Just because one has sinned does not mean that that is what one is. Christ does not casually destroy His new creation! If the Christian sins, Christ has made a way for him to be forgiven to maintain his novel status (1 John 1:7). Sin does not have dominion over the child of God (Romans 6:14). The Christian may come back to the deep wells of forgiveness as much as he needs to overcome the sin that is in his life (Matthew 18:22).
Satan wants to own our identity. He wants sin to define us because that is what defines Him. He wants us to identify with our sins so that He can control us in His orchestrated rebellion against God. Just because we commit a sin does not mean that our identity is that sin. We must put Christ in the place of those sins. He is the standard for who God made us to be (Galatians 2:20). He does not want us identifying with our sins. Instead, He wants us to be found in Him (Philippians 3:9).
We need to know that God loves us and forgives us. Sometimes people say to themselves, “God could never forgive me for what I have done.” That is a lie. He gave the highest price that He could give for us, His only begotten Son. Why would He hold back on us when He was willing to give everything for us? That is Paul’s point in Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” God is generous in forgiveness.
Greed, covetousness, lust, and pride contribute to a person’s love of money, which is the motivation behind the desire to be rich. Men deceive themselves to think that money will solve their problems. Instead, they fall into temptation, harm themselves with lusts, and drown in destruction and perdition. This generates sorrow for them and their families.
God never gave Adam and Eve any money. Humans invented money to facilitate exchanges. Money is just a tool; it has no value beyond what we assign to it. Its only value is in what it can be used for, and if we are not using it, we are valuing it wrongly.
The apostle Paul teaches us that one purpose to prayer is so that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” A good Christian wants peace with others (Romans 12:18). This peace gives us the opportunity to practice godliness and reverence. Physical disruptions, such as famine, war, violence, and disease, distract from daily Christian living. The good life is the quiet and peaceable life showered by God’s blessings of family and friends who assemble as Christians to worship.
When Jesus says, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42), is that about pleasing the masses? When the Savior washes the disciples dirty, nasty, filthy toes (John 13:2-17), is that about personal preference? When you see God take the form of a slave (Philippians 2:5-8), is the church about “your choice?” When an innocent Man dies on the cross for the sins of the world (John 20), is that about the “experience of worship?” Should consumerism form the church or the cross?
Reaching one’s full potential looks different for different people. For many, holding a job, providing for one’s family, and giving to the local church will fulfill God’s plans. Others will need to occupy roles of leadership where they may guide God’s people forward into the future. Regardless of one’s position, he will need to levy an appropriate amount of ambition. It is not enough to sit still, rest on one’s laurels, and maintain the status quo. There must be an effort to push upward and onward with God’s purposes.
The purpose of marriage is to produce “godly offspring” (Malachi 2:15). The married must remain married to rear godly children and demonstrate lifelong faithfulness. Pleasure in the sexual relationship provides a strong emotional attachment to encourage faithfulness. To have godly offspring, husbands and wives must have sex both to reproduce and reinforce fidelity.
Today, the world has changed God’s original purposes for sex. Pleasure has become the chief aim. Sex is pleasurable, but if that is its chief purpose, marriage no longer has any real significance beyond pleasure, and when the married decide there is no more pleasure, they will abandon their relationship. Consider, however, the difference between that and the notion that reproduction is the primary purpose of sex. When reproduction is the goal, married people may pursue that goal together by having and rearing children. That goal will not admit to easy defeat because they are investing themselves in something other than themselves, their children.
Men are to labor to provide for their wives and children. 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Women are to take care of the home and care for children. Paul wrote to Titus, “The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5).
God gave Adam and Eve very definite roles in relationship to the family. Adam was to be the “breadwinner” of the home by going out and working hard to provide for the family. Eve was to bear and take care of their children. These roles were the consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin against God, and the post-fall standard for the distribution of labor in the home.
For example, I love the idea that as the Church, we are in a partnership with each other. You are my partner, and I am your partner. I also love the idea that we are in fellowship with each other. We share something in common with each other even though we may come from different places and different backgrounds. It’s that commonality that brings us together in relationship. And I love the idea of participation, that we are involved with each other for a common mission, a common goal.
Wouldn’t you like people to say that about you to others? Especially when it comes to living for Jesus? I think there are two things here for us to learn. First, I think this scripture encourages us to live our lives in such a way for Jesus that others in the church and in the community, should speak well of us. And then I think this scripture should encourage us to speak well of others in the church.
See, the Psalmist’s original audience needed to know that the knee bent, the body bowed in worship and praise to God means nothing unless they are living it every day outside of the community of the Lord’s people. And we too, need to be reminded of the same thing. That our worship here means nothing unless we are living it every day when we are out there in the world.
What if I told you that you smell? First, you may be offended. How dare brother Jon say something like that, telling me I smell? Then again, you may be confused? I smell? (Sniff, Sniff) Or, maybe, you might be thinking, how did brother Jon know? Now, you may be wondering, Jon, where are you going with this thought? Well, let me tell you something. If after reading this, you realize you don’t smell, well, you’re going to want to make a decision about that.
God gave Adam and Eve this command, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). For this to happen, Adam and Eve needed to move beyond the status quo. They needed to flourish. The word flourish means to thrive and prosper. It means to reach one’s full potential as a human being. God has the same desires for us today. He doesn’t want us to languish in idleness but make a concerted effort to be the most we can. Are we doing that?
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