ABCs of Christian Living

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you" (Phil 2:12b-13a).

Very simply, if you are a Christian you:

• Admit you're a sinner, 
• Believe in Christ and 
• Confess your sins.

How would you then live practically? You "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12-13).

• Know that God is working in you through all the good and bad that is happening about you.
• In response to God working in you, you work it out in the practical details of your life.
• In all things you seek to obey the will of God for your life (Phil 2:12a).

These are suggestions for practically working out the Christian life:

1. Accountability (Heb 3:13; 2 Sam 12:1-14). Atonement (Lk 23:34; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 2:20). Availability. Accessibility.
2. Beauty (Ps 27:4; Isa 33:17). Be a Blessing (Gen 12:3; Jn 13:34; Jas 1:19; Phil 2:3; Rom 12:3). Blessedness. Begin with the Bible (Dt 8:3; Ps 1:2; Ac 20:27). Not bound by boredom (tedium, duty, responsibility).
3. Constancy of Christ (Mk 1:15, 35; 1 Th 5:17). Community (Ps 133:1). Confession. Church (1 Tim 3:15).
4. Delight in the Divine (Ps 37:4). DO IT! (Jn 13:17; 2 Tim 2:1-10).
5. Experiantial life (Ps 34:8). Equality (Gen 1:27). Evangelism (Mt 28:29).
6. Freedom (Gal 5:1; 2 Cor 3:17; Jn 8:31-32; Gen 2:16). Friendship (Jn 15:15). Fellowship (Ps 133:1; 1 Jn 1:3).
7. Grace (1 Cor 15:10). Gospel (Ac 20:24). God (2 Cor 13:14).

Living The Christian Life

2 Timothy 1:6

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God..."

Jn 10:10b - The life God promised us and called us to live through Christ and in Christ is a full and abundant life.

Consider the what, why and how of the Christian life:

1. What the Christian life is
• 2 Tim 1:5 - a sincere (real) faith.
• Rom 1:17 - living by faith.
• Eph 2:8-9 - faith is a gift of God.
2. Why live the Christian life

Love (Dt 6:5)

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (The Shema)

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

1. What love is
2. Why we love
3. How to love

I. What love is

• God is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16).
• Not words or feelings, but a practical demonstration (Rom 5:8; Jn 3:16).
  

II. Why we love

• God first loved us (1 Jn 4:19).
• God redeemed us from slavery (Dt 5:15; 15:15).

Deuteronomy, a book worthy to be read day and night

In his prologue to Deuteronomy, William Tyndale writes, "This is a book worthy to be read day and night and never to be out of hands. For it is the most excellent of all the books of Moses. It is easy also and light and a very pure gospel..., a preaching of faith and love: deducing the love to God out of faith, and the love of a man's neighbor out of the love of God."

An Example of How To Read Scripture Before The Congregation

Watch and listen to the reading of 1 Kings 19:1-19 (in the ESV) from the 9 min to the 15 min point here. I blogged about this sermon with the title Elijah Blew It. It is about the lowest point of Elijah's life and ministry as a prophet of God. What might you learn about how to read Scripture meaningfully in church? It took 6 minutes to read these 19 verses:

Learn Leadership From a Pagan King (Jonah 3:5-9)

It is interesting that Nineveh’s king, a pagan ruler, exemplified godly leadership, by humbling himself before God and his people (Jon 3:6-9). The king did not think of himself, his dignity or his privileges. He approached God with a deep sense of sinfulness, in shame and sorrow for sin.

Questions For The New Year

A new year just seems like a good time for reflection, for self-evaluation, for New Year's Resolutions, for change and for looking and planning ahead.

Here are some "tough probing" questions (from Don Whitney) to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?