BDF, EBCC Delhi founded in 1994, completes 25 years of existence and a Silver Jubilee celebration is being held to thank and praise the Lord Almighty God who led us thus far and to praise His holy name. Rev. Paukhanmang Guite, General Secretary, EBCC Headquarters is invited to share jubilee message on this auspicious occasion. Rev. Guite bases his message on the Scriptural portion from Acts 9:36-42 on the theme ‘Acceptable worship through good deeds and gifts.’ At the very outset, he shares words of greetings on behalf of EBCC and went straight to his message.
BDF, EBCC Delhi has been doing good deeds since the past 25 years for the needy people and widows within and without the church members. While we strive to do our best, it is good to ponder upon whether these acts are acceptable for the Lord. Rather, can it be worthless at the sight of the Lord? Let’s retrospect ourselves and try to do better than before.
As it is seen in Leviticus 25:1-54, Leviticus 27:1-34 and Numbers 36:1-13, Jubilee is all about the proclamation of forgiveness and freedom for those who are bound. Debtors are to be freed from the burden of repaying their debts; confiscated lands are to be returned to their original owners and slaves to their families. Trumpets are to be blown everywhere in the lands of the Israelites. The jubilee referred to here is the completion of 50 years unlike ours that we are now celebrating, the attainment of 25 years.
Lands of the Israelites are meant not to be sold and whoever is possessing them must return them back to the original owners at the year of the jubilee. This is a message for the Israelites to remember that they themselves were once slaves of the Egyptians and the Lord Almighty God brought them out of Egypt to be His own people and to praise and work for Him. Everything we do must be for glorifying Him and we should always remember Him.
We many a times conduct ourselves in a way dishonoring the Lord. Our worship sometimes can be displeasing to the Lord. God abhors the ways the Israelites are worshipping Him as seen in Micah 6:6-8 and Isaiah 1:1-31. We might consider ourselves glorifying God by helping the poor and the needy people. Yet, it may rather be distasteful in the sight of the Lord. Let us seriously ponder upon whether our gifts and sacrifices are pleasing to the Lord.
Our worship cannot be acceptable to Him if we keep on sinning. We may be dressing sensibly while worshipping, we may even appears to be so religious at the sight of others but still be abomination at the sight of the Lord. God demands us to be just, righteous, merciful and humbly obey Him as seen in Micah 6:8. Israelites felt they did very well and sacrificed the best of animals; yet, those things are far from pleasing the Lord. If we fear the Lord and obey him we must be merciful and humble in our words and deeds.
Doing things in namesake and just for show-off cannot please God (Genesis 4:5). It is good to ask ourselves whether our activities and conduct since the past 25 years are acceptable for the Lord. God does neither count on the monetary budget we set nor does our achievements, but he sees our attitudes. God does not appreciate things just as it is done in the name of the Church, but sees whether it is done humbly and done for His glory. God did not appreciate King Saul’s sacrifice because he has disobeyed Him, as seen in 1 Samuel 15:22. God gives more weight on obedience than on sacrifices. Obedience must come first before other things. God judges on our mind and attitude rather than by our performance and actions.
Things done for His glory is what pleases the Lord. As seen in Acts 9:36-41, Dorcas had a heart after God. She is one who selflessly gives. She helped the needy people and widows. Noah, also, gives offerings and sacrifices to God. His burnt offerings are pleasing to the Lord even to the extent that God promises him not to punish living things as He did in Genesis 7:1-24. To be acceptable to God, it is not the sacrifices that we made that counts but we, ourselves and our hearts that counts. Mother Teresa loves and cares for the lepers as she took them for Jesus. She did everything in Jesus’ name and did everything to glorify His name.
God counts everything that we do to the helpless and needy people as things done for Him (Matthew 25.40). It is important to keep in mind that our helping hands should transcend even to the spiritual needs of others. Let us retrospect whether the things we have been doing until now are pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. May God bless you all to enable to do things worthy to the Lord and may God bless upon the message spoken on the occasion of Silver Jubilee.
