Matthew
7:24-25 “Everyone who hears these words of
Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the
rock. And the
rain fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the
rock.”
Was
listening to a Christian radio discussion on the relevancy of Jesus Christ in
society today. The guest pastor brought up a great point that Jesus Christ and the
truth of His gospel message of sin and salvation is unchanging and always
relevant. Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” It is the perspective and
life of the blind in sin and lost in unbelief that determines that relevancy of
the Christian church for impacting the culture with truth that is truly in
question. It’s not the “actions that lead to distraction”, but the “affection
that leads to direction”. Is the Christian church imitating Christ with their
life, or imitating the spiritually blind culture, trying to become relevant in
humanity to gain a hearing in the free marketplace of ideas. Today, churches
are judged by a man-center world on what it’s “against”, instead of what it is “for”.
1 Corinthians 2:14 “The man without the Spirit does not
accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually discerned.
It is not until we admit our sin that we are going to know the mercy
and forgiveness of the King. Our pastor’s last sermon was on discipleship, the
“Followers & Student” of Christ living the gospel. He explained that It may
be safer to not get close and get hurt, but seeking and saving the lost is the
shared sacrifice of that common mission with the love of Christ. We are to love
others as Jesus loves them, because we love Jesus. Love with your life and “be”
love demonstrated. Half the message is “Repent, and receive with joy, salvation
by the mercy & grace of God through the redeeming atonement of Christ for
our sins”. But the other half is “In love, lay that sin life down to the
sovereign Lordship of Jesus in faith and obedience”. This is the affection that
leads to direction. Bow before Him today and admit you are lost without Him. God
(Father, Son & Holy Spirit), the solid rock foundation to build our house
called “Life”, is relevant in every day and age. May we (His church and
children) be relevant to a world in darkness that desperately needs the Savior & Lord.
2
Corinthians 7:9-11 “Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain
caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants
his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow
God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation.
There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks
repentance, results in spiritual death.”
In
Christ, Brian
2 comments:
Hi Brian,
Love with your life and "be" love demonstrated. I love this!! This goes hand in hand with what I was thinking about this morning, we are to live out the Living, active Word of God. God should so consume us that His Word becomes us in our thoughts and actions.
Something that bothers me about some churches today is that they tend towards a social group. Coffee time and luncheons become a big focus and doing things together and it seems to me there is a lot of talk of spreading the Gospel but little leg work in spreading the Gospel. My church does a lot of social things and lifting up and supporting each other, which is fantastic but when it comes to seeking members to go out and evangelize, the common response is, "Oh, I'm not gifted with that, or that is not my calling."
I agree with you that we need to be ...(His church and children) be relevant to a world in darkness that desperately needs the Savior & Lord.
Thanks for this post!!
Blessings,
<><
Child of God, Thank you for the revevent comment to the work of God's church and people in this day and age. Balance always needs to be maintained within the body of Child in equipping the saints, fellowship, discipleship, support, encouragement, social outreach and evangelism, but we must always "keep the main thing, the main thing" - the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and not "major on the minors". "His Word becomes us in our thoughts and actions", when His Word is written upon our hearts. 2 Corinthians 3:3 says, "clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart." The Christian church has to battle the fleshly desires of materialism and sensual desires of humanism by walking in the Spirit daily (Galatians 5), and focus on the Purpose & Will of God to have the balance of "Heavenly Good & earthly Good" for the Lord and for others, based upon faith alone, in Christ alone. The fear of social rejection and be label as "different" paralizes many professing Christians to stay within the doors of the church, but the word "Holy" literally means "Set apart" by their Lord God, for His purposes. The great Commission of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 was for all of God's people. And though one might not be gifted as an "evangelist", every Child of god can and should tell their our life story of how Jesus affected, changed and impacts their own life." Great points.
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