Feeding the Sheep - Blessed Life 2
1 Peter 3:8-9 MSG
[This is the 32nd message of this series]
This lesson is intended for mature believers (or adulting believers). For a more orderly study, please go through all the previous messages first, if you haven't yet.
1 Peter
[This will be the 2nd of a series within a series]
Living the Blessed Life
Peter instructed the first church (among other things) to be agreeable, agreeable with one another. In other English translations, it is to be like-minded, be of one mind, be single minded, have unity of mind and be harmonious.
Unity
This is probably among the hardest things that we are called to do in living this blessed life God has given us.
I know, I know, some preachers have often equated this blessed life that God blesses us with to wealth and health.
He does bless us with all good things, but this shallow, petty and narrow minded teaching is not what God intended us to understand about what it means to have a blessed life, and what we are to do with it.
Doing Good to Get Good Things Back
We do not do "good" things to earn wealth and prosperity, and to have good health. Many of the most amazingly generous people weren't rich and many of them have sicknesses. On the contrary, many rich people aren't particularly good people or do good deeds. They do good things to benefit themselves of course.
So didn't God gave us His Only Son and we had absolutely no part in it? He gave us the blessing and we did nothing good to earn it. In fact, we did bad things to qualify to the blessing of being redeemed by His blood.
No One In Need
The blessed life basically means we have been blessed by knowing God, having Christ, accepting what He has given us and walking with Him daily (until He returns for us or brings us home, whichever comes first).
After having blessed us, God wants us, the Body of Christ, to be of one mind, to be in unity with another. Being united is how the resources of the first church was generated and distributed, and how all of them had no need.
Acts 4:32-35
But what have we actually done?
No One In Need
The blessed life basically means we have been blessed by knowing God, having Christ, accepting what He has given us and walking with Him daily (until He returns for us or brings us home, whichever comes first).
After having blessed us, God wants us, the Body of Christ, to be of one mind, to be in unity with another. Being united is how the resources of the first church was generated and distributed, and how all of them had no need.
Acts 4:32-35
But what have we actually done?
Factions
We have surely lost our way. For one, we have made gods out of mere men.
1 Corinthians 1:10-13
Image Credit: heartlight.org
We have surely lost our way. For one, we have made gods out of mere men.
1 Corinthians 1:10-13
And in time, we made different kinds of Christianity. Through the years, we have come up with hundreds of different Christian denominations, with different leaders we glorify and quote the words they speak.
We have created different ways of doing things. And bad mouthed and fought with those who did things differently than us.
Extremes
Some of us teach the properity gospel and some teach the poverty gospel. These are two extremes -- totally opposite of being agreeable and of one mind.
One group teaches that God wants us to be rich and the other, God wants us to be poor.
God does not necessarily want it one way or the other. But rather, He do want us to live this new life, this blessed life to be rich in the more important things and to be poor in the unimportant.
We have created different ways of doing things. And bad mouthed and fought with those who did things differently than us.
Extremes
Some of us teach the properity gospel and some teach the poverty gospel. These are two extremes -- totally opposite of being agreeable and of one mind.
One group teaches that God wants us to be rich and the other, God wants us to be poor.
God does not necessarily want it one way or the other. But rather, He do want us to live this new life, this blessed life to be rich in the more important things and to be poor in the unimportant.
Uncomplicated
God wants us to look at and get insight as to how Christ lived His life.
Christ led an uncomplicated life. Once we are spiritually reborn, we will realize that He taught uncomplicated lessons. And for those of us who we do not understand some of His teachings, we have the Holy Spirit, who will explain these things to us when we ask of Him.
More on this blessed life on our next lessons in this series.
The Most Important Things in Life
John 17:3
"Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent."
God wants us to look at and get insight as to how Christ lived His life.
Christ led an uncomplicated life. Once we are spiritually reborn, we will realize that He taught uncomplicated lessons. And for those of us who we do not understand some of His teachings, we have the Holy Spirit, who will explain these things to us when we ask of Him.
More on this blessed life on our next lessons in this series.
The Most Important Things in Life
John 17:3
"Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent."
Why are we as Christians so concerned with the unimportant things in life, like the unredeemed are?
Image Credit: heartlight.org
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