If you want to kick over the beehive, metaphorically speaking, just be “rude” enough to raise the question, “Is this God’s will?” In my experience, the answers reveal a lot, if not all, about the people involved. The more emotion-based their motives truly are, the more irrational their response tends to be. But beware of those individuals, no matter how passionate they may or may not be, who respond within the context of God’s Word because they’re most likely providing the right, spiritual response for which you’ll be responsible to heed.
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One of the most enlightening studies any Christian can do is to look at all the prayers in the Bible with an eye toward understanding the degree to which they reflect or deviate from one’s own approach to prayer. I’ve never met a Christian who thought prayer unimportant, and yet so often it’s given but token attention in our gatherings. It seems to me that the least we can do is make sure we’re at least praying for the things mentioned in the Bible in a manner consistent with those same examples of prayer.
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One of the hallmarks proving the attainment of spiritual maturity is a changed perspective when it comes to the timing of rewards and consequences. The mature believer knows that the events and conditions of this present life do not automatically reflect what is coming to them in eternity. In fact, they’re often quite contrary to each other. What is most important to come our way is promised as an “inheritance” that comes “from the Lord“, and what is most likely to be experienced in this present life are “the consequences” of our bad behavior. It’s the ultimate expression of whether we’d rather live for Christ than ourselves.
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There are so many studies and even entire sermons which could be derived from these three verses that’s it’s hard to know where to begin. There’s an entire three-point sermon that can be developed around Paul’s highlighting the importance of “the peace of Christ“, “the word of Christ“, and “whatever…in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus“. It’s not seeking peace as the world defines it, or living according to the dictates of the world, or measuring one’s activities against the world’s standard of measure, but always striving for Christ’s greater definition of each to take over from the heart so that the world is effectively neutralized in its influence upon and through us.
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One of the biggest and most obvious distinctions between a mature and still developing Christian is their vocabulary. Christian maturity is achieved by consistent immersion in God’s Word so that one’s own words begin to conform to His definitions rather than the world’s corrupted meaning. One does not have to spend much time in God’s Word to learn that the biblical definition of words like “faith”, “hope”, and “love” are actually quite different than how we’ve been using them in everyday life. At the heart of the biblical definition of “love” is an assumption of personal sacrifice and service that doesn’t quite fit the world’s notion of same.
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It’s interesting how the translators chose to render this first phrase in English, because it could literally be translated, “Therefore put to death the members which are upon the earth”. Using the word “consider” makes it sound more like an intellectual topic needing further study, whereas “put to death” attaches a proactive direction of what to specifically do about something which has already been decided. We’re supposed to take an active stance against the very behaviors that not only enslaved us, but caused us to set someone else other than the One True God on the throne of our heart. That’s exactly what idolatry is.
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Hmmm…I guess this gives new meaning to the phrase, “Living with your head in the clouds”. But in reading this I am thinking that I’d love to know what Lazarus thought of what Paul is expressing here. After all, this literally happened to Lazarus in this present, physical life and repeated itself spiritually upon his second departure from earth. He was dead and brought to life, hidden and yet revealed, and his restored life was not beholden to the past but dedicated to the glory of Christ who gave it back to him.
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