Epaggelia

“Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did” (1st John 2:6)

Prophetically God promised through Isaiah that holiness would be like a highway humanity could walk through, and John the immersionist prepared this way for Jesus entering our world. Compare Isaiah 35:5-8 & Malachi 3:1 and see if it points to what God did in Jesus?

One of the common themes of Christ’s ministry was that he was always “going about doing good”, Acts 10:38. In following Jesus, we should aim to be “do-gooders”. Paul instructs us through Titus 3:8-14, that we are to be devoted to, and/or maintain “good works”. A good example of a man being devoted to good works is the life and work of Washington Gladden, who wrote the song “O Master Let Me Walk With Thee”, he was a University professor (1879) and the song emphasized work, service and a life that shares the “peace” only God can give. Mr. Gladden wrote 40 books and many songs, he was also a preacher in the denomination of “Congregational Churches”. He also worked with the formation of Unions, by prohibiting child labor and promoted a social gospel that publicly helped the poor. He is noted for rejecting Rockefeller’s donation of $100,000 towards the mission ministry of the Congregational Churches, calling the money “tainted”. In 1883 he was known for his success in fighting the corrupt “Tweed Ring”, arbitrating in the Telegraphers’ Strike and the Hocking Valley Coal Strike. He truly practiced what he preached from Pennsylvania to Ohio for 32 years. 

What do you think it means to “walk as Jesus did”? See 1st John 1:5-9

Holiness can only be derived or gifted from Jesus, no other mediator between God & man exists according to the New Testament. Galatians 3:20 & 1st Timothy 2:5.

See Hebrews 12:14,  Humanity can not be saved without ______________

We can not dance with the devil and walk with Jesus simultaneously. Trying to do so, will cause us to either hate one or love the other, sooner or later we end up so frustrated we are forced to choose. Spiritually we can not sit on a fence, we must walk on one side or the other, Luke 16:13. One side is a straight & narrow way of Holiness in Jesus, the other side is wide & worldly. There are only two sides to every fence

Despite the danger of evil associates, David remained confident that he would not slip, and that he would securely stand in an even place!

v1-3, It is not David’s reputation in the eyes of other people that concerns him but rather God’s reputation that he desires. What does our heart really desire? Read John 3:19-21.

David expressed a desire to be “evaluated” by God from inside himself “kidneys & heart” is a Hebrew phrase of expressing all our inner feelings & even logic. Today we talk about “mind & heart” containing logic & feelings but in ancient times, people spoke of this internal examination as focusing on our kidneys & heart.

Are we brave enough to ask God to evaluate us? Consider 1st Corinthians 11:26-28 and ask ourselves this: Do we really know who’s presence we are in when we are being instructed to examine ourselves?

“God’s Loyalty motivated David’s integrity” Do we really believe God is faithful? 

v4-8, David tried to live pure, under the assumption that at least some kind of association with these people was morally wrong. We might say that he took 1st Corinthians 15:33 to heart a thousand years before Paul wrote the words by inspiration of the Holy Spirit: Evil company corrupts good habits. If we considered the possibility of not being able to “appear before God’s altar”, then maybe more of us would make it to worship with God’s people, but instead, church attendance remains small. See Hebrews 10:24-25.

Most of a Christians’ associations in the world begin in this threefold order: 1-Entertainment. 2-Employment. 3-Education. Then when we are grown adults, we have already grown well rooted associations with evil. Consider how evil entertainment can be? Or how school sports is presented as ‘fun’ but quickly turns into the no#1 priority for getting into college? How money from employment can be an object of love? Also, consider lies we are taught in our education by the actions of teachers, which speak louder then their words. The biggest lie we are all told in school is this: “Religion is valuable and good for you, but not important enough to be in your curriculum” , or, “The muslim’s God is the same monotheistic God of the christian”, and also, the lie that says “The theory of evolution is more credible than the theory of creation or the theory of a supreme designer over all the design we see in our universe & biology.

v9-12, Note David’s confident proclamation. Despite the danger to his life, despite the presence of the wicked, (with God helping him) he would walk in his integrity. David’s declaration of his “foot standing in an even place”, may be a reminder of what Jesus taught about building our house on the rock and not sand. Compare Psalm 40:2, Luke 6:48 with Matthew 16:18, and decide who the rock is on which we should stand?

The idea of being faithful, usually falls into three different contexts for our modern vocabulary. Firstly, marriage, secondly, worship and lastly, we sometimes use the word faithful in the context of allegiance in support of an athletic team. Christ is the perfect example of what it means to be faithful from God’s perspective. He always did the will of His Father, see John 8:28-29, this is the very essence of faithfulness as a virtue, it is pleasing!

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” 

This shows us clearly, the command of Christ is to faithfully obey the will of God in Him, without this, we will not be saved in His Kingdom!

Christ was, is and will always be faithful in doing the will of God in our lives. Jesus said, 

(Matthew 23:23-24) “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law – 

justice, mercy, and _________________________. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. 

Jesus often spoke of faithfulness as the exact opposite of honesty, see Luke 16:10-11.

“The one who is _________________ in a very little is also faithful in much, and the one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you haven’t been 

_______________________ in handling worldly wealth, who will entrust you with the true riches? 

So to be honest with the gifts God gives us, and also to be obedient to the commands Christ has for us, is the essence of faithfulness as a virtue of Christ in the Christian.

Are we honest with our spouse?

Are we honest with our income?

Do we have integrity in ourselves, when faced with the commands of Christ? Faithfulness is not measured by the number of times we attend worship services in a year, but it is measured by what we do during worship. Loyal love in our hearts towards Christ for all he is, has done and will do is the driving force behind real faithfulness.

The answers to these questions help us evaluate our own faithfulness. A virtue the world does not emphasize. We must rely on Christ’s Spirit to grow His fruit, Gal. 5:22-23, which includes faithfulness.