The Reformed Witness Update and Strategies

4th Quarter, 2000


The Importance of Proper Thinking



As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, [so] walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 

(Colossians 2:6-7 AV)


Today, too many professing Christians are content to remain passive and complacent amidst the evil world that surrounds them. This attitude extensively penetrates their lives causing them to sit idly by, as dumb sheep, watching life happen to them. Thus, they willfully forget their commission as kings and priests. Rather than committing to the Biblical “pro active” position, as to fulfill their individual commission, they take “it” a day at a time, not planning or contemplating the various possibilities their vocation offers. Neither do they examine the consequences of ignoring such a great commission.

Functioning without concrete goals, either short term or long term, Christians who ignore their God given pro-active involvement in the world exist in a Theological vacuum, not knowing “whither they goeth.” Unlike the prophets of the Scriptures, and unlike the Reformers, Puritans and Founding fathers of History, their existence is similar to those of the reprobate; “eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

Today’s church is over-run with so-called Christians who are nothing more than religious hypocrites, or moral make believers. If the church lacks in any of its “programs”, then these souls apparently have no real use for that institution. Yet, God has not so instructed the True Saint.

God’s Word engages all the saints to actively plan and execute strategies for the promotion of His Kingdom, and the Gospel of His Christ. Christ commissions the saint to be as a city which is set upon a hill and a light that is not, nor can ever be, hid under a bushel. Anything less than a full exertion of energy and passion, for the work of the Kingdom is simply poor stewardship.

 

 

"DUMBED DOWN" BY CARNAL PHILOSOPHIES

Spiritual mindedness is the principle character of the True Child of God. This does not mean a mystical approach to life, nor does it infer that there is no reality to be engaged.

To be Spiritually minded is to understand that the Word of God is the Standard of all authority and that all reality must be interpreted through God’s Word. Spiritual mindedness is a Divine understanding that God alone can legitimately dictate our actions, and lays just claims upon all men.

On the other hand, to be carnally minded is to take our dictates from the world and its claim to wisdom. Today’s Christian has received so much of the poisons of this worldly mindset, that it is almost impossible to discriminate between the pure Truth of God and the counterfeit lies of sinful men. Thanks be to God for His Holy Word which is our source of light, and our lamp, in this “valley of the shadow of death”.

 

 

ROOTED AND BUILT UP

The Apostle speaks of being rooted, built up, and established in the faith and power of the Lord Jesus. Such language denotes a firm planting as in a foundation, which brings forth a building of means with a particular purpose in view. Furthermore, this reality of being rooted and built up consequently brings the fruition of an establishment. This establishment, no doubt is the establishment of a strong, personal faith, witness and service.

In order to be a functional Christian, one needs to be firmly settled in the Word of God, by the Spirit of Regeneration. Without these fundamental particulars, there can be neither Christian faith nor practice. The Word of God must regulate our thoughts and our actions. Everything stands the scrutiny of God’s Word. He alone is the Judge.

 

 

THE CHRISTIAN IDENTITY CRISIS

Today’s Christian derives his or her identity from the world. If the world speaks well of them, they are encouraged. If the world offers them hope or financial substance, they are invigorated. If the world brings affliction, despondency sets in. The modern Christian destructively draws his or her cues from the world. The sad result is “disfunctionalism” in the kingdom of Christ.

 

 

WRONG THINKING/WRONG DOING

A careful understanding of the Scriptures would quickly put to death the malady of drawing our identity from the world and outward situations. To begin with, the Christian must never relate to the world in an effort to gain an understanding of what he or she is, or what he or she should be pursuing as a life’s goal. Furthermore, too many Christian professors fall prey to depression or loneliness which stifles them, and causes spiritual impotence. Both of these maladies are a direct result of wrong thinking and a wrong identification of who they are.

 

 

JUDE, A SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST

The apostle Jude understood who he was. In his potent single chapter epistle he immediately establishes his identity as “A SERVANT.” By pin-pointing his relationship with the Absolute and only Sure Foundation, Jesus Christ, he also established his vocation and goal in life. He would serve Christ. This realization outlined both his identity and his goal. Whatever he did, he would do it to further the kingdom of Christ.

 

 

THE SYMPTOMS OF SPIRITUAL SICKNESS

If circumstances dictate our actions, rather than God’s clear call and commission, then we will be plagued by fear, unbelief, impatience, murmuring, bitterness, backbiting, discontentment, anguish and frustration. When God’s church loses its focus, it begins to disintegrate. Strife, division, malice, wrath and disobedience become commonplace.

It is time for the serious Christian saints to re-examine their lives. Let us ask the most important questions. Who am I? Or rather Whose am I?

What is my life? What is my rule and authority? How shall I execute the Will of Him Who has called me?

May God be pleased to assist us in a proactive Christian response to all that He has prepared for us to do. Unto the praise of the Glory of His Grace. AMEN

 

RW

 

 

 

 

The Reformed Bible Church Ministry Update 
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Other articles by Pastor Paul Michael Raymond

 

 

 

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