Object Lessons
God is:
Desirous that all be saved - 2 Peter 3:9
Making all things new - Ezekiel 36:26, Revelation 21:5
On our side - Romans 8:31
I am:
His temple - 1 Corinthians 3:16
Perfect through Jesus - Hebrews 10:14
Justified by Jesus blood - Romans 3:21-25, Romans 5:1,
Jesus was fond of teaching based on everyday experiences, things that were common knowledge to the multitudes.
This evening we will do something similar. The plan is to use things we can touch, see, hear, identify with to try to understand just a little better the concepts the Bible teaches us about God and His relationship to us . . . especially in the context about repeating to ourselves what God says about us.
Remember that whenever we try to explain Heavenly things with earthly illustrations, those illustrations don't hold up under close examination.
A Jar of Garbage
Imagine yourself as a clear glass container. The experiences that have been put in your container and your thoughts regarding those experiences become the contents - of you.
Satan has made sure that there is plenty of garbage in your container and has lied about its significance in your life.
The expressions of our thoughts re: the garbage ends up being what both ourselves and those around us come to know as who we are.
We try any number of good things (Works) to try to make ourselves acceptable . . . to God . . . to others, but it doesn't work. We vacillate between trying harder and giving up exhausted.
Jesus offers - remember Jesus invites, He doesn't insist - to clean you out from the inside. When we finally admit to ourselves that we can't do it ourselves; when we accept His cleansing; He will likely turn our world upside down. Jesus dumps the garbage (lies) out, we are washed, cleansed by the blood of His sacrifice for us.
Results: A clear, clean container that now displays Jesus to all with whom we come in contact!
A prayer:
Live Out Thy Life Within Me
author: Frances R. Havergal
Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings! Be Thou Thyself the answer to all my questionings; Live out Thy life within me, in all things have Thy way! I, the transparent medium, Thy glory to display.
The temple has been yielded, and purified of sin, Let Thy Shekinah glory now shine forth from within, and all the earth keep silence, the body henceforth be Thy silent, gentle servant, moved only as by Thee.
Its members every moment held subject to Thy call, Ready to have Thee use them, or not be used at all, Held without restless longing, or strain, or stress, or fret, or chafings at Thy dealings, or thoughts of vain regret.
But restful, calm and pliant, from bend and bias free, awaiting Thy decision, when Thou hast need of me; Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings! Be Thou the glorious answer to all my questionings.
Tug of War
This one is pretty simple. We get pulled between the good we want to do and the wrong we don't want to do. Paul writes about this so accurately in Romans 7:14-25.
So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
And then Jesus grabs our side of the rope.
Verse 25 -Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
And Paul exclaims in Romans 8:1 - So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus!
Praise God! He has released us from the condemnation of sin.
Magnets
Another simple one. Magnets have a positive pole and a negative pole. Putting them together is easy. They hold tightly to each other . . . Unless you turn one of them around, then the forces push each other away.
Make of it what you will. I like to remember how Jesus hangs on to me. Fun fact: if you force the magnets together when they are trying to push apart, one of them will flip and cling.
Reminds me of that verse that says you can't serve two masters. Matthew 6:24
Choose Jesus!
God Sees the Heart
You'll need a kaleidoscope. Preferably the kind with a clear marble at the end instead of the kind that has a turnable attachment.
Look through it at almost anything and get a whole new perspective on your surroundings.
Try pointing it toward a picture of yourself and see how complex and beautiful you are.
Remember that God sees you not as others see you. He doesn't see you as you see yourself. God sees you through the filter of Jesus whose robe of righteousness is offered to you. Accept it. He loves you.
We are not junk needing to be repurposed. We are masterpieces needing to be restored.
