Going Through The Motions

Rev. J. Patrick Bowman P.O. Box 1386 The Dalles, OR 97058 [email protected] 541-980-8310 North American Rights © Rev. J. Patrick Bowman, 2009 Pages: 10 Word Count: 1758 Going Through the Motions By Rev. J. Patrick Bowman I don’t want to spend my whole life askin,’ “What if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?” by Jason Houser, Matthew West, Sam Mizell, and performed by Matthew West The above lyrics, performed so skillfully by contemporary Christian artist Matthew West, describe a condition so prevalent in the church today that a great percentage should also be asking “What if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?” But they fail to do so because of the answers they might have to make their own. The above portrays a person lamenting the time and energy required to account for living a half-hearted Christian life and feeling the personal dissatisfaction associated with it. The following scripture, Revelation 3:14-22, tells of God’s displeasure with those in the faith who give only a token “performance” in serving the Lord. 14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origina of God’s creation: 15 “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. 20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. 21 To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” In this scripture we notice that God knows their works, but wishes they were hot or cold. Being lukewarm in one’s works, or exercise of faith, is a dangerous place to be. To be spit from one’s mouth is harsh language indicative of expelling a “bad taste,” something undesirable to keep. God would rather you do no works at all, and be cold, than to give a partial effort, and be lukewarm. Acknowledgment of sin and repentance bring back the fervor of giving everything, not just going through the motions. As the parent of two children, it was far more important the effort put into a

project than the actual outcome. I was just as proud of a “C” accomplished using 100% effort as an “A” received with a lazy attitude. Many we would call the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, as well as those we know personally, have given their best effort in seeing their destinies realized. Joshua and Caleb showed such resolve as they faced a nation of naysayers, as chronicled in Numbers 13:25-14:10. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us; it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Yet the people who live in the land are strong, and the towns are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negeb; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. 33 There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” 14 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron; the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become booty; would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us choose a captain, and go back to Egypt.” 5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the Israelites. 6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to all the congregation of the Israelites, “The land that we went through as spies is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the LORD is pleased with us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. 9 Only, do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they are no more than bread for us; their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” 10 But the whole congregation threatened to stone them. We know from reading further in the story that because of their unbelief, the entire nation of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness until that entire generation died off. Only Caleb and Joshua were allowed to enter the Promised Land. The reward for their faithfulness to God was great. The judgment for the entire nation’s unbelief and lukewarm inspired grumbling was severe. A false sense of security can lead one to just go through the motions. This is brought forth in the parable of the foolish man in Luke 12:16-21. 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink,

be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” The giving of all has to be rich toward God, not man’s greed or glory. The folly of anxiety over acquiring things instead of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness is expressed by Jesus in Matthew 6:25-34. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,j or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?k 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Could misplaced seeking be a cause for simply going through the motions? A sense of purpose outside of oneself, under the rule of God the Father, through the Lordship of Jesus, and administered by the Holy Spirit is an essential element in growing to a place of personal maturity and productivity in society. A sense of well-being is an added benefit of such a transition. Many in the Body of Christ are spending their lives in a state of lukewarm mediocrity that manifests itself in how society relates to church involvement and Christianity in general. God can reach the cold and use the hot, those that have given everything. But the self righteous, in their state of reliance on storing up riches in their own strength, for their own glory, sicken God and cause rejection on His part. I don’t want to spend my whole life askin,’ “What if I had given everything instead of going through the motions?” How about you?