In Humility
Philippians 2:3-4 ESV
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
God did not put us on this earth to live for ourselves, to
do whatever we want to do, and to entertain and to be entertained incessantly. He
put us here to give him glory and honor by how we live our lives, to worship
him as our only God, to serve him, to do his bidding, and to minister his love
and grace to the people of this world.
Life is not about us and what we want out of it. Life is
about God and our relationship with him and what he wants for us and from us in
the way of heart and life response to what he did for us in giving his life for
us on that cross. For, he wants us to die with him to sin, to deny self, and to
walk daily in obedience to his commands.
And he wants us to surrender our lives to him, to present
our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, and to be his
ministers to the people of this earth in sharing his gospel, in loving people
with his love, in ministering to their needs, as Jesus did, and to encourage
the body of Christ in their walks of faith to maturity in Christ.
Have This Mind
Philippians 2:3-4 ESV
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
“Full-time” ministry is something we all should be doing if
we are followers of Jesus Christ. And I am not talking about paid positions or
working only for Christian ministries. I mean that we are all to be full-time
ministers of Jesus Christ no matter where we are or what we are doing. We are
to be his witnesses by our lives and by our words all the time.
We are to be following the teachings of Jesus and of his
apostles, obeying our Lord, submitting to his will, listening to what he says,
going wherever he sends us, and saying to whomever and whatever he gives us to
say. All the time we are to be the Lord’s servants, listening for his voice and
then following his lead, always sensitive to those divine appointments he
provides. And we should never tell him “No!”
We are to consider that our lives now belong to Jesus and no
longer to ourselves. He bought us back for God (redeemed us) with his blood
shed on the cross for our sins so that we would now honor God with our lives
(with our bodies). For, Jesus died that we might no longer live for ourselves,
but for him who gave his life up for us.
As well, we must be willing to be hated, rejected, forsaken,
abandoned, harassed, persecuted, slandered, and falsely accused, etc., because
we follow Jesus with our lives, and because we stand on the truth of God’s
word, and because we are sharing the truth of the gospel with people who are
largely believing a cheap grace gospel, instead.
For, God didn’t put us on this earth so that people would
like us and so they would include us. He called us out of the world to be
separate (unlike, different) from the world (and from the worldly church, too)
to live holy lives pleasing to him, and to obey him in doing what he asks us to
do. And that is not going to gain us many friends.
We are to be fully surrendered to the Lord, willing to have
everyone turn against us, if it should go that way, in order to follow Jesus
with our lives and in order to share the truth of the gospel so that many will
be saved from their sins and have eternal life with God. By faith in Jesus,
they will be crucified with Christ in death to sin so they can live to his
righteousness.
The Name of Jesus
Philippians 2:9-11 ESV
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This is the object of our salvation from sin. It is not just
so we can be forgiven our sins and escape punishment and so that we can go to
heaven when we die. It is so that we bow in surrender of our lives to Jesus and
that we confess, not just with our lips, but with our lifestyles, that Jesus
Christ is Lord (owner-master) of our lives, to the glory of God the Father.
Our lives are to be for his glory and praise, to give him
honor and our worship, to do what he calls us to do, and to be willing to die
because we told people the truth of the gospel which will set them free from
their slavery to sin if they will embrace the truth and surrender to Jesus as
Lord.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17;
Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10,
15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom
12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10;
Heb 12:1-2]
Here I Am, Lord
By Daniel L. Schutte
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them –
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6mz8yoocY
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