Above and Below

Colossians 3:1-4 ESV

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Not everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord is a child of God, nor do they all honor Jesus as Lord (Owner-Master) of their lives. Many are living in open rebellion against the Lord in deliberate and habitual sin without conscience or guilt or remorse. Yet, they are those who profess to have faith in Jesus Christ and that heaven is their eternal destiny. Some of them will even profess to be in intimate fellowship with God but while they still walk in darkness and not in the light (in Christ, in truth, in righteousness).

For truly they are opposed to the God of the Scriptures, and to Jesus Christ and to his gospel which he taught and which his New Testament apostles taught. And yet they expect that God should give them salvation from sin and eternal life with God just because they professed faith in Christ. For, they want the promise of salvation from sin and eternal life with God while they stand opposed to God’s word and to his instructions to us, his followers. For they think they don’t have to repent of their sins or obey the Lord.

For what has been shared with them is not the true gospel, yet they have accepted it as though it is the true gospel. But what they really have accepted is a lie, for it is a man-created gospel that is flesh-driven which suppresses and softens and lessens the truth of the gospel Jesus taught in order to make it more acceptable and agreeable to human flesh. Yet this diluted gospel is not the true gospel. It is not the one the apostles taught. This came much later, and its intent is to pacify sin, not put it to death.

The gospel that is largely being taught in today’s modern market-driven “churches” (ICs) here in America caters to habitual sinners, to slackers, to idlers who shirk their spiritual responsibilities. It does not judge them for their sins against God for it does not want to offend them. And so they coverup God’s commands to us, our Lord’s followers, with what is fake and with what comes from evil and twisted authority, which is not the authority of God. And they convince many “believers” that they can continue in their deliberate and habitual sin but that heaven is still their destiny.

Colossians 3:5-10 ESV

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”

But this is the truth of the gospel. For we cannot just make a profession of faith in Christ and then expect God to let us into his heaven regardless of how we treat Jesus and his gospel, and regardless of how we live our lives while we are still on this earth. But this is what many people are doing. They are professing faith in Christ, but they have not died with Christ to sin, and so they were not resurrected with him to walk in newness of life in him. So they are still living in sin and for self just like they were before.

Many of them are wanderers who continue to live for the flesh and not for the Spirit, and to gratify the sinful cravings of the flesh, and not to please God with their lives. Many of them are living in what is obscene, indecent, lewd, and dishonorable and not in holiness and in righteousness. They are still busy exploring the world of sin, adventuring where they should not go and looking at what is disgusting and deplorable in order to gratify the sinful cravings of their flesh. And they are engaged in sexual activity outside the confines of the marriage relationship, committing adultery against spouses.

But this should not be! This should not describe the life of a true follower of Jesus Christ. We who follow Jesus with our lives are to be putting such things as these to death, and we should be walking in holiness and in righteousness in obedient walks of faith to Christ. We should not be those who are engaged in sexual immorality and who are liars and unfaithful and who pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality. All these sinful practices are to be put away from our lives and to never come back.

And then we are to be putting on Christ and his righteousness, and to be living holy lives pleasing to God, in his power and strength, by the grace of God. For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, instructs us to renounce (to say “No!” to) ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. For Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14; Eph 2:10).

For we are all going to be judged by our works, and we are all going to reap what we have sown in this life. If we sow to please the flesh, from the flesh we will reap destruction (death). But if we sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. For not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For one day Jesus is going to tell many people who professed him as Lord but who did not obey him, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness.” Please take this to heart.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Broken Cord

An Original Work / August 29, 2018

Your bond is broken

With your Lord and Savior

And your testimony is

Separate from Him.

Your words not matching

Your actions today.

Repent of your sin and

Bow down and pray.

Live what you testify

In truth always.

Purity’s lacking in

Your life and witness,

For you profess one thing,

But other you do.

Not moral, spiritual.

Still of the flesh.

Not living in truth to

What you confess.

Lying about it

Puts you in a mess.

Living a lie is your practice,

‘tis true of you.

Masquerade righteousness –

None of it true.

Your heart is not given

To your Lord God.

Because of how you live,

You are a fraud.

Turn from your sin and

Give your life to God.

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