Identity – TGN https://tgnghana.org United For The Gospel Wed, 14 Dec 2022 08:09:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1 https://tgnghana.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/cropped-TGN-logo-1-32x32.png Identity – TGN https://tgnghana.org 32 32 Chosen, So What? https://tgnghana.org/chosen-so-what/ https://tgnghana.org/chosen-so-what/#respond Mon, 20 Mar 2017 07:34:29 +0000 https://tgnghana.org/chosen-so-what/ The preaching of God’s grace in election has frequently been associated with antinomianism –the belief that those who are saved by grace through faith are released from the obligation of obeying the moral law. This is not new – there were some who misconstrued Apostle Paul’s teaching of Grace as a license to continue in […]

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The preaching of God’s grace in election has frequently been associated with antinomianism –the belief that those who are saved by grace through faith are released from the obligation of obeying the moral law. This is not new – there were some who misconstrued Apostle Paul’s teaching of Grace as a license to continue in sin. To this, Paul responded with a bewildered “God forbid!” Far from being a license to live a care-free moral life, God’s sovereign grace in election is actually the greatest motivation to holy living.

For one, Paul says all who are saved were chosen with one ultimate destination in mind, “that we should be holy and blameless before him.”[1] Holiness is not an option for believers – but a must!

Holy and Without Blame

Why does Paul use both terms, “holy” and “blameless” at the same time? At a first glance, this may seem repetitive, however the apostle is inspired and does not use words haphazardly. Each word he uses is carefully chosen to communicate exactly what the Holy Spirit would have him say at that particular moment in time. So what is being communicated by these two words? Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives this insightful analogy of a fruit, consider an apple. There are times it may look fresh (“holy”) on the outside, however once you take a bite you discover that it is rotten or decaying on the inside. We can therefore say that the two words are used by the apostle to convey the same thing positively and negatively. The Christian is called to be holy (positive) and without blame (negative) – implying a thorough and complete work of holiness. We see in the Scriptures that a similar description is given us of God. He is the father of light (positive), however we are told further that there is no darkness in Him at all (negative)

[2]. Jesus on many occasions decried the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He described them as white-washed tombs, which present an appearance of outward cleanliness, whilst inside they are full of bones and rottenness [3]. Not so the Christian! In order to bring us back into fellowship with Him, God has to first of all cleanse us thoroughly from our sinful nature. Can two walk together except they be agreed? asked Amos [4]. We cannot have fellowship with God as creatures of wrath, enemies in our minds and dead in our trespasses and sins [5]. The first thing God does is to implant in us His life, and the principle of holiness. This he does by giving us birth again, with a new nature “that is created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” [6]. Miserable wretches and sinners such as we all are by birth are made holy and partakers of the divine life as a result of regeneration. This is the end to which all Christians are chosen.

Holiness and Evangelism

I once heard a preacher remark that the preaching of holiness is not part of evangelism. “You must first draw people in with miracles, signs and wonders, once they are in the Church then you can preach to them holiness.” “If you preach holiness at crusades, nobody will come to your church”. What a travesty! The scriptural teaching as we have it in the New Testament asserts the exact opposite! The Gospel message is that the whole world lies condemned as a result of sin, and fallen man is a creature of wrath consequently. What we need is to be cleansed from our sin, otherwise there can be no hope of reconciliation with God — for God is holy. Holiness is therefore an essential part of evangelism.

Holiness, Proof of Election

The obvious question is, are all Christians holy? Are Christians sinless? The answer to the first is, yes, every Christian is holy. That is why the recipients of the New Testament epistles are always addressed as Saints. The description “holy brethren” is commonly used to describe believers in the New Testament, and essentially, the Christian is one because he is a new creature, whose disposition is to do good works. Christ is the believer’s life [7]. And thus, by the new birth, the believer is dead to his old nature of sin, and alive to righteousness [8].

However, the Bible acknowledges that the believer is not sinless. He will be, for that is the goal of his choosing. However from the moment he is born again, the Christian continues on the path of sanctification till the last day when we stand before God [9]. Then, “we shall see Him as He is, and we shall be like Him! All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” [10]. The proof of our choosing is however, that we don’t continue in sin. And we love holiness, it is our nature as Christians. If one “loves to sin” and wishes that there were no moral laws to obey, so they can live as carelessly as they wish, it is proof positive, based on the Scriptural evidence, that they are not chosen!

We can also say on the authority of the teaching in Ephesians 1:4 that if the purpose of God in choosing the believer is to make him holy, then He will make him holy.

God’s purpose cannot fail, for that is unthinkable. Therefore if He has chosen the believer to this purpose, then it will be accomplished. If the preaching of the Gospel, the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit, and all the means of grace that God has graciously made available to the believer are not able to make him holy, then God will make him holy, even if it means putting a “bit in his mouth” to restrain him, to use the analogy of the mule in Psalm 32. This is the sort of thing that the writer to the Hebrews talks about when he says,

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons [11]

Notes:

  1. Ephesians 1:4
  2. 1John 1:5
  3. Matt 23:27
  4. Amos 3:3
  5. Ephesians 2:1-4
  6. Ephesians 2:10; 2Cor.5:17.
  7. Col. 3:4
  8. Romans 6:11-15
  9. Col. 3:11; 2Cor. 3:18
  10. 1John 3: 2-3
  11. Hebrews 12: 5-9

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Stand Up For Jesus https://tgnghana.org/stand-up-for-jesus/ https://tgnghana.org/stand-up-for-jesus/#comments Fri, 29 Jan 2016 08:35:32 +0000 https://tgnghana.org/stand-up-for-jesus/ Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed ~ George Duffield. In a country with about 71% of the population  ¹ dentifying themselves as Christians, it is baffling the […]

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Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
From victory unto victory His army shall He lead,
Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed ~ George Duffield.

In a country with about 71% of the population  ¹ dentifying themselves as Christians, it is baffling the moral decadence that plagues us. There are churches on almost every street which are full during worship hours on Sundays. With such statistics of professing Christians, it is expected a high, holy and moral life will be upheld.

Unfortunately, our profession of faith doesn’t translate into our daily lives. The lives of many Christians are marked by compromise; conforming to the pattern of this world. We have failed to ‘Stand Up For Jesus’ by forgetting who we are and our purpose here as ambassadors of Christ Jesus. In 2 Chronicles 36, the Bible tells the sad story of the nation Israel. During the reign of Jehoiakim the nation descended into a state of evil and disobedience. “He [Jehoiakim] was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God”. His evil reign resulted in Israel being carried away into captivity in Babylon.

The scene of this story is not new to humankind. In Genesis, God made for our first parents –Adam and Eve — a habitation in the Garden of Eden, where they had the privilege to enjoy great fellowship with God and have all that they needed. However, they disobeyed God and brought upon themselves and rest of humankind the captivity of sin.

Israel’s captivity in Babylon has an encouraging parenthesis in the lives of those who stood up for the cause of God and refused to compromise. As a result of the nation’s rebellion, Daniel and his generation became strangers and exiles in Babylon. Like Daniel and his countrymen, all Christians are strangers and pilgrims in this world. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

We live in  a hostile environment in which our commitment to God is tested by the world systems on a daily basis. We are surrounded by people who do not recognize the authority of the God we serve, and rebel against His rule. We are hard pressed to conform to the lifestyle of the world and forsake the precepts of holiness set out for us in scripture.

A look at the story of Daniel and his three friends in captivity teaches us how a people in exile, who are hoping for a lasting city must live their lives in a world that is fleeting. We are God’s representatives on this earth, ‘ambassadors of Christ’ and the bible admonishes us that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, to do all to the glory of God (1Cor. 10:31). To stand up for Jesus is to defy the status quo in our world today and obey God. We are in this world but we are not of this world. We are to travel the road less travelled: “broad is the way to destruction and narrow the road to life” (Matt. 7:13)

In Daniel 3, we see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refusing to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s graven image. Rather, they chose the narrow and unpopular path. While everyone around them bowed, they chose to obey God by not bowing. We also see in chapter 6, Daniel refusing to obey the commandment not to pray to any god for thirty days except to Darius the King. These choices were not pleasant, and came with dire consequence. In the case of the three, they were thrown into a fiercely burning furnace and for Daniel he found himself having a sleepover with the lions.

Despite the glaring danger associated with choosing the side of God, He calls us to persevere to the end. He calls us to obedience regardless of the consequences.

There are tree lessons to be learned from these four Hebrew captives in Babylon:

They Kept their Identity

Daniel 1:7-8.

Though Nebuchadnezzar changed their names, their identity as Jews and children of God was intact. In a land of captivity, Daniel and his friends never compromised on who they were. As believers, we are described as pilgrims and strangers in this world (Heb. 11:13). Paul, writing to the Colossian Church, emphasised the necessity to keep focus on the Kingdom of God. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ. We are a new creation. We live in the world but are not of the world. We must not lose our identity as Christians in a world of compromises.

Consistency In Prayer

What actually got Daniel into trouble was his prayer life. But God answered and kept him out of danger. The believer is admonished to pray without ceasing. Jesus says we “ought to pray and not faint”(Luke 8:1). Prayer is to the believer, what water is to the fish. A prayerless Christian can easily fall prey to temptation and defeat.

A Life of Integrity

The believer is called to a life of integrity. Though Daniel’s enemies sought an avenue to trap him, they could find none. In a world filled with decadence and evil, God calls the Christian to live a life that is set apart. Peter admonished his readers to keep their conduct among the gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation (1 Pet. 2:12).

Notes

1: http://www.statsghana.gov.gh/docfiles/2010phc/Census2010_Summary_report_of_final_results.pdf

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