Godly Habits: Depend on God, Serve Others

In today’s world of self-centeredness, service to others is not a cultivated virtue. Everyone who decides to look for ways to help others, to invest in them, would have their own lives change for the better. In fact, if you will help enough other people get what they want, you will be truly helping yourself.

To this approach in life are three keys that lead to more abundant living. These are: caring about others, daring for others, and sharing with others. This is assigning to one’s self the purpose of making others happy and successful. People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be. For this reason invest in others because it pays great dividends (William Ward). In Jan McKerihen’s words, “If you can not win, make the one ahead of you break the record.” Character will develop properly when you think of what you might do for people (Woodrow Wilson).

Character is the foundation of all worthwhile success. A good question to ask oneself is “What kind of advice do I give others that I need to follow myself?” It is a known fact that living a double life will get you nowhere twice as fast. In Tyron Edwards’ words, “Thoughts lead on to purposes, purposes go forth into actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.”

One good habit we can all seek to form is the habit of consulting God about everything. Unless in the first waking moments of the day we learn to fling the door back wide and let God in, we will work on a wrong level all day. Swing the door wide open and pray to the Father in secret, and every public thing will be stamped with the presence of God (Oswald Chambers). When God is all we have, then He is all we need.

The Scripture says, “Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard you heart and your mind in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6,7). “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you” (1 Peter 5:7). Anxiety comes from fear. Fear in itself is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster, unbelief, and defeat.

Therefore, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). God is never more than a prayer or praise away. Add to it the pursuit of God and get to know Him in your daily walk. Each time we bow before Him, we should ask to be changed ourselves, not our God nor the circumstances we face. Our hearts’ cry should sound loud and clear, “I want to be in your will not in your way, Lord.”

Dr. T. Cyprian Kia Ankpa November 24,2002

The Uniqueness of Christ and Its Impact on our Walk

"What manner of Man is this...?" - Mark 4:41

"What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us..." - 1 John 3:1

"What manner of persons ought ye to be..." - 2 Peter 3:11

In each of these Scriptures we have described someone or something unique. "What manner of Man is this...?" asked the disciples when the Lord stilled the storm by the word of His power - a unique Person. "What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us...!" exclaimed John - a unique affection. "What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness," says Peter - a unique people. We are not surprised at this unique triad since everything in connection with God is necessarily unique, and we have presented to us in these Scriptures the Son of God, the love of God, and the people of God.

It is impossible to think of God manifested in flesh without contemplating someone who was entirely different from everyone else, and such our Lord was. He was unique in His birth, unique in His life, and unique in His death. But it is in connection with His life that these words of amazement were uttered by His disciples. The Savior must have been a continual source of wonder to all who met Him. Here was one who was Master of every situation, in whose presence death was conquered, demons were powerless and disease put to flight. No wonder "the people were astonished saying, 'From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even such mighty works are wrought by His hands?" (Mark 6:2). No wonder that when the daughter of Jairus was raised from death, "they were astonished with great astonishment" (Mark 5:42).

As a man, Jesus was unique. He was the Man of Bruised Heel (Genesis 3:15). He was the Man of Bored Ear (Exodus 21:6). He was the Man of Broken Heart (Psalm 69:20). He was the Man of Beautiful Feet (Isaiah 52:7). He was the Man of Black and Bushy Locks (Song 5:11). He was the Man of Blessing Hands (Luke 24:50). He was the Man of Bended Knee (Luke 22:41). He was the Man of Bleeding Side (John 19:34). Beloved, take a steadfast gaze at this unique person and walk in His steps. Allow this gaze to make dim the things of this life in the light of His glory and grace.

If our Lord was unique to the multitude of His day, how much more so is He to us who are His people! He is our Savior, or Shepherd, our Lord, our Master, our great High Priest, our Advocate with the Father; and one day we must stand before His judgment seat. Seeing then what manner of Man He is, a Person absolutely unique, may we each give Him a unique an unrivalled place in our hearts and lives.

In 1 John 3:1 we are presented with a unique affection. God's love is unique because it is eternal. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3). God's loves is unique because it is causeless. Human love is only excited when some cause for loving is apparent, but "the Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you..." (Deuteronomy 7:7,8). There was nothing in us to evoke His love; there was everything in us to repel it. We have rebelled against our Maker, trampled upon His commandments, revolted against His will and defiantly declared, "Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways" (Job 21:14).

Yet, "behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God" (1 John 3:1). A unique love indeed by cost. "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propititation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:10,11).

"Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to Him" (Romans 12:1,2 CEV).

In this way we will be observed as a unique people as the Holy Spirit proclaimed through the Apostle Peter. Before the proclamation we were reminded of the fate of this doomed world when the day of the Lord comes (2 Peter 3:10). So be a unique people through holy conversation and godly living. This does not mean we are trying to appear strange and unreasonable in our manner of life. As God's people we should be sober and level-headed. Apart from holy conversation and godly living we display our uniqueness in various ways.

1. Our lives should be blameless when we contemplate the fearful doom which awaits the ungodly all around us. How careful we should be in every detail of our lives lest anything should stumble an unbeliever.

2. Our affections should be set upon things above (Colossians 3:2); we should be seeking first God's kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33): knowing all things will be burnt up, how lightly we should grasp the things of this life and rather be concerned with that which which will last eternally.

3. We should be characterized by a holy zeal in the extension of God's kingdom. If such a terrible doom awaits the lost around us, if before them there is "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation" (Hebrews 10:27), how concerned and how zealous we should be in the propagation of the good news of salvation. Such was the spirit which characterized the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 he wrote, "For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22).

Finally, we should be watchful. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). "...it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed (Romans 13:11).

May this unique Person occupy the first place in our hearts and affections. May this unique love be shed abroad in our hearts, and then most certainly we shall be for God a unique people.

Dr. T. Cyprian Kia

To Each His Work

Time, it is often said, is our most precious asset. Not one of us knows how much of it we have left or what God’s plan will be for the rest of our lives. Yet, when we let Jesus have true control of our lives we will not necessarily end up doing more.

We seem to be convinced that the more time we spend, the better our services for the Lord will be. So, we rush around like a whirlwind blissfully unaware that we are victims of our own undisciplined and disorganized lives. Many of us, in fact, spend far too much time already in religious activity. We are always too busy and yet, actually accomplish very little (Verwer).

Tozer says, “Working for Christ has today been accepted as the ultimate test of godliness among all but a few evangelical Christians. Christ has become a project to be promoted or a cause to be served instead of a Lord to be obeyed... The result is an army of men who will run without being sent and speak without being commanded.”.

Our Lord’s motto for every disciple is ‘TO EACH HIS WORK’ (Mark 13:34), and so ample and complex is that work that it is called ministering service (Matt. 23:11), household service (Rom. 14:4), responsible service (John 18:36), worshipping service (Rom. 12:1), succoring service (Heb. 3:5), priestly service (Phil. 2:17), and as here, bond service. God calls a soul to work the moment He calls it to life.

OUR WORK

When our Lord has laid down His Divine task, He entrusted it, not to angels, not to kingdoms, nor to apostles only, but to you and me. It is as when a man, sojourning in another country, leaves his house and gives authority to His servants. Authority for what?-- “to each his work”. Millions of souls have to be saved and myriads to be sanctified. There are countless truths, popular and unpopular are to be sown throughout the world and whole continents must receive the light. Each of us is a designed cog or fly wheel in this mighty mechanism of God. Before our creation in Christ--it may have been in the eternal ages-God chose us for it: “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

OUR SHARE

Christ reveals an individual allotment. Not, to each some work, or to each a work, but, “to each his work”. This is exquisite revelation. Each can give a glory to God which is no other being in the universe can. Each can do a work for God which from eternity has been allotted to him or her alone. How this enables and dignifies the saved soul! God has allotted the toil of the whole church so as to rest in wise distribution upon each.

OUR TASK

The size of the task is not stated. It may be a great work, or a small work. The supreme point is that it is my work and as such, I can do it. I ought to do it, and at the judgment seat I will be asked to do it (Luke 19:15, 2 Cor. 5:10). Christ would have us do a small work which He commanded rather than a large work which He did not. For all planned work is necessary to building, and planned work only. A man’s character is what he is in the dark. A man’s work is what he does in the dark. If I do what God tells me and how He tells me, I am doing the most important thing possible to my soul and a soul’s utmost is always magnificent (Mark 14:8-9). We are weaving our own glory-robes (Rom. 19:8, 2 Cor. 5:3). “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each according as his work is (Rev. 22:12).

OUR VINEYARD

The work waits. (Matt 20:3).

(1) It is possible to find it. Our Lord would hold no soul responsible for a work unless with the work was granted the power to discover it. But He alone can tell us what it is. His foundations were laid in eternity. His plans for the superstructure were drawn up in eternity also. In eternity each task He allotted by name; “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6).

(2) It is possible to do it. Christ has not planned work outside our abilities or beyond our opportunities. He knows what He made us for and what we can do best and He has planned that we should do that. He made us in nature with a view to what we should become in grace. He chose our cradle and He will chose our grave. He chooses all the Christian work we are to do between.

(3) It is possible to know that we are doing it. How? God will open the way by circumstances. He will satisfy our conscience that it is right work. He will convince our judgment that it is the right work for us. He will confirm it by the approval of mature Christian friends and He will establish it with definite blessing. Then,

(4) having found it, we must persist in it until He tells us to stop or change it. One kind of firefly, in the tropics, glows only so long as it flies, the moment it rests, it darkens. Wesley’s motto was “All at it, and always at it” is the secret of the luminous life (Matt. 5:16).

OUR MASTER

“To each [Christ gave] his work”, therefore, I am doing it for Him. “Our conversation”, says Tertullian of the early Christian, “is that of men who are conscious that the Lord hears them”. When the world put its ear to our work, it should hear in it, like the ocean in the shell, all the great Eternity to which we hasten. “The love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). How this transmutes the daily toil and the household drudgery into the golden labor of a better world! For years before he died, Mr. Moody said, “my prayer has been that God will let me die when the spirit of revival dies out of my heart”.

OUR INCREASE

Are we shirking our allotted task? The shirking of the man who prays and the praying of the man who shirks is equally an abomination to God. So soon we shall have to lay all work down. “We must work the works of Him that sent us, while it is day. The night cometh, when no man can work.” (John 9:4). Task every faculty, strain every power, break new ground, put no limit to your toil save that which God put when He made you. Let it be said of each of us, “I know that thy last works are more than the first” (Rev. 2:19). Let us fling open every compartment of our being to the indraught of God. Let us fling ourselves into the mid-current of His all gracious, all-glorious purposes. “He that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS, and I will give him the morning star (Rev. 2:36).

Reflections on 1 Corinthians 12

The thesis of the chapter is: proper use of the gifts of the Spirit in the body of believers. The antithesis presented in the chapter is: wrong definition, presumptuous use, and human preoccupation with the personal benefit expected from the possession of the gifts.

Proper understanding is needed to truly allow the existence of these gifts to fulfill the reasons for which they were bestowed for the common good of all in the body. To discern when they are bestowed by the Holy Spirit one must pay attention to the insight received from God. The Spirit that recognizes and acknowledges Jesus as Lord is certainly from God the Father, for the Holy Spirit is given to exalt Christ and to show us of things truly given by Him (John 16:13-15; 1 Corinthians 12:1-3). Whatever spirit does not glorify Christ is not of Christ, nor of God.

These gifts properly defined are tools for the effective implementation of the divine task of reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). We are therefore made ambassadors to our world with the word of reconciliation.

Spiritual gifts are not marks of spiritual achievement, growth, divine endorsement, or reward. The gifts of God are without repentance – i.e. regret due to human failure (Romans 11:29). Their use cannot be presumed; it must measure up to the divine standard. Therefore, it is not for self-benefit, but for the building of the body and ultimately the acknowledgement of the Lordship of Christ that they are employed.

Proper understanding is to see these nine gifts as tools for the effective expression of the ministry gifts give to the church as a whole alluded to in verses 28-29 of the chapter, and mentioned explicitly in Ephesians 4:7-13:

1. Apostle

2. Prophet

3. Evangelist Five-fold ministry gifts

4. Pastor

5. Teacher

If these ministry gifts are not endowed with the nine tool gifts in this chapter, the effort of the five-fold ministry gifts will be based on human effort seeking to achieve known results.

Since all humans are principally influenced from outside to act in certain ways, we must have a way to determine the source of our influence. Here we must never be ignorant. If Christ is not exalted and the body edified, we have a problem: it is not from the Holy Spirit of God, for the Spirit is given primarily to exalt Christ.

All service falls into three distinct areas. These are knowledge, power or strength, and utterance or communication. The nine tool gifts are divided as follows:

1. Word of wisdom

2. Word of knowledge Gifts of knowledge

3. Discerning of spirits

4. Faith

5. Healing Power or strength

6. Miracles

7. Prophecy

7. Tongues Utterance or communication

8. Interpretation of tongues

These tool gifts are bestowed on the individual believer wherewith to build the body. It is imperative that their expression is collaborative rather than in competition. This will ensure that the gifts are not placed above the Giver (Romans 12:3-11; Romans 15:7). Any shift from the Giver to the gifts or to the person upon whom the gift is bestowed will result in the sectarianism for which Paul rebuked the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:10).

Dr. T. Cyprian Kia

Real Christianity is an All Out Commitment to Christ

An all-out commitment to Christ is the only sure path to becoming all that we can be in life. It is a chance only fools can afford to lose. Opportunities in life are of very little use if we neglect to take full advantage of them. Hence, it is stated that the important thing in life is not opportunities we have but the ones we take full advantage of in the end (Colossians 2:6,7).

When we turn our lives over to Christ to manage, we enter into an unbroken relationship meant to be intimate and complete, a relationship that draws out of us bowed hearts and lives before Him. He then opens up His heart to welcome us. In fact, He opens up all His divine fullness of life and love to us in fellowship with the ultimate purpose of making us wholly one with Himself.

So there is a depth of life in Him we cannot realize until we lay all on the altar. It takes trusting, depending and truly letting go of ourselves upon His person. Our achievements, religious activities, our sense of self-worth, and other objects demanding our allegiance will no longer be of any appeal to us. They cease to be of any lasting value to us when we let go of ourselves. So,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace. (Helen H. Lemmel)

So we have a timely reminder in John Flavel’s essay Christ Altogether Lovely that: "The beauty and loveliness of all other things are fading and perishing; but the loveliness of Christ is fresh for all eternity. The sweetness of the best created thing is a fading flower, if not before, yet at death it must fade away. Job 4:21: ‘Doth not their excellency which is in them, go away?’ Yes, yes, whether they are the natural excellencies of the body, acquired endowments of the mind, lovely features, graceful qualities, or anything else we find attractive, all these like pleasant flowers are withered, faded, and destroyed by death. 'But Christ is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8).”

Therefore, we “count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…to be found in Him as not having my own righteousness” (Philippians 3:8,9).

In reality we know that all that God bestows on us needs time to become fully our own. It must be held fast, assimilated and appropriated into our inmost being. Without this, not even Christ’s giving can make it our own in full experience and enjoyment. Therefore, an all-out commitment to Christ involves a student’s heart, yielding ourselves to the training of Christ by submitting all things to His will. Our whole life is allowed to become one with His in a conscious walk.

It is not an act of pulling one’s self up by one’s boot straps. It is not about human will power and doing. Our doing and working are but the fruit of Christ’s work in us (Ephesians 2:8-10). When our soul becomes utterly passive, looking and resting on what Christ is doing, its energies are stirred to their highest activity. We work most effectively because we know that He works in us (Philippians 3:12). His mighty energies of love reach out after us to have us and hold us, enabling all the strength of our will to rise to abide in Him (Isaiah 26:12).

He does not ask us to abide with Him but to abide in Him. He saved us so that we can be all-out committed to His person. In His hands we receive beauty, are made fruitful, rejoiced over (Isaiah 62:3-5; John 15:1-2,5). While we wait on Him we become honored (Proverbs 27:18). We wait on Him out of love for Him because He first loved us (I Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah 64:4). This we demonstrate through an all-out commitment to His person, surrendered life, a humble and contrite spirit, trembling at the Word (Isaiah 66:2).

Israel’s history and her relationship with God the Father were failed all-out-commitment to Him. This was amply demonstrated by her leadership that did not tremble at His Word. Consequently, the nation and her leadership were only willing to abide with Him as subjects not in Him as His people. As His subjects they had the option to be loyal or disloyal at will. The classic example in King Jehoiakim who was disloyal to God and did not tremble at His Word. He brought disaster to the nation (Jeremiah 26:21; 36:20-26). On the other hand, his father, King Josiah, was all-out-committed to God and trembled at His word (II Kings 22:19-20; II Chronicles 34:31-33). He became everything Israel had dreamed of a king and brought revival to the land.

An all-out Christian is an overcomer and a giant, a man or a woman who receives a vision from God and refuses to let it go. Therefore, diligence to your calling is a virtue to be highly prized. In Christ one must see everything in global terms and from God’s perspective refusing to accept sin. Willingly we accept personal responsibility to become an agent of change.

All-out commitment is what J. W. Van DeVenter had in mind when he wrote:

All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give.

I would ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.

I surrender all. I surrender all.

All to thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

As believers the opportunity to be all we can be is before us. Seize the moment by an all-out commitment to the person of Christ. Then from the heart we can sing these lyrics:

All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to thee.

Fill me with thy love and power. Let thy blessing fall on me.

Surrender all and prove His goodness.

Dr. T. Cyprian Kia

Feb. 26, 2002

Highland Park, CA

Submission and Obedience: The Essence of Our Relationship with Christ

The eleventh chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians reminds us all that the essence of our relationship with Christ is submission and obedience. Just as our Being is made manifest by conformity to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29), and our Walk is by faith, so our Relationship is made manifest by submission and obedience. Submission and obedience affect the way we live.

Prayer is one occasion where we consciously come before God in submission. Thus, prayer in itself is symbolically an act of submission to Christ, our great High Priest, sympathetic to our weaknesses. We submit in our weaknesses to Him and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). When we submit to Him we come under His protection and receive the strength to engage in Doing, even to the point of resisting the devil so he flees from us (James 4:7).

In approaching the Lord in prayer, particularly in the Assembly of God’s people, we are asked to demonstrate our submission. For the male, this is an uncovered head, and for the female, this is a covered head. Both submit to the authority of Christ by symbolically enacting their respective roles as defined in scripture (I Corinthians 11:7-12). The female represents humanity, for she is the glory of man. Her head must be covered, for man’s glory must be veiled in God’s presence. The male represents Christ, for he is the image and glory of God. His head must be uncovered, for God’s glory must never be veiled. In so enacting their respective roles for the benefit of the angelic audience, they both symbolically submit to Christ.

Every act of obedience in our relationship with the Lord should be preceded by a heart preparation. Jehoshaphat, one of the few godly kings in Israel’s history, obeyed God because “he prepared his heart to seek Him” (II Chronicles 19:3). During the exile, Ezra, a descendant of the priestly line, determined in his heart to obey God’s law. God’s expectation of His priests is that knowledge should be kept by their lips and people should seek the law from their mouth (Malachi 2:7). He, therefore, first prepared his heart to Seek the law of the Lord, to Do it, and to Teach it (Ezra 7:10).

Since coming to the Lord’s Supper is an act of obedience, we should come to it with a prepared heart. We do so by self-examination before the Lord. This is necessary because the Lord holds everyone at His table accountable, and observing it unworthily has consequences (I Corinthians 11:27-29; II Chronicles 30:18-20).

When we partake of the emblems, we are acting in obedience. This requires knowledge and clear understanding of what we are doing. In this chapter, although the Corinthians were involved in an act of obedience, they demonstrated lack of clear understanding. Throughout the Scripture God spends a great deal of time explaining His mind to us. True obedience only occurs when we do things His way. In Israel’s relationship with God, His delight was always earned when they did as He commanded them (Exodus 39:43). To make sure they knew what they were doing, Paul explained in full detail the source and essence of the Lord’s Supper (I Corinthians 11:23-26).

The Lord’s Supper is centrally important to every believer because it brings us back to the cross, the price that was paid for our redemption. Besides, it is a command from the Lord (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:23). Our observation is a verbal reenactment of the death of Christ for our salvation. The regular nature of this observance must never be the ground for familiarity and contempt (I Corinthians 11:24-26). Rather, it should be the true expression of our worship, in Spirit and in Truth. It is what God wants of us (John 4:23,24).

When we see the head uncovered and covered as the issue, per se, it robs us of the meaning which these forms seek to teach us. The meanings of these symbols (submission to the authority of Christ, and indirectly to His delegated authority) are valuable lessons toward a submissive walk with the Lord if gladly practiced. When we submit, God deals with us directly and intimately, as the men and women in the Bible knew. This was captured beautifully in John H. Sammis’ song,

When we walk with the Lord, In the light of His Word,

What a glory He sheds on our way.

While we do His good will He abides with us still,

And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Our confession is centered upon the fact that Christ is the essence of our Being, faith the essence of our Walk, and submission and obedience the essence of our Relationship. In our redemption we take on His life (I Corinthians 5:7). In our daily relationship with Him, we joyfully submit and obey. We allow Him, the Truth, to guide us, for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

Along with knowledge is the need to clearly understand that our response is not a form of activity to service our relationship with Christ. It is an act of loving response in submission and obedience. God asked David to provide the blueprint and materials for the temple Solomon was to build. He responded willingly far and above what he was asked to do (I Chronicles 29:2,3).

Obedience to the Lord provides a clear conscience to approach God in time of need. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (I John 3:21, 22).

Dr. T. Cyprian Kia

January 26, 2002