LEARNING DAILY

 

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2, Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the name of the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

 

All of us have read or heard encouraging stories about people who have set high goals or standards to live by or to achieve in their lives. You know what I mean, right? In the worldly sense, it might be achieving a certain position in one’s chosen filed of work. Or it might be to break a record in a sporting event. Perhaps, it might be to be the salesperson of the year in your firm. It might be to be the Super Bowl Champion or to never lose to Clark High School in your high school football career.

 

Paul is speaking of walking on the narrow way to God’s kingdom where a holy life is living our lives in a way that pleases God. In order for you to fully understand what this page of the blog is about you need to open your Bible and read verse 3-7 that follow. God has set high standards for us to live by. The notes in the DJSB state, “There is no such thing as static holiness; sanctification is a dynamic and progressive walk with God.” The notes lead you to read 1 Corinthians 15:58; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Peter 1:5-8. You already have your Bible open so, look these references up. This means we just do not attempt to meet God’s standards when we feel like. No, we are do our best to follow His standards every day. Here is the catch, we fail when we try to walk this way in our own power. God has given us the Holy Spirit to “help” us stay on that narrow way.

 

Paul explains this in Romans 7 where he shares his difficulty in trying to walk according to the Law. In these verses, Paul explains that the Law reveals sin but it cannot remove the sin in our life; the function of the Law is to punish those who break it and reward those who keep it. Paul is examining the situation of the person who follows the Law, accepts its truth but is not living a life that pleases God. Paul is describing the person who is in conflict or is struggling against the power of sin. This person demonstrating that he/she cannot sanctify or purify themselves by their own attempts to resist sin and obey the law of God. Here is the difference for the Christian – you and I, together with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, are in the battle against sin. You and I are not alone in this battle and because of that we are able to meet the standards God has set for us to live by. The only way to overcome the sin in our lives is through the cross and diligently seeking Him every day.

 

As Believers, the power of the cross and the indwelling Holy Spirit sets us free from the law of sin. That is why it is essential for a person to be “born again” or to have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and live with Him as our Lord (walking on the narrow way). If we are not, all our efforts to live a life free from sin will fail.

 

I know I am “talking to the choir” today. God has set high standards for us to meet because He hates sin. He has also given us the help we need to overcome the “sin that so easily entangles us” (Hebrews 12:1) and fight the good fight we wage every day with sin. I need to close with Romans 8:1, “There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (New King James Version). The New Living Translations says it this way, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” I really like that!    

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.