The Three Tenses of the Christian Life
(1 Thess 1:1-10, Titus 2:11-13)
(Three Practical
elements that should define your Christian existence)
Tense #1: Work of
Faith
- Every
saved individual has a “work,” that is, the whole of your Christian to
God-ward. (i.e.
preachers talk about starting a new work…)
- 1 Cor 3:13
“Every man’s work shall be made
manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by
fire…
- The
only ‘work’ that will hold up before the Judgment seat of Christ is the
sort that is carried out by faith (i.e. I’m going to do this because it is
the right thing to do and it is going to please and honor my Saviour, instead of … boy they’ll really think I’m
spiritual if, or I bet you I’ll get a blessing for this…)
- (How
polarizing the Bible is.) Paul hauls off and tells you whatsoever is not
of faith is sin (Rom 14:23). (That’s why 2 Cor
5:20 tells you that
at that Judgment Seat you’ll receive the things done in your body whether
good or bad.)
- But the only way you ever get to the
Judgment Seat of Christ is if you first come to terms with the judgment of
sin in Christ at Calvary.
- (Back
to 1 Thess 1:3) The ‘work’ that you have in
Christ begins with you being saved… that’s the
work of faith. It didn’t say faith
of work it said work faith.
You’re not saved by works (Eph 2:8-9/Rom 4:5).
- I’m
convinced that there are great numbers of church folk that are going
through the motions of church attendance, tithing, occasional Bible
reading, and a little bit of church work and it will never be any more than
motions because they didn’t begin with that saving work of faith.
Countless church members across this country are going through Christian
motions without ever having been born again.
- Have
you ever obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ (see 2 Thess
1:6-8)? It says over in Romans 16:26 that the gospel was made known to all
the nations for obedience of faith. I’m not trying to complicate the
simplicity which is in Christ, but I’m wondering have you ever done what
God told you to do to be saved. (Define the gospel, 1 Cor
15:3-4)
- What
is the work of faith here in 1 Thess 1:3? Paul
turns around and tells you what it is in verse 9, “how ye turned to God
from idols.” That’s called repentance. This is exactly what Paul preached
to the Ephesians. In the same chapter that he speaks of the Gospel of the
grace of God in Acts 20 he declares in verse 21 that he had testified to
the Jews and the Greeks “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord
Jesus Christ.” The objects of the faith of those Thessalonians, prior to
their coming into contact with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was,
was in idols. In order to be saved they
had to turn from those idols to God. And redeposit their faith in
Christ and Christ alone for their salvation.
- ‘Well
idolatry is silly.’ What about a tragedy-a prayer-a baptism-someone else’s
conversion-a feeling. Anything other than Jesus Christ is deception.
- Three
little boys at an altar, heard the same message, say the same prayer, go back to the same row. Two out of the three wind up
in hell.
- Salvation
hath appeared unto all men (Titus 2:11),
what is that salvation?
- A
doorpost that is in need of the blood to cover it’s
inhabitants. The work of faith places the hyssop in the basin.
- A soul
thirsty for the eternally satisfying water of life. The work of faith
draws from the well and takes a drink (Rev 22:17).
- A soul
covered in the filth of sin needing the cleansing power of the blood of
Christ. The work of faith cries out wilt thou make me whole.
Tense #2: Labor of
Love
§
Once these Thessalonians turned to God from
idols they began to serve the living God. This was a labour
of love. It’s not just a labour of fear, it’s not
just a labour of debt, but it’s the sort of labour that’s born out of the greatest of all the spiritual
motivating factors in a believer’s life. It’s a labour
born out of a love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
§
There are plenty of people that will come to a
place where they recognize God’s love toward them in Jesus Christ and make it
around to the work of faith in obeying the gospel and yet never draw close
enough to the concept to actually love God back.
§
One of the ways you carry out a labor of love is
by doing what Titus 2:12 say, by denying ungodliness and worldly lusts and
living soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world.
§
Denying: that means giving some things up. To
deny ungodliness you’re going to have to give up some of your friends, to deny
ungodliness you’re going to have to give up some of your habits, to deny
ungodliness you’re going to have to give up some of your past times.
§
Don’t ever be tempted to blame your laziness and
lasciviousness on the liberty you have in Jesus Christ. You’ve been called to a
labour of love and that labour
is going to be hard work.
§
Denying ungodliness is one of the characterizations
of the new birth. It’s not just a matter of submerging yourself in a new culture, it’s not churciness, but
a genuine passion for holiness and godliness.
§
We’re talking about serving the living God. Eleven o’clock worship service.
§
But how do I serve Him? I’m not talented in this
way or that, I can’t afford financially to do this or that, I’m not old enough
or I’m not young enough to do this or do that.
§
We have all sorts of excuses to avoid our
personal conceptions of serving God. Do you really want to know how you can
serve God? Do you really want to know?
à I tell you how to find out. Ask yourself
this question: How can I show God how
much I love him?
Tense #3: Patience of Hope
- This
is not a hope of having you’re soul saved when you die. Your salvation
isn’t hopes, think so, or maybe so… (1 John 5:13)
- Hope
is a confidence in a future event, it is the
highest degree of well founded expectation of good.
- The
hope here is the same hope of Romans 8:23-25 (which read)
- This
is the patience of hope by which we wait for his Son from heaven (v. 10).
This patience of hope is the blessed hope of Titus 2:13. It’s our earnest
desire and expectation for the return of the Lord.
- Are
you patiently hoping? Waiting for his Son from heaven? Looking for that
blessed hope?
- Are
you hoping for the day that you meet the Lord in the air? Are you hoping
its today?
- Can
you pray from the depths of your spirit in perfect sincerity, Even so come Lord Jesus?