Express Love…God’s Way: Acts of Service
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Counterfeit Gods: The Heartbreak of Love”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Tim Keller entitled, Counterfeit Gods.
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Human love and relationships can never replace God’s love and relationship!
Relationships are a blessing from the Lord. A spouse, a close friend, a parent or sibling are all unique gifts to join us in our journey through this life. This week’s message in no way is intended to discount the human relationships in our life, but rather celebrate them as a gift from God and not make them replace what only a relationship with God can provide. Human relationships are a blessing, but as we all have experienced at some point they let us down. What do we do when human relationships let us down? We go back to our heavenly Father to be filled with his love and then take that love back into our relationships.
In that light, this week’s devotions, I’d like to encourage us to “step up” our love game with the people that God has given to us. As God’s love fill us, we have the opportunity to fill others with the same love. To give some practical encouragement, I’d like to focus on the “Five Love Languages” as outlined by Gary Chapman in his book by the same name. He identifies the following five love languages as ones commonly expressed and received by individuals: Acts of Service, Quality Time, Gifts, Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation. Each of us has a primary and secondary. If you want to find yours, here’s a free assessment: https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/love-language
Acts of Service:
Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be great, must be last and a servant of all” (Mark 9:35).
Jesus’ whole life was an act of service to the world, to you and to me. He gave up his status to serve.
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5-7)
He changed the paradigm of greatness from “serve me” to “serve others.”
43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
He gave an example of a servant by washing his disciples’ feet. It was one of the ways he served others.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. (John 13:14-17)
When we see Jesus serve us, it fills our love tank so we can serve others. But how? What exactly is service? Perhaps it is not just “doing the chores” but when you specifically give up time to do something I know my spouse would appreciate or wouldn’t do for herself. Service is sacrifice. While it can just be “doing things around the house” it is doing things that normally your spouse would have to do and taking that burden of time and effort off of them. It’s giving up yourself and what you think others should do for YOU and be willing to invest your time in THEM.
The Apostle Paul encourages us, “13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).
The people God has put in our lives are ones that he gives us the opportunity to serve. Give up your self-centered self and enjoy giving up your time, energy and effort to serve those around you!
Apply: Need some ideas of service? Here’s the first ten from a blog post: https://www.lovelyluckylife.com/acts-of-service-love-language-ideas/
- Pay a bill before your spouse gets to it.
- Make breakfast in the morning.
- Have their clothes washed, folded and put away.
- Make their favorite treat.
- Iron their favorite work clothes so it’s done and ready when they go to wear it.
- Help with yard work or one of ‘his’ chores.
- Pack their lunch for the day.
- Make their cup of coffee in the morning.
- Wash their car.
- Take on chores that they hate. Scheduling appointments, etc.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for coming to this earth to serve all of us. Fill me with a heart of love and service so I can serve all, especially those whose love language is acts of service. Amen
Counterfeit Gods: The Emptiness of Idols
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Counterfeit Gods: The Emptiness of Everything”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Tim Keller entitled, Counterfeit Gods.
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The danger is real.
The contrast is stark.
The choice is obvious.
But we don’t think the thief is all that bad. In fact the thief doesn’t come in with guns a-blazin’, but rather with a tone and manner that leads us to follow rather than be scared.
Jesus uses the picture of a good shepherd and his sheep to paint the picture of what the danger of counterfeit gods are. Sure in John 10, he doesn’t use the term “counterfeit gods” but the description of the “thief” surely fits. The silent yet deliberate purpose and goal of the thief is to “steal and kill and destroy” the sheep.
Think of the devotions this past week and your personal reflections on the counterfeit gods in your life. Do not the counterfeit gods steal our joy, kill our soul, and destroy our relationship with god? If they haven’t already, Jesus is stating clearly that is their intent…whether you think it is or not.
The thief comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy. Period.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, on the other hand comes that “they may have life and have it to the full.”
Jesus wants us to realize that as our Good Shepherd he is the only one who can and does provide what we really need in life.
Consider…if counterfeit gods end up disappointing us, Jesus always is true to his promises, his love and his care for us.
Consider…if counterfeit gods seem to give us the good things in life, Jesus gives us what we really need for life…forgiveness, love, peace, hope and more.
Consider…if counterfeit gods consume our time, energy and effort yet leave us feeling empty, when our time, energy and effort is consumed by Jesus, we always feel full.
Consider…if counterfeit gods drift us away from God, Jesus is the only one that can truly bring us close to God.
Consider…If we are looking for counterfeit gods to love us, provide for us, or give us significance…they will always fall short of the love, provision and significance Jesus gives.
Idols leave us empty. Jesus leaves us full.
Just consider these three things:
LOVE: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
PROVISION: Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
SIGNIFICANCE: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)
Apply: Where have you realized the emptiness of idols in your life? How can/does Jesus fill the void we look to counterfeit gods to fill?
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for coming to fill my heart and life that I may be protected from the one who wants to steal, kill and destroy my soul. Help me always to find life, full life, in you! AMEN.
Counterfeit Gods: Counterfeit is Dangerous!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Counterfeit Gods: The Emptiness of Everything”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Tim Keller entitled, Counterfeit Gods.
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
$20 to buy a pack of cigarettes.
On a normal day, with real money, this was a normal transaction that would have never made the news. The fact that George Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill sparked a chain of events that led to the death of Floyd, the conviction of officers, riots around the country, calls to defund the police, and a heightened racial tension.
Many of these issues would have been avoided, if the $20 bill was real.
Counterfeit is dangerous.
Especially when the counterfeit is our idol. We set these individuals or items up as things we trust in, revere, and put our hope in. We hope it provides love, significance, and what our soul needs, but it can’t. It’s fake. Counterfeit gods are a lie of Satan and extreme danger to our souls. Why is the danger so real? Consider these points (from Tim Keller’s book, Counterfeit Gods):
- A counterfeit god will always end up disappointing you – because it cannot give you what only God can give you.
- A counterfeit god seeks to give you what only God can give you.
- A counterfeit god will enslave you consuming your time, emotions, energy and heart.
- A counterfeit god drifts your heart mind and soul away from the love, mercy and grace and blessing of the true God.
- A counterfeit god will never love you as much, provide for you as sufficiently or give you as deep of significance as the Lord gives you.
Have you experienced a counterfeit god? Can you relate with one or more of these statements? Perhaps these statements open your eyes to see what is going on in your soul. Good, God wants to expose the counterfeit and fill it with the real.
Why? Because, don’t be deceived, nothing this world has to offer can provide the blessing God intends like only God can provide. God desires no one and nothing else to take top seat in our heart. This isn’t “mean” on God’s part. He just knows that nothing can provide for the salvation of your soul like Jesus Christ. Nothing can express love and give significance like the perfect life, innocent death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Nothing! Everything other than Christ will never fully fill the emptiness of our soul.
As I understand the chain of events, the cashier in the store went outside to confront Floyd with the counterfeit bill. The situation went from bad to worse.
The store cashier didn’t have evil intent for Floyd. He testified that he didn’t even know if Floyd realized that they were fake. He thought he was doing a favor to let him know. (I believe I understood his testimony this way.)
Sometimes we don’t realize we are holding on to a fake god unless someone points it out to us. Don’t resist when confronted with our counterfeit gods, rather repent. God is faithful and he will be more than willing and eager to replace the fake gods in our lives with the reality only he can provide.
Apply: Look at the list above. What fits one or more of these descriptions in your heart/life? Could it be that God has exposed a counterfeit god? Don’t resist, repent and be restored by the one and only true God!
Prayer: Lord, call out the counterfeit in my life and replace it with the real…you and you alone! AMEN.
Counterfeit Gods: God’s Test for Idols!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Counterfeit Gods: The Emptiness of Everything”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Tim Keller entitled, Counterfeit Gods.
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
About weekly I will go out to our backyard pool and take a strip of paper from a bottle and stick it in the water. The various parts of the strip change colors to show how balanced the water is chemically. It tells me if the chlorine levels are good, the Ph levels are OK, or the level of acidity in the water. Unless the water is turning green (which it has!), it would be hard for me to tell what was going on in the water without the test strip to identify if things were OK or out of balance.
Do you ever wish there was a spiritual “test strip” that we could put in our mouths and depending on the colors presented on the strip would tell us what parts of our soul were in balance and what parts were out of balance?
It might be a little disconcerting to see the read out of such a strip!
While there are not strips, there is Scripture that helps to diagnose what is going on in our hearts. God has recorded both teaching and examples to help us discern, should we be open to it, if we have counterfeit gods in our lives and what they are.
In Sunday’s message (link to listen above), we looked at the story of Abraham and how God tested his heart to see if he held Isaac in first position or the Lord. I’ll let you listen to the message to hear that example. Let me give you another. Also from the life of Abraham, but this time with his nephew Lot and his wife.
Lot lived in a very wicked community of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was obvious that the hearts of people in those cities loved self, sex and stuff way more than they loved God. God let Abraham know that he was going to destroy the city. Knowing that Lot lived there, Abraham pleaded with God to spare the city and bargained down to an agreement that God would spare the city if he could find ten God-fearing people there.
The sad thing is, he didn’t.
So he sent two of his angels to warn Lot and his wife and two daughters to get out of the city. The destruction would be swift and dramatic. However, the Lord said, “Do not turn around and look at the destruction for if you do, you will die.” Why so dramatic? I know I would be curious to flee to a safe zone and turn around and watch fire from heaven consume the city. When would be another time you would get to see that? That wasn’t the point. The point of warning Lot and his family to NOT turn around was to determine if their hearts were more settled in the Lord, or they were longing for what they left.
Lot and his daughters passed the test. His future sons-in-low didn’t, nor did his wife. Sadly God sent the judgment he promised. Here’s how it went:
14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry[a] his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”
16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
…23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. 24 Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
What would you have done? Thought God was joking like the sons-in-law? Hesitated like all of Lot’s family? Looked back like Lot’s wife?
Here’s the point of the test. Whenever your heart is drawn to things of this earth, let go and let your love and loyalty always follow the Lord. He will never let you down. He will save you from destruction. He will always carry through on his promises.
The Lord is ALWAYS the right answer when our hearts are tested!
Apply: How is the loyalty of your heart being tested today? What makes simply trusting the Lord difficult? Pray for the strength of the Spirit to simply follow the Lord!
Prayer: Lord when my heart is tested, lead me to always fear, love and trust you first! AMEN.
Counterfeit Gods: What are the idols in your life?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “Counterfeit Gods: The Emptiness of Everything”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Tim Keller entitled, Counterfeit Gods.
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Genesis 31:19;34-35 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods. …34 Now Rachel had taken the household gods and put them inside her camel’s saddle and was sitting on them. Laban searched through everything in the tent but found nothing.
35 Rachel said to her father, “Don’t be angry, my lord, that I cannot stand up in your presence; I’m having my period.” So he searched but could not find the household gods.
After Jacob had spent about 20 years working for his uncle Laban, Jacob left with his wives and children and headed back to his father Isaac. (You can read the full account in Genesis 28-32.) On the way out of the house Rachel grabbed the household gods and hid them in the bags she was carrying. These icons were probably cultic objects, perhaps still connected with the worship of Yahweh, but done improperly. Some suggest they were in the form of past family members used to communicate with the dead. Whatever they were, they were valuable to Laban and Rachel wanted to keep them.
When Laban pursued Jacob to find them, Jacob promised that if they were found on any of the family members, their life would be taken. Whether Rachel knew it or not, her life was on the line so she feigned her monthly period to sit on the bag holding the objects until Laban left. She hid her gods and didn’t want Laban or her husband Jacob to know about them.
There’s more to this account, but here’s the question: What gods are you hiding that you don’t want those closest to you to know about?
Perhaps you are not hiding them in a saddlebag and sitting on them so no one finds them, but perhaps they are hidden away in the recesses of your heart, hoping that no one will really find out. Even hoping that God won’t expose them to you.
The interesting thing about these “household gods” is this: 1) they were family gods…obviously perpetuated from generation to generation, b) they seem to be used in congruence with the worship of the true God, yet were a distraction or a deviation from true worship and c) they were valuable.
So, what are the idols in your life?
- Look at your family tree. Are there things that show up not only in your heart but in your family’s history that continue to distract you from a full worship of the true God?
- Look at the things you prioritize that you “justify” time with the Lord in worship, in prayer, in Bible reading that you think are “OK” to pursue in congruence with worship of the Lord, yet are a distraction or a deviation that move your trust somewhat from the Lord to this item or object.
- Look at what is valuable to you. What do you protect? What do you treasure? What do you freak out about if you lose it or it is a possibility you will lose it?
Perhaps there are idols in your “saddlebag” that you are sitting on that you hope no one will find.
God knows. That’s all that matters.
Consider these words of King David to his son Solomon:
“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9).
Rachel feared her father’s reaction if he would find her gods. Our Lord lovingly calls us to let go of the counterfeit gods because he knows the deception they create diminishes the blessing he desires to give.
It’s OK. Let go of the family gods, the “valuable” idols and allow the Lord to fill even more fully the void they leave.
Apply: Tim Keller in his book, Counterfeit Gods, suggests these questions to discern the idols in your heart. Ask yourself them. What do they reveal?
- What consumes my imagination, my heart, my passion?
- What, if I would lose it, would make my life hardly worth living?
- What do you spend your time, energy and resources on without much thinking about it?
- What do you depend on in life to give you significance?
- What do you depend on in life to give you security?
Prayer: Lord, expose every idol in my heart. Open my heart to let go of them and trust you fully. As you fill the void they leave, lead me to realize that what you give is far greater than anything I thought my idols would provide. AMEN.