Order of Worship
Spiritually, what are you afraid of? Let me see if I can guess what some of the answers might be.
(1) "I am afraid of God--the thought of facing God scares me to death!"
Now let me get this straight: your biggest fear is being terrified of God? The God that loves you so much that He gave His son to die for you, the God Who used the blood of His son to atone for all your sins, the God Who resurrected His son from death to prove to you that He can raise you from the dead--THAT God, and He is the greatest dread and terror you have? Does that make sense to you?
(2) "I am afraid of judgment--the thought of being accountable to God for the way I live my life scares me to death!"
Again, let me get this straight. God let Jesus be crucified for us to give us hope. In that hope we are assured we do not need to fear dying (in fact Jesus died for us to remove the fear of death--Hebrews 2:14, 15), but you are terrified about the very things that God gave Jesus in order to give us hope and peace. Does that make sense to you?
(3) "I am afraid of hell--the thought of hell scares me to death."
Still again, let me get this straight. The spiritual reality that scares you the most is the same reality that Jesus' death was God-designed to remove. In Paul's words, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).
May I ask you some questions? I want you to answer in your heart of hearts to yourself alone. Do not lie to yourself. Do not deceive yourself. You are just talking to you! No one else will hear you! Be very honest with yourself!
My questions:
(1) Can you be good enough to be saved? Is your answer to yourself, "No"?
(2) Can you be so obedient that God owes you salvation? Is your answer to
yourself, "No"?
(3) Can you live your life without ever making a mistake, without ever being
'wrong'? Is your answer to yourself, "No"?
If your answers to those questions is "No," then you are in quite a mess, are you not? You are scared to death of God, or of judgment, or of hell, or of two of those, or of all three of those ... BUT:
(1) You cannot be good enough to be saved.
(2) You cannot be obedient enough to saved.
(3) You know you are going to make mistakes and at times be wrong.
May I ask some more questions.
(1) Why would anyone be attracted to the God you follow?
(2) Is your message to the people around you, who really know you, "Please be a
Christian so you will be as miserable as I am"?
(3) Is your invitation to your friends, "Please let me introduce you to some
people who are as depressed and scared as I am"?
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which
you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our
flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of
His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the
surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by
grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Before we started thinking together, we read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30. A talent was a huge some of money--more than a slave would ever accumulate! The master gave huge sums of money to three servants. Only one servant made the master angry. He made the master angry for two reasons: (1) He did not know his master; (2) He did not try.
This week, come to know your God better, and because you know God, try!
Link to other Writings of David Chadwell