Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,524
“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:21-25 NASB’95)
As those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are to be those who have died with Christ to sin and who are walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, by the Spirit, in the power of God, for the glory and praise of God. We should be those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, who love God’s word, and who love serving the Lord Jesus with our lives. And we should be those who are growing and maturing in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord as part of our daily practice, because we love God.
As those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives we are now part of his body, the body of Christ, his church – biblical Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ). So, we should have been gifted of God’s Spirit with Spiritual gifts, and assigned by God our body parts, i.e. our particular areas of ministry within the universal body of Christ. And we should be operating in those areas of ministry within the body of Christ in encouraging one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord.
We should also be those who are sharing the truth of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world, and with the worldly church, for their salvation from sin and for their eternal life with God. But we need to make certain that the “gospel” we are sharing is the whole truth which teaches that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ we must die with Christ to sin and we must now walk with him in obedience to his commands in holiness and in righteousness in the power of God, forever.
And we need to be those who are keeping our own bodies in check, who have put away from ourselves all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, and all immorality. And we are to be those who are abstaining from fleshly lusts which wage war against ourselves. And we are to keep our behavior excellent among the ungodly that they may see the good deeds of God being done in our lives as an example to them of what it means to live for Jesus Christ and to follow in his footsteps. But this doesn’t mean we are perfect.
And we are to be law abiding citizens who obey those in authority over us, unless those in authority over us require that we disobey God in any respect. Then we obey God and not men. And we are not to bow to the beast, so we need to be discerning about what this beast system looks like so that we don’t end up worshiping this beast thinking that we are doing good by obeying those in authority over us. Remember that Jesus and his apostles did not always obey the authorities. God’s laws always trumped man’s laws.
So, when this says that we have been called for this purpose, it is not just for what follows, but it refers to what was written prior to this, too, which I have just summarized for us above. But the main thing here is that, because of what Jesus did for us, in giving his life up for us on that cross, so that we could be free from our slavery to sin and now serve him with our lives, we are to die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily (in practice), and we are now to walk (in conduct, in practice) according to his commandments.
We are no longer to be those for whom sin is our practice (habit, addiction), but now righteous and godly and moral living, in obedience to God, should be how we are living. And we are not to be liars who make telling lies our practice, but we are to be truth tellers. And we are not to be those who get even with our persecutors, but we are to love our enemies and who forgive them. And we are to do good to those who do evil to us. And we are to pray for them, and to speak words to them which will be for their benefit.
We should be those who are willing to suffer injustices on account of we are following and obeying our Lord with our daily lives. And when we are persecuted on account of our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and because we will not compromise with sin and with the world, we are not to revile in return. This does not mean we cannot speak the truth in love to others who profess faith in Jesus but who are living the opposite of what they profess, though. Jesus did plenty of that, and so did his apostles.
In fact, Jesus and his apostles spoke some pretty strong words to the religious hypocrites of their day who were not acting in accord with what they professed. So the whole point of this is that we not trade “tit for tat,” i.e. what you do to me, I do not do back to you. But this doesn’t mean we remain silent when others who are professing the name of Jesus are not living as they ought to live, and when they make continual excuses for why they feel that they cannot live how God requires that we all live for his glory.
But we must be willing to forsake fame and fortune in order to follow Jesus Christ with our lives in walks of surrender to him and to his will and purpose for our lives. We should be willing to be misunderstood, and to be falsely accused of wrongdoing, and to be hated and rejected and persecuted for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of the truth of the gospel which we should be sharing with others. For Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world on that cross so that we will now, by faith in him, die with him to sin and now live to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
"My God and I"
Music & Lyrics: Austris A. Wihtol, 1932
My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadow's hue.
He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be;
When all was but a dream of dim conception,
To come to life, earth's verdant glory see.
My God and I will go for aye together,
We'll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.
Caution: This link may contain ads
Called for This Purpose
An Original Work / April 12, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
As those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, we are to be those who have died with Christ to sin and who are walking in obedience to his commands in holy living, by the Spirit, in the power of God, for the glory and praise of God. We should be those who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, who love God’s word, and who love serving the Lord Jesus with our lives. And we should be those who are growing and maturing in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord as part of our daily practice, because we love God.
As those who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives we are now part of his body, the body of Christ, his church – biblical Israel (Jew and Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ). So, we should have been gifted of God’s Spirit with Spiritual gifts, and assigned by God our body parts, i.e. our particular areas of ministry within the universal body of Christ. And we should be operating in those areas of ministry within the body of Christ in encouraging one another in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord.
We should also be those who are sharing the truth of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world, and with the worldly church, for their salvation from sin and for their eternal life with God. But we need to make certain that the “gospel” we are sharing is the whole truth which teaches that, by God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ we must die with Christ to sin and we must now walk with him in obedience to his commands in holiness and in righteousness in the power of God, forever.
And we need to be those who are keeping our own bodies in check, who have put away from ourselves all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, and all immorality. And we are to be those who are abstaining from fleshly lusts which wage war against ourselves. And we are to keep our behavior excellent among the ungodly that they may see the good deeds of God being done in our lives as an example to them of what it means to live for Jesus Christ and to follow in his footsteps. But this doesn’t mean we are perfect.
And we are to be law abiding citizens who obey those in authority over us, unless those in authority over us require that we disobey God in any respect. Then we obey God and not men. And we are not to bow to the beast, so we need to be discerning about what this beast system looks like so that we don’t end up worshiping this beast thinking that we are doing good by obeying those in authority over us. Remember that Jesus and his apostles did not always obey the authorities. God’s laws always trumped man’s laws.
So, when this says that we have been called for this purpose, it is not just for what follows, but it refers to what was written prior to this, too, which I have just summarized for us above. But the main thing here is that, because of what Jesus did for us, in giving his life up for us on that cross, so that we could be free from our slavery to sin and now serve him with our lives, we are to die with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily (in practice), and we are now to walk (in conduct, in practice) according to his commandments.
We are no longer to be those for whom sin is our practice (habit, addiction), but now righteous and godly and moral living, in obedience to God, should be how we are living. And we are not to be liars who make telling lies our practice, but we are to be truth tellers. And we are not to be those who get even with our persecutors, but we are to love our enemies and who forgive them. And we are to do good to those who do evil to us. And we are to pray for them, and to speak words to them which will be for their benefit.
We should be those who are willing to suffer injustices on account of we are following and obeying our Lord with our daily lives. And when we are persecuted on account of our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and because we will not compromise with sin and with the world, we are not to revile in return. This does not mean we cannot speak the truth in love to others who profess faith in Jesus but who are living the opposite of what they profess, though. Jesus did plenty of that, and so did his apostles.
In fact, Jesus and his apostles spoke some pretty strong words to the religious hypocrites of their day who were not acting in accord with what they professed. So the whole point of this is that we not trade “tit for tat,” i.e. what you do to me, I do not do back to you. But this doesn’t mean we remain silent when others who are professing the name of Jesus are not living as they ought to live, and when they make continual excuses for why they feel that they cannot live how God requires that we all live for his glory.
But we must be willing to forsake fame and fortune in order to follow Jesus Christ with our lives in walks of surrender to him and to his will and purpose for our lives. We should be willing to be misunderstood, and to be falsely accused of wrongdoing, and to be hated and rejected and persecuted for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of the truth of the gospel which we should be sharing with others. For Jesus took upon himself the sins of the world on that cross so that we will now, by faith in him, die with him to sin and now live to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
"My God and I"
Music & Lyrics: Austris A. Wihtol, 1932
My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadow's hue.
He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be;
When all was but a dream of dim conception,
To come to life, earth's verdant glory see.
My God and I will go for aye together,
We'll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.
Caution: This link may contain ads
Called for This Purpose
An Original Work / April 12, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
