‘It Is No Longer I Who Live, But Christ Who Lives In Me.’

Matthew 6:1-18
Jesus says that we are not to be like ‘the hypocrites’(2,5,16). The word ‘hypocrite’ means ‘play actor’. It refers to ‘putting on a performance’. This performance may be extremely religious, but God is not in it. The hypocrites live according to ‘the letter’ of the law, but they know nothing of the power of ‘the Spirit’(2 Corinthians 3:6). The hypocrites’ religious performance gets along very well without God. His presence is not sought, welcomed or treasured. The hypocrites draw attention to themselves. They do not direct attention away from themselves to God. There is a better way than the way of hypocrisy. It is the way of holiness. Our lives are to be centred on Christ - ‘it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’(Galatians 2:20). We must not forget: apart from Him we can do nothing. We are to abide in Him (John 15:5) - in true holiness.
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

Holiness Is To Be Seen. Happiness Is To Be Shared.

Matthew 5:13-16
Holiness is to be seen. Happiness is to be shared. We are not to be secret disciples. It will not be easy to live the life of Christ’s disciples. In a world of much corruption, we are to be ‘the salt of the earth’(13). In a world of much darkness we are to be ‘the light of the world’(14). If we are to bring the refreshing light of Christ into our world, we ourselves must receive spiritual refreshment as we let the light of God’s Word shine on our lives. Reading God’s Word can never be a purely personal thing. Being ‘the salt of the earth’and ‘the light of the world’- this is what Jesus says we are- , we read Scripture with a view to learning how we are to live in the world. Don’t lose your saltiness. Be salty enough to create a thirst for God in other people. Don’t let your light grow dim. Let it shine brightly. Remember - all the glory belongs to God (16; Psalm 115:1).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

The Christ-Centred Life Is The Truly Happy Life.

Matthew 5:3-12
‘The Beatitudes’show us God’s way of blessing. We might also describe them as the Be Attitudes, since they show us what we are to be. Jesus teaches us that the way to happiness is the way of holiness. The only alternative to the way of holiness is the way of hypocrisy. There can be no true happiness when we are walking in the way of hypocrisy. Holiness is to take shape in our lives - the shape of Jesus Christ living in us. This is the truly happy life: the Christ-centred life. We are not to live according to present appearances. We are to live in the light of the future Reality of God's heavenly Kingdom. Some of Jesus’later statements can be viewed as an exploration of the meaning of the Beatitudes. The general principles (3-10) are to be applied personally: ‘Blessed are you...’(11-12). We are not only to read the Beatitudes. We are to live them.
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

Beyond The ‘Pain’ Of ‘Discipline’, There Is ‘The Peaceful Fruit Of Righteousness.’

2 Samuel 7:1-29
David was king. God was looking ahead to the next king, Solomon. Knowing the kind of man Solomon would become, God speaks of chastening: ‘When he does wrong, I will chasten him’. This chastening is an expression of God’s ‘steadfast love’: ‘Those whom I love, I rebuke and chasten’. How do we respond to God’s chastening? Don’t be like ‘Saul’. He was ‘put away from’ being king because of his continual disobedience. ‘Be zealous and repent’. When you are being chastened, don’t forget the love of God: ‘The Lord disciplines him whom He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives’. Why does God chasten His children? - ‘He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness’. Beyond the ‘pain’ of ‘discipline’, there is ‘the peaceful fruit of righteousness’(14-15; Revelation 3:19; Hebrews 12:5-11).

2 Samuel 8:1-9:13
David was involved in many battles with his enemies. Their antagonism had been aroused by his strong stand for the Lord. David enjoyed many victories. Why? - ‘The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went’(8:6,14). Jesus said, ‘Apart from Me you can do nothing’(John 15:5). We are not left on our own. Through ‘the kindness of God’, we receive strength (9:3). ‘The heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind’. Through His kindness, He has provided ‘plentiful redemption’. When, through the kindness of God, we enjoy His victory let’s not forget, ‘Every virtue we possess, every victory won, every thought of holiness, are His alone’(Church Hymnary, 218,336). The ‘victory’ does not come from ourselves. It is ‘the victory of our God’: ‘Sing to the Lord… He has done marvellous things’(Psalms 44:3; 98:1-3)!
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

God Is Holy, He Calls His People To Be Holy.

1 Samuel 5:1-6:16
In 5:3-4, we read of God’s superiority over Dagon - ‘The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King’(Jeremiah 10:10). ‘The hand of the Lord was heavy’ on those who set themselves against Him (5:6-7,9,11). Let ‘the Lord alone be exalted’. He is our only ‘Saviour’(Isaiah 2:17-18; 43:10-11). Through His victory over Dagon, the Lord calls us to be completely devoted to Him: ‘Down went Dagon, smashed in pieces when the ark of God came in. So shall God destroy those idols that defile our hearts within. Come, Lord, and destroy them’. The return of the ark brought joy (6:13). When the Lord is restored to His rightful place among His people, there is joy. ‘Heaven came down and glory filled my soul’. When the Lord comes to us, we ‘rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory’(1 Peter 1:8).

1 Samuel 6:17-7:17
God is ‘holy’(20). He calls His people to be holy. With His call to holiness, there is His promise of blessing (3). Committed to serving the Lord only and calling on the Lord for His help, Israel wins a great victory over the Philistines (4-11). God’s people give thanks to Him - ‘Until now the Lord has helped us’(12). The victory over the Philistines was spectacular. There were, however, many ‘ordinary’ days. Here, we may learn from Samuel. He served the Lord ‘all the days of his life’(15). The spectacular triumphs were few and far between. The ‘ordinary’ days were many - ‘he went on a circuit year by year...’(16). In all his journeys, he did not forget to ‘come home’(7:17). Other places and other people seem to be so interesting. Don’t forget - There is much work to be done at ‘home’.
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

The Holy Spirit Is Our ‘Guarantee Of Heavenly And Eternal Glory.’

2 Corinthians 4:1-5:10
God has called us to salvation- ‘God has shone in our hearts…’(4:6). He has called us to service- ‘having this ministry by the mercy of God’(4:1). We receive salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’(Acts 16:31). We are not to keep our faith to ourselves. We ‘believe’. We are to ‘speak’. This is God’s way of reaching ‘more and more people’ with His ‘grace’(13-15). Our experience of salvation and our empowering for service are both grounded in one great gift from God: ‘God… has given us the Spirit’(5:5). We fail our Lord often. Our faith is weak. Our witness seems so ineffective. When you feel such a failure, remember the Spirit. He will not fail you. He is our ‘guarantee of heavenly and eternal glory’(4:16-5:5).

2 Corinthians 5:11-7:1
‘Reconciled’ to God through Christ, we have received ‘the ministry of reconciliation’. Saved by Him, we are to ‘work with Him’. We are ‘not to accept the grace of God in vain’ by living for ourselves. We are to be ‘ambassadors for Christ’. We must proclaim the urgent message of salvation - ‘now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation’. We must call men and women to respond to God’s message of salvation: ‘Be reconciled to God’(5:18-6:2). If we are to be effective ‘ambassadors for Christ’, we must dedicate our lives to Him: ‘Let us cleanse ourselves… and make holiness perfect in the fear of God’(7:1). Without this heartfelt commitment to godly living, we cannot really serve the Lord at all. Our wrong lives will drown out our ‘right’ words. We need true lives as well as ‘true’ words.
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com

How Are We To Live As People Who Are Saved, Holy And Different?

We may look around us and say to ourselves, “It cannot be done. There is too much sin in our world.” We look inside ourselves and we say, “It cannot be done. There is too much sin in ourselves.”
In Hebrews 11, we read about many people who trusted the Lord. Their faith was real. It changed their lives. They lived in difficult times. They encountered many problems. Many times, they were tempted to give up. They didn’t give up. They kept on going. They were heroes of the faith.
As you read about these heroes of the faith, let God’s Word challenge you. Bring your own weak faith to Him and ask Him to give you a stronger faith. Say to the Lord, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’(Mark 9:24).
We learn from so many different people. We read about their faith. We are inspired by their faith. We do not, however, make too much of them. We must always be ‘looking to Jesus’(2).
We must learn the lesson of the transfiguration. We look at Moses. We look at Elijah. We learn from them. There comes a point where they - together with all God’s faithful people - must step aside, leaving us to look up and see ‘Jesus only’(Mark 9:2-8).
When we look to Him, He will change us. He saves us. He makes us holy. He will make us different.

Christ Calls Us To Be Holy.

In Isaiah 5:3, we find words that are full of sadness: “he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit”. These words are followed by a question that is full of challenge: “When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?” (Isaiah 5:4).
This is the call to holiness. God’s people are called to be “holy” (Isaiah 4:3). Holiness is not an optional extra. It’s not something we can take or leave. We cannot say, “Yes, I want to be saved but I don’t want to be holy.”
When salvation is real, there will be a real desire for holiness. God does not forgive our sins only to say, “Just go on living the way you did before I forgave your sins”. He forgives us our sins and He changes us, leading us into a new way of living – His way.
Holiness is not popular in today’s world. The world speaks of God’s people with contempt – “these holy people need to learn to live in the real world.”
When God calls His people ‘holy’, He speaks in a very different way. He speaks with affection. He looks upon us with love. We are special to Him. We are precious in His eyes. God loves us and He calls us to be holy. We are to live as those who have been set apart for God.
We are not to live for this world only. There is something else, something greater than this so-called “real world.” There is a world that is unseen and eternal, heavenly and glorious. This is our higher calling, our call to holiness. Let us “look to the things that are unseen and eternal.” Let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:18; Philippians 3:14).