Be this the right attitude? part 6

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (kjv)

In order to see God we must be pure. We must not be mixed with any impurities.

How is this possible when we are full of sin? Well, we need to be washed by God. Only the spotless Lamb of God can take away sin.

Psalm 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:7 ...wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (kjv)

Psalm 51:10, Create in me a clean heart, O God; (kjv)

If we are washed by God, we will certainly see him as he is. To see his purity we must be made pure lest our sin warps our view of him.

Be this the right attitude? part 5

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (kjv)

When a Christian has received mercy from Christ, the 'Bread of Life', he starts to become thankful and loving towards God. Because he comes to appreciate God’s merciful love towards him, he cannot help but love God. His love is born out of his trust in God's love by the Holy Spirit. This love of God and his mercy then helps to motivate him to become more merciful towards others.

1 John 4:19 We love him*, because he first loved us. (kjv)

Some modern scholars remove the word 'him' due to their textual preferences. Personally my textual preference is to keep it in. I'm not going to argue over manuscript evidence in this post, however, I believe this is the beginning of a logical argument through verses 19-21. First he loves us so we then love him. It is natural to reciprocate love to those who love us. This is common sense and fits with verse 19. When a Christian sees the mercy God gives him, he becomes thankful and begins to love him. As we learn to love him, we start to conform to his desires. Because we love his desires we begin to love those who he loves. This theme is developed in verses 20 and 21.

1 John 4:20 “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar...” (kjv) 

Verse 20 prevents misinterpretation of verse 19. It prevents us professing that we fully love him without the necessary evidence of loving our brother. Verse 20 helps us to understand what loving God really means. The evidence of loving him is when we love our brothers (verse 20). 


It is a bit like this: if a teacher were to say to a class of children, "Have you all washed your hands?" Then, in response, all of the children put up their hands and shout, "Yes!" But then the teacher says, "Why then do your hands still look dirty?" 


The evidence of true hand washing is for your hands to look clean. To apply the example we can say, the evidence of loving God is to love your brother.

In verse 21, again the emphasis is first a focus on loving God and then the evidence of that is to have love for your brother. In verse 19 it makes less sense to me to describe love as a generic, non-specific love, otherwise the progression of loving God to loving our brothers is less apparent. I believe the fruit of God's love is that we love him, and the fruit of loving him is to love your brother.


It is important to remember that no christian has perfect love. We will be made perfect by the Holy Spirit. When a Christian has faith in Christ, a process begins which is called progressive sanctification. God works in them so that they start to become practically righteous. When a Christian's love fails they are forgiven through faith in Christ. 

agapáō 'to love': actively doing the Lord's desire


The type of love we need to have is love which reflects the love Christ has for his people, namely a love that is self-sacrificial and forgiving, love that shows mercy.

Be this the right attitude? part 4

Rumbling for righteousness


Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (kjv)


We must hunger and thirst after righteousness. The idea of hungering and thirsting suggests we are looking for nourishment outside of ourselves. 


The righteousness we should seek is found in the Lord Jesus Christ: the living bread and water of life. It is not found in us, but in Christ.  

Be this the right attitude? part 3

Meek's meaning

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth (kjv)

Meekness in the Biblical sense is nothing to do with weakness: it is all about having strength, but having it with gentleness.

1. We must come to God poor: spiritually destitute of good.

2. We must come to God mourning: figuratively, due to our dead relationship with him.

3. We must come to God meekly. In other words, come with faith of the Holy Spirit which tames our sinful will. Faith enables Christians to be directed by the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. 

Be this the right attitude? part 2

Be aware of your loss


Matthew 5:4 Blessed are they that mourn: (kjv)

Mourning is what we do when we have lost someone precious. Due to our sin we have lost our relationship with God. We need to recognise this loss and seek him for his righteousness and not our own.

Be this the right attitude? part 1

Christ begins preaching and the first thing he says is:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Matthew 5:3 (kjv)

If we are to be blessed by God and want to see God’s kingdom, we must first be humble before him. This is the difference between much of the religion of that time and today. Religion is often full of the self righteous. 

First we should come before God humbly accepting our sin and weakness. We must have faith that his is the standard to follow and not ours. We should submit to his words, recognising we are hopeless and helpless without him.

Fighting sin with words

In Matthew 4:4 it says,”..  Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (kjv) Receiving God’s words brings life.

The context of this verse is when the devil tempts Jesus.  The devil suggests that Jesus should turn stones into bread to ease his hunger. Jesus resists the devil by reciting this verse to him. 

In John’s gospel 1:1 Jesus is described as the Word of God, and then in John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (kjv) In a metaphorical sense we need to eat the Word of God.  God’s words must be in us so we can fight temptation. 

In Matthew 4, Christ continues to be tempted by the devil.  Each time he is tempted he uses the words of God to counteract the devil’s temptation.  It is Christ’s righteous, trust in God's words that enables him to overcome temptation.  When we struggle with sin we must understand that the answer to fighting it is not within ourselves.  Strength to fight sin is always by the Holy Spirit convincing us of the words he gives us.  To focus on Jesus Christ, is also to focus on his words: for Jesus is the Word.  It is no good saying to a believer, who is struggling with sin; ‘fight your sin’ unless they have God’s words within them as a sword and faith as a shield.

Whenever we lack anything we are told to ask of God.  In the Lord’s Prayer we are exhorted to ask God for “our daily bread” and to pray, “Lead us not into temptation”. In order to fight sin practically in our lives it is never just a matter of getting on with it and never thinking it through. Today people who spend time thinking about their faith are sometimes thought to be impractical. After all faith is more than just thinking, it’s all about the fruit, isn’t it? Well, in order to overcome sin practically it is necessary for us to prayerfully seek God for his grace and to meditate on his Word. I know I have failed at this and I am sure many others have. In fact this is one reason why I am writing this blog. It is to help me have a more disciplined focus on God’s Word. His word is a matter of life.  It is out of my desperate need for his grace and the knowledge that the world needs it as well. Neither do I see any reason to keep these thoughts private even though they could leave me feeling vulnerable.  To be open is one way to shape faith through testing. We are commanded not to hide under baskets. To my shame I have often retreated at this command.

Christians must continue examining themselves in the light of scripture. What are we looking for when we examine ourselves? Well, are God's words in us by faith, producing some fruit? When we examine ourselves we should not be looking to find ourselves, but God working in us, by his words and Spirit leading us to practical spiritual fruits. O Lord, increase our faith and take away our pride. Help us never to think we can achieve sanctification without you.

However, when we do sin, and we do, there is still hope. Jesus did what we cannot do: he fulfilled the law by overcoming the temptations of the devil and by giving up his life in the place of sinners. He is our advocate when we sin. The Lord asks us to symbolically eat and drink of his body by taking communion together. This again is an act of humility, expressing our need of him to forgive us and sustain us. The idea of eating anyone is hideous to me. Yet it is by this thought that we remember that it was because of our sins that Christ died. It is by spiritually consuming him that we can have life. God justifies us and then promises to renew us by his Spirit: God working in us, not forcing us in every decision we make, but healing us where our decisions are broken and making sure nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Are you a snake’s offspring?

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

8, bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: (kjv)

Here we have John the Baptist who had been preaching,”Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.  He had been preaching in the wilderness of Judea.  People from Jerusalem, Judea and from around Jordan had come to John the Baptist confessing their sins.  They were baptised by him in the river Jordan.  When John saw that there were many Pharisees and Sadducees amongst those who had come to his baptism he calls them a ‘generation of vipers’. These two groups were both very religious and often concerned with their own self-righteousness.

 The way John speaks to them sounds quite harsh and judgmental.  The phrase ‘generation of vipers’, I am informed, was an expression used to express those filled with malice; those with evil intent. How might you feel if someone called you an offspring of a snake? By calling these groups, John illustrates who they were and that their teachings were harmful or poisonous. He is not judging them in a condemnatory way. He is not passing sentence on them. It is not wrong to point out faults in others provided we remain humble and do it out of love.

                Often when someone points out a fault in us we can feel wronged. After all, doesn’t Jesus say it is wrong to judge one another? Well, judgement is different from correction. Judgment brings with it destruction whereas correction will hopefully lead us to repentance: a turning to what is right. I don’t think it is easy for us to get used to being told that we are wrong by others. However, this is not always a bad thing provided it is said to us by those who love us. We must never despise the correction of those who are looking out for our welfare. Indeed it is those who turn a blind eye and never seek to correct us that probably love us the least. For example, if a father only wants to be popular with his children he may never correct them due to his fear of losing popularity. A loving father always corrects, as necessary, for the sake of his children's welfare, not just for his power or ego trip. Discipline must always be carefully measured and mixed with an abundant expression of love.  God gives immeasurable love to his children, but only ever gives measured discipline to them; just for a season. He never deals them a hand of judgement once they are his. His love removes sin as far as the east is from the west and therefore deals with guilt.

Sometimes the person that appears to be most against us is the one that loves us the most. However, be careful to understand the difference between someone who genuinely cares for you and an abuser of power. The abuser will ask you to do things for the abuser's profit and not your betterment. Those that love you care about your life choices and desire your success. However, no one loves perfectly and there needs to be a huge place for forgiveness in our relationships. God tells us, those he loves, he corrects. Although John the Baptist may have sounded harsh he actually doesn’t seek to prevent the Pharisees and Sadducees from finding peace with God. He told them in verse 8 to be fruitful in repentance. He gave them good advice that would have helped them if they had listened. Rather than being so self righteous, they should have come humbly before God, accepting their unrighteousness. A necessary step to changing for the better is to accept our own emptiness and need of God and then he can fill us with his righteousness.  We need to be shown our faults in order to know about our need to change.  God first of all reveals to us our sin by his law. He criticises us to show us our need of him and then he turns our eyes towards his salvation away from our sin. As a loving father and shepherd he then leads us in every area of our lives, by loving correction and instruction, leading us towards practical righteousness.

Is there a Christian class system? 3 of 3

3 of 3

If you haven’t already read the first or second parts of this post please click the links:

Part One

Part Two

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. (kjv)

Following on from yesterday’s post we now have an insightful comment with regard to the scriptures.  When preaching or teaching God’s word, it is always important to get things in context and give the correct emphasis.  In order to prevent objection to the instruction of supporting the weaker christian brother or sister, we are now given the reason as to why the Scriptures were written.

The whole of these scriptures, their historical accounts, the examples of the Fathers, the Prophets, the records of God’s laws, judgements, power, grace and love to mankind etc. was all for a reason: that it might lead his people to hope. 

Therefore, we should then support the weaker brother or sister with humility so they might be edified toward that hope. The Bible always leads towards hope for the believer. Christ is the believer's hope.

Is there a Christian class system? 2 of 3

Part 2 of 3

If you haven’t already read the first part of this post please click the link: Part One

Romans 15:3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. (kjv)

Following directly on from the verses in yesterdays post, in Romans 15:3, we have the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.  When considering how Christians should behave towards weaker brothers and sisters in Christ, we now have his example. The Lord Jesus Christ is Almighty God, yet he became like one of us, a man.  He became weak for us even though he was the all powerful creator.  He not only related to us from the heights of heaven, he came down to earth and became one of us and took the burden of our sins, our weaknesses, upon himself. 

How then, should we as Christians, deal with the weaker brother and sister?  Do you think we ought to meet them with love and humility rather than condescending to them with our superior theology and judgement?  You see, it isn’t just a matter of relating to weaker Christians more diligently, but a matter of our attitude towards them.  It is a matter of putting your reputation to one side, and expressing sacrificial love just as the Lord Jesus Christ did when he took the sins of his people.  When we measure our Christian relationships by the example of Christ and then how he related to us in the gospels how do we match up?

Part Three

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Is there a Christian class system? 1 of 3

Part 1 of 3

The following questions are addressed to Christians:  How do you feel about your walk with God? Are you confident with your level of understanding?  Have you been around the church scene for some time and read lots of good sound literature? Perhaps you’ve been a longstanding church member.  Do you have a good grasp on Biblical theology? Are you ready to take down anybody with a different view from yours, or look at them through eyes of superiority?  Are you very defensive?  Do you see those within church, who don’t appear to understand the Bible like you do, as less important believers?  Perhaps they don’t have the same evidence of good works as you.  Maybe they haven’t made it to a position of authority or acceptance like you have. They are not worth your time, they are only nominal Christians.  They are less godly and less lovely than you.  They have brought it on themselves and you are not responsible for their weak condition. After all, don't true Christians have good works to evidence they are favoured by God?  Have you written Christians off because they don’t comply with your standards? Have you passively ignored Christians you see as a threat to your position?  Have you judged the motives of Christians who are not at your level, assuming that their motivation is ulterior?  Do you feel any responsibility to those in the church that do not have your understanding of theology?  Do you feel better than other professing believers, because of your status within a church?  Are you willing to share your knowledge so long as believers always agree with you, bowing down to your authority? Perhaps you’ve been given a duty as a deacon, or an elder.  Do you crave position?  If you have a position, does that give you assurance, do you think you’ve made it?  If you are someone with status or sense of self importance, do you go around feeling spiritually better than others, more valid than those who have not made it as far as you? Do you care for the whole church, so long as you maintain your position? Do you only offer your assistance to Christians if they show you they are starting to make an effort?

To the believer who feels on the fringe of church: Are you told it is entirely your fault? You are on the edge because you’re at fault for being weak? Do you receive help from Christians in the church that feel stronger than you? Is the church waiting for you to commit to it fully, or is the church actively helping you to commit to it, building personal bridges with you? Have spiritual leaders in the church acted as loving shepherds on a one to one level with you?

Do we believe that any Christian in any church should be ignored? The purpose of this is not to start naming and shaming leaders or weaker brothers. It is for personal reflection. Please consider the verses below to assist you in your thoughts.

Romans 15:1 We which are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

2 Therefore let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. (kjv)

Click on comments link below if the comments box is not visible. You don’t need to subscribe or leave your name. Please don’t be judgemental of others here. The purpose of this is for self examination. What can the church do to make sure Christians within it are not left on the fringes, unloved?

Part 2:Part Two

Doesn't God command us to rejoice?

Philippians 4:4-6

In  Philippians 4:4  it says ‘rejoice in the Lord always ‘. The key thing to note here is that we must rejoice ‘in the Lord’. This is the clue to the whole equation, in order to get joy we must focus on the Lord, rejoicing in who he is.  He is the object of our joy. Joy is a result of faith focused on the grace and hope found in Jesus. We are not inactive in the process of joy. God gives us the ability to respond joyfully to his word. This results in our desires gradually conforming more to his through sanctification by the Spirit. God teaches us to rejoice by giving us the means to rejoice. God enables each believer to rejoice, as perfect love casts out fear. How we each express that joy as believers will depend on our different characters and what God’s plans are for each of us. 


Therefore, we should seek joy, however, in order to find it we must focus on Christ and not the emotion. Not a hedonistic self-centred seeking of pleasure, it should come out of seeking Christ first which then leads us to true joy.  We must seek joy by seeking Christ first for he is our hope. Indeed this is the way it is set out in scripture. First we must take up our cross to follow him before the promise of reward. God rewards those he loves, however we must not put our pursuit of reward before our learning to give sacrificially. First we must learn to come humbly and selflessly before him, not conditionally on there being a reward, but learning to live sacrificially. Indeed if we are serving Christ just to get the reward this is not love. Our obligation is to worship God whether or not there is a reward. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. Not just those with the promise of heaven. Even if he condemned you to hell you still ought to serve him, and where would your joy be then? Love isn’t self seeking. Don’t get the order backwards. First be willing to take up your cross, by the power of God’s grace working in you, and then God, out of his love, promises he will reward you. It is good to seek his gift of reward but we must seek it with a heart that is willing to give up everything if he so requires it.

So then, it is right to seek the reward he promises out of a selfless motive. However, in reality we often come to God first for the reward because that is our nature. God is gracious and draws us to himself by his love. We usually seek him firstly out of a sense of our fear and need of salvation. As we grow in understanding as Christians we should learn not just to seek him for the reward but to seek him out of a sacrificial love, just as Christ loved us and gave his life for us. Is it a command to rejoice? Well, in one sense it is. I rather think however that God tells us to rejoice, not to make us dwell on our faults of being joyless, but to encourage us to be free from fear. The exhortation to the Christian to rejoice is not his judgement to us, which comes by the law, but his love to us which comes by grace. The source of joy is Christ and his love toward us. To be joyful in the Lord you need to experience his love.

The secret of joy?

Christians are often told that they must be joyful. Some would even say that man’s most important pursuit is to glorify God by enjoying him. This has the potential of making Christians feel guilty, and even less joyful, when they are not enjoying God as they think they should. This type of thinking can lead to a spiral of guilt. So the question to ask might be, how do we obtain joy?  Should we pursue it as the number one priority?

 In 1 Thessalonians 1 the apostle Paul is speaking to the Thessalonian believers.  He begins with a blessing of grace.  He then praises them for their spiritual fruit, which includes their faith, love and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.  In verse five he explains why he is so sure that they are truly elected by God. The good news of the gospel meant more than just words to them.  The gospel had come to them with power and by God the Holy Spirit.  They had received it with great assurance. In verse six we are told that they became followers, having received the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Spirit.

So, the gospel had come to them with full confidence. There is another word that can be used when we are assured of something. That word is ‘faith’ which means to be persuaded.  They had heard the gospel and the Holy Spirit had come with power so they would be fully assured or persuaded of it.  The result of their assured faith was that it made them into followers. People need to be persuaded to do something before they become confident to do it. Being persuaded is having faith, and confidently following is the spiritual fruit. The assurance in the gospel which the Thessalonians had received from God, was the motivational force necessary to turn them into followers.  Also, if we are truly persuaded to trust God, then we will be truly persuaded to follow.  So it says in verse six, they followed the apostles and the Lord.

So what is it to follow? The answer is in verse three. Faith led on to a labour of love, which through tribulation grew their patience and led them to hope. Recognition of that hope led them to joy.  This joy was of the Holy Spirit as it says in verse six.  The word joy can mean delight through recognition of God’s grace.

So, how do we obtain joy? In order to have joy you need to have hope. In order to have hope, you need a confident faith which persuades you to love.  In order to be persuaded of God’s words you need his power by the Holy Spirit.

So the answer to how we get Christian joy is, by the Holy Spirit.  He does this by giving us faith in the gospel. Jesus Christ is the good news and is called ‘The ‘Word’. Jesus is the gospel! We learn to love by having our faith focused on Christ.  Focusing on Christ leads us to hope.  Christ is our hope and the reason for joy. Joy isn’t a work solely dependent on our abilities but a reflection of God’s grace in us when we look at his glory and grace. Joy is a gift to you from God, not your chief obligation to him. Man's obligation to God is, not to seek joy, but to love one another. To fulfil this obligation we need renewing by his Holy Spirit. We worship and glorify God by this love and then joy is given by the Holy Spirit. The best way to get joy is to start by focusing fully on Christ.

Uncertain world

Life is full of uncertainties, from one moment to the next we don’t know what will happen.  The world as we know it is full of natural disasters, economic disasters and human tragedies.  It is often hard not to worry or to understand why so many sad events take place. The world doesn’t give us lasting peace. It can bring a great deal of uncertainty to our lives. Christians, who know something about God, perhaps have a greater sense of how bad things really are.  They have come to understand something of God’s standards and his moral law.  They understand that the world is guilty before God and ought to repent of its ways.  They recognise that they are also part of that mess, for their sin has also caused destruction in their own lives and in the lives of others. 

Our sin is the reason why Christ died.  Our sin is the reason why the Father is displeased with us on account of what we do.  We are not without sin; we’re guilty before him and have no excuse.  The world is full of death and misery.  The world is full of broken and abusive relationships.  We all have our own part in the disaster that the world is. Our time goes so quickly, our lives don’t always go as planned.  The world is so big and we’re pretty much helpless to change anything in it without making things a little bit worse.

 ‘They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever’, Psalm 125:1 (kjv).  Even though the world is so subject to change and even though we ourselves are guilty before God, when we have faith in him, we cannot be moved.  God loves to hear our prayers and has promised to be a loving Father, a loving shepherd and a comforting Spirit.  He will protect you through this changing life as you trust in him.

Sin destroyed

Romans 7:23-24 & Romans 8:3

A wretched man I am, who will save me from my sins?

I thank God, for he has condemned sin. Righteousness cannot, and never can be fulfilled by us. No man can ever achieve God's moral law. God sent his Son and sentenced sin to condemnation. He destroyed sin rather than his people. Jesus took all that sin and death could give and was victorious over it; once and for all. Death has been conquered.

Music in church

I will praise thee with my whole heart Psalm 138:1 (kjv)

It seems that within some traditional churches, expressing emotion is often suppressed. Rather than being encouraged to praise God with our whole heart, we must be suspicious of any show of emotion. This is particularly relevant when it comes to worshipping within the church meeting. Indeed Christianity should not just be an emotional high; however, no show of emotion can be even worse.  

Within some traditional churches it often seems that a positive show of emotion in worship is to be frowned upon and a miserable countenance is an honourable thing. After all we cannot truly be worshipping God unless we are suffering some kind of persecution or trial? This type of judgemental attitude  can lead to an oppressive emotional atmosphere and is a man made law. It can damage God's people and is a psychological hazard.

When it comes to music in worship many of us are comfortable to only sing traditional, tried and tested hymns and songs of years gone by. Indeed people were much more spiritual then, weren’t they? Surely God doesn't want to hear our personal, creative, worshipful responses to his words now? Wouldn't he much rather hear the responses of his saints who have died and gone to heaven? Well, I know there are many good reasons for singing older hymns and songs, however, on one level it is rather like sticking solely to a prayer book and never making our personal requests to God in prayer with our own words! Therefore I think it is good to make new songs in our hearts and then sing them to each other with praise to God. When I sing I like to sing what is on my heart at that moment, not just what I thought last month! I believe there ought to be a place for our own, new and emotionally expressive worship music in the traditional church.

Music speaks where words cannot. If you understand music correctly you will have realised it is a way of expressing emotion. Just like crying, shouting and leaping for joy. Music in the entertainment world may be empty and artificial. It may or may not be full of truthful emotion. However in order to write good music you need to base it on real emotion founded on true experiences. As a songwriter I have learnt in order to get a good melody you need to be inspired by something that is real. When a Christian meditates on the truth of God his emotion should not be switched off. This emotional response can then be expressed truthfully through music. For the Christian, music is a gift of God with which he can express just how God makes him feel. It is a powerful testimony to your faith when the truth of God’s word is presented with a sincere heartfelt response.

Psalm 119:145

Psalm 33
Ephesians 5:19-20


NB This article is not meant to be a comprehensive discussion on the benefits of music in church.

Repentance

God is joyful if we are humble before him, accepting ourselves as unworthy before him. We can only truly turn from our sin by having faith in what is right. 

Jesus Christ is righteous and therefore we must put our faith in him. Repentance is a turning away from ourselves to Christ. It is not being self-sufficient but Christ-sufficient. It is not our ability to repent but his grace administered by faith in him.

A true believer becomes confident in Jesus Christ by faith and as a natural consequence becomes less confident in their own ways. Therefore their actions become sanctified by having faith in Christ. A living faith motivates. 

Indeed it is Christ the Good Shepherd that finds those who are lost and rescues them. Repentance is not how good we are at stopping sinning but whether we have faith in Jesus. Repentance is a spiritual fruit of faith. 

A Christian should not look at his ability to turn from sin, but towards the hope in Jesus, who is able to draw him away from his sin. So many Christians today seem to look within themselves at their own devotion for hope. My dear friend, only Christ was able to withstand the Devil's temptation, only he can draw you from your sin. That doesn't mean we are passive in the process of repentance, Christ engages with us in it. However it all depends on him, as does your entire salvation and adoption as his child. He doesn't leave it to chance. He rescues the lost sheep and there is nothing you can do to stop him. That's because he loves his sheep. Do you think after dying for his sheep he would then leave sanctification to chance? No, Jesus finds his lost sheep and makes sure they stay near to him. 

Jesus liberates his people and frees them from guilt. By his Holy Spirit he motivates us to love through faith and knowledge of him. We are justified by faith and this faith, looking at Christ, proves itself to be living by motivating us to love. It is not faith for justification plus our practical good works for sanctification. It is all of his grace. It is the precious faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ that he gives his people that motivates them to live increasingly transformed godly lives. Although they sometimes fail, falling into sin, he will renew them in his time.

Luke 15:3-7
2 Peter 1:3

Joy in God without judgmental fear

In the gospel of Matthew 1, Joseph has a problem.  Mary, his future wife, is pregnant. What is Joseph to do?  In his thoughts he considers hiding her away in order to prevent a public disgrace. However, it is while he is thinking about this problem that an angel of the Lord speaks to him in a dream.

Here, God is concerned about Joseph’s emotional state.  God speaks through the angel and says, “Do not fear”. God deals with Joseph’s problem by giving him the solution to an even bigger problem.  He tells Joseph that it is God himself who has brought about this new life by the Holy Spirit and that this baby is going to save his people from their biggest problem: sin itself.  In Matthew 1:21 Joseph is told to name this child Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. It is God that chooses the name of this child, not Joseph.  The name ‘Jesus’ means ‘God saves’.  Here, Matthew says it is Jesus who will save his people.  Jesus is indeed God made man. The God that saves referred to here is the same God mentioned in Exodus 3:13-15, the God that says he is “I Am That I Am”. God is, he doesn't change, and therefore his promises are sure. If God says he is going to save, he will. The gospel is good news!

The angel blessed Joseph by revealing to him the answer to man’s greatest problem: the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s moral law reveals our sin.  Without Christ, God’s judgement is something to be feared. But those who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ no longer need to fear punishment.  Jesus Christ deals with their guilt and failure.  He did what humankind cannot do. We cannot complete the demands of the moral law, but Christ came to the earth to fulfil the law for his people by living a perfect life, submitting to the will of God and by offering up his life. He has conquered death itself so that he can give the gift of never ending life to his people.  Christians ought to come to God with a humble reverential fear, with the understanding that God is working in them, as it says in Philippians 2:12; however, they no longer need to have a fear that causes hopelessness and despair.   1 John 4:18 says that there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has torment.  He who fears is not made perfect in love.  It also tells us that we love him because he first loved us.

Once we have faith in Jesus, our service to him should not be motivated by fear of being punished, but by the hope of Jesus Christ himself: his love, including his promise to save. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, by the hope set before him, endured the cross.

Hope is always the best motivator for true spiritual fruit. Not a fearful, judgemental spirit with heavy discipline, leading to guilt and self focus; but a forgiving, loving spirit, as Jesus had, leading to freedom from guilt and an oppressed spirit.

 Our emotional response, devotion or worship of God should not be our focus, but Christ himself. In order to help us love more, it is better to focus on Christ’s love for us, rather than on how well we love him. The first leads to freedom; the latter to guilt.

Faith is evidenced by works, but works don’t produce faith. Faith motivates works. The answer to a lack of spiritual fruit is not to focus on your performance, but on his performance; not to focus on your commitment to him, but on his promise to you; not to focus on your enjoyment of him but on his taking pleasure in you. It is necessary to examine youselves:

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? 2 Cor 13:5

 However, notice the phrase 'how that Christ is in you,'. In otherwords even when we examine ourselves we are to see Christ in us, not our own personal ability! Otherwise we are said to be reprobates.

 The focus should be God working in you Don’t get faith and spiritual fruit backwards, or that emphasis becomes a form of legalism. My definition of legalism is, ’works which are done without love’, not just, ‘trying to merit God’s favour through works’. Trying to prove your faith is real through your performance, although not done in an attempt to merit God’s favour, may be motivated out of selfishness and not love. Christan love is born out of a faith focused on God, thus learning to love by accepting him, and what and whom he loves.