The Apostle Paul writing in Philippians 2v3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."
And finally, the Apostle Peter writing in 1 Peter 5v5-6 "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."
Individualism
Contrast those values to those of the twenty first century society, where morality can be summed up in this kind of attitude: "The more you care for others, the more they will care for you." So look after the interests of others and you will also be looked after. In other words everyone is on level parity and there is total equality within society. In some of the more narcissistic and cynical parts of society, there is no other, the order is "me, me and more me and I am far more important and higher than anyone else". Individualism is where the individual's importance is placed higher than all others and is imbued with self-reliance and personal independence. Even when help and compassion are offered, so often there are strings attached and hoops to be jumped through. If you do this, we will do this for you. And sadly, it is not just within society that this exists, but also within the church and amongst Christians.
It is as if we are denying the basic rule of compassion and mercy, which dictates that we are to be serving others, because they are also humans created in the image of God, loved by God and so should be loved unconditionally by those who proclaim to be God's people - the Church. Denying that basic need to others is pure unadulterated selfishness and places others below our own selves. Individualism within the church, lends itself to hypocritical behaviour and attitudes, which are inconsistent with Scripture and behaviour. Individualism, where you as an individual are placed at the front of the queue, is not loving others and not considering others higher than yourself. It certainly could not be construed as serving other people to always place your own desires above all others. There is an old acronym JOY - Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last.
Relationship
The basic aspect of love is that it involves relationship, so therefore there must be more than one person involved. God is love, and is a trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If God were not Trinity then God could not also be love. The church community is meant to be a radical community of service and love, which is a reflection of the Trinitarian God. Being part of a radical community of service and love would mean the Church going back to basics. The Church needs individuals to be living radical lifestyles of devotion to Jesus Christ, engaging with the culture, counting the cost of discipleship and reflecting true humanity. But being an individual in community involves much more than merely being an individual in isolation. Christians are to be involved within communities, and not as isolationists. So what does a radical Christian community of individuals look like?
Creative Community
Firstly, the church needs to be a community that is seen to be radical by the surrounding society. At Pentecost, the church began when the Holy Spirit filled the Disciples (Acts 2v4). This momentous occasion started the Discipleship process of how Christians were to live as God's people. The hallmarks of this community were commitment and transformation. This community was radical. It was where people's lives were being changed as the Holy Spirit filled them. Instead of being a withdrawn people filled with fear of retribution from the Roman government and Jewish leaders, they became a people filled with boldness and joy. The New Testament church grew by being a radical community imbued with radical individuals engaging with others. The very existence of the church today is proof that Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead, for if He did not, those who were His disciples would have disbanded and gone back to their old lifestyle and the Holy Spirit would not have come.
Creatively Radical
If we want the church of today to grow then we need to be building a strong community of faith. A community, which involves joining together isolated and solitary individuals and where people are imbued with love, valued and are showing care to each other, in particular the frail, elderly and young, with what the theologian Jürgen Moltmann calls a "creative passion for the impossible." An inherent human need is the need to belong, and by fulfilling relational needs, the radical Church community will become relevant to the people within it. It will then also become relevant to those who are on the outside and looking in. For example, by using virtual reality, digital space and social networks, the housebound and geographically isolated peoples can also be included and cared for.
This involves improving present societal conditions, rather than remaining a conservative community, which merely repairs the status quo. In doing this, today's church will be emulating characteristics of the early church (Acts 2v44-45). As individuals Christians were added to the church, discipline helped ensure that the community was being seen as a holy community. We see in the early church as recorded in the Book of Acts, that to be excommunicated from the community for gross sin, was a severe punishment. However church discipline is not primarily about punishment, but rather a formative and corrective service as part of Discipleship. Church community discipline is foundational to the making of Christian Disciples, because it concerns the community's spiritual health, and strengthens the bonds with the local community.
Committed Community
The church must be a community of committed individual Christians, willing to radically follow God in lifestyle and behaviour. Being holy for the Christian means radically exhibiting love for God and others. It is by being seen as different from the surrounding society, that the church community will grow. Often when prayers are said, it is within the perception of the individual pray-er of what the answer to that prayer will be! It is as if the answer is there, we are just waiting for God to confirm our presupposition. When, in fact, prayer is to be where God is answering the prayers in His own way and timing - often unexpectantly! By the church community and Christian individuals thinking and acting creatively, many more people would be seeing God in action. Instead of independence, one of the prime hallmarks of being a follower of Jesus Christ is the need to be dependent on others as well as being dependable. This is imbued within the story of Jesus Christ washing His disciples feet.
Transformed Community
The Church community is to be actively engaged in radically helping people to be transformed and not merely happy. Transformation is a powerful witness to the power of God and shows the relevancy of God and His people. The best way to show this transformation is for the Church leadership to set the example, and show a way forward. Good leadership has good accountability to each other and to the whole Church community. If the church leaders are displaying a transparent life of creatively loving God and others, then the individual Christians within those churches will also seek to be transparently loving God and other people. The media love to report when a Church and/or Church leader has done something inherently wrong
Finally, Jesus recommends that those who follow Him be wise like serpents and innocent as doves (Matthew 10v16b). This means that we are to be skilful and shrewd in making decisions that are characterised by intelligence, patience and shrewdness. Additionally, we are to be gentle and harmless, like doves. This would make our church leaders and us accountable to live a life of integrity worthy of the gospel (Philippians 1v27). This is a life, which is seen to be as holy and blameless. In order to do this, we need to depend on the Holy Spirit for strength and caring for others is a vital necessity for you and I. By relying on the Holy Spirit who indwells us, we are therefore perpetually connected to Jesus Christ, who is after all, the Head of the church community who are His bride.
The antidote to individualism is the continual creation of radical communities of transformed individual Christians, willing to be totally devoted to God, and each other and being sustained by the Holy Spirit who indwells, empowers, comforts, transforms, sustains and guides! By being radical communities thinking and acting creatively, we will be reflecting a creative Trinitarian God, and the Church will fulfil her bridal mandate of faithfully serving Jesus Christ, in submission to God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus in Matthew 5v43-45 gloriously explains how to do this: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." And then to verse 48 "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." Now that is the key to radically transformed communities and the antidote to individualism!
For more to think about please do ask yourself the following questions, writing them down if you can, and see how you respond or react to them. Then why not share your answers with your spouse or a close friend, so that you can pray over any issues together.
Q1. What in my life could I change, so that the focus is away from myself and onto helping others?
Q2. How can my church and I reflect the Trinitarian God by being creatively loving, transforming and serving?
Q3. How can I help my church be more relevant in the community where it is located?
G'day and welcome to Partakers! Today, we are continuing to pray for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani being held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, Iran! He has been held since October 2009. Pastor Nadarkhani is under constant pressure from Iranian Authorities to convert to Islam! Keep praying!!
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers and petitions concerning our brother, Youcef. May our brother know your presence with him as he is held in Lakan Prison in Rasht, Iran. Encourage, bless and maintain him as he seeks to trust in you!
Prayers for his family and church
Be also with his wife, his children and the group of believers under his charge! We pray against the decision of the Iranian authorities and ask that from your wellspring of mercy that a reprieve would be given and his life spared! For we ask this in the name of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, whom we have fellowship with Youcef in prison. Amen.
Prayers for Iranian Christians
Now prayers for our Christian family in Iran. O Father, continue to embolden them with wisdom and courage. Lord Jesus, may their love of you, shine through their actions towards each other and their enemies, just as you commanded in the Written Word, the Bible. Holy Spirit, who indwells them, endow them with peace and strength as only you can give!
Help them to trust fully in you and be wise in their dealings with the authorities. Father, we ask these things in the name of your son, Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Apostle John, writing in 1 John 5:9-12 - "We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."
Why Is It So?
I am sure you have all heard kids in the supermarket yelling out "Why?" to their parents. We all have, I am sure, questions we want to know the answer to. Why? The question I am often asked is "You are a Christian. Why is it so?" My father, was and remained throughout his life a convinced agnostic and in the few conversations we had about religion and Christianity, he could never understand why it was, that I could not just admit that I would never know if God existed or not, far less a God who was personally interested in me. My reply as ever, was that the very question "Why is it so?" needed to be answered, in order for me to be satisfied.
Why I am a Christian?
Now I could say that at the age of 12, we moved to a town on the coast of Australia, and was invited along to a local youth group and several weeks later, gave my life to Christ and became a Christian. Of course that is partly true. I can't even claim to be a Christian because I was raised in a Christian country. Australia was and is probably the second most secular country on this planet. Sure Australia has its moral base grounded in historic Christianity, but for the latter part of its history, Australia has been thoroughly secular and non-religious. Even if I had been raised in a country such as England, with Christian parents, that would also, only be partly true and I could have rejected Christianity as many people do. The reason that I am a Christian is not because I chased God, but rather He chased me. Unknown to me at the time, God was chasing me and following my every path with the urgency of a lover after the beloved, just as described in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 2:2-14).
God had been pursuing me
This piece of poetic Scripture speaks about the love that God has for his people, and the energy He puts in to calling his people to Himself. He is always reaching out, for all to return to His arms. As for me, it wasn't until I was a 12 year old that I heard that I needed to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Before that I didn't know I had to do anything with this Jesus. Jesus was only a curse word for me at the time. That or was just someone or something that the RE teachers bored me with at school.
We are primarily Christians, not because we come to church services or just happened to have been born in a supposedly Christian country. We are primarily Christians, because God first chased and harried us into His arms. We are Christians, if you are one, because God first loved you. And as a tremendous lover, He beckons and calls people all the time to respond to His call, and back to Him. How does He chase us with His love? He chases each person differently, just as each Christian testimony is different.
Take for instance the Apostle Paul in Acts 8 & 9. God chased him through Paul's mind and his religious upbringing and education. Paul had known about God from his childhood. Paul was a righteous Pharisee who saw persecuting these ‘Christians' as his religious duty, so that he may somehow find favour with God. As Paul was gloating over the death of the martyr Stephen, God was pursuing Him, probably raising doubts in Paul's mind as to why Stephen would say at the point of death "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and forgive them for what they do" (Acts 7:54-60). Surely doubts must have been raised in Paul's mind as he approved of this death (Acts 8:1). Paul was also wrestling with his conscience. Externally he was a righteous man, a Pharisee of Pharisees. Yet when he internally examined himself and his heart, he found himself failing regarding covetousness, which is the last of the Ten Commandments. Then finally, Jesus himself makes a sudden and dramatic appearance before Paul and confronts him directly, "Why are you kicking against me? Why are you rejecting my advances?" (Acts 9) Paul's conversion to Christianity is often described as being sudden. But the only thing sudden about his conversion was this climatic appearance of Jesus.
Just as that was true of Paul, it is true of me, just as it is true of all those who profess to call themselves a Christian Disciple. I am a Christian Disciple not because of anything I have done, but rather because He first chased me, and because He first loved me. Jesus himself said "I came to seek and to save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
If you are a Christian today, it is not because of anything you have done. It is because of the events at Christmas and Easter that you are a Christian, when God entered this world as a human baby and took all the necessary steps so that all people could have the choice to be His people or not. In my more smug moments I used to congratulate myself for being a Christian. How proud I was that I, was a Christian and that God was a jolly lucky God that I had decided to follow Him. It was during one of my less self-deluded moments, that I examined myself and I found God pricking my conscience and correcting me, and I read the New Testament "For the Son of Man came, not to be served but to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark10:45).
Welcome to Partake WISE. The word for today is sin.
Sinning!
I wonder if you have ever played tennis and went to hit the ball but missed. Or you actually hit the ball and it went outside the court! Or perhaps you are a golfer, and one day you went to putt the ball in the hole, and you missed! The tennis player who hit the ball out of court or the golfer who missed the hole can be both be said to have committed a sin, because they missed! And that is what a sin, in biblical terms, is: it is missing the mark that God has set.
Big and Little Sins
And everybody, particularly in the West, including those who would not call themselves Christians, has some idea of sin. They generally call doing things like telling lies or speeding in the car, “little sins” because everybody does those, they say! And of course, only a tiny minority of people commit the real big sins, such as murdering other people or robbing banks! So to most people’s minds, there are degrees of sins, depending on how many people actually do that kind of sin.
Sin actually is...
So what actually is the biblical definition of sin? Sin is the lack of conformity, , to the Moral Law of God, either in deeds, attitudes, or state. Do you remember Jesus saying the two greatest commands were to love God and love others? Any breakage of those two commandments is sin, whether by a lot or a little. There are two kinds of sin. Firstly there are the sins, which are active disobedience, or the sins of commission. These are where God’s commands are actively broken! Secondly there are the passive kinds, which are sins of omission. These occur when people are not doing, as they ought to do (James 4:17)!
Stop! Confess! Live!
Everybody, including Christian Disciples, sin in one of those two ways! Of course Christian Disciples have accepted Jesus Christ and have had their sins forgiven. But Christian Disciples, still sin! But as a Christian Disciple, you are to take God’s view of sin! You cannot claim to be without sin, because as 1 John 1 says, you would be living in self-delusion and making God out to be a liar! So, when you realise you have sinned, be quick to confess it, so that your relationship with Jesus Christ remains at peak intimacy! For as 1 John 1v9 says, “Jesus is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Jesus wants us to have complete fellowship with him, and by confessing sin; your fellowship with Him is made richer, more intimate and stronger.
G’day and welcome to Partakers Thinkspot on Monday, the 23rd of January 2012. To help you into a new week, Jim shares with us about Job (a man of integrity), suffering, compassion and Gladys Ayleward! View the video or listen/download the audio mp3 to see what Jim has to say!
Joy’s Prayer
Lord, we are often complaining when we have nothing like the experiences of Job or others like Gladys Aylward to compare with. Forgive us for our moaning and grumbling. Help us to see as the scriptures say our 'light afflictions are but for a moment ' . When we think of Jesus and His sufferings for us we are put to shame. Thank you we have such a wonderful God as indeed You are to comfort us in our afflictions. “Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all His benefits who forgives our iniquities, heals all of our sicknesses and diseases and whose mercy ,reaches unto the heavens. ...Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, serve the Lord with gladness” Lord help us to do this for Your names sake
As Christians living in Britain in the beginnings of the 21st century, we are relatively removed from the original recipients of this letter. We know that the original readers were around probably before the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. That this group of Hebrew Christians, due to the sufferings and persecution they were enduring, were thinking of abandoning their faith in Jesus as Messiah due to the suffering and persecution they were enduring.
Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world do suffer for the sake of Gospel and are systematically persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. In 21st century Britain, we don't have those kind of physical sufferings and persecutions because of our faith - yet. But as I read history, and read of the persecution of the Church down through the ages, I can see signs of persecution coming even to us in this country. So, just as the writer speaks to this group of Hebrew Christians, so he speaks to you and I.
I, of course, don't know your personal circumstances. I don't know where you are at in your Christian life. You may be persevering joyfully or you maybe struggling with some aspect of life and thinking of giving it all up. You may not even call yourself a Christian, as you are at the stage of investigating what all this Jesus talk is all about. Wherever you are at, whatever stage you are at, there is something in this passage for you.
I know that classically these passages are seen as warnings, but I also see them as active encouragements - in this case, to persevere. Persevere by being obedient. Persevere by remembering who you are and what you have done. Persevere by looking forward to being with Jesus Christ permanently and forever.
Part 1 - Just Stop! - Persevere in obedience (v26-31)
This is the main thrust of the passage, and so for today it is where we will be spending most of the time given, before going on briefly to the other parts of the passage and finally how it all applies to us as we go to work tomorrow and living our lives. Deliberately sinning (verse 26) Deliberately keep on sinning. What does the writer mean? For this group of Christians, this meant to reject the knowledge and message of Jesus as God. Having received the knowledge, it's rejecting this knowledge of Jesus. These people, who were Hebraic Jews, were under persecution. They would have been under pressure to repudiate Jesus Christ as Lord. They were probably under pressure to deny Jesus as the Way to the Father. Perhaps some of them had already done so and left the church. Perhaps others had left, and had come back into the fold. So the writer of this letter urges them to continue to persevere. For if they did not persevere and did not stop sinning, it would be despising, mocking and ridiculing the sacrifice of Jesus, who was God's son, on the cross.
By continuing to reject Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit who calls people back to God and who transforms people, is insulted and grieved. By habitually and willfully sinning by rejecting Jesus, people's consciences become dull and insensitive to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit. They start to withdraw from meeting with other Christians, as the writer states in verse 25.
Mosaic Sacrifice
But why stop this deliberate habitual rejection of Jesus and what is all this about sacrifice? In the Old Testament under the Law of Moses, there was what was called the atoning sacrifice, performed so as to ask God's forgiveness for the sins of people. But not all sins, for this sacrifice only covered those sins committed by ignorance, coercion or unwillingness. It did not cover sins done deliberately. Those sins were spiteful of God and His laws, and knowing that it was hurting God. Basically it was living a life of selfishness and not bowing in obedience to God. Living a life whereby, "my will is my right, and God can get lost." As I said, there was no sacrifice for those kind of sins, in the Law of Moses.
This Mosaic covenant, or the Law of Moses as the writer refers to it, covered all areas of life through a variety of commandments, judgments and decrees:
The commandments were given so the people would know how to correctly relate socially to God (Exodus 20v1-6)
The judgments were given in order that the people could relate socially to each other properly (Exodus 21v1 - 24v11)
The decrees dictated their religious life, so that God could be approached by humanity on His terms (Exodus 24v12 - 31v18).
This Mosaic covenant looked forward to the promised Messiah to come and make the perfect sacrifice (Galatians 3v17-19). It was never meant as a means towards eternal salvation. It was given so that people could realize the futility and helplessness of their own efforts in regards to salvation, and the need of God's help. Paul writing in Galatians 3v22-24 explains that the Law of Moses was only a protective fence until, through the promised Messiah, humanity "could be made right with God through faith." This Messiah was Jesus Christ and this new covenant is sealed only through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. His sacrifice ensures the truth of this New Covenant. There is no other way for this New Covenant to be sealed except through Jesus' blood. This New Covenant finalizes what the Mosaic Covenant and Law could only point to: the follower of God, living in an obedient life and conforming to God's holy character.
New Covenant
So the Law of Moses pointed forward to the New Covenant. This New Covenant is seen in the Old Testament in places such as Jeremiah 31 and in Ezekiel 36.
Four features of this covenant are:
Regeneration - God transforming you;
Restoration - God being your God and you being His;
God living inside you through the Holy Spirit and leading you;
Justification - God forgiving and removing your sins
That is why the writer of this letter tells them to stop deliberately sinning, stop contemplating about sinning by rejecting Jesus and recognize Jesus for who He was - God's Son, the long-awaited for Messiah.. This New Covenant guarantees salvation for all who would accept it, and it shows why Jesus' sacrifice is greater than the sacrifices under the Law of Moses! Jesus' Sacrifice But what of Jesus' sacrifice? Jesus died for all sin, the just for the unjust (1 Peter 3v18). That is how God is both just and the Justifier of sinners. That is why Jesus needed to be both fully God and fully human, so as to be the full sacrifice that was required to deal permanently with sin! For while people were still sinners, Jesus Christ died for them, (Romans 5v6-8), willingly giving His life as a ransom (Mark 10v45) and when He died on the cross as a sacrifice, He bore the consequences of all sin - past, present and future. This sacrifice was required in order that Jesus Christ could take away the sins of the world, which includes yours (John 1v29)! He therefore became sin (2 Corinthians 5v21) and it was His blood as the sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish (1Peter 1:18-19) that fulfils God's requirements permanently.
So the writer is saying to these Hebrew Christians, the day of judgment is coming. If you have turned your back on Jesus' sacrifice, then there is no further sacrifice that can pay for your sinfulness and you will be condemned to a life without Him forever. If you have insulted the Holy Spirit who beckons and calls you, then you will be cast out. And as the writer reminds his readers, and us in verse 31 "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." For God is living and not just some mere idol sitting on a shelf. A living God can be disobeyed, as well as being obeyed. A living God sees all, hears all, knows all. A living God is holy and pure and must judge disobedience, or this God would not be God! How are you doing? Are you persevering by obeying God in every aspect of your life? As 21st century Christians, we generally don't like to hear of God as Judge. Its just not the done thing to talk about it. We hear all the time that God is love. And it is true - God is Love. However, God is also a holy and pure God, and cannot abide sin or disobedience. Therefore, sin must be dealt with. He cannot arbitrarily forgive sin. The judgment and penalty of sin, which is death, was poured out on Jesus Christ. Therefore justice has been done, because God is just. By faith in Jesus Christ we are declared righteous as a free gift, and Christian Disciples are therefore justified. Nothing we can do could make us justified before Almighty God.
Part 2 - Do Remember! - Persevere by remembering (v32-34)
Then to show his pastoral side, the writer goes on to tell them how to persevere. He tells them to persevere by remembering the day they received the light. By remembering how they have suffered and God delivering them. Remembering the public humility, insult and persecution - and how God was with them in the middle of it. Remembering how they stood with others who were maltreated because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Remembering how their earthly possessions were stolen from them and remembering they have new possessions both now and waiting for them. How are you doing? Are you persevering by remembering back to the days of when you became a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ? Can you see the evidence of how God has been transforming you under the New Covenant?
Part 3 - Hope Confidently - Persevere for reward (v35-39)
Here the writer refers back to the writings of the prophet Habbakuk. When the going gets tough, God's people hold on in faith and trust that God will deliver them. He is saying that God's people are to live a life of hope and total confidence in Jesus Christ.
Why? For a rich reward
Why? To please God
How is this reward gained? Persevering in a life of faith
Who gives this reward? Jesus when He comes again.
When? In a very little while
Therefore, verse 39 is an encouragement, not to fall back, but rather to continue pressing forward despite all opposition. Continue to believe and be saved.
How are you doing? Are you continuing to persevere for the reward that is set out for you to claim, own and possess?
So what does all this have to say to us, some 2000 years after the original recipients of this letter read it? It tells us to persevere in obedience. How do we do this? We do this by persevere by remembering. Why do we persevere? We persevere for the reward. And what is perseverance? Perseverance is a balanced relationship. If perseverance was left to us as individuals alone, we would fail. Perseverance is also the domain of God the Holy Spirit who lives inside you as part of God's work of continuous operation in your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. Perseverance is a work of divine grace that is begun in your heart, which is continued and brought to completion one glorious day. That is part of your reward and possession.
But there are other things that are your possessions and rewards. These rewards and possessions cover both the present and the future!
As a Christian, you will never perish, and nobody or nothing can snatch them out of His hand (John 10v27-29)
You have eternal life and you will not be condemned, passed from death to life. (John 5v24)
God, who began a good work in you, will carry it on to completion (Philippians 1v6)
You are shielded by God's power. (1 Peter 1v15)
Nothing can separate you from God/Christ's love. (Romans 8v38-39)
The Lord knows those who are His (2 Timothy 2v19)
Eternal life never depends on our feeble grip on Christ, but rather on His firm grip on us.
God's whole purpose for you is to transform you into the image of Jesus Christ. His purpose for you is to make you holy. This is where perseverance for you as a Christian comes in. Gods purpose is for you to be totally obedient to Him, living a life of holiness. Your happiness is not God's primary motivation, but your personal holiness is. And if you are living a holy life, pleasing to God, then you have joy and happiness as well.
Conclusion - Perseverance of the Christian
You are to keep your eyes focused on Jesus Christ, and be willing to obey God. As a Christian, persevere in your relationship with God. Obey Him and follow Him. Ask questions humbly of Him and expect Him to answer, particularly if you don't understand something. Persevere in your prayers, your relationships with God and with other people. God will persevere with you, turning you gradually into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. God will not abandon you, but you are free to abandon Him. If you did abandon Him, He would still continue to call you back to Himself. Jesus Christ is to cover our entire life, permeating and being involved in every aspect. By doing so, this is showing an acceptance of Him, and not a rejection of Him. For when we sin and disobey in anyway at all, it is some form of rejection of Jesus as Lord of our life. The more you sin, the less sensitive you become to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. So when you realise you have sinned, be quick to humbly ask for forgiveness.
So I challenge you with this: if He who was without sin, became sin, for you, then you are to live a life worthy of Him and your status of freedom from sin in Jesus Christ. One day, Jesus is coming again. He will take your face in his hands and in the words of Revelation 21, will wipe the tears from your eyes, embrace you and you will be with Him forever! That's if you would call yourself a Christian here today. But if you would not call yourself a Christian here today, then I would urge you to talk to one of the leaders about Him. Don't leave this building today, without talking to somebody else about Him. There are all sorts of excuses you can make for not accepting Jesus. I hear them all the time. I just need a little bit more evidence. I just need a little bit more of this or a little bit more of that. An example to disprove these kind of excuses is that of Judas Iscariot. He lived with Jesus Christ, ate with Jesus Christ, travelled with Jesus Christ, yet gave it all up for a short-term gain of money. For him, there was never enough evidence, even though he had all those experiences with the earthly Jesus Christ. There is no other way, no other sacrifice you can make, to ensure that you are will be in the presence of Almighty God - except through Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. He will continue to call you and urge you to accept Him, until one day it will be too late, and your opportunities will have passed.
How can we, as 21st century Christians, keep from falling away. I would call it the COPE strategy: Consider, Persevere and Encourage.
Keep Considering! (Hebrews 3:1-6)
The first thing we do is to consider Jesus or as the NIV here puts it "fix our thoughts". Now remember, that these are Hebrew believers. I guess we would call them Messianic Jews today. They believed that Jesus was their Messiah, Saviour and Lord. They were obviously coming under pressure from their Jewish friends and leaders to deny this Jesus and return to the fold. They would have been told how great Moses was. In the previous chapter we read how Jesus is greater than the angels, because He is God, but was made a little lower than the angels when he became a man.
Partake Ministries seeks to encourage churches and christians to actively engage in Digital Space! Contact us for details of how I may be able to help you!
This site holds podcasts and videos produced for the purposes of Christian Discipleship, Evangelism and Worship using the internet and digital technology in Digital Space.
On this page I seek to produce and distribute resources for the purpose of Christian discipleship, evangelism and worship based solidly on balanced Biblical doctrine and thought. Most of these resources were written/developed by me but I have also sought contributions from others including retired pastors and learned elders... I am also available to host a seminar for your church or group about the how and why Christians need to embrace Digital Space.
If you find these resources helpful to you, please do prayerfully consider making a donation. 
