In Pursuit of Relevance

“I will honor only those who honor me, and I will despise those who despise me” 1 Samuel 2:30

In Luke 1 verse 5 we are introduced to two men – King Herod and Zechariah the priest. It goes without saying that the king must have been the more popular and the more important of the two men in their time. But Zechariah was more important in God’s program than Herod the king.

It is not popularity and fame that is important. It is one’s degree of relevance to God and his purposes. Not even relevance to one’s generation is as important as relevance to God. It is easy to make the mistake of equating relevance to men with relevance to God. But even the most popular ministry might not be the most relevant to God. The fact that people still remember a man does not always imply that heaven is still impressed with him. Our goal must not be popularity but being useful to God to our utmost capacity.

What does it take to be relevant to God? We see the key in the portrait of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth in verse 6 (KJV). “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments…. of the Lord …”  Righteousness before God is what qualifies and positions a man for relevance to God, not noise, not activities, not great gifts. This couple had a correct walk with God. They were content to walk quietly before the Lord in the light they were daily receiving from him.

It is as we concentrate on developing and maintaining a true walk with God that a true work of God will spring out of our lives. To put the latter before the former is to invite confusion and produce a service that is like Cain’s offering – an offering that God cannot accept or use. It may be large in volume and applauded by men but irrelevant to God’s purposes.

Life is too short and too precious to waste it in pursuing men’s approval and esteem. We must focus on walking with God. I encourage you to concentrate on walking quietly with the Lord. Spend quality time with him and let your intimacy with him deepen. Let him become your pleasure and you his pleasure. Focus on pleasing and enjoying him and he will make rivers of living water flow out of you to bless this dark world.

Arise and Shine

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples read more

The Works of Faith

(Offerings In Righteousness – Part 4):

‘Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years’ Malachi 3:3-4.

We have established that righteousness is by faith in the finished work of Christ. We cannot manufacture righteousness. It is a gift of God’s grace that we receive by faith. That is why it is so crucial that we allow the truth we have shared so far to truly sink in. You might want to go back and prayerfully go through the previous articles and especially the scriptural references there. As the revelation of what Christ has done in us dawns on us, faith will arise in our heart. This is crucial for it is only by faith that we can appropriate God’s grace.

Yet there is a misconception about faith in many quarters. Some people seem to think that to believe implies doing nothing. So they are confused about how to practise faith. They have come to equate faith with being passive.

But the scriptures teach nothing like that. Just read through that great chapter on faith (Hebrews 11) and you will see a faith that acts:

‘By faith Abel offered a sacrifice…By faith Noah…moved with godly fear…By faith Abraham obeyed…By faith Abraham…offered up Isaac…By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau…By faith Moses…refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land’

Notice that the faith of every one of these men (and women)  always made them do something. The Bible knows nothing of a faith that does not produce action. This is what James speaks of when he says ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 2:26 – KJV).

A faith that does not lead to a definite action on the part of a man is no faith at all. It is the very response of faith that makes faith, faith. James says ‘Show me your faith without deeds (which he knew was impossible), and I will show you my faith by what I do (by my action born out of what I believe – my response to the work of grace within me)’ (James 2:18b). You see, while it is possible to act without faith, it is impossible to have true faith and not act. For when we truly believe something we are going to begin to act as if it were true.

The action of faith is a response to what you believe. It is behaving as if what you believe is a reality.

We are talking of putting on Christ as our righteousness. We say this is to be done by faith. This means that we are to begin to act as if we have his righteousness. We ought to begin to behave knowing we have power over sin. This has nothing to do with how you may feel or how many temptations (sinful suggestions) the enemy throws at your mind or how many times you might have fallen in the past. It is based on the fact of what God has said you are, that is, his righteousness. So to appropriate it, we act on that assumption.

This is how faith always works (what I call the practise of faith) whether it be for salvation, physical healing or anything else that grace offers. First you accept what God says about you or your circumstance, then you begin to act as if it is so. It is when we do this that we will see the result of faith. James says of Abraham, ‘You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did’ (Jas 2:22). When our action comes from  our believing, then faith comes full circle.

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He that is dead, is freed from Sin

(Offerings in Righteousness part 3):

‘Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years’ Malachi 3:3-4.

There is a numbness that has come upon many souls in recent times. It is a lukewarm and passive spirit that wraps itself around our hearts like a blanket. This is why so many can carry on living lower than God’s highest for their life and not grieve. The first step to personal revival is recognising one’s state. When someone begins to hate his sin and hunger for all God has for him, then he is close to deliverance. For God wants us to walk in the understanding of what it means to be ‘dead to sin’.

The bible clearly teaches that God’s will for us as believers is that we walk in righteousness and so be victorious over sin. Yet too often believers fight a continually losing battle with sin. The problem often is that we are fighting with the wrong weapon. Victory over sin can never be won by more fasting, more determined resolution, increased spiritual activities or by any other human efforts.

Romans 6:7 summarises our victory over sin in one phrase; ‘anyone who has died has been freed from sin’. Death frees a man from many things that he used to face. Imagine a slave whose master used to bully and oppress him. Then he suddenly dies. Now that he is dead there is nothing the tyrant of a master can do to that dead body to harass it. He is dead to him and all the power he used to exercise over him. Yes the master could kick that dead body in annoyance but he can no longer touch that man. He has escaped his master’s power because he is dead.

In the same way God’s provision for dealing with the tyranny of sin in our lives is to make us become dead to sin. Romans 6:3,6-7 says:

‘Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?…For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin’

Do you get it? When we give our heart to Jesus for him  to be our Lord, we experience two baptisms – we are baptised into Christ and at the same time baptised into his death. By being baptised (totally immersed) into Christ we are immersed (fully enter) into his death. It is as if we are transported back to his cross to have our old self crucified with him. And by this operation we, and sin, go separate ways. We have died to sin, which means we are free from slavery to sin. We are like that slave who died and then is free from his former master. Sin can shout with its loud voice of temptation but it no longer has power over us. ‘…because anyone who has died has been freed from sin’. Do you get this glorious truth? Please let it sink in.

The power that sin has over the lives of believers is in deceiving us that it still has power over us. So victory over sin comes only by faith in the work that Christ has done on the cross over the power of sin in our lives. Along with Christ, my sinful nature has been crucified. And he has now clothed me with his righteousness.

It is in believing this that victory comes. That is why Romans 6:11 says ‘In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus’. Victory comes by seeing yourself the way God sees you. So begin to look at yourself as dead indeed to sin and alive to God. When temptations come, you are free to refuse to yield to it. (By the way, temptations and sin are not the same thing. Temptations are suggestions to sin and are not sin, if we refuse to entertain them or yield to them). If you have given your heart totally to Christ then begin to see yourself as you really are – dead to sin and alive to God.

‘Dead in Sin’ or ‘Dead to Sin’?

(Offerings in Righteousness part 2):

‘Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years’ Malachi 3:3-4.

I was about to send out the message I had prepared for this week, when I felt the need to share something different as we pursue this theme of bringing God offerings in righteousness. I will post the other message next week. But I believe some people on this list need to hear what follows.

There is no way a man who is not born of God can bring an offering in righteousness to God. It is just not possible. You might well expect a dead man to rise up and run in the Olympics than for an unregenerated man to walk in God’s righteousness.

The bible describes a man outside of Christ as ‘dead in sin’. He is dead spiritually because he is cut off from the life of God – this life of God that brings righteousness. And because of this deadness he lives on in sin, powerless against it and many times unconscious of his depravity.

I believe that one of the reasons why so many of those in our churches are unable to walk right is that they are like the king Agrippa. Agrippa said to Paul that he was “almost persuaded” to be a Christian (Acts 26:28) yet he never became one. In the same way, we have many who are persuaded and almost Christians but who are not yet born again. They might have responded to an altar call but they have never given their heart completely to the Lord. So they remain ‘dead in sin’.

Just because you are an active members of a vibrant bible-believing church, read your bible and pray, love attending Christian programs or even hold position in your church does not mean you are born again.

Being ‘born-again’ cannot happen until a man comes to the end of himself. Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The invitation is only for those who have come to the end of themselves. It requires you coming to the place where you are tired of going in sin and you want to be changed.

Jesus has done everything we need to be born again. He died to pay for our sins. And through his death and resurrection, we can be reconnected to the life of God so that we are no longer dead, but alive to God. But we must respond to what Christ has done by repenting and accepting what he has done. We cannot change ourselves but God wants us to want to be changed. And to accept what Christ has done by simply asking him to come and become the Lord of our lives.

Like I said earlier the bible describes a man that is not born again as ‘dead in sin’. But it describes those who are born again as ‘dead to sin’. So beloved, which are you ‘dead in sin’ or ‘dead to sin’? If the former describes your state, I invite you to pray with me now with all your heart:

‘Lord, I am tired of my sins. I don’t want to continue living in sin. I want you to give me a new life. I am tired of playing Church. I am sorry for my sins. Lord, I thank you that you died for me. Please forgive me.  Come into my life and change me. I ask this in Jesus’ Name.’

If you have prayed this prayer with all your heart then God has answered you. And your new life has begun. I would like to send you some free materials to help you in this new life. Please send me an email immediately if you prayed this prayer.

Next week we will continue on this theme as we explore what it means to be dead to sin.

Offerings in Righteousness

Offerings in Righteousness:

‘Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years’ Malachi 3:3-4.

God wants men and women who can bring to him, and be for him, offerings in righteousness so that his will may be done on earth. So many offerings are being brought to the sanctuary of the Lord in our day, but not all of these offerings are acceptable to the Lord. He looks for offerings in righteousness. God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us the way we are. God wants to see men and women that look like Christ.

Let us not confuse legalistic righteousness with the righteousness that God seeks. Paul pointed out the difference between the two as he expressed his own desire to “…be found in him (Christ), not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith”. (Phil 3:9)

Note the two types of righteousness here. First, ‘…a righteousness of my own that comes from the law’ and then ‘the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith’. The first type comes from our striving to measure up to God’s requirements. The Law can bring us to Christ but it cannot make us like Christ. God does not seek a man-made religious righteousness.

The ‘righteousness of my own’ seeks to work from the outside, seeking to tame or hide the outward manifestations of sin. I recall my life before I came to the Lord: I worked hard at many resolutions to live right. I remember once after getting drunk and making a mess of myself, how I vowed to God never to touch alcoholic drinks again. And I truly went for months without alcohol, but within myself I was pulled to it. It was such a struggle. Outwardly I had a form of righteousness but within I lacked the power to be free.

God works from the inside. He changed my heart and desires. Not only does God give us the desire not to sin, but also the power to say no to it. The righteousness that God wants in us is our walking in the righteousness he has given us in Christ.

The Lord’s parable in Matthew 22 illustrates this. The king invites men to his feast and announces ‘Everything is ready’. God invites all of us to come as we are, for it is not about our changing ourselves but about coming to him to receive everything he has already provided. But in the parable (Matthew 22:11-12), there were some who came but remained in their old filthy garments. The king was shocked and found this unacceptable, because everyone who was admitted into the feast had been provided with a beautiful garment worthy of the king. In the same way, all of us who have given our hearts to Christ have received glorious new garments – a new life. ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). This new garment is Christ. He is our righteousness. But many of us do not put on Christ. We do not clothe ourselves with Christ.

The only way to put on Christ is the same way we received him – by faith. That is why Paul says it is ‘the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith’. To put on this righteousness by faith means to believe that we have received it and to begin to act as if we have it. I will dwell more on this next week.

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Comments? Questions? etc. If these messages have been helpful or unclear it would encourage us to hear from you, please write to chim_ibidun@hotmail.com
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PLEASE are you born again? It is not enough to believe in the existence of God, to go to church, or be interested in spiritual things. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus died to deliver you from sin so that you can come to God. (John 3:16) If you ask him to forgive you and give you a new heart he will. (Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9-11).Try it. I’d love to hear from you @ chim_ibidun@hotmail.com

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Chim’sWRITE are regular articles on Christian living and cross-cultural missions from Chimezie Onyebilanma a cross-cultural missionary with Calvary Ministries (CAPRO). CAPRO is an indigenous African non-denominational cross-cultural  mission agency involved in reaching the remaining unreached peoples in 22 countries of Africa and the Middle East as of present. CAPRO is involved in missions mobilization, training, and research as well as church-planting and mercy ministries (literacy, rural development, primary health-care, relief and rehabilitation). CAPRO is a faith mission, both the ministry and its missionaries depend on God’s provision through the giving of his people. None of its missionaries are salaried. All gifts are used as designated.

Surface Address: CAPRO MISSIONS SA, Durban, 47 Sutherland Rd, Waterfall, 3610, Durban, P.O.Box 207, Hillcrest, 3650, South Africa.Tel: +2731 766 2336; +27 794737208 (cell)

To learn more about the ministry of Chimezie Onyebilanma and how you can partner with us please emailchim_ibidun@hotmail.com

To learn more about the cross-cultural missionary work of CAPRO visit www.capromissions.org.za

Do you know that your monthly gifts to support a missionary can make a big difference? To learn more about supporting missionaries please visit www.adopt-a-missionary.org    or enquire at chim_ibidun@hotmail.com

COPYRIGHT — It is required that permission be obtained from chim_ibidun@hotmail.com before these materials can be re-published on a website or in hard copy. However permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials via email, provided that such redistribution acknowledges the source.