How?

How on earth did the church of the living God devolve into such a place that the best hope it could offer it’s ‘participants’ was a light ‘dusting over’ that still left so called ‘believers’ imperfect, flawed, and sinful?

What happened to the promise of becoming a ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17) and being miraculously transformed by the power of God’s Spirit of grace as we became conformed to the likeness and image of Jesus Christ, the ‘firstborn of many brethren’? (Rom. 8:29)

Instead of issuing the same admonition that Jesus taught” “Repent...Follow Me...and Go and sin no more”, we teach people that can’t really happen so just ‘try and dial it down some, join a local church and get busy serving God with your gifts and talents’.

And when we are reminded as to what kind of church Jesus is coming back for, “holy, blameless, not having spot or wrinkle or stain” (Eph. 5:27), we have convinced ourselves, or ‘believed the lie’ (yesterday’s message) that we could never be ‘holy enough’ for God, so if we just confess to believe in Him...then when God looks down on us, He does not see our sinful mess (that most will admit remains) and that God ‘see’s Jesus in us’ ...which ‘gets us in the door’.

That passage in 2 Tim. 3:1-7 is not speaking about a fallen world of sinners; Paul is describing the perilous condition that many ‘so called believers’ find themselves in in the ‘last days’. You could break this down into being: ‘carnal, powerless, and busy learning while never coming to the knowledge of the truth’. And once again, I point you to Matt. 7:21-23.

Let me also point something out here for anyone who finds themselves struggling with these ‘lessons’ I post daily. In your heart, perhaps you want to agree (in theory) with this possibility that we can live sin free...because you have come to see it clearly written in your Bible. But for some reason, your ‘head’ wants to balk because you have not quite ‘figured out’ how one truly can do this.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this idea of walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) and no longer sinning (1 John 3:6,9) is nothing akin to being so ‘sin conscious’ ...where your daily life is consumed with ‘not breaking any of God’s commandments’. One who walks in the Spirit does not have some lengthy list of ‘rules/laws/regulations’ they carry around mentally in order to avoid breaking them.

Jesus did NOT say: “If you love my commandments you will keep them”, He said “IF you love ME...you’ll keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And trust me, there is a HUGE difference between the two. Your focus is not on ‘rule keeping’ like the Pharisees did and got tripped up in. Walking in the Spirit or ‘abiding in Christ’ is having your mind set on Him (Col. 3:2; Isa.26:3) as you ‘hear His voice and follow Him’ (John 10:3-4,27; Ps. 23:1-3). It is a ‘pathway of peace’ that He guides us in (Luke 1:79; Rom. 3:17; Phil. 4:7).

One who ‘belongs to Christ’ and abides in Him no longer walks according to the flesh nature, which we all ‘once did’ (Eph. 2:1-3). Friends...God’s word has not changed: Those who walk according to the flesh will die’ (Rom. 8:13). But those who do walk according to the Spirit will put to death all the deeds of the earthly, flesh nature (Gal. 5:24). And guess what happens in the process? You end up fulfilling all the commandments of God...NOT because you ‘say you believe in Jesus’, but because you follow Him in surrendered obedience (Rom. 8:4; Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:9; Luke 6:46)

One other thing regarding this idea of walking with Jesus in this manner: If you are spending minimal time in His word and are more preoccupied with all the distractions and cares and turmoil and enticing options’ that this world offers...you will end up drifting off course. Trust me on that one. There is no ‘auto-pilot’ one can ‘flip on with a profession of faith’ where you will just ‘end up in heaven’ because you ‘accepted Christ’.

Jesus told us to ‘Strive, or make every effort to enter through the narrow gate, for many , I say to you will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 14:24). His words, not mine. I know this is where it can ‘sound confusing’ to some, because it can come across like it’s ‘back on us’ to make sure we are ‘saving’ ourselves, which we are not. My prayer for us all is that Holy Spirit will come and ‘open the eyes of our understanding...’ that we might see the perfect ‘balance’ here (Eph. 1:17-18).

Nobody is going to 'sleepwalk' into heaven. (Matt. 25:1-11)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  I can’t walk on water.  I have not yet....tried changing water in to wine. ;-)  And if you ask my wife, I still leave clothes on the bed instead of hanging them up regularly, which she would prefer; and I don’t shave every day, another thing she wishes I would do.   I’ve not swung a golf club in a while but doubt I could shoot a perfect par game if I went out and played this weekend; and I doubt I would beat anyone in a game of H.O.R.S.E. on the basketball court.   But I can tell you that I am walking in more freedom than I ever have walked before. And I only have one person to thank for that and it is Jesus.   I would in no way suggest that He has ‘completed’ His work in me but the more I study, the more I experience, and the more I write and share with you here, the easier it gets for me to declare with no hesitation or apologies...”He whom the Son sets free, is free indeed”. (John 8:36)   We were called to be free. (Gal. 5:13...
Read more
Image
  “What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” I would think that’s a fair question asked by some Jews who actually believed what Jesus was telling them. (John 8:31-33) We don’t really know if these where Pharisees or religious leaders since all we are told there was that Jesus was talking to “those Jews who believed Him”. I guess they were tracking pretty well until Jesus got to this part about them ‘knowing truth and the truth would set them free’. (32). That was when they ‘blinked’. “We are descendants of Abraham...we’ve never been in bondage to anyone.” Do you think they might have been dealing with some memory loss here? I mean, really...it is rather well documented how the Jews were in bondage for a long time living as slaves in Egypt and under the control of Pharaoh. Remember the story of Moses whom God sent to deliver them and lead them out of slavery? Exodus 12:40 suggest they were in Egypt for some 430 years. But I’m not judging them for making that claim g...
Read more
Image
  10.24.21- Every story of redemption has a genesis, a beginning. As does your story. Perhaps it has yet to take place, let alone, be told. All our stories are different yet they share one remarkable trait: They are defining. How can they not be when God is the author?  Not long ago I pictured this scenario in my head of a group of notable figures I had read about in the bible sitting around a table. They were sharing their defining stories as to how their lives were forever changed by an encounter with Jesus, the Messiah. I could hear Paul talking of his journey  to Damascus. Fresh off the heels of overseeing the stoning of Stephen the martyr, he was knocked to the ground and the voice of God spoke to him from a light shining from heaven. (Acts 9) It is a remarkable story of conversion.  Then I could hear, sitting next to Paul, this other man who had been blind from birth begin to share his incredible encounter that began with someone (Jesus) opening his ey...
Read more