How Then Shall We Live?
Living a Godly live in an ungodly culture.
Matthew 22:44
44You also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect...
How then shall we live, while here in this temporary training ground?
Matthew 24:45-51
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the
servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that
servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in
charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My
master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to
eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does
not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a
place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 24 talks about the signs that will foreshadow the second coming of Yahweh.
He ends by admonishing them on how they should live through a parable.
The faithful and wise servant and the wicked servant are used as a roadmap for how the
Christian should live.
The faithful and wise servant is given a task by his master while he is away, it is to feed the
servants. When the master comes back and finds that that servant did and continued to do
everything he asked the master puts him in charge of all his possessions.
However, the wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he
then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that
servant will come on a day when he does not expect him He will cut him to pieces and assign
him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The faithful servant sets his heart to obey his master.
The wicked servant starts out a good servant. My master is staying away a long time,’ and he
then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.
Meaning that what he knew to do, he failed to do because he allowed the culture around him
and his inward darkness to take him away from obedience to his master.
“Culture is essentially the byproduct and consequence of human interaction within agreed
upon groups and subgroups.” - Chris Searcy
The bible makes it very clear what the culture of man kind will look like before the coming of
Christ.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. 2For men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love
of good, 4traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having
a form of godliness but denying its power.
“Will we be like the faithful and wise servant who says no matter what is going on around me I
will obey my master. I will be faithful to the God who gave his life on Calvary for me!”
Matthew. 25:1-4, 8
1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out
to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who
were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil...8 The foolish
said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
In this parable, Jesus’ warning is that the wise can become foolish if they neglect following
Christ.
Romans 12:1-2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
1. Present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable to God: _Give your members____
This is the language of worship from the Old Testament. In coming to God, the worshiper
brought a sheep or a bull or a pigeon and sacrificed it on the altar as an offering to God. There
were different kinds of sacrifices but at the heart of it was that sin demanded punishment, and
the slain animal represented God’s willingness to accept a substitute so that the worshiper
might live and have an ongoing relationship of forgiveness and joy with God.
Romans 6:13
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to
God as instruments for righteousness.
Present a living holy body to God” means give your members — your eyes, your tongue, your
hands and feet — give your body to do righteousness, not sin. That’s what would make a body
holy. A body is holy not because of what it looks like, or what shape it’s in, but because of what
it does.
2. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. __Read the Word______
We are transformed by changing how we think. It begins by knowing what God is like and who
we are in Christ through the word of God.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down
strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
3. Prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. _Growing in
discernment_
Apply biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible,
unto the renewing of the mind.
Ex. Ginger calling me at 30 asking how to tie her shoe.
The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a
home, where you take your vacation, what cell phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange
juice to drink. It gives you the tools to renew your mind that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
As we become renewed the manifestation of our lives will be good acceptable and perfect. And
we will be like the faithful and wise servant that did his masters will unto his return.
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