1 Peter 1:14
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,
As Christians we must be obedient to God. That is our calling and it should be our desire—to please Him in everything. Before we were believers we followed our own desires (our lusts). That is all we knew. We had no other direction in life. The world, and our flesh, is all we knew. God and Jesus were alien to us.
The following is a very short summary, and my comments, of the book The Gospel According to Jesus, by John MacArthur, written in 1988.
I remember that the book made quite a stir. But MacArthur was absolutely correct in what he said. And it got a lot of people thinking—about how the gospel should be presented and about salvation.
For a long time, preachers and evangelists have had a wrong view of the gospel and how to present it. Some very well-known theologians (like Lewis Sperry Chafer and Charles C. Ryrie) were saying that we should not expect new converts to begin a life of obedience to Christ right away; that they at first should receive Him as Savior and then later, when they are more mature, receive Him as Lord. They were saying that to expect converts to be disciples of Christ right away was asking too much.
And there was also a theology (according to 1 Cor. 2:15-3:3, by Chafer) that there is two classes of Christians: carnal and Spiritual. But MacArthur strongly disagrees with that. He says that carnal always refers to a non-believer. I believe this is right (but I didn’t always believe this). I know that there are levels of maturity for a believer, but he can never be carnal—living in sin; that is what carnal means. A Christian is to be Spirit-filled and be obedient to Christ; and when he is not he can and will eventually (with the help of the Holy Spirit) repent and start over.
Now let me get right to it. When a person comes to Christ a miracle takes place. He is born again. He becomes a new person. At the moment of conversion, he receives Christ for all that He is: God, Sovereign, Savior, and Lord.
Let me back up. At first, when a person is saved he sees that he is a sinner; and so, he comes under conviction of sin; and then he repents of that sin. And then at the same time He experiences Christ calling him to a life of faith and obedience. So, he receives Christ as his Savior from sin and as his Lord (because He is Lord). Hence, when someone is saved, he is giving up his old life of sin and is born again into a new life of obedience to Christ. This is the gospel according to Jesus.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments (Psalm 111:10).
When I act in wisdom I will always regard what He wants.
This morning I’m hanging out in one of my favorite places for breakfast: Panera Bread. It’s cool in here but hot outside. It will be 100 degrees today, the hottest day yet.
I’ve been reading Killing the Killers, by Bill O’Reilly. So far in the reading it’s just been a lot of killing by terrorists. I’m waiting for the good guys to show up.
I’m taking some time off from work—my painting. I know I will have some jobs coming up soon. I always do. People will call. Actually, some have called but I said no. I like my days off too much.
Divine Encounters
I’ve been thinking some on “divine encounters.” What I mean is the encounters I would have with people as an ambassador for Christ—when I am walking in the Spirit. Thus, when he or she meets and engages with someone, since we as Christians have the Holy Spirit in us, we normally have a divine encounter with them. And so, everything we say to them is as if God is talking to them through us. We are the instrument of God bringing His message to them. This is a concept that we don’t always think about, but it is true. And we realize it most when we are walking in the Spirit—walking close to God in obedience.
I want to remind myself constantly of this idea—that I am always His ambassador and that normally every encounter I have with people is divine. I must not waste my time. I must make the most of it. If I am walking in the spirt, everything I say to people will be from His (God’s) mouth—from His heart. But if I say what is trivial and not of the Spirit, I am blocking the flow of His Spirit through me. That is a tragedy, and unfortunately, it happens too often in too many Christians. Too many of us are walking around as zombies (dead to the Spirit), and what we say is contrary to what the Spirit is trying to say in and through us. We must open our heart to Him; we must clean out our mouth and let the Spirt flow through us and out to others—so that we have those natural “divine encounters.”
Stephen Nielsen 