[Biblemat] The Messenger Vol 002 Iss 006

[T. Sean Sullivan]

The Messenger

Published Weekly by Main Street Church of Christ

306 West Main Street, Newbern, TN 38059   731-627-3514



bibleanswers at charter.net                                    www.mainstreetchurchofchrist.org

 

Bulletin Editor: T. Sean Sullivan

 

VOLUME TWO::ISSUE 006::February 11, 2007  

 

ARTICLE ONE: God Expects Love from The Heart

ARTICLE TWO: God Expects Love from A Good Conscience Pt.1

 

 

God Expects Love from The Heart

 

      Timothy, as a young preacher, faced many challenges with erring or straying brethren and certain challenges from those outside. The first epistle to Timothy starts with an admonition to "charge" those who were teaching something other than the doctrine of Christ-the commands of God-to stop. 

Within this inspired pleading from Paul we are given a very interesting verse that describes for us the purpose of God's commands. Have you ever questioned why God gave us a word to follow? Have you every wondered what God's intention was in expecting us to follow that delivered word. We might say: God wants us to serve Him. God wants us to not sin. God wants us to be saved and spend everlasting life with Him. All of those statements are true, but the heart of the matter is what Paul describes for us in verse five of chapter one.

Let's consider together one of the three expectations of God that Paul speaks of here in this verse. Please open your text as you read this article and follow along with me as we consider: Love from a pure heart.

 

God Expects Love:

 

Jesus in Matthew 22 tells us that all of the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament scriptures) hang on a frame of two points: Love of God and love of fellow man (Matthew 22:37-40). It has been said that one follows the other: When we love God we will also love our fellow man. 

The New Testament is even more about love: The New Testament is the full expression of our Creator's love: the opportunity of our salvation (John 3:16; Romans 5:6-11). God loves His creation and provides for us the opportunity of salvation through the offering of His Son-Jesus Christ. Our love is clearly demonstrated by our acceptance of His Divine will and of our salvation. We show God our love by seeking Him and serving Him (1 John 4:16-19). We, through loving God, can have faith that He will reward us (Hebrews 11:6).

Many maintain that love is more powerful than righteousness. This is proven wrong by many clear passages of scripture. The fact is love does not negate the responsibility of doing all of the points of God's will (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3).

There is a distinct paradigm designed by God that must be implemented on our part: God loves us (John 3:16 "God so loved the world.") è We love God (1 John 4:19 "You love Him, because He first loved you.") è We obey God (John 14:15 "If you love Me keep My commandments") è We love others (Galatians 5:14 "Love your neighbor as yourself") è We extend the hope of the gospel to our neighbor (Mark 16:15-16 "Go into all the world."). 

 

God Expects Love From The Heart:

 

One thing made abundantly clear throughout the entire scheme of the scripture is that God hates pretense. One who would pretend to love while their heart is full of hate (Proverbs 26:23-28; Romans 12:9). One who pretends to serve God while in their heart they still serve the world (Jeremiah 3:10; Matthew 15:8-9).

The fullness of our commitment to God and the necessity of full involvement (mental and physical discipline) toward God is found in the words of: Romans 12:1-2 "Present yourselves.holy and acceptable to God". We cannot be presented to God as "holy" if we are not "wholly holy". The same is required in the application of 1 Peter 1:13-19 "Be holy as He is holy". We cannot be comparable to the holiness of Christ if we are double minded and given to worldliness. 

Holiness cannot be in anyway less than holy. We cannot be holy in mind and not in body (action). This complete picture in drawn again in the words of Mark 12:30. We are to be wholly involved in holiness- with our whole being we must serve God. Our whole heart must be God's; not portioned off to other interests. Our soul, purchased by the blood of Christ, must be set apart and kept clean. Our mind's focus must be toward pleasing God. Our fullness of strength, our energy and abilities, must be used in service to God. 

 

God Expects Love From A Pure Heart:

The commands of God when obeyed from the heart will result in the purity of that same heart. A heart is made impure by sin and sinful pursuits (James 4:8). It is easy for our heart to be distracted and our service before God to become lacking. Our adversary is constantly trying to woo us with distractions (1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 John 2:15-17). 

Typically, when distractions and failing service is recognized in the life of a brother or sister it is a symptom of another deficiency in their life: A lack of study, reducing the knowledge of God's will (1 Timothy 4:13,15-16) and a lack of prayer, pushing God away from their life (1 Thessalonians 5:18; James 4:8a). These things, when lacking, bring weakness to our faith and they open the door for distractions to come in and take hold.

            We must purify our hearts through the diligent application of God's word in our lives. We, through the action of righteousness, can offer to God that which He desires: Love from a pure heart.

            

Conclusion: God has taken the time to teach us (Psalm 119:102). He has not left us to our own failing devices. God is seeking those who will "Be doers of [His] word and not hearers only" (James 1:22-25). God is seeking those who will love Him from their heart that has been purified from it sins through obedience to His plan-the gospel (Romans 1:16).

Do you love God? Are you keeping His commandments? Have you purified your heart and set it apart wholly to God's service? You can begin today by making your life right with Him through obedience of the gospel. ~tss

 

 

God Expects Love from A Good Conscience Pt.1

 

We are continuing to look at the expectations of our Creator-God. In our first article our lesson was focused on, "Love From A Pure Heart". Our key passage, 1 Timothy 1:5, tells us that God's commands were given for the purpose of generating love from pure hearts, good consciences, and faith that are sincere. In this second article let's consider together the next of the three expectations of God that Paul speaks of here in this verse. We need to take a few moments to reflect a "good conscience" that results from God's commands and is expected by God.

I believe a question may be, "What Is A Conscience?"  Your conscience is your personal awareness: Your awareness of right and wrong; the center of feelings within each of us that allows us to realize things like remorse or sorrow, even joy and peace. Our key scripture declares that we are expected to have a good conscious.

Many things can clog our conscience. In order to better handle this topic we need to generalize the subject areas in two categories: Guilt, which is worries about our past and Stress, which is worries about our future both of these are major problems that many of us have, or may yet encounter in our lives. Since these things clog our conscience we must also learn how we defeat them both. This article will deal with guilt.

 

We Can Clog Our Conscience With Guilt:

 

There are two ways of Guilt that we should know. One is a healthy realization and the other will hinder our service.  Guilt is knowledge of having committed a wrongdoing. It is a realization that we are guilty of wrongdoing-sin (Romans 3:23). The preaching, teaching, or studying of the gospel may bring about this type of positive guilt. 

The reaction to Peter's sermon in Acts 2:37-38 is a prime example of this very thing. They were cut to the heart. They felt guilt concerning their sins. Their guilt led immediately to a desire for correction and a follow to correction.

There is also a very negative guilt. This guilt is like a residue in our mind. Even as a Christian one may constantly remind them self of their past mistakes or allow those mistakes to reside in their minds. 

If I may speculate a little I would believe that this harboring of past mistakes is because we as human tend to rate everything. When we have done something in our past and we assume that it may be unforgivable. We fail to realize that a sin is a sin regardless. This means that a lie is a sin and murder is a sin. With our scale we see a lie as a small sin and murder as a large sin. According to the scriptures a sin, is a sin, is a sin and any sin can bar us from Heaven (Revelation 21:27). 

As a Christian, guilt from past sins can distract our present service. We need to trust God's forgiveness and not allow our minds to be distracted by our own past.

 

Examples To Others Who Overcame Guilt
 
Consider Peter: strong, courageous, forceful.full of remorse? Many times, Peter's aggressive nature landed him into trouble. Matthew 16:21-23 After Peter statement Jesus said, "Get behind Me Satan, you are an offense to Me." I don't know about you but I would have some serious guilt if Jesus said that of me. 
Later in John 18:10-11 Peter drew a sword and struck a servant of the High Priest. Not only an improper attitude toward the necessity of Jesus' death but also the improper action of striking the servant. Once more Jesus turned to Peter in rebuke.

Perhaps those previous things could be forgotten; Peter, however, did one other thing that would cause guilt to reside in anyone who has a heart. Peter turned his back on the Lord. Peter gave in to fear and denied the Lord (Luke 22:54-62). Can you imagine seeing Jesus look at you over and over again in your memories? This must have been a great burden. Anyone would think is should be the greatest of burdens, however, Peter was able to move on and not allow those things to haunt him. 

He made his life right and served the Lord all of his days. We have His work recorded in the early part of Acts and his two epistles. Peter did not overcome guilt on his own; through Christ he was given the forgiveness of his sins. With forgiveness must come the cleansing of the conscience. 

We might also look into the life of Paul and question his ability to live with the guilt he must have faced.  Acts 26:10-11 in Paul's own words he confessed to personally trying to destroy the cause of Christ. We might think that by becoming a Christian that Paul might be swallowed up by the guilt of his former life.  

Paul trusted in forgiveness and did not allow those mistakes to distract him and clog his mind? Philippians 3:12-14 Paul states, ".forgetting those things which are behind". He was able to forget those things because he was forgiven of those things. He fully realized his past sins (1 Timothy 1:15) but even more so he realized God's forgiveness (1 Timothy 1:16 "obtained mercy"). 

 

How Can I Over Come Guilt?

 

The same advice fits any hardship in life: Turn to God (James 4:8 "Draw near to God"). Seek God through prayer (1 Peter 5:7 "casting all you care on Him for He cares for you"). Seek God's counsel through his word: study. Consider once more our key scripture. The purpose of God's word in 1 Timothy 1:5 the purpose of the commandment is love. "from a good conscience". 

The study and the doing of God's word will, together, lead us to the ability to know, and to do, good (Hebrews 5:14). In trusting God's forgiveness and doing His will every day of your life you will soon be freed from the burden of guilt.

 

Conclusion;

 

We cannot be at our full effectiveness if we are dwelling on our past mistakes. God has promised to forget them as He forgives them (Hebrews 10:16-17). We must do the best we can do today and plan for better tomorrow. God's commands direct us toward eliminating this clogs in our conscience. Are you guilty of sin? You can take care of that right now through obedience to the gospel. ~tss 

 

 

 

If you are enjoying The Messenger and you know someone else who would like to receive it. Please forward it to them or send me their email address and I will add it to the list.   Sean

 
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