Practice!

The Bible talks about 2 opposing [imagine that] kinds of practice!

1. Practice righteousness
2. Practice sin

People say, “Practice does not make perfect.” That may be true but when you practice righteousness you become less perfect at sin, and when you practice sin you become less perfect at righteousness.

I believe it was the great coach Vince Lombardi who said something to the effect of, “Our practice may not make us perfect, but in pursuing perfection we will find excellence.”

Excellence is the quality of being outstanding and very good. It comes from excel which means: to be exceptionally good or proficient in an activity or subject.

So, how much practice are you putting in?

The more you practice being right with God the more right with God you prove yourself to be.

The more you practice sinning [not right with God] the more you prove you are not really right with God.

Which direction is your life heading?

What people fail to realize or admit is that practicing sin proves they do not really know God!

Know what I mean?

This may trigger some folks but I am a trigger happy preacher. Jesus said, “You are to be[come] perfect [just] as your Father in heaven is [was, is, and always will be] perfect.”

Selah

Leviticus 20:7,8 NAS – “7 You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be[come] holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.“

Did you notice both “you shall?” They are not in the Hebrew which means the translators believed they are inferred. When removed from the text we get four commands:

1. Consecrate yourself

2. Be holy

3. Keep My statutes

4. Practice My statutes

“I am the Lord your God,” and the Lord’s sanctifying work is supposed to produce very specific activity!

Is the Lord your God? Is God your Lord?

What activity does sanctification produce? Personal responsibility and accountability to be set apart to God, and therefore away from everything contrary to God, as well as to be[come] like the God who saved and is sanctifying you.

Salvation and sanctification are for the purpose of keeping God’s statutes [written and spoken Word] and practicing what God says, among other things.

We are to keep [observe, guard, be in charge of, retain and treasure] God’s statutes.

We are also to practice [work, produce, accomplish, advance] His statutes so that His statutes work in and through us, produce His nature in us, accomplish His will in us, and we advance in them so we can advance His kingdom.

How can we advance His kingdom if His kingdom is not advancing within us?

The Old Testament gets such a bad rap by those who want to get by with doing the bare minimum, or worse, do wrong and tell everyone God is okay with it. It is as if they feel no personal responsibility to become and remain consecrated [separate to God], and holy.

Way to many Christians believe the Old Testament is irrelevant because, “We are not under the law.” They apparently do not know the Old contains the New and the New explains the Old.

As a side bar let me inject this bit of bitter herbs into “their” theology – Romans 6:14 – “sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

Hmmm! How is that grace message that gives place to sin working out for you?

While I am here, grace alone does NOT save anyone. We are NOT saved by grace! We are saved by grace THROUGH faith and faith includes fidelity to God. No fidelity, no faith because the same Greek word is translated faith and faithful! And faithfulness is a fruit of the HOLY Spirit!

“Be holy” is not merely positional. It is practical based on the position! Positional holiness must translate into practical holiness or else the person is deceived into believing he is something he never was.

Because the Lord is “your” God “you” shall consecrate YOURSELF therefore, and be[come] holy!

If you be something you will become what you be!

By the way, did you know Paul said it is possible to receive God’s grace in vain? He did! Do you want to know why he wrote not to receive God’s grace in vain? Because in the first century there were church folk who claimed a salvation by grace but they were not producing fidelity to the God they claimed saved them!

Selah

Jesus said, “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”

If we are not pursuing [practicing] God’s righteousness we are not seeking His kingdom as a priority in our lives! That means we are either seeking our own kingdom so we can live like we want, or we are seeking the devil’s kingdom so we can live like he lives.

John cleared this up for all who are confused!

1 John 3 NAS – “7 Little children [teknion], make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot [practice] sin, because he is born of God.

10 By this the children [teknon] of God and the children [teknon] of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

Why did John feel it was necessary to write, “make sure no one deceives you?”

Do you find it amazing Jesus came in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil? What works did Jesus come to destroy? SIN! Jesus came to destroy both the nature of sin and the activity of sin. Why? Because sin is the fruit of the devil’s nature, not God’s!

Nature infers natural and it is not natural for a child of God to practice sin!

I find it interesting “not loving his brother” is connected to “not practicing righteousness” and, “the one who practices sin is of the devil.”

This means if “you” practice sin then you are of the devil, and “you” are not my brother!

God’s seed will produce God’s life, and God’s life is righteousness! Many think because God is love God does not require anything of those he loves.

Love is so misused in today’s churchiosity culture that the first century saints would not recognize most of what is called love today.

John is known as the apostle of love because he wrote extensively on the subject. That may be because he laid his head on Jesus’ chest and heard His heartbeat!

John also writes extensively on behavioral traits in the authentic and counterfeit believer’s life!

In the above text he mentions the maturity level of “little children” and “children.” All three references use the same Greek word [or family of words]. The teknion [teknon] level of maturity is the last of four levels in the childhood stage of development, and is just under the next level which is called son [huios].

By the way, God adopts sons, not children!

Teknon children are awake, alert, and attentive to the needs of the Father and prepared to provide what He needs when He needs it. I can almost hear people say, “God does not need anything from me.” Well then, why did He call you?

Teknon children also live for the sole purpose of honoring the Father, and they will die in defense of His honor.

Do you see how this plays out in our text? “By this [practicing righteousness or practicing sin] the teknons of God and the teknons of the devil are OBVIOUS.

If it is so obvious why do so many refuse to see and or admit it?

Why do so many that say God is their Father fight to keep the moniker of “sinner?”

Why do they fight to keep the right to believe they are powerless in the sight of sin?

What does the grace they received actually produce?

If grace is not producing righteous behavior, did they receive it in vain, if indeed they truly received it?

Selah

John further states the authentic teknon of God cannot sin because God’s seed is in him! This is obviously referring to the practice of sinning, not the rare exception of sinning.

Selah

“Rare exception?” Yes, rare exception!

1 John 2 NAS – “1 My little children [teknion], I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

John writes teknon children know sinning is not permissible by God [“may not sin”]. He then states, “if anyone sins.” Why did the Holy [HOLY] Spirit inspire John to write “IF anyone sins?” Why not write, “WHEN anyone sins?” Because sinning is not becoming to a saint [holy person]!

Just because Jesus is the propitiation for “our” sins does not mean God permits us to sin!

The propitiational work of Jesus was in destroying sin! Remember?

Propitiation means among other things, atonement. At-One-Ment!

What is meant is we are one with the One who is our propitiation! So how can we continue to practice sin when we are one with the sinless One?

Does practice make perfect? It makes perfect sense to God!

Does it make perfect sense to you?

Receive and steward God’s passion, power, presence, priority, process, promises, protection, provision, pruning, purging, purity, and purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin
A radical spiritual revolutionary
Revolution Movement Co-Founder
http://www.revolutionmovement.org
kdrury@revolutionmovement.org

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