“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 NASB1995)
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of
our lives, by the grace of God, and persuaded of God, we are crucified with
Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in
him, no longer to live as slaves (addicted) to sin, but as slaves to God and to
his righteousness, in walks of surrender and in obedience to our Lord and to
his commandments under the New Covenant. And we are no longer to keep living
like we did before we believed in Jesus, for Jesus rescued us from our former lives.
So, as those who profess that Jesus Christ is our Lord, that
we are his, by faith in him, and that we are children of God, according to the
promise, we are to live our lives as though we truly do belong to God, and not
as those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus. For we are to walk (in conduct,
in practice) in a manner worthy (fitting, appropriate, suitable) of the calling
with which we have all been called. And we are all called to deny self, die
daily to sin, by the Spirit, and to walk in obedience to God’s commands.
For faith in Jesus Christ, which comes from God, which is
persuaded of God, and which is gifted to us by God, and which is not of our own
doing, is not words only, or some status we now wear. For faith in Jesus means
that we are persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our
sinfulness, and of our need to die with Christ to sin and to now walk with him
in obedience to his commands. Faith in Jesus is a lifetime commitment to serve
the Lord with our lives and to no longer live for sinful pleasures.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
And we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we
ought, or to think that we can gain the acceptance of God based on our own
human merit. We must own up to the fact that not one of us is deserving of God’s
grace, and that it is only by the grace of God that any of us can die to sin
and now walk in obedience to our Lord, in his power. So all the glory belongs
to God that we can be rescued out of slavery to sin and now serve God with our
lives. So we should be very thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that
cross.
Now, when this speaks of gentleness, patience, and tolerance,
this does not mean that we dilute the gospel message, or that we shy away from
sharing it with others, in truth, out of fear of offending the ungodly. And it
doesn’t mean that we lie to people to make them feel good, and that we never
confront anyone with their sin and call them to faith in Jesus and to
repentance and to obedience to God. For gentleness is reserved strength, not
sugar-coating or refusing to share the truth so as not to offend others.
And it doesn’t mean that, in the gatherings of the church
(the body of Christ) that we tolerate deliberate and habitual sin in the lives
of those calling themselves Christians by doing nothing about it, or by
coddling them in their sins, or by providing support groups for the sinfully
addicted for them to commiserate along with their fellow addicts while
permitting them to keep sinning sexually, and against their spouses, in
adultery, for very long periods of time, even for many years, and indefinitely,
repeating same cycle.
For if we are going to be diligent to preserve the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace, then we have to be those who are committed to
Christ and to obeying him, in practice, and to living morally pure, honest,
faithful, upright, and godly lives, in the power of God, by the grace of God,
as we cooperate fully with God in his work of grace in our lives. For God’s
grace is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return one
day.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Musical Instrumentation by Mark
Bradley
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you
who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and
eat what’s good today,
And your soul will
delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and
you will live.
I have made an
eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of
the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while
He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked
forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the
Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons
him.
“For My thoughts are
not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My
ways,”
declares the Lord,
our God.
“My word that goes
out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return
to Me unfulfilled.
My word will
accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal
I intend.
You will go in joy
and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will
burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees
clap their hands.”
In The Bond of Peace
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