Christians as Vessels for God's Glory
Every Christian is called to be a vessel. If other worldly religions believe in the truth that the value of the container is in it being empty. The great heathen Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu got it right when he said in Taoist philosophy that the value of the container is in it being empty. I won't dismiss it because Taoism is a false religion that doesn't match with the Bible. Rather, it's a truth that has been acknowledged as a fact. Many religions today emphasize that you can't be used by their nonexistent gods unless you empty yourself first. If the heathen could understand the value of emptying themselves then how much more can the Christian not understand it further that they need to be emptied before the true and the living God will use them for His glory?
Becoming a Christian is not instantaneous regeneration. There is much work to be done. To be born again means to start all over again. To be born from above means to start conforming from square one with one's life. Christianity is not an add-on but a massive reformation of one's life as a result of salvation. We could think about the common problems in the Christian life and what they must be delivered from.
Flee from youthful lust and follow after righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22).
The problem is that many people just don't guard their heart and eyes. Do you know what causes so many sexual sins today? It's a problem of not guarding the heart and the eyes. David's problem started when he didn't guard his heart and then it resulted to him not guarding his eyes. The result was that when he saw Bathsheba bathing during the evening when he couldn't sleep. What happened was that he ended up committing adultery with the wife of one of his mighty men named Uriah. It led him to not only consummate the adultery with sexual intercourse but it also led him to murder a man who trusted him the most.
Today's world is even more deadly. The problems of the strange woman in Proverbs 5 has been amplified. It doesn't matter how the woman looks as long as she can please the sinful desires of the flesh. Sometimes, even two Christians can end up committing consensual sin with each other such as fornication or extramarital affairs. Technology today has even allowed more and more immoral media to be shown. A Christian may be disgusted by bestiality, incest, pedophilia and homosexuality as forms of entertainment while he or she may be aroused by immodest pictures. It takes prayers to get one's mind out of such filth.
We're done fleeing from youthful lusts so what's next? It's not enough to empty the mind of sin. It must now serve its purpose as a vessel for God to fill with righteousness. So what is the next step? Follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord with a pure heart. It's time to fill the mind with pure thoughts and ask God for deliverance from dirty thoughts. It's not a battle you can completely win alone. If pagans can even ask for their gods who can't help them for help then how much more shall Christians call upon the true and living God to deliver them from sin?
The path would be a righteous lifestyle. This calls to walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 that Christians are to walk by faith and not by sight. Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38 declare the truth in Habbakuk 2:4 that the just shall live by faith. This means to live life pleasing to God. A true faith itself will generate good works (James 2:14-23) and any fake faith cannot produce genuine good works. You can't have faith and have works resulting from it. Hebrews 11 proves that faith produces works. The call is also for charity. Charity in the King James Version has been translated as love in the modern language. What is real love? Read 1 Corinthians 13 where it talks about what real love is. Real love is patient, kind, doesn't envy or cause envy, it doesn't boast or proud and it's not self-serving. Romans 12:18 says that Christians are not to be war freaks but to live in peace even with their worst enemies - that is to only use force in self-defense. Hebrews 12:14 says that holiness is a characteristic of the saved life and that pursuing peace is necessary for others to see the Christian testimony.
Avoiding foolish questions and ignorant disputes (2 Timothy 2:23)
This is a very tough challenge considering that some people just love to ask foolish questions to where they know the answer to or just for the sake of asking. Others just love to start a quarrel or an ignorant dispute. However, this is not the Christian life. If they are to ask questions then they must ask relevant questions only.
The problem of asking foolish questions and raising ignorant disputes is how more often than not that they lead to a quarrel. Sometimes, it can be a very tactless question that could cause a quarrel. For instance, no Christian must immediately ask any Muslim if they are a terrorist since chances are that person even knows nothing about his or her religion's violent history. Another would be that one could ask a lot of questions just for the sake of irritating or derailing another person for the fun of it. Those activities have no part in the Christian life.
Instead, it's a focus on asking wise questions which can convict the person of their error. It would be like asking them if they know what they did was wrong and why they did it. It would be to do a brotherly confrontation over a backslid Christian or a friend who is stuck in error. It's time to ask for wise questions and wise discussions over foolish questions and ignorant disputes.
The characteristics of the Lord's servant (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
Every Christian is a servant. The great Charles H. Spurgeon stressed the truth that you cannot be of Christ if you aren't serving Him. Serving God naturally comes out of salvation. You can't be a Christian and not consider Jesus as your Lord and that you are His servant. Those who are truly saved will be grateful that they don't want to serve sin anymore. Only fake converts will ever think that they have a license to sin.
The servant of the Lord is first taught never to engage in useless fights but to be gentle. It would be a bad testimony for a Christian to have gotten into a fight. Instead, the call is to be gentle to people and to be patient with them. If God has been patient with you so why don't you be patient with other people? Also, becoming a Christian means to become teachable. This means that a Christian must always ask by God's grace to get rid of the temptation to get into a useless fight, to lose one's patience over trivial matters and to be more teachable and gentle.
The call for the Christian life is not to argue with others but to spread the Gospel with love. It's true that the knowledge of the truth is a very important part of the Christian life. However, knowledge without love is indeed meaningless. The ability to explain the Bible in so much detail is meaningless if it's done without love. The call for the Christian life is love towards others - even to love the worst of man enough to tell them the truth out of concern. The great C.H. Spurgeon once said this wonderful quote:
It's a rescue mission and rescuers don't argue with people who need saving. A doctor is never allowed to treat a patient against their will nor administer harm with the consent of the patient. A rescuer must convince the person nicely as possible that there's danger and to follow instructions. To be argumentative means to lose a prospect. For every argument won is a customer lost. In the missions for every argument won is a testimony and soul still lost.
See also:
2 Timothy 2:20-21
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
Becoming a Christian is not instantaneous regeneration. There is much work to be done. To be born again means to start all over again. To be born from above means to start conforming from square one with one's life. Christianity is not an add-on but a massive reformation of one's life as a result of salvation. We could think about the common problems in the Christian life and what they must be delivered from.
Flee from youthful lust and follow after righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22).
The problem is that many people just don't guard their heart and eyes. Do you know what causes so many sexual sins today? It's a problem of not guarding the heart and the eyes. David's problem started when he didn't guard his heart and then it resulted to him not guarding his eyes. The result was that when he saw Bathsheba bathing during the evening when he couldn't sleep. What happened was that he ended up committing adultery with the wife of one of his mighty men named Uriah. It led him to not only consummate the adultery with sexual intercourse but it also led him to murder a man who trusted him the most.
Today's world is even more deadly. The problems of the strange woman in Proverbs 5 has been amplified. It doesn't matter how the woman looks as long as she can please the sinful desires of the flesh. Sometimes, even two Christians can end up committing consensual sin with each other such as fornication or extramarital affairs. Technology today has even allowed more and more immoral media to be shown. A Christian may be disgusted by bestiality, incest, pedophilia and homosexuality as forms of entertainment while he or she may be aroused by immodest pictures. It takes prayers to get one's mind out of such filth.
We're done fleeing from youthful lusts so what's next? It's not enough to empty the mind of sin. It must now serve its purpose as a vessel for God to fill with righteousness. So what is the next step? Follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord with a pure heart. It's time to fill the mind with pure thoughts and ask God for deliverance from dirty thoughts. It's not a battle you can completely win alone. If pagans can even ask for their gods who can't help them for help then how much more shall Christians call upon the true and living God to deliver them from sin?
The path would be a righteous lifestyle. This calls to walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 that Christians are to walk by faith and not by sight. Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38 declare the truth in Habbakuk 2:4 that the just shall live by faith. This means to live life pleasing to God. A true faith itself will generate good works (James 2:14-23) and any fake faith cannot produce genuine good works. You can't have faith and have works resulting from it. Hebrews 11 proves that faith produces works. The call is also for charity. Charity in the King James Version has been translated as love in the modern language. What is real love? Read 1 Corinthians 13 where it talks about what real love is. Real love is patient, kind, doesn't envy or cause envy, it doesn't boast or proud and it's not self-serving. Romans 12:18 says that Christians are not to be war freaks but to live in peace even with their worst enemies - that is to only use force in self-defense. Hebrews 12:14 says that holiness is a characteristic of the saved life and that pursuing peace is necessary for others to see the Christian testimony.
Avoiding foolish questions and ignorant disputes (2 Timothy 2:23)
This is a very tough challenge considering that some people just love to ask foolish questions to where they know the answer to or just for the sake of asking. Others just love to start a quarrel or an ignorant dispute. However, this is not the Christian life. If they are to ask questions then they must ask relevant questions only.
The problem of asking foolish questions and raising ignorant disputes is how more often than not that they lead to a quarrel. Sometimes, it can be a very tactless question that could cause a quarrel. For instance, no Christian must immediately ask any Muslim if they are a terrorist since chances are that person even knows nothing about his or her religion's violent history. Another would be that one could ask a lot of questions just for the sake of irritating or derailing another person for the fun of it. Those activities have no part in the Christian life.
Instead, it's a focus on asking wise questions which can convict the person of their error. It would be like asking them if they know what they did was wrong and why they did it. It would be to do a brotherly confrontation over a backslid Christian or a friend who is stuck in error. It's time to ask for wise questions and wise discussions over foolish questions and ignorant disputes.
The characteristics of the Lord's servant (2 Timothy 2:24-26)
Every Christian is a servant. The great Charles H. Spurgeon stressed the truth that you cannot be of Christ if you aren't serving Him. Serving God naturally comes out of salvation. You can't be a Christian and not consider Jesus as your Lord and that you are His servant. Those who are truly saved will be grateful that they don't want to serve sin anymore. Only fake converts will ever think that they have a license to sin.
The servant of the Lord is first taught never to engage in useless fights but to be gentle. It would be a bad testimony for a Christian to have gotten into a fight. Instead, the call is to be gentle to people and to be patient with them. If God has been patient with you so why don't you be patient with other people? Also, becoming a Christian means to become teachable. This means that a Christian must always ask by God's grace to get rid of the temptation to get into a useless fight, to lose one's patience over trivial matters and to be more teachable and gentle.
The call for the Christian life is not to argue with others but to spread the Gospel with love. It's true that the knowledge of the truth is a very important part of the Christian life. However, knowledge without love is indeed meaningless. The ability to explain the Bible in so much detail is meaningless if it's done without love. The call for the Christian life is love towards others - even to love the worst of man enough to tell them the truth out of concern. The great C.H. Spurgeon once said this wonderful quote:
I am certain that to preach the wrath of God with a hard heart, a cold lip, a tearless eye, and an unfeeling spirit is to harden men, not benefit them.
It's a rescue mission and rescuers don't argue with people who need saving. A doctor is never allowed to treat a patient against their will nor administer harm with the consent of the patient. A rescuer must convince the person nicely as possible that there's danger and to follow instructions. To be argumentative means to lose a prospect. For every argument won is a customer lost. In the missions for every argument won is a testimony and soul still lost.
See also:
- Accepting Persecution is Part of Christian Life
- Be Careful of Pseudo-Knowledge Promoted by Intellectually Dishonest People
- Be More Christlike, Be Ready For More Persecution!
- Beware of Being "Politically Correct" Over Being Scripturally Correct
- Christians, Please Don't Expect Instant Rewards for Your Good Works
- David Received Plenty of God's Trials During His Times of Popularity
- Faith is Only Strengthened in Trials
- God Blesses His Elect by Giving Them Trials to Endure
- God Makes Christians Better Through Suffering
- Loving People Enough to Tell Them the Whole Truth!
- Modernization is Not an Excuse to Dismiss Badly Needed Old-Fashioned Revivals
- Preach the Gospel Seriously and Expect to Be at War with the Whole World!
- Reminder: God Will Melt Down Christians to Make Them Better
- Sinful People Want to Lock Up People Who Lovingly Tell Them the Truth
- Some Encouragement to Born Again Christians Out There!
- The Characteristics of an Outstanding Local New Testament Church
- Trouble Can Be a Blessing in Disguise
- Why Christian Education is Unpopular
- You Can't Expect Christianity Without Enemy Attacks!