Babies in Christ
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
This is a teaching that we've discussed before but I think the value of it is in repeating the message but the Holy Spirit is giving us. One of the greatest teaching tools ever used has been the parables that Christ used in telling us about the kingdom of God. These stories have both the physical and the deep spiritual meaning to them. Although we don't see much of this type of teaching today I would like to introduce to you in this series of parables some ideas that are used to illustrate some of the pressing problems within the church today.
One day an infant child had grown enough to make an attempt to walk. The baby had watched others and was drawn to trying to imitate what he had seen. The first attempt was very traumatic for the child because the baby stood up and immediately fell. The child's reaction was to cry out in both frustration and fear, and needed to be comforted for time and held. Because of the driving urge to still walk that was even greater than the fear of failure the child continued to try. Time after time, the same results were seen until one day the baby was close enough to a table where he could grab hold and pulled himself up to a standing position. Again the baby's legs were wobbling, but with the support of the furniture the baby could stand for longer periods of time until finally the baby could let go of the support that the furniture provided. After time the babies confidence returned to try once again to walk and this time he was successful. A man's spiritual walk is much like the efforts of this child when we first heard a walk. We must remember that there are still newly born people into the Christian way of life. The process of what it means to us to choose to will our lives to the ownership of Christ, and our date by day death to the influence of the world and to this temporary life is tied very closely to the same process of trial and error.
Our success is a child of God depends on our ability to first be able to trust and lean upon those who are more mature in Christ. If we find an element within the church body that is untrustworthy in any way it is likely that our ability to grow to the point of trusting and walking with God on our own may be impaired as well. For the new Christian there is a time when it is important then we can reach out to someone for comfort and understanding as we try and fail to imitate Christ. It is during this time that many people are dying on the vine before they can be established within the church because they have not found that all important love, mercy, grace, and trust that is needed to build up confidence and he continued to try to walk spiritually.
To God our success is not found in our ability to always succeed at every point, but rather in our willingness to continue to desire to walk. For any new Christian some failure is not an option but a guarantee and in 1 John chapter's 1-5 we will find information that is contained within those chapters that give us a glimpse of what our life in Christ should be aiming for. There is a repeated idea brought forth in these passages that asks a question over and over again in various ways." If we say we love God"and it brings us back every time to ask ourselves if we are really being truthful with ourselves and with God at every turn in life? If we say we love God... If you walk in the light then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses all of our sins 1 John 1:7. If we walk in the light is a question within a question, because it indicates that we have made a confession of faith yet the truth of that confession then needs to be proven in our desire to fellowship with as many others as we can who have made that same confession. It tells us that not only have we accepted the fact that our sentence have been converted by the blood of Christ, but also the sins of those who have made the same claim. In many ways it's much easier for us to feel and see the sins that we have dealt with wiped away then to see the sins of others wiped away as well... Especially if we are viewing them through a very strong microscope.
"If we say we love God"is asked in a big way when we read1 John 1:8. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. This idea has carried on throughout the concept of once saved always saved and yet God repeatedly tells us that our salvation is dependent upon two things in our life: 1. Our relationship with him 2. The truthfulness of the intent of our hearts. In almost every way we turn from this simple truth God always brings the ball back into our court concerning it since it is our will to continue to seek after God that will determine our relationship with him. John is emphasizing the truth that our original declaration of faith in Christ and our continued growth through the power of the Holy Spirit is directly linked to our honesty within the intent of our heart, and not to what we confess with your lips alone. In reality the truth cannot be hidden with our words, or the cunning this of someone who confesses Christ just to be a part of a community that may be able to help them achieve an ulterior goal. This idea is not just used in this world by politicians or people who need to appear good, but also by those who for their own desire to have positions of power within the church body may appear to be more spiritual so that they will be elected into or chosen to serve in a higher place. This is a part of our human nature that we must subdue within the spirit of God so that he can and will operate his ministry through us.
"If we say we love God" 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In a major way this verse asks the question about our ability to be humbled before God and realizing that we need to come to him not just one time, but as men and women sometimes on a moment to moment basis to talk with him and he keep our lives squared away. This begins to deal with the truth within us about the desire to have that very close relationship with God which transforms us into new creatures. An important issue here is that of righteousness, what it takes to allow God to change us into his righteousness. Once again it deals with our transformation from the old man into the new man. God cannot and will not even begin that transformation until we have given over to him the control of our hearts intent. Guns desire is to be able to first set us aside or sanctify us from this world's influence, and place our lives under the influence of God's Holy Spirit. This is but the beginning of our walking with Christ in the simplest of ways being babes in Christ, and I hope this makes sense to you. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
YHE UNWORTHY SERVANT
This is a teaching that we've discussed before but I think the value of it is in repeating the message but the Holy Spirit is giving us. One of the greatest teaching tools ever used has been the parables that Christ used in telling us about the kingdom of God. These stories have both the physical and the deep spiritual meaning to them. Although we don't see much of this type of teaching today I would like to introduce to you in this series of parables some ideas that are used to illustrate some of the pressing problems within the church today.
One day an infant child had grown enough to make an attempt to walk. The baby had watched others and was drawn to trying to imitate what he had seen. The first attempt was very traumatic for the child because the baby stood up and immediately fell. The child's reaction was to cry out in both frustration and fear, and needed to be comforted for time and held. Because of the driving urge to still walk that was even greater than the fear of failure the child continued to try. Time after time, the same results were seen until one day the baby was close enough to a table where he could grab hold and pulled himself up to a standing position. Again the baby's legs were wobbling, but with the support of the furniture the baby could stand for longer periods of time until finally the baby could let go of the support that the furniture provided. After time the babies confidence returned to try once again to walk and this time he was successful. A man's spiritual walk is much like the efforts of this child when we first heard a walk. We must remember that there are still newly born people into the Christian way of life. The process of what it means to us to choose to will our lives to the ownership of Christ, and our date by day death to the influence of the world and to this temporary life is tied very closely to the same process of trial and error.
Our success is a child of God depends on our ability to first be able to trust and lean upon those who are more mature in Christ. If we find an element within the church body that is untrustworthy in any way it is likely that our ability to grow to the point of trusting and walking with God on our own may be impaired as well. For the new Christian there is a time when it is important then we can reach out to someone for comfort and understanding as we try and fail to imitate Christ. It is during this time that many people are dying on the vine before they can be established within the church because they have not found that all important love, mercy, grace, and trust that is needed to build up confidence and he continued to try to walk spiritually.
To God our success is not found in our ability to always succeed at every point, but rather in our willingness to continue to desire to walk. For any new Christian some failure is not an option but a guarantee and in 1 John chapter's 1-5 we will find information that is contained within those chapters that give us a glimpse of what our life in Christ should be aiming for. There is a repeated idea brought forth in these passages that asks a question over and over again in various ways." If we say we love God"and it brings us back every time to ask ourselves if we are really being truthful with ourselves and with God at every turn in life? If we say we love God... If you walk in the light then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ cleanses all of our sins 1 John 1:7. If we walk in the light is a question within a question, because it indicates that we have made a confession of faith yet the truth of that confession then needs to be proven in our desire to fellowship with as many others as we can who have made that same confession. It tells us that not only have we accepted the fact that our sentence have been converted by the blood of Christ, but also the sins of those who have made the same claim. In many ways it's much easier for us to feel and see the sins that we have dealt with wiped away then to see the sins of others wiped away as well... Especially if we are viewing them through a very strong microscope.
"If we say we love God"is asked in a big way when we read1 John 1:8. If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. This idea has carried on throughout the concept of once saved always saved and yet God repeatedly tells us that our salvation is dependent upon two things in our life: 1. Our relationship with him 2. The truthfulness of the intent of our hearts. In almost every way we turn from this simple truth God always brings the ball back into our court concerning it since it is our will to continue to seek after God that will determine our relationship with him. John is emphasizing the truth that our original declaration of faith in Christ and our continued growth through the power of the Holy Spirit is directly linked to our honesty within the intent of our heart, and not to what we confess with your lips alone. In reality the truth cannot be hidden with our words, or the cunning this of someone who confesses Christ just to be a part of a community that may be able to help them achieve an ulterior goal. This idea is not just used in this world by politicians or people who need to appear good, but also by those who for their own desire to have positions of power within the church body may appear to be more spiritual so that they will be elected into or chosen to serve in a higher place. This is a part of our human nature that we must subdue within the spirit of God so that he can and will operate his ministry through us.
"If we say we love God" 1 John 1:9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In a major way this verse asks the question about our ability to be humbled before God and realizing that we need to come to him not just one time, but as men and women sometimes on a moment to moment basis to talk with him and he keep our lives squared away. This begins to deal with the truth within us about the desire to have that very close relationship with God which transforms us into new creatures. An important issue here is that of righteousness, what it takes to allow God to change us into his righteousness. Once again it deals with our transformation from the old man into the new man. God cannot and will not even begin that transformation until we have given over to him the control of our hearts intent. Guns desire is to be able to first set us aside or sanctify us from this world's influence, and place our lives under the influence of God's Holy Spirit. This is but the beginning of our walking with Christ in the simplest of ways being babes in Christ, and I hope this makes sense to you. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
YHE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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