11/11/2017 0 Comments What it means to Serve the Lord
Whether we like it or not the Word says that there are things we are to do and things we are not to do. There are things we are to put on and things to put off. Yes if we are busy about the Father’s business, living by the Spirit, we will have no time for the “are not to do” things. Sadly we have a whole generation of both young and old that thinks it is ok to think, act, and speak like the world. I remember in the late 90’s when I began to notice how many professing Christians would casually use the word “suck” in their conversations. I was shocked and grieved in spirit. A decade earlier that phrase had a very perverted, filthy, demoralizing, sexual connotation. The Word is very clear as to what and how our conversation, and our life, is to be conducted. Ephesians 4:17-29 says that we “should no longer walk as the rest of the gentiles walk.” The lost have a futile mind and a dark understanding. They are blind, ignorant, and have not the life of God. They have given themselves over to lewdness, uncleanness, and greediness. “But you have not so learned Christ.” In verse 29 it says “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.” Unfortunately the very reason that anyone would speak filth is because there is an abundance of it in their heart Matt.12:34-37. Jesus said that “for every idle word men may speak, they will give an account of it in the day of judgment.” “For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.” So obviously our speech is very important when it comes to our walk with the Lord. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification:” 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Sanctification means that we are to be set apart for a specific purpose. That means that we are to be separate and different from the World. Not weird but different. We are saved by the grace of God and that same grace that saved us also teaches us to “deny ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” Titus 2:12. There should be something different about our speech, actions, and thoughts. This is not necessarily about you “have to” but that you have been made free in Christ “to do”. Living, thinking, and speaking like the world is not who you are in Christ. Conducting yourself like the world is the “low life”. We have been called to a “higher life” in Christ. The Word says to “set your mind on the things above, not on things of the earth” Col 3:2. Why? Because “you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God Col 3:3. We have been given wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption because we are in Christ 1 Corinthians 1:30. The Word says that “as He is, so are we in this world” 1 John 4:17. It’s not that we are to attain this but it is what we have already been given by the Holy Spirit. We have the “greater” one living in us 1 John 4:4. We have been given a wisdom that is “pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy” James 3:17. The world lives by a “low life” wisdom and it is “earthly, sensual, and demonic” James 3:15. How you live denotes the very wisdom you live by. It is so vital to renew your mind to what the Word of God says that you already have in Christ. All throughout the Word there are warnings to those who choose not to live by the Spirit but by the flesh. For those who continue to live in unrighteousness, they “will not inherit the Kingdom of God” 1 Cor. 6:9 and Galatians 19-21. The children of God and the children of the devil are evident. “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” 1 John 3:10. Since we have these great and precious promises in Christ “let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” 2 Cor.7:1. Jesus said that “If anyone serves me, let him follow me” John 12:26.
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