Be An Example

"Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us." -Titus 2:7-8

Being an example is a daunting, yet necessary task. The Lord wants to put on display what He is doing in your life, namely changing you into a person that shows true godliness of character. He does this not so that you will receive the accolades of men, but so that you can have influence on the lives of those around you. Paul tells Titus here to model good works--godliness--in all respects. In every aspect of life Titus was to show himself to be a model Christian. He was to teach with integrity, dignity, and soundness of speech. Wouldn't it be great if every Christian lived with this kind of resolve? Your neighbors would be well-served if you lived with consistency of character, respect and respectfulness of others, and if you use the sort of speech that shows truth and grace.

Your example is a powerful thing. It has the power to lift someone up. As others look to you (and they are looking), you can encourage them and strengthen them in the Lord. Your example has the power to teach truth. Your life puts on display the measure of truth that you understand from God's Word. Whether you understand little or much of the Bible, your life will show it. Either you will display the godliness that the Lord desires, or you will display the sinfulness of the flesh that comes naturally and easily to you. Your example has the power to silence an opponent and prove accusations wrong. Opponents will come. Accusations will be thrown at you. Your way of life will either confirm the accusations or it will extinguish them. Seek to live showing yourself to be a model of good works, integrity, dignity, and soundness of speech.

Past, Present, and Future

"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:" -Colossians 1:21-22

Remember your past. There was a time when you were God's enemy. There was a time when you were estranged from the life of God. But then there was a change. By the blood of Christ's cross, your sin debt was paid and by faith you received cleansing, the forgiveness of sins, and have now been reconciled to God.

Call to mind the present. God is conforming you to the image of His dear Son, that you may be like Him in your thoughts, words, and actions. Every task you face, every trial that is patiently endured, every struggle, and every victory is being used to further this work.

Now look to your future. One day Christ will present you to the Father in heaven perfectly holy, perfectly blameless, and perfectly unreproveable in His sight--no more accusations, no more sin, no more regrets, no more pain.

Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Reclaiming A Vision of God's Majesty

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged." Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." -Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah records for us a most awesome experience--Isaiah saw the Lord. He saw the Lord in all His majesty. He saw the Lord sitting on the throne of heaven. Isaiah heard the voices of the angels constantly singing God's holiness. Smoke, trembling doorposts, singing. Isaiah's vision of God was truly a most awesome experience.

Notice, first of all that Isaiah's vision of God came after the death of King Uzziah. You will remember that King Uzziah was a tremendous leader for Israel. He was the sort of king that people followed. He was strong, a good leader, and a godly man. Uzziah built cities, strengthened his army, and overthrew his enemies. However, near the end of Uzziah's life, he failed miserably when he attempted to do something that which was reserved only for the priests. Because of this failure, he lived as a leper the rest of his days. For Isaiah, Uzziah's death would have been a milestone, a date to remember. Uzziah would have been a hero of sorts for Isaiah. After Uzziah's death, Isaiah saw the Lord. Sometimes God has to remove our heroes before we can truly see the Lord in His majesty.

Secondly, notice Isaiah's response to this vision. Isaiah acknowledges his utter sinfulness in the presence of a holy God. Here we see a man that is broken because of his sin. Isaiah is literally undone at this revelation of God's holiness. Repeatedly in the Scriptures we see this same pattern. Joshua fell on his face before the commander of the armies of the Lord. Moses fell on his face at the burning bush. Paul fell on his face before the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Isaiah see himself for who he really is as he sees the majesty of God. This is true of us as well. As we look to the Lord of hosts and see him in all his splendor and holiness, we get a very accurate picture of our own sinfulness and inadequacy to stand before a holy God. 

Third, I want you to notice Isaiah' cleansing. This angel brought cleansing to Isaiah's unclean lips by the coal from the altar. As Isaiah saw this vision of God and reeled back because of his own sinfulness, God extended grace to Isaiah and cleansed him, forgiving Isaiah of his sin. If we are to truly see God's majesty, we must do so on the basis of God's grace in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 2 we are told that by Jesus Christ we have access to the Father. We can be forgiven of our sins and experience fellowship with God because of grace. God has done something for us that we could not do ourselves. Isaiah was undone--there was nothing Isaiah could do to fix his sinfulness. We to are undone before the holiness of God, but in Christ we can be forgiven and cleansed just as Isaiah was. 

Last, notice Isaiah's willingness to serve. When he saw the majesty of God and recognized his own sinfulness and received forgiveness of sins, Isaiah responded by offering himself in the service of the true King of heaven. Uzziah was dead. The earthly hero was no more. But Isaiah learned that God is the King and that He was looking for a messenger. 

Believer, I urge you to see the majesty of God. Don't settle for a small view of God. See him in all His glory. He is the only true God, the God of whom the angels sing night and day, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts: The whole earth is full of His glory!" Only when we see the Lord in all His fullness do we understand who we are in all our sinfulness. Lord break us, undo us, and forgive and cleanse us. Make us suitable for your service.

Perseverance and Prayer

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” –Luke 11:9-10

Perseverance is a quality that we must develop in prayer. When a need arises, the natural tendency in prayer is to pray once or even to neglect prayer altogether. In the weakness of our flesh we often succumb to the pressures to start striving on our own apart from God. Our flesh wants to attempt to control the circumstances we face. God would have us pray and rely upon Him as we go through each trial. When things get difficult and we are tempted to give up in prayer, we are to keep on praying and keep on relying on God.

The Bible has much to say about continuing and being constant in prayer. We are told that it is God’s will for us to pray without ceasing. We are commanded to pray. In another place, we are told to be watchful in prayer. Here in Luke 11, we are told to ask, seek, and knock when it comes to prayer. These verbs are in the present tense, which indicates that we are supposed to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. Perseverance is continuing in that course of action with little or no indication of change. Prayer often feels this way. We pray and expect God to act immediately, but He doesn’t operate on our time schedule. We pray and then wait, and then pray, and then wait some more. Sometimes this results in us giving up on praying. But when we persevere in prayer, we begin to see God answer and fulfill our prayers in ways that we could never imagine.

Jesus is a prime example to us of perseverance in prayer. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed with perseverance. Remember, He was agonizing over the impending suffering that He would face on the cross. He prayed for another way but He also submitted Himself to the Father’s will and not His own. He didn’t leave the place of prayer until He had prayed three times and sweat drops of blood as He prayed. The disciples were not so diligent. They couldn’t even stay awake and watch as Jesus prayed. This is a great picture of the struggle we face in prayer. Jesus is the ideal. We want to pray with endurance and perseverance like He does, but we usually end up asleep like the disciples.

Lord, teach us to pray and to pray with perseverance.

Perseverance and Persecution

What does it mean to persevere? The word itself means to “continue in a course of action in spite of difficulty or with little or no indication of success.” Perseverance is an action word that describes the way a person lives. It is the action of the one who has the qualities of endurance and patience. It communicates to us that the one who perseveres has endured a task or trial for a period of time with some measure of difficulty or distress. We have many examples of perseverance given to us in the Scriptures or illustrated for us in society. It could be the marathon runner, the gladiator fighting to the death, or the soldier in battle. It also could be the mother raising her children, the father working hard to provide for his family, the pastor shepherding his church, the firefighter extinguishing the flames of a house fire, or the politician taking a stand for morality in a Godless culture. In the passage below, we have the idea of perseverance illustrated.

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” –Matthew 24:9-14

What you've just read is a small portion of the Lord Jesus instruction to his followers on the idea of persecution. Persecution means that Christians will suffer at the hand of unbelievers because of their faith. Jesus promised this to all those who would follow him. Paul echoes the same thing to Timothy by saying that “all who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Here Jesus says that there is coming a time when the unbelieving world will be angry with Christians, they will hate them, and the world will will afflict them physically, and they will even kill Christians for their faith. There is coming a time when Christians won’t even trust each other. Instead professing Christians will betray and hate other Christians. There will be deception by false teachers, and Christian love will grow cold. There is suffering in store for Christians in the world. Jesus says here that the one that endures to the end will be saved. Jesus is not advocating that in order to be saved eternally you must endure to the end. This would be a works-based salvation. Rather, he is describing a future time of persecution called the great tribulation. During this time persecution will become so intense that there will be many professors of Christianity that will apostatize and leave the faith. What Jesus means here is that those who endure—those that persevere through this time of intense tribulation—shall be saved at the second advent of Jesus Christ. Jesus will return to the earth and put an end to all the fighting and persecution that will occur.

While this passage describes for us a yet future time of suffering for Christians, we can be encouraged right now to learn to persevere. Perseverance is connected with the Christian life. After all, once a person trusts in Christ for salvation, they begin a journey that will last the rest of life. Perseverance means that you will continue in your Christian faith until your dying breath. It means that you will remain faithful to the Lord your whole life. Perseverance is the idea of continuance. It is the idea of moving forward, running the spiritual race, walking with the Lord with patience and endurance. In the Scriptures God clearly communicates that He wants Christians to persevere. Peter tells us to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told Timothy to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews urges us to go on to perfection, to keep moving forward and not to draw back. James tells us to let the trials of life perfect us by giving us endurance.

Think of the coming tribulation and of those who will suffer to the point of death for the Lord Jesus. Christians we need to pray that we will gain that sort of perseverance in our faith. Are you persevering? Are you gaining the qualities of endurance and patience in your life? Let the trials of your life and the suffering at the hands of unbelievers encourage you to keep moving forward and not to draw back. Don’t be discouraged. Be a good soldier. Endure hardship for the Lord Jesus Christ.