DOES IT REALLY MATTER HOW WE LIVE?

We have all heard this question asked at some point, but what is the answer? Can Christians live any way that they choose because Christ died for all sins, past, present, and future, or are we, as Christians, called to live lives that are holy?

The only way to answer such a question is to look at the Bible. I looked up the word “holy” in a concordance (a book that lists all of the occurrences of a specific word in the Bible) and here is what I found.

“For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” 
~Leviticus 11:44-45

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” 
~Leviticus 19:2

“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” 
~Leviticus 20:26

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'” 
~1 Peter 1:14-16

“Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
~Ephesians 1:4

The entire book of James deals with showing/proving our faith by our works.

As I was recently studying through the book of Ephesians, I found that is has quite a bit to say about holiness as well. Chapter 2 tells us that we are hopeless and helpless without Christ, but because of Christ, we can do good and be holy. Chapters 4 and 5 give many examples of what holy living looks like.

Do you see a pattern in these verses? The Israelites were given the law to show that they were different, that they belonged to God, that they had been set apart. These laws were intended to make them holy because GOD IS HOLY. I found the same things was commanded of Christians in the New Testament. Peter said, “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

So, does it really matter how we live? Absolutely! It matters because God commands it. It matters because it is how we prove that we have faith. It matters because God is holy and we are made in His image, to reflect His holiness. Does that mean that God has always wanted us to be holy? Read Ephesians 2. Verse 10 say we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” God created man to do good works, to be holy. Chapter 1 verse 4 says God desired man to be holy and blameless. “before the foundation of the world.” It has always been His intention for man to live a holy life.

Once we have come to the conclusion that we should live holy lives, how do we do that? We plead with God to help us. We cannot do it by our own strength and power, but with God, nothing is impossible. If God wants you to do something, He will give you the strength to do it. You may have to ask for this strength daily, but God has promised to always be with us and He will give us that strength daily.

Seven Things We Can Pray For Lost People

A few weeks ago, Pastor Howard preached a sermon called "Having a Heart for Lost People."  In this sermon, he gave us a list of things that we can pray for people that we know are lost.  I wanted to share that list here on the blog for those who may not have heard the sermon and as a reminder for those of us who did hear it.

Seven Things We Can Pray For Lost People

1. That God would convict them of their sin.
        "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:" John 16:8
   
2.  That their eyes would be opened to the truth.
        "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." 2 Corinthians 4:4
   
3. That laborers would be sent to them.
        "therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Matthew 9:38
   
4. That their hearts would soften to the Gospel.
        "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." Hebrews 3:12
   
5. That they would be protected from the enemy.
        "do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one." John 17:15
   
6. That they would have no peace until they get saved.
        "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." John 14:27
   
7. That God would draw them to Himself.
        "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:44

I hope that this will help you as you pray for your family and friends who do not know Christ.

More on the Love of God

While I was writing the previous blog post about the love of God, there were a couple of songs that came to mind.  I thought that I would share them with you this week.

The first one is The Love of God written by Frederick M. Lehman.  The final verse of this song was actually an almost thousand year old Jewish hymn that was sung before the reading of the Ten Commandments at Jewish festivals.  When Lehman heard the words of this Jewish hymn quoted, he was moved to adapt it into a hymn.  He sat down on a lemon box and wrote the first two verses and the chorus on a scrap of paper with a pencil stub.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

(The information about this hymn came from Hymns – Inspiring Stories about 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen & Ardythe Petersen)

The second song that came to mind while I was dwelling on the love of God was one written by George Amon Webster.  Webster sang and played the piano for the Cathedral Quartet during the 1970's.  His most well-known song is called He Loves Me.  Here are the words and a video where you can watch the Cathedrals sing this song.

Why did He go to Calvary?
Why was His life’s blood shed for me?
Why did He suffer as no man has ever done?
There’s just one reason–I am the one
He loves me, He loves me
Jesus loves me
He loves me, He loves me
Jesus loves me

When I’m sad, He loves me
Even when I’m bad, He loves
When it seems no one cares for me
I talk to Jesus, He loves me

The Love of God

For the past week or two I have been studying the book of Hosea and dwelling on the steadfast love of God.  When I think about how far away from God Israel had gone and how much God still loved them and held off punishing them, I'm amazed.  I cannot imagine still loving someone and showing them mercy after all that they put Him through, but then, I'm not God and that is a good thing.

The story of Hosea is a great parable of God's never-ending love.  Hosea was a prophet who warned the people to turn back to God.  One day, God spoke to him and told him to take a specific woman to be his wife.  God knew that this woman would not be faithful to Hosea in their marriage, but he told Hosea to marry her anyway.  Things seemed to be pretty good at first, and they even had a son.  But soon, Gomer became unfaithful and Hosea knew it, yet he did not turn her away or divorce her.  He took care of her and even raised her next two children who most likely were fathered by another man.

Before long, Gomer's discontentment led her to leave Hosea.  She had found something better, or so she thought, and was happy until she ended up as a slave who was being sold to the highest bidder.  Then, no one wanted her...except Hosea.  He came and bought her for a very low price, but bought her nonetheless.  You see, Hosea still loved Gomer and had never divorced her, even though she had left him and turned her back on him.

God's relationship with Israel started out good, but soon they began to stray from Him and started to look for other gods to serve.  As they walked away, God sent prophets to warn them of what would happen if they didn't turn back to Him, but they would not listen.  God put off punishment as long as He could, but when it could wait no longer, He allowed them to be taken captive by some of the other nations.  It was only then, once they had hit rock bottom, that they remembered God and turned back to Him. And because God is a loving God, He brought them out of captivity and back to their homeland.

Just like Israel, we sometimes stray from God and do not give Him the love that we should.  We allow other things in our lives to become higher priorities than God.  We neglect to spend time with Him each day, we start missing church services, and maybe even get to the point where we do not think about Him very often.  No matter what we do to hurt Him, God still loves us and is waiting for us to turn back to Him and love Him the way we should.  Sometimes God has to punish us because we are too stubborn to realize we need Him without being reprimanded, but even then, He is waiting for us with open arms.  All we have to do is call out to Him in repentance.

Book Review: A Place of Quiet Rest

Have you ever thought to yourself, "Well, I should read the Bible daily, but I just don't have time."  Or maybe you are like me and you have been guilty of going through the motions of a daily quiet time, but not paying attention enough to actually gain anything from it.  Perhaps you have never even considered the need to spend time with God each day.

Whichever one of these categories you fall into, or even if you don't fall into any of these, this book is for you.  A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss takes a look at what it means to truly have a daily devotional time with God.  It begins by outlining the importance of spending time with God each day, and giving some biblical examples of people who walked with God.

The second part of the book lists some of the common excuses that we give for not having a daily quiet time and gives some helpful suggestions on how to combat these excuses.

Lastly, DeMoss discusses the benefits of having a daily devotional time.  At the end of each chapter, there are personal accounts from several well-known Christian leaders about their daily quiet times.  There are also questions and sometimes exercises at the end of each chapter to help the reader assess his own devotional life and apply the principles that are being taught.

Reading this book really changed the way I "do" devotions.  I was very encouraged and challenged by what I read.  As I spend time with God each day, I am becoming more and more aware of what a privilege it is to be able to meet with God on a daily basis and I am developing a greater desire to always make this time a priority.  Because of what I have learned personally, I am recommending this book to any Christian who is seeking to know God more.

Fruit of the Spirit--Self-control

As we finish up our study of the Fruit of the Spirit, we are going to look at self-control.  I really feel like this is an attribute that is lacking in our culture today.  We are taught to do what makes us happy no matter what the consequences.  I believe that this is a lie from the devil.  Let's look one last time at our passage in Galatians and at a few more passages where the Bible talks about self-control.
  
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)

At the end of 1 Corinthians 9, Paul is comparing the Christian life to a footrace and he points out that an athlete has self-control in all things, which is very important for their training.  Then he goes on to say that we should exhibit self-control all the more because we are racing for an imperishable reward.

Proverbs 25:28 says, "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls." (ESV)  If we do not have self-control, our defenses are down and we have no protection.

In Titus 2:11-12, Paul says, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age."  As those who have received salvation we are to "renounce ungodliness and worldly passions," to turn our backs on them, and to live godly lives in an upright manner with self-control.  Paul gives a command for self-control again in 2 Peter 1.

When something is mentioned over and over again, that usually means it is important.  Self-control is vital to our testimony as a Christian.  If we did not reign in our fleshly desires, we would look just like the world and we would be disobeying God.  I'm not just talking about the big things such as adultery, fornication, murder, etc., but what about being self-controlled enough to get out of bed in time for church on Sunday or being self-disciplined enough to spend time with God each day.

In day to day life we make many choices that show self-control.  We go to work because we want the paycheck or to keep our jobs.  We choose to make healthier eating choices, so that we don't have to go to the doctor as often.  We choose to pay our bills rather than do the fun things so that we can have electricity, water, heat, and air conditioning.  None of these things do we naturally desire to do, but we do them because we know that we don't want to have to face the consequences of not doing them.  

In our spiritual lives, being self-controlled when it comes to sin will keep us from facing the consequences of regret, complications, and separation from God.  If we are not cultivating our relationship with God, it will feel like there is a giant chasm that is keeping us apart from Him.  Will you seek to avoid a rift between you and God by choosing to live a self-controlled life with the help of the Holy Spirit?

Fruit of the Spirit--Gentleness

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)

The next to the last Fruit of the Spirit is gentleness or meekness.  Meekness means being lowly or humble.  As we are thinking about Christmas, I am reminded of the meek and humble being that our Savior had.  He was born in a place that housed animals and the first people to hear of His birth were shepherds.  Shepherds were social and religious outcasts who were looked down on by the rest of society, yet God chose them to be the ones to spread the Good News of Jesus' birth.

Since Jesus is our example, let's look at a few examples of how He was meek while he was on earth.  He was submissive to His earthly parents while He was under their care and He submitted to the will of God when He went to the cross.  He was considerate of those whom He ministered to by healing them and by taking time to teach them.  He did not ignore their needs, He met them.  He was also teachable.  When Jesus was twelve, He went to Jerusalem with His parents for the Passover.  When they returned after leaving Him there, they found Jesus "sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions." (Luke 2:46)  I'm not saying that Jesus did not already know all that these men were talking about, in fact, the next verse says, "And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers."  I do think that this passage sets an example for us to have a teachable heart as a part of our meek spirit.

So what about you?  Are you submissive to God and to those He has put in authority over you?  Are you considerate of others in all of your interactions with them?  Do you have a heart that is teachable, that is just waiting for God to show you something that He wants you to learn?  Remember, meekness is not something we can master on our own.  We must have the help of the Holy Spirit working in our lives to accomplish this task.  Why not pray today and ask for the Holy Spirit to help you be a person of meekness?

Fruit of the Spirit--Faithfulness

Do you remember the story of Job?  He lost everything--his wealth, his health, and even his children, but "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." (Job 1:22 ESV)  Even though everything was taken away from him, he was still faithful to God.

The next Fruit of the Spirit that we are going to look at is faithfulness. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)

1 Corinthians 4:2 says, "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful."  A steward is a representative of a ruling monarch.  In the case of Paul's writing in this verse, a steward is a representative of God, which means Christians.  It is required that Christians be faithful in all that they do.

So what is faithfulness?  Faithfulness is being trustworthy, loyal, or steadfast.  No matter what happens, a faithful person is still loyal.  Many times we get angry at God or feel hurt by Him when bad things happen.  God does not want us to do this, he wants us to respond by faithfully trusting that He knows what is best for us.  He wants us to remain loyal to Him in the bad times and allow Him to do something good in our lives through the sorrow.  Check out these verses that talk about faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

Psalm 36:5
"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds."

Revelation 19:11
"Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war."

These verses tell us that God is faithful and His faithfulness is great.  We are reminded in Hebrews 13 that God has promised to "never leave you nor forsake you."  In a day and time when it is difficult to find anyone that you can trust, isn't it comforting to know that God is ever-faithful?  I believe we have mentioned it before, but Christians are supposed to be reflecting the image and character of God, so that means that we are to be faithful--loyal, steadfast, trustworthy--in all that we do, not just in our relationship with Christ, but also as we relate to one another.

Fruit of the Spirit--Goodness

As we continue to dig into the Fruit of the Spirit, I will be mainly recapping what Pastor Howard has presented in his sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit.  Let's look at the passage in Galatians again.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."(Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV, parenthesis and emphasis mine)

The word goodness in this verse means moral excellence or being filled with integrity.  Someone who follows God's laws and always does the right thing even when it is difficult is a good person.  It is not telling "little white lies" or bending the rules to fit to our own desires, but doing what God tells us in His Word and reflecting the goodness of God in our lives.

Now here is the problem.  Goodness means always doing good.  I don't know about you, but I'm not perfect.  Not by a  long shot.  In fact, Romans 7:18 says " For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."  Paul says that there is no good in the flesh.  Well, how in the world are we supposed produce the fruit of goodness?

The Bible talks a lot about the goodness of God, but I'm just going to mention one verse.

Psalm 31:19
"Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!" (ESV)

If you read the context of this verse you find that the psalmist is talking about God.  God has goodness in abundance.  If we as Christians are supposed to be reflecting the glory of God, then I think that means we are supposed to reflect His character.  One of which is goodness.  But since there is no good in the flesh, we must depend upon the work of the Holy Spirit in us to produce goodness.  2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 says "Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would...fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and...that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you..."  God is the only one who can produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives and we must constantly seek His help to be fruitful Christians.

Thankfulness

Before November ends, I wanted to share a few thoughts that I have had concerning thankfulness.  Every year around Thanksgiving, we focus on all the things that we are thankful for--a place to live, food to eat, a car that gets us where we need to go, clothes, family, friends, salvation, and on and on.  And this is a great thing, but the truth is that we should focus on being thankful all year long, not just at one special time a year.

As I was reading my Bible the other day, I came across some interesting verses in Paul's letter to the Romans.  In chapter 16, as Paul is giving his personal greetings, he says this, "Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well." (verses 3-4)

As I read those verses I thought about what they meant.  Obviously, Paul was thankful for those who saved his life, but I had never thought about the Gentiles being thankful as well.  Had Prisca (or Priscilla) and Aquila not saved Paul's life, he would have never gone and told the Gentiles about Christ.  Have you ever given thanks for those who had an influence in the life of the person who led you to Christ?  If their Mother or Father, Pastor or Sunday School Teacher, or Friend or Neighbor had never told them about Christ, would you ever have been told about Him?  That is such a neat thought to me.  My dad was the one who lead me to Christ and I have always been thankful that I was raised in a Christian home, but I never thought to say thanks for the fact that my father was raised in a Christian home or for the person that lead him to Christ.

Many times throughout Paul writings, he tells those he is writing to that he thanks God for them constantly in his prayers.  Even though November is coming to a close, let's try together to be always thankful not just for the things God has given us, but also for the people that God has put in our life and the lives of those around us to lead us to Christ and to help us to grow as Christians through encouragement and direction.