(Further reflection on “Being Saved & Being Trained”—Sunday 14-Apr-2024)
It is said, “The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul (Martyn Lloyd-Jones).” In the same vein, "Being saved without training is like being pulled out from drowning but refusing to learn to swim (DQL).”
Salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ must lead to discipleship in Jesus and through His Body—the church. In Titus 2:11-15, we need to be trained:
(a.) to renounce ungodliness, worldly passions (i.e. the love of money, sexual immorality, hunger for power, etc.);
(b.) to live self-controlled (surrendering your will to God’s will), upright (above reproach), and godly (Jesus-centered) lives in the present age;
(c.) to wait for the blessed hope of Christ’s return. And the waiting time is the time to keep redeeming believers of Jesus from all lawlessness (being wise in one’s own eyes) and to keep purifying followers of Christ for God’s own possession and to keep making Christians zealous for good works (what are they in this context? Ready Titus 3);
(d.) to declare all the above without reservation or fear of people who might have already been disregarding God’s word before disregarding those who shared/proclaimed it. God’s word is the source of authority for exhorting and rebuking. Needless to say, speaking the truth in love should be our communication operating principle.
Saved, now what? Let us all be doers of the word, and not hearers only, lest we deceive ourselves (cf. James 1:22).
Amen.
—
Pastor Lap
Comentarios