It is a false mentality to assume that just because we are believers, we are disciples. Christians are born into the new life, but disciples are made through learning to sit at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ and learn.
I am amazed in the body of Christ at the amount of believers who walk with an unteachable heart. Even when Bible studies go out, many treat them as a buffet style smorgasbord which we can pick and choose what we want to learn. The Bible studies which we pick are typically things we already agree with anyway, therefore we haven't learn anything new. It was just good to have someone post a study that we know we can come in agreement with. But then comes the study that goes against what we believe or want to believe. This could be because we are emotionally or mentally tied to a doctrine and don't want to hear anything that would speak against it and cause change. Therefore we use the age-old statement that in our own eyes carries a high level of authority. This age-old statement is "I disagree with that". I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard this as a Pastor. After 40 years of ministry I am saddened to say that not one person who offered this brilliant statement has offered any Biblical texts or explanations other than a strongly emotional "I disagree with that." They say this statement with such authority that it would seem they believed that we who have labored in diligent study in writing these detailed Bible studies are supposed to be overwhelmed with their emotional sincerity and therefore throw all our Biblical study out the window. We, the church, are in a sad shape. God's people perish because of a lack of knowledge. Therefore, those who really seek truth will continue to study the Word of Truth and seek to rightly divide the Word. They will continue for a season to post more studies in hope that some will have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. And of course they will pray for the church. The worldliness within the church which the backslidden label as Christian and Biblical is somewhat unbelievable. According to Scriptures, what requirements does our Lord Jesus Christ state for those who want to be His disciples? (See Luke 14:26-33). Luke 14:26-33 ESV "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (27) Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. (28) For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? (29) Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, (30) saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' (31) Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? (32) And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. (33) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
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THE ABUNDANT LIFE IS A LIFE YIELDED TO CHRIST:
Romans 6:10-13 ESV For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (11) So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (12) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. (13) Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. How to live the abundant life is no secret; it is revealed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Rom. 6:10-13. The same faith that "saves" us also identifies us with Christ in His death. This is eternal life. The faith that "yields" to death to self also identifies us with Christ in His resurrection. This is abundant life. Colossians 3:1-4 ESV If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (2) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (3) For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ***It is one thing to have eternal life by faith. It is quite another to have abundant life by faith. ***It is one thing for us to be “made the righteousness of God in Him. It is another thing for us to realize His righteous life is in us. 1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. ***It is one thing for us to live in Christ. It is another thing for Christ to live His life in and through us. Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. We, as believers have a choice. We can yield unto God by faith and enjoy abundant life, or we can yield unto sin and endure a defeated life. God would have us to “know and experience the power of a yielded life.” By the way, I have met many "committed" Christians. However, they were committed to church, to a building, to a denomination, or to a certain doctrinal creed. Not only must we not yield to sin, but we must not yield to the traditions and religions of man if we really want to walk in the abundant life of Christ. The power of a yielded life will lift us above circumstances that tries to cut off abundant living. The abundant life begins when we yield to Him as Master, allowing Him to live His life through us by faith. Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. What comes to mind when you think of worshipping God? Where do you meet with God? Where do you worship Him? These are questions that have been debated for hundreds of years. Every culture has had a place or places set apart to worship God. It is important to remember however that it is God who takes the initiative in providing a way for man to meet with Him and to worship with Him. God throughout history has also taken the initiative in bringing man to the “right place” to worship Him. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden for a place and time of worship. He met with them in the cool of the morning. There was no building, no music, and no structure; just God meeting with man for worship. Adam and Eve’s relationship with God was pure and unhindered. All that Adam did reflected the life and heart of worship. They were… (1) Sensitive to the voice of God, (2) Submissive to the will of God, and (3) Obedient to the Word of God. John 10:10 ESV The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
"that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Life. It is a great word. However, I feel that we as believers have missed it somewhat about what our Lord was speaking about. When we received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior we did not "fix, renew, repair, renovate, or remodel" the old Adamic nature. The old Adamic nature died and we exchanged our broken down sin-natured life for the life of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that our Lord Jesus Christ did, He did as a Spirit-filled man and not as God. That is why we can do it also and live His way of life. The Lord Jesus Christ came to show us how to be the man as God created man to be, and that is to live a life by the Spirit that Adam and Eve never realized. One of the first counterfeits of Satan is to convince us that we don’t have this life, can't live by this life, and aren’t expected to live by this life, called the life of Christ in the Spirit, until we die. Galatians 2:20 ESV I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We dwell a lot on the "I am crucified with Christ" part of Gal.2:20, however, we miss that the life we live is not our life but it is the life of Christ in me. The Scriptures tell us how to live by this other life, how to live by the Spirit. It is the reality of how to live the Christian life. There is only one person who can live the Christian life and that is Christ. I cannot live the Christian life. But, I can let Christ live it through me. Therefore, we as believers need to come to the place where we can say, it is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me. Otherwise we will continue striving to reach a mark by the flesh and judging others who have not reached our mark. |
AuthorCharles Morris. Founder and Senior Pastor of RSI Ministry, RSI School of Ministry, and RSI Publishing L.L.C.. Archives
March 2021
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