NCD Passionate Spirituality

Give Me Jesus

 

Scripture: Matt. 22:37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

 

Introduction: There is a tale told of a great English actor named Macready. One day an eminent preacher once said to him: “I wish you would explain to me something.” “Well, what is it? I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher,” said Macready.

 “What is the reason for the difference between you and me?” Said the preacher, “You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the essential and unchangeable truth, and I am not getting any crowd at all.”
Macready’s answer was this: “This is quite simple. I can tell you the difference between us. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present your truth as though it were fiction.”       G. Campbell Morgan, Preaching, p. 36

Aren’t you amazed at passionate people?
Those who will put their life on the line for a cause?
I believe that everyone is passionate about something. The question is, what are you passionate about?

Today’s sermon is about passionate spirituality.  What is passionate Spirituality?

We all have some form of spirituality, but the question is, “is our spirituality passionate?” Or do we have passive spirituality? Or perhaps is our spirituality aggressive?

 

We all probably have had passive spirituality sometime in our lives.  Nothing seems to faze me, perhaps indifferent, my heart grows cold, but I still hold on to my church and my core beliefs. The sad thing it that someone who has passive spirituality doesn’t readily act on their beliefs or convictions.   There becomes no shock in the most horrific sins that are all around me.  I feel as long as, I, don’t sin I’m OK.  I keep to myself and won’t bother anyone.  This a perfect description of a lukewarm Christian someone who has lost their first Love.

 

Some of us may have entertained with aggressive spirituality.  That’s when we see sin all around us.  We see the church in apostasy and we want to expose her for who she really is, and our mission is to bring her down!  Those with aggressive spirituality want to let people know that, “their lost and if they don’t change you will be forever separated from God.”  Those that have aggressive spirituality will win the argument at no cost.  I partly described myself shortly after I became a Christian.  I wanted to take on the Catholic church because they didn’t teach me that salvation came through faith by grace alone!  Every where I turned I saw sin and I would let you know if you weren’t living up to the standard.   These people have their eyes focused more on other people than on God, more on the external than on the eternal.  Some of these could be called fanatical. 

 

We see one prophet in the Bible that displayed both aggressive and passive spirituality.  Jonah passively ran away from God and his responsibilities of taking a message to Nineveh. Do we passively sit back from stepping up and filling our responsibilities in the church? Or are we actively fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives?

 

After spending some time in the belly of a fish, three days of digestion, he spent three days aggressively preaching God’s message.  Then aggressively told God why He shouldn’t have been so merciful to these wicked people.

 

Where do we find the balance?  God would have His children to be passionate about their spirituality.  Passionate spirituality is a vital ingredient to the health of any church.  Can you imagine any quality church without it?  

 

How do we know if a church has this passionate spirituality?

 

The Bible gives us many examples of passionate spirituality

Noah was passionate about building an ark and preaching about a coming world wide flood.

Abraham was so passionate about his relationship with God he was willing to sacrifice his son.

A man names Saul was very aggressive in his relationship with God until he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus.  When God changed his name to Paul he became the champion of the early Christian church.  His life was full of passion for the Lord.

We can’t forget Steven; he was passionate to the point of death.  And so did each disciple that was martyred for preaching and teaching the name of Jesus.

 

Jesus had his passion: THE REDEMPTION OF MAN Matt 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he is the one who will save his people from their sins." How much more passion can one have who is willing to lay their life down for others.

 

I.                   Great and Enduring Good

A.      The Bible describes spirituality as the great and enduring good, and we se it demonstrated in the life of Mary Magdalene.  Mary was passionate about her spirituality.

She discovered a fresh energy in God whenever she drew near to Jesus.

She loved Jesus in ways that words cannot describe.

She loved Jesus in her actions.  

We read of it when she spent a year’s wages to anoint Jesus with costly perfume. 

We read of it when she washed Jesus’ feet with her tears then dried them with her hair. 

We read about it as she sat at His feet.  She was enduring even when her own family members came at her.



B.     Luke 10:38-42

39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

What does it mean to sit at Jesus’ feet?

To sit at Jesus’ feet is to say I am willing to be in total submission.  I am willing to be conquered by the King of the universe.

To sit at Jesus’ feet is to say that I made Jesus my Lord. 

To Mary, at that moment nothing else mattered because, here He was, sitting right in my family room telling stories and teaching the wonderful mysteries of heaven.

Where would you be sitting if Jesus came to your house?

 

C.     Jesus’ reply to Martha,  41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

 

Jesus is saying Martha you are so helpful to everyone in need and you’re going to great lengths to feed and make us comfortable.  There are more important things than food and comfort. 

In verse 42 Jesus say’s, one thing is needed, and her sister chose it.  Mary chose what was good and no one could ever take that away from her.

There is one thing needed in every life, that one thing is to wake every morning to sit at Jesus’ feet.

When we choose to sit at Jesus feet we are choosing the good that will last eternity. 

To have passionate Spirituality we need to choose to sit at Jesus’ feet daily.          That is the great enduring good.

Like Mary those passionate about their spirituality will discover energy in fresh a relationship with God.

 

II.                Love and Service to God

A.     Passionate Spirituality is described as love and Service to God,

Matt. 22:37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Those who are passionate about Jesus love Him with all their being.

When people spent time with Jesus their hearts burned with passionate love. 

The best example of this can be found in Luke chapter 24.  In Luke we see two disciples on the road to Emmaus, on the way home after a disappointing Passover and the Lord overtakes them.  They don’t recognize Him as the one they followed for 3 ½ years. They spent the afternoon with Jesus, walking and listening to the things concerning the Messiah. 

Their sadness was lifted to Joy when they discovered who it was they were traveling with.

 

Luke 24:32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

When you spend time with Jesus your heart will burn with this passionate love for Him.  You will be moved to serve Him.

These two disciples were so excited and so moved with passion, the scripture says they ran all the way back to Jerusalem. 

They ran all the way back to the fellowship to tell them that, “Jesus has risen!”

That is passion!

           

Josh. 22:5;  But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Passionate!

 

1 Kin. 8:23;  and he(Solomon) said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. 

Passionate!

 

Psa. 1:1,2; Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

Passionate!

 

Passionate spirituality results in deeds of love and service.  If it is burning with in you, you can not help but to serve.

 

III.             Spirituality that Brings Peace

A.     Passionate Spirituality brings peace.  Listen to these wonderful promises found in the word of God.

Isa. 26:3; You will keep him in perfect peace,

 Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

 

Jer. 33:6; Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.



Rom. 8:6;  For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace

You can tell when a person is carnally minded because he worries all about things that won’t add one day to his life. 

Spiritually mined people have peace through the most temptious storm they face. 

 

Rom. 14:17; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

It is only natural to have peace when the passion for Jesus burns within.

Passionate Spirituality brings peace; would you try Him this morning? If you are lacking peace only Jesus can give you that spiritual mind.

IV.              Spirituality is Indifferent to Worldly Good

A.     Passionate Spirituality is indifferent to worldly good.  The decisions that we make are influenced by our relationship with Jesus.  When moved by the Holy Spirit, the passionate say NO to the world.

 

1 Cor. 7:29–31; 29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, 

30 those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, 

31 and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.

 

Paul is saying this world is temporary.  Nothing you have will last.  Those passionate for Jesus will focus on the eternal things.

When it comes to eternal things, nothing is more important.

Not your wives

Not your grief

Nor your celebrations

Not your wealth

Nor your land, because everything in this world will pass away.

 

Col. 3:1–3; If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 

2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God

 

B.     Satan is playing the game of life for our souls.

He attempts to keep our minds entranced with the things of this world. 

Satan’s strategy is to occupy us with present things so that eternity has little place in our thinking.  He wants to fill our heads with the earthly so that there is no room for the heavenly.

God’s response is found in Col. 3:2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  Those that are passionate about Jesus are indifferent to the worldly good. 

 

Our Passion for spiritual things effects the way we live.

Our Passion for spiritual things effects every decision that we make on behalf of the church. 

We choose whether they are temporal or eternal.

 

V.                 Spirituality gives thirst for Heavenly Blessings

A.     Passionate Spirituality gives thirst for heavenly blessings, and those blessings will produce the character of Christ.

 

Matt. 5:6;  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

Do you want to be filled? 

Who can honestly say, “I like the feeling of being hungry?”  You go to bed and your stomach rumbles because you skipped your evening meal.  

Who can honestly say, “I like it when I am outside and its 110 and haven’t had a thing to drink!”  Your throat is dry and tongue is sticking to the roof of your mouth and you thirst for anything wet.

 

Those who are passionate for Jesus feel the same way.  I can’t get enough. 

Its 110 degrees in this world and I can’t get enough Jesus!

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are the ones on fire for God. They are the ones who are and will be changed into the character of Christ.

John says in the book of Revelation that all the lukewarm Christians will be “spit out” not the Hot ones. 

Folks we need to hunger and thirst after Jesus.  That, is the character he wants in His disciples.

 

B.     John 6:27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

When we are passionate, God will give us the thirst for heavenly blessings, and as he fills us we will take on His character.

 

VI.              Spirituality is produced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

A.     Passionate Spirituality is produced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

Would you like to become so filled that it becomes infectious.

John 14:15-17; 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever

17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

 

It makes me sad that the world cannot receive Him.  They cannot receive Him because they don’t want to know Him.  But, if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you it would only be natural to see His character come out of you.  And if His character comes out, then people will be automatically drawn to you just as they were drawn to Jesus.

When the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside not only will you be on fire you will be infectious. 



Rom. 8:4. He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

In other words His character, the Law will be fulfilled in us.

 

 

 

Conclusion:

We may need revival to gain spirituality that is passionate.  Someone once said, “Revival is like the weather, everyone talks about it but nobody does anything about it.” 

There isn’t a secret formula to revival.   But how is God going to transform us from a Laodicean church to tongues-of- fire, filled-with-the-spirit defenders-of-the-faith?

 

The reality about revival is that it starts with individuals.  Revival is based on old-fashioned spiritual disciplines, such as Prayer, Bible study and Selfless service.  We can’t have Passionate Spirituality without these three elements.  You can’t have all three until you know Jesus.

 

The purpose of revival is to be on fire for your Lord.  To be on fire is to be passionate about our relationship with God.  It’s about sensing opportunities and using our talents, resources, and energies to build up His kingdom.

 

But we can’t change the world until we have ourselves been changed. 

Changed not into some flaming radicals, but into those who know God and are passionate about serving Him and others.

Those who wake up in the morning and say, “Give me Jesus”

Those who lay down at night and say, “Give Me Jesus”

 

Hymn: #196 Tell Me the Old, Old Story  

Hymn: # 305 Give Me Jesus