Tuesday, December 11,
2012, 8:30 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord,
for your servant is listening. I read Psalm
25 (quoting vv. 1-2a, 4-12, & 14-15 in the NIV 1984):
To you, O Lord, I lift
up my soul;
in you I trust, O my God…
Show me your ways, O
Lord,
teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth
and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, O Lord, your
great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Remember not the sins
of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love
remember me,
for you are good, O Lord.
Good and upright is
the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble
in what is right
and teaches them his way.
All the ways of the
Lord are loving and faithful
for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
For the sake of your
name, O Lord,
forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
Who, then, is the man
that fears the Lord?
He will instruct him in the way chosen for
him…
The Lord confides in
those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.
My eyes are ever on
the Lord,
for only he will release my feet from the
snare.
What are the ways of
the Lord?
“If
anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily
and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the
whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Lk 9:23-25)
“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me”
(Matt. 10:37-38).
Jesus
replied: “‘Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”
(Matt. 22:37-40).
What
have we been taught?
“You were taught, with
regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being
corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your
minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness
and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).
“…that you may live in
a right way in undivided
devotion to the Lord” (1 Co. 7:35).
“So then, just as you
received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in
him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness” (Col. 2:6-7).
“Now about brotherly
love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God
to love each other” (1 Thess. 4:9).
“He must hold firmly
to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage
others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9).
How has the Lord shown
us mercy?
“But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made
us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace
you have been saved” (Eph. 2:4-5).
“But
when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because
of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through
the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by
his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus
3:4-7).
What
instructions have we received?
“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” (1 Thess. 4:3-8).
“But
you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take
hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good
confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:11-12).
“We
know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I
know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in
him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.
This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as
Jesus did” (1 Jn. 2:3-6).
“Do
not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of
sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes
not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but
the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 Jn. 2:15-17).
“See
that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you
also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised
us—even eternal life” (1 Jn. 2:24-25).
In what ways has the
Lord confided in those who fear him? (Another word for confide is “entrust”):
“But thanks be to God
that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form
of teaching to which you were entrusted” (Ro. 6:17).
“On the contrary, we
speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying
to please men but God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thess. 2:4).
“What
you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love
in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to
you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us” (2 Tim. 1:13-14).
“And the things you
have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who
will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).
“Be shepherds of God’s
flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but
because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but
eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples
to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown
of glory that will never fade away” (1 Pet. 5:2-4).
“Dear friends,
although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt
I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all
entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
The Way Chosen for
You
The way chosen for you and for me is to accept God’s gift to
us of eternal life with God, his forgiveness of our sins, and Christ’s blood
sacrifice given for us so that we can be free from slavery to sin and delivered
from eternal damnation without God forever. We do this through denial of
ourselves and our selfish desires, by dying to our old lives of living in sin
and self-pleasure (daily), and by following our Lord Jesus Christ in obedience
to his commands he has for us.
When we choose to make Jesus Christ Lord (master; boss) and
Savior (from slavery to sin) of our lives, we put off that old way of living in
sin, the Holy Spirit of God transforms us in heart and mind in giving us new
lives in Christ Jesus, and we become new creatures in Christ Jesus, “created to
be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” We don’t put on Christ over
our old lives, and we don’t use Christ as a means to clean up our old lives,
but we allow the Spirit of God to transform us from one way of living to living
to please God.
Then, we begin to grow in faith, in love (for God and
others), and in obedience to his commands and to his will for our lives. We do
this by spending time daily with him in prayer, in praise, in fellowship with
God, in listening to what he has to teach us (through his word), and then
through obeying what he teaches us that we should do, and how we should conduct
our lives.
We also do this through the body of Christ, his true church,
which is comprised of all true followers of Jesus Christ. We join with other believers
for fellowship, the teaching of the word, for prayer and for communion, and/or
the sharing of meals together with one another. We also join with the body of
Christ for the purpose of using what gifts God has given us for the edification
and encouragement of the saints of God so that they, too, may grow in his
grace. This can be done anywhere at any time. Amen!
Savior, Like a
Shepherd Lead Us / Dorothy A. Thrupp / William B. Bradbury
Savior, like a
shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use
Thy folds prepare.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast bought
us, Thine we are.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast bought
us, Thine we are.
We are Thine, Thou
dost befriend us, be the guardian of our way;
Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us
when we go astray.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Hear, O hear us
when we pray.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Hear, O hear us
when we pray.
Thou hast promised to
receive us, poor and sinful though we be;
Thou hast mercy to relieve us, grace to
cleanse and power to free.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! We will early
turn to Thee.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! We will early
turn to Thee.
Early let us seek Thy
favor, early let us do Thy will;
Blessèd Lord and only Savior, with Thy love
our bosoms fill.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved
us, love us still.
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus! Thou hast loved
us, love us still.
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