A Trustworthy Saying

It has been awhile since I posted last, and at this time I will break from the previous series. I have been consumed in busyness and what I have at times considered as mundane. But even in these things I have found that not only is God at work, He is profoundly at work even when you think nothing is happening. Since my last post much has happened in my life, including the growth of my son and arrival of my daughter. Praise God for they are truly a blessing!

Now to link with my last post... even though I am breaking from the series I was doing, today's post is the outworking of putting the last post into action...

I have found that the more you strive at goodness, the more the necessity for grace. The more you attempt to be good, the more you see how far from good you are. There is a fine line between walking in grace/living out the life of Christ in your life and justifying yourself with "goodness" before God. Clearly the latter is impossible because our meager attempts at righteousness - self righteousness that is - before a holy God is revealed to us, shockingly, to be utterly and woefully inadequate. The closer you get to God, the more you see how far you are from being God (or as good as God)! He is Holy, so00 Holy! And I am so woefully unholy. The words of Peter are so fitting, "Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Yet we are driven to cling to Him and the cross of calvary, "for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).Amen!

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst." (1 Timothy 1:15 NIV).

God is teaching us reliance on Him, utter and complete reliance, from first to last. For we come to Him by faith and entrust ourselves to His mercy and grace, knowing our deeds are not enough to justify ourselves before Him. And consequently we walk with Him, doing good, by this same faith, entrusting ourselves to the one who is "able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day" (2 Timothy 1:12 NIV). For it seems God is pleased to keep us in tension between entrusting ourselves to Him and to doing good- putting our hope in Him as we do it.

"This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:9,10 NIV). The words of Paul are preceded by "train yourself to be godly" (v. 7). This theme is repeated again and again by Paul, "This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good" (Titus 3:8) and finally,

"Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; ...if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself" (2 Timothy 2:11,13 NIV).

Amen!

2nd Step; Effective and Fruitful Life in Christ

Knowing God, by being like Him

“…Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5,6-9 NIV; bold mine)

Goodness

Ahh, the first step after faith. It seems many have the claim to faith, but as James says, “faith, if it has no works, is dead…show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:17, 18). Show me your faith and I’ll show you my deeds. Goodness works itself out in life, and is exemplified by moral excellence. The Greek word here arete¹ for goodness literally means virtue, or moral excellence. What should the response from a Christian be? Is it not the right, and good, and wholesome way, the one which does right by God, and right by man? As Paul writes, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8 NKJV, bold mine).

We have been “saved by grace, …through faith, and created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8,10; NIV). In addition to our faith we must add moral virtue, as if to say in practicing our faith me must strive to walk in the standing which we already have in God. Christ is our righteousness before God, but we still have to practice moral excellence (Hebrews 5:14) to walk in righteousness. “Be ye Holy; for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:16). As one called out of darkness, I must live in the light and exemplify the righteousness I now have in Christ.

“You are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [aretas] of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…” (1 Peter 2:9; NASB, brackets mine: from the Greek word arete¹ explained above)

Footnotes
1. Thayer and Smith. "Greek Lexicon entry for Arete". "The New Testament Greek Lexicon". .

1st Step; Effective and Fruitful Life in Christ

Knowing God, by being like Him

“…Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter :5,6-9 NIV)

Faith

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)

Fruitful and effective life in Christ starts with the foundation of faith. “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8; NIV). Peter continues, that the goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls (v 9). Yet it is also God’s will that we too be sanctified (1 Thessalonians 4:3). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son...” (Romans 8:29; NIV). It is by being conformed to His likeness, by becoming like Him, that we might also know Him. “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11; NIV). We have been “saved by grace, …through faith..." and "created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8,10; NIV).

There is no fruit without faith. What shall we do to do the works of God? Jesus’ answer was,

“...Believe in Him whom He has sent.” (John 6:29; NASB)

There is a mystery by which we are to respond to God’s instruction or command; by faith we come to know Him, and by faith we come to become like him. “The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” (Romans 1:17; NASB)

“Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)

A New Year's Resolution: 8 Steps...

At this time of year, in preparation for the coming year, many are planning their New Year's resolutions. Typically you will find many gyms packed during the month of January, with attendance starting to drop off in February, and normal volumes returning within a few months. But one of the marks of a Christian is a new life, a change that occurs and continues to occur by the power of God. This perseverance is just one of those characteristics that a Christian should strive for. This New Year, let us run the race with perseverance and work out our salvation with fear and trembling, that we also may be fruitful and effective in our knowledge of Jesus Christ! (Philippians 2:12; Hebrews 12:1; 2 Peter 1:8).

I invite you to enjoy this series to celebrate the New Year, 2007!

8 Enduring Steps to
an Effective and Fruitful Life in Christ
Knowing God, by being like Him

“…Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:5,6-9 NIV)

The real stairway to heaven is faith in Jesus Christ, and yet to be fruitful (verse 8 in NASB) and effective you may follow a distinct path. This path is marked by steps of goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. To climb all the steps at once may seem daunting, but a steady ascent over each step, moment by moment, day after day, will certainly lead to useful and productive lives for Christians. We are not alone, we have help after all from Christ Himself. He will help us get to know Him by helping us to be like Him.

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12,13 NIV)

-------

Next entry, we will unpack these 8 steps, the first being FAITH...

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NKJV)


photo: Roberto Stelling, some rights reserved (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/). From Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/stelling/103933591/in/set-256802/

Christmas

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)

What is the meaning of Christmas? What is Christmas about? A friend of mine is a grade school teacher in Ottawa, and he asked one of his students this question thinking the response would be about Santa or presents. A little girl put up her hand and answered brightly, “Christ!”

That is absolutely right! Nothing else to say, nothing else can be added. Christ!

The Greatest Soldier

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13)

Remembrance Day marks a time to remember our fallen heros, who stood in the trenches to obtain our freedom. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). What better way to remember them, than to remember the one who stood in the gap for you and for me, and not only for us, for our families, and for our friends who are on our side...but the one who also died for all! The sins of the whole world were paid for by His blood!

"Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29 NASB)

Which one of us would die for the enemy? Which one of us would fight for the enemy? Which one of us would use the weapon of love? Which one of us could use the weapon of love, of sacrifice? How about the weapon of our own flesh and blood... not as a weapon to kill or destroy, but rather to bring life to all? Which one of us would qualify? Would we not bend? Would we not falter?

"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8 NASB)

Amen!

The Lost

"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10, NASB)

What is God's heart? What is the purpose of the scriptures? What does He write about from beginning to end?

Throughout the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, God has revealed Himself. He wants us to know Him! From beginning to end, from alpha to omega, God has revealed His Son to us.

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets... but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." (Hebrews 1:1,2 NIV)

God has orchestrated all of history to reveal himself, to reveal His Son Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of His being (Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3 NIV). Why did God send His Son? What was His whole plan about?

Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28 NIV). This is the heart of God, to save man and to reconcile man to Himself! He loves us and has shown us by dying for our sins!

It does not end with us... He prayed also for those who would believe through your message. The message is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, Jesus has not yet returned for their sake! God has tarried for the sake of the elect. So take hold of the time- there is not much left!

Exploring The Word

This is my first foray into the blogger world, and I have decided to make an attempt at creating a blog spot as an outlet for my passion- the Word of God. May it be a blessing to all who read it, and may it bring glory to the King, Jesus Christ!

So, welcome to Exploring The Word! God's Word encourages me, and I hope you will find encouragement in it as well.

I think it is fitting to leave you with my life's verse,

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28, KJV)

Enjoy the blog!