If you love me you will obey my commandments ( John 14:15).
In light of yesterday's comments that I posted; surely this verse shows the works that are done with the proper attitude. Ephesians 2:10 describes works prepared for us from the Lord. In short it is His works done THROUGH us and His love should constrain us ( 2 Corinthians 14; also read verse 15). This passage read to verse 21 shows how we then evangelize to reconcile others toward God as we were.
Going back to the moment of salvation; it is rare to hear someone preach the fact these days that we are enemies of God ( Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21 and many like passages). Someone coming to true faith should have some realization of this; but preaching about only the love of God (and that far short of what "Agape" means much of the time) naturally makes people hearing that message assume that we would fall head over heals for Him; especially if there are no "strings" attached. Being a slave of righteousness certainly isn't too popular either; or frankly the concept that His Spirit "possesses" us. I have emphasized that TRUST has to be there in our walk with Christ for it to be real. That is a crucial link to obedience because to really believe we assent that His Word can be trusted; AND council where the Lord is present is often how He ministers to us through discipleship. That of course assumes we are in a Biblically sound fellowship to begin with; and doesn't mean we aren't Bereans or always trust what any man can say. Nonetheless God has a purpose for the structure of His church and we should trust Him to lead us to such a fellowship and give us opportunities for wise counsel for ourselves as well as us toward others.
Of course we are commanded to love one another ( John 13:34-35). In the fellowship of the saints in particular we should see that if we offend our brothers and sisters we are doing it to the Lord. Sometimes if we don't love fellow saints we need to ask God to give us Agape.
Just to add to this one. we also much remember that we have been bought with a price-the blood of our Savior, Jesus. Therefore, we are not our own (autonomous). Rather, we belong to Jesus ( 1 Cor. 6:20).
I think that it is easy for us to not want to be submissive to anyone, including God, in our sinful nature. We want to be our own boss, our own determiner of what we do or say, and ultimately, of what our destiny is for our future.
But we are to submit to God and His ways, we are to obey Him, and we are to act with the conviction that God owns us as His own, without being hypocritical.
When it really comes down to the question of who's will are we going to follow, we should ask the Holy Spirit to show us God's will and give us the strength and will to do His will. None of us can do this perfectly as Jesus did. But we can grow to become more like Jesus when we do obey God instead of our own self or other people's wills.
May we all learn to do this more and more each day for Jesus' sake and glory every time we obey.
In light of yesterday's comments that I posted; surely this verse shows the works that are done with the proper attitude. Ephesians 2:10 describes works prepared for us from the Lord. In short it is His works done THROUGH us and His love should constrain us ( 2 Corinthians 14; also read verse 15). This passage read to verse 21 shows how we then evangelize to reconcile others toward God as we were.
Going back to the moment of salvation; it is rare to hear someone preach the fact these days that we are enemies of God ( Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21 and many like passages). Someone coming to true faith should have some realization of this; but preaching about only the love of God (and that far short of what "Agape" means much of the time) naturally makes people hearing that message assume that we would fall head over heals for Him; especially if there are no "strings" attached. Being a slave of righteousness certainly isn't too popular either; or frankly the concept that His Spirit "possesses" us. I have emphasized that TRUST has to be there in our walk with Christ for it to be real. That is a crucial link to obedience because to really believe we assent that His Word can be trusted; AND council where the Lord is present is often how He ministers to us through discipleship. That of course assumes we are in a Biblically sound fellowship to begin with; and doesn't mean we aren't Bereans or always trust what any man can say. Nonetheless God has a purpose for the structure of His church and we should trust Him to lead us to such a fellowship and give us opportunities for wise counsel for ourselves as well as us toward others.
Of course we are commanded to love one another ( John 13:34-35). In the fellowship of the saints in particular we should see that if we offend our brothers and sisters we are doing it to the Lord. Sometimes if we don't love fellow saints we need to ask God to give us Agape.
AS usual, I have enjoyed your postings.
Just to add to this one. we also much remember that we have been bought with a price-the blood of our Savior, Jesus. Therefore, we are not our own (autonomous). Rather, we belong to Jesus ( 1 Cor. 6:20).
I think that it is easy for us to not want to be submissive to anyone, including God, in our sinful nature. We want to be our own boss, our own determiner of what we do or say, and ultimately, of what our destiny is for our future.
But we are to submit to God and His ways, we are to obey Him, and we are to act with the conviction that God owns us as His own, without being hypocritical.
When it really comes down to the question of who's will are we going to follow, we should ask the Holy Spirit to show us God's will and give us the strength and will to do His will. None of us can do this perfectly as Jesus did. But we can grow to become more like Jesus when we do obey God instead of our own self or other people's wills.
May we all learn to do this more and more each day for Jesus' sake and glory every time we obey.
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