Christian Fellowship Community Group
A safe place for Christians who Love Jesus Christ to meet and ask for prayer and share scriptures from the bible. We value the posting of Christian music, poems, stories and also personal testimonies. Please let us know your needs, concerns and have some fun getting to know each other. We treat each other with respect.
"The wisdom of the fathers"
SERVANT OR SLAVE
If we give ourselves unreservedly to God, many adjustments may have to be made: in family, or business, or church relationships, or in the matter of our personal views. God will not let anything of ourselves remain. His finger will touch, point by point, everything that is not of Him, and He will say: ‘This must go’. Are you willing? It is foolish to resist God, and always wise to submit to Him. We admit that many of us still have controversies with the Lord. He wants something, while we want something else. Many things we dare not look into, dare not pray about, dare not even think about, lest we lose our peace. We can evade the issue in that way, but to do so will bring us out of the will of God. It is always an easy matter to get out of His will, but it is a blessed thing just to hand ourselves over to Him and let Him have His way with us.
How good it is to have the consciousness that we belong to the Lord and are not our own! There is nothing more precious in the world. It is that which brings the awareness of His continual presence, and the reason is obvious. I must first have the sense of God’s possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me. When once His ownership is established, then I dare do nothing in my own interests, for I am His exclusive property. “Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey?” (Romans 6:16). The word here rendered ‘servant’ really signifies a bondservant, a slave. This word is used several times in the second half of Romans 6. What is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant may serve another, but the ownership does not pass to that other. If he likes his master he can serve him, but if he does not like him he can give in his notice and seek another master. Not so is it with the slave. He is not only the servant of another but he is the possession of another. How did I become the slave of the Lord? On His part He bought me, and on my part I presented myself to Him. By right of redemption I am God’s property, but if I would be His slave I must willingly give myself to Him, for He will never compel me to do so.
The trouble with many Christians today is that they have an insufficient idea of what God is asking of them. How glibly they say: ‘Lord, I am willing for anything.’ Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideals, strong wills, precious relationships, much-loved work, that will have to go; so do not give yourself to God unless you mean it. God will take you seriously, even if you did not mean it seriously.
When the Galilean boy brought his bread to the Lord, what did the Lord do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to Him. After you give yourself to the Lord, He begins to break what was offered to Him. Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God. But to stay there is to be no more than just a broken vessel—no good for the world because you have gone too far for the world to use you, and no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for Him to use you. You are out of gear with the world, and you have a controversy with God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian.
My giving of myself to the Lord must be an initial fundamental act. Then day by day I must go on giving to Him, not finding fault with His use of me but accepting with praise even what the flesh revolts against.
I am the Lord’s and now no longer reckon myself to be my own but acknowledge in everything His ownership and authority. That is the attitude God requires, and to maintain it is true consecration. I do not consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in school, office or kitchen, counting whatever He ordains for me to be the very best, for nothing but good can come to those who are wholly His.
(by Watchman Nee)
SERVANT OR SLAVE
If we give ourselves unreservedly to God, many adjustments may have to be made: in family, or business, or church relationships, or in the matter of our personal views. God will not let anything of ourselves remain. His finger will touch, point by point, everything that is not of Him, and He will say: ‘This must go’. Are you willing? It is foolish to resist God, and always wise to submit to Him. We admit that many of us still have controversies with the Lord. He wants something, while we want something else. Many things we dare not look into, dare not pray about, dare not even think about, lest we lose our peace. We can evade the issue in that way, but to do so will bring us out of the will of God. It is always an easy matter to get out of His will, but it is a blessed thing just to hand ourselves over to Him and let Him have His way with us.
How good it is to have the consciousness that we belong to the Lord and are not our own! There is nothing more precious in the world. It is that which brings the awareness of His continual presence, and the reason is obvious. I must first have the sense of God’s possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me. When once His ownership is established, then I dare do nothing in my own interests, for I am His exclusive property. “Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey?” (Romans 6:16). The word here rendered ‘servant’ really signifies a bondservant, a slave. This word is used several times in the second half of Romans 6. What is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant may serve another, but the ownership does not pass to that other. If he likes his master he can serve him, but if he does not like him he can give in his notice and seek another master. Not so is it with the slave. He is not only the servant of another but he is the possession of another. How did I become the slave of the Lord? On His part He bought me, and on my part I presented myself to Him. By right of redemption I am God’s property, but if I would be His slave I must willingly give myself to Him, for He will never compel me to do so.
The trouble with many Christians today is that they have an insufficient idea of what God is asking of them. How glibly they say: ‘Lord, I am willing for anything.’ Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideals, strong wills, precious relationships, much-loved work, that will have to go; so do not give yourself to God unless you mean it. God will take you seriously, even if you did not mean it seriously.
When the Galilean boy brought his bread to the Lord, what did the Lord do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to Him. After you give yourself to the Lord, He begins to break what was offered to Him. Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God. But to stay there is to be no more than just a broken vessel—no good for the world because you have gone too far for the world to use you, and no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for Him to use you. You are out of gear with the world, and you have a controversy with God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian.
My giving of myself to the Lord must be an initial fundamental act. Then day by day I must go on giving to Him, not finding fault with His use of me but accepting with praise even what the flesh revolts against.
I am the Lord’s and now no longer reckon myself to be my own but acknowledge in everything His ownership and authority. That is the attitude God requires, and to maintain it is true consecration. I do not consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it in school, office or kitchen, counting whatever He ordains for me to be the very best, for nothing but good can come to those who are wholly His.
(by Watchman Nee)
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so condemned sin in sinful man, in order that THE RIGHTEOUS REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULLY MET IN US, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Rom. 8.3-4
These words are possibly the most misunderstood words, even with believers, which is expressed by the assertion that grace is unconditional, for this cannot be found in the Bible. It is true, though, that the divine grace is offered to us by God without the necessity of any merits on our part. But this grace can only be ours if a certain condition is met, namely penitent faith. If we refuse to leave our life of sin, we won’t be able to receive the grace of God. For who wants to appropriate the saving grace of God in Christ must be willing to renounce sin. (by Christian Roeckle)
Union with Christ in baptism frees us form the compulsion to sin: "sin shall no longer be your master" (Ro 6:14). Thus, we can yield our lives to God rather than to sin. The benefits are remarkable: freedom (not to do anything we want, but to live as we were designed), holiness (to be like God), and eternal life (6:23).
Paul sustains this discussion by moving through a variety of metaphors. Slavery (6:20-23) and marriage (7:1-3) model how a new relationship with the law has come about. Through redemption we have acquired a new Master in God, who now owns us (6:22) Likewise, the death of a spouse changes the binding obligations of a marriage, and so our death to the law (our former spouse) enables us to conduct our lives for God. The struggle to fulfill the law (7:14-20) is the hallmark of a life lived in the flesh, a life in bondage to sin. God's work in the gospel offers a new prospect: that sin no longer reigns (6:12: 8:2), that our captivity is over (7:23), and that we now live safe from condemnation.
The hopeful prospect of the gospel is not only found in the work of Christ. Paul now turns to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit (8:1-30). He sees two opposite choices before us: the flesh (or "sinful nature") and the Spirit (8:5). The former refers to a life lived in captivity to sin that results in death; this life cannot obey the law or please God (8:5, 7). The alternative is the Spirit of God (mentioned 19 times in Rom. 8). Just as justification is a gift of God's goodness, so sanctification is another expression of His grace. The Spirit indwells and transforms (8:9), implants holy desires (8:5), controls the mind (8:6), gives life (8:11), puts to death evil deeds (8:13), leads to self control (8:14), confirms out spiritual adoption (8:15), and intercedes on our behalf with the Father (8:26).
Above all, the Spirit confirms within us that God continues to be on our side, giving us a new status as his adopted sons and daughters (8:14-17). Despite our suffering and feelings of futility, God remains on our side, promising a future that holds a glorious promise of both our own redemption and that of the entire earth (8:18-25). This is the fundamental source of our peace (5:1). God is in control, and for those who love him every good plan is in place (8:28-30). No object....celestial or creational....can separate us from God's love (8:37-39).