Intimate Theology: The Duty of Christians Towards Believing Masters, as Well as Other Masters

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Duty of Christians Towards Believing Masters, as Well as Other Masters

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
(1Ti 4:12 ESV)

Men's youth will not be despised, if they keep from vanities and follies. Those who teach by their doctrine, must teach by their life. Their discourse must be edifying; their conversation must be holy; they must be examples of love to God and all good men, examples of spiritual-mindedness. Ministers must mind these things as their principal work and business. By this means their profiting will appear in all things, as well as to all persons; this is the way to profit in knowledge and grace, and also to profit others.

The doctrine of a minister of Christ must be Scriptural, Clear, Evangelical and Practical; Well Stated, Explained, Defended, and Applied. But these duties leave no leisure for worldly pleasures, trifling visits, or idle conversation, and but little for what is mere amusement, and only ornamental. May every believer be enabled to let his profiting appear unto all men; seeking to experience the power of the Gospel in his own soul, and to bring forth its fruits in his life.

Source: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.

No comments:

THANKS FOR VISITING!

Greetings and blessings. Thank you for stepping in. Please stay a while? Hmmm, intimate theology? What in the world? Yup, let's be honest it's different. Well so is theology. In fact so is Christianity, unarguably the most intimate faith of all faiths. My faith is the name and ideology of a person, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ a historical, crucified, resurrected man came to the earth to die for sinners and Jesus Christ is the only answer. But don't take my word for it. I taste it and see it tangibly every day. Sin. So you're calling me a sinner? Yes. That's what my Savior identified as my problem. He's right. That's where intimacy comes in. This theolog is the person, the work, and the Word of Christ. Like Christ, intimate theology is close, not distant in proximity. It "saturates the common clay of man's humanity" as Tom Skinner put it. Christ is up in your business every day. As a Christian who has been to seminary I have studied systematic theology, Reformed theology, liberation theology, Catholic theology...there are so many more modes of theology but what I've discovered to be most engaging and relevant and even eternal is the intimate relationship and theology of Jesus Christ. Indeed intimacy is scary and sometimes so is following Christ, just ask the Apostles and the real Christians (when you read about them and meet them). In a genuinely intimate relationship everything is laid bare between two people. Everything. Jesus Christ wants everything. In fact Jesus Christ demands everything. That's the purpose of my blog and ministry. Theology, the study of God is not something that is only done in a seminary or monastery or church building or in one day or one year. Intimate theology is a lifelong intimacy with Jesus Christ. We are all theologians and we interpret life through our theology. Christ's theology is profoundly intimate and radical and for me, the thoughts in this weblog are what I've found to be non-dogmatic, non-institutional, honest, helpful, and intimate thoughts for far more faithful and close followers of Christ that lead to deeper intimacy with Christ and with others. Jesus Christ declares "I Am The Way, The Truth, and The Life." Follow the Truth, intimately. On the left are my Bible verses committed to memory which continue to grow in number the more God impresses my soul, heart, and mind with His Word. Along with Scripture memory is my favorite worship song of the month. And finally, below are favorite quotes or "Phrase Faves" from past and present. The overall purpose and motivation of this site can be found in 2 Peter 3:17-18: "You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (context)

PHRASE FAVES

"My concern is not whether God is on our side, my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right." ~ Abraham Lincoln

---------

“It is more important to know God’s position than to know His plan.” ~ Ricky Primrose

---------

“God entrusts His greatest purposes to men who make Him their greatest priority.” (ref. Exodus 33:11) ~ Ricky Primrose

---------

"Neither handsome nor entitled, Jesus indeed is the most beautiful, humble, compelling, and truly royal of all human beings." ~ Dr. J. Scott Horrell

---------

“The proudest and most daring sinner is no equal match for God; the disproportion of strength is much greater than there is supposed between ten thousand and twenty thousand. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? No, surely; who knows the power of his anger? In consideration of this, it is our interest to make peace with him.” ~ Matthew Henry

---------

"Consider this, Christian: that all your trials and troubles, calamities and miseries, crosses and losses which you meet in this world are all the hell you shall ever have!!" ~ Thomas Brookes

---------

Correct Biblical Interpretation: "The function of the interpreter is so to empathize with Biblical authors and characters that he is able to relive their experiences. This is accomplished through use of imagination, by which there occurs a mental and spiritual transference to Scriptural situations which makes possible their re-creation." ~ Robert A. Traina

---------

"A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and the committal read. But somehow, the corpse never stays put." ~ Barnard Ramm

---------

“It is true, however, that intercessory prayer is the first and most important service. As has been stated, the divine order is to talk to God about men, until the door is definitely open to talk to men about God.” ~ Lewis Sperry Chafer

---------

"I somehow failed to grasp that truth always goes down better when it’s preceded by grace, love, compassion, and the bearing of burdens. Grace is the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine of truth go down. Love, compassion, and empathy make it so much easier to hear truth." - Stephen Altrogge

---------

"What the gospel needs most is not intellectual brokers or cultural diplomats but rather saints who have taken up the way of the cross and in whose lives the gospel is visible, palpable, and true. It needs disciples who follow Jesus with or without the support of their culture and for whom the power of the gospel is demonstrated not through winning but through obedience." ~ Brian Stone

---------

"Death: Don't call a friend what God has called an enemy. (1 Co 15:54-56)"

"Sin: We're not just guilty of it, we're enslaved by it." ~ Dr. Barry Jones

---------

"Understanding the Holy Spirit's role in your life as a Christian is crucial. Stop traveling by foot and instead board the jumbo jet of His transforming power." ~ Chuck Swindol

---------

"A certain kind of thinking is losing ground: thinking that stresses precise ideas, exact wording, and rigorous knowledge." ~ Pierre Babin

---------

"Every sin you turn away from out of love for Jesus is replaced with a deeper and purer joy." ~ John Piper

---------

"Hate sin, O Christian, unless thou desirest trouble. If thou wouldst strew thy path with thorns and put nettles in thy death pillow, then live in sin; but if thou wouldst dwell in the heavenly places, hearing the everlasting chimes of Paradise ringing in thine own heart, then walk in all the ways of holiness unto the end. Christan man, hate evil." ~ Charles Spurgeon

---------

"We are not here to improve America. That's like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It's going down anyway. We are here to share the gospel with sinners." ~ Tom Pennington

---------

"Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon." ~ John Piper

---------

"Opposers will call your determination obstinacy; but never mind, your firmness is the stuff of which martyrs are made. In a wrong case, a strong will creates incorrigible rebels; but if it be sanctified, it gives great force to character, and steadfastness to faith." ~ C.H. Spurgeon

---------

"Earth has no words that can convey the holy calm of a soul leaning on Jesus." ~ C.H. Spurgeon

---------

"The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, should also make it their business all of their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin." – John Owen

---------

"The most spiritual and sanctified minds, when they fully perceive the majesty and holiness of God, are so greatly conscious of the great disproportion between themselves and The Lord, that they are humbled and filled with holy awe, and even with dread and alarm."~ C.H. Spurgeon

---------

"No man is really saved until he is in his heart obedient to Jesus Christ." ~ C.H. Spurgeon

---------

"I am convinced that the dearth of great saints in these times even among those who truly believe in Christ is due at least in part to our unwillingness to the cultivation of the knowledge of God. Our religious activities should be ordered in such a way as to leave plenty of time for the cultivation of the fruits of solitude and silence." - A.W. Tozer

---------

"Luther's catechism (section 39) asks and answers this question: "How is God's name hallowed among us? Answer, as plainly as it can be said: When both our doctrine and life are godly and Christian. For since in this prayer we all call God our Father, it is our duty always to deport and demean ourselves as godly children, that He may not receive shame, but honor and praise from us." - Martin Luther

---------

"The Gospel has been trouble from the beginning." Dr. Al Mohler

Why should we expect it to be different now?

---------

"The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose." - C.S. Lewis

---------

"It will cost something to walk slow in the parade of the ages, while excited men of time rush about confusing motion with progress. But it will pay in the long run and the true Christian is not much interested in anything short of that." - A.W. Tozer

---------

"You can be straight as a gun barrel theologically and as empty as one spiritually." - A.W. Tozer

---------

"If you major on knowing God, and cultivate a sense of His presence in your daily life, and do what Brother Lawrence advises, 'Practice the presence of God' daily and seek to know the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, you will go a long way in serving your generation for God. No man has any right to die until he has served his generation." - A.W. Tozer

---------

"Teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart." - Howard Hendricks

---------

"The word communication comes from the Latin word communis, meaning 'common.' Before we can communicate, we must establish commonness, commonality. To truly impart information requires the building of bridges (commonness). My friend, we've got to do our homework on how people out there feel (commonness). They're scared to death to come into our churches (lack of commonness), and all my sympathy is with them." - Howard Hendricks

---------

"The two factors that will influence you the most in the years ahead are the books you read and the people you're around." - Howard Hendricks

---------

"Not every man can carry a full cup. Sudden elevation leads to pride and a fall. The most exacting test of all to survive is prosperity." - O. Chambers

---------

"We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself." - O. Chambers

---------

"Focus on giants - you stumble. Focus on God - giants stumble." - Max Lucado

---------

"You cannot go with God and stay where you are. If you want to experience something you have never done, you must do something you have never done." - Henry Blackaby

---------

"Pride is the pregnant mother of all sins." - Augustine

---------

"Religion is never more injured, nor God's sacraments more profaned, than when they are used as a cloak for maliciousness." - Matthew Henry

---------

“There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on His Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. . . . Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord. . . .” - Charles H. Spurgeon

----------

"The grass is not greener on the other side. It is greener where you water it." - unknown

----------

"Always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together, man - you got it." - Colin Powell

----------

"Someone asked, will the heathen who have never heard the gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether - those who have the gospel and fail to give it to those who have not - can be saved." - Charles Spurgeon

----------

"I cannot too greatly emphasize the importance and value of Bible Study - more important than ever before in these days of uncertainties, when men and women are apt to decide questions from the standpoint of expediency rather than of eternal principles laid down by God, Himself." - John Wanamaker

----------

"Bible study is not optional in the Christian life. It is both the obligation and the privilege of all believers. If you are not involved in regular, systematic Bible study, you are missing one of the primary means God uses to bring us to maturity (1 Peter 2:2)." - John MacArthur

----------

"I once punctuated my human efforts with a prayer, saying in so many words, 'Okay, Lord, I've done all I can; You take it from here.' Like He served as the final leg in a relay, receiving the baton in a race I started! Give me a break! The entire race is God's. All the burdens are the Lord's." - Saying It Well by Chuck Swindol

----------

Many may say, "Surely Jesus would expect us to help ourselves to some degree, right?"

But that is not what Jesus said whilst nailed to the Cross. Jesus proclaimed as He sealed the deal for our salvation - "It is finished!" (John 19:30).

----------

"As Romans 3:23-26 explains, God would not compromise the value He places on His own righteousness. Therefore, sin must be punished." - Desiring God Children's Sunday School Guide. p. 200

----------

Q: What is the greatest proof that Christianity is real to those who have never read the Scripture or heard a sermon?

A: The changed life of a Christian is the only way that most unbelieving people will encounter Christianity.

(1 Thessalonians 1:7-8)

----------

"The Bible can never mean what it never meant." - Unkown

----------

"Our view of God influences the way we live out our lives. If we think God is "the old man upstairs," then we tend to live our life as though He will not hold us accountable for what we do, or perhaps He doesn't even pay attention to what we are doing." - G. Etzel, B. Gutierrez

----------

"Many Christians would like to send their recruits to Bible college for five years. I would like to send them to hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry." - William Booth

----------

"No one, I am convinced, will follow Jesus very long without tribulation. It is His way of showing His presence." - K.P. Yohannan

----------

"Your marriage won't grow without communication and understanding. Communication means talking and active listening. You'll know you understand your spouse when you can verbally express your mate's actual needs and desires and he or she agrees with that expression." - Family Life

----------

"When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the word of God, because you have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness and your own duty." - Woodrow T. Wilson

-----------

"To claim to be a Christian is to agree with all God says about our sin."- by Alfred J. Poirier

-----------

Do you see yourself as God sees you—a sinner. There is no escaping the truth: "No one is righteous, not even one" (Rom. 3:9-18). In response to my sin, the cross has criticized and judged me more intensely, deeply, pervasively, and truly than anyone else ever could. This knowledge permits us to say to all other criticism of us: "This is just a fraction of it." - by Dr. Alfred J. Poirier

-----------

“Anything that becomes a necessity has the ability to become an idol.” In other words, you can become so attached to your smartphone that it basically becomes the most important thing in your life: “If you can’t live without a gadget … throw it away. If a gadget is absorbing most of your leisure time … throw it away!"

-----------

Moses was not permitted to enter the land physically because of his sin at Meribah (Nm 20); he was only allowed to view it from Mount Nebo. Perhaps his personal tragedy is meant to warn God’s servant leaders that all forms of personal gratification run counter to God’s promises. Following God intimately and leading his flock faithfully is no guarantee of inheriting his promises in this life. (Encountering the Old Testament. Arnold, Beyer 148)

-----------

The resurrection changes everything. Jesus is alive today, ruler of all, and actively advancing His Kingdom. As Abraham Kuyper famously said, "In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, "That is mine!"

----------

"We are all in missions. Some are called to foreign lands. Some are called to jungles of the workplace. Wherever you are called, serve the Lord at that place. Let Him demonstrate His power through your life so that others might experience Him through you today and see your vocation as worship to His glory." - Os Hillman

----------

"Jesus, Savior, pilot me

Over life’s tempestuous sea;

Unknown waves before me roll,

Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.

Chart and compass come from Thee;

Jesus, Savior, pilot me."

----------

"I have but one passion. It is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ." Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf(1700-1760)

----------

"Make mankind's looking at you disappear by being content with God's looking at you!

Slip away from their approach to you by contemplating His approach to you!" - Ibin 'Ata'illah from The Book of Wisdom

----------

"I pray that the Lord might crown this year with His goodness, and in the coming one, give you a hallowed, dare-devil spirit in lifting the biting sword of Truth, consuming you with a passion that is called by the cultured citizen of Christendom 'fanaticism', but known to God as that saintly madness that led His Son through bloody sweat and hot tears to agony on a rude cross - and then glory." - Jim Elliot

----------

"Sovereign Commander of the Universe, Thy grace can melt the worst sinner, and I am as vile as he; Yet Thou hast made me a monument of mercy, a trophy of redeeming power." - Valley of Vision

----------

"Our call to war: To love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor!" - unknown

----------

"He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

----------

"The Lord exercises his almighty power, yet He punishes none more than they deserve, and never withholds the knowledge of the truth from those who long after it." (Mt 11:25-30)

----------

"The verb "justified (justification)" occurs 30 times in the book of Romans and is concentrated in 2:13-5:1. This verdict includes: pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer's account, which provides the positive righteousness man needs to be accepted by God. God declares a sinner righteous solely on the basis of the merit of Christ's righteousness." (John 1-24 )

----------

"God imputed a believer's sin to Christ's account in His sacrificial death (Is 53:5,4; 1 Peter 2:24), and He imputes Christ's perfect obedience to God's law to Christians."

----------

"The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is. No war on earth was ever fought for a greater cause or a greater king." John Piper

----------

"There is an infinite chasm between the one who is glad he's not going to hell, and the one who is glad to be with Christ." John Piper

----------

"Carpe Diem"

----------

"Measure twice; Cut once."

----------

"Life doesn't come with sub-titles. Study hard." - The Master's Seminary

Intimate Theology

Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Duty of Christians Towards Believing Masters, as Well as Other Masters

No comments:

Labels

Scripture Memory

Retirement - Don't Waste Your Life

Link List

Category of Use	Example
Preferences	These cookies allow our websites to remember information that changes the way the site behaves or looks, such as your preferred language or the region you are in. For instance, by remembering your region, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news. These cookies can also assist you in changing text size, font and other parts of web pages that you can personalize. Loss of the information stored in a preference cookie may make the website experience less functional but should not prevent it from working. Most Google users will have a preferences cookie called ‘NID’ in their browsers. A browser sends this cookie with requests to Google’s sites. The NID cookie contains a unique ID Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language (e.g. English), how many search results you wish to have shown per page (e.g. 10 or 20), and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
Security	We use security cookies to authenticate users, prevent fraudulent use of login credentials, and protect user data from unauthorized parties. For example, we use cookies called ‘SID’ and ‘HSID’ which contain digitally signed and encrypted records of a user’s Google account ID and most recent sign-in time. The combination of these two cookies allows us to block many types of attack, such as attempts to steal the content of forms that you complete on web pages.
Processes	Process cookies help make the website work and deliver services that the website visitor expects, like navigating around web pages or accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies, the website cannot function properly. For example, we use a cookie called ‘lbcs’ which makes it possible for Google Docs to open many Docs in one browser. Blocking this cookie would prevent Google Docs from operating correctly.
Advertising	We use cookies to make advertising more engaging to users and more valuable to publishers and advertisers. Some common applications of cookies are to select advertising based on what’s relevant to a user; to improve reporting on campaign performance; and to avoid showing ads the user has already seen. Google uses cookies like NID and SID to help customize ads on Google properties, like Google Search. For example, we use such cookies to remember your most recent searches, your previous interactions with an advertiser’s ads or search results, and your visits to an advertiser’s website. This helps us to show you customized ads on Google. We also use cookies for advertising we serve across the web. Our main advertising cookie on non-Google sites is called ‘id’ and it is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net. We use others with names such as _drt_, FLC, and exchange_uid. Other Google properties, like YouTube, may also use these cookies to show you more relevant ads. Sometimes an advertising cookie may be set on the domain of the site you are visiting. In the case of our DoubleClick product, a cookie called ‘__gads’ may be set on the domain of the site you are visiting. Unlike cookies that are set on Google's own domains, this cookie can't be read by Google when you're on other sites. It serves purposes such as measuring interactions with the ads on that domain and preventing the same ads from being shown to you too many times. Google also uses conversion cookies whose main purpose is to help advertisers determine how many times people who click on their ads end up purchasing their products. These cookies allow Google and the advertiser to determine that you clicked the ad and later visited the advertiser site. Conversion cookies are not used by Google for interest-based ad targeting and persist for a limited time only. These cookies are generally set in the googleadservices.com or google.com/ads domain, and have names like ‘Conversion’ and ‘TAID’. Conversion cookie data may also be used in combination with your Google account to link conversion events across different devices you use. Only anonymous data gathered from these cookies is shared with advertisers. Some of our other cookies may be used to measure conversion events as well. For example, DoubleClick and Google Analytics cookies may also be used for this purpose.
Session State	Websites often collect information about how users interact with a website. This may include the pages users visit most often, and whether users get error messages from certain pages. We use these so-called ‘session state cookies’ to help us improve our services, in order to improve our users’ browsing experience. Blocking or deleting these cookies will not render the website unusable. These cookies may also be used to anonymously measure the effectiveness of PPC (pay per click) and affiliate advertising. For example, we use a cookie called ‘recently_watched_video_id_list’ so that YouTube can record the videos most recently watched by a particular browser.
Analytics	Google Analytics is Google’s analytics tool that helps website and app owners to understand how their visitors engage with their properties. It may use a set of cookies to collect information and report website usage statistics without personally identifying individual visitors to Google. The main cookie used by Google Analytics is the ‘__ga’ cookie. In addition to reporting website usage statistics, Google Analytics can also be used, together with some of the advertising cookies described above, to help show more relevant ads on Google properties (like Google Search) and across the web. Learn more about Analytics cookies and privacy information.