Thursday, November 19, 2015

Sacred or Secular



Jesus Christ—the LORD. In my life all things have become sacred. 

My birth was sacred. God through his WORD says this, Psalm 139:13 It was God who made me. Before I was in my mother’s womb he knew me. Jer. 1:5 It was God who, “formed the way I think and feel. He put me together in my mother’s womb.” This makes my life sacred.

My marriage is sacred. In the beginning of mankind starting with Adam, God provide a helpmate. What God did for Adam, he did for me. Listen what Adam had to say, “Finally! One like me, with bones from my bones and a body from my body. She was taken out of a man, so I will call her ‘woman.’”24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. In this way two people become one. It was by the direction of the Holy Spirit that I found my wife. That makes my marriage sacred.

My education is sacred. Paul instructed Timothy to study to show himself a proven student of the WORD of God. My education required me to do my best to be the kind of person God will accept, and give myself to him. Be a worker who has no reason to be ashamed of his work, one who applies the true teaching in the right way. My education was a sacred duty to become knowledgeable in the WORD of God so that I might teach the right TRUTH.

My employment is sacred. I have been commanded that whatever I do, do my work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord I will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom I serve.

My family is sacred. I am commanded to love my wife just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. I am commanded to love my children. Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

My daily life is sacred because it is a gift from God. I have been commanded, don’t worry and say, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ That’s what those people who don’t know God are always thinking about. Don’t worry, because your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. What you should want most is God’s kingdom and doing what he wants you to do. Then he will give you all these other things you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Tomorrow will have its own worries.

My meals are sacred. Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.
My worship is sacred. I am commanded to worship with believers. Hebrews 10:25 (KJV) 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

My Christian life is sacred. I have been called to be light and salt in the world. Not in a church building or within the four walls of confinement but in the world. I have a commission to act upon that calling. I am to preach the gospel to everyone, everywhere and every day.

So why do I look at my whole life as sacred? Because the devil would like for me to separate my spiritual life from my daily life. There are those Christians who have fallen for the lies of the devil that we are to separate our faith from the world. This lie is called the “wall of separation”. We are to divide the sacred from the secular. As Christians have we forgotten who Christ is? Let me remind you “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.… Col 1:17

So let me ask this question, with Christ what is secular? Nothing! All things are sacred. As Christians we are not to separate our lives into sacred and secular. The reason we are losing the spiritual battle in our homes, our church, our community, our state and our nation is that we have given control of our spiritual sacred lives to the devil. We have forsaken our faith when we bought into the lie of the “wall of separation”. We allowed the world to take away our power and authority.

When we talk about the Kingdom of God what do we actual think the Kingdom is about? The central theme of the message of Jesus Christ was the Kingdom of God. Let me say this, a Kingdom is not built in the four walls of a church building. We cannot build the Kingdom the God within the confines of a building. The Great Commission is a call to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God. The message of Jesus Christ is summed up in this the gospel of the kingdom. How can I separate my life into sacred and secular when I am to work for the Kingdom of God? 

Salvation means we have entered into the Kingdom. The hope we have as Christians and the comfort we gain comes from being in the Kingdom of God. My life is sacred because I seek first the Kingdom of God. Jesus himself summarizes his teaching about all of inspired writers when he said,: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

So how can my government, the Supreme Court, elected leaders or bureaucrats tell that I must worship within the confines of my church when I cannot separate what is sacred in my faith to a secular world. Why is it that what I deem sacred, the secular has invaded without resistance. Let me explain.

The government does not have the authority to decide who is a minister but they do. They do not have the authority to decide how my church can show charity, but they do. They do not have the authority to tell me as a pastor what I can say about people running for office, but they do. They do not have the authority to tell me as a Christian who I can do business with, but they do. They do not have the authority to tell me where I can pray, but they do. They do not have the authority to tell where I can assemble, but they do. They do not have the authority to tell me what I can preach, but they do. 

To those individuals who would say Christians need to separate their faith from the secular, do not practice what they preach. The secular had invaded the Christian faith to the point they are regulating the sacred. The government does not believe in the sacred, they believe all things are secular, because this is the message of the devil. The conflict we are in, is spiritual, Satan is determined to remove the power and authority that God has given the Church by using the lie that there is a “wall of separation” between sacred and secular. If you have fallen for the lie, you have joined the wrong side in the battle. You have allowed the lie to convince you, that it is OK for you to live two separate lives—sacred and secular. Jesus told us we cannot serve two masters, you will love the one and hate the other. 

The Problem with American Christians is found in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 6:16
This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask where the old road is. Ask where the good road is, and walk on that road. If you do, you will find rest for yourselves. But you people have said, ‘We will not walk on the good road.’ That road is the sacred road, the road to the Kingdom of God.

The Results of Choosing the Wrong Road

Leviticus 26:36-38 36 The survivors will lose their courage in the land of their enemies. They will be afraid of everything. They will run around like a leaf blown by the wind. They will run as if someone is chasing them with a sword. They will fall even when no one is chasing them. They will run as if someone is chasing them with a sword. They will fall over each other—even when no one is chasing them. “You will not be strong enough to stand up against your enemies. You will be lost in other nations. You will disappear in the land of your enemies. 

When we divide our lives into the sacred and secular, we do not know where we stand and have no power and authority in our lives. We will end up dead.

Luke 12:9 But if you stand before others and say you do not believe in me, then I will say that you do not belong to me. I will say this in the presence of God’s angels. 

You cannot live a sacred life and secular at the same time. You cannot say you are a Christian in some things and not in others—you are a Christian or you are not.

What are we to do?

Ephesians 6:11
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Your faith is your defense against the lies of the devil. Lift up your shield.

No comments:

Post a Comment