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Who Will Be Devoted to God?

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Who Will Be Devoted to God? BEING A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN (Luke 2:25) INTRODUCTION: (Luke 2:25 NIV) Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. I want to talk to you this morning about being a devout Christian. Verse 25 called Simeon a righteous and devout man. Being devout is an admirable character trait. The book of Acts uses the word ‘devout’ 9 times (in KJV) to describe people. Can that character trait describe your Christian commitment? Are you a devout Christian? What does it mean to be devout? A couple of funny stories: You have heard of devout Christian golfers. It is a man who prays with an interlocking grip. A girl wanted to know how devout her boyfriend was. She asked, “Do you love me?” To which he replied, “Yes, dear.” The girt: “Would you die for me?” Boy: “No.....mine is an undying love.” Being devout means that you are devoted to something or someone with all your heart. Being devout means that you are very serious about your Christian faith. A devout Christian is someone who is deeply devoted to God and a fully devoted follower of Jesus. Many churches and Christian organizations have as the mission statement “to develop fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” A parachurch organization called “The Navigators” founded by Dawson Troutman in 1935 with military people and now is spread to over 142 countries uses this as part of their mission “to develop fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.” In I Chronicles 22:19 we hear David exhort the people of Israel: Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the LORD your God.... (NIV) September 11, 2016 Corntassel C.P. Church Page 1 To be devout is to devote our heart and soul in seeking the Lord God. God wants us all to be devout Christians. God wants us to be devoted to Him with all our heart and soul. Some time back I was studying a book by Jerry Bridges on “Practicing Godliness” and he shared what he called the foundation of devotion. It is a three-fold foundation. It has to do with certain attitudes we have towards God which make up our attitude of devotion to God. Let’s look at these three attitudes and ask God to make us devout Christians. THE FEAR OF GOD CREATES AN ATTITUDE OF DEVOTION TO GOD. The first attitude we need to acquire to be a devout Christian is to have a healthy respect for the majesty and holiness of God. The Bible calls this “the fear of God.” We don’t hear much about the fear of God today, although the Bible has much to say about it. The phrase “the fear of the Lord” occurs 27 times in the Bible. Some well-known ones are in Proverbs: 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death. Yet the fear of God is a concept that seems old-fashioned and antiquated to many modern-day Christians. There was a time when an earnest believer might have been known as a “God-fearing person.” Today we would probably be embarrassed by such language as antiquated and not descriptive of a person living in the 21th century. Some of the aversion to the phrase “fear of God” may be due to a misunderstanding of its meaning. The Bible uses the term “fear of God” in two distinct ways: one is that of anxious dread, and the other is that of reverential awe. You may say that there is a positive and a negative side to the fear of God. Part of what it means to fear the Lord is to respect His authority, His power, His holiness, His right to correct us. This may create a little anxious dread! September 11, 2016 Corntassel C.P. Church Page 2 When I was a child I knew that my dad loved me, but I had a healthy respect for his authority and his disciples. If I misbehaved at school and got a whipping, I knew that when I got home my dad would give me one also to help me grow into the person he wanted me to grow into. I had a healthy respect for my dad’s authority and discipline. I knew that I was accountable to him for my behavior. In the same way we are accountable to God for our behavior and this thought of being accountable should put a little fearful respect in our life. It should motivate us to be more devoted to following the Lord. The apostle Paul mentions this side of the fear of the Lord in II Corinthians 5:l0-11 (NIV) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (11) Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. This type of fear of the Lord is in part what motives us to be devout Christians. But there is a more positive way to look at the fear of the Lord. The positive side of the fear of God is the awe, honor, reverence, and veneration we have when we contemplate the majesty and the transcendent glory of God. The positive side of the fear of God is the awe we sense when in the presence of someone extraordinary. If you were in the presence of Queen Elizabeth for a private audience with her, you probably would have a sense of awe, respect, and somewhat fearful. You probably would want to do everything just right in her presence so as not to offend her. When we have great respect for God’s holiness and sense of justice and a sense of awe and reverence for His majesty, this is the beginning of being a devout Christian. LOVE OF GOD But there is an even a more positive motivation for being fully devoted to God with our hearts and souls. It is the love of Christ He has for us. Paul makes this connection in 2 Corinthians 5 when he writes: September 11, 2016 Corntassel C.P. Church Page 3 2Co 5:14-15 NIV For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. (15) And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. The love of Christ, which was poured out for us on the Cross, is the motivating force that feeds our devotion to God. Now it is only the God- fearing Christian who can truly appreciate the love of God. He sees the infinite gulf between a holy God and a sinful creature, and he begins to understand the love that bridged that gulf through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The truly devoted person never forgets that he was at one time an object of God’s holy and just wrath. He never forgets that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--and he feels along with Paul that he is himself the chief of sinners. When we see and feel the love of God shown to us in Christ we are moved to be fully devoted to Him. Charles Wesley’s hymn, “And Can It Be” captures this wonder: And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God shouldst die for me? The awareness of God’s love for us in Christ must be personalized in order for it to become part of the solid foundation for our devotion to God. It is not enough to believe that God loved the world. I must be gripped by the realization that God loves me, a specific person. There was a period in my early Christian life when my concept of God’s love was little more than a logical deduction: God loves the world: I am part of the world: therefore, God love me. But there came a time when I sensed that God loves me as an individual person in that world. Then I was gripped by the love of Christ. Being a devout Christian feeds on an attitude of being gripped by the love of God, as well as by a sense of reverential awe in the presence of God’s greatness. If you focus your heart on God’s great love for you in Christ, you will become a devout Christian. September 11, 2016 Corntassel C.P. Church Page 4 A THIRST FOR GOD Another positive foundation for our devotion to God is having a burning thirst for God. As we contemplate more and more the majesty and holiness of God and as we are more and more constrained by the love of God for us in Christ we will be led to this deep thirst for a personal acquaintance with God. The Psalmist cried out: 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.
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