AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LIVING : PART 2

                                             

                                   

                                                WHAT ARE YOU LIVING FOR?

Philippians 1:19-26

¹⁹ For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 

²⁰ according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 

²¹ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

 ²²  But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I ^[a]cannot tell

. ^23 [b]  for I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 

²⁴ Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

 ²⁵ And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith,

 ²⁶ that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.

 

What are you living for? Your answer to this question will determine the direction of your life. If your purpose is wrong, your direction will be wrong. If your purpose is vague, your direction will be vague. If you do not know your purpose, you will just be swept along by the currents of our age, doing what seems to bring you happiness. It is crucial that you be clear and correct in answering the question, “What are you living for?”

 

The apostle Paul was clear and focused on his purpose. I believe that the purpose for which he lived is the only purpose that takes the eternity into account, so that whether we live a long life or whether it is cut short, that purpose will be fulfilled. In short, Paul’s purpose is, “For to me, to live is Christ” (1:21).

 

The sentence in Philippians 1:21 is not only a statement of the apostle’s true experience, but also it is a standard of judgement which confronts us with the most thorough test of our Christian faith we will ever encounter. Every person who professes Christ as Savior must grapple with the question,” Can I honestly say, ‘For me, to live is Christ’?” The purpose of Paul’s statement means, every Christian should aim at being able to say truthfully, “For me, to live is Christ”.

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “LIVE CHRIST”?

The concept of “being in Christ” was vital to Paul’s understanding of what it means to be a Christian. He addresses this letter “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi” (1:1). The instant a person truly believes in Jesus Christ as savior, he is joined organically in a living, real union with Christ the Head as a member of His body, the church.

 

To be “in Christ” means that all that is true of Christ is true of the believer. As Paul writes (Romans 6:10,11), “For the death that He died , He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives , He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” The believer is in union with Christ.

 

While that is our true understanding before God, we must grow in our experience of the reality of that understanding, so that in our daily lives, we live in fellowship with Christ, communing with Him and depending on Him for everything. It means growing to know Christ intimately (Phil 3:10) as we continue to await for His second coming.

 

Nowhere else can we attain salvation except through Him and Him alone. Let us live each day as if it were our last day on earth always bettering our relationship with Christ.

 

AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LIVING: PART 1

 

AUTHENTIC CHRISTIAN LIVING: PART 1

JESUS CENTERED LIFE

Most of us live fragmented lives. Church life, home life, and devotional life (if we have it at all) are left unconnected, or weakly at the best.  We have always believed in work and entertainment, but we not even sure how they can be spiritual in nature. We compartmentalize our lives into a string of unrelated activities.

 

But the life God wants us to live has Jesus as its center and organizing principle, and the Holy Spirit as its empowering agent. This means that church, church life, personal devotions, and family all belong to, and are centered in JESUS. Such a life is possible only through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

 

But how does it work? Consider this: David was a member of a certain church. He worked as an engineer in a certain corporation, with more than 100 people under his charge. He was also very active in the life of his church and community, often preaching, giving Bible studies, and going to mission trips.

 

Seeing his love and passionate service for God and the way he was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, people often said to him, “David, you need to be a pastor.” His answer to this always was, “I am already a pastor. I’m just being paid by the market place instead of by my church.”

 

He continued, “No pastor is allowed to be in my engineering firm, but I am here every day. When any employees are hurting, I hurt with them. When they rejoicing, I rejoice with them. I pray for them on a rotation basis and invite them over to my home.” He concluded by saying, “I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ disguised as an engineer.” If you look around David’s church you could see 20 engineers who came to the Lord as a result of His ministry.

 

David’s commitment to Christ touched every area of his life. Imagine what God could do with millions of you, disciples of Jesus Christ disguised as nurses, teachers, accountants, farmers, doctors, physicians, even pastors.

 

Therefore, we can summarize Jesus centered life as one that is lived with a passion for God’s presence, that continually experiences His power and grace, and reflects His love and vision. Living Christ-centered life changes how we relate to people, to ourselves, and to time, possession, pleasure, problems, and all of life.

Consider a wheel with four quadrants, spokes, and an outer rim. Jesus is the center of that wheel. My life is the outer rim, the spirit is the spokes. The wheels’ four quadrants each represent one of the four areas of a relationship. Relationship with God, with others, with self, and with resources. This model is Christ-centered, Holyspirit empowered and balanced in all relational aspects.

 

In Acts 2:36, Peter represented Jesus as the Lord and Christ, to whom people must respond. In Acts 2:42-47 we see a life that expresses such a response. The first-century believers had an intense passion for God. Their souls were pre-occupied with His kingdom, His purpose, His love, His creation, His people, and His vision for the world.

 

Acts 2 records their commitment to learning more about Jesus through study, to be connected to Him through prayer, and to tell the world about Him through evangelism and ministry. This radical life was not only seen in their religious observance, in their commitment to live or die in Jesus, but also in their time, their living, and giving.

 

A life centered on Jesus will be changed in every area. Turn every opportunity to make a difference for the kingdom of God. Let’s have Jesus at the core center of our lives, for salvation is through Him and Him alone.

A MESSAGE WORTH SHARING : PART 2

 

The gospels primarily center on Christ’s first coming. They tell the story of his birth, His life and ministry, and His death and resurrection. Although they speak of the second coming, that is not the main emphasis. The book of Revelation focuses however on the climax of the centuries-long conflict of the ages. Each of its major prophesies ends up in the glorious return of the Lord.

The preamble of Revelation 21 gives a summary on the deliverance from the nightmare of sin when Christ returns and taking them home to glory. The great controversy between good and evil will have ended. The earth will have been made a new, and the redeemed will live with the Lord forever.

Thus, Jesus’ final appeal as in Revelation 22:7, is for all humanity to respond to His love, accept His grace, and follow His truth to be ready for His soon return. Revelation concludes with Jesus’ invitation, “And the spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ (Revelation 22:17, NKJV). Our Lord invites all of those who seek eternal life to come to Him.

 

The epicenter of the book of Revelation is chapter 14. This chapter is of paramount importance to God’s people living in the last days of human history. It unfolds God’s last day message to human kind. This end-time message is crucial to the people of God and to all humanity.

 

The symbolism of harvest is used throughout the bible to describe Christ’s return (Mark 4:29). In Revelation 14, the harvest of ripe grain represents the redemption of the righteous, and the harvest of overripe grapes depicts the destruction of the wicked. Revelation 14:6-7 contains some urgent last-day message to prepare men and women for the earth’s final harvest.

The message of the first angel in Revelation 14 appeals to a twenty-first-century generation longing for purpose in their lives. It represents a gospel of God’s grace that provides forgiveness for all. It cleanses us from the guilt of sin and gives us the power to be overcomers. This message provides the basis for all self-worth in the fact that Christ created us and redeemed us. It points out that one day all injustices will come to an end in God’s final judgment.

 

The message of Revelation 14 invites us to ‘fear’ God and give Him ‘glory’. To “fear God” has to do with how they think. It is an appeal to please God and to place Him first in all our thoughts. It is also an attitude of obedience that leads us to live godly lives. To “give glory” to God relates to what we do in every aspect of our lives.

 

In an age of moral irresponsibility, when millions of people feel that they are accountable to no one but themselves, this judgment-hour message reminds us that we are accountable for our own actions. There is a relationship between an attitude for reverence for God, obedience to God, and the judgment. Obedience is the fruit of a saving relationship with Jesus.

 

 This message calls us back to worshipping Jesus who created us and who gives us a sense of our true worth in Him. Therefore it is worth sharing.

A MESSAGE WORTH SHARING: PART 1

 

Christ came to redeem us and will return again to take home what He purchased at such an infinite cost. This message is clearly depicted in the book of Revelation and it was written to prepare the world for Christ's return (Revelation 14:6-7 "6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— 7 saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.” This is an urgent message for this generation, thus, worth sharing. 

Christ's atoning death was universal; that is, it was made for all people who have ever lived, regardless of when or where. Thus the gospel speaks to people of every language group culture, and background. It bridges ethnic divides. This is good news that Jesus, in His life, death, and resurrection, has triumphed over principalities and powers of hell. He came once to deliver us from the penalty and power of sin and is coming again to deliver us from the presence of sin. He died the death we deserve so that we can live the life He deserves.

 

Throughout salvation history, God has regularly sent a special message the prophetic word to prepare people for what was coming. This means that God is never caught off guard (Isaiah 46:9-10). He prepares His people for the future by sending prophets to reveal His message before the judgment falls (Amos 3:7). In the days before the flood, God send a message to the world through Noah that the flood was coming. In Egypt, God raised up Joseph to prepare for the famine during the seven years of plenty. 

 

Peter's present truth message in the first century as revealed in 1 Peter chapter 1, was that Christ had come. The father's love was revealed through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Although the "wages of sin is death," through Christ eternal life has been secured for all. It is our choice whether by faith we will receive it.  This message of salvation in Jesus will never be out of date. It is the present truth for every generation.

 

The Bible's last book, Revelation, presents Jesus and His eternal salvation in an end-time context to prepare people for His soon return. From the beginning to the end, Revelation reveals Jesus and His work in behalf of humanity. Jesus is the true witness of His father's character. He is the "ruler over the kings of the earth." He is the One "who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father" (see Rev 1:1-6 NKJV). Thus Revelation is all about Jesus and His end-time message to get a people ready for His soon return.

Are your thoughts more about prophetic symbols than Jesus? Why do you think Jesus gave us prophesies in Revelation? How do they reveal His loving plans for humankind?

 

 

Jesus Christ: The beginning and the end

 

Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. He is Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:16). Being part of the holy trinity, Jesus Christ actively participated in the creation of the world (Genesis 1-3). He created man in His own image and likeness.

Despite the uniqueness in which man was created something tragic happened in the just perfect created world. In Genesis 2:16-17, God had made it plain to Adam and Eve what they ought to do and what they ought not to do. “¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: ¹⁷ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

In Genesis chapter 3 Satan comes in with another doctrine against that which God had communicated. Eve, confronted by the devil, already knew well the communication God had made to them. But the convincing power of the Devil found herself already in the trap together with Adam. Genesis 3:4-6 “⁴ And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵ For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.”

Satan, the Old serpent led to the fall of our first parents. But since God had already chosen us before even the foundation of the world was set (Ephesians 1:4), we were not destined to die forever. God's plan B was effected. His only begotten son paid the price to save humanity.

Wondering how?                      

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins and clothed them.  A sacrifice had to be made and blood was shed in order to clothe Adam and Eve and save the entire humanity. This was a foreshadow of the ultimate price that Jesus Christ had to pay by dying on the Cross.

John 3:16 Puts it clearly “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This remains the eternal promise that every believer should put into consideration. God gave out everything to save humanity. This is the same way we should give out everything to seek the eternal promise of Christ after the second coming.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Thus Jesus Christ actively participated in putting this world into place, He played a central role in saving the fallen world and up to date He is actively interceding for us as we prepare for the second coming, the climax of it all.