Rajesh

Ephesians 5:25 and A Proper Christian Mindset

November 22, 2016

Having a proper Christian mindset includes living by the glorious truth of Christ’s loving me and giving Himself for me:

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

As important as believing that Christ loved me and gave Himself for me as an individual Christian is, having a proper Christian mindset requires that I also give full importance to a closely related truth:

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Paul teaches in this verse that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.

As an individual Christian, I am part of the Church, but I am not the totality of the Church. Ephesians 5:25, therefore, teaches me that Christ loved an entity that includes me but is far bigger than I am. It teaches me that Christ died for something that is far bigger than I am as an individual Christian.

Because Christ loves the Church and because He gave Himself for it, I must always be mindful to treat those who are His Church in light of these glorious realities.

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

Do You Believe That Jesus Was Full of Truth?

November 17, 2016

The Apostle John made known that Jesus was full of grace and truth:

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

To doubt, disbelieve, or deny anything that Jesus said or taught is to hold that He was not full of truth but had some error or worse mixed with the truth that He was and taught. If Jesus was not full of truth, then it is impossible to know for sure that He is full of grace and full confidence in His ability to save is made impossible.

Application

When asked a question concerning the subject of divorce, Jesus responded with statements that have profound relevance for our day:

Mat 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

⁵ And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

⁶ Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

In this teaching, Jesus affirmed that God created mankind as male and female at the beginning. He added that biblical marriage consisting of a man marrying a woman flows directly out of what God did in creating man the way that He did.

Jesus declared that when a man and a woman marry, they become one flesh because God has joined them together as husband and wife. Because God has done so, man is not to separate the couple that God has joined.

A believer who denies that God created mankind as male and female from the beginning has to hold that Jesus was wrong when He said these words. A belief in evolution thus makes impossible the belief that Jesus was full of truth.

If Jesus was wrong when He gave this teaching, He also is not full of grace and trusting in Him for the grace needed to save us is a hopelessly vain endeavor. We must reject any teaching that denies that God created mankind as male and female at the beginning.

Do you believe that Jesus was full of truth?

In Interpretation, Theology

“O Lord, While We Confess the Worth”

November 12, 2016

I recently found two excellent hymns to use for engaging in gospel self-talk through believer’s baptism: Baptismal Hymn and O Lord, While We Confess the Worth. Written by Mary B. Peters, O Lord While We Confess the Worth sets forth truths that are worth meditating on individually and ministering to one another corporately!

O Lord, While We Confess the Worth

O Lord, while we confess the worth
Of this, the outward seal,
Do Thou, the truths here-in set forth,
To ev-‘ry heart reveal.

Death to the world we here avow,
Death to each fleshly lust;
Newness of life our calling now,
A risen Lord our trust.

And we, O Lord, who now partake
Of resurrection life,
With ev-‘ry sin, for Thy dear sake,
Would be at constant strife.

Baptized into the Father’s name,
We’d walk as sons of God;
Baptized in Thine, we own Thy claim,
As ransomed by Thy blood.

Baptized into the Holy Ghost,
We’d keep His temple pure;
And make Thy grace our only boast,
And by Thy strength endure.

In Discipleship, Music, Sunday School

“Baptismal Hymn”

November 5, 2016

While preparing for my Sunday school class that I am scheduled to teach tomorrow, I found an excellent hymn for engaging in gospel self-talk through believer’s baptism, which is the topic for my lesson tomorrow. This hymn was written anonymously and can be sung to the tune Hursley, which is used for the song Sun of My Soul.

Baptismal Hymn (#455 in Hymns of Grace and Glory)

Is it Thy will that I should be
Buried, in symbol, Lord, with Thee;
Owning Thee by this solemn sign,
Telling the world that I am Thine?

Gladly I yield obedience now;
In all things to Thy will I’d bow;
I’ll follow where my Saviour led,
And humbly in His footsteps tread.

This emblematic, wat’ry grave
Shows forth His love—Who came to save;
And as I enter it, I see
The price my Saviour paid for me.

Forth from Thy burial, Lord, I come,
For Thou hast triumphed o’er the tomb;
Thy resurrection life I share—
My portion is no longer here.

Oh, may I count myself to be
Dead to the sins that wounded Thee,
Dead to the pleasures of this earth,
Unworthy of my heav’nly birth.

Lord Jesus, when I gaze on Thee,
And all Thy radiant glory see,
That joy will far exceed the shame
I bear on earth for Thy loved name.

In Discipleship, Music, Sunday School

¡Esperemos con entusiasmo la cena de las bodas del Cordero!

October 27, 2016

Un cristiano no es sólo una persona que ha creído en Cristo para no ir al infierno, sino al cielo. Un cristiano es alguien que sabe que se ha desposado a Cristo como una virgen santa que se prepara para la cena de las bodas del Cordero.

Así como una virgen que se prepara para casarse está completamente absorta en los preparativos de la boda, el cristiano debe estar siempre preparándose para la cena de las bodas del Cordero. Dios ha concedido a cada cristiano (como parte de la novia de Cristo, que se viste de lino fino, limpio y resplandeciente) vestirse a sí mismo de ese lino fino que son sus propias acciones justas.

Los creyentes que ponen demasiado énfasis en el hecho que Dios se complace perfectamente en ellos por estar en Cristo y, por tanto, concluyen que la forma en que viven no le importa a Dios, se han privado a sí mismos de la gloria que Dios les ha dado al permitirles vestirse del lino fino de sus propias acciones justas. ¡Como alguien que está desposado con Cristo como una virgen santa, preparémonos, todos los que esperamos con entusiasmo la cena de las bodas del Cordero, para nuestra gloriosa boda con Él, viviendo justamente en el poder del Espíritu para la gloria de Dios!

(Trasladado con la ayuda de Reinaldo Useche y Google Translate.)

En inglés

In Spanish, Sunday School, Theology

Let Us Eagerly Await the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!

October 21, 2016

A Christian is not just a person who has believed in Christ so that he will not go to hell but will instead go to heaven. A Christian is a person who believes that he has been espoused to Christ as a holy virgin who is preparing for the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Just as a virgin who is preparing to be married is completely absorbed in her wedding preparations, a Christian is to be ever making himself ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb. God has given to every Christian—as one who is part of the bride of Christ who clothes herself in fine linen, bright and clean—to clothe himself in that fine linen that is his own righteous acts.

Believers who have so overemphasized the truth that God is perfectly complacent with them because they are in Christ and therefore have concluded that how they live does not matter to God have robbed themselves of the glory that God has given to them to clothe themselves in the fine linen that is their own righteous acts. As one who is espoused to Christ as a holy virgin, let us who eagerly await the marriage supper of the Lamb prepare ourselves for our glorious wedding to Him by living righteously in the power of the Spirit for the glory of God!

In Discipleship, Exhortation, Sunday School, Theology

Musings about Biblical Marriage

October 16, 2016

In preparation for teaching Sunday school today and next week, I have been thinking much about how important biblical marriage is and the intense assault that we are seeing on that truth. We have a great need to contend for the faith once given to the saints concerning these key truths.

According to the Bible, the first demonic attack on mankind was not on an unmarried man or woman but on a married woman. This observation suggests that married women may especially be targets of satanic activity intended to ruin their marriages.

Spirit-filled husbands and wives speak to themselves and each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord about their marriages. They teach and admonish each other with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in their hearts to God about their marriages.

Husbands and wives should consider regularly singing to one another of their love for one another, even as the divinely inspired book of Song of Solomon suggests that Solomon and his beloved did.

In Discipleship, Theology

Forget Not All His Benefits!

October 8, 2016

A striking correlation of two passages that I had never considered until right now while continuing my Sunday school prep for tomorrow:

Psa 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Psa 116:12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? 13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

We as believers must take the cup of salvation and call on His name because of all the benefits the Lord has bestowed on us. This is one aspect of our not forgetting all His benefits!

In Discipleship, Interpretation, Theology

A Doctrinal Categorization of Godly Self-Talk Statements in Scripture

October 3, 2016

By analyzing Scriptural examples of godly self-talk for what theological truths they teach, we learn that our self-talk must be doctrinal. We must speak truth to ourselves about the major areas of theology that systematic theology includes.

Bibliology

Psalm 1:2; 119:11, 47, 97; 130:5

Theology

Psalm 16:2-3; 42:5, 11; 43:5; 56:3-4; 62:5; 94:18; 103:1, 2, 22; 104:1, 35; 116:7; 139:14; 146:1; Ecclesiastes 3:17-18; Lamentations 3:21-27; Hebrews 13:5-6

Christology

Psalm 2:12; Matthew 9:21

Pneumatology

Psalm 139:7

Angelology

Psalm 34:7; 91:11

Ecclesiology

Psalm 65:4; 84:4; 111:1; 122:1

Eschatology

Psalm 49:15; Ecclesiastes 3:17-18; Zechariah 12:5

Soteriology

Psalm 35:9; 62:1, 5; 71:22-24; 116:7; 131:2; Isaiah 61:10; Lamentations 3:21-27; Luke 15:17-19; Hebrews 13:5-6

In Discipleship, Sunday School, Theology

The Profound Importance of Gospel Self-Talk

October 2, 2016

Just how important is what I say to myself? Psalm 15 answers that question in a profound way that makes me very excited to continue teaching my current Sunday school series on Gospel Self-Talk:

Psalm 15:1 <A Psalm of David.> LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

A comparison of Psalm 15:1-2 with two key NT statements about the gospel provides us with vital instruction:

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Colossians 1:5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Because Ephesians 1:13 and Colossians 1:5 both say that the gospel of our salvation is the word of truth, putting together the teaching of Psalm 15:1-2, Ephesians 1:13, and Colossians 1:5 shows us that speaking the truth of the gospel in my heart is an essential activity for me to be a person who will abide in God’s tabernacle and dwell in His holy hill!

The fullness of my experience of blessed fellowship with God is contingent upon my speaking the truth of the gospel in my heart!

In Discipleship, Sunday School, Theology

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