A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus

“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Timothy 2:1-7 ESV)

In chapter 1 of 2 Timothy, Paul wrote to Timothy to encourage him with regard to his faith and calling in the Lord Jesus, and to encourage him to “fan into flame the gift of God” within him, and to not give way to fear. And I am assuming it was fear of other humans who may have been opposing him or ridiculing him, perhaps because of his youth. So Paul encouraged him to not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, and to not fear suffering for the sake of the gospel. But he was to follow the pattern of the sound teaching he heard from Paul, who received those words from the Lord.

Now, we can apply these same words to our lives, for all of us who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine faith have been called of God to his service, and to spread the message of the gospel to the people of the world, and to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the body of believers in Jesus Christ. We have all been given the Holy Spirit to live within us to empower us in our walks of faith and to teach us the ways of the Lord. And we have all been given gifts of the Spirit which we are to put into practice, by the Spirit, for the encouragement and spiritual growth of the body of Christ, the church.

And we are not to be afraid of what other humans will say about us or think about us or if they attack us and ridicule us or make light of what we are doing in our walks of obedience to the Lord, in his service. But we must persevere in walking with the Lord and in following in his footsteps and in serving him with our lives and in sharing the truth of the gospel with others. But we can only do this in the strength and power of the Spirit of God alive within us giving us the courage and the confidence to keep on speaking the truth of God’s word to the people, regardless of how we are treated by them.

And then we are to be those who are helping others to grow in their walks of faith in obedience to the Lord and to his commands. We should pray that the Lord will lead us to his faithful servants who we can encourage and help to grow in their understanding of the teachings of the Scriptures and in how to apply the truths of the Scriptures to our daily lives, and who we can help to increase their understanding of the message of the gospel, the whole counsel of God, and to guide them in discerning biblical error and false gospel messages which are spreading like wildfire, so they obey the truth.

And we who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ are regarded by God as his spiritual soldiers who are in his spiritual army fighting off the attacks of the enemy of our souls under the guidance and direction and empowerment of our commanding officer, Jesus Christ/God (see Ephesians 6:10-20). So we are not to get caught up in the trappings of the world and the things that the world has to offer us which are opposed to Jesus Christ and to his will and purpose for our lives, and which are opposed to the truth of his gospel message. But we are to make it our aim to please Jesus in all things.

Now, we live in a day and time when so much of what are called “churches” are really businesses of human origin following after human-based marketing schemes and tricks and goals in order to attract the ungodly of this world to come to their gatherings. And so rather than preach biblical repentance (dying with Christ to sin) and walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living, as the outgrowth of our salvation, which is evidence of genuine faith in the Lord, so many are diluting the gospel to make it more acceptable to the ungodly so that they will want to come to their “church services.”

But that is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not what Paul and the other NT apostles taught as the gospel of our salvation. While so many people today are claiming that no works are required of us at all, they don’t read Ephesians 2:10 which follows right after Ephesians 2:8-9, and which says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good Works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. And here Paul tells us that it is us who obey God’s rules (his commands) who will win this battle and who will receive the crown, and who will not end up in hell.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Peter 1:15; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

My Heart’s Desire  

An Original Work / June 29, 2013

Based off Romans 10:1-21; Luke 9:23-26; Ephesians 4:17-24

Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire

Is that you might come to Jesus.

Many appear zealous for God,

But they do not trust in Him.

They have not submitted to the One

Who saved them from their sins;

Not forsaken their sins,

Nor have they obeyed their King.

The word of the Lord is near you:

The word of faith we’re proclaiming:

That you must confess your faith

In Jesus as your Lord and King:

Believe in Him as your Lord, 

And follow Him where’er He leads.

Share the gospel; be a witness,

And meet others’ needs.

Beautiful are the feet of those

Who bring the good news of Jesus:

Anyone who would come to Him

Must deny himself today;

Die to sin and self, and

Let the Spirit transform you in heart;

Put on your new self in Jesus,

Yielding to the cross. 

https://vimeo.com/115643303