|
|
Getting It
Right |
|
|
By Dr. Bill Lewis |
|
|
|
Written
for the December 2005 |
||
|
Lewis is a very common name with a multitude of Lewis listings in almost any telephone book you pick up in this country. Every where I’ve traveled in my life I have found others with my last name. I am frequently asked if I’m related to this or that particular Lewis, and in almost every case the answer is no. However, there are a few who have the last name Lewis with whom I do have a connection—they make up my family. My relationship to my family is important as is the relationship most people have with their families. As important as our familial relationships are, the relationships we have with God and with His family are far more important. In response to a scribe who inquired of Jesus as to which commandment was the greatest, Jesus replied, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:31-31, NKJV).” Jesus knew that if we could get our relationship with God right and our relationships with others right, everything else would fall into place. That our relationship with God is more important than even our relationship to our own family is clearly stated by Jesus in the words recorded in Luke 16:26 (NKJV), “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” Many stumble over the wording of this passage of scripture, and certainly Jesus presented the truth of the passage in harsh, direct language designed to make the listener stop and think. The message of the passage is not that we are to hate our own families, but rather that to be a disciple (follower), the love we have for God must be greater than our love for anyone else in our life. We must get our relationship with God right if we are to succeed in being a true disciple. We can have a “perfect” church service with the greatest musical talent and best preaching possible, but if the relationships with God and others is not what they ought to be, a perfect church service is far from being worship of God and will not help anyone draw near to God. Without the appropriate relationships to God and others, all attempts at worship fail. Remember the words found in Isaiah 1:11-14 (NKJV), “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” Because our relationships with others are interwoven with our relationship with God, if we are to succeed as witnesses for God, in addition to a right relationship with God we must get our relationship with others right. Scripture tells you that should you go to worship and remember a problem with someone then you must “first be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24, NKJV) before you worship. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34, NKJV).” As we seek to plant a church in |
||
