How Do We Know We Are Truly Christ's?

How do we know we are one of God’s saved people? I will let God from His Holy Word answer this question, lest I be accused of being a Pharisee for suggesting the truth that some of us are merely fooling ourselves.

John 14:15
 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 15:14
 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

John 8:31
 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

1 John 2:3-6
 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;  but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:  the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Please look these verses up in their Biblical context and see how they speak to your own personal walk. Read the entire Bible and draw on other sources and teachers to be sure you understand the perils of our own sinful disobedience to God. Yes, we all fall short of the glory of God. But that falling short doesn’t mean we just gloss over our own salvation experience with this lie of the devil that we can simply make some light-hearted confession while going on to live the same way we always have.

You can call me a Pharisee for always preaching these things, but trust me, I know my own heart and the depths of my own sinful nature. I know I’m not doing a very good job at following Christ in the way Jesus tells me to. As the above - mentioned verses speak to. The Pharisees believed themselves righteous. I know I have only one hope and that hope is in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Call me something else because Pharisee isn’t the right term for me.

But even if I am a miserable failure of a Christian, that doesn’t lessen the truth of God’s Word which clearly states that true disciples obey their teacher. I am only trying to stay faithful to sharing the Word of God because that is what it says. I do not want to hear the terrible words that many will hear from Jesus on that day He speaks of in Matthew 7:21-23
 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Jesus follows that up with this.

Matthew 7:24-27
 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

That scares me. We need to encourage each other but we also must admonish each other with truth. I close with one more scripture, one I post a lot and it is always my response to those who wish to argue or accuse. Don’t listen to me. But listen to God.

Philippians 2:12-13
 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

 

 

 

The Christian Perspective on Self-Esteem

I have been reading a book on the Christian’s approach to self-esteem. How we view ourselves and in turn, others, is very important to walk carefully in. We are God’s great work, made in His image, so our perspective in judging both ourselves and others, needs to be Christ-like in nature. Think about this verse and consider working more on changing your heart than on sprucing up your appearance.

1 Samuel 16:7
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

It’s ok to dress nice and stay well-groomed, that reflects well upon our creator, but focusing on looks, which our culture is obsessed with, is not a Godly trait.

1 Peter 3:3-4
Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

Though written towards women, the principle applies to all of us. Christians, we must get off this bandwagon of the world, we must think differently about both ourselves and each other, then the world does.

Spend some time reading God’s Word and discover WHO you are in Christ. That, my friends, is where we must find our esteem.

Grumbling - It Turns Off the Light of Christ

Philippians 2:14
Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Wow, do I fail here. Often. What I love about the Bible is how often in it God uses terms such as “all.” The verse commands us to do all things, ALL things, without grumbling or disputing. That means even the things I don’t want to do or I don’t like.

You ever want to ask God “Why?” Well, I can save you the trouble this morning. God answered the question as to why we should do all things without grumbling or disputing in the verses following that command. Why should we not grumble or dispute?

Philippians 2:15
So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

The world sees us acting just like them. We talk about Jesus and how great it is to be His child, yet the world sees a different story. Then we wonder why they don’t respond to us when we ask them to church or we share Christ with them in the hopes of them being saved.

I don’t do very well in this. How about you? Since it says “all” things this means we should do what the boss says, and do it with joy. It means when our spouse asks us to take out the trash, we should be happy to do it. It means all things we do, needs to be done in joy.

Hard? Yes, it is. But God did not leave us alone to accomplish these tasks; He sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us to do this. It’s called the “fruit of the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22-25
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

We have the ability to obey the command. Romans 8:37 says, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” And that was speaking about literally dying and being in danger, so we certainly can conquer our grumblings over the day to day life things.

So, here’s the challenge.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing. So, we can be the light of Christ to the lost world.

Humility

Humility. Not exactly a trait we find truly exalted in the world today. In reality the man who was to walk in humility amongst our world would be considered weak. Growing up as a boy, I was always small and slight for my age and the abuse I received was amazing to me. The arrogance and prideful nature of the other boys made itself known by verbal abuse exhibited by name calling. Attempts to intimidate me all through school and on the playground led me to develop an act of my own. As I grew older I found that by carrying myself as being arrogant and challenging the bullies to fight, I was able to create an atmosphere of arrogance only to be reflected just as the character Fonzie was in the TV show Happy Days. Later on alcohol would enhance my ability to portray myself as unafraid and confident, if not in size and strength, but in pure lunacy. Crazy acts of bravado performed merely to give off the appearance that I was not someone to be messed with. A sad act, one that, even as a Christian, I struggle to let go of even now.

But now I have come to Christ in full acknowledgment that without His gift of mercy and grace, I am in serious distress. I am blessed that my life as a Christian has developed through God’s use of trials and tribulation to bring me to a point of knowing I need Him. Desperately do I need Him. Not only because I desire to spend eternity with Him, but also I cannot make it through the sorrows of this life without his strength. I am a broken man.

The very essence of Christianity lies in just that position. I am speaking of the position of complete submission to Christ. That is what we are called to. Andrew Murray says this in his book, Humility, “The creature has not only to look back to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.” This is simple Biblical truth.

Friends, I ask you this; Is it not our calling to seek a life that mirrors that of Christ? The process of sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in making changes in us that will lead us down the path of being like Christ. Notice this as told in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NASB) “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are to be preparing for the return of Christ by allowing God to work in us so that at His coming we are to be without blame. But we cannot do this within our own power. 1 John 2:3-6 (NASB) says “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” Read that last line again. “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” The Apostle gives a clear command in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NASB) “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

So what was Jesus like? The Bible teaches us that there is one clear attribute of Jesus that best describes Him and thus becomes our greatest pursuit and that would be humility. Again I quote Murray, “If humility be the first, the all-including grace of the life of Jesus, if humility be the secret of His atonement, then the health and strength of our spiritual life will entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else… Until a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and death of self; which gives up all the honor of men as Jesus did, to seek the honor that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and counts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be exalted,--until such a humility be what we seek in Christ above our chief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.”

Do we understand what Christ did for us? Philippians 2:8 (NASB) “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” When that verse speaks of Jesus humbling Himself it means that He did not have to leave His position of glory that He held in Heaven with the Father. But he came down as a simple man, a carpenter, and walked this earth in poverty and strife. He allowed others to abuse Him and mock Him. He was sentenced to die without even a real charge against Him that was true. Yet He did not fight back. He could have. In the account of His arrest in Matthew He stated that if He wanted He could summon up more than twelve legions of angels to fight for Him. But He sacrificed His own glory, His reputation, and was “obedient” to the point of death.

The entire life of Christ as He walked this earth was marked by His humility. He came as a servant. By His own words Jesus reveals His humility. Luke 22:27 (NASB) "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” Matthew 11:29 (NASB) "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart…” His teachings were clear that it was the one who is last that will be first in His kingdom. Matthew 20:26-29 (NASB)
"It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

The entire life and teachings of Christ spoke of humility. So why is it that we see so little of it, even within the church? Our ministries are full of pride. There is bickering and back-biting within our work. All of us think things must be done our way. Our marriages are full of arguing. Divorce rates run just as high within the believers as within the world. Turn your Bible to the Book of James. James 4:1-6 (NASB) “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

The answer lies in our own desires. Our own lustful and coveting flesh. We must put to death the desires of the flesh. We must humble ourselves before God through prayer and fasting. We must take the world out of our lives, our homes, and yes, even our churches. We must discipline ourselves to seek the filling of the Holy Spirit and to ask Him to fill us and empower us to walk the narrow path Jesus speaks of and to be guided by Him away from the wide road to destruction.

This is not an easy task because our flesh will fight against this. Our friends and co-workers will do everything in their power to draw us away from the Father and closer to the world they choose to reside in. We must stand firm in the “Full Armor of God” as set forth in Ephesians 6 and we must develop close friendships with others who desire intimacy with God and then follow the command of Ephesians 6:18 (NASB) which instructs us that “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” We must walk and pray in the Spirit and give up any hope in ourselves or in others and instead do all things through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We must accept that following Christ has a price. Salvation is a free gift, but it does not come without responsibility. We must follow the call of Jesus as set forth in Matthew 16:24-26 (NASB) "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

When I take a good, hard look at myself I cannot imagine how someone like me could ever be like Christ. Humbleness and humility are like pipedreams when I try and imagine myself in that way. The gift of Salvation comes through with a guarantee, but that does not remove our responsibility to grow and to seek a life as close to Christ as we can. It is humility that must be the attribute we most diligently seek. Of course I will fail in this endeavor, but I can never stop fighting this war. I must also remember that even an outward appearance of humility is of no value, God sees the heart and my humility must run deep within my heart. As always our hope lies in Christ and in the eternity He promises those who give their lives to him. Philippians 1:6 is the hope a poor, wretched sinner like me can take great comfort in, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Praise the most Holy name of Jesus. Our hope and our salvation.