Monday 22 August 2011

Phil 3:12 ‘I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me’.
Paul's 'that’ was to be conformed to the image of Christ in this life and to posses resurrection life in the future.
However, Paul's ‘that’ in the immediate was to fulfil what Christ had called him to when he called him on Damascus road i.e. take Gospel to the Gentiles.
He kept hold of his call and never wavered from his ‘heavenly vision’.

Becoming formed into the image of Christ is the priority of our ‘being’ but what is your ‘that’ that is the priority of your ‘doing’.

So what is your ‘that’?
What has God called you to do?

Why is it important?

Because doing our will more than his is a constant temptation
Mt 7:21-23 NLT ‘The things you did were unauthorised’.
These people were active in ministry, they were active in mission.
They prophesied, cast out demons and performed miracles.
It seems their faith was great and their deeds effective.
But……… ‘The things you did were unauthorised’.

Vision for the ministry we do (whether individual or corporate) must come from revelation according to the will of God.

Jesus was God, had faith, carried an anointing and lived to purpose but even he only did what pleased the Father (Jn 8:29)

The motive behind what we do is vitally important.
Looking at the context of the passage, it seems Jesus is saying, in the preceding and proceeding passages to our text, that the motive needs to be obedience (post) not self-promotion (pre)

It has been said of those trying to climb the corporate ladder that they had better make sure that it is resting against the right wall. The phrase is simply a warning to make sure that the effort needed is worth the destination.

How sad it would be, if we spent our time doing what looks to be important and necessary in Christian ministry, that in our own eyes and those of others seems so successful, only to find that on that day when Jesus returns he says, 'Away from me, I never knew you....... the things you did were unauthorised'.

Think about it......

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