Sunday, November 24,
2013, 7:55 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Living Water” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read 1Timothy 6:3-16 (ESV).
Different Doctrine
Teach
and urge these things. If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not
agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that
accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing.
He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which
produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among
people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that
godliness is a means of gain. Vv. 3-5
There are many different doctrines floating around these
days, many of them obviously false to a Bible believing Christian, but some
very subtle and smooth-sounding so as to deceive the minds of many. So, how do
we know what is true and what is false? Anything that does not agree with the
sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with
godliness is false. So, how do we know if something agrees with the teaching of
Christ or with that which accords with godliness? We have to study the
scriptures. Many false beliefs stem from people taking scriptures out of
context to prove their theology, so we have to be students of the Word, and we
have to prayerfully seek out the truth so that we are not led astray by what is
false. Also, we have to obey the truth that we are given.
There is a modern movement in today’s evangelical church
which I will call a “false grace” teaching, which fits with this description as
to how we know if something is false. It is a half-truth gospel which presents
well what Jesus Christ did for us in dying on the cross for our sins, but which
does not explain what it means to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of
our lives. They promise the people salvation from sins and eternal life in
heaven with God if they will just “believe,” yet absent of what the Bible
teaches this “belief” entails, and that occurs largely because they take
scriptures out of context to make their case, and when you lose the context, you
lose the meaning of what it means to believe, as well. For example, read John
3:16 in the context of the entire chapter, and you will see what I mean.
Jesus said we have to repent of our sins if we want to have
eternal life with God (Lu. 13:5; cf. Ac. 3:19). Some people like to take that
word repent and say it merely means to have a change of mind. While it is true
that is the meaning of the word, in scriptural context it means to turn away
from sin and to turn toward God in obedience and surrender to his will. Jesus
also said that if we want to come after him we have to disallow our self-life
and daily die to sin and self and follow him in obedience. He said if we try to
hold on to our old life of sin, we will lose our lives for eternity, but if we
die to our old lives of living for self and sin we will gain eternal life (See
Lu. 9:23-25; cf. Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6). Jesus also said that if we love him we
will keep (observe; honor; continue in; obey; and carry out) his word and that
he and the Father will make their home with us (See John 14:23). So, if the
gospel you have accepted does not teach death to sin and following Jesus Christ
in obedience and surrender to his will for our lives – all in the power and
strength of the Spirit within us – then it is false because it does not agree
with Christ’s teachings and those of godliness.
Wandered Away
But
godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the
world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and
clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall
into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that
plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all
kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from
the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. Vv. 6-10
Godliness is reverence, respect, loyalty and devotion toward
God, which comes only from God, and not from within ourselves, and is
appropriated to our lives via the working of the Holy Spirit, as we cooperate
with that work in surrender to God and to his will for our lives. If we truly
reverence God, and we are loyal and devoted to him, then we will desire what
pleases him, and we will submit to his will for our lives. Part of this
submission means accepting and being content with wherever God has us. This is
not speaking of complacency, though, for it is not God’s will that we should
ever be content with just “status quo,” but that we should be continually
growing in our faith, growing in our knowledge and understanding of who he is,
and what he requires of us, and that we should be following him daily in
obedience and surrender, i.e. daily walking in the Spirit.
The problem today is that “godliness” is not being taught or
modeled for us much in the church and among church leadership. Also the church
often gives a false idea of who God - Jesus Christ is, and so many have lost
this reverential respect and honor (fear) of God. Instead, much of the church
has gone the way of the world, and so many professing Christians fall into the
same traps of the evil one as do those in this fallen world. They are not
discerning about what they take into their minds, they make compromises with
the world in order to please the flesh, and they often follow after the model
of the world instead of the one set down for us by Christ and by his word. I
believe this is largely due to the fact that so many Christians devote so much
time to taking the world into their minds via TV, movies, secular books, the
Internet, music, social networks, etc. and so little time is spent in God’s
word, in prayer, in seeking God’s face and then in obeying what he teaches
them.
The Remedy
But
as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take
hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the
good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence
of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony
before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment
unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only
Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who
dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be
honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Vv. 11-16
So, if we want to live godly lives pleasing to God, and we
want to follow the sound words of our
Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, and we want
to keep from falling into temptation to sin and into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin, then
we must flee all these false, misleading, harmful, and senseless things. To
flee means to run away from something; to escape. One of the scriptures that
comes to mind here is Hebrews 12:1 where we are instructed to “throw off everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles,” so we can “run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” In other words,
we can’t spend multiple hours a day taking in the ways of the world into our
minds via the media provided to us by the world and then spend very little time
in God’s word, in prayer, and in obedience to what he teaches us, and then expect
to live godly lives. What goes in comes back out.
We need to run away from all that is contrary to God and the
teachings of Christ and of godliness, and we need to pursue what is of God and
is of his righteousness. To pursue means to chase, follow, hunt, practice,
engage in, work at and carry out. This is a picture of repentance, too –
fleeing, forsaking, and putting off our old lives of sin and pursuing, chasing
after, practicing, engaging in and following after Christ in obedience and
surrender to his will. Again, we cannot do this in our own flesh, but only in
the Spirit of God as we yield our lives over to God and we choose to follow him
wherever he leads us. Yet, so many people just try to ride the fence, or
balance their lives between worldliness and godliness. The two don’t mix. We
have to flee one and pursue the other or we are like the church in Laodicea
which was neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. So, if you want victory over your sinful
habits, cut out of your life whatever leads you into temptation, run away from
it, and don’t play with fire. And, come to the Living Water, Jesus Christ, and
let him satisfy you.
Living Water / An
Original Work / November 21, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
My people have
forsaken Me,
Their Savior, who died
on a tree;
Made idols, and they
worshipped them;
So empty, they will
ne’er fulfill.
Lord, You are the hope
of Your chosen ones.
Those who turn away
from You will be shamed;
The Spring of Living
Water left behind.
Living Water
satisfies.
The thirsty, let them
come and drink;
Believe in Jesus as
their King;
The gift of Jesus
given them,
So they will never
thirst again.
Indeed, the Living
Water flows within.
It springs up like a
fountain cleansing sin.
Eternal life in heaven
promised them.
Living Water
glorifies.
Oh people, won’t you
come to Him?
Obey Him and repent of
sin.
Let Jesus come and
live within.
Surrender all your
life to Him.
My people, won’t you
turn your hearts to Me?
Forsake your idols and
then you’ll be free.
Won’t you come now to
Me on bended knee?
Living Water
sanctifies.
No comments:
Post a Comment