A2. It is definitely necessary to continue to follow and believe the teachings of the Bible once we have accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. If we do not it boils down to having made Jesus our Savior but not Lord of our life.
We are exhorted to become more like Christ, to become holy as He is holy. Therefore we must allow God's Word and the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in the way of our Lord.
Since we have been "set free from sin" and "have become slaves to righteousness" (Romans 6:18) we will be compelled by the Holy Spirit to make Jesus our Lord and Master as He is the Righteous One. Our minds need to grasp this fact that Jesus is now our Master --the Lord of our life--our Commanding Officer.
Jesus is not a harsh taskmaster but the ever loving One. In fact, due to His love for us, and all He has done for us because of that love, out of the gratitude of our hearts, we will instinctively live His way in response to His loving deeds for us.
When tracing the New Testament (NT) from Romans, all through the epistles and Revelation, this love for us, His children, is very prominent and inspires humble obeisance towards Him and a welling up of wanting to love Him back. When we realize this we will be impelled to become holy, living sacrifices devoted to Him. We will be committed to live circumspectly, sincerely for Jesus, our Lord and Master whom we must put on the throne of our heart.
We often lose sight of God's love thus the many Scripture verses of exhortation. As Joyce Meyer* says in her book Battlefield of the Mind, "Our minds are not born again with the New Birth experience--they have to be renewed". (Romans 12:2) We need to stuff our minds with God's Word, meditate upon it, so we will be energized to understand and re-train/renew our minds to live it out. Christians are "predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His (God's) Son (Romans 8:29). They have been "washed, sanctified, justified in the Name of Jesus and by the Holy Spirit" ( 1 Cor. 6:11). We have not been left entirely to our own devices in our process of becoming holy and like Christ in that constant renewal of our minds.
When we attune our minds to the blessings we have in Christ--what He accomplished for us by His death and resurrection we will be more able to live for Him. Galations 5:1 tells us Christ set us free from the yoke of slavery to the law and sin. We are free!! But we must stand firm in our faith.
God chose us to be holy and blameless (Eph. 1:3-4). "He saved us and called us to a holy life" (2 Tim 1:9,10). He chose us "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit"; chosen "for obedience to Jesus Christ..." (1 Peter 1:2).
Again, Jesus purifies us from all sin and unrighteousness and has forgiven it. He made us slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18). The assurance that "God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), leaves us little room for excuse not to follow and believe in Jesus and His teachings everyday of our Christian lives until He comes for us.
Some folks may think, "I'm saved and have eternal life so I'm very safe. That's good enough for me. I'm 'free' therefore I can live as I please." A believer's freedom did not come cheaply. It was not cheap grace...a man had to die. That man was Jesus Christ (1 Cor 10:23, 24, 31-33). We need to be God-pleasers and make Jesus, Lord of our life, to become, in our minds and actions, the bond servants of Jesus Christ. We are free, yes; free to do God's will.
Romans 6:1-4, 11-16, 22-23 verses are excellent on this thought. "What shall I say then, shall I go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!....in order that ...we too may live a new life...you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness...slaves to God."
If one boy hits another but then says he is sorry and apologizes and the other boy forgives the hitter, that does not entitle the hitter to continue to hit. The other boy surely won't like it and will run out of patience and good will. We too should not take God and His gift for granted (He won't lose patience with us and 'unfriend us' but we will not be satisfied in our hearts).
This train of thought leads to God's desire for us to be holy because He is holy, indeed as said earlier, He 'chose us to be holy and blameless" (Eph 1:3, 4). Indeed we are encouraged to "NOT conform to the evil desires" we had "when we lived in ignorance" (1 Peter 1:13-15). We are to "present ourselves to God as approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15, 19). "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
Our love for God will be the key to obeying His commands (1 John 5:2-3, 5). We will be eager to do what is good (Titus 2:13, 14) and not feel grudgingly obliged to do what pleases Him. Doing what pleases Him is a sign to ourselves and others that we belong to Him (1 John 3:21-24). A natural outflow of being born of God is not to continue to sin(1 John 3:9).
God's people must build themselves up...in faith and keep themselves in God's love...(Jude 20, 21). As they do this they will learn more of what pleases God; become more sensitive to His will and in so doing, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in us will progress.
Our every effort will pay off...to our faith will be added goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. As these increase in measure (2 Peter 1:5-9) our hearts will be set apart for Christ and Lord." Our consciences will be clear and good towards God and allow Him to be Master and Lord of more and more of ourselves.
Helping ourselves towards the goal of a good conscience we can examine and test ourselves to see if there is anything wrong. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation will aid us. We have confidence that when "we confess our sins, that God is faithful and just and will forgive us of those sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
This does not mean that this life is without struggle. We are human beings, not divine, yet that is not an "easy-out" excuse for us to sin either. "God has created us in Jesus to do good works, and gave us the seal of the Holy Spirit" (Eph 2:6-10). God has made us righteous in His sight yet we still need to be holy in our own sight and in the sight of others.
Besides our own self-confession to the Lord, we can confess to our brothers and sisters in Christ (James 5:16). We can also pray and "aim for perfection" as we examine ourselves (2 Cor 13:5, 7, 9-11). We will never be totally perfect, blameless or holy as our Father, God, is, but we must aim for it.
The consequence of this is so we will be clear minded and self-controlled allowing us to pray (1 Peter 4:7). So we can devote ourselves to prayer (Col 4:2-6). To be so righteous that our prayers are powerful and effective (James 5:16). Jesus will not be ashamed to call us brothers (Heb 2:10, 11; 2 Thess 1:11).
Living this life God has created for us, we will be a witness to the glory of God; we will 'give Him face' and draw others to Christ (Eph 2:6-10; 2 Tim 4:15-16). This is part of our 'job'. This not only by our isolated selves but as each believer is made ever more holy, and we gather together collectively as the church of God, we are a witness to the "rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Eph 3:10-11); a force for God with which to reckon.
In the book of Romans, we who have accepted Christ as Savior are seen as justified in God's eyes. However, man cannot see our mind and heart, so the book of James emphasizes our deeds, good deeds, so that we are "justified" in the eyes of men. We did not earn salvation by doing good works but were saved to do them. We were designed for good works; a purpose for our salvation (James 2:14, 17). James 3 and 4 show us many examples of the good deeds we can and should set our minds and hands to be doing. That faith that is there first, produces these actions: helping the poor, widows, or orphans; holy living; taming the tongue; not coveting and more. These are all practical aspects of Christian faith; faith in action.
Let us devote ourselves to these (Titus 3:5-8), walking as Jesus walked (1 John 2:2-3, 6). Let us give joy to the Lord as we walk in faithfulness to the truth (3 John 3, 4) believing wholeheartedly in Him. We will be blessed as we keep the words of God's prophecy (BIBLE), making Jesus our Lord and Master as well as Savior, running the good race that was set out for us until we hear God's "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Rev. 22:7, 12-14). Amen.
22 July 2013
*Note: I do not subscribe to all of Joyce Meyer's teachings. Some are good but ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern aright what is according to the teachings in God's Word.
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