Christian Life (2 Timothy 2:14-26)
Let us read responsively from 2 Timothy 2:14-26. Today, we are talking about the Christian life, a life you can see outwardly.
Life of Christ (2 Timothy 2:14-26) – Vessel
In other words, this is talking about your vessel, and the Bible tells us that everyone has a different vessel. God uses us according to our vessel, but what vessel must we prepare to have? We need to be a vessel that is, from God’s perspective, used preciously and there are also vessels that have a common use. That means that, depending on the vessel we have, the life we reveal outwardly will be different.
It says Satan ensnared them and in Genesis 3:5, Satan is so cunning that he’s able to deceive Adam and Eve. He uses traps to completely ensnare all the members of the church, and this is what it means for us to fail by having meaningless quarrels and useless chatter. He says we have words of no value, and it ruins those who listen. Instead of praying, they talk about this godless chatter.
So, instead of doing that, we must use all of our efforts so that we will be the vessel that will be used by our Lord. That means this is a time where we let go of everything from the past and prepare to be a precious vessel to be used by the Lord. So, we must prepare our vessel, but how? We have to change ourselves by throwing away everything in the past, before we knew the gospel, changing them into the new things of God.
1. Master- vessel
Being “easy for God to use us” means that we no longer need our own things. Not having my own things doesn’t mean we have nothing, but it means we make it easier for God to use us for God’s purpose
(1) Galatians 2:20
I have died and Christ lives within me. The “me” of the past, prior to the gospel, has disappeared, so all my plans, hopes, and desires are all gone. But we keep holding onto the past things as we try to be with the Lord, so our vessels don’t turn out to be very good, and the Lord is not in the midst of our own hopes, desires, and plans, and that’s why our walk of faith becomes more difficult.
I, who was doomed for destruction, have been crucified on the cross. Because Jesus Christ has overcome the world, the old “me” has transformed to a new “me” who can overcome the world because Christ is reigning over me.
(2) John 14:16-20, John 16:7
Jesus promises to send us the Holy Counselor the advocate to be with us forever, and it says the world doesn’t know this Spirit. Even if they see him the don’t know Him, in other words, even if you see the resurrected Lord, you won’t know Him, but you will know Him because he lives with you and will bewith you.
John 16:7, Jesus promises He will go and then send the Counselor to you. These are the blessings that come upon me, that means Jesus Christ comes upon me in the spirit, so we give ourselves entirely to the spirit, and that’s the state of being filled with the Holy Spirit, a state of power. We’re not trying to receive our own power, but when the Lord comes upon me, it becomes power.
(3) Death and Failure
If we do not put to death our fleshly desires, then we will be caught up by them and will be driven to disasters, in other words, you only fail because of the “you” living within you. Because we do not give everything to the Lord, we hold onto our own things, and that’s why we fall, so if you want to receive healing, that’s the first thing you have to do, and this is what you must teach the new believers from the beginning. If someone doesn’t have this aspect down, they shouldn’t be teaching new believers because they keep trying to teach about themselves. You won’t even realize it, but you’ll be teaching your stubbornness. From the beginning, we have to teach them correctly.
1 Corinthians 3:1-3 says that we do not belong to the flesh, but we belong to the Spirit. Galatians 5:19-21 says that the works of the flesh are obvious, drunkenness, quarreling, jealousy, idolatry, these are the things that won’t change if your inner self won’t change.
(4) Quarrel – Me
2 Timothy 2:14-19 says all the things you quarrel with others about. Why would you quarrel with others? It’s because you are asserting your own things. You should have died on the cross but because you are holding onto the things of your old self you, fail because of that, and you quarrel. Am I always fighting with people? You’ll think you’re correct, and physically you may be correct; however, the Spirit within you is moving yourself, so everywhere you go, you’re quarreling. Everywhere there is conflict, Satan resides. When a church doesn’t have the gospel, they will end in quarreling, who’s right and who’s wrong, because it’s all about me: my thoughts and conclusion must be revealed, but they aren’t, so there’s fighting. People hear these words and think they are correct, but if I have become a new creation, I must align with the words of God.
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Even if parents at home are quarreling, the children will listen to those words and then fail. In 2 Timothy 3:14, it says that if you listen to quarreling, nothing good comes from that, and the children will listen to that and fall in the same way.
Galatians 5:22-23 says you will bear these nine fruits of the spirit. Philippians 4:13 says that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength, so you change into a person of power like this. People who are self-centered they just have to live according to their mental strength, so people who have more intellect or mental strength will live according to that level, but they can’t go any further, because if you live in this world, it’s impossible to live without Christ, so everyone gets caught up in their limitations, so they’ll think, “I live a good life and believe in Jesus Christ, but why does this happen to me?” You’re not living a good life; you’re living with disbelief, with your own standards, so of course you’ll face limitations. You must live within the One Who gives you strength, the plan of God, and within the Word God gives you. If you live a good life according to laws and ethics, you don’t need Jesus Christ. If you believe in Jesus Christ, then do you not have to live a good life? No, but if you really believe in Jesus Christ, the truly good things will come out because Christ lives in you. Everywhere you go, instead of quarreling, you will save people. Don’t be confused, because you’re not going to know what’s right and you’ll get caught up in that.
2.Plans
Prayer, Word/ Power, Plan (new creation)
(1)Word (1 Peter 2:2)
(2)Battle (Matthew 4:4)
(3)Plans (Psalms 1:1-2)
(4)Prayer (Mark 1:35, Psalms 5:3, Acts 2:1-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:17)
(5)Failure in prayer means failure in your spiritual life (Matthew 26:41)
(6)Prayer provides all the answers for out problems (Philippians 4:6-7)
3.People- Church
(1)1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
(2)Acts 2:42
Fellowship
The remnants must learn this at a young age, but the American culture only teaches you to smile on the outside while things on the inside are dirty and dark. America teaches you to not give bad influences to other people, but that won’t cut it. You must teach them to communicate as well, so you must be able to mingle very well with anybody. It’s not about enduring anything, but you have to be able to have true fellowship with one another in Christ.
The standard is with the Word and prayer, but you’re not matching with one another because you’re not matching with your thoughts. You must receive God’s word and pray, otherwise we will not have multiethnic people join. If you’re always eating kimchi, the things you like, others won’t join, so you’ll never be able to yield to other people; you only care about what you like, and you won’t be able to have fellowship with anyone else. You must be able to consider, yield, and sacrifice for other people. That’s our vessel.
They shared meals, whether this is communion or other forms of eating together, and in the end, it says they devoted themselves to prayer. The church must always gather together and eat and talk, but they must always end with prayer because God is the One Who will bring about the end.
4. Witness
We must stand as witnesses that the Lord is with us. Evangelism that doesn’t have this evidence means you’re just floating around, on your own. But the Bible says, “You will be My witnesses,” and you can only be a witness if you have the evidence. You can only stand as a witness if you’ve received all the answers and words God has given you throughout the week. If evangelism isn’t taking place, it means you don’t have the evidence according to the Word of God, then do you think evangelism is difficult, then? But for people with evidence, it is easy. If someone has gone to Las Vegas, wouldn’t it be easy for them to explain Las Vegas? For those who haven’t gone, it will be hard.
What is biblical evangelism? It is the one who has the biblical evidence of the Word of God, and they stand as a witness of the Word they received through worship at church. “Don’t tell me about missions and evangelism,” means, “Don’t talk to me about God’s Word.” “It stresses me out,” meaning God’s Word stresses you out, and you don’t understand God’s Word biblically yet. It means you’ve learned about evangelism and missions thinking that it takes your strength, bravery, and your thick skin to do it, so you say, “How will I evangelize? I’m so shy.” You say, “It’s not my personality, I’m not able to evangelize,” but you understand missions and evangelism like a salesman, so that’s how much you don’t know God. We shouldn’t be like that.
5. Obey God’s will
The fifth point is that God’s Will is perfect and absolute. Therefore, we must discover and obey that will. Obeying God’s Word doesn’t mean to force yourself to obey because you think you have to. That’s a slave. You really don’t want to follow but you’re afraid of receiving curses, so you force yourself to bow down? That’s suffering. You have to know that this is the way for God to bless you, and this is why you follow. But if you don’t know that, you’ll teach others in a legalistic way, “This is what happens if you don’t follow,” then that drives people crazy, so people will endure and then leave.
I was a legalistic person, and it’s easy to be used to forcing it, but the Word of God is a blessing for me, and it is the Word that guides me to save the 237 nations. We must know that in order for the word “obey” to come out, but if you don’t know that, you think you have to do it, then it’s so difficult.
John 14:21 says, “Whoever listens to my command and obeys them is my disciple.” So, the way to love God is to follow His commands and remain within God’s Word, and that person is a disciple.
Philippians 2:13 says, “The one who is within the Word that delights God,” that God puts the Word in you to act according to His good purpose, so you go within the Word and will of God that become my desire.
Matthew 22:37 says, you follow God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, so we stake our lives. That’s how we can overcome Satan, the devil.
I want to plant this word, “Church,” into the kids. If there are any remnants here or parents who are raising the remnants, depending on what you value in the world or the church, it will change the remnants completely. If our adult generation doesn’t plant the value of the church into the children, it doesn’t matter how much word of God you put into them, they are going to be dragged into the world. It’s honestly not with your words that you teach these kids, but the church is the number 1 priority because these kids really learn from the atmosphere and the environment.
But if the adults are not able to relay that church is the number one priority in their lives, then it doesn’t matter how many times they read the Bible, or went to seminary school, but they will be enslaved and centered on the world, on Genesis 3, 6, and 11, and because their center has been stolen away, their entire lives have been stolen away. It doesn’t matter at all whether their work or studies are taking place well or not, because that doesn’t determine a person’s life.
Unless church and worship become the most important thing in someone’s life, not with words, but with emotion that this is the most important thing, it’s not going to work. That’s how the remnant will become the one to save the world, not borrowing money from people. That person will not ask for handouts from unbelievers. They won’t act so cowardly and pitifully before people in the world. But without prioritizing the church and worship, then they won’t have any choice but to borrow the strength of other people and the world. All strength and blessings are within Christ, but this is not their priority.
How are we going to relay this? It’s not with words, but you relay it with your faith. It doesn’t matter what you say to the words at home, but they know. The kids know with intuition, “My mom loves money more,” these kids know in their heart, “My dad loves success more than the church,” and that’s what will create slaves of Satan out of the children for three or four generations.
So, today we are talking about the vessel, the Christian Life, and the vessel we will reveal in the future. What kind of vessel will we have? It is a vessel that has completely emptied myself and has only God, or is it a dirty vessel of myself? The more you hold onto your things, the more difficult it will be for God to use you, but the more you prepare your vessel, your future will be different.
In conclusion, you summarize all of this with “faith,” because you believe in God’s Word and read it, you pray to God, but because we don’t believe, we don’t listen to God’s Word nor pray. I hope all of you will change your lives into vessels that God can use.
Prayer
Father God we thank You. We desire that You will change our desires so we won’t hold onto ourselves anymore, but that Christ will lead me and guide me into the plan of God. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.