Grace Assembly : Acts of Grace

What is success? Success means different things to different people. Is it fame? Is it a name? Is it wealth? Is it education? Is it beauty? Is it good looks? All these things creep into our Christian thinking. That is why today, people speak about ‘successful’ ministries and ‘successful’ churches. But how does man measure success, and how does God measure success in terms of eternity?

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Eccl. 1:14)

What is success, beloved? To understand this, we must look at the law of life. When I speak about laws, I want you to know, man does not make laws - we discover laws. Laws exist. Laws operate. Laws dominate and control. Nobody can break the laws - if you don’t follow the laws than the law breaks you. Just as there are laws that guide the great and mighty planets, there are laws that govern our soul. When these spiritual laws are obeyed, it leads to spiritual success, but when they are disobeyed, it leads to spiritual failure and disaster.

So, what is true success? Success, in spiritual terms is, knowing and doing the will of God. If I know God and I can do his will, I will be successful. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob knew what it was. Towards the end of their lives, they could fold their arms and legs and say, “I have finished doing your will, Lord, take me home.” What a nice way to die! Jesus hung on the cross and said, “It is finished.” Paul was able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7) There are many men who have died with a sense of fulfilment and great satisfaction but many have died in misery because they did not know the laws of God.

What is the law of success? The primary purpose behind the creation of mankind was that we might freely and intelligently worship our creator. I have said earlier about knowing the will of God and doing it. How am I to know the will of God and do it? How do I follow these laws of success spiritually for my soul? The Westminster Catechism asks this question, “What is the chief aim of man?” and the answer given was “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” God created you so that you can enjoy him because he enjoys you! There is great joy like a mother and her baby. The mother enjoys that which has come out of her and the baby also enjoys the mother. There is something between mother and child. To the child, the smell of the mother’s fragrance, or the sound of her voice can activate many things. They enjoy each other.

The word ‘worship’ comes from worth-ship and it shows a picture of a dog that comes and sits before his master, his eyes and ears focused on the master, his tail wagging, just waiting. That is where the word comes from, worth-ship. He sees his master’s worth and so he worships him. He enjoys his master and the master enjoys him. To learn that God enjoys you is hard to believe. But that is what his word says. He created you, he delights in you, he enjoys you and he wants you to enjoy him. In so doing, we are fulfilled - fulfilment, satisfaction and SUCCESS take place when we relate to him.

Our quest is to know God and do his will for he has not hidden himself from us but has revealed himself through Jesus Christ our Lord. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he said, “I’m bringing you out so that you may worship me.” So he gives them the laws and the rules, and then he says, “I will teach you how to worship me because when you worship me, you are blessed. When you worship me and enjoy me as I enjoy you, we complete each other.” He empowers you and equips you as you worship him – it’s that kind of a relationship!

Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both
the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim,
palm trees, and open flowers. (1 Kings 6:29)

How do I worship him? When you look into the Bible, especially 1 Kings 6, and read the whole chapter, we see God giving the instructions on how to build the Tabernacle. He said to carve in the wood three things, one, the cherubim, two, the palm trees and three, the flowers.

Cherubim are a kind of angel whose ministry is to worship God. They are always in the presence of God, worshipping him. So the first thing God wants man to do is to worship him. The second thing was palm trees. Now, trees always speak about work. In Genesis, when God revealed himself, we saw a working God. He planted a garden. He is a gardener. The first man God put on this planet, was also a gardener. So work is a part of worship. When we work, we worship God. When a man works, he is worshipping God and that is why God put man in the garden where he will work six days.

The third things were the flowers. Flowers speak of beauty, fragrance and sweetness. Honey, nectar and fragrance come from flowers. So, it begins with worship, leads to work and produces flowers. Of course, when there are flowers, fruits will follow. Fruits mean there is food to eat and seeds to sow, so there will be multiplication. When you take the seed and plant it, whatever you grow will multiply.

So worship must precede everything we do. All of us are serving, whether at work, at play, in church, in cell or at home. If worship is not the first thing in your life, there cannot be fragrance in your service because devotional life adds fragrance to your service. It is not done because of law. It is not done because you have to. You worship and the fragrance comes out. It is with joy. So, when you serve in the cell, at home or at work, you are serving people and it has got to be done with fragrance - and that can only come if there is worship and thanksgiving first.