BACKGROUND:
When God judges, he has no favorites. Just as these believers constantly called on God for help because they knew he loved them, they should also be careful how they lived: Live in reverent fear of him during your time as foreigners here on earth. Reverent fear is not the fear of a slave for a ruthless master, but the healthy and fervent respect of a believer for the all-powerful God.
In Old Testament times, a person’s debts could result in that person’s being sold as a slave. The next of kin could ransom the slave (buy his or her freedom), a transaction involving money or valuables of some kind. However, silver and gold can do nothing to change anyone’s spiritual condition. No amount of money can buy our salvation. It has to be done God’s way, not with money, but with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That God paid a ransom to save us means that he paid the price to set sinners free from slavery to sin. Christ paid the debt we owed for violating the righteous demands of the law. Christ purchased our freedom, and it cost him his own life. Only the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross was effective atonement for our sins. The Old Testament saints sacrificed lambs in order to atone for their sins, but New Testament believers have had their sins covered by the blood of the sinless Savior.
Christ’s sacrifice for the world’s sins was not an afterthought, not something God decided to do when the world spun out of control. This plan was set in motion by the all-knowing, eternal God long before the world began. In eternity past, God chose his people and planned that Christ would redeem them. Christ has always existed with God (John 1:1), but had been sent to the earth for all to see. The redemption God accomplished for believers through Christ—not understood even by the prophets who wrote about them —should cause us to be even more concerned to live according to his high moral standards. Peter’s words, he did this for you, provided an intensely personal note, encouraging his readers that Christ’s coming and the entire plan of salvation are for individual believers, loved and chosen by God.
It is through Christ that believers have come to trust in God. The fact that God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory is the foundation for our faith and hope for two reasons: (1) through Christ’s resurrection and glorification, God openly declares that he has accepted Christ as our righteous substitute, thereby giving us access to God; (2) through Christ’s resurrection and glorification, believers can receive power from the Holy Spirit. The power that resurrected and glorified Christ is the same power that enables us to believe. Because Christ ransomed us, we must no longer fear God and face his judgment; instead, we set our faith and hope confidently in God, trusting in the one who planned our salvation from eternity past. As God raised Christ from the dead, we believe and expect that he will also raise us.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read?)
What kind or person is God looking for?
#4. GOD IS LOOKING FOR FORESIGHTED PEOPLE.
That means people who not only believe but they look toward the future. God is doing what you expect in your life and He’s doing what you have your eyes on. God says, I want to use people who have their eyes on eternity, having eternal values. Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on things above not on things that are on the earth.” Living Bible: “Let heaven fills your thoughts. Don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.”
Some people say, “He’s so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good.” That can be true, but I also know people who are so earthly minded they’re no heavenly good. Have your values right. Take the long look. Have perspective. Live your life in light of eternity. I think the message that needs to be heard today by the Christian church Is there is more to life than just here and now. Most people are only interested in what Christ can do for them here and now. There is more to it than just here and now. If we’d just wake up to that! “Set your affections on things above. Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 says,“Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.”
That last sentence tells us exactly why Jesus was able to go to the cross. It says He had a greater perspective. He looked for the joy set before Him. He looked beyond the cross and could see the glory on the other side. So He went through the problem because He had perspective. He was foresighted.
The tragedy is that most Christians are spending all their time and all their money and all their energy and all their effort on things that are going to burn up at the judgment. They’re not going to last. Cars, stereos, nice clothes, vacation homes,etc.. aren’t bad but I’ve seen so many times people put on the shelf because they become preoccupied with the present. I hope you’ll take seriously about figuring out what is going to last. God’s word is going to last. “Heaven and earth shall pass away but My word shall never pass away.” We build our lives on God’s word. The Bible tells us that Faith, hope, and love are going to last so we build our lives on faith, hope and love. We know people are going to last one of two places – heaven or hell. Where I spend my time now may determine where they spend their eternity. We know that prayer is going to last. Revelation 5:8 says that the prayers of saints are stored up in vials in heaven. The Bible says God hears the prayers. There are prayers being answered today that were prayed 100 years ago.
God is looking for people who have their priorities right. They’re foresighted and they seek first the kingdom of God. I really believe that Jesus, since He was perfect, never wasted a second. He knew when to relax. He knew when to have fun. He knew when to be serious. He was perfectly balanced. He knew when to be intense. He knew when to lighten up. When Jesus was twelve years old, His first recorded statement is, “I must be about My Father’s business.” I don’t know many twelve year olds who have figured out their life purpose. But at twelve years old He said, “I must be about My Father’s business.” When He dies on the cross the next to the last words are “It is finished.” Not “I’m finished” but “It is finished.” What? The Father’s business. Bookends on His life. That’s what I call a successful life. He was looking farsighted. He had a clear purpose. Some things are not necessarily wrong, they’re just not necessary. We need to know what matters.
No comments:
Post a Comment