Tag Archives: Obedience

Friend of Sinners?

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Commitment, Covenant, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

I have been thinking about the phrase, “friend of sinners” again.

I have heard for most of my 40 years of being a Christian that Christ Jesus is a friend of sinners. Is He?

I don’t think Jesus is a friend of sinners. Jesus is a sinner’s Savior. But friend, I don’t think so. If Jesus befriends a sinner it is to save Him from his sin and lead him to his ultimate place of divine purpose, not just be his friend.

We will see how Jesus defines friendship later in this blog.

Now, if you want to say that Jesus was, and is friendly toward sinners I will wholeheartedly agree with you. Jesus is not mean spirited toward those who live a life of sin, or who take advantage of others for the sake of increasing their wealth. But to insinuate that Jesus would ever be “in league with,” or, “to be an associate or companion of” sinners is a misuse of Jesus’ character, nature, mission, mandate, and message.

Jesus never refers to Himself as a friend of sinners. Never!

There are two texts where Jesus brings up what other people say about Him as it pertains to being a friend of sinners. Both of those texts include tax collectors.

Matthew 11

“16 But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, 17 and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

Luke 7

“31 To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Did you notice how Jesus said that His generation said things that were not correct about John or Himself? Things have not necessarily changed have they? People are still saying wrong things about John and Jesus. Both John and Jesus came preaching leave your life of sin behind, and reach out and receive the kingdom of heaven [God].

Wisdom is vindicated by all her deeds [children]! What does that even mean? One thing it means is just because the crowd [generation] says something is true does not make it true. We must look at the life and ministry of Jesus in what He did and what He said to discover truth.

When we misunderstand what John’s mission was – to prepare a people for the Lord Jesus Christ, and what Jesus’ mission was [is] – to prepare God’s people to discover the place of purpose God saves them to find – we mistake our purpose as being one day getting into a place called heaven instead of everyday getting heaven into earth.

Here are several more references where Jesus coupled tax collectors and sinners [Gentiles] together.

Matthew 5

Be Like Dad

“43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.“

This text has to do with representing the Father as mature sons by not responding in like manner to those who are mistreating you. This is about operating out of the Spirit of the Father not the spirit of the world. This is about mature love, and not about befriending those who are evil and or just unrighteous.

Matthew 18

Keep Corruption out of My Community

“15 If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

‘The church’ may be the entire body, or it may be those who are the overseers and who are ultimately responsible before Jesus, the Chief Shepherd and Head of the church.

Binding and loosing here refers to stewarding the culture within the community in a local church based on what heaven allows or disallows.

Being in agreement means keeping the community of covenant keepers free of those who want to corrupt that community. Unity with heaven is a prerequisite to maintaining purity in God’s people.

The authentic church is not necessarily found in large numbers, but in the several covenant keepers who are synergizing with Him by the Holy Spirit! “Keep the unity of the Spirit” [it is the Spirit’s unity we are to protect].

Jesus’ presence is predicated on purity, not performance!

We see from Jesus that an unrepentant “brother” is to be treated [viewed, regarded as] a pagan [someone who worships false gods], and a tax collector. This means they must be treated like they are unsaved, because their soul is in danger.

Gentiles [non-Jews] were viewed as subhuman and even as animals [dogs] by the Jews! Racism is not about some modern fake white privilege. It is about the darkness of someone’s heart, regardless of their ethnicity.

Tax collectors were Jews who sold their souls to Rome in order to pad their pockets by adding additional fees or taxes to the taxes Rome required them to collect from the Jews. This was lower than low and in some circles they were worse than a Gentile.

Matthew 18 is about ex-communication and disassociation in hopes that the unrepentant brother would eventually respond in a way that protects the community he or she was once involved in, and claimed to love being in. If they refuse then the community must reject them because of their behavior. [See 1 Corinthians 5 where this process was not followed so Paul, as the spiritual father over the work, had to step in as judge].

Jesus never associated with sinners just for the sake of association, and He does not call us to do that either. Every contact Jesus made with those who did not know or love Him was redemptive, and in some cases resulted in a rebuke. This means Jesus had, and still has an agenda – to save sinners, even tax collectors!

He called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of His original disciples. We will see later what Matthew heard about friendship with Jesus. We must learn that salvation is not about where God delivers us from, but who we become so that He can deliver us into the very place of purpose He saved us.

Mark 2

“14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’ And he got up and followed Him. 15 And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners ?’ 17 And hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'”

Do you remember the Matthew 11 and Luke 7 texts above. Mark says the scribes and Pharisees [representing the generation Matthew and Luke wrote about] asked the twelve about Jesus’ eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners.

This text clearly reveals Jesus’ heart for and purpose for being with tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus’ spending time with them was  “to call” them, and in His calling them He calls them “sick”. Jesus references Himself as a physician. This Greek word is iatrós / ee-at-ros’ and it means: to cure; heal; to make whole; to free from errors and sins; to bring about one’s salvation.

Nothing in this text indicates Jesus was palling around or fellowshipping with these tax collectors and sinners [who by the way were friends of Matthew’s], just for the sake of spending time with them. Jesus redeemed His time in hopes of redeeming those He deemed sick.

Additionally, Jesus connects righteous living with health, and sinful living with sickness. So, Jesus does not come to initially call those who are healthy [in right relationship with Him]. He comes to initially call those who don’t have a right relationship with Him to give them a chance to get and remain healthy and whole [right with Him].

Mark says of these friends of Matthew, “there were many of them, and they were following Him.” The word follow is the Greek word akolouthéō / ak-ol-oo-theh’-o which means: to join one as a disciple; become or be a disciple; side with; attend to; walk the same path or way.

This a different Greek word than what is used for those who are disciples of Jesus. That word is mathētḗs / math-ay-tes’ which means among other things: to understand what you are learning.

So, these sinners and tax collectors were being called into discipleship but had not yet chosen to be Jesus’ disciples. They may have been following Jesus but had not yet committed to what Jesus requires of all of His disciples.

How long did they follow we do not know? We do not know whether they gave up their lifestyle as sinners and tax collectors. What we do know is that Jesus called them, not to be His friend, but to be healed of their sinful behavior so they could be whole, to become His disciple, and to continue to grow in their relationship to Him as they let go of and leave behind their past life.

We get more information on Jesus’s requirements to be His disciple when He said this to the Jews in Judah who had believed Him, – “31 If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8]

John said the Jews “believed Him,” not “just believed in Him.”

Do you believe Jesus?

What does your belief produce?

So many modern Christians have no idea what it means to believe God. When it was used in the first century it meant: trust in and fidelity to. Fidelity means the quality of being faithful to; to be accurate in all the details.

To “continue in My word” does not mean commit to continually reading the word. It means commit to becoming what the word requires of all those who say they have committed their life to Christ.

I tell people often, my mandate from Jesus is to go and make disciples [to Him]. My mandate is not to go and make converts, church members or even friends. I am commissioned to make disciples and to teach them everything Jesus commanded His original disciples. If ‘we’ happen to be friends during or after that, praise the Lord. If not, praise the Lord. I will not allow ‘friendship’ to get in the way of my personal discipleship to Jesus, or my discipleship of others to Jesus.

I have lost a lot of ‘friends’ over this stance! Have you? By the way, Jesus, because of His stance did too, and still does!

Jesus, speaking to His original disciples, including Matthew the ex-tax collector, said this about being His friend. “You are My friends if you do what I command you.“ [John 15:14]

Hmmm! So, even Jesus’ disciples are not His friends if they refuse to obey what He commands.

So much for hanging out ‘for hanging out’ sakes! For heaven’s sake!

“Friend!” That is an endearing term is it not? Yet, Jesus told a parable in Matthew 22 that should shock us all into a different reality if we believe friendship with God is whatever we want it to be or define it to be.

“11 But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, 12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Now, we can discuss the theological aspects of who this “friend” was and how he came to be in the wedding celebration dinner, or we can simply look at what Jesus is communicating here – and that is this – He determines who remains in His celebration.

In other words, accepting His invitation to attend, and entering His celebration is not His goal. His goal is, is the person worthy to remain in His celebration. Something else that jumps out at me in this text – Jesus commanded His slaves to bind His friend, and not just throw him or her out of the celebration, but to throw him or her into outer darkness.

So, who was the authentic friend of Jesus, the “friend” or the slaves who obeyed Jesus?

It is time for you and me to stop lowering the standard to what we can handle, and start rightly handling the word of truth. Jesus is not everyone’s Friend! And Jesus does not have friends who do not obey Him. The first test is usually, “You must be born again.” Or, you must undergo an authentic spiritual conversion. That is what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. In fact, one cannot even see to enter the kingdom without that experience.

Look at what Matthew, the ex-tax collector wrote about conversion – “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 18:3]

Remember, conversion [being spiritually born again] is required for anyone to see to enter the spiritual kingdom John the Baptist and Jesus preached.

Have you been converted? Great! What are you becoming?

I am not going down the road of the revelation of this statement either but suffice it to say Jesus revealed here that conversion is not the goal. Growing up, maturing, and becoming responsible is the goal. Apparently, according to Matthew, Jesus said conversion alone does not qualify a person to enter the kingdom God.

Those who do not, will not, or refuse to obey Jesus regardless of what it costs them are NOT His friends!

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

You say you want a revolution! Join our movement and turn your world upside down so God can turn His world right side up!

 

 

 

Crazy Favor!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

Gabriel’s visit and announcement to Mary is relevant in light of the Holy Spirit impregnating her with the Christ Child.


Mary’s Immaculate Conception is relevant in light of her enduring the social pressure of being pregnant before marriage.


Mary’s pregnancy is relevant in light of her carrying to term what she came to terms with when she said, “May it be to me according to your word.”


Mary’s delivery of the Christ Child is relevant in light of the truth that He is the Light of the world God loves, and sent to deliver from sin and shame.


Christ Jesus’ birth is relevant in light of His life and ministry of total obedience to God’s Word, will and ways in purity and power.


Christ Jesus’ life and ministry is relevant in light of His enduring death on the Cross.


Christ Jesus’ death on the Cross is relevant in light of His burial in a borrowed tomb.


Christ Jesus’ burial in a borrowed tomb is relevant in light of the empty tomb, meaning Christ Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, becoming the firstfruit of His unique resurrection.


The empty tomb is relevant in light of Christ Jesus’ ascension into heaven.
Christ Jesus’ ascension into heaven is relevant in light of His coronation as King of kings and Lord of lords, where He currently rules His kingdom on the throne of David.


Christ Jesus’ coronation is relevant in light of His pouring the Holy Spirit out and onto the assembled saints who obeyed Him by waiting in Jerusalem until they received the Promise of the Father, and were clothed with power from on high.


Christ Jesus’ pouring out of the Holy Spirit is relevant in light of all succeeding generations of believers obeying Him in receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is a promise of the Father, to clothe us in power to live like Christ, who was baptized in the Holy Spirit at the river Jordan, so that He could and would live in obedience to His Father in purity and power, completing the very purpose He was born of the Spirit to live as our role model for all life and ministry.


The writer of Hebrews in chapter 9 verse 28 says Christ Jesus will return a second time bringing with Him the fulfillment of the salvation He offered in His first coming, to those who eagerly await Him.


What does it mean to eagerly await Him? Well, it would take a lot of time and space to elaborate on the meaning.


Let me give you a condensed, condensed version. I believe it means to fully live the life God purposes for those who He saves.


In other words, to find and fulfill the purpose for which salvation was offered to you. Paul told Timothy, “Lay hold of eternal life.” To me, that means to grasp the eternal purpose of the eternal life we receive when we surrender to the Lordship of Christ Jesus.


I wrote a book that goes into this called Leaving the Land of Your Limitations. The book begins by looking at a man with a withered right arm which caused him to believe he could not grasp what was possible.


Christ told him to step forward out of the periphery of life within the community of “believers” in the synagogue in Capernaum.


Step forward means to step up and into the very place Christ sees you and expects you to move to.


Jesus called him to do what was possible so he could see his perceived impossibility be removed.


Next, Jesus said, “Stretch out your hand [arm].”


Impossibilities are meant to bow to Christ Jesus but we must first do what we know we can do, then we move into living supernaturally naturally.


What has Christ Jesus said for you to do that you have yet to do?


Have you heard Him say, “Do not . . . until you are clothed with Power from on high?”


Do you hear Him saying that right now?


I believe Pentecost is part of the finished work of the Cross.


I pray as you focus on the Babe you find the Lord because He is not a Baby in a manger, nor is He a broken Man on a Cross, nor is He a buried Man in a tomb, but He is a resurrected and glorified Man who mediates between God and man, who expects all of His people to fully obey Him, regardless of the cost.


Merry Christmas!

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


You!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training, Transformation

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

“‘One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and [you] come, follow Me.’ But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.”

The rich young ruler was not as pious as he presented himself to be.

What makes a person rich in God’s eyes?

What does piousness look like to God?

While it is true that this is the only occassion in Scripture reveals Jesus said this to anyone that does not mean that we cannot, and should not learn the lesson of our possessions and the Person who blessed us with them.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus did not start with the 1st commandment, ‘You shall have no gods before Me?’

What is a god to God?

Now that you have been presented with that question what do you believe is the reason why Jesus started elsewhere within the Commandments in engaging this rich young ruler?

Unfortunately, there are still so many who serve possessions, positions, promotions and paychecks more than the God who calls them to abandon everything with, “[You] Come, follow Me!”

You say, “I do follow Jesus.”

Do you now?

What are you dragging along with you as you ‘follow’ Jesus that He believes is not beneficial to you really following Him?

In the NASB the word ‘immediately’ is used 80x in the gospels. 40 of those times, or 50% of the usages, are found in Mark’s gospel.

When Jesus speaks to you how long does it take before you obey?

When Jesus speaks to you do you determine when you will obey?

When Jesus speaks to you do you determine what you will obey?

What or who do you have in your life that you hold onto that is more important to you than following Jesus the way Jesus demands you follow Him?

You should really think about your answers!

You really should, now!

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 and Follower of Christ Jesus
http://www.revolutionmovement.org

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_2859.jpg

You say you want a revolution? Join our Movement and turn your world upside down so God can sow you into the world to turn the world right side up!

Sinner’s Prayer

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Christianity, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mandate, Mature, Maturing, Message, Mission, Movement, Revolution, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training, Transformation

I am not sure when the sinner’s prayer became the focus of a person receiving God’s free gift of eternal life that exists only in the Person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, but I think I may know where the “If you believe with all your heart” derived from.

That statement is found in an encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch as the eunuch traveled from Jerusalem where he had come to worship. We find the story in Acts 8:25-40.

Philip had just seen the city of Samaria transformed by his ministry and instead of being allowed to rest on the success of his ministry and enjoy the harvest of souls there he was directed by the Holy Spirit to go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. As he traveled on that road he saw the eunuch and the Spirit said to him, “Go up and join this chariot,” so Philip ran until he caught up with the chariot where he heard the eunuch reading in the Book of Isaiah what we know to be chapter fifty-three, verses seven and eight. The original texts of the Bible do not have chapters, verses, or even punctuation marks.

Philip asked the eunuch if he understood what he was reading.

You do not have to ask complicated questions to lead someone to Jesus. Sometimes a simple question opens the door to leading someone to and through the One who said He was the door. The eunuch replied, “Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?” He then invited Philip up into the chariot to sit with him where he asked Philip who was Isaiah referring to, himself or someone else. This whole story is filled with extraordinary insights.

Philip began to expound on the text the eunuch was reading and obviously perplexed by, and beginning from that text Philip preached Jesus to him.

It was at this point the enuch saw water and askd Philip if anything prevented him from being baptized, which leads me to believe Philip included in his “sermon” the necessity of baptism in the salvation experience of the eunuch. This is where Philip makes the famous statement, “If you believe with all your heart, you may [be baptized].

It is interesting the text does not say the eunuch prayed asking Jesus to come into his heart. It says he declared, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” In essence he declared he believed God raised Jesus from the dead and confessed to Philip Jesus was Lord, meaning he was surrendering his life to Jesus’ lordship.

The chariot was ordered to stop and Philip baptized the eunuch right then.

Here are two questions I would like you to consider as it pertains to the “If you believe with all of your heart” statement.

1. Is your whole heart in this or are you holding out a part of your heart?

2. Are there portions of your heart you are keeping for yourself, or someone else?

If you are hanging on to something or someone that is more important to you than Jesus then that which you hang onto will hang you.

Ask Judas!

Judas believed in Jesus! Judas followed Jesus! Judas even walked in miraculous ministry with Jesus! But what he refused to surrender to Jesus eventually hung him.

Friend, did you say the sinner’s prayer meaning it with all your heart or did you mouth the words while hiding something or someone in your heart?

If you did then it is time you surrendered all of your heart to the Lordship of Jesus. If you don’t then Jesus is not the Lord of all of you, and if He is not Lord of all He is not Lord at all, 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 spiritual revolutionary

 

 

People of Purpose, Purity and Power

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Disciple, Discipleship, Excellence, Faithful, LifeGiving, Mature, Maturing, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Teamwork, Training

Now, more than ever, is the time for God’s people to be people of purpose, living on purpose for the sole purpose of fulfilling God’s purpose for giving them His life. Two ways to ensure that happens is by living in purity and power.

All of the New Testament writers, in one way or another, spoke into the importance of this truth. And the truths they wrote about are timeless, speaking into every generation of people who read and heed their wise counsel.

Jesus, who is heaven’s model and our role-model for all life and ministry, is the Author and Perfecter of this life of faithful obedience to the Father.

May wife Donna and I have a call on our lives that in part is to train, equip, and activate maturing saints in the Biblical lifestyle of purity and power. Having a DNA of “In earth as it IS in heaven” [Matthew 6:10 KJV], requires us to pursue the life Jesus lived and to lead others into experiencing.

Mistakes happen! A mistake is a momentary lapse of good judgment. We have discovered there are way too many people who use the “I made a mistake” excuse for a lifestyle of repetitive “lapses of good judgment.” At some point people need to grasp they are not making mistakes. but they are revealing corrupt core values that if not repented of will lead them to dark places and possible eternal destruction.

Peter, a disciple of Jesus who made some mistakes in his life, wrote the following instruction to people displaced because of their commitment to Christ.

1 Peter 3 – “10 The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and [he must keep] his lips from speaking deceit. 11 He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Do you desire life? The life Peter is referring to is the life God possesses and passes on to those who desire His life.

Do you desire love? The love Peter is referring to is the love God possesses and passes on to those who choose to receive and communicate God’s love. God’s love does not change when a person rejects His love, because God never changes in His nature and character. He is eternally consistent!

Do you desire to see good days? The good days Peter is referring to that can be seen [experienced] are upright, honorable and therefore useful to God and to us. In other words, these “good days” are days when we live right according to the life God desires we live, and we choose to live because we choose to honor God.

Please pay close attention to this text!

This is a quote of Psalms 32:12-16 and Peter uses this text as he writes to believers in Christ who previously were not the people of God. Some believe Peter is writing just to Gentiles. Others believe he is writing to both Gentiles and Jews who previously were not born again believers in Christ. Either way, they are now Christians by virtue of their “being chosen by God, according to the foreknowledge of the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled by His blood” [1 Peter 1:2].

Look at what Peter says in 1:2 about the people he wrote to who were scattered into at least 5 areas quite possibly because of persecution.

1. Chosen by God according to the foreknowledge of the Father

This does not mean God only selects a select few to be saved. This means God saves those who choose to be selected to be saved. “Whosoever may come”, and “Many are called but few are chosen” are truths that reveal 1] everyone has the opportunity to come, and 2] only those who do come can be chosen. The call to salvation is offered to all, but only those who accept the call and the conditions of God’s call are saved.

2. By the sanctifying work of the Spirit

True separation to God always produces the life God saved us to live
. This sanctification must lead to a holy [pure] lifestyle
. In other words, if our life is not holy God did not give it to us. “14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, 15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 16 because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy'” [1:14-16].

3. To obey Jesus Christ

There can be no purity without complete obedience to Christ who fully obeyed the Father. Our love for God is proved in our obedience to God. Peter is saying that we are chosen to obey Christ. This is a different reality than we are chosen to go to heaven.

  • John 14:31 – “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.”
  • John 14:15 – “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

I find it interesting Jesus followed up His “Loving Me means obeying Me” with “I love the Father by doing exactly as the Father commands Me.” True leadership is seen in setting the example for those who follow us. Pharisees [False leaders] put things on people they refuse to do themselves. By the way, the world is watching to see if what we say is congruent with how we live. Do we prove to the world we love God by fully obeying Him? Jesus did! And He is our role-model.

4. To be sprinkled by His blood

Being cleansed from all impurity must lead to a consistent lifestyle of living pure. This is an illustration taken from the Old Testament examples of – 1] The Hebrew people and the mixed multitude who were delivered from Egypt and the death angel by putting the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the doorposts of their homes [hearts]; 2] The sanctifying of all the materials, furniture, and utensils of Moses’ Tabernacle and Solomon’s temple; 3] The sanctifying of the priests where blood and oil was placed on their right ears, thumbs and big toes representing cleansing and anointing for service. Once these were sprinkled they were never to be used for any other purpose.

Peter lists some vitally important lifestyle characteristics of Christian character that leads to the life God desires for all people, but especially for anyone claiming to be His.

They:

1. Must keep their tongue from evil

  • ‘Evil’ here means worthless, destructive that comes from a belief that is not true
  • “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Our mouths reveal what really is in our heart.

2. Must keep their lips from speaking deceit

  • ‘Deceit’ here means a decoy [misleading for the purpose of luring away from what is true and holy]

3. Must turn away from evil and do good

  • ‘Turn away’ here means to turn completely from the wrong direction, or to head in the correct direction, to shun anything and anyone living unholy so we do not emulate their bad behavior
  • ‘Evil’ here is the same word used above [worthless, destructive that comes from a belief that is not true]
  • ‘Do good’ here means to produce, be the authors of, and abide in all that is honorable and beneficial to a holy lifestyle

4. Must seek peace and pursue it

  • ‘Seek’ here means to demand, require, crave and to pursue on purpose in order to find what you are seeking. It does not means meandering around pretending you are looking for something.
  • ‘Peace’ here means harmony, security, safety, prosperity, connection to others, and rest. This is the equivalent of the Hebrew word shalom.
  • ‘Pursue’ here means to run swiftly, passionately and purposefully in order to obtain the goal or prize.

Peter states the reason for these to be adhered to is because:

1. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous

God loves the unrighteous but His eyes are toward the righteous!

  • ‘Toward’ here means over and on
  • God’s eyes are not on those who are evil
    • Habakkuk 1:13 – “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.”
    • This is why God turned away from Jesus on the Cross, and for the first time there was a disconnect between Father and Son. When Jesus became sin God could not look on the wickedness He bore for us.

2. The ears of the Lord attend to their prayer

  • ”Ears attend’ here means to be aware of, attentive to, and understand
  • ‘Prayer’ here means needs, desires, long for and even wants, and to make those known through seeking God, asking and entreating God. The idea here is our seeking God will direct what we desire and want to be what He desires and wants for us, which includes a holy life set apart to God and His purposes in the earth.

3. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil

  • ‘Face’ here means the countenance, eyes, look, appearance, expressions, and presence
  • This should convince those who believe God never shows a different “face” when He is dealing with people in different situations that He absolutely does.
    • Mark 3:5 – “After looking around at them with anger.”
  • This is a very descriptive verse that reveals Jesus not only looked directly at each one of them with anger, but the anger was not just for looks
  • Jesus communicated with His facial expression His strong displeasure with them
  • “Anger’ here means a violent emotion, temper, and an exhibition of punishment or the punishment itself. It is very hard for many to wrap their mind around this truth. Is it really possible for the perfect God who came as perfect Man to get so angry he directed it toward people with just a look?
  • ‘Against’ here means to position in front of, or to be directed toward. This means God deals with those who misbehave face to face, or He confronts the people who are misbehaving. God never sweeps misbehavior under the rug or pretends it does not exist. God always approaches from the front to speak directly to those who are not living holy and or healthy, especially in a Christian community context. God never talks behind someone’s back, and neither should we.
  • ‘Do’ here means the same as ‘ do good’ above. To produce, make, construct, author, to cause someone to do something – with the word ‘evil’ following it is the exact opposite of ‘do good’ in verse 11
  • ‘Evil’ here means of a bad nature [which would mean live like you are still unsaved], to cause trouble or injury that originates in thoughts that are wicked [twisted, or twisting truth]

I am concluding this blog by going back to the beginning. To be people of purpose, purity and power, we must desire life, [desire] to love and want to see good days. To realize our desire we must direct our attention toward the God who through His love saved us, toward those who are in right relationship with God and us, hear [understand] what they say to us, while simultaneously turning completely away from those who do evil, and seek to harm us by ensnaring us in their evil.

Keep HIS Passion, Power, Presence, Priority, Process, Provision, Pruning, Purity, Purging, and Purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Spiritual Revolutionary

To The Prodigals!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, Hard Work, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

I have a word for all of the prodigals out there who have abandoned their father’s house, oversight and authority because your father did not do what you wanted him to do.

You can continue to justify your rebellion but living in a pig pen like the younger brother in Luke 15, or in Haran in Genesis 11 and 12, is not where God called you to live, mature and fulfill your divine purpose.

The younger brother in Luke’s account of the prodigal son made a decision to take his inheritance and do his own thing. The father loved his son so much he accommodated his desire to live independently from, and in defiance of his father.

Abram on the other hand, partially obeyed his future heavenly father by leaving the land of his upbringing and embarked on arriving in the land of promise, only to decide to take family with him that God said to leave behind. In addition, instead of taking the tougher road to Canaan he took the expedient and more comforting path along the Euphrates River. Instead of settling in the land of promise he settled in the land of compromise.

The younger son ended up in a pig pen eating the food of fools and foolish behavior, having spent all the father gave him for free. He came to his senses on his own and decided living under his father’s governance was better than begging for bread.

Abram found himself in a totally different set of circumstances in Haran. Haran in the natural was a place of great blessing and prosperity. Haran means scorched place. You can prosper naturally in Haran but spiritually you will dry up.

Abram did not decide to finally leave Haran on his own. God spoke to him a second time while in Haran and told him to move to where He called him to go.

Hey prodigal, where are you?

Hey prodigal, are you in Haran or in a pig pen?

Hey prodigal, are you ready to come to your senses and move back to your father’s house or is God speaking to you to get to where He called you to be?

He is speaking to you in this blog!

I am writing to prodigals in general but specifically to those who God has called to Bethel Church in beautiful Brunswick, and the glorious Golden Isles of Georgia.

You father is waiting for your arrival so that he can place a ring on your finger, a robe on your back, and sandals on your feet and have a party celebrating your return to righteous living and your rightful place in the family of God.

What are you waiting for?

Keep HIS Faith! Keep HIS Passion! Keep HIS Purposes!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Hisstorymaker