How are you? How is your week going?
Last week, we celebrated Father’s Day. We got together with families, and we were able to remember and celebrate the holiday. Hopefully, we were able to go on our knees and thank God for being our Heavenly Father.
Holidays like Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Christmas make me wonder about our intentions. Do we give gifts and give thanks because we have to or because we love to? No one wants to receive a gift that is given out of obligation. We want to receive a gift that is given out of delight and love.
The Thyatiran church did good works. The heart of their works was love and faith. They served, because it was their delight in and love for God and for their neighbor. They served in faith, surrendering and sacrificing their hearts onto the Lord. They did it because they loved to, not because they had to. What are the motives that are at the center of all our actions? Why do we do what we do? Is it in love and in faith?
The content of their works was service and patient endurance. Do we serve? Do we patiently endure? The depraved nature of the human heart only wants to serve self. It does not want to be patiently enduring with others. However, the heart that is in Christ serves others instead of the self. It serves friends, family, church, neighbors, strangers, and even enemies. And it serves with patient endurance.
How is it possible to do good works in this way? It’s because Christ first did the perfect work, the work of our salvation. He was the One who first gave us the greatest gift, Himself, not because He had to but because He loved to. He was the ultimate Suffering Servant, who served out of love for the Father and love for us. He was the One who patiently endured with us first. He patiently endured the cross for our sin and shame until the cup of God’s wrath was dry.
This is how we can live in purity. This is how we can pursue good works of service and patient endurance in love and in faith. May we be captivated by this gospel. May the truth of Christ sink deep within our hearts and transform our lives.
See you all at Lord’s Day Worship this Sunday and at Topical Study after fellowship. Be prayerful for one another!
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
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