If Only I Knew – Part 2
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints [Ephesians 1:17-18].
Contemporary Christianity has bit into the forbidden fruit. Christians nowadays determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. We go by popular opinion, currying favor with others to win their support, like any modern politician. But we do it with regard to morality!
Alas, but this isn’t Biblical! God doesn’t agree. He needs no vote from us to make His determination for what is right and what is wrong. And He’s not the least bit impressed by any of our popularity contests either. It may surprise a great many Christians, but “American Idol” means zilch to God.
The Apostle Paul—you know, the guy who actually does have the heart of God—he had a different take on how the Lord views right and wrong. He had this thing about us sinners comparing ourselves with other sinners, so as to draw the conclusion that we’re not really so bad after all. Paul denounced it (cf., 2 Corinthians 10:12)!
In the two verses quoted at the commencement of today’s study, his intake affords us invaluable teaching vis-à-vis the mind of Christ. In the first verse he instructs Christians to know the Lord Jesus. Then in the second verse he points out how the Lord’s blessings follow from knowing the Lord.
If we’re out to get the blessings and bypass growing in our knowledge of the Lord, we’ll find ourselves up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The Lord blesses His kids like any good parent. The thing is, any good parent doesn’t shower affluence on his kids, while they live as inveterate urchins! Guess what? Neither does the Lord.
First we have to love Him enough to want to know Him. As we truly come to know Him, we discover how the Lord thinks, what He likes, what hurts Him, things of this sort. Hey! That’s basically how it is with our close earthly relationships too, isn’t it? Go figure.
Anyway, as we know the Lord more and more, our love for Him leads us to do the things which please Him. Simultaneously, our love encourages us to refrain from the things which hurt the Lord’s feelings. That is the definition of love. It comes from grace, not from Law.
Law leads us to do things for the Lord because He requires us to do them, else we won’t be blessed. This fits in well with middle class affluence and the “I-me-mine” mentality. We want to get something, so we grudgingly give something. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Quid pro quo and all.
So much for Law. We will move on to a consideration of grace in our next study. Hope to see you there!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Contemporary Christianity has bit into the forbidden fruit. Christians nowadays determine for themselves what is right and what is wrong. We go by popular opinion, currying favor with others to win their support, like any modern politician. But we do it with regard to morality!
Alas, but this isn’t Biblical! God doesn’t agree. He needs no vote from us to make His determination for what is right and what is wrong. And He’s not the least bit impressed by any of our popularity contests either. It may surprise a great many Christians, but “American Idol” means zilch to God.
The Apostle Paul—you know, the guy who actually does have the heart of God—he had a different take on how the Lord views right and wrong. He had this thing about us sinners comparing ourselves with other sinners, so as to draw the conclusion that we’re not really so bad after all. Paul denounced it (cf., 2 Corinthians 10:12)!
In the two verses quoted at the commencement of today’s study, his intake affords us invaluable teaching vis-à-vis the mind of Christ. In the first verse he instructs Christians to know the Lord Jesus. Then in the second verse he points out how the Lord’s blessings follow from knowing the Lord.
If we’re out to get the blessings and bypass growing in our knowledge of the Lord, we’ll find ourselves up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The Lord blesses His kids like any good parent. The thing is, any good parent doesn’t shower affluence on his kids, while they live as inveterate urchins! Guess what? Neither does the Lord.
First we have to love Him enough to want to know Him. As we truly come to know Him, we discover how the Lord thinks, what He likes, what hurts Him, things of this sort. Hey! That’s basically how it is with our close earthly relationships too, isn’t it? Go figure.
Anyway, as we know the Lord more and more, our love for Him leads us to do the things which please Him. Simultaneously, our love encourages us to refrain from the things which hurt the Lord’s feelings. That is the definition of love. It comes from grace, not from Law.
Law leads us to do things for the Lord because He requires us to do them, else we won’t be blessed. This fits in well with middle class affluence and the “I-me-mine” mentality. We want to get something, so we grudgingly give something. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. Quid pro quo and all.
So much for Law. We will move on to a consideration of grace in our next study. Hope to see you there!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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