Living for Eternity – Being Rightly Motivated

Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." (Jn 14:15)

Motivation: Reason for action! Have we asked ourself: Why am I doing something?

As human beings, we cannot survive any commitment for a long time without any motivation!

Motivation can be classified into:

1. Worldly (Horizontal) or
2. Agape - Godly love (Vertical).

Worldly (Horizontal) Motivation

This includes anything that gratifies us — it can be money, power, security, recognition/appreciation ...

Problem of the Pharisees:

• kept the Law, for the sake of keeping it
• they prayed to be heard by men
• gave generously to be seen, praised & sometimes even to escape their duty for parents
• judged sin and stood against it from self-righteousness and hardness of their heart.
• failed to connect with God heart-to-heart (heart far-away!)

Wrong motives for the ministry/ doing spiritual things:

We may do wonderful things for the Kingdom of God (KoG) because we

• want to look good in front of others,
• could be financially profitable,
• get a good life that cannot be otherwise afforded,
• are compelled by others,
• got emotionally charged by a preacher's challenge,
• feel guilty if we do not do something.

Our purpose in life should not be to build an empire for ourself, a church or an organization, attain financial security, be loved or respected or remembered for our noble deeds – remember the final commandment! (Act 1:8)

AGAPE: Godly Love (Vertical Motivation)

We need continuous input (fuel) —preferably from the Lord.

Jesus said: ²¹"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." ²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" ²³Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴"He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me. (Jn 14:21-24)

Jesus had already summarised the commandments as having love:

Lk 10:27 So he answered and said, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and your neighbor as yourself.' "

Paul states in 2 Cor 5:14 that: “For the love of Christ compels us”. He was motivated to do everything he did for one reason: Jesus. He lived only for the approval of his Master as his motivation:

For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. (Heb 12:3)

If I belong to Christ, life belongs to me; I can master it, rescue some good out of everything, good, bad and indifferent. . . . I do not have to be concerned about this, that or the other. I have one concern and only one—that I be His. (E. Stanley Jones, Victory through Surrender)

How can we evaluate our hearts against horizontal (worldly) motivation?

Luke 15:25-32 ²⁵"Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶"So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷"And he said to him, Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' ²⁸"But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹"So he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' ³¹"And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³²It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.' "

1. Lack of Love for Others
   • Love is the oil that keeps the machinery running smoothly.
   • Love make all things possible
   • who told him his brother wasted fathers money with prostitutes? He did not go out searching!
   • Jonah knew his theology but was not compassionate for the people of Nineveh!
   • Jesus had been criticized by the Pharisees and scribes – as friend of sinners!

   God’s holiness: “Jesus has everything to do with sinners, because He loves them so much as to die for them and reconcile them back to God!.”

2. Unwillingness to Suffer
   • Refusal to accept suffering as part of love.
   • Can not face rejection for doing the right thing.
   • Not handle that he was not appreciated for his hard work.
   • Looking for rewards, recognition...

   CW Lewis (the four loves): To love at all is to be vulnerable. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, it will become unbreakable,impenetrable, irredeemable.

3. Legalism: works for the sake of the work alone,
   • whereas true motivation in working for the KoG is love.
   • serving only for the reward.
   • the older brother was committed to his father and to his work.
   • seems to be doing a lot of good and
   • whose life is full of activity
   • but is motivated horizontally, not vertically.
   • felt taken for granted, and was angry with his father
   • parable of the servants who buried the one talent (Mt 24:24-30)
   • the one who kept his Mina hidden in his kerchief (Lk 19:20-23)
   • parable of the vineyard owner who gave equal wages to all his workers (Mt 20:1-16)

   The question we should as ourself: “If our entire allowance were gone, if our benefits disappeared, would we still serve the Lord ?!”

4. Unwillingness to Live by Faith:
   • Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
   • He could not understand what his father was telling - He never took anything!!
   • Heroes of Hebrews 11, did not receive the promise,
   • but they looked toward the day when those promises would be fulfilled. (Heb 11:13-15)
   • We're save by grace through faith, no work can be done to gain favour from the Lord!
5. Lack of Prayer
   • no real heart-to-heart communication with his father.
   • he called one of the servants and asked without going inside the house & not talking directly.
   • If we see our prayer life is suffering, then we need to watch-out!

   Jesus said to the sleeping disciples to watch-out (Lk 22:45-46)

6. Pride:
   • complained “this son of yours”, not my brother!
   • He had no room in his heart to acknowledge the repenting brother
   • Body of Christ is made up of weak, broken-legged, half-blind, bruised, hurting, sinning and repenting people.

   If we've no room for weak people or having a superior feeling, its start of fall!

   Real motivation from the Lord, manifests in true humility. Same mind as Christ (Phil 2:5-9)

7. Wanting to Quit/ Give Up:

   refused to go inside and join the celebration father held.

   Everyone at some point faces the temptation to quit, - but do we fall into that temptation?

   Our goal should be finishing the race that is set before us! (Heb 12:1)

8. Self-Pity & Bitterness

   unyielding, headstrong disposition, he could think only about himself.

   Same as the case of the earlier parable discussed in legalism.

9. Jealousy and Love for Honor or Position

   Jealousy over others’ blessings and the desire for honor and position will strain our relationships with others.

   1 pet 1:22-23 22Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,

How can we regain the right motivation?

Need for Vertical-motivation: Horizontally motivated persons can be involved vigorously in the work of the Lord. They can also be demanding and judgmental. They may express intense concern about the moral condition of society or become zealous for evangelism. But when the internal relationship is gone, only a shadow remains.

1. Repent & love:

   Rev 2:1-7 ¹"To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ²"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; ³"and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary. ⁴"Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place; unless you repent. ⁶"But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."

   The epistle to the Ephesians is the wisdom epistle

   • all who did sorcery destroyed their book worth 50k pieces of silver (Act 19:19)
   • had every spiritual blessing, growing towards Christ!
   • Yet, lost 1^st love!
2. Trust & Surrender:

   God has promised His rest for His people (Heb 4:9)

   We must quit fighting, struggling and striving, because it always causes hurting

   we will be in pain and always complaining that something is wrong.

   God allows adverse circumstances for a reason— things that go against our emotions,

   unfulfilled expectations, misunderstandings, ingratitude, loss of our rights, shattered hopes.

   But , we must discern if it our own foolishness:

   Who asked you to do all these things?

   Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

   But, God gives the rest: When we surrender our life completely to the Lord, no matter what happens from then on, we have something to fall back on – its all in God’s hands. Then, all things will work together! (Rom 8:28)

   The keeping of God includes our whole life – when God sends us to work in the world, He does not just keep them in spiritual things alone but also in material things! (Mt 6:33 Seek 1^st the KoG)

3. Walk in humility & leading of the Holy Spirit

   “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6; see Joel 3:10)

   Be filled with Holy Spirit (Act 2:38, Eph 5:18)

   Walk in the Spirit: If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (Gal 5:25)

   cannot even begin to do it in our own strength. we must relinquish our lives and

   all they mean to Jesus.

4. Do everything as unto the Lord

   ²³And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,²⁴knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. (Col 3:23-24)

   Our concern is to become His own—to be approved by Him, to please Him, to belong to Him.

5. Think about our Father in Heaven

   Heaven is not our motivation,as a place to be, BUT to be in His presence!

   Spending our eternity with HIM Who loved us and gave His life a ransom for us!

   ¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. ( 2 Cor 4:16-18)

Meditation:

1. What motivates me for the current way of life?
2. What do I need to make my heart rightly motivated?

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Page History: Last revised on 17 Feb 2014

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