Salem Conference 2012 - Pastor John Farley Saturday AM Part 2

1CO 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

 

This turns out to be a really pivotal verse in the whole picture.  It speaks of our former complete bondage to sin and death, and our new opportunity to be the willing slaves of Christ.

 

We hitch our wagon - our very bodies - to His star and oh, the places He takes us.

 

Perhaps at this point an illustration will help.

 

Think about the founding fathers and one of the most enduring statements in all of American history:

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;

 

And that among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

Liberty- freedom - is in our DNA.

 

Those lines appear in what is arguably the most famous and most beloved document in American history - the Declaration of Independence.

 

And yet it is interesting, because when these men (they were all male) assembled in Philadelphia signed this document, they also gave their assent to the words which formed the ending to this Declaration:

 

 

In other words, though they just finished saying they had a right to certain fundamental things,  they were willing to surrender these very things for a greater purpose.

 

Very interesting.

 

 

GAL 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

 

GAL 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

 

So our lives after salvation are a very interesting period.

 

We have been freed from our slavery to the world, satan, and sin by the cross of Christ.

 

We have been placed in the position as slaves of Christ.

 

And yet we have the freedom to choose how we will live.  Whether we live as though Christ were our Master or whether we live as though the world, the flesh and the devil were still our master.

 

Back to wrestling with two facts:

 

The plan of God is designed to take us from the slave market of sin to hearing the words “Well done, good and faithful slave?”

 

How does the word of God resolve the apparent contradiction between being set free from slavery and being called to slavery?

 

2CO 5:15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

 

Here’s the point:

 

The most convincing evidence that you truly possess freedom is your willingness to surrender it to achieve a more worthy goal.

 

That is what the fine young men and women in our all-volunteer military do when as free citizens of the United States they freely surrender their lifestyle here and subject themselves to the rigors and discipline of the armed forces in order to defend the freedom of others.

 

 

The extreme high point of this principle is found in Phil 2:7-8.

 

PHI 2:5  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

 

PHI 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

 

PHI 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and  being made in the likeness of men.

 

PHI 2:8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

NASU

 

Guess what the Greek word is here in verse 7 for bond-servant?

 

Right.,

 

The Greek word for “bond-servant” in Phil 2:7 is doulos - a slave.

 

Our Lord became a slave to free us from slavery to sin so that we might freely live as slaves to righteousness and slaves to Christ Jesus.

 

The business of this Family is love

 

Concluding thoughts

 

So we have seen that salvation is an exchange of yokes.  It is built into the human condition that we are going to be a slave - it is only a matter of to whom or to what.

 

And really there are only two choices, as we have learned in Romans 6.

We are either going to be a slave to that which is hostile to God, or we are going to be a slave of Christ Jesus.

 

This is true in position. The unbeliever is a slave of sin, the cosmic system, and the kingdom of darkness. The believer is in position already the slave of Christ Jesus.

 

But after salvation the believer still has a choice about how he is going to live.

 

Even though he has been transferred to the kingdom of the wonderful Son of God, he has the freedom to choice whether he will live as a slave of Christ, or whether he will submit to the bondage of the cruel master he has been delivered from and who has no more rightful authority over him.

 

In TIT 2:9, Paul gives instructions for slaves:

 

TIT 2:9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, NIV

 

Slaves served because they had to, because they would be whipped and punished if they disobeyed.

 

Christ’s slaves, however, serve voluntarily.

 

The thing that motivates them is not fear of punishment, but the desire to please their master.

 

MAT 11:28 Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

 

MAT 1:29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.

 

MAT 11:30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

 

The yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a yoke of abuse. It is not the yoke of the heavy burdens like the ones the Pharisees put on people.

 

MAT 23:4  They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.

 

 

It is not the yoke of the Mosaic Law that no Jew except Christ could ever carry.  It is not the burden of subservience to the law as a means of gaining divine approval.

 

No, it is the yoke of following Christ - in His way, His truth, and His life.

 

A yoke is a wooden beam, normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals.

 

 There are several types of yoke, used in different cultures, and for different types of oxen. A pair of oxen may be called a yoke of oxen, and yoke is also a verb, as in "to yoke a pair of oxen". Other animals that may be yoked include horses, mules, donkeys and water buffalo.

 

<picture of yoke>

 

The yoke is easy because Christ is yoked with us, and He does all the work!

 

MY yoke is easy, that’s what He said.  I am the Vine, you are the branches.  They are connected permanently.

 

And the yoke makes us useful to the Master.

 

The yoke harnesses our energy.

It directs us.

It controls us.

It equips us.

 

JOH 8:31So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, " If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

 

JOH 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

 

JOH 8:33 They answered Him, " We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"

 

JOH 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

 

JOH 8:35 " The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

 

JOH 8:36 "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

 

 

JOH 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

 

 

In essence, a yoke is an established connection between two entities.

 

When we were in slavery to sin, that yoke was a yoke of fear.

 

It was a yoke of death.

 

It was a yoke of compulsion.

 

The Lord’s yoke is a yoke of learning.

 

The Lord’s yoke is a yoke of sharing a life together.

 

It is the bond of love.

 

COL 3:12  So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

 

COL 3:13  bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

 

COL 3:14 Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

 

COL 3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

 

COL 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

 

COL 3:17  Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Family Relations

 

COL 3:18  Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

 

The Body of a Slave

 

1CO 6:19-20

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

NASU

 

Do you realize that which word or words you emphasize when saying a sentence can affect the meaning?

 

Glorify God in your BODY

 

Versus Glorify GOD in your body

 

In the first case, the point is that you don’t just glorify God with your soul; it has to go all the way to the body

 

In the second case, the point is that you are always glorifying something or someone with your body…the issue is, WHO?

 

That is a different meaning.

 

That is more sobering

 

Because emphasizing GOD reveals the fact that

 

It is not as if we are on our way to completely glorifying God and we have mastered using our human spirit to glorify Him and have mastered using our human soul to glorify Him and next up is the body.

 

By emphasizing God we come face to face with the fact that WE ARE USING OUR BODIES for something. 

 

We are making our body a slave to someone. 

 

If it is not God, who or what is it?

 

This life is too short to waste whatever remaining precious useful healthy functioning days or exertions or movements that our body still has.

 

I was watching an elderly man at breakfast yesterday, and it was heartbreaking. He was struggling just to get up out of the booth.   His movements were slow, tentative, betraying lack of functionality in his body and perhaps fear.

 

The body gets old and loses capacity.

 

We lose muscle mass.

 

We lose springiness in our tendons and so forth.

 

Our bones get brittle.

 

Ecclesiastes 12 brings this out in a very memorable way.

 

We lose brain function.  We get forgetful.

 

It gets worse from there.

 

That is if we are blessed and we live a long time,

 

If the Lord has chosen to give us a brief life, why then this point is all the more urgent and poignant.

 

Why waste time and energy on making your body a slave to something other than the very best?

 

You gotta serve someone. So decide who…..!

 

Use your remaining vitality for the highest possible purpose.

 

How about this one?

 

EPH 1:7-10

7  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is,  the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

NASU

 

You see, there is a big problem in Christianity, and it comes down to pastors and Christians throwing out the wrong motivation for living the spiritual life.

 

It is often presented as guilt motivation..how could you not do this?

 

Or fear motivation…you better do this or else…divine discipline,

 

Or even love motivation…if you really loved the Lord, you would do this.

 

Wrong wrong wrong wrong WRONG!!!!

 

The spiritual life of the Church Age believe ris the greatest opportunity in human history to be a part of the most amazing and phenomenal life and mission!!!

 

Do you know what God is doing in our time?

 

The way to secure the full allegiance of your soul to Christ is to buy completely into His program…His mission…His life.

 

Once you are convinced that His character, calling, His  use for you , is the most exalted, most glorious, most amazing, most fulfilling, most life-giving one possible, living as His slave will be a piece of cake.

 

It’s all about the Person you are serving. 

 

 

It’s all about the cause,

 

It’s all about the destiny.

 

It’s all about the mission.

 

I’ll be a donkey in the street if He needs to ride on me,

 

I’ll be an upper room in He needs one to be the welcoming place for His friends.

 

The Master has need of this. 
That is all I need to hear.

 

I am so honored that He sees fit to use me - in any way whatsoever - for the glorious work He is accomplishing in our time.

 

Think about your hero when you were a kid.

 

Maybe it was an athlete

Maybe a singer

Maybe a political figure

 

Now imagine that you were given the opportunity to be that person’s gopher for a day.

 

WOuldn’t you have been in your glory, as we say?

 

It wouldn’t have been guilt

It wouldn’t have been fear

It would have been the sheer joy of being with him, being associated with him,

 

Jesus, Your mission and destiny are so great

And so beyond me

That I simply place myself at your disposal

To do - whatever .

 

NO questions asked.

 

The romance of a branch totally abandoned to its Vine.

 

Doing whatever He has to do to produce the slave that is useful to Him.

 

The vessel that is fit for the Master’s use.

 

EPH 1:22-23

And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

NASU

 

If we really are to be the fullness of Christ in this world, then we ought to be happy to have things stretched to their full measure, and that includes our capacity for persevering in faith.

 

It also includes our capacity to love unconditionally and sacrificially.

 

It includes our capacity for thanksgiving and gratitude.

 

It includes our perseverance in prayer.

 

And our ability to think the best.

 

Our willingness to forgive

 

Our reservoir of hope.

 

Our reliance of God’s character.

 

Grace for all things.