“If a man therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”
“These” at the beginning of the text refers to works of iniquity. If we seek to be useful servants of Christ we must be aware of Satan’s tricks. His aim is to ruin our witness and to humiliate us. Useful service is the result of being an “instrument (vessel) unto honor.” This means that a useful servant of Christ is trustworthy, and is likely to do good works of ministry. It also means that when this servant meets the temptation to “aim low” he resists and “aims high.” When we encounter the temptation to “aim low” we should recognize this as a ploy of Satan and “aim high.” The useful servant of Christ is “sanctified.” According to the Greek word translated “sanctified,” the useful servant of Christ is “set apart” or “made holy.” Remember that it is not his or her holiness but Christ’s imputed holiness. The useful servant of Christ is different from the world. He, or she, is aware of Satan’s ploys and doesn’t fall for them. But when this servant errs, he confesses and seeks Christ’s forgiveness. The useful servant of Christ is aware of his humanness and does not commit the sin of self righteousness. (This is a sin that Jesus reprimanded several times in the gospels.) The useful servant of Christ is “prepared unto every good work.” This is also translated as “prepared to do every good work.” (NIV) This quality is apparent in Christ’s parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:20-37. In the parable, the priest and Levite “went by on the other side.” They just ignored the man’s needs. The “Good Samaritan” recognized the man's desperate plight and stopped to help him. This is an example of what it means to be “prepared to do every good work.” Jesus told those who heard the parable that they should “go and do likewise.” This text is good advice if we want to be useful servants of Christ. We need to be aware of Satan’s attempts to sidetrack us with his foolish tricks. Don’t let him trick you! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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