Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Pastor Kyle asks, what is the essential thing that we should focus on? Unmistakably, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is at the center of it. It is the “Good News” that Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God, who suffered and died in our place to save us from our sins, as the only viable substitute to make us right with God, once and for all. That Christ alone can save us from the wrath of God against sin and the eternal punishment and suffering in Hell that we deserve because of our inequities and trespasses against God. But, if we repent of our sins and confess Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, sent by the loving grace of God, believing in our hearts that He raised from the dead to conquer sin and death, then we will be saved. The Gospel of Salvation is unmerited, unearned, cannot be worked for our bought; It is the free gift of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
The only thing that we can do to show our Heavenly Father our gratitude is to give Him our life in response. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” This is at the very center of what God wants for every single Christian. So, that means we are supposed to do everything in our power to make sure that every part of our lives are modeling and communicating that truth to everyone else that we know. That is the central message of Christianity. There are other great doctrines, teachings, practices, ideas on living out our faith, but they come secondary to the Gospel and what we communicate from it.
We need to be careful about what we first and foremost communicate and put out there; that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to be the one and only essential. We have to be careful about what else we are prioritizing, about what social media profile that we follow and posts that we are sharing, and that we are not subtly drifting into an overt focus on the non-essentials, rabbit trails and tempting distractions or irreverent, silly myths. Jesus said in Matthew 7:16-17 “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” What good godly, biblical spiritual fruit is being produced by your thoughts, words and actions?
The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:22-25 “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” By spiritual discernment, do the things that we hear, see, think about, desire and act upon produce the fruit of the Spirit within me? Do the things or topics that happen it life drive you to prayer about things that really do matter or of changing things that we actually can have an impact on?
The third way of “what it looks like to continually align our thoughts, words and actions” is (3) that setting the “right” example is key. The Apostle Paul sights five specific things that need to be in every Christians life: (a) in our speech, (b) in our conduct, (c) in our love, (d) in our faith, and (5) is in our purity. If you are not convicted by failing in one or more of these listed godly virtues than you may be numb to the Spirit of God, the indwelling Counselor talking to you. The Apostle Paul explains in Galatians 5:17 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” Paul goes on to say in Romans 7:17-20, “it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on Faith in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
No comments:
Post a Comment