KEY PRINCIPLES FROM THIS MESSAGE:
“Strive” – from diokete – means to pursue with all haste (“chasing” after), earnestly desiring to overtake (apprehend).
“everyone” from pas – means “all” in the sense of “each (every) part that applies.” The emphasis of the total picture then is on “one piece at a time.”
How to Love Like Jesus – blog 2/13/2
To love like Jesus is to give sacrificially at personal expense, for the sake of others, especially those in need. It is to allow circumstances, not emotions, to dictate your responses. It is to act with integrity towards what you know is right (James 4:17).
What Does Impartiality Mean to You? – blog 2/20/2
Partiality is part of the human condition. Impartiality simply describes what doesn’t exist in God.
A clean, moral life condemns the sinner.
God’s sanctification is INTENTIONAL in the fact that it is DESIGNED to produce divine good fruit.
Successfully striving for peace and holiness results in God’s grace being extolled.
William Lane on Heb 12:15-16
Christian vigilance is the proper response to a peril that poses an imminent threat to the entire community. The danger is first envisioned as the forfeiture of the grace of God through carelessness. It is then presented as the peril of defilement that would alter the character of the community. It is finally identified as apostasy, resulting in the irrevocable loss of inheritance rights. In view of this very real danger, the members of the house church are urged to vigilant concern for one another.
It’s simply not enough (anti-Biblical, even) to establish/maintain commitments to ourselves (as virtual islands). We are called to a community (aka “a congregation”), for the purpose of “obedience of faith” (ref: Rom 1, 16).
Commitment, responsibility, and accountability are all disciplines in the local church.
We are called/commanded to BE a community of brothers/sisters/mothers/fathers in the faith. And like ANY command, this requires OBEDIENCE.
It’s not a question of whether or not “commitment, responsibility, and accountability” exists IN our local assembly (that could easily exist without YOU being a part of it) – it’s whether or not YOU are rightly motivated towards the local assembly.
Convictions (like most things in the spiritual life) are not transactional; rather, they are constitutional.
Integrity has no “quit” in it; otherwise, it is no longer integrity.
Accountability to the local church implies a reckoning. Based on Holy Scripture, as understood by a well-taught congregation, each member has the God-given duty to hold each other accountable to God’s divine standards.
By holding one another accountable in the church, we tighten up the reins of righteousness, and as a community become stronger together.
Before you speak, check to see if you are walking by the Spirit (vs. your flesh), and then choose your words wisely, seeking reconciliation for all parties to God. With unbelievers, the goal is evangelism. With fellow believers, it’s realignment with God’s will.
The best way to inspire change is to model it.