SERVANTS OF GOD
Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve'." Then the devil left him.......
On the one hand are those who insist there is no devil, and on the other are those who not only know there is a devil, they're paranoid about it. "The devil is giving me such a hard time!"
If Satan can't get you to think that he doesn't exist he'll do the next best thing and try to make you believe that he's almighty. He'll try to make you think that he's got you trapped,
- that you might as well give up,
- that you're in his power.
But Jesus sent Satan on his way with a simple word of scripture.
"You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."
When Satan comes up against a man or woman who really worships God and really serves God, there's not a thing he can do.
When Satan sees you worshiping God and serving God with all your heart,
- it fills him with terror,
- shows him that he has already been defeated,
- reminds him of the glory he once had and would still have had he not turned aside to
worship himself.
The only place on earth where Satan has power is among those who refuse to worship God - who refuse to serve God, or who serve God with a divided heart. Satan is lord over such people even if they sit in church seven days a week, even if they quote the Bible all day long, even if they have never committed adultery or murder or broken the Sabbath.
Satan doesn't care whether you quote the Bible as long as you stay away from worshiping and serving God. Satan could care less whether your life is chaste, as long as you stay away from worshiping God.
"You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."
For what other reason were we put on this planet?
For what other purpose do these hearts beat within us?
- Birds were made for the air.
- Fish were made for water.
- Trees were made to sink their roots into the earth and stretch their branches toward the
sun.
We were made for God Himself, to worship Him, to serve Him, with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
So long as Adam lived this way, the Evil One had absolutely no power over him. The Devil was no more to Adam than a worm under his feet. It was when Adam joined Satan in dishonoring God and serving himself, contrary to God's will, that Adam became a worm under Satan's feet.
If you get up in the morning praising God with all your heart –
If you step forth into the day serving God with all your strength and with all your mind -
Satan has no power over you. Whether he likes it or not, he has to step aside and get out of your way. He has to cover his face to save what little eyesight he has left, shielding it from the blinding light of the glory of Christ who lives in you.
But,
if you get up with your mind on yourself –
if the first thing you do is collect all your aches and pains and grudges and complaints and cravings and lusts and shuffle your way into another day of spiritual gloom –
you may think of yourself as an upright person, one of the few good people left, but you've got a shriveled soul.
- You are a slave in Satan's palace.
- You are doing his bidding whether you know it or not.
- You are spreading death wherever you go.
"You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."
Can we honestly say that we are fulfilling this command? That right now, this day, our minds are consumed in worship, praise, glory, honor, thanksgiving toward the living God? That our bodies and all the physical substance that surrounds them are being poured out in service toward God?
Notice, it doesn't say,
- worship God one hour a week and spend the rest of the time worshiping your bank
account, your reputation, your loved-one, your favorite ambition.
To worship God means all the time, ceaselessly, like the angels, in all circumstances, in all places, in all moods, under all conditions.
Nor does it say,
- serve God 10% of the time, the other 90% do your own thing.
If you serve God at all, then you serve God continuously with everything you've got.
Nobody can live this way, day in and day out, year after year, worshiping God, unless this has become his delight.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,
Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And on his law doth he meditate day and night. Psalm 1
I delight to do thy will, 0 my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Psalm 40:8
Jesus came to make it our delight to live this way.
What else was He doing the entire three-and-a-half years of His ministry but teaching His disciples the joy of worshiping the Lord their God and serving Him only?
As the days passed, these men and women were filled more and more with awe for God as they looked into Jesus' face, heard Him teach,
saw the dead come to life,
the lame walk,
the blind see.
Again and again and again Jesus taught them there's only one thing that matters: doing the Father's will. Not making others think we're doing the Father's will, but doing it!
"Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven...."
When Jesus hung on that cross it looked as though His disciples hadn't learned a thing. They were gone. There was Jesus alone, doing the Father's will right up to the last breath. Offering Himself up as the atonement for the guilt which had held this race in slavery to Satan since Adam.
But the moment He dies, the curse is broken!
What did they do when they saw Jesus alive from the dead? They began to worship.
And behold Jesus met them and said, "Hail!" And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshipped Him. Matthew 28:9
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw Him they worshipped Him. Matthew 28:16
He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it into my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered Him, "My Lord and my God!" John 20:27-28
And that worship went on.
After Jesus ascended, "they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple blessing God." Luke 24:52
Ten days later when the Spirit came upon them, what was this speaking that came forth from their tongues, but worship?
And day by day, attending the Temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God. Acts 2:46
And that worship was not just talk, it was a life, glad obedience, undivided service. Not serving God today and myself tomorrow, but serving God day and night, in all things, even to death on a cross.
Now if you have become a disciple of Jesus Christ, if Christ really lives in you, the proof to God, and to the devil is this:
You worship the Lord your God and him only do you serve.
The power to live this way is now in you as it was not in you before you came to Jesus Christ.
But, you have to exercise this power,
you have to assert your will toward God,
you have to present your body as a living sacrifice,
you have to give your mind to His renewing Spirit.
God won't make you worship Him when you wake up in the morning - you have to do that.
God won't make you worship Him when you gather with other saints - you have to do that.
God won't make you love your neighbor or lay down your life for your brother.
God won't make you generous with your money.
God won't make you pull out the eye that causes you to stumble.
God won't make you proclaim the name of Jesus Christ before men.
God won't make you discipline yourself to pray.
But, God will wonderfully help you when you start doing these things.
There will be people reading this who have never in all their lives abandoned themselves to true, joyful, wholehearted worship of God.
There will be people reading this who have never allowed themselves to serve God beyond carefully set limits of convenience, and safety, and what they consider to be good taste. And this, my friend, is why Satan is giving you such a hard time.
And Satan will go on giving you a hard time so long as your heart continues to be a worshipless habitation of self-pity, complaints, and critical spirits.
Cry out to the Lord to help you lift up your soul to Him.
"0 Lord, deliver me from my slavery to myself."
"Bring me into the company of saints and angels who ceaselessly praise you."
"Help me to open my heart, loose my tongue, to sing to your glory."
And Satan will go on giving you a hard time so long as you keep your life a neat, safe, convenient little mixture of half-baked service to God, and whole-hearted devoted, loving service to yourself.
Is your life a living sacrifice or is it a rotting pile of hoarded energies, and hoarded possessions?
"Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake,
he will save it." Luke 9:24
When we worship God we lose our lives in Him. When we serve God we lose our lives in Him.
It's high time for many of us to let go and start losing our lives for Jesus' sake before there's nothing left to lose.
"You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve."
"0 Lord, deliver me from my slavery to myself."
"Bring me into the company of saints and angels who ceaselessly praise you."
"Help me to open my heart, loose my tongue, to sing to your glory."