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Gamaliel’s Principle Song: 1. We give glory to thy Lord he reigns 2. Adoration to thy Lord he reigns
Let’s pray: Almighty God we thank you because you are the Lord you share not your glory among other gods. Father we have seen your goodness, father we have seen your mercy and we have also seen compassion. Lord as we work in your vineyard, equip us for service and may we bear fruits that will outlive us, in Jesus name I pray! Gamaliel advises his fellow members of the Sanhedrin not to execute Saint Peter and the Apostles despite their insistence on publicly preaching the Gospel. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: "Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:33-39) His advice was acted upon, so great was his authority with his contemporaries. That was an advice of a great Pharisee and Jewish teacher. After the Pentecost experience in Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 we read how zealous Peter and his colleagues were in preaching the gospel under and whatever the circumstance. But come to think about it, who would not preach the same way they did having witnessed great events in their lives – the resurrection of Jesus from the death? Who would not preach the way they did having seen mighty miracles – freedom from prison gates and chains with heavy guards. We can go on and on to recount the events in their lives. And I think even we too great testimonies that make us to say: ‘I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back no turning back.’ I have three points in this message: 1. Whose work are you doing? 2. Consequences of working for ourselves. 3. The grace to accomplish the work Whose work are you doing? We are born into a world that is highly competitive and politicise. And somehow we find ourselves so to speak helpless in following in the tide. And some of us have ignorantly brought this same worldly competition and politics into Christendom. Some have due to pressure brought this same worldly competition and politics into Christendom. Whole others have involuntarily brought this same worldly competition and politics into Christendom. I have come to realise that some of us today are into ministry to raise ourselves. I mean we simply work for ourselves and not for God. This is evident in the level of eye service displayed today among the children of God. This is evident in our speeches and attitude today. Some will say my ministry; I work miracles etc. Who is working the miracle? Whose ministry is it? I do not need miracle to believe any more but I expect miracles to happen when I preach the word of God because he delights in it. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 3:23-24). 17 Tell Archippus: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord." (Colossians 4:17). Have you asked yourself why Ananias and Sapphira lie in Acts 5? They wanted the glory of giving the proceeds from the property they had sold. They wanted the believers to be impressed that they would give all of the proceeds from the land they sold. It causes me to think that Ananias and Sapphira may have sold a more expensive piece of property and what they were giving would have been impressive to these new Christians. Coincidentally this event happened at the end of Acts 4, it may even be that Ananias and Sapphira were trying to trump what Barnabas had done [ 36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. (Acts 4:36-37).] This may have become an effort to gain advantage over Barnabas so that people would look at the great work that Ananias and Sapphira had done. The temptation had been placed for self-exaltation. This was something they could do so they could really impress the congregation in Jerusalem. They wanted the glory of the people. We may not realise it but many times our rebellion and temptation comes from our desire to be glorified by others. We want other people to recognise us, know what we have done for others, so that people can be impressed with our Christianity. We see this within Saul who did not utterly destroy the Amalekites as God had commanded. According to 1 Samuel 15:30, Saul’s desire was that he receive honour from the elders and from the people. 30 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God." (1 Samuel 15:30). Consequences of working for ourselves i. We end fighting in the flesh and not in the spirit. We struggle and get worn out. “ 1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” (Galatians 3:1-5). In Numbers 16:1-35 we read about Korah and some of the Israelite leaders who are upset that Moses and Aaron are in charge. They rebuke Moses saying that he has gone too far by exalting himself above the whole assembly: They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" (Numbers 16:3). Here is the charge: “Isn't it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? And now you also want to lord it over us?” (Numbers 16:13). Now, who had appointed Moses as their leader? God had done so. Korah and the leaders were complaining that they were not in charge. They wanted the glory that they felt Moses and Aaron were receiving as the leaders of the assembly. In Numbers 16: 31-35 God validates that Moses and Aaron were His chosen people to lead them through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. The desire for the glory from men got in the way. 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!" 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. (Numbers 16:31-35). ii. We water down the message of the gospel because we want to please men so that they can remain in the Church, by this we end up building a church of sinners and ignorant people who will eventually see the light so to speak one day and leave because you can deceive them forever. Jesus never minced word when he told the crowd to stop looking for earthly bread but rather eat him as the only true and living bread. They walked away: “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." (John 6:66-69). Jesus didn’t say: I am sorry I won’t say that again, please do not leave me.’ But he said even to the twelve, that you may wish to leave too.’ Today we are witnesses to the followership of Jesus – great multitude including me and you here. iii. We struggle to help God like Uzzah the man that wanted to prevent the Ark of the Covenant from falling in (2 Samuel 6:3-8): Even when we have good intentions, when we do not do as God has commanded, we are usurping the power and glory of God and attempting to place it upon ourselves. Uzzah had excellent intentions of preventing the ark of the covenant from falling of the cart. But God had commanded that no one was allowed to touch the ark and only the sons of Kohath could touch the poles the carry the ark. God struck Uzzah dead for touching the ark of God against the command of God. God takes His commands seriously. God expects us to keep His commands and when we do not, we are claiming glory for ourselves. “ 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. 6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.” (2 Samuel 6:3-8). The grace to accomplish the work But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9). Remember that God must always be glorified in whatever we do. Consider what Peter said, “ Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). Peter says when we speak, we need to be one speaking the very words of God. Peter says when we serve, we are serving with the strength that God supplies. Why do we need to speak as the very words of God and serve as God would serve? “ So that God may be glorified in all things.” Everything that I do is to be for the glory of God. Everything I say and do ought to cause others to glorify God as well. Am I glorifying God when I disobey? Is God glorified when I discount His words? God wants to see us rely on Him not rely on our own wisdom that we think we can loophole His commands! Conclusion: But does this mean we should be complacent? Does this mean we should be lax in doing God’s work? Does this mean we should not fast, pray and have spiritual activities? No, it simply means that while doing all these, we know that it is the Lord we are serving; we know that all glory goes back to him. We realise that we are instruments in his hands. We know that one person plants, another person waters but only the Lord giveth increase and cause to grow period! So we no longer have sleepless nights over God’s work because is business cannot go bankrupt. We come to fellowship or Church and worship God as he is even if it is only two people in attendance. In our pursuit of holiness and godliness, let us not discount what God has told us we must do for Him. Overall, let us strive to live in such a way that the glory of God can be seen in us such that others will look to God and glorify Him. In all things let us bring glory to our Father. 1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). Let’s pray: Almighty God we thank you for your word and we pray that in all we do in your vineyard we will direct people to Jesus the Lamb of God and not to ourselves. Let your glory be seen in such a way that people will look to you and glorify you. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
God bless you. Evang. John B. Oseh |