my goal in life was to end
up as the Admiral.
I want to go right up to the
top.
And Christ came into my life.
And my ambitions changed.
He gave me something better.
It's in the book of Genesis.
I want to show you this verse.
Genesis chapter 29.
It's the story of Jacob.
When he went to his mother's brother's house,
Laban's house.
And he saw one of Laban's daughters, Rachel.
And he fell in love with her as
soon as he saw her.
And he wanted to marry her at any
cost.
So he went and asked her father, Can
I have Rachel?
And the father Laban said, Well, you can
have her if you work for me for
7 years.
That means 7 years without pay.
You work for me for 7 years and
you can have her.
And do you know what type of work
it was?
It wasn't office work.
It was looking after sheep.
Out in the hot sun.
In the summer.
The cold winter.
Looking after the sheep.
Feeding them.
Taking care of them.
How many of you would do that for
a wife?
For 7 years.
And at the end of 7 years, what
would you say?
Boy, that was tough.
But that's not what Jacob said.
Listen to this.
Genesis 29 verse 20.
So Jacob served 7 years for Rachel.
And they seemed unto him like a few
days.
They seemed unto him like a few days.
Jacob, how long have you worked?
Oh, maybe 3-4 days.
3-4 days?
Do you know that you've been working for
2500 days?
Oh, really?
I forgot all about it because I was
so madly in love with Rachel.
That I said, boy, at the end of
this I'll get her.
That's what it says in that verse.
It seemed unto him like a few days
because of one reason.
That he loved this girl.
And what came to my heart at that
time was.
Lord Jesus.
If a man can serve like that for
a woman.
God, I serve you like that.
Where even if I serve you for 50
years.
It'll be just like a few days.
Because I love you.
Why is the Christian life so heavy?
Why is it a burden?
Do you know it's no burden for me
to forgive those who hurt me?
It's no burden for me to love my
enemies.
It's no burden for me to bless those
who curse me.
Or to pray for those who persecute me.
Not at all.
It depends on whether we love.
All these things are nothing.
His commands are not a burden.
To serve him is not a sacrifice or
a burden.
If we love.
If we don't love.
Oh yeah, then it is a burden.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father.
We pray you'll bring us to the place
where we serve you because we love you.
And where obedience to you is not a
burden.
And where serving you is not a heavy
thing.
Lord Jesus.
We thank you for what you did for
us on the cross.
And you look to us this morning not
primarily for service but for love.
And we want you to find it in
our hearts.
You did not come with words.
You came.
You loved us.
You gave yourself for us.
And we want to respond in the same
way.
And give ourselves for you.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.