.“Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
It is not a matter of whether or not you are setting an example, for you are. If you are indifferent about your faith it will show. If you are intent on doing what you want to do, regardless of the consequences, it will show. If you are setting a Christian example that will show. Max Lucado had it right when he wrote: “In our faith we follow in someone’s steps. In our faith we leave footprints to guide others. It’s the principle of discipleship.” We need to take to heart the words of an anonymous author: “Are you the kind of person whose life serves as a powerful example of righteousness? Are you a person whose behavior serves as a positive role model for young people? Are you the kind of Christian whose actions day in and day out, are based upon integrity, fidelity, and a love for the Lord? If so, you are not only blessed by God, you are also a powerful force for good in a world that desperately needs positive influences such as yours.” It would be good if all of us set this kind of example. 1 Timothy 4:12 tells us how we can be good examples: We need to be careful about our words. We not only need to be careful about what we say but also how we say it. When we use sarcastic and demeaning words, we are not setting the example that Jesus set. Words, like arrows, once said cannot be recalled. (There have been many times in my life when I have wished they could be.) We need to be careful about our conduct. (In the KJV the word is “conversation,” which in 1611 meant “conduct.”) It does matter what we do. We like to think that what we do is our own business, and to a certain extent this is true, but if what we do sets a bad example God will hold us responsible. The Bible mentions that we should not be “stumblingblocks” in what we do, even if we do not necessarily see wrong in what we are doing. As Christians, we cannot think only of ourselves, and this is certainly true in our conduct. We need to be careful about loving people. This is where we really set bad examples for the world. How can they take us seriously when we cannot love each other in Christ’s church? We need to stop and think about our example to the world when we want to fight each other. People need to see Christ’s love in us. We need to be careful about our spirit. I think that the word here means attitude. We need to work on having a positive attitude toward life. When we have sour attitudes, people are turned off by our witness. I know that it is difficult to maintain a positive attitude at times,but it is important if we want to be good examples. We need to be careful about our faith. When we have faith in Christ, we can face even the difficult times of life in a positive manner. We need to trust God at all times in our lives, whether the times are good or bad. People observe how we react to our own difficulties. If we become bitter that will certainly set a bad example. We need to be careful about purity. We need to live before others so that they can see Christ at work in us. We need to be careful that we do the right thing and say the right thing in front of people. This will be more certain if we do and say the right thing when we are not in front of people. I think that if you look over this list that was given in the text, you will see that all of these were portrayed in the life of Jesus. If we want to set a Christ like example, we will be careful about all of these things. My prayer is that you will give serious thought to your own example. Bro. Joe
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"The Lord, the First and the Last" Isaiah 41:4
“Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” KJV “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, with the first of them and with the last – I am He.” NIV Doubting the existence of God did not start with the present age. Even in Isaiah’s day people were questioning the authority of God. The thing that is difficult for unbelievers to understand is that God has always been. They cannot imagine a Being who has always been and always will be. I will admit that it is difficult to wrap our finite minds around a Being such as God. In order to be God He has to be beyond our understanding. In fact, it was Isaiah who wrote, quoting God: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) It should come as no surprise to us that God is superior to us and that He is well aware of that fact. This need to be superior to God is a lot of what the Bible is about. There are some things that we need to realize about God that will be understood by believers but not by unbelievers. God has always been. (I know that this seems to be an inane statement, but keep in mind that this is a reminder of some things about God.) He said: “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning.” The Bible begins: “In the beginning God” – period. The Bible does not begin by attempting to prove the existence of God, nor does it intend to argue the point. It just presupposes God’s existence and proceeds to tell His story. He is the creator and we are the created. I don’t know why we always have to be reminded of this, but evidently, we do. We don’t just need to accept the truth of the eternality of God; rather, we need to revel in that truth. Why? Because it means that we are not alone in the universe. We are not at the mercy of the universe. We do not really have to worry about meteorites, etc. because there is a God who is in control of all of it and sustains all of it. We also need to revel in the eternality of Jesus Christ because of the biblical witness to it. Let Paul tell us about it in Colossians 1:16-18: “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:all things were created by Him, and for Him: 17. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. 18. And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence (first place).” We can trust Jesus, whom we trust in as Savior, as all of God as well as all of man. It is not simple-minded to believe in the eternal God. It is not naïve to believe in Him and trust Him. Over the years, in Old Testament times, New Testament times and throughout history, people who are intellectually astute have believed in and trusted in God's eternality and in His power. We should not let the world convince us that we cannot believe in God and be considered intellectually astute. You can trust God and you can trust what His word, the Bible, says about Him. We can count on His word when He tells us: “I, the Lord – with the first of them and with the last – I am He.” Rejoice!!!! “When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted we endure it; 13. When we are slandered we answer kindly….” NIV
Corinthian Christians had become proud and vain, and considered themselves to be superior because of their faith in Christ. Paul is reminding them here what it means to really live the Christian life. He explained to them how he and the other apostles were living. They were not vain and proud, but lived Christ like lives. The three things mentioned in our text can give us some guidance in how we are to live. It will not be easy, but what is written here was what Christ demanded of His followers. If we want to live like apostles of Christ, we will heed these things, no matter how difficult they are. “When we are cursed, we bless.” In Matthew 5:44 Jesus said: “Bless those who curse you…” Paul and the apostles were living up to what Jesus commanded of His followers. Paul did not say this was easy, and he made no promise that it would be easy for us. We encounter people in our lives who strike us the wrong way, or vice-versa, and “bless” is not what we think when they “curse” us. It is a natural human tendency to retaliate. But as Christians, we are told to bless those who curse us, and to “turn the other cheek.” I can’t say that after all of these years of living for Jesus that I have fully mastered this, but I remember that this is what I am supposed to do. Frankly, some people make it difficult to “bless” them. This is one of the real tests of our faith. Jesus did not promise us that living the Christian life would be easy. We need to remember that not retaliating is part of our witness, and people really pay attention when we fail to live up to our profession of faith. Let this become a part of your mindset and your conscience and when you are cursed, bless. “When we are persecuted we endure.” In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for they so persecuted prophets which were before you.” When we are “persecuted for righteousness sake” we join an illustrious company of God's servants. The prophets were persecuted and the apostles were persecuted, but they endured. To endure means to maintain Christian integrity through all of the trials that life brings our way. We do not yet know persecution as the prophets and apostles did, but we need to endure, keep on keeping on, when the world goes against us today – and they are and it will increase. When people dislike you because of your faith in Jesus, endure it and rejoice that your faith is so obvious that it makes unbelievers uncomfortable. Endurance in persecution is part of our witness to the world. “When we are slandered we answer kindly.” The spirit of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is to not retaliate, as mentioned above, but to be kind, even to those who would call themselves our “enemies.” When we are slandered it means that someone has told something negative about us that is not true. Paul certainly knew something about this, for he was gossiped about unmercifully. When people gossip about us we are not to go and give them a “piece of our minds,” but we are to “answer kindly.” This too is part of our witness. It is very difficult to do this, for gossip, or slander, can cause a lot of difficulty in our lives. It just comes down to whether or not we want to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. Living like an apostle is not easy, but it is rewarding. We need to at least take these three admonitions seriously and take them to heart and really endeavor to be the effective witnesses for Christ that we can be. Bro. Joe “These that have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
The scene of this text is in the city of Thessalonica because of what Paul did in a synagogue. What did he do? He preached Jesus to those present. Some of the people believed, but those who did not believe staArted a riot. The KJV says that they “took of them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar: and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” They took Jason and other Christians to the “rulers of the city” and that was when they accused the Christians of "turning the world upside down.” What this meant was that the Christians were trying to get them to change. What a compliment! When was the last time a group of unbelievers accused your church, or mine, of trying to turn their world upside down? This might be understandable, since the Christian faith is not as revolutionary now as it was then, but we need to consider that we might be a little more revolutionary. The county that I live in, in the Bible belt of Georgia, is eighty-five percent unchurched. What would it mean if we began to “turn the world upside down”? First, it would mean that our own world had been turned upside down. Do you think that the main preacher, Paul, had not had his world turned upside down? He went from being a critic of Christians to a champion for Christ overnight. The world of all of the Christians of Thessalonica had been turned upside down. Maybe our world needs to be turned upside down too. Perhaps, then, we could be more serious about our faith in Christ, and in our dedication to Him. In a way this would turn our worlds upside down. It would mean that we were spending more time in prayer and Bible study, which would mean that we would have to give up some of the other things that we enjoy doing. It would mean that we begin to act in love towards other people, and not always so attentive of ourselves and our petty concerns. It would mean that we would have to give up some of the entertainments that we enjoy so much. Though it was different, all of these things happened in the lives of early Christians like Paul, and in this case, in the lives of Christians in Thessalonica. If their worlds had not been turned upside down, they would not have been accused of turning the world upside down. Second, it would mean that instead of turning the world upside down, we would be trying to turn the world right-side up. This was what those early Christians were trying to do. Remember, the accusation of “turning the world upside down” was made by unbelievers. It was not bragging by believers. They were trying to get people out of their pagan religions to Christ – which would turn their world right-side up. Trying to get people to believe in Christ and give their lives to Him is a noble purpose, and anyone who has turned from unbelief to belief will readily admit that their world has been turned right-side up. Turning the world right-side up is the daily task of every Christian. First, we should rejoice that our world is right-side up and live so that others could see how good that is. Second, we should tell others about what it means. One of the greatest joys of a Christian is to see the changed life of someone to whom he or she has witnessed. This means that this person’s world has been turned right-side up. We rejoice when we see someone turn from drugs, alcohol and worldly living, because we know that something wonderful and positive has happened in their lives. Obviously, I am not advocating starting a riot in our communities. I am advocating that we be about the business of telling the world about Jesus as the Christians in this text were. We will have to admit that our world certainly needs "turning right side up." It has to begin with His church - and that it us! Bro. Joe “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” In Matthew 5:14, He said, “You are the light of the world.” It is not either-or but both-and. We are the light of the world because Jesus is the light of the world. When Jesus comes into our lives we should shine His light for the world to see. We become Christ’s “lamps” to shed His light on the world. (This is why the title of this article is “You Are a Lamp.”) If we are going to function as Christ’s lamps, we must pay attention to the following facts: The first thing to be considered is that a lamp must be lighted. (The best word is “lit,” but I, a Baptist preacher am not going to tell people to get lit. lol) As alluded to earlier, a lamp has nothing in itself to shine. It must have a light-giving substance. Therefore, if we would function as Christ’s lamps, we must get our spiritual light from Christ. We must consciously seek His light and make an effort to share that light. The second thing to be considered is that a lamp must be fed with an illuminating substance. In Bible days, lamps were lit by oil. Many of us remember kerosene lamps. Today we light our lamps with electricity. Whatever kind of lamp we are thinking about, it must be fed. When you unplug an electric lamp, it will not shine because it is not being fed the essential electricity. If we are going to shine as Christ’s lamps, we must keep the lamp fed. How? We need to spend time each day in prayer and Bible reading. Both of these are necessary if we are going to function as Christ’s lamps. When we unplug ourselves from these sources, we do not give light. Another element here is fellowship with Christians. As “iron sharpens irons,” so we must sharpen each other. We do not have churches to just get together a few times a week; we have churches in order for us to shine together for Jesus seven days a week. I know that our solitary fellowship with Christ during the week is of ultimate importance in this matter, but our church fellowship each week should get us ready to go out into the everyday world to shine for Jesus. Most people can’t see us shine at church, because they are not there. They need to see us shining during the week. We should ask ourselves before we say or do anything when we are at work, at school, or wherever we are, if what we say or do will shine for Christ. The third thing to be considered is that a lamp must be clean. The old kerosene lamp used to get soot all over the chimney. When that happened, the light from it was dimmed. If we are going to be Christ’s lamps, we must not let them get smudged with the “soot” of sin. You might be thinking, “I don’t have any bad sins.” All sin is bad. Envy will smudge our lamps. Gossip will smudge our lamps. Hatred will smudge our lamps. False pride will smudge our lamps. I could go and on with this list, but I reiterate, all sin smudges our lamps. We must be careful that Satan does not convince us that, yes, we sin, but we are “good sinners.” For us to be effective lamps for Christ, we must keep our lives clean. Believe me, the world picks up on our “smudged chimneys.” None of us will do this perfectly, but we must be keenly aware of what we say and do. Keep these points in mind, and “let your light shine before men......." Bro. Joe “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
When Paul wrote 2 Timothy he knew that his days were coming to an end, and he was ready to die and go to heaven. 2 Timothy 4:7 reveals that Paul was satisfied now that his life had been worthwhile. It also gives us some insight into Paul’s character, i.e., what made Paul the outstanding person that he was. Paul wrote that he had “fought a good fight.” What did he mean by that? His life, like ours, was a daily battle to do the right thing. Like us, he had to fight with Satan every day, because Satan wanted to pull the great apostle down and ruin his witness. It is no different in our lives. Every Christian has a target on his back, and Satan takes aim at that target everyday. We are never free of his temptations. Also, Paul’s fight was with false witnesses who wanted to call people’s attention away from the centrality of Christ. It was a constant fight. It is still a fight today. There are always people who want to get us sidetracked on religion and ritual instead of focusing on Christ. Christian character is obviously built on devotion to Christ. We cannot be Christlike in our character if we don’t give our complete devotion to Him. There were other things that Paul had to fight, but what I have shared should be adequate to help us build our own character. Like Paul, we need to fight a “good” fight. That means that we hang in there and keep on fighting, even when things are difficult. Paul wrote that he had “finished the course.” Another translation of this is, “I have finished the race.” Paul saw his ministry through to its conclusion, i.e., he did not quit. You know the old saying: “A winner never quits and a quitter never wins.” What was this race that Paul was running? He was primarily called to be the missionary to the Gentiles.(Isn't it interesting that when God wanted to call a missionary to the Gentiles, He chose the meanest, and most feared Jew of that day to do it?) This would have been difficult for Paul in the beginning, because until his Damascus Road experience, he had been a devout Jew. This meant that he could have nothing to do with Gentiles. After that experience his ministry was mostly about and among Gentiles. Think of all that Paul had to do to overcome his lifelong prejudice. The fact is, though, that he did it. He went all over Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, eventually to Rome and maybe to Spain carrying the gospel to the Gentiles. Now that he was about to die, Paul could look back on his life and see that he had finished what God had given him to do. If you want to build Christian character in your life, you need to find out what it is that God wants you to do. If you don’t already know what it is, find out, and do it to the best of your ability, following the leadership of the Holy Spirit. When we get away from God’s will, God’s purpose for us, we are wasting His time and ours. What is the “race” that God has given you to run? Will you see it through to the end? Paul wrote that he had “kept the faith.” I interpret this to mean that through it all Paul stayed true to his faith in Christ, and to the doctrines that His faith led him to. Paul did not stray from preaching Christ, and from living for Christ. If we would build Christian character, we would stay true to Christ and to His plain teachings in scripture. We cannot let ourselves get sidetracked with minor arguments over faith and practice. Are you “keeping the faith”? Do you quit when the going get's rough? Are you keeping the faith in spite of what others might say about you? Bro. Joe “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not speak anything. 9. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you turned from idols to serve the living and true God; 10. And to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, Who delivered us from the wrath to come.”
“Let no man despise thy youth; but be an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
“Let no man despise thy youth; but you should be an example of the believers in word, in conversation (conduct), in charity (love), in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ…”
What does it mean to have “the mind of Christ”? Among other things, it means to think like Christ. It means to be as much like Christ as we possibly can, knowing that we can’t be exactly like Christ. We see bracelets with WWJD written on them. Of course, that means “what would Jesus do?” I was thinking about that this morning and it occurred to me that we should also have bracelets with WWJND inscribed on them. That means “what would Jesus not do?” If we want to think like Christ, we need to think in the positive and the negative. I thought of a few things that Christ would not do, that we should take to heart. Jesus would not harbor hatred in His heart toward another person. I used the word “harbor” advisedly here, because I don’t want you to get the idea that Jesus would never get angry with another person. Getting angry with other people and harboring hatred toward them are two different things. For example, when Jesus cleansed the temple He was angry. He was not just angry at the situation, He was angry with the people who were “buying and selling.” This didn’t mean that he hated those people. In fact, cleansing the temple was an act of love, because Jesus was righting a wrong. Jesus would not have an unforgiving spirit. In the Lord’s model prayer, He taught us to pray: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Jesus set the example for us in this matter of forgiving others. No one was ever more mistreated than Jesus. All that Jesus did was good. When He came among sick folks, He left them well. He touched lepers, which no one would dare to do in that day. But he was falsely arrested, falsely tried and falsely taken to Golgotha to die. The first words that Jesus said from the cross were, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This prayer of forgiveness stretches across the centuries to reach us. Jesus would not retaliate against people who mistreated Him, or for any other reason. Retaliation is almost a natural reflex. The idea is that if you do something to me, I will do it back at you and we will be even. It was Jesus who taught us: “You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, that you resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.” At this point you might be thinking that I have lost my mind. No. I have not lost my mind, but I know that if I would think with the mind of Christ, I would not retaliate. I do not mean to imply that not retaliating is easy. What I mean that if we try to not do what Jesus would not do, we will not retaliate. This is a small portion of what it means to have “the mind of Christ.” Bro. Joe |
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