His Desire
(7-17-05)
1Tim.2:1-6
God is not an ogre! It is a good and wise thing for a man or a woman to seek what does please the almighty even though He is not an ogre he still is God and His wrath is poured out upon the ungodly and the sinner. God is loving and kind and merciful not to mention longsuffering and full of grace and yet He is God and He will execute judgment.
Paul tells us something of God’s heart in verses 3 and 4 - "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." What happens to mankind is a deep and abiding concern to Him and to His holy angels who labor on our behalf. ( Lk.15:10, Heb.1:14)
We who are sons and daughters of the Almighty, we who have been saved by His merciful grace, we who are being transformed into His glorious likeness are instructed by His word to love as He loves. Therefore we to are to desire the salvation of all peoples. Does God’s desire move Him to action on behalf of that which He cares deeply for? God is and has been pro-active in the fulfillment of His desires for humanity. What does that teach us about our own desires?
When we read what Paul said to Timothy in chapter two, what is it that pleases God? ____________________
Paul is urging for _________, __________, __________, and __________, be made for everyone. Jesus told Paul that our participation in the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of His _____ until He _____? (1Cor.11:26) Since we know that the time is shorter now than when it began, what should our concerns be for.
Paul describes the moment we anticipate in this fashion: " 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage each other with these words." (1 Thes.4:16-18) (are you encouraged?) You may be ready for His coming but when this moment takes place those whom you have been given responsibility to at least pray for will be trapped for ever in the outcome of their way of life. Doomed forever in darkness and pain and suffering. This, brothers and sisters is not acceptable.
It is not what God wants and it should not be what any of us here should want and since God has been and continues to be active in the redemption of humanity so shall I be and so should you. Like Paul I urge you to take up kneeling down like somebody’s life depended upon it.