Pattern for Christian living

[Gerry]

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself to be of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil. 2:5-8 KJV

See also how JB Phillips expressed it including verses 9-11: “Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be. For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God's equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man. And, having become man, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted him so high, and has given him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus "every knee shall bow", whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why, in the end, "every tongue shall confess" that Jesus Christ" is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”


This is the pattern Paul gives us for living the Christian life. Here he speaks of the kind of mind we are to have. He speaks of a mind that is lowly and humble and is the real thing, not an imitation.

We have all been taught how we are to imitate Christ. Friend that is incorrect. The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ, it is the impartation of the life of Christ into the life of a believer.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."

 

[Mandy]

Amen!
Great post Gerry!!

 

[pete]

Hello,In John14;15 Jesus said If you love me keep my commandments.I have been told that it isn't necessary to.I have found one certain group that believe in doing so.1John2;3,4 reads if you say you belong to God and don't keep his commandments you are a liar.1John5;3 reads that it shouldn't be a burden to keep his commandments.Rev.12;17 reads that the dragon (satan)made war with Gods commandment keeping people.Rev.22;14 tells you exactly who will eat of the tree of life and enter the gates.Jesus came to this earth and never broke one of his commandments.Satan has decieved people into making them believe its not important.But Gods word says diferent.Somebody told me we are saved by grace not works.In Romans6;14,15 Paul asks that same question.Read it and find out for yourself.God Bless You All.

 

[Chloe]

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. The way we live our lives shows if this is true, although Christians still sin. Our obedience does not save, which is why Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

 

[Pastor N.B.]

Both missives sound right to me? One might sound a tad bit legalistic perhaps, but most likely, like my pop used to say, you can't get it all in, in one sermon! And the rest of the reason to obey? Is because of the recreated Motive of LOVE! 2 Cor. 3:3

The bottom line conclusion is seen in the last book of Eccl. & perhaps the last to verses? This also is the Words, Word!
Pastor N.B.

 

[Gerry]

Both missives seem right? Yes they are both right only in so far as they are the same. But you have infered that both are legalistic, only one is more so. My question is, in what way is the first missive legalistic? May I suggest there is nothing legalistic about it.

The second one is completely legalistic in nature. He has said: "Somebody told me we are saved by grace not works."
well, that "somebody" is The Holy Spirit. He inspired that and you can find the "complete" quote in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

But the next verse disputes the claim of salvation by works in plain language. "Not of works, lest any man should boast."<<<<<THIS is the Word from God's Mouth to man's ear. I would not take it lightly.

There is in no way, not one single thing we can do to EARN our salvation. It is entirely a FREE GIFT we receive BY Grace and THROUGH faith. As for as keeping His commandements and the other "works" are concerned, these are what we do out of obedience and love. The works are not what saves us.

If our salvation was of works, Jesus would have had no need to suffer and die.

As for the last two verses in Ecclesiastes are concerned: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 13 Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Yes Fear God and keep his commandments. The interesting thing here is that when we go back to the original languages we find that this speaks of the Creator God, whose Hebrew Name is the same as the Greek Name for Jesus.
So yes we fear Him by accepting Him as our Saviour, and the outward expression of that acceptance is the keeping of His commandments. ALL of them, and there are quite a few more than 10, even though they are all based on the commandment to Love both God and our neighbor.

It is also interestingto note Chloe summed all this up in 3 sentences.

Chloe, don't be a visitor! Join us!

 

[Autumn]

To follow the will of God, and do good works, is not legalism if and only if you allow yourself to be submisive to the Holy Spirit. Let God work through you. Even though we desire to do good we cannot. We were crucified on the cross with Christ; we do not live but He lives in us. It is He that does the work, not us.

 

[TruelightUK]

We need to bring some balance into this: true Paul talks about being sved by grace not by works, but James tells us we are saved by works and not faith alone (2:24)! The truth is, no-one ever 'earned' their salvation by religious effort etc., but neither did anyone enter heaven just by believing Jesus died for them and doing nothing to demonstrate His Lordship in their life! As Smith Wigglesworth said, "Faith is and act"! If you truly believe in God and the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, you will behave like He has freed you from sin to walk in good works.

However, returning to the opening post; I fully agree that the Key to Christian livoing is 'Christ in us, the hope of glory'. Yet, given that indwelling spiritual power, we are to go on to live as he lived - which requires and effort of our will and the cooperation of our minds and bodies. Thus Paul tells us "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ" - we are to actively resist pressure to conform to this world, but allow our mindset to be transformed as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices. None of this happens as if by magic when we place our faith in Christ - rather we are all responsible for 'working out our salvation with fear and trembling'.. We have been given a great gift of right-standing with God and the empowering of His Spirit - but we have to cleanse ourselves of unrighteous behaviour in order to become truly worthy vessels in his household. You can't achieve it in your own strength, but neither will/can He do it independent of your effort - but He supplies what you lack when you set out to do what is right. (Sorry I don't have time to look up the exact references for all this - but its there in the New Testament if you care to look!)

So, as new Christians, I must exhort people to live worthy of the Lord - follow His example, and that of the great saints of the faith, and, by His grace working in and with you, you will begin to live out that transformation which he has already begun within you!

Anthony

 

[Gerry]

This is the pattern Paul gives us for living the Christian life. Here he speaks of the kind of mind we are to have. He speaks of a mind that is lowly and humble and is the real thing, not an imitation.

We have all been taught how we are to imitate Christ. Friend that is incorrect. The Christian life is not an imitation of Christ, it is the impartation of the life of Christ into the life of a believer.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus..."

It is the impartation of the life of Christ into the believer that makes it possible to live the pattern laid out for us.