The Church: Down to basics

As I mentioned in a comment that I left on my last post "The Prelude" I have decided to broaden the range of my study. Rather than pick apart one doctrine within the church, I will be picking apart the church as a whole. I believe that most of the differences in doctrines in the church go back to what the church is interpreted as. The Bible gives a very clear definition of what the church is, and God willing I will be able to lay it all out. I have set this study up as an outline. I am in the process of putting on the final touches on the first third of the outline, and when I am done I will post it in segments. Again, this is taking longer than I had hoped it would, but God willing the waiting will pay off. It is my goal to keep this study relatively short, yet thorough. Its a hard combo, but it is possible.
~Jim

In Light of Eternity?

I've been considering my lifestyle more and more all the time as I get older and begin to make more and more decisions on my own. For me, almost 20 years have come and gone and time seems to fly faster and faster. This leads me to ask the question, what have I done in life to make it worth it? In other words, have I been living the way God truly intends His children to live? I don't have much time on this earth, and soon I'll be in the presents of God, and suddenly none of the times I lived for good times, or friends, or myself on earth will mean anything except that it wasn't lived for God. It was waisted.

One of my goals in life has been to never go into debt. I have no desire to borrow from my future only to have to worry and work for something that I couldn't wait for in the past. Likewise, why should I live for myself now here on earth, only to regret not living entirely for God in my future? I say "likewise", but in a sense, it's not alike at all. Our chief end in life is a whole lot more important that money.

Because of this, I have realized that I'm going to have to make some very tough discussions in life all in the name of "living in light of eternity". Living the way God intended me to live. For example - I have allot of good friends that I like very much, but they aren't teachable, they're not sanctified or set apart from the world (though they would argue with that), and to put it plainly, they don't take their walk with God seriously enough. I believe that God wants us to choose our friends VERY carefully. Therefor, I've come to the conclusion that some of my friends (though I love them very much) are just not worth the time God gave me. I will continue to pray for them that God would work in their hearts, but that's all I can do.

That sounds terrible right? You say, "that isn't a Christ like attitude! Jesus was always ministering to sinners and the people who needed to be set straight!".

The thing is, there is a difference between Jesus and me. I am a sinner, Jesus is not. I am responsible for my own life first, and then to others. Jesus didn't have to worry about His life, and becoming like those around Him like I have to. Christians are to guard their hearts in any way possible that they have to.

There are other examples too. What I do with my time and how I enjoy myself is another one. It all comes down to realizing that our life on earth here is the only time EVER we have to shine and be diligent and live for God with a sin nature. How ever long you have to live… is NOTHING in light of eternity. There will be an endless amount of time to have fun unlike anything you can even come close to imagining when we get to heaven, so I would challenge you to stop with the foolishness and live for Christ. I think you will see that He will give you the Joy that comes with serving Him here, and in heaven if you are truly right with Him.

Faith

Ok, here's a little bit of background info before I jump into this. I've been wondering what I'm going to do with my life recently. And hence, I wrote those last two entries about God's will. But it's coming down to this, I'm out of work, and almost out of money. I'm living with some friends, so I don't have any expenses, but I do have bills to pay. The area that I'm in doesn't have very many job openings. And I've been rejected for a job, that I was well qualified for (I'm in the midst of trying to decide if God's trying to tell me to go somewhere else, or if He's just trying to tell me to wait on Him).
Now we get to the main part. I have faith that God will protect and care for me, comfort and guide me. But, I was reading in James today this passage:

You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Although I have faith in God, that He will open and close doors, and guide me to His perfect will as long as I'm am trusting in Him. I'm at a stand still, this passage literally says that my faith is dead. (and this faith is different from salvation, I believe that there are numerous passages in the Bible that teach that salvation cannot be lost) The analogy that I came up with is this:

I see a bridge, on the other side of the bridge, is, uh, let's say treasure. I really want that treasure, but I just stand at the edge of the bridge, I test it, but I never put my full weight on it. Someone comes up and asks me what I'm doing. I say, I'm looking for a way to get that treasure over there. They look at me funny, and say there's a bridge right here. I say that I know. They say, don't you trust the bridge? I say, of course I do! No doubt! But...I still don't put my weight on the bridge.

Does that sound like faith to you? But that's what I do all the time, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. My new goal, is to not only have faith that God will provide for me, but act on it.

The Prelude...

I am going to be starting a study here shortly, on the Charismatic movement. It is not my intention to rip to shreds the beliefs of others; only to point out what I believe and why. Recently I have had several people ask me questions what I believe concerning the Charismatic movement, and honestly I have not been able to answer some of them. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for my readers, as I know it will be for me.
~Jim

The One Step to God's Will

As I was writing my last post, 'God's Will Anyone?' I came across some interesting verses and I figured I share them with you. These verses are for those of you who want to know God's will. (I'm using the ESV translation)

1 Thess. 4:3
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

So according to this verse God's will is our sanctification. According to the dictionary 'to sanctify' is 'to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use.' Well, how do we go about being sanctified?

Rom. 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

According to this, we are to be transformed by renewing our minds. And with our renewed minds, we will then be able to discern what the will of God is. And for the record, renewing your mind is not an easy, and, it's a never-ending process. As long as we are on the earth, our minds are going to need renewal. And without the Holy Spirit, it would be impossible.

So to summarize, be set apart (holy) by renewing your mind, and God's will is going to be clear.

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God's Will Anyone?

I know that finding God's will is a very important issue for many Christians. I know that I have spent a lot of time in prayer asking God to reveal His will for my life. And I know that I've spent a lot of time wondering why God hasn't said, "Matt, this is what I want you to do." Now I know that it would be nice if God did that, but that's not how it works.

A few months ago I was planning on getting an apartment with some friends. My parents were moving and I felt it was time to move out. I spent a lot of time in prayer, but I must confess, my prayers were more, "God, please let this work" than, "God, is this Your will." And in the end it didn't work out. And I at first I was very disappointed, but as I look back, I am so thankful that God closed that door. I can't remember if it was the same day, or the next day, but God opened another door. I was given the opportunity to be a summer missionary in Texas working with Gospel Ministries to Children. I prayed about it, and I really felt God's call to go down. I had no idea what God wanted me to do after the summer program was over, but I came down anyway. And I believe wholeheartedly that it was God's will for me to come down here.

This is a roundabout way of saying it, but my point is. God's will is not a secret. If you are submersing yourself in God's word, and pursuing Him, God's will is going to follow that. God's will isn't going to suddenly appear to someone who's sitting on his couch praying for God's will to drop out of the sky on him.

So what I have to say to you is, are you seeking God's will? If the answer to that is no, then that's a whole different issue that I'm not going to cover in this entry. But if the answer is yes, than I would ask, when is the last time that you did something in your church besides warm a pew on Sunday?