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Sabbath 7-5-2014 Daytona Seventh Day BAPTIST Pastor Wray sermon “ Your Whole Life Matters to God! ” II Chronicles 26;1-18
Many of us separate spiritual life from secular life. I have a problem doing that because all of life is an act of worship and an opportunity to serve and please God. Our life matters to God. Many of us believe that God is only pleased and interested in our religious activities. This is not true. We think there is a huge space between two realities: the Sacred vs the Secular. If we believe this then a large part of our lives has been cut off from God’s plan for us. We need to not split up our lives and realize that God has a purpose for us outside of church activities. According to the Bible, God did not invent the split between sacred and secular times, we did. All the Bible talks about is Sin vs Righteousness and Pride vs Humility. According to the Bible, our whole life matters to God! All of us, our whole body belongs to God.
In our scripture, we see a God that cares about all of us and all things in our life. We are to love God and love our neighbors as well. God wants us to enjoy all of life. King Uzziah was on the right side of God and sought God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. This served as a framework for everything he did. He sought the Lord whether he was going to Bible study or building a tower. He had the fear of God and sought the Lord in all that he did. Uzziah had a spiritual mentor named Zechariah who kept the king on the right side with God. He taught the king to love and respect the Lord. The king chose to be under the instructions and authority of Zechariah. As it pertains to our spiritual lives, we all need someone to encourage us and if necessary get in our faces sometimes and confront us. No one is above this reality. I ask you, who is your Zechariah? Who gives you a vision of God and who challenges you?
In our text, we do not see anything about Uzziah’s spiritual activities. Instead, we see a list of his physical accomplishments in business/politics and the cities that he built. The building of the cities that Uzziah built were important to God because they had people in them. God loves and cares about people. As followers of Christ, we need to realize that our whole life matters to God. God loves people period! When Uzziah defended his country or built towers and made wells, this all mattered to God. All we do in life maters to God. Our own administrative, creative skills matter to God. Do you have a creative streak in you? Our creativity matters to God and we should be encouraged to try or do new things whether it is artwork, music or new inventions. All of these things matter to God because He does not have a line separating the sacred from the secular. Everything can be an offering to Him if you seek God in what you are doing.
There is a clear line between pride and humility as there is a clear line between sin and righteousness. Uzziah was on the right side most of his life until he got so powerful and successful. It is good when we grow in success and power. This is good when people look to us for answers to their problems. Have we experienced success in our studies or business? This is a good thing. The critical question is what will we do with our success? Are we on the right side of the pride/humility line? If you are on the wrong side, your life is in big trouble. When Uzziah was about 50 years old, he was successful but let his pride bring him down. He tried to enter the temple of God and burn incense as if he was a priest. Power and success went to Uzziah’s head! He knew the boundaries of the temple but because of pride, he became arrogant. He was given a chance to repent but he ignored it and his downfall began.
God always gives us a chance to repent, to change our mind and to grow deeper with Him. God always extends His hand to us to get us back on the right track. When we wander off the right track, God wants to lead us back. Man does not do this much. Man will cut us off, leave us, and cast us out. God does not do this. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing. In verse 19, Uzziah was offered God’s grace and he refused it.
So I ask you this morning, what side are you on in the sin/righteousness and pride/humility split? Where do you stand? Is your heart filled with pride and arrogance? Jesus died to not only forgive sins but to re-create the world. Jesus lived, died and lived again so He can re-create the world and you! When you trust Jesus as your savior, you humble yourself before Him and ask for forgiveness. You then become a New Creation. Jesus died so that your whole life can be right with God and be an offering to Him. In Christ, every legitimate vocation and job is equally acceptable to God. There is no sacred/secular split. All of life is an act of worship. All of life is an opportunity to serve and please God. Your life > eating, sleeping, making music, worshiping, digging for fishing worms > all of this matters to God. It matters to a God who created the universe! As you leave here today, go out and worship Him with your whole heart. Doing everything for the glory of God and His son Jesus Christ. Our Creator and Our Redeemer. Our whole life matters to God!
AMEN
Many of us separate spiritual life from secular life. I have a problem doing that because all of life is an act of worship and an opportunity to serve and please God. Our life matters to God. Many of us believe that God is only pleased and interested in our religious activities. This is not true. We think there is a huge space between two realities: the Sacred vs the Secular. If we believe this then a large part of our lives has been cut off from God’s plan for us. We need to not split up our lives and realize that God has a purpose for us outside of church activities. According to the Bible, God did not invent the split between sacred and secular times, we did. All the Bible talks about is Sin vs Righteousness and Pride vs Humility. According to the Bible, our whole life matters to God! All of us, our whole body belongs to God.
In our scripture, we see a God that cares about all of us and all things in our life. We are to love God and love our neighbors as well. God wants us to enjoy all of life. King Uzziah was on the right side of God and sought God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success. This served as a framework for everything he did. He sought the Lord whether he was going to Bible study or building a tower. He had the fear of God and sought the Lord in all that he did. Uzziah had a spiritual mentor named Zechariah who kept the king on the right side with God. He taught the king to love and respect the Lord. The king chose to be under the instructions and authority of Zechariah. As it pertains to our spiritual lives, we all need someone to encourage us and if necessary get in our faces sometimes and confront us. No one is above this reality. I ask you, who is your Zechariah? Who gives you a vision of God and who challenges you?
In our text, we do not see anything about Uzziah’s spiritual activities. Instead, we see a list of his physical accomplishments in business/politics and the cities that he built. The building of the cities that Uzziah built were important to God because they had people in them. God loves and cares about people. As followers of Christ, we need to realize that our whole life matters to God. God loves people period! When Uzziah defended his country or built towers and made wells, this all mattered to God. All we do in life maters to God. Our own administrative, creative skills matter to God. Do you have a creative streak in you? Our creativity matters to God and we should be encouraged to try or do new things whether it is artwork, music or new inventions. All of these things matter to God because He does not have a line separating the sacred from the secular. Everything can be an offering to Him if you seek God in what you are doing.
There is a clear line between pride and humility as there is a clear line between sin and righteousness. Uzziah was on the right side most of his life until he got so powerful and successful. It is good when we grow in success and power. This is good when people look to us for answers to their problems. Have we experienced success in our studies or business? This is a good thing. The critical question is what will we do with our success? Are we on the right side of the pride/humility line? If you are on the wrong side, your life is in big trouble. When Uzziah was about 50 years old, he was successful but let his pride bring him down. He tried to enter the temple of God and burn incense as if he was a priest. Power and success went to Uzziah’s head! He knew the boundaries of the temple but because of pride, he became arrogant. He was given a chance to repent but he ignored it and his downfall began.
God always gives us a chance to repent, to change our mind and to grow deeper with Him. God always extends His hand to us to get us back on the right track. When we wander off the right track, God wants to lead us back. Man does not do this much. Man will cut us off, leave us, and cast us out. God does not do this. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing. In verse 19, Uzziah was offered God’s grace and he refused it.
So I ask you this morning, what side are you on in the sin/righteousness and pride/humility split? Where do you stand? Is your heart filled with pride and arrogance? Jesus died to not only forgive sins but to re-create the world. Jesus lived, died and lived again so He can re-create the world and you! When you trust Jesus as your savior, you humble yourself before Him and ask for forgiveness. You then become a New Creation. Jesus died so that your whole life can be right with God and be an offering to Him. In Christ, every legitimate vocation and job is equally acceptable to God. There is no sacred/secular split. All of life is an act of worship. All of life is an opportunity to serve and please God. Your life > eating, sleeping, making music, worshiping, digging for fishing worms > all of this matters to God. It matters to a God who created the universe! As you leave here today, go out and worship Him with your whole heart. Doing everything for the glory of God and His son Jesus Christ. Our Creator and Our Redeemer. Our whole life matters to God!
AMEN