Going into ministry
Jesus warned those who wanted to follow Him that He had no place to lay his head and if anyone wanted to follow Him then they must leave their old life behind (Luke 9:57-62). Elisha is a perfect example of the attitude needed by a person accepting God’s call into ministry. In 1 Kings 19:19-21, we are told that Elijah anointed Elisha to succeed him as prophet. At the time, Elisha was plowing with his oxen. After Elijah anointed him, he went home to say goodbye to his family. He then slaughtered his oxen and burned his plowing equipment to cook the meat as a feast for the people. Then, after burning his bridges, he set out to follow Elijah and become his attendant. Elisha knew he was going into ministry for life so he completely cut himself off from his old way of life; he left family, friends, cattle and land to serve the Lord. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).  Elisha denied himself all things and completely relied upon God.

Remaining faithful to the call
Not all who go into ministry remain faithful. For example, Balaam loved the world more than he loved God and he became wicked (2 Pet. 2:15). Initially, going into ministry may not be such a hard thing to do but it can become very testing. It seems that when we first go into ministry, and also when we first get saved, we go through a honeymoon period with the Lord. We strongly sense the Lord’s presence and everything goes very well (I floated on clouds for ages). However, after a while the Lord withdraws those feelings somewhat and the honeymoon ends, so to speak, because God wants us to live by faith, not feelings.

Continuing in faith
Some years ago, I quit work and went into full time service for the Lord. In Mark 10:29-30 Jesus promises to provide for anyone who, like Elisha, leaves everything for Him and the Gospel. He said, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” For many years I had no trouble believing this promise but, with age, my faith has weakened at times. It is easy to trust in something that is a long way off but the real test of faith comes when we are face to face with the situation. Jesus’ disciples were very confident that they would not desert Him but they soon scattered in fear when He was arrested. In the same way, my faith is being tested as I face old age.

This testing of my faith resulted in serious agitation at times and a complete lack of peace for long periods. Recently, worrying that the Lord would not provide for me, I considered getting work to stop my bank account from emptying but that thought brought an even greater lack of peace. After much prayer, I came to understand how I was sinning against God: I was seriously offending Him in two ways:

1) I had previously fully committed myself to Him but now I was considering going back into the world and removing myself from His service. Num. 30:2 came to mind and heavily convicted me. It says, “When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” If I went back to work then I would be breaking my word and that would make me a liar.

2) I was calling God a liar because I was no longer trusting His promise to provide for those who had left everything for Him and the Gospel.

It’s no wonder that I had no peace. God doesn’t like being lied to or being called a liar so it is easy to see why He had taken my peace away. Thankfully, once I came to see that my weak faith was leading me into great error, I repented and, needless to say, the peace of God returned. There is no doubt that in the future I will waver from time to time but big mistakes leave big scars and I am not likely to forget this lesson in a hurry.

Finally
When we look back, it is always easy to see our error but, the truth of the matter is, sin often creeps up and can overcome us like cancer. It starts out small but if we don’t deal with it quickly then it will grow and cause us to sin. A lack of peace is a sure sign that there is sin between us and God; He always removes our peace when we sin. Sin can start out small but if it is not quickly repented of then it can soon cause big problems: A lie can utterly destroy relationships; dislike can lead to hate and even murder; a lingering look or touch can lead to lust and immorality; a covetous thought can lead to theft or jealousy or worse and our emotions can lead us into error just like my fear led to unbelief. For this reason, if we want to keep our hand on the plow and honour God then we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and deal with sin as soon as the Spirit convicts us. As soon as we lack peace we should ask God why He has taken our peace away. In this experience of mine, I was far too slow in seeking God and I suffered for it. I should have looked to Him much, much sooner. I have an article on hearing and following the Lord’s voice, called The Way Of Peace, at
http://www.christianissues.biz/thewayofpeace.html

(Please note that this article is about my personal walk with the Lord. I am not saying that it is wrong to be in ministry and work at the same time. Paul worked as a tent maker during his ministry.)

This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Looking after the flock
Ezek. 34 tells how the shepherds of Israel fed richly off the people but didn’t take care of them, just as many of the church leaders do today. Ezek. 34:2-4 says, “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.” Israel’s shepherds were feasting off the flock while neglecting to care for them physically or spiritually; the spiritually weak were not being helped in their faith; those needing physical help were ignored; those who had strayed from the faith were not brought back or even searched for – the flock was neglected and abused in every way while the shepherds ate off the fat of the land. This is exactly what is happening in many churches today. Leaders are not tending their flocks but rather they are fleecing them and living in luxury while there are believers in great need worldwide. It can’t be justified.

Ezek. 34:5 gives the result of neglecting the flock: “They were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.” When believers are not being cared for, they can lose their faith and hope and wander off to become food for the many false religions and cults. It is common for people to get sucked into churches who promise all sorts of things but when these promises fail they leave in disappointment and bitterness, rejecting Christianity in the belief that it is full of lies. This leaves them wide open to other wolves who will seduced them into their hell-bound ways.

False doctrine
2 Tim. 4:3 tells us that “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Surely that time is now. Many leaders and televangelists have replaced solid doctrine with shallow ‘all about me’ nonsense – “Make me rich! Give me power!” Their teachings are shamelessly self-centred yet well received by many itching ears because it is all about what they can get from God, rather than death to self. Death to self is complete self-denial but many prefer the lies as Jer. 5:31 tells us: “The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end [at the judgment]?”

Most Christians believe that Jesus’ return cannot be too far off. If we really believe this then we must also take careful note of His warnings of end time deception (Matt. 24). If you and I want to be able to discern this deception then we must have a good understanding of scripture. If we don’t know the real thing then how can we discern a fake? Do you study your Bible and take it to church or do you just believe the voice from the pulpit? That voice could be one of the Devil’s co-workers masquerading as a servant of righteousness (see 2 Cor. 11:13-15). We only get one chance at salvation so we must be careful and study the Bible to see if we are in the truth and truly born again. Jesus commands us not to be deceived – can you biblically defend what you have been led to believe? Do you get upset when someone questions your beliefs? If so, then it is a sign that you are not secure in your doctrine, you may be in error. We all need to study opposing doctrine and have peace about what we believe. If we are misled then we can’t blame someone else. We must check things out for ourselves. Remember, there is no second chance, no Purgatory.

Finishing off
The greatest reason for the world’s ever worsening condition is that the church has lost its godly influence over society. Christianity was once a standard for morality and common decency but ungodly behaviour by so called Christians has blackened the name of Jesus. Sadly, the unsaved see the wickedness and nonsense in the ‘church’ and think it is Christianity. A good way to explain things to the unsaved, and witness at the same time, is to show them Matt. 24 where Jesus predicted it would happen before He returns to destroy the wicked.

We really can’t do anything about the falling away of the church because it is part of end time prophecy. However, we can be good Bereans and search the scriptures to be sure of what we believe. My question to you is, “Are you in the faith or into heresy?” Search the scriptures and be separate from the wicked.

This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Psalm 106 tells us about Israel’s rebellion during the forty years in which God led them out of Egypt into the promised land of Canaan. In the Bible, Egypt represents the world (sin) while Canaan was the promised holy land of rest for God’s people. In the same way that the Israelites rebelled during their journey out of the sin of Egypt into the promised holy land of Canaan, you and I rebel on our journey out of our world of sin into a sanctified, holy rest in Jesus. As we examine Psa. 106, we will see that Israel’s rebellion, thousands of years ago, is a picture of our rebellion today, as God strives to sanctify our sinful souls.

Psa. 106:1-5 – These verses praise God for His love and faithfulness.

Psa. 106:6-12 – Before crossing the Read Sea, Israel rebelled in fear when they saw the Egyptian army coming. Even though they had only just left Egypt, they had already forgotten the mighty miracles God had done there, right before their eyes. Amazingly, even the presence of God in the pillars of cloud and fire did not comfort them. We often do the same thing when problems come our way because we also forget the many times that God has faithfully delivered us from our troubles. We remember those times when things are going well but, when trouble comes, our memory soon fails and we rebel. Despite Israel’s rebellion, God saved them from the Egyptian army and v.12 says, “then they believed his promises and sang his praise.” Like the Israelites, we seem to need a miracle each day to keep us praising God and believing His promises. To stop our rebellion, we need to constantly meditate on His faithfulness and “stand strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” (Eph. 6:10).

Psa. 106:13 tells how their memory soon failed again: “But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.” Israel quickly forgot and continued to rebel, just as we do.

Psa. 106:14-15 – Israel again tested God by craving other food: “In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.” God gave them the meat they wanted plus a little extra in the form of disease so we need to be careful. Many of us crave things like money but what comes with such craving? 1 Tim. 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” This is a solemn warning for us not to test God by craving things but to be satisfied with His provision.

Psa. 106:16-18 – Certain men rebelled and coveted the leadership. They “grew envious of Moses and of Aaron … the earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram … Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.” In those days, Israel knew very well whom God had appointed as leaders but they rebelled anyway. Today we have many leaders, some good, some bad, but we must not speak against them unless they are going against God’s Word. Also, we need to be aware of our ability and gifting in the body of Christ. In Rom. 12:3 we are told, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” The fact is, if we want to be great then we must follow Jesus’ advice and be humble: “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matt. 23:11). Whereas we love to promote ourselves, God loves humility so we must take care not to grow envious and rebel like some of the Israelite men did.

Psa. 106:19-23 – The Israelites made a golden calf idol; they worshipped a grass eating bull. God got so mad that Moses had to plead with Him not to destroy them. We also make idols of certain people, power, money, sports, movies, games etc. Also, prayer meetings and church often come second to things like sporting events. This is the same as making a golden calf so once again we can be just like the Israelites … and no doubt we grieve God also.

Psa 106:24-27 – The Israelites grumbled and despised their promised inheritance of Canaan because they feared the giants in the land so God let that generation die in the desert. Our promised inheritance is eternal life but we must stand firm and suffer hardship in order to inherit it. Rom. 8:17 tells us that “we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” and Jesus said in Matt. 24:13, “he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” There are Goliaths opposing us also. We can be intimidated by the majority of the world which hates Christianity but we must stand firm to the end and not cower. Let’s not despise our inheritance and die in the desert like the Israelites.

Psa. 106:28-31 – Through immorality with foreign women, some Israelites were enticed to join the pagans in Baal worship so God destroyed thousands of them with a plague. We must avoid ungodly groups like the Ecumenical Movement which is drawing most Christians into unholy fellowship with false religions like Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. 2 Cor. 6:14 warns us, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” We must resist the great peer pressure which entices us into this type of unholy fellowship, which is supposedly in the name of love.

Psa 106:32-33 – The Israelites rebelled so often that Moses got mad at them and was punished by God for speaking rashly. We can drive leadership to do the same thing so we need to be obedient as Heb. 13:17 tells us, “Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Of course, we must separate from false teachers and bad leadership as Rom. 16:17 says, “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.”

Psa. 106:34-42 – Israel disobeyed God in many other ways: they failed to destroy nations when commanded to; they mingled with the pagans; adopted pagan customs and worshipped their idols; they sacrificed their own children to demons and prostituted themselves etc. Because of this, God handed Israel over to the nations and their enemies ruled over them. Today, God commands that the church hand unrepentant sinners over to our enemy, Satan. In 1 Cor. 5, a man was proud of his immorality and God said, “hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord … Expel the wicked man from among you” (1 Cor 5:5, 13). Just as God disciplined Israel by handing them over to their enemies, He commands that the church expel unrepentant sinners in the hope that they will repent and later be restored to the church.

Psa. 106:43-48 – These verses tell of God’s love for Israel. He often disciplined them and then later delivered them when they cried out in repentance. Like the Israelites, we quickly forget God’s purity and faithfulness and as a result we fear, crave, covet, envy, idolise, despise our inheritance, join with false religions etc. and, just as God did with the Israelites, He forgives us when we repent of our rebellion.

So it can be seen that in whatever way the Israelites rebelled thousands of years ago, we do the same thing today. It seems amazing that they could witness so many great miracles yet so easily forget and grieve God through their rebellion. But the fact is, we do the same thing and probably deserve greater wrath because we have the Holy Spirit as a constant witness of God’s presence. Just as the Israelites deliberately chose to forget the miracles and God’s physical presence in the pillars of cloud and fire, we deliberately choose to forget God’s faithfulness and the spiritual witness of the Holy Spirit. And, just as God brought His rebellious people out of Egypt and eventually into the promised holy land, He wants to deliver you and I out of our rebellious ways and into a holy rest in Jesus. Isa. 30:15 says, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

This article can be downloaded under the heading of Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Sin related illness
Sin was not the cause of the man’s blindness in John 9:1-3 but sin can cause health issues as John 5:1-15 tell us: After Jesus healed a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, He told him in verse 15, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” This story tells us that sin can be behind sickness and this is also shown in James 5:14-16 which say, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” These verses make it quite obvious that sin can cause illness and also that healing can come from confessing our sins. The Psalms also show a connection between sin and sickness. Psalm 38:3 says, “Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.” Psalm 32:1-5 and Psalm 103:1-5 show this as well.

Salvation healing
I have heard stories of people being physically healed when they were first saved and this is backed up by what is said in Mark 16:15-18. These verses are in the context of evangelists going into the world and preaching the Gospel. Speaking to the disciples, Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved … they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” So, sick people may receive both spiritual and physical healing when they first believe.

Death is inevitable
When Adam sinned, physical death entered the world and affected all mankind so we can’t expect to be healed of every disease and live forever. Common sense tells us that most of us will die from some illness so we should not always expect to be healed.

So, the Bible tells us that illness may -

• be from God so that He can be glorified through healing us.

• be used by God to try us like with Job.

• be caused by sin and healed by confession.

• be used to discipline us as shown in the Psalms.

• be a natural part of life that we must accept.

Other than the promised healing from a sin related sickness, as seen above in James 5:14-16, a Christian has no biblical guarantee of being healed so it is wise to be willing to accept that fact.

Some Christians say that God does not want us to ever get sick or that He will heal us of any and every sickness but that is not scriptural (more on this below). Some even say that if a person is not healed then it is because of sin or weak faith. That is a very judgmental, hurtful and ungodly thing to say and it may destroy a person’s faith. Also, it implies that God is a God of the strong and does not care for the weak. When I think of this it seems to me that God would be more likely to heal the weak to strengthen their faith and allow the strong to stand fast in sickness to show their faith. That is just a thought, who but God knows the truth of each individual case?

Healing in the atonement
1 Pet. 2:24-25 are often used to support healing but these verses are not talking about physical healing, rather they are talking about how our sinful souls were spiritually healed: “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” These verses are in the context of sin, in past tense, and are about our salvation. In plain words Peter is saying, “You were lost and sin-sick sheep but now, by Jesus’ wounds on the cross, you have been healed, you have been saved, and have returned to the Shepherd of your soul.” Returning to our Shepherd can only be understood in the sense of sin because it is sin that separates us from God, not sickness. So it can be seen that the healing spoken of in these verses is not physical but spiritual healing which comes from the forgiveness of sin through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Matt. 8:16-17 are also used to support healing in the atonement but these verses are only telling us that Jesus fulfilled the Isa. 53:4 prophecy about Himself: “… he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.’” These verses only tell us that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that He would heal; there is no mention of healing for all believers. If there really was healing in the atonement then it would be for everyone; we would all be healed all the time and live forever. Also, all new believers who have the faith to be saved and cleansed of all sin would be immediately healed of all their diseases by that same faith – the blind would see, the lame would walk etc. but we know that does not happen. If a blind man was saved and not healed would we tell him that he has enough faith to be saved but not enough faith to be healed? If there really is healing in the atonement, at what point in our life does God decide to stop healing us so that we die as all men do? There is a guaranteed spiritual healing for those who put their trust in Jesus but there is no guarantee of physical healing even though it occurs at times according to God’s will.

Finishing off
Physical sickness is a reality of life and, putting aside unnatural events, we are all going to die from some health problem. I believe that we should confess our sins and pray for healing and for the faith to gracefully accept whatever God chooses to do with our life. We should never consider for a moment that He does not love us or that weak faith is preventing our healing. In Luke 22:42, Jesus faced His suffering saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” So, let’s stand strong in our faith like Jesus and remember that many souls have been saved through witnessing the graceful death of a saint … it would be a wonderful thing to be used so mightily by the Lord at the end of our days.

This article can be downloaded under the heading Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Healing – Why Not Everyone?

Believing (Faith)
James 2:19 shows that believing for salvation is more than just understanding or knowing about something. It says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” James tells us that the demons believe in God but their knowledge isn’t doing them any good so believing for salvation is more than just having head knowledge like the demons.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” In this verse, the word believe has a deeper meaning than simply knowing about something. Strong’s dictionary tells us that believing means to have faith in someone and to commit to and entrust our spiritual well being to them. In 2 Tim. 1:12 Paul said, “I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” Paul was committed to and trusted in Jesus for his spiritual well being and he believed that Jesus was able to guard it until the judgment. Also, Jude 1:24 tells us that Jesus “is able to keep you from falling” so we can see that to believe in Jesus for our salvation is to commit our ways to Him and to trust that He is able to keep us spiritually strong so that we don’t fall.

Confessing and repenting
Repentance is described as a change of mind but if we say we have changed our mind about sin, yet haven’t turned away from our sinful lifestyle, then we are hypocrites and have not truly repented. For example, if I slapped you in the face, said sorry, then slapped you again, said sorry again, slapped you again etc., it would not take long for you to see through my hypocrisy and refuse to accept my apology. In the same way, God will not forgive anyone who comes to Him without a truly repentant heart.

For a non-believer to receive forgiveness and be saved he must repent of his sins. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out ….” As already said, to repent means to change our mind about something so to be saved a person must change their mind about their sinful lifestyle and turn away from it. Many people say that once we are saved there is no need to repent any more, however, in Luke 13:3 the word repent is present tense so Jesus is really saying, “unless you repent [and continue to repent], you too will all perish.” So, to be saved, we must turn from sin and continue that way otherwise Jesus said that we will perish.

The purpose of this article is to show that repentance is the missing link in the salvation of many believers. Many in the churches are not saved even though they know the Bible very well and believe in Jesus. They only believe like the demons believe and are not committed to living a holy life by following the Lord’s commands. If a believer does not confess and repent of any sin he may commit then that sin will remain unforgiven. Whenever we sin, we must confess to receive forgiveness and this is made clear by the word ‘if’ in 1 John 1:9 which says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” If we don’t confess then we won’t be forgiven. In this verse, confessing our sins is more that just admitting we have sinned. When we confess a sin, if we have no intention of turning from that sin then the Lord, who sees our heart, will not forgive us. True confession of sin naturally includes repentance. If we simply admit our guilt without having the intention or desire to stop sinning then we are being hypocritical and God will not forgive us. God will only forgive if our heart is right – Isa 66:2 says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite [remorseful and repentant] in spirit, and trembles at my word.” God does not esteem hypocrites.

Is repentance the missing link in your walk with God? Does sin have power over you? It is God’s promise that confession will bring more than just forgiveness. The promise in 1 John 1:9 is that God will not only forgive you but He will also purify you from all unrighteousness. Jesus verifies this truth in John 8:34-36 where He says, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” In these verses Jesus is saying that He can free you from slavery to sin so that you will no longer be a temporary slave in the family, but a son forever.

Finally, sin and repentance are rarely preached today; it is as though they have become dirty words. It seems that the vast majority of preachers avoid the subjects for fear of emptying their church and losing their income. However, this does not alter the fact that sin separates us from God as Isa. 59:2 tells us, “But you iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Repentance brings down the barrier of separation to link us back up with God and without it there can be no relationship with Jesus, hence no salvation.

This article can be downloaded from under Blog Articles at
http://www.christianissues.biz/download.html

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Repentance – The Missing Link video

What does perfect mean?
Once a person repents of all sin they are justified (saved) and the process of sanctification (perfection) begins. Sanctification is the cleansing of all outward and inward sin. We all know that no one will be sinlessly perfect while on this earth so what does Jesus mean when He tells us to be perfect? The word perfect in this verse does not mean sinless perfection but rather it means “mature” or “complete”. In Matt. 5:43-48, Jesus tells us that, as well as loving our neighbours, we are to to love our enemies also and in the last verse He says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”. The perfection Jesus is talking about is being perfect in love, mature in our faith, and it is achieved by loving everyone, even our enemies.

What is love?
There is no gift, no service, nothing at all which comes near to love. To stress the importance of love, Jesus gave a new command: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). Then Rom. 13:9 tells us that that all the commandments “are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’”, and v.10 continues on to explain what love is – “Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law”. So we can see that love, which is the fulfilment of the Law, is doing no harm to our neighbour. If we lie or steal or hate or lust or covet etc. then we are not loving our neighbour but rather we are harming him. So, Jesus’ command to be perfect means that we should be striving to love God and all mankind by not sinning against them and, of course, to do good as we are able.

Some other passages urging us to perfection
Jesus’ command to be perfect in love is not isolated. The Bible continually urges us to perfection, holiness and sanctification. Here are some examples -
1) The definition of a perfect Christian is one who strives to obey the two great commandments to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength [and] love your neighbour as yourself”, (Mark 12:30-31).
2) 1 Pet. 1:16 says, “Be holy, because I am holy”. This verse speaks for itself.
3) 1Thess. 5:23 says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. Paul’s prayer clearly tells us that God wants to sanctify our entire being so that we are blameless at the coming of Jesus.
4) Eph. 5:25-27 tell us that Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, that He might present it to Himself as a glorious church, not having stain, wrinkle or blemish, but that it might be holy and blameless.
From these examples we can see that perfection, being holy and blameless, is God’s desire for everyone in Christ, so we should pursue it with all our might.

Considering our sinful nature, how do reach this state of perfection?
Loving all people does not come naturally to anyone. If we are to “love one another deeply, from the heart”, (1 Pet. 1:22), then we need a new heart, and that is exactly what God provides. In Ezek. 36:25-27 God says, “I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”. God renews our stony hearts and sends His Holy Spirit to guide and empower us to follow His decrees … decrees such as “Be holy, because I am holy”.

The following two passages explain how the Spirit perfects us -
2 Pet. 1:3-4 say, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness [so that] you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world [which is sin] caused by evil desires”.
Rom 8:4 tells us that “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit”.

From these two passages, we see that the Spirit guides and empowers us to escape the corruption of sin so that we can FULLY meet God’s righteous requirements. So, it is through the God’s Divine Power, the Holy Spirit, that we are able to be perfected.

The process of perfection (sanctification)
There is no doubt that being perfect in love is possible because Jesus commanded it and the Bible continually urges us toward it. The process of being sanctified “through and through” is a tough road but nothing is impossible for God. How close you or I come to perfection is entirely our choice. If we say, “Ahh, it’s rubbish! No one can be perfect in love”, then we can be sure that we will never reach the goal ourself. However, if others are seeking it then we shouldn’t be so unwise as to ridicule them as they are simply being obedient. What grounds can anyone have for objecting to someone seeking to be motivated by the love of God in all he says and does?

So, how do we achieve this goal? The answer is given in the likes of 2 Pet. 1:3-4 and Rom. 8:4, previously quoted. In these verses, it is God’s promise that, through the Holy Spirit, we can fully meet His righteous requirements and escape the corruption of sin. This is done by humbly confessing our sins as soon as the Spirit convicts us. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. The promise in this verse is that once we confess, we are forgiven and will be purified from all unrighteousness – that is, we will be perfected. This takes time and determination.

Even though we are bound to stumble from time to time and may feel that we are wasting our time, let’s immediately get up and persevere because the Lord is able to bring us to the goal He has set for us. James 1:4 says, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”.

We are told that “perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). Christian perfection is God’s love filling our entire being and governing all our words and actions and it results in “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). There is no greater goal in Christianity than perfect love … and seeking anything else is missing the mark.

This article can be downloaded as a PDF, under Blog Articles, from
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

It can be read online at
http://www.christianissues.biz/miscellaneous.html#christianperfection

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Abraham’s faith
Abraham was 75 when he obeyed God’s command to leave his country and his people. He believed God’s promise that he would be  the father of a great nation and a blessing to all nations (Gen. 12) so he left his country behind in obedience to God.

It took 25 years for Abraham to have a child though his wife Sarah but the Bible tells us that, despite this great period of time,  Abraham’s faith did not waver. Rom 4:18-22 tells us that “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed … Without weakening in his  faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also  dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,  being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness”. Because  he clung to his faith in God’s promise of a son, Abraham was declared righteous.

The greatest test of Abraham’s faith was when God told him to sacrifice his son. In Gen. 22:2 we read where God told Abraham to  “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of  the mountains I will tell you about”. I am sure that Abraham had a long night thinking over what he was told to do but early the next  morning he set out for the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. In the same way that he did not waver through unbelief regarding the birth of his  son, he did not waver in setting out to obey God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. Once again Abraham was fully persuaded that God had  the power to do what He had promised which was to make him into a great nation through his one and only son. We read in Heb.  11:19 that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death”. Once  again Abraham faithfully obeyed because he believed that God would keep his promise.

From these three examples of  Abraham’s faith we see that:
1) In faith he left his country because he believed God’s promise of making him into a great nation.
2) In faith he believed that God would give them a son even though they were both well past it.
3) In faith he was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he believed that God would resurrect his son.

Abraham demonstrated his faith by acting on his belief, believing that God was able and would fulfil his promises. James 2:22 says that  “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did”. God declared Abraham righteous  because he lived out his faith. His faith went beyond head and heart to actions. God put Abraham to the test and he showed his great  faith by unwaveringly doing what God commanded. For this reason, Abraham is called the father of all who believe by faith.

Living out our faith
Each person’s faith is completely personal. No one can have faith for us. God deals with us individually as He works to increase our  faith so that He can draw us closer and use us in His kingdom. God called Abraham His friend and used him mightily to establish the  nation of Israel.

We can see from Abraham’s example that real faith is accompanied by actions, with the full assurance that God will do what Has  promised. It is not likely that we will be tested to Abraham’s extreme but our faith is being tested daily. For example, Jesus tells us not  to worry but how many of us truly cast worry aside and trust God to get us through? We are more inclined to say, “I believe God will  look after me”, and then continue on worrying or giving Him a hand to do what we ‘believe’ He will do for us.

Have you refused God’s call because you didn’t feel capable? When Moses tried to get away from his call to lead Israel out of Egypt,  God said, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exod. 4:11-12). God promises to equip us to handle whatever He calls  us to do but we won’t know that personally until we act on it. We will remain an arm-chair Christian until we step out in faith.

Has God called you to leave everything behind and serve Him in some way or in some far off place but you lack the faith to take the  step? Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and  the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and  with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). God promises to provide the needs of His servants but  no one will ever realise the reality of that promise until they go.

There are many ways in which God can use us and test our faith. It is our job to listen for His call and to respond in faith. The Bible tells  us that God honours those who honour Him and that without faith we cannot please Him (1 Sam 2:30, Heb. 11:6) so let us be like  Abraham and show our faith by our actions. Let us believe His Word.

This article can be downloaded as a PDF from the Blog Articles group at
http://www.christianissues.biz/downloads.html

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

God sets Paul as an example for us to follow.
If Paul was a habitual sinner then how could he say, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1)? Then in Phil 4:9 he said, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” These words of Paul’s were inspired by the Holy Spirit so God Himself considers Paul to be a Christlike example for us to follow. God would not ask us to follow a struggling sinner therefore the belief that Paul struggled in sin is obviously wrong.

The Holy Spirit rescues us from sin.
The belief that Paul was a struggling sinner comes from not reading the rest of Romans 7 and on into chapter 8. If we read on we find that, through the Holy Spirit, Paul was delivered from his sinful nature. In Rom. 7:24-25 he said, “… Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The words “rescue me” can be translated “set me free”, “release me” or “deliver me” so Paul is saying that Jesus rescued him and set him free from his sinful nature. As we read on, Paul tells us that through the Spirit a person can fully meet the righteous requirements of the law. Rom. 8:2, 4 say, “… through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death … in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” From these verses, we can see that after Paul initially spoke of his personal inability to resist his sinful nature, he went on to say that through the Spirit, through God’s divine power, he was set free from his “body of death” and was able to fully meet God’s righteous requirements. Fully meeting God’s righteous requirements certainly does not include habitual sin so it is obvious that Paul did not struggle on as a helpless sinner. Rather, with the Divine help of the Holy Spirit, he overcome sin.

Paul was a very holy man.
Who among us would dare to say, “follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ”? I don’t think any of us would say such a thing and this should lead us to realise that Paul was a very holy man. Because the Bible says that we should imitate him, we can be sure that God is not encouraging us to follow a struggling sinner but someone totally transformed by the Spirit. Paul didn’t claim to be perfect (Phil. 3:12-14) but he pressed on toward perfection. He was not a weak sinner but a powerful Apostle, full of the Spirit, and God greatly honoured him by declaring him to be an example for us to follow.

We have no excuse for remaining in sin.
As we have seen, Paul was not a struggling sinner but an example for us to follow so he cannot be used as an excuse for our sin. To believers who say, “We are only human after all and can’t help sinning”, the question is, “What sin do you have that is too big for God to handle?” or “What sin do you have that is too big for Jesus to bear?” There is no doubt that in our own strength we cannot stop sinning but God’s promise is that through His Divine power we can live a godly life and “escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Pet. 1:3-4). God sends the Holy Spirit into our life so that we may become new creations, spiritually born again into new life. Titus 3:5 tells us that “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” and Gal. 5:16 gives us a promise: “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature”.

The wages of sin is death, so we should not make excuses for our sin but rather submit ourselves to God because He “chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).

This article can be downloaded as a PDF from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/perseverance/paulthesinner.pdf

Mick Alexander
leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Paul The Sinner? video

My other videos can be seen on YouTube

There are two extreme beliefs regarding salvation.
1) The belief that saved people are sinlessly perfect.
2) The belief that once saved, sin is no longer an issue regarding salvation.
In this article, I would like to show that we are not expected to live a sinless life to get to heaven but we must live a holy life.

Sinless perfection
Even the Apostle John did not consider himself to be sinless and in fact he said that he would have been deceived to think that he was. In 1 John 1:8 he said, “If we [any Christian including himself] claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us”. A few verses later, in 1 John 2:1, he said that he was writing to us so that we would not sin and said, “But if anybody does sin, we [again including himself] have one who speaks to the Father in our defense – Jesus Christ, the Righteous One”. So, we can see that saying we must be sinless to be saved is not scriptural.

Regarding heaven, Rev. 21:27 does say that “nothing impure will ever enter it” but this does not mean that we have to live a perfectly sinless life to be pure. 1 John 1:9 tells us that if we confess our sins then we will be forgiven and 1 John 1:7 says, “if we walk in the light … the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin”. So, as we confess our sins and walk in the light the blood of Jesus makes us pure and fit for heaven.

Once Saved Always Saved
The Once Saved doctrine says that if a truly saved person enters into an unholy lifestyle and does not repent then he will still get to heaven. This can’t be true as Heb. 12:14 tells us that “without holiness no one will see the Lord”. We are only holy, righteous, as we practice righteousness. Righteousness is not something we can hold on to or save up like money in the bank. 1 John 3:7-8 (NASB) say, “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil …”. John is telling us not to be deceived into thinking that we can get away with sinful living because we are only righteous if we practice righteousness; those who practice sin are of the devil. Living righteously is simply walking in the light and confessing our sins whenever the Holy Spirit convicts us.

Repentance
Many people say that if we have to do anything to be saved then we are working for our salvation and I’m sure we all agree. However, repenting of sin is not works, it is a command and the very heart of salvation. To get saved, a person must be willing to repent and no one considers that to be works. So, because it is not works to repent to get saved then it can’t be works to repent after we are saved. No verse says that our future sins are forgiven so if we don’t confess and repent of the sins we commit after being saved then we won’t be forgiven those sins.

Struggling with sin
A point to note is that there is a very clear distinction between occasional sin and a wilfully sinful lifestyle. As shown earlier, Christians are not perfect. They may sin occasionally, perhaps out of weakness, but confession brings forgiveness. However, living in an unrepentant lifestyle of habitual sin puts a believer’s salvation at stake.

Some believers struggle with sin, even for a long period. The fact that they are struggling shows God that they have a repentant heart but don’t yet have the self control to stop because they don’t hate the sin enough. God will strengthen them to resist when they hate their sin like He does. This struggle can’t be compared with being comfortable in a sinful lifestyle and saying, “Well, that’s me. I’m just human”. This is denying the Divine Power of the Holy Spirit to deliver us from sin and such an attitude can have a fatal result.

Summing it up, salvation lies between the two extremes of sinless perfection and once saved always saved. Sinless perfection is not the standard for getting to heaven and refusing to repent of sin is a sure ticket to hell. To be holy and righteous in God’s eyes we need to walk in the light and humbly repent whenever we sin. When we sin, we lose God’s peace but when we repent, God returns His peace. Living a holy, repentant life brings God’s peace and an absolute assurance of heaven.

This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/sinlessperfection.pdf

Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Sinless Perfection video

My other videos can be seen on YouTube

.

]]> http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=501 0 http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/?p=444 http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/?p=444#comments Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:23:06 +0000 ChristianIssues http://www.christianissues.biz/blog/wordpress/?p=444 Continue reading →]]> Do Not Grieve The Spirit
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”.
(Eph. 4:30)

The gift of the Holy Spirit is God’s seal of approval for anyone who repents of their sins and puts their trust in Jesus but what is the full purpose of the Spirit and how can we grieve the Spirit of God?

Firstly, what is the Spirit’s purpose in our life?
The Holy Spirit:

• Brings glory to Jesus by revealing Him to us and through us
  (John 16:14).

• Witnesses to us that we are children of God so that we know we are saved (Rom. 8:16).

• Wills us to act according to God’s good purpose (Phil. 2:13).

• Empowers us to be witnesses for Jesus as we are powerless to convict sinners (Acts 1:8).

• Guides us into all truth so that the world won’t deceive us (John 16:13).

• Convicts us of sin so that we will repent and live a holy life (John 16:8).

• Empowers us to escape the corruption of sin and live a godly life
  (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

The Holy Spirit works within us and empowers us to live a godly life. The Bible tells us that “His divine power [the Holy Spirit] has given us everything we need for life and godliness” and “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:3-4; Rom. 8:4). Our sinful nature will always prompt us to sin but if we live according to the Spirit then we will have the power to overcome the world and no longer be slaves to sin. So, God’s purpose in giving us His Spirit is so that we can live a Spirit-led, godly life.

How can we grieve the Spirit?
If we live according to the Spirit then we will please God. However, if we follow our sinful nature and refuse to respond to the Spirit’s conviction then we will grieve the Spirit who strives to guide us into holy living. 1 Thess. 4:7-8 say, “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction [to be holy] does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit”. From these verses we can see that ignoring the Spirit is nothing less than rejecting God and this grieves His Spirit.

Eph. 4:30-5:4 say that we will grieve the Spirit if we don’t get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger etc… We should not be obscene, talk foolishly or joke coarsely. All of these things grieve the Spirit because they are improper for God’s holy people. Instead we are to be kind, compassionate and forgiving. We should live a life of love and there should not be even a hint of immorality, impurity or greed among us because these things can have a fearful result.

What is the result of grieving the Spirit?
The result of grieving the Spirit is given plainly in Eph. 5:3-7, “But among you [Christians] there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. … For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them”. These are strong words telling us, as God’s holy people, not to allow ourselves to be deceived into thinking that we can get away with being immoral, impure or greedy because God’s wrath, hell, will be the outcome. This is why Eph. 4:30 tells us not to grieve the Spirit with whom we are sealed for the day of redemption. (The day of redemption is the day when Jesus returns and fully redeems us from our sinful nature by changing us into His likeness – Heb. 9:28; Phil. 3:21).

Eph. 1:13-14.
These verses say that we are sealed with the Spirit “who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption”.

1) Regarding this guarantee: The deposit of the Spirit in our life is our guarantee that we are saved. If we did not have the Spirit then we would not be born again but would still be in our old life of sin. It is only through the Holy Spirit that we are able to live a holy life and have this guarantee that we are on our way to receiving our heavenly inheritance.

2) Next, saying that we are sealed “until the redemption” gives the impression that we will be fully redeemed when Jesus returns, regardless of what we do. However, the following examples show several other more meaningful translations of the word translated “until”:
We are sealed with the Holy Spirit:

• looking unto the final and complete redemption (PNT commentary)

• for the purpose of and against the accomplishment of the redemption (JFB commentary)

• in anticipation of its full redemption (AMP Bible)

• with a view to the redemption (NASB Bible).

From this it can be seen that it is more accurate to say that we have the deposit of the Holy Spirit with a view to, or in anticipation of, our full redemption.

So, the deposit of the Spirit in our life is not a guarantee of our final and full redemption but, rather, it is a guarantee that we are saved and looking forward to being fully redeemed. When a deposit is paid to buy something like a house, conditions are put in place. If these conditions are not met then the final purchase can fall through. The conditions of our final redemption are given in Rom. 8:13 which says, “if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live”.

To finish off, in His love, God has sealed us with His Spirit so that we have Divine Power to live according to His will and to be holy as He is holy. So, let’s not grieve the Spirit but humbly repent whenever convicted and ask the Lord to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. In doing this we will be at peace with God and can confidently look forward to receiving a rich welcome into His presence.

This article can be downloaded from
http://www.christianissues.biz/pdf-bin/blogarticles/donotgrievethespirit.pdf

Mick Alexander
Email: leeandmick@gmail.com
My website: Christian Issues

Do No Grieve The Spirit video

My other videos can be seen on YouTube

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