Suffering for the Gospel

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. 

“But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” (2 Timothy 1:8-14 ESV)

As believers in Jesus Christ, we must also be his followers who follow him in obedience to his commands and who follow in his footsteps, and who go wherever he sends us in doing whatever he has called us to do. For he has a calling for each and every one of us which we must follow. He has a plan and a purpose for every one of our lives. It is to die with him to sin and to walk in obedience to his commands. And it is to share in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, doing and saying the kinds of things he did and said.

For we were not placed on this earth so that after we profess his name we should go about our own business, still doing whatever it is that we want to do without regard for our Lord and for what he wants us to do, as his followers. But we should be seeking his face and his will for our lives, and we should be sharing the truth of the gospel with the people of the world wherever we are so that they can forsake their sins and surrender their lives to Christ Jesus to follow in his ways and to obey his commands, too.

For Jesus Christ called us to a holy calling, and to be holy is to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are in the process of being conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ. And that means that our bodies (our lives) are to be surrendered to Christ as living sacrifices to him, holy and acceptable to God, which is our spiritual worship of God. And no longer are we to be conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but we are to be transformed of the Spirit of God in heart and mind in order to walk in newness of life in him in obedience to his commands (Romans 12:1-2).

Now not one of us is saved from our sins and promised heaven as our eternal destiny based on our own merit or because of our own good works. For not one of us is righteous in our own flesh, and all of us were born into this world with sin natures, separate from God, so we all come up short in our own flesh of attaining God’s divine approval and his righteousness. It is only by the grace of God that any of us are offered the chance to believe in Jesus and to die with him to sin and to now walk in his holiness and righteousness in obedience to his commands. So all the glory goes to God!

Yet, we must all choose to believe in Jesus, and we must all cooperate with him in his work of grace in our lives in the putting of our sins to death so that we can now walk in his holiness and righteousness and in obedience to his commands. For all throughout the New Testament we read that we must die with Christ to sin, and we must forsake our sins and say “No!” to sin, and we must put off living sinful lifestyles and put on Christ and his love and righteousness and walk in obedience to his commands, in his power.

But when we obey the Lord, and we submit to his will and purposes for our lives, and we go where he sends us, and we do whatever it is he calls and equips us to do, we will be rejected, hated, mistreated, forsaken, forgotten, and persecuted for the sake of his name, as he was treated. But we are to be willing to be treated in such a manner in order to follow him in obedience, and in order to take the message of the gospel to the people of the world.

And the message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He died that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor and serve him with our lives. For by faith in him we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to righteousness. For if sin is what we obey, it leads to death, but obedience to God ends in eternal life.

[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]

All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Lyrics by Frances J Crosby, pub. 1875

Music by Robert Lowry, pub. 1875

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdmZGik1Jw

Caution: This link may contain ads