Walk with God

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27 NIV)

God created us in God's image.  Both male and female are made in this image, so it is not referring to the way our flesh and bone bodies are knit together.  No, this image is something beyond what we can see or touch.  God is spirit and, in us, God has built God's image.  We have spirit as well.  This allows us to communicate with God through prayer.  This allows us to hear God's still small voice.  This gives us everything we need to build a relationship with God.

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.  Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:8, 22 NIV)

The ideal we pursue is simply to walk with God.  Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monk, called it practicing the presence of God.  The Apostle, Paul, called it walking by The Spirit of God.  Adam and Eve, placed in the Garden of Eden, simply walked with God.  All of these descriptions refer to a relationship we have with the unseen Spirit called God.  We talk with God.  We listen to God.  We trust God.  We enjoy the presence of God.  We live life in relationship with God.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day... (Genesis 3:8a NIV)

How about you?  Would you recognize the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden?  How is your relationship with God?  Do you recognize God's voice?  Do you talk with God?  Do you walk with God?

Building God's Body

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV)

In the beginning of our walk, we decide to walk with God and choose God for the very first time.  As we begin to grow, our faith in God removes all other gods before us.  Over time, we hold to God no matter what the circumstances and we begin serving God, which is obvious because we begin serving others in God's name as well.  As we progress, though, our faith becomes wisdom that we begin to share while we are serving.

Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. (1 Timothy 3:1, 6 NIV)

This transition doesn't happen overnight.  It happens over time.  We walk with God first, then begin empowering one more to do the same.  This pattern repeats itself over and over again until we look around and realize that there are more and more people turning to us for wisdom about walking with God.  They see it in our lives.  They hear it in our words.  We find ourselves entrusted with a part of God's flock.  We are overseeing a part of God's flock, the Church.

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:9 NIV)

These later roles in our walk are not elected positions.  They aren't even appointments because we hold the right political prowess or power.  These are roles that are built slowly over time.  People turn to us because our lives reflect the "trustworthy message as it has been taught."  Not only that, our words "encourage others with sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it."  Our lives reflect a walk together with God.  Not only that, we, time and time again, invite, empower, equip, and encourage one more.

For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain. (Titus 1:10-11 NIV)

False teaching, bad doctrine, and sinful lives are not just outside the Church.  They are inside as well.  This is because we are all on a journey, walking the path one step at a time.  Sometimes we stray off the path.  Sometimes we were not on it to begin with.  The Church is a self-healing body that removes the infection without removing the vital part that God has placed there.  When we teach and refute well, the person is preserved and built up but the bad doctrine is stopped and removed.  The Body of Christ is healthy and growing and full of love.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:14-15 NIV)

How about you?  Do you "hold firmly to the trustworthy message" you have been taught?  Do you "encourage others by sound doctrine?"  Do you "refute those who oppose it?"  Are you helping Christ's Body be healthy and growing and full of love?

Hold to God

It's one thing to leave false gods to follow the one true God.  Its another step of faith to hold on to God even when things get difficult.  Job showed us that it can be done.  So did Jesus.

They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. (1 Timothy 3:9 NIV)

We've already discussed what gives us a clear conscience in the "bad box" series.  Our conscience is clear when we hold on to and act upon good thoughts and throw away bad thoughts that come into our minds.  We train "Will" to do this.

They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. (1 Timothy 3:10 NIV)

The word "deacon" is simply a transliteration of the Greek letters into English.  A better translation of the Greek word would be "table waiter."  Deacons, then, are table waiters serving others.  This matches Jesus' discussion on leadership when he said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all." (Mark 9:35 NIV)  The more we hold on to God, the more our serving God becomes obvious in our serving of people.  God designed us to serve.

Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 3:13 NIV)

How about you?  Do you hold on to the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience?  Has your faith translate into service to God?  Is your faith becoming obvious in your God-led service to others?

One God

We already spend much time focusing on our salvation-step with God.  We come home to the Father through the Son and receive the Holy Spirit.  When we do, we receive the gifts of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit.  We do this when be believe that Jesus is the Christ, confess him as Lord, repent of our sins and are baptized as his follower.  But what happens then?

Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. (Acts 15:1-2 NIV)

Some of us receive the gifts of salvation and the Holy Spirit after being raised in the church.  We know about God.  We've learned our Bible.  We already have a picture of what it looks like to walk together with God.  This is similar to the Jews in the New Testament who accepted Jesus as the Christ.

Some of us, though, come to God without any background with God or the church.  We don't know the Bible.  We don't know what it looks like to walk together with God.  It's all new to us.  This is similar to the Gentiles who were accepting Jesus as their lord and savior.  The church leaders were trying to figure out where to start with these new believers.  They met together and prayed for wisdom.  God responded.

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. (Acts 15:19-20 NIV)

They decided that these new Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised like their Jewish brothers in Christ.  They were united by Jesus, not Abraham.  They would however, be asked to abstain from some other things.  The list may look strange to us today, but these are things that were tied to worship of other false gods.  Meat was sacrificed to these gods.  Blood was poured out for these gods.  Sex with temple prostitutes was done in worship of these gods (fertility gods who would give them children or good crops).  The bottom line was simple: Stop worshiping other gods.  There is only one God.  Worship God alone.

We may not sacrifice animals before idols today, but we certainly give "worship" to the gods of reason and science or, as an alternative, astrology, palm reading, or taro cards.  We have plenty of "idols" like fame and fortune, power and security who vie for our "worship."

So how about you?  Have you made the transition from worshiping other gods to worshiping only one God?

Finding God

Walking with God is a journey for all of us.  It's a process.  It's about taking steps on a path. We walk with God when we see God and join God.  That can be confusing, though, even when we want to walk with Him.

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:14 NIV)

I'm not sure if you've ever thought about this before, but the Israelites whom the LORD (Yahweh) saved from slavery in Egypt didn't worship the LORD (Yahweh) - at least not exclusively.  Maybe I said that in an awkward way.  Let me try it again.  The Israelites in Egypt worshiped the gods of Egypt.  They also worshiped Yahweh.  

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NIV)

Finding Yahweh, the one true God, in the midst of that had to be difficult.  That's why the creation story is so important for the Israelites when they left Egypt.  Go read the creation story in Genesis 1:1-2:3.  As you read it this time, keep in mind that the Egyptians had gods for the Sun, Moon, Stars, Sky, and more.  The story of creation keeps reminding the Israelites that those things aren't actually gods.  Only Yahweh is God.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 NIV)

The Israelites were believing in and serving many gods when Yahweh (the LORD) broke them out of Egypt.  The Israelites were moving into a new territory that served other gods - all of which were false.  They had many options to believe and many "gods" to follow.  They also knew about Yahweh.  The question, then, was whom they would choose to believe, follow, and serve.

All of us are given different competing pictures about the universe, the world, and God.  Some of those pictures do not include God at all.  Some of them include God as one of the many possibilities.  The Biblical picture points us to only one true God.  The question for us, then, is simple, too.  Have you found God?  Who will you believe, follow, and serve?  Choose today whom you will serve.  As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.