What Kind of Vessel are You?

A verse stood out to me today when I was reading the Scriptures, and I wanted to take some time and reflect upon it for a moment.

Proverbs 25:4 - "Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer."

In the Scriptures the word "vessel" is a word that is used to describe an object that carries or contains something, and this object has a specific purpose. The most logical thing that comes to mind when I think of a vessel is a cup, bottle, or container. For the sake of illustration, let's speak of a container; it is an object that we use to hold anything that can be contained therein, and it can hold anything that we wish to put therein. There are certain containers that are better equipped to hold larger objects, such as cargo ships, and there are other containers that are best suited to hold smaller objects, such as lunch boxes. There are some that can hold liquids better, such as tupperware, or there are others that are best to hold solids, such as boxes. There are many, many different types of containers that were made to fulfill many different types of things.

Just like containers hold, possess, and carry various things, we hold, possess, and carry various things in us and in our lives. This is exactly why the Scriptures identify people and groups of people as a kind of "vessel".

• David, in Psalm 31:12, states, "I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel."
• God describes Israel as a vessel in Hosea 8:8 when He states, "Israel is swallowed up: now shall they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein is no pleasure."
• Jesus tells Ananias about Saul in Acts 9:15-16, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.".
• God is called the potter who shapes people as vessels in Romans 9:21 when Paul states, "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"
• Paul calls our the body a vessel in 1Thessalonians 4:4 when he states, "That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;"
• Peter calls wives a vessel in 1Peter 3:7 when he states, "Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered."
• Concerning purifying and sanctifying ourselves unto God Paul states in 2Timothy 2:21 "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work."

In respect to the last verse, 2Timothy 2:21, and Proverbs 25:4, we must all come to realize something... If we truly desire to be vessels used by God in this world, in this life, for His glory, honour, and majesty, then we we must know that we all have things in our life that can be considered "dross" that we must "take away". When a precious metal (i.e. - gold, silver, etc.) is heated over flames the impurities within the metal slowly rise to the top. Once these impurities rise to the top they must be skimmed off, or "taken away" from the substance of the metal. If the impurities are "taken away" then what is left is substance that can be shaped into "a vessel for the finer", which is fit to be used in the hands of the King.

With this in mind, I had to stop and think: "What are the impurities in my life that I know ought to be "taken away" so I can be "a vessel for the finer"? We know from the Scriptures that God allows "divers temptations" to come into our life to try our faith (James 1:2), and that these trials and distresses are like the flames of fire (1Peter 1:6-7) that allow the impurities in our life to slowly rise to the surface as the heat gets turned up more and more, but are we taking the time to diligently skim of the impurities that rise to the surface? When God allows these distresses to unfold in our life He has a purpose of making us "perfect and entire, wanting nothing" through letting "patience have her perfect work" (James 1:3-4). Are we letting patience have her perfect work in our lives so we can diligently purify ourselves before our Holy and Righteous God? If not, then do we truly have the desire to live and give our lives wholly to Him? Are we truly His? If we are the sons and daughters of the Almighty then we will purify ourselves and feel convicted when we don't purify ourselves; 1John 3:2-3 teaches us this by stating, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."

So, what is the conclusion of the matter? -- If we truly desire to follow after our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and please the Most High Holy God, you and I will willingly and whole-heartedly "take away the dross" (Prov 25:4) each and every day as we find ourselves under the flame of trials and tribulations that come from being obedient to God's Word. When we do this, we "shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work (2Tim 2:21)."

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The Heartbeat of Christ

"...They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence." - Matthew 9:12-13

God has really been pressing upon me the fact that a true minister of God is a person that deeply cares for the souls of men. In fact, a true minister of God will care more for the souls of men, both lost and saved, more than anything else in this world. I have found that it is very easy to get distracted by many things in this life, especially within the Laodicean church age in which we live. As Laodiceans (I know these things because I am one of them along side of you!) we are concerned about "our rights" and "our freedoms"; we don't have time to be inconvenienced by other people's lives, problems, needs, and distresses. If we happen to help another in need it is often to promote and advance ourselves to a better "status" than what we had before. It is a shame that we allow our selfishness to drive desires to fulfill the needs of the lost and the strangers around us... this is not the heartbeat of Christ.

Jesus Christ "came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10)", He came not to fulfill His own will but to do "the will of the father" (John 5:30), and we must have the same desires if we are truly the children of the King. Jesus was not concerned about His life, His comforts, His needs, His rights, His wants, and His pleasures; He was concerned with one thing, and one thing only: to do the will of the Father - freely, willingly, and whole-heartedly give and spend His life for everyone else, so that they might be saved. This truth reminds me of something that a good friend of mine, Pastor Mike Blake, once said: God gave His only begotten Son so that the world might be saved, and He is still in the business of giving His sons and daughters for the world.

I have learned that we need to change... EVERYTHING. We need to recognize our Laodicean tendencies, and then repent from them. We need God to help change our hearts; we are not strong enough to do it on our own.

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The Daily Struggle (cont')

Galatians 5:16 - "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."

In my last post I talked about my experiences with the daily struggle and how the flesh and the Spirit contend with each another because they are contrary to one another... Well, I was just reading a few passages that crossed my mind today and I happened to read the above verse. That verse really helped me to remember something very important: We don't have to struggle against our fleshly lusts, and when we do it is because we are not allowing Him to lead us in the paths of righteousness and restore our souls (Psalm 23:3).

God says in Galatians 5:16 "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." If we are walking in the Spirit, constantly communing with Christ through the Spirit of Truth (John 16:13), and continuously relying upon God's Word as a grafted branch abiding in the Vine (John 15:4) we will not allow ourselves to fulfil the lusts that the flesh desires to fulfil. What I believe our problem is (what my problem is too) is that we don't remember this truth all the time, when we ought to. Our enemy and our flesh is very good at getting us to feel "trapped" in our sinful nature, that is, when we give place to the Devil and to sin (Ephesians 4:27). He is a deceitfully wicked, sly, roaring lion that roams around (1Peter 5:8), seeking for the most opportune time to take hold of the places we have allowed him to access and then gruesomely attacks our most vulnerable areas. We must remember, I must remember, that through faith in Christ (1Peter 5:9) sin has no power over the redeemed (Romans 6:7), and that nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39)."

Press toward the mark... (Philippians 3:14)

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The Daily Struggle

I'll tell ya, sometimes the daily battle can really get to me. Paul wasn't kidding when he said in Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things ye would." This world and Laodicean age in which we live is not pulling out any stops when it comes to ridding the world of biblical anything. We are bombarded each and every day with so much information and entertainment from the internet, TV, radio, and other various multimedia sources that it gives us the potential to learn more about anything and everything than any other human in history. We have the ability to be incredibly overwhelmed with so my different options between food, recreation, hobbies, clothes, friends, the way we spend our time, what classes we will take in high school, what college we will go to, what degree to pursue while going through college, what career to have once out of college, who we date, who we marry, where we will live, where we might go on vacation, what plans we might do over the weekend... and the list can go on and on and on.

These potential options that we have in front of us each day can make us start to pursue the things that we selfishly desire. Once the world is able to make us think more about ourselves and the options we want, we will naturally end up being distracted from everything that God desire for our lives. God desires that we we walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the selfish flesh (Galatians 5:16), mortify, suppress, and totally rid ourselves the deeds of the selfish flesh (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5), and follow after the things that conform themselves to holiness (Hebrews 12:14, 1Peter 1:15-16). If we truly are believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ we will have the Holy Spirit permanently inside of us (Ephesians 1:13), and while our flesh will keep lusting after the things of the world and our sinful desires the Spirit will be convicting us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). These conflicting desires are at war with one another and cause us to be, in some weird way, schizophrenic. This is exactly why Paul states in Romans 7:14-25:

"14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

It is God, through the Spirit, that delivers us from our schizophrenic problem as a believers in Christ... I always need to remember that... each week... each day...

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"If weak in prayer we are weak everywhere."
- Leonard Ravenhill

How Do You Know You Believe?

I am grateful...

I just wanted to take some time tonight to just express my gratefulness to the Lord. He has been so good to us... He has been so good to me and in my life I can never repay Him for all that He has done. I guess that is the point to being redeemed by faith and walking by faith with the Lord, isn't it!?

Lately I have been listening to a sermon series that a pastor friend of mine (Pastor Mike Blake) has been preaching (you can check it out at this website -- http://www.maplecitybaptist.com). Mike has been preaching a series on the book of Romans that has been packed with many, many practical things that we all need in our life each and every day. One of the main things that Pastor Mike has been focusing on is how the book of Romans teaches the main fundamentals of the Christian faith. Sometimes, and probably more often than not, we need to stop ourselves and revisit the basics of our faith in the Lord.

In our culture, especially if you grow up in church or in a Christian home, it can become very easy to get wrapped up in thinking that the things that we do somehow sway God's opinion about us. We almost treat God as if He is as we are where we can manipulate His thoughts towards us by the things that we do that may please Him. We need to stop this kind of thinking! The Word of God says that in the flesh "dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18)" and "There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:10-12)." When it comes to who we are in the flesh there will never be anything good that will come from it. After the fall of man in Genesis 3 the flesh has always been corrupted, and we must always remember that the flesh will always be corrupted. God does not come in to change our flesh so that we can begin to become better within our flesh, He comes in to give us life that will come along side our dead flesh to give us power to not follow the flesh anymore. Whatever is touched by the flesh will be corrupted because of the flesh, but when we submit our whole selves to the Spirit nothing we do will be touched with corruption.

So what's the point of all this? -- When we stand before God one day, whether we are saved or lost, we will not get be able to be right with God and get into heaven being measured on a standard of good works (doing more good than bad). If we were measured on a standard of good works none of us would be able to stand, NONE... for the Word of God says that "we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Is 64:6)" and "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? (Psalm 130:3)".We will, however, be measured on the standard of if we believed God and His gospel. God's Word says that when Jesus comes back that He "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2Thessalonians 1:8)" and "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" It is faith in Jesus and what He has done that we can have any hope before God.

Never forget the basics... it will mean life or death, eternally.

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