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Walk as Jesus Did

As the Christian walk has been described as being on the narrow road that few find and leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14), it’s easy to picture him struggling to keep his balance on a tightrope while the will within and the winds without work to knock him off.  In Philippians 3:17-21, Paul gives us three ways to persevere to the safety at the other end of the narrow line.

I. 2 Timothy 1:5-7. We must keep our eyes on those who walk according to the example. Paul ventured to tell others to follow him as he followed Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), and then the Hebrew writer tells of the great cloud of witnesses who had walked this walk before us (Hebrews 12:1-3).  Because that walk was difficult for them (Hebrews 11:33-38), we should learn from their example, just as Timothy did from the godly women that had walked the tightrope before him.

II. Judges 2:2-10. Beware of the many who walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Colossians 3:1-4 gives us the motivation to keep our balance on the tightrope: we died with Christ and so will be raised with Him.  Sometimes that which makes us fall are of our earthly nature and our selfish will that we haven’t yet put to death (Colossians 3:5-10), and sometimes the enemies are winds of the immoral culture or circumstances beyond our control. Our example to others watching how we walk is at stake.

III. Ephesians 4:11-16. Because our citizenship is in heaven and not of this world, we must walk in obedience as Jesus did (1 John 2:3-6). He left us an example that we might follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21-23), so we can fix our eyes on Him to persevere to the end of the tightrope.  He has given us in His church everything we need to attain unity and mature into the fullness of Him. He has given Himself and His Word as poles for balance as the whole body in fellowship helps each other reach the end.

Some on the tightrope are so concerned about their own balance that they’ve stopped helping others to step out onto it or their fellow walkers to keep their balance.  Working together using what Jesus has equipped us with, we can all reach the end safely.

 

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In This IS Love

As more see the current trends in our culture, George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984 have been selling well.  What the Catholic apologist, Peter Kreeft, once said is quickly coming true: control language and you control thought; control thought and you control action; control action and you control the world.  Sadly, many who profess to follow Christ are more influenced by the world than they are God.

I.  Isaiah 5:18-23.  Whether it is 1st Century paganism or 21st Century humanism, Christians have been persecuted for not following culture’s god, the state.  Increasingly, those who stand for truth in a politically-correct world find themselves as labeled “intolerant” by the “tolerant” because their beliefs differ.  The means of control and cancellation the state uses is language (James 3:1-12).  Terms such as ‘love,’ ‘gender,’ ‘marriage,’ ‘life,’ and ‘equality’ are hijacked to punish the populace into conformity.  The ramifications for Christian athletes, colleges, businesses, and churches are great.

II.  Exodus 4:10-12.  God reminds Moses that He made man’s mouth, and therefore controls the definitions of our language.  All man can do is choose to follow his own will or God’s in regard to this (Hebrews 13:15).  God alone defines love (1 John 4:7-12), gender (Genesis 1:27), marriage (Genesis 2:24), pre-born life (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13-16), and equality.  Like the culture, He defines it as sameness in regards to sin (Romans 3:23) and the need for salvation (Galatians 3:26-28), but we are each different according to His sovereignty (Hebrews 2:4) and our abilities (Matthew 25:15).

III.  Romans 1:16-32.  The culture wants the church to remain complacent and compromised, but we know that the righteous live by faith.  We must wake up to the sin that we have so readily accepted in our lives and know the wrath that is coming because of it.  We must recognize how the bad company we’ve kept has corrupted our morals (1 Corinthians 15:33) and ask who has influenced us more–God or the culture?  Nearing the time of his death, Joshua asked the Israelites to choose God or the cultures of the land they had refused to eliminate from their lives (Joshua 24:14-15).

This same choice is before us.  What will you choose?

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Sought Him with Their Whole Desire

After the moral decline of Solomon’s reign and Reheboam’s unwise decision that split God’s people, his grandson, Asa, made a courageous move to rid Judah of its idolatry and return them to God (2 Chronicles 14).  What will God do for His people when a good leader gets those in his sphere of influence to seek Him with their whole desire?

I. 2 Chronicles 15:1-15.  Asa was given an ‘if’ by God, but unlike Solomon (1 Kings 3:14), Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:38), and Reheboam (1 Kings 12:7), he rose to the challenge.  He entered into a covenant with the people he led to seek God with their whole desire, and because they did, God gave them rest, peace, and possession of the land.

II. Hebrews 13:7-17.  We are to examine our leaders and imitate their faith.  This would include Jesus, who suffered–meaning that we may need to suffer as well.  Knowing their difficult position, we should make their job easier by obeying them.  Jesus seeks us (Luke 19:10).  But, do we want to be found (Luke 15:4-5)?  We must also seek God (Matthew 7:7-8), who promises that we will find Him.  Yet, we all are leaders in our sphere of influence (Matthew 25:20-27).  Let us love God fully (Luke 10:25-28), seeking Him with our whole desire.

III. Ephesians 6:10-13.  To seek God with our whole desire and get others to do so as well, we must take a stand by donning the armor of God.  At the time of captivity, God searched for someone who would stand in the breach but found none (Ezekiel 22:30).  God needs good leaders like Asa who will help a whole generation find Him.  The church is not a club that does some good in the world.  It is the spiritual vehicle to lead us to eternity (Hebrews 12:22-29).  It is where we seek Him with our whole desire here, to spend eternity with Him there.

Are you seeking Him with your whole desire?

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Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals

The struggles of this year have certainly tested Christians!  Like tea bags diffusing into the water around them, are we influencing the world for the gospel?  Or are we like sponges instead, soaking up the culture we’re immersed in?

I.  Matthew 5:13-16.  In this world, Christians are called to be salt and light.  Both reach outward into the world around them to change the experience for the person eating or interacting in the world.  So we must flavor, preserve, and shine.  If we don’t, if we hide the truth with which we’ve been entrusted, we are good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled.  If Christians took this charge to influence the world around us for Christ seriously, then others would see and give God glory.

II.  Luke 16:1-13.  Christians must make friends for ourselves by the means of unrighteous wealth.  What?  This parable troubles many because the subject is a dishonest manager who doesn’t change or face judgment for his dishonesty.  Rather, he is commended.  But what is he commended for?  It is for being shrewd in using the things or ways of this world for his advantage.  The key comes in the last few verses when Jesus tells his followers that they can be wise about using their generation’s things for the Kingdom.  Do we do this?  Are we known as some weird folks sequestered within the walls of our church buildings?  Or are we a peculiar people using the technology and campuses–even our time and connectedness–to take to gospel to a lost world?

III.  1 Corinthians 15:17-34.  What separates the saved from the lost is the hope we have in the resurrection.  It is because of this hope that Christians make eternal choices unlike the world that makes temporal choices.  With the unceasing bombardment we get from the world, it is too easy for Christians to want to live like the lost around us Monday through Saturday and then attend church on Sunday–all the while believing that God accepts us in this compromised state.  We must wake up from our slumber, church, and look for the tea we’re diffusing.  Because if we can’t easily see Christ influencing the culture around us, then we are more likely sponges soaking up the world.

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Immerse Yourself in Them

There are two ways to enter a pool: cannonball or creep.  Those who creep endure a slow, inch-by-excruciating-inch torture of cold water on their feet, ankles, legs, knees, etc. and usually complain loudly at each step of the way until they finally put their heads under and exclaim, “It’s alright once you get in!”  Those who jump right in skip the torture in a split-second shock … and usually splash (and annoy) those creeping in.

This is how it is with a living out of our faith (1 Timothy 4:15-16).

I.  Revelation 3:15-16.  We’ve all been around those who have truly realized the gospel, obeyed it, and then been “on fire” for God.  If we’re ones creeping into our Christian walk, then we might have even found ourselves splashed with a little more church or Jesus than we’re acclimated to.  Paul’s advice to Timothy is immerse himself into His Christian walk.  God does not like lukewarm Christianity!

II.   James 3:1.  Even the first duty of someone seeking to be a shepherd over God’s flock is to watch himself first (Acts 20:28-31).  That is Paul’s next piece of advice to the young evangelist, but it is not just for ourselves that we pay careful attention to how we walk.  We also are to be careful of what we teach to make sure that whether in word or deed we do all according to God’s Word (Colossians 3:17).

III.  James 1:2-12.  Anyone can do right as an event (even a stopped clock is right twice a day), but it takes someone truly committed to walking as Jesus did (1 John 2:6) to persist in living out God’s Word.  If we persevere, Paul tells Timothy that he will save both himself and his hearers.

This doesn’t happen by those inching their way into their Christian walk.  It’s time to cannonball in!

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Command & Teach These Things

Timothy was a young evangelist, and yet Paul told him to “command and teach” the things that he had been writing to him about (1 Timothy 4:11-14).  The bigger issue was how could Timothy (or us for that matter) be the kind of Christian that when he would command and teach that others would want to listen and learn?

I. 1 Corinthians 11:1.  The first thing to remember is that we are not asking others to follow the best version of ourselves that we can put forth.  No, we want others to follow us as we follow Christ.  So, Jesus is the example to others that we must follow ourselves, so that others in our sphere of influence can listen and learn from us.

II. Acts 2:42.  To ensure that our example of Christ is one to follow, we must be devoted to God’s Word.  We have the example of the early Christians who, among other things, devoted themselves to the public reading, exhortation, and teaching of Scripture.  When others we hope to command and teach see our devotion, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

III. 1 Corinthians 12:14-31.  The illustration of the church as a body with all of its parts working together and arranged just where God has placed them is a powerful one.  When others see us encouraging and ministering in whatever way God has blessed us to work for the whole of the body and not just ourselves, then they will want to listen and learn from us.

Whether young or old, rich or poor, educated or unschooled, God has a place for you and work that He has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).  When we are about it, only then are we in a position to “command and teach these things.”

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I have today, Father, as your gift

I have today, Father, as your gift.
Touch a needy life through me.
Remind us all of eternity.
Fill each hour with joy in Christ.
Keep sad and angry thoughts at bay.
Let now be yours and ours, today.