“Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (Philippians 1:27-30 NASB1995)
The purpose for our faith in Jesus Christ is not just so we
can have our sins forgiven and have the hope of eternal life with God in
heaven. The purpose of our faith in the Lord Jesus is, too, that we will
conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And worthy means
fitting, suitable, and appropriate to the gospel of Christ. And that gospel
teaches us that we must deny self, die to sin, not just once, but daily, and
follow our Lord in walks of surrender and in obedience to him and to his
commands.
And our conduct has to do with our mindsets, our attitudes,
our values, and our behaviors. This is about how we live our lives day in and
day out in daily practice (our habits, our lifestyles). This is about who we
are in character and about what we value and give our lives to. What is
important to us? What do we value most in life? What are our moral standards?
And do we live by them, in truth? Is obedience to God and submission to his
will what we live by? Or is worldliness and things of the flesh what we live
by?
For Jesus Christ did not give his life up for us on that
cross just so that we would escape hell and have heaven as our eternal destiny.
In his death he put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded faith
in him, we will now die to sin and walk in obedience to our Lord in surrender
to his will in holy living – all in the power of God and in the working of his
Spirit in our lives in making us to be more like Jesus, as we cooperate fully
with his work of grace in our lives. For he died to change us, not just to save
us from sin.
For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return.
For if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of
obedience to our Lord and to his commands, then no matter what our lips
profess, we will not inherit eternal life with God, and heaven will not be our
eternal destiny. We will not be saved from our sins if we choose to keep on
living in sin.
[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]
But now if we choose to die to sin and to obey God, in
practice, and he is now our life, and he is now Lord over our lives, and so we
are following him in obedience to his ways, in practice (not necessarily in
absolute perfection), and so we are sharing the message of the gospel with the
people of the world, we should expect to be opposed, even by others who profess
faith in Jesus. For if what we are sharing is the truth, and not the lies which
are so popularized these days, we will be opposed. For Satan hates the truth.
But do not be afraid of the opposition and of being hated
and mistreated for the sake of Christ and his gospel. But keep on speaking the
truth, even if you are hated and rejected, in return, by what appears to be the
majority. For getting the truth out to the people of the world is for the salvation
of their souls from death, that they might believe on Jesus, in truth, die with
him to sin, and now walk in obedience to his commands, in holy living. For then
they have the hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God.
[Matthew 5:10-12;
Matthew 10:16-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21;
John 17:14; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1
Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1
Jn 3:13; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation
14:1-13]
Seek the Lord
Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark
Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“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.”
Striving Together
For The Faith
No comments:
Post a Comment