Tuesday, October 02,
2012, 6:30 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “For Our Nation” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 (NIV 1984):
Finally, brothers, we
instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living.
Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you
know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
It is God’s will that
you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of
you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this
matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will
punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For
God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who
rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy
Spirit.
Now about brotherly
love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God
to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout
Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
Make it your ambition
to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands,
just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders
and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
How to Live
There is a popular teaching that has swept across
evangelical Christianity in America which teaches that repentance (turning from
sin) and obedience to God are not required for salvation, and that God is
pleased with us no matter what we do. This is not based in the teachings of scripture,
but in the will of man. Scripture teaches that we please God through obedience
to his commands and to his will for our lives (see Rom. 8:8; 12:1-2; 2 Co. 5:9;
Gal. 6:8; Eph. 5:10; Col. 1:10; 2 Tim. 2:4 ).
If you read Hebrews 11, the faith chapter of the Bible, and
you read the stories of these men and women of faith, you will find one common
denominator among all of them: they believed God, and their actions were
evidence (proof) of their faith. Noah built an ark in obedience to God’s voice
to him. Abraham obeyed God and went to where God was sending him, even though
he did not know where he was going. He believed in God’s promise to him that
his descendants would be as the number of the stars in the sky. And, the
scriptures say he did not waver in unbelief.
Paul, although he taught much about God’s grace vs.
following the letter of the law, did not teach grace absent of repentance and
obedience to God and to his commands, and he definitely taught that we please
God through our obedience and through forsaking sin.
In this passage of scripture, Paul taught us how to live our
lives each and every day in order to please God. God is not pleased with us no
matter what we do. That would be to say that God is pleased when we sin, and he
is not. He does not withhold his love from us, and he is always there to train
us in godliness, to nurture us to spiritual health and healing, and to lead us
and guide us into all truth. He will never leave us or forsake us, but that
does not mean he is always pleased with us. His love will never fail, but we
will fail to please God when we choose to live in willful sin and rebellion
against God and against his commands.
The Instructions
Paul had previously given the believers in Christ
instructions in holy living, by the authority of the Lord Jesus. When we teach
God’s word, we are also giving instruction in the authority of the Lord Jesus,
for the word of God is our authority.
He had previously given them instructions in how to live in
order to please God, and now he asked and urged (encouraged) them to do this
more and more. We need to keep encouraging one another to keep following the
Lord Jesus in obedience, and to live lives pleasing to God, because of the
deception that is spreading through our churches that is teaching God is
pleased with us no matter what we do, and because God is holy and we are to be
holy as he is holy. God did not call us to himself just so we could go to
heaven one day. He called us to live holy lives in full surrender and obedience
to him while we are still here on the face of this earth.
Then Paul got very specific and practical in his teaching on
how to live lives pleasing to God. He then let us know what God’s will is for
us. It is essential that we know the will of God so that we can obey God’s
will. And, that is why it is critical that we are in God’s word daily, sitting
at his feet, listening to him speak, learning from him and then putting into
practice, through obedience, what he teaches us. And, it is critical that we
not depend upon sermons, as good as they may be, Sunday school lessons, small
group Bible studies, commentaries, and books written by men for our primary
teaching from God’s word. We need to study the word of God for ourselves so we
know what it is saying, and we need to check out whatever we hear, and test it
against God’s word to make sure it adds up.
Sanctified
Paul said it was God’s will that we be sanctified. To be
sanctified means to be made holy. Now we are made holy when we invite Jesus
Christ into our lives to be our Lord and Savior, when the Holy Spirit does his
work of regeneration in our hearts, minds and wills. Yet, we are also
instructed in scripture that we are being made holy, and that we are to be holy
as God is holy, etc. Sanctification, thus, is a process of making us more and
more like Jesus. This means forsaking our lives of sin and of living for self
on a daily basis, and turning to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in full obedience
and surrender to his will for our lives (see Luke 9:23). We will be in this
process until the day Jesus Christ takes us home to be with him forever.
The word “holy” means set apart for God. Yet, I don’t think
we in America often truly grasp what this means. We are not just set apart to
go to heaven one day or to live a good life here on the earth. We are set apart
(from our own selfish desires; from worldliness) for God. Our lives are no
longer our own. We were bought with a price. We need to honor God with our
lives. We need to daily find out what pleases the Lord and do what pleases him.
Avoid Immorality
To avoid something means to evade, circumvent, dodge,
sidestep, escape and stay away from something; to prevent, stop, or prohibit
something from happening. We can’t play with this. We have to run away from it
like Joseph did in the Bible. We can’t sit and watch TV shows, movies, music
videos (even Christian ones) that promote sensuality or sexual immorality, nor
should we allow ourselves to be entertained by such. We can’t even watch most
TV commercials or even the news without being blasted with sexual images. And,
most definitely, we cannot afford to just casually surf the internet if we have
any kind of history with immoral thoughts or behavior. For some, the internet
can no longer be an option. We must run away from anything that leads us down a
path of immoral thoughts or behaviors. This is what it means to avoid it. We
can’t allow a little poop in our brownies, i.e. we cannot allow even a little
bad to be entertained in our minds just for the sake of entertainment or the overall
“good” of a story or a song. We have to be radical about this!
Brotherly Love
I find in the church that many people have the wrong concept
of love. What is often taught and promoted is more humanistic love (of mankind)
rather than divine love. We get this idea that to love people means to always
do what pleases man and makes people feel good. Much of this can be selfish in
nature, as our motivation can be to have people like us rather than to do what
is best for others. Divine love, though, truly has what is best (good) in mind
for other people, not just what makes them feel good or what is pleasing to
them, but what really is best for them and meets their true (legitimate) needs.
Jesus exemplified this kind of love for us. If we read his
teachings, he spoke some pretty hard words, he confronted people with their
sin, and he told them to stop sinning and to do what pleases God. He spoke the
truth in love, even when it hurt. Yet, he ministered to people’s emotional
needs with much comfort and affection. He healed the brokenhearted and the lame,
blind and sick. He felt much compassion for those who were hurting, and he
offered his grace and mercy. He was a true servant in how he cared for the
needs of others over his own. He was willing to die for our greatest need – salvation
from sin.
A Quiet Life
So, when Paul said that we should make it our ambition to
lead a quiet life, to mind our own business and to work with our hands so that
we may win the respect of others, he is not talking about people pleasing here,
nor is he suggesting that we should not share the gospel, confront sin, or lead
people to obedience in Christ Jesus. Clearly this is a reference to those who
were idle (not working) and who were being busybodies, nosing into other people’s
personal affairs that truly were none of their business.
Yet, we are supposed to walk as Jesus walked, which is a
tall order, which means to follow his example. We are to speak the truth in
love to our brothers, encouraging (urging; prodding) them to follow Christ in
obedience. We are to address serious and unrepentant sin in the church, and we
are to be about making disciples (followers of Christ) of all peoples. This is
our calling and our mission. And, this is the greatest kind of love there is,
because it offers people the opportunity to come to know Jesus Christ, to receive
eternal life with God, and to know the joy of a walk of faith and obedience to
Christ and to his will for our lives.
His Call
Jesus Christ is calling out to each one of us to turn from
our sins and follow Jesus Christ today, while we still have today. He is
calling to us to stop placing our trust in man, but to put our complete trust
in God the Father and Jesus Christ, his Son. He is calling us to realize that
he is our only hope for our lives and for our (any) nation. Greater love has no
man than this that a man (Jesus) lay down his life for us. Will you give him
your life today?
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Trust Him with your
life today.
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of
your sin;
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
Men betraying: Our
trust fraying.
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in
Him.
God is sovereign over
all things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things
under His command,
And will work all for
good.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and
interceding
For our nation and its
people
To obey their God
today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He
offers suture.
He is all we need for
this life.
Trust Him with your
life today.
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