Fully Equipped for Every Good Work

When it comes to being prepared for works of service, that is something that every believer needs, because we are created to do good works (Eph 2:10). The process of being equipped takes time and we should be careful not to try and take shortcuts with it.

The apostle Paul said, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2Ti 3:16-17, NASB)

Notice that he said the servant of God should be adequate and equipped. The Greek word for adequate is artios, which means perfect or complete. The King James uses the word perfect and the ESV uses the word perfect, both of which more accurately translate the original word in the text. The Greek word for equipped here is exartizō, which means to finish out, to equip thoroughly, to thoroughly furnish. This word exartizō is actually a derivative of the first word artios, so when you put these two words side by side, as they are in the passage, artios exartizō, it means completely furnished, perfectly finished out, or thoroughly equipped.

The Lord's purpose is that you should be completely equipped, therefore that should be your goal. You should want to get everything the Lord has for you, so that you are not missing anything at the end of the day. Let Him furnish you completely with all the tools, equipment, and training that you will need to get the job done.

When I was in Army Airborne School, we had three weeks of training to equip us to become paratroopers that would jump out of planes. Week one was ground week when we learned all the things we needed to know how to do on the ground like parachute landing falls (PLFs). Week two was tower week when we learned all that we needed to know how to do in the plane before, during, and after jumping from the plane, as well as during our descent to the ground. Week three was jump week when we actually performed our day jumps and night jumps to qualify as paratroopers and graduate with our Airborne wings. All that training consisted of instruction from Jump Masters, practice, issuing equipment to us that we learned to use, and performing our qualifying jumps from the aircraft.

What if I had tried to shortcut that equipping process? What if I had skipped tower week and not learned how to properly exit the aircraft? What if I had not properly secured my parachute harness and not checked it before jumping, and my chute came off upon deploying when I jumped from the plane? What if I got on the plane and didn't receive a parachute at all and then jumped without one?  Any of these shortcuts would be foolish, resulting in either serious injury or death. 

The same applies to the training and equipping we receive from the Lord for service unto Him. My equipping included participation in worship services and home group meetings, receiving teaching, counseling, and mentoring. It also included Bible reading, studying the Scriptures, Bible School training, Divinity School training at the graduate level, lots of practicum work putting what I had learned into practice in the homes, hospitals, prisons, and streets here in the US and overseas. There were many people involved and many experiences that I had to go through. It's normal to want to get the equipping over with and go "do the stuff." But let's not be in a rush and miss something important the Lord has for us. Let your attitude be that you want to get everything God has for you.

By listing some of the things the Lord used to prepare me, I am not saying every believer must go through Bible school or graduate school. I am simply giving examples from my own life and encouraging you not to take shortcuts in the process.

As Paul told Timothy, the Lord uses the Scriptures to equip His servants, but He also uses other servants for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness with the Scriptures. So this does not happen in a void, but with others whom God uses, namely apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, which we call the five-fold ministry gifts. As Paul said, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up..." (Eph 4:11-12). 

Therefore the purpose of these five-fold ministry gifts is not to do all the works of service themselves, but to equip God's people for works of service. The end goal of this equipping is for those who are being equipped to do the works of service that they were created for.

How long does it take for the Body of Christ to be built up like this? Paul said it needs to happen "...until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph 4:13). I see at least three end results there in that passage: 1) we all reach unity in the faith and in the the knowledge of the Son of God, 2) we all become mature. and 3) we all attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

What will we be like when we reach those goals? Paul said, "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ." (Eph 4:14-15). We will become the mature Body of Christ in every respect, which means we will lack nothing.

So let God fully equip you for works of service, and don't be in rush to get through it or in some cases to get that piece of paper that says you graduated. Instead let Him totally outfit you. Let Him do the work He needs to do inside of you and grow you into a mature member of Christ's Body.

One way that I can offer to you to become equipped is our free, three-year Doulos Training School, which is a discipleship training school that provides Biblical instruction, discipleship, practical experience, and accountability. If you would like to find out more about it, please see this link.

Attributes: Most Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, all rights reserved, used by permission. Where noted, Scripture taken from the NASB version, copyright The Lockman Foundation, all rights reserved, used by permission. Image copyright Walker Ministries, Virginia Beach, use per the Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes only. 

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like ,Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work, Whatever You Do, Do All Like This, Faith Works, Pleasing the Lord, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. 

Leaving Your Family for the Love of Christ

I'd like to write to you about leaving family to follow Jesus, as He taught us to do. This is a very important topic, since the love that many people have for their families may keep them from obeying the Lord.

When He sent out the Twelve, He said, ""He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Mat 10:37). Our love for Jesus must be greater than our love for anyone here on earth, including our closest relatives, even our mother and father, and even our sons and daughters.

At another time, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life." (Mar 10:29-30).

First of all, Jesus led by example, and did not ask us to do anything that He was not willing to do Himself. He left the glory He had with His heavenly Father to come to this dark world (Jn 17:5; Phil 2:5-11). He also left His earthly family to follow the call of God. His own brothers did not believe in Him (Jn 7:5). As He was preaching in a home one day, He was told that His mother and brothers were waiting outside and wanting to see Him. His family thought He was out of His mind, so they planned to take Him under their control (Mk 3:21). But answering them, "He said, 'Who are My mother and My brothers?' Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, 'Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.'" (Mar 3:33-35).

When God tells you to do something, then you need to do it, even if it means leaving your family. I had to do this when my parents were very old. When I told my father that I was going overseas as a missionary, he said that he would probably be dead by the time I came back. I loved him and my mother, and it was heart breaking to leave them, but I loved the Lord more, and I knew He was calling me to take my wife and little children overseas to serve Him in Eastern Europe; so I had to obey the Lord despite the love I had for them and the sorrow I felt, as well as the heartache it caused them. The same was true of my brother and sisters. My brother had tears in his eyes as he bid me farewell at the airport, but there was no turning back.

My wife and I, along with our four children, did go overseas to Eastern Europe. We didn't know when we would ever be coming back, and we were prepared to serve Him there for the rest of our lives, if that's what the Lord wanted. Less than three months after we arrived in Hungary, my father died. Then just seven months after that, my mother died. Before we had been in Hungary less than a year, both my parents had died. But despite the pain of those losses, the Lord was worth it. We continued on with the ministry the Lord had given us to do.

Closing Words
The Lord may be calling you to go overseas and serve Him on the mission field, but you are grappling with the difficult decision of whether to leave your family. If you know the Lord is definitely calling you to do that, and you have received confirmations of that, then you need to follow Him and obey the call.

There may be others of you that the Lord is not calling to serve Him overseas, but He is calling you to separate yourself from your family in some other way. For some of you, there may be something the Lord is telling you to do, but your family won't support you in it or give you their blessing, or be present for it. For others, there may be some area where you simply cannot join in with them with a clear conscience, and the Lord is telling you to come out from among them and be separate. He is calling you to stop compromising. You need to obey Him. Love Him even more than your family. Don't let anything stop you from fully obeying the Lord. I trust this has helped to encourage you to do that today.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright Lockman Foundation, all rights reserved, used by permission. 

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Cost of Discipleship, Is Obedience Optional?, The Obedience of Faith, Following in His Steps, Pleasing the Lord, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Partaking of the Divine Nature -- Part II

In Part I of this article, Partaking of the Divine Nature, I explained how we as disciples may participate in God's nature by possessing godly qualities and bearing good fruit for His glory. In this second part of that article, please let me show how our participation in the divine nature enables us to also operate in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter said, “For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2Pe 1:4).

Becoming partakers of the divine nature not only refers to sharing in God's qualities and characteristics, but also in His mighty deeds. The only way that is possible is through the power of the Holy Spirit, since we ourselves are not God, nor are we little gods. As I have already explained in my article, Supernatural Power for All Disciples, God has promised to baptize His children with His Holy Spirit, and those who have received that promised gift may operate in the same supernatural power that Jesus did. If you haven't read that article, I recommend you do so, because in it I prove and explain it from Scripture.

However, here are some more Scriptures that teach this same thing. Jesus said:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." (Joh 14:12-14)

Notice He made this promise to him who believes in Jesus, so it's based on personal faith in Christ. He promised that the one who believes would not only do the same works that Jesus did, but do even greater works than He did. That's pretty amazing, and He followed that up by essentially repeating Himself twice for emphasis, by saying that He would do "whatever" we ask in His name and that He would do "anything" we ask in His name. He used these two words "whatever" and "anything" to emphasize the lack of restriction on what is possible. Contrary to what some may think, this does not bring glory to the one asking but to the One whom we ask and to the One whose name we ask in.

Incidentally, as I taught in my article By the Spirit of God Alone, during His earthly ministry the Lord did all of his miracles and healing by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, leading by example and showing us how we are to do the same. He chose to empty Himself of the divine glory and power He had with the Father before He came to earth (Phil 2:6-7), so He had to operate supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit after the Spirit descended upon Him at His baptism (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32). Likewise, we are supposed to follow in His steps (1 Pe 2:21).

He said that all things are possible for believers. "And Jesus said to him, 'If You can? All things are possible to him who believes." (Mk 9:23). He was repeating back the same words that had just been spoken to Him by a father whose son suffered from seizures. That man had prefaced his request for the Lord's help with the words, "If You can..." and the Lord was assuring him that not only was it possible for Him to deliver his son from seizures, but that all things were possible by faith in Him.

This is what I want to emphasize today. When you put your faith in Christ, and you ask God in prayer, you can do all things. As Paul said, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." (Phil 4:13, NIV). All things includes everything. Our only limitation is the will of God, so as long as we are not violating the will of God, as long as we are not working iniquity (i.e., sinning), then we are free to do anything without restriction. Paul said, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom." (2 Cor 3:17b, NIV).

When you are in Christ, operating in the Spirit by faith, you can forget about all the limitations that normally govern life on earth as we know it. There are no barriers of time and space at that moment. We are not limited by anything whatsoever, so if God is willing He can even suspend gravity, as He did when Christ walked on water. I have read a testimony of a man of God working in Asia who was carrying the gospel to remote places, and the Lord enabled him to walk on water across a river to reach his target audience.

I have also read about a man who was praying in his bedroom for people in a far away country, and if my memory serves me correctly, when he finished, he had mud on his shoes as if he had actually gone to that place in the spirit. I know of another man who traveled to another country in prayer, who actually saw the geography beneath him as he flew there, and then he entered into the room of the sick pastor that he was praying for in that other country. That pastor had just called him two days earlier saying he had to retire from ministry because of a heart condition. After he laid hands on that sleeping man and prayed for him, he then laid hands on the man's wife who was sleeping beside him, and prayed for a renewal of her relationship with God. He called the pastor a couple days later and asked how his heart was doing. The man said that a strange thing had occurred a couple nights prior to that in the middle of the night, when he had a supernatural encounter with God, and the pain in his chest left him. Likewise, since that night his wife was now experiencing a fresh baptism with the Holy Spirit and was speaking in tongues again as she had in the past. In fact, the pastor told him it had been two days since she had spoken in her native language. All things are possible with God for him who believes.

The Scriptures give an account of Phillip being translated in the Spirit immediately after he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. "When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea." (Ac 8:39-40, NIV). Why should we think it incredible that God could still translate people today. I have heard more than one such testimony of someone being translated in the Spirit in our modern day just as God did in the days of old in the Bible. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (He 13:8).

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord." (1 Cor 5:4-5, NIV). How could Paul be with the Corinthian church in spirit during their assembly unless he was enabled by the Holy Spirit to do so? In fact, Paul did join them in spirit during that service through prayer. In that way, he participated with them in handing that man over to satan and putting him our of the church.

Don't forget that God is able "to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." (Eph 3:20, NIV). God can do far more than you can ask or imagine. He'll go beyond your wildest dreams.

Closing Words
Through this study on how our participation in the divine nature enables us to also operate in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, I trust that your faith has been stirred, so that you may take God at His Word, believe Him, realize that He has removed all restrictions on what you can ask for, as long as they are within His divine will, and expect greater things from Him in prayer. I trust that you will have a renewed experience with Him, and that your prayer life would be revived. May these truths make you eager to go to the Lord in prayer, and enable you to step out by faith in supernatural ways that you have never before experienced or even thought possible. As you do so in the will of God, by faith in the name of Jesus, may you experience freedom in the Spirit, and see God do more than you ever dreamed or imagined. "May the Lord give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests." (Ps 20:4-5, NIV).

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright The Lockman Foundation, all rights reserved, used by permission. Other Scriptures where noted were take from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, all rights reserved, used by permission.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Bearing Fruit in Every Good Work, Partaking of the Divine Nature -- Part II, By the Spirit of God Alone, Supernatural Power for All Disciples, Baptized with the Spirit, Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit: What's the Difference, Following in His Steps, Are We Really Little gods?, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page.  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Bearing Good Fruit in Every Good Work

In my article called Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit -- What's the Difference, I explained that the fruit of the Spirit includes the conduct, actions, words, attitudes, and demeanor that are produced in our lives by the indwelling Holy Spirit, as we remain connected to Christ the true grapevine. In other words, to put it more simply, our fruit and our works are very closely related.

Revealing the Nature of Good Works
When we take this into consideration, it opens up a whole new realm of understanding for us about the nature of our works. We know the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22,23). You may not have thought of these as works before, but that is the figurative meaning of the word "fruit" here in this verse. The Greek word for fruit is karpos, which literally means the produce of a tree, plant; or animal (i.e., offspring or young). In a figurative sense it also means production or that which is produced, as in conduct or actions. That is the sense in which the word karpos is used by the apostle Paul in Galatians 5. In other words, the fruit of the Spirit are the qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, which may be observed in our conduct, actions, words, attitudes, and demeanor.

The Reason We Were Created
Consider the way that many people choose to emphasize the fact that we are saved by grace and not by works, which is true, but they neglect to see the importance of our being created to do good works. They focus on the verses in which Paul the apostle said, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Eph 2:8-9). But they neglect to teach on the importance of the next verse, in which he states, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Eph 2:10). While we may not be saved as a result of our works, the very purpose for which we are created is to do good works, so let's not lose sight of that.

It is possible to do good works without bearing fruit. For example, you could help an elderly lady across the street without love. You could give all you have to the poor without love, and you could surrender your body to be burned without love, but it would be of no profit to you at all (1 Cor 13:3).

Instead, we should bear fruit in every good work that we were created to do, which means we should do them with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It is the will of God "that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Col 1:10). Those who teach in such a way as to de-emphasize works are actually downplaying the importance of these fruit that are indispensable in our lives. Allow me to explain.

No Fruit? No Heaven!
If you don't have all of these fruit in your life, you will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. As I wrote in my article about brother Ezekiel Moses' testimony of heaven and hell, the Lord revealed to him the essential nature of the fruit of the Spirit. Brother Ezekiel said that if the fruit of the Spirit is not complete in your life – all nine fruit – forget about heaven.  They are completed in holiness, since they are the fruit of the HOLY Spirit.  He said, “You must have complete holiness!”  

You see, the only way we can produce these is by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives when we have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Gal 5:22-24). If we are not producing the fruit of the Spirit, then we will be carrying out the acts of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21), and Paul said that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. You are either walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh; there is no other way to be living. Therefore, it is imperative that we crucify the flesh and walk by the Spirit if we hope to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

There are many Scriptures to support this, including Christ's own words that if anyone wishes to come after Jesus, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Jesus (Lk 9:23). Likewise, the apostle Paul taught that our new life and resurrection with Christ depends on our being united with Him in His death, so our eternal life with Him is contingent upon our having died with Him. Paul said, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection...Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him..." (Rom 6:5,8). The word "if" in these verses means that our resurrection life is conditional, based on whether we have been united with Christ in His death.

No Fruit Unless We Abide in Christ
The fruit of the Spirit is the result of a godly life that remains connected to Christ, abiding in Him. Our Lord said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." (Joh 15:4-5). Therefore, we can only produce the fruit of the Spirit as we abide in Him, and we cannot produce any fruit apart from Him.

Abiding in Christ is not optional for salvation. We must remain in Him, and stay connected to Him. If you cut off a branch from a tree, it will not be able to produce any fruit by itself. Likewise, we cannot produce any fruit if we are separated from Christ. One can become unfruitful, if they do not remain in Christ (Jn 15:5). If you walk by the flesh, fulfilling its desires, you will reap destruction. If you walk by the Spirit, setting your mind on what He desires, you will reap eternal life.

The Flesh vs. The Spirit

The Spirit and the flesh are set in battle opposition to each other. "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." (Gal 5:16-17). As long as you walk in the flesh, you cannot produce the fruit the Spirit desires, and as long as you walk in the Spirit, you cannot satisfy the desire of the flesh, since they are diametrically opposed to each other and mutually exclusive. Therefore, if one is not producing all nine fruit of the Spirit, then he is not continually walking in the Spirit, but walking in the flesh at least part of the time. For more on this please see The Flesh vs the Spirit.

Let Those Fruit Shine!

We can learn so many things about the kind of walk that the Lord is expecting of us once we realize that these fruit of the Spirit are closely related to the works we were created to do. It sheds light on other passages about works. For example, Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Mat 5:16; cf. 1 Pe 2:12). At least part of what He meant here was to let those deeds characterized by the fruit of the Spirit shine before men like light, so that they may see your good works and glorify God.

The Fruit is the Essence of Love
We know that love is a fruit of the Spirit, and Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (Joh 13:35). Jesus also said, "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." (Joh 15:8). These verses taken together mean that our love, as well as the other fruit of the Spirit, are evidence to all men that we are Christ's disciples. Therefore, fruit prove that we are His disciples and glorify God.

If we don't have love, then we are not Christ's disciples and will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. If we don't have love, then we are nothing (1 Cor 13:1-3). Love is not an option, but a commandment (Jn 15:12). Just as all the Law and the Prophets are summed up in love (Mt 22:40), all of the fruit of the Spirit are summed up in love, so all the other fruit roll up under love and are an extension of love. For example, love is patient, love is kind, and love always perseveres (1 Cor 13:4-7). The fruit is the essence of love. Put differently, the fruit are all aspects of love, so what is true of love is also true of all the fruit of the Spirit.

The Anti-works Teachings are False
Let me show you how those who falsely teach against works are essentially teaching against bearing fruit. Keeping in mind that our good works must be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, consider the fact that James said, "You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone." (Jas 2:24). This proves that those who teach against works are not teaching correctly according to the Scriptures.

Our works, which include the fruit of the Spirit, are evidence of our genuine saving faith in Christ. In other words, works characterized by the fruit of the Spirit will follow true, saving faith. If the evidence of those fruit is absent, then it shows we are not truly His, and we do not have eternal life. If we lack the fruit of the Spirit, then either we were never justified in Christ in the first place, or we have fallen away from Him and disconnected from the Vine.

Words of Warning
The words of John the Baptist serve to warn us, even as the Holy Spirit said through him, "The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Mat 3:10)

Likewise, the apostle John had a lot to say to warn us about those who fail to produce the fruit. Bear with me while I share a few of those passages with you here.

That One Does Not Know Him
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1Jn 4:7-8)

He Abides in Death

"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death." (1Jn 3:14)

If these verses make you feel uncomfortable, then you may need to repent. Then keep His commandments, keep His Word, walk in the same manner as Jesus walked, and produce the fruit of the Spirit. Produce the fruit of repentance (Mt 3:8). Then you will be comforted by those same verses that say you will know that you have passed out of death into life. You will know that you have come to know Him and that you are in Him.

Intentional Fruit Bearing
One could assume that trees do not need to make any effort to bear fruit, and simply bear fruit because they are a fruit tree. Based on this assumption, some teach incorrectly that since fruit trees and fruit bearing plants make no effort to bear fruit, then we as disciples of Christ should make no effort to bear the fruit of the Spirit. This is patently false.

First of all, a tree is not a human, and therefore we cannot speak of it as making an effort or not making an effort to bear fruit. Secondly, the fact is that not all fruit trees actually bear fruit. One example is the fig tree that Jesus once went to when He was hungry, looking for fruit on it. Because it had no fruit when He came looking for it, He cursed the tree so that it would never bear fruit again, and it immediately withered (Mk 11:12-25). The fig tree was a picture of Israel at that time, when the Lord came looking for good fruit and didn't find it (Jer 8:13). Since not all trees bear fruit, we should not assume that fruit bearing is completely "effortless" on the part of the tree.

Likewise, we should not assume that fruit bearing is effortless for the believer. It is not effortless. We cannot take a passive approach to fruit bearing and say that all we have to do is be in Christ and we will automatically bear fruit. If that were so, then there would be no need for the Lord to give us a commandment to love, since we would always love by default. There would be no need to command us to be patient or to be kind, since we would always be patient and kind. We would not need to be told to rejoice, since we would always be joyful just because we are in Christ. But that is not the case. We do need to make an effort (Mt 3:8). That's why self-control has the word "self" in it, because we do have an active part in bearing that fruit. For more on this, please see my article, Spiritual Do-It-Yourself.

Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, every believer has been enabled to bear fruit. We are no longer slaves to sin (Ro 6:6), but are slaves to righteousness (Ro 6:18).  "His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." (2 Pe 1:4, NIV). Since we have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires, we may now participate in the divine nature (2 Pe 1:5).

We are free now to bear good fruit for God at all times (Gal 5:1). But rather than take a passive approach to it and wait for fruit to simply happen in our lives, we must take a proactive approach. We must intentionally bear fruit, applying all diligence to do so. We can decide at any moment to love, to be kind, to be patient, to be faithful. In fact, we are taught in Scripture to make this our way of life, continually doing all things this way, and not just randomly doing this part of the time. For more on this, see Fruit in Every Season and Whatever You Do, Do All Like This.

Inspired Summary
The point that I am making in this article could not be summarized more aptly than the Holy Spirit did when He inspired these words written by the apostle Peter about the fruit:

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins."

"Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pe 1:5-11, NIV).

Peter could not have been more clear. You must make every effort to add the fruit to your life, so that you possess these qualities in increasing measure, because in doing so, you will keep from being ineffective and unproductive, you will confirm your calling and election, and you will receive a rich welcome into the kingdom of heaven. If you lack these qualities, then you are short-sighted and blind. As Matthew Henry said of the latter such people, "...how wretched is their condition who are thus blind as to the awfully great things of the other world, who cannot see any thing of the reality and certainty, the greatness and nearness, of the glorious rewards God will bestow on the righteous, and the dreadful punishment he will inflict on the ungodly!"

Closing Words
Therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is evidence that we are in Christ, that we have come to know Him, that we are disciples of His, that we have passed from death to life, that we have been born of God, that we know God, that we love God, that we belong to the truth. and that the Spirit of God is within us (Jn 13:35; 1 Cor 12:3; 1 Jn 2:2-5; 3:6, 14, 19; 4:7; 5:2-3). We must produce these qualities by living in the light, walking by the Spirit, and being led by the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 18; 1 Jn 2:10). We also produce them by keeping His commandments, keeping His Word, and walking in the same manner as Jesus walked.

We should bear fruit in every good work (Col 1:10). For we were created to do good works that are characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22,23). These were prepared beforehand by God so that we would walk in them (Eph 2:10).Without the fruit, one cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, but will be cut off and thrown into the fire (Mt 7:21; Jn 15:2, 6; 1 Cor 13:1-3; 1 Jn 1:6; 2:4-6, 9; 3:7-10; 4:7-8, 21).

I hope this has helped you to see the importance of the fruit of the Spirit and how it is part of the works we were created by God to do. Bearing the fruit of the Spirit is essential. So if we aren't bearing the fruit of the Spirit, but have been walking in the flesh, producing the deeds of the flesh, then our response should be to repent and ask His forgiveness, turn to Jesus, and be restored to the purpose for which we were created, so that we may have eternal life with Him.

Image credit: Culinary fruit. Picture by Bill Ebbesen. Courtesy Wikimedia.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright Lockman Foundation, all rights reserved, used by permission. Other Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV (where noted), copyright Zondervan, all rights reserved, used by permission.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit -- What's the Difference, Fruit in Every Season, Partaking of the Divine Nature, The Wardrobe of the Saints, The Conditional Security of the Believer, Obedience by the Spirit, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, Drifting Away, Is Obedience Optional?, The Apostasy Parables, Faith Works, Ezekiel Moses' Testimony of Heaven and Hell, Whatever You Do, Do All Like This, Pleasing the Lord, Led by the Spirit, Living a Life Worthy of the Lord, Multiplying Your Talents, No Flesh Will Be Justified by Works, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page. My daughter has written a poem called Fruit in Every Season, which is worth reading. You may also access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

What Shall We Say to These Things

Let's look at seven rhetorical questions the apostle Paul asked in his epistle to the Romans, in order to learn what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us through them. Under each of the topical headings below, observe the recurring question he asked, "What shall we say?", followed by the the apostle's answer to his own question.


1. The Righteousness of God

Q: "But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)" (Rom 3:5)

A: "May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?" (Rom 3:6).

This teaches us that God is righteous and that He alone is fit to judge the world.

2. The Righteousness of Abraham

Q. "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?" (Rom 4:1)

A: "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness..." (Rom 4:2-5).

This teaches us that Abraham found the righteousness that is by faith.

3. Freed from Sin 

Q: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?" (Rom 6:1)

A: "May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin." (Rom 6:2, 6-7).

It's wonderful to know we no longer have to sin. We are free not to sin, because two thousand years ago our old self was crucified with Him. That's amazing freedom!

4. The Law is Holy

Q: "What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? (Rom 7:7a)

A: "May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'YOU SHALL NOT COVET'...So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good...For we know that the Law is spiritual..." (Rom 7:7b, 12, 14a).

This teaches us that no matter what anyone says of the Law, it is holy, righteous, good, and spiritual. The problem is not with the Law but with our weak, sinful nature. We are no longer under the Law but under grace. And by this faith we do not nullify the Law but uphold it (Ro 3:31).

5. All Things Work Together for Our Good

Q: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us...And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?" (Rom 8:18, 28-31a)

A: "If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us." (Rom 8:31b-34)

This teaches us about the awesome glory of God and His amazing love for us.

6. The Sovereign Justice of God

Q: "What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there?" (Rom 9:14a)

A: "May it never be! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy." (Rom 9:14b-16, NIV*).

This teaches us that our salvation does not depend on our desire or effort, but on the mercy of God. It also teaches us that God doesn't have to ask anyone for permission to do anything. He doesn't report to anyone, and does whatever He pleases. Whenever a person goes to their eternal destruction in hell, it is because they deserve it and it is perfectly just. Whenever God chooses to have mercy on anyone or to have compassion on anyone because of His Son Jesus Christ, that is solely His prerogative beyond any doubt or scrutiny. He always acts in accordance with His perfectly just, sovereign will.

7. The Righteousness of the Faithful Remnant

Q: What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, "I will call those who were not My people, 'My people,' and her who was not beloved, 'Beloved.'" And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God." Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His Word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly." And just as Isaiah foretold, "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah. What shall we say then?" (Rom 9:22-29, 30a)

A: "That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith. but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law." (Rom 9:30b-31).

This teaches us about the amazing grace and mercy of God. Gentiles and Jews alike can attain the righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by keeping the law.

Closing Words
From each of these seven rhetorical questions asked by the apostle, we have learned about the holiness of the Law, the sovereign justice of God, the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Abraham that is by faith, the righteousness of the faithful remnant, the freedom we have in Christ from sin, and that all things work together for our good, who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. Such freedom! Such glory! Such love! What do you say of these things?

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright The Lockman Foundation, used by permission, Other Scriptures where noted taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. The image may be subject to copyright, used according to the Fair Use Act for commentary and educational purposes only. *The first four words of this quote are from the NASB, and the remainder of it is from the NIV.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy No Flesh Will Be Justified By Works, The Conditional Security of the Believer, Life By the Spirit - Not Under Law, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, Drifting Away, Is Obedience Optional?, The Apostasy Parables, Obedience by the Spirit, The Obedience of Faith, Holy Living in a Perverted World, Aim for Perfection, Walking in the Perfect Will of God, Baptized with the Spirit, Holy Fire Baptism, The Straight and Narrow Path, Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God, Pleasing the Lord, The Difference Between a Disciple and a Believer, Righteous Deeds and White Robes, Doing What is Right, The Ways of Life, Whatever You Do, Do All Like This, and Listen to Jesus, Who Upholds Moses and the Prophets. You can find more of my articles related to Working God's Way on the Home page of this blog. You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." Now I'd like to ask a very important question.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org

Obedient to the Heavenly Vision

We've all heard of the vision that the apostle Paul had on the road to Damascus, before he knew the Lord. At that time he was still a staunch Jewish Pharisee, known as Saul of Tarsus, who was persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ, imprisoning them and putting them to death. It was then that the Lord Himself appeared to Saul in a vision, which is recorded in Acts 9, 22, and 26.

When Paul testified before King Agrippa, he recounted the incident like this:

"While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 'But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'" (Act 26:12-18)

The Vision
First of all the vision included the light from heaven that Saul saw, which was brighter than the midday sun, shining all around him and his traveling companions. Secondly, the vision also included the message that the Lord spoke to Saul. The light he saw was Christ Himself appearing to him in glory right there on the road, so it was a heavenly vision. The Lord's glory that emanates from His presence is extremely bright and heavenly!

The Lord answered Saul's question, "Who are You, Lord?" by saying, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." In saying so, the Lord was telling Saul that when he was persecuting those Christians, he was persecuting Jesus. Whatever Saul had done to one of the least of these brethren of Christ, he had done it unto Jesus Himself. That's how closely the Lord identifies Himself with His people.

The Lord explained the purpose for which He was appearing to Saul: "For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you." The Lord appeared to Saul to appoint him as both a minister and a witness to both the things he had seen that day and even more things the Lord would yet reveal to Saul in future appearances.

The Lord promised to rescue Saul from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom He was sending him. And here is the reason the Lord was sending him to the Gentiles: to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Jesus. Saul's testimony and ministry would open the spiritual eyes of the Gentiles for a specific reason. Their eyes would be opened so that they would turn from darkness to light, from satan to God, and so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Christ.

That's just what the Lord did through Paul's life and He is still using Paul's life and teachings to do that. In fact, it is still the Lord's desire to do the same thing through His people today. When people's eyes are opened, and they turn from darkness to light and from satan to God, then they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance.

Obedience to the Vision
Now that we have established what the vision was, which was Christ and the things He spoke to Saul, let's consider what he did with that vision. Paul told the king, "So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance." (Act 26:19-20)

These famous words are a testament to the life of Paul the apostle. He could honestly say before the king and all those present, "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." (Ac 26:19). Paul had done just what the Lord commanded him to do way back when He first appeared to him. He had been obedient since that time, and continuing on throughout the course of his life. Can we say the same thing Paul did that we have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision?

Listen to the way Paul obeyed the vision: he "kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance." (Ac 26:20) His message was the same everywhere he went, that the people he was speaking to should "repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance." That's a very simple practice, isn't it? He did not fail to tell his hearers that they must repent (i.e., to change your mind and turn from sin), and that they must turn to God through faith in Christ. That part is not disputed by most evangelical Christians, but what about the last part? He told his hearers that once they repent and turn to God, they must perform deeds appropriate to repentance. This is the part that is missing from so much evangelical preaching today.

Paul's message of repentance was quite similar to that of John the Baptist, who said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," telling them to "bear fruit in keeping with repentance." (Matt 3:2,8). As I have said before, this is what Jesus also preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17). Or as it says in Mark's gospel: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mar 1:15). It's also what He commanded the apostles to preach as well. "They went out and preached that men should repent." (Mk 6:12). And after the Lord's resurrection He explained that the Law and Prophets proclaim that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in Jesus' name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem (Luk 24:47). And after He ascended into heaven, the apostles continued with the same message. Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Ac 2:38).

Just as John the Baptist told his hearers that they must repent and bear fruit in keeping with repentance, likewise Paul told his hearers that they must "repent and turn to God, they must perform deeds appropriate to repentance." This message was a fulfillment of the heavenly vision he was given. By preaching that message, the Holy Spirit enabled people who heard him to turn from darkness to light and from satan to God and to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith.

Persecution for Obeying the Vision
Paul's obedience to the vision did not come without persecution. The Lord told him when He appeared to him that He would rescue him from the Jews and Gentiles to whom He was sending him, which implied that the people to whom the Lord was sending him would seek to harm him. So as he went through life obeying the vision, people did persecute him for it, and the Lord did rescue him from them. Paul said to Agrippa, "For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death." (Act 26:21). The reason to which he was referring was the fact that he had been obedient to the vision and preached the gospel; that is why the Jews seized him (Ac 26:6-7,19-20; 28:20b).

It's interesting to note that if Paul had been primarily interested in defending himself before the king, he could have explained that the Jews saw him walking around Jerusalem with Trophimus the Ephesian, and that when they had seen Paul enter the temple courts, they had supposed that he had brought that Gentile man into the temple with him, which would have been a violation of the Law and defiled the temple (Act 21:29). If he had mentioned that fact, it may have helped his defense. But Paul was more interested in witnessing Christ to the king than he was in giving a strong defense on that occasion. He knew that the real reason why the Jews had seized him was ultimately because he preached Christ as Lord.

Moreover, we have a record in Scripture of the many other times both Jews and Gentiles plotted and tried to kill him, as well as the other instances when he was flogged and put in prison for his obedience to the vision, and how the Lord rescued him out of all those situations as He had promised.

The gospel is not a popular message. People don't like being told they need to repent, turn to God through faith in Christ, and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Governor Festus was no exception, as he sat there listening to Paul speak to King Agrippa. He tried to shut Paul right down, saying in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad." (Act 26:24).

Sometimes people will think you are insane when you are obedient to the vision and proclaim the true gospel message. But Paul assured Festsus that he was not insane, saying, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth." (Act 26:25). What an excellent response! Paul was simply uttering words of sober truth, which Festus and Agrippa didn't want to hear, but that didn't make him insane. It meant that he was obedient to the vision. Although others would see the purpose of such a hearing before the secular authorities to defend themselves, Paul saw it as an opportunity to be a witness for Christ.

He continued witnessing to the truth before the King and pressed on with his challenge to him saying, "For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do." (Ac 26:26-27). He wasn't going to be hindered from witnessing to the king by the governor's attempt to insult and embarrass him.

Agrippa replied to Paul, "In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian." (Ac 26:28, NASB). Other versions have Agrippa asking Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” (Ac 26:28, NIV). If the NASB translation is correct, the king was essentially saying (either facetiously or sincerely) that it wouldn't be long before Paul persuaded him to become a Christian, if he kept up preaching to him like that. And if the NIV is correct, then the king was asking Paul if he really thought he could persuade him to become a believer in such a short time as that brief hearing. Whichever way you translate the king's reply, one thing is certain in my opinion -- Paul was getting through to him and he was coming under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying the king was responding to that conviction properly by repenting at that moment, but Paul's preaching was having a powerful influence on him.

And Paul said, "I would wish to God, that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these chains." (Act 26:26-29). In other words, that was Paul's desire and prayer to God, which he in all likelihood had prayed the Lord would do even before he stood before that court and testified that day. Paul's heart was that the king, the governor, and everyone in that courtroom would come to know Christ. For the Lord had declared at the time of Paul's conversion that he would proclaim the name of Jesus to the Gentiles and their kings (Ac 9:15).

Likewise, Paul's behavior had been consistent during that whole period of imprisonment, including the time when Governor Felix was in office. He preached to the governor, rather than offer him a bribe that may have gotten him released. Scripture states: "But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, 'Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.' At the same time too, he was hoping that money would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and converse with him." (Act 24:24-26).

Do you notice how the governor became frightened by Paul's speaking about faith in Christ? He was particularly disturbed by his discourse about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, and he shut him right down! That's because he was coming under the conviction of the Holy Spirit for sin, and he didn't want to repent, so he pushed the Holy Spirit away. And since Paul never offered him the bribe he was hoping to receive, Paul remained in prison for the next two years. Felix also did the Jews a favor and left Paul in prison at the end of those two years, when Porcius Festus succeeded him as governor, rather than release him (Act 24:27). Apparently Paul was used as a political pawn in that instance, because he didn't compromise but remained obedient to the heavenly vision, just as he was later persecuted when his preaching brought King Agrippa and Governor Festus under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Paul never chose the easy way out, but rather the straight and narrow path of obedience to the Lord.

Matching Up the Vision with Its Fulfillment
I would like to share one final observation, by demonstrating how the vision the Lord gave to Saul was fulfilled.

Vision of Christ	Fulfillment of the Vision
"...rescuing you..." (Ac 26:17)	The Lord rescued Paul many times from Jews and Gentiles who seized him and tried to kill him, including when the Roman soldiers rescued him in Jerusalem (Ac 21:31-33), which led to the imprisonment he was under at the time he spoke to King Agrippa. In fact, the Lord also rescued Paul by allowing him to appeal to Caesar and be taken to Rome away from the Jews who wanted to kill him (Ac 25:12).
"the Jewish people and...the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you" (Ac 26:17)	Paul "kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles..." (Ac 26:20)
"to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light..." (Ac 26:18)	Paul preached "that they should repent.." (Ac 26:20), which corresponds with people's eyes being opened and their turning from darkness to light.
"...so that they may turn from ...the dominion of satan to God..." (Ac 26:18)	Paul preached "that they should...turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance." (Ac 26:20). This corresponds with them turning "from the dominion of satan to God."

Other Supporting Scriptures
There are many other Scriptures that show Paul's commitment and dedication to fulfilling the heavenly vision, but here are just three:

"For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1Co 9:16, NIV)

"I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it." (1Co 9:23)

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." (Ac 20:24, NIV)

There was clearly no greater priority in Paul's life than preaching the gospel. In fact, that was his only aim.

Putting it All Together
We've seen from Scripture that Paul the apostle was not disobedient to the heavenly vision of Christ nor to the assignment he was given. What about you? Are you being a witness for Christ and proclaiming the unpopular message of the gospel that men, women, and children should repent and turn to God through faith in Christ, and perform deeds appropriate to repentance? I, too, must ask myself this same question, which is sobering and challenging. This message may not be popular with most people, but it's the only way for them to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified through faith in Christ. It's the true gospel, and Paul was not ashamed of it, because it is the power of God unto salvation. Therefore neither should we be ashamed of it, but rather be obedient to that heavenly vision.

Epilogue
After I wrote this article, I asked my children which book of the Bible they are reading for their Life Transformation Groups that they meet in. My three girls meet together each week in one group, and my two boys meet together in another. Both the boys and the girls coincidentally just happened to be reading through the book of Acts right now for their Scripture reading in both groups. Coincidentally I have also been reading through the book of Acts myself in my own private Bible reading. So I asked the girls which chapters they had read today and they said 26 through 27. Coincidentally I had actually read chapters 22 through 26, and it was my reading of chapter 26 that inspired this article. Yet another coincidence was the fact that the boys had just read Acts 9 today about Paul's heavenly vision on the Damascus road.

Since they did not know I had just written this article before dinner, I did not tell them so, but asked them each what they got out of their reading. My sixteen-year old daughter Faith talked about Paul's defense before King Agrippa and how he had appealed to Caesar. I sat and listened to her without saying a word to anyone about this article, just to see what they would say. Then I asked my eighteen-year old daughter Hope what she got out of her reading, and she began to emphasize repeatedly how "Paul was not disobedient to the vision." She also made the observation about how Paul had been more interested in winning souls when he stood before Agrippa and Festus than he was with defending himself, and how he had not mentioned the fact that the Jews had supposed he took a Gentile into the temple. It was her comments about that which led me to come back to this article and add the second paragraph containing that observation in the section entitled "Persecution for Obeying the Vision." It was also her comments to me about Paul's discourses with Governor Felix on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, which led me to come back to this article and add the final two paragraphs at the end of the final section entitled "Persecution for Obeying the Vision."

I want to thank my daughter Hope for her insightful observations, which further enhanced this article, and to give God all the glory for obviously leading me to write this article this evening before dinner, in light of the way He confirmed it so powerfully after our meal at the dinner table.

Attribution Notice: Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, where noted, copyright Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Other Scriptures from The Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image of chalk drawing entitled "Yeshua Encounters Saul on the Road to Damascus." Artwork by L. Henry (Hank) Jones, taken from John David Pitcher Jr.'s Jerusalem Channel. Used according to Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes. Other image of Saul on the Road to Damascus taken from The Book of Acts -- Visual Bible.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The False Gospel without Repentance, Repentance That Leads to Life, Popularity of the Gospel, Persecuted or Popular?, Your Rewards are Based on Your Practice, The Obedience of Faith, Is Obedience Optional?, Obedience by the Spirit, Chosen for Obedience, Doing What is Right, Being a Witness for Christ, The Sin of Silence, Life Transformation Groups, The Conditional Security of the Believer, Is Practical Righteousness a Lost Truth?, Practicing Your Righteousness, Spiritual Do-It-Yourself, The Ways of Life, Faith Works!, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, Abominations in the Sight of God, Pleasing the Lord, Holding Fast the Faithful Word, A Personality Profile of the Apostle Paul, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page.  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." You can find more devotional content from my daughter Hope on her blog, Words of Hope.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Life by the Spirit, Not Under the Law

I would like to encourage you today to consider what the apostle Paul taught us about living by the Spirit rather than under the Law. He taught this all throughout his epistles, but he emphasized it very much in his letter to the Galatians.

Despite having come to Christ, the Galatians were foolishly turning back to special days, months, seasons, and years, as well as circumcision, in order to be justified before God. However, these are merely shadows and types found in the law that point to the realities found in Christ. He wrote to them:

"Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?...But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!" (Gal 3:3; 4:9-10, NIV 1978)

As he wrote to the Colossians, "These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." (Col 2:17, NIV). We no longer need to turn back to shadows when we have Christ. Reality is found in Christ!

Paul taught that we are justified by faith and not by observing the law. He told of one incident when he had said these words to the apostle Peter, who was being influenced by Judaizers: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified." (Gal 2:15-16, NIV).

He said, “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses." (Ac 13:38-39, NIV). Or as the 1978 NIV puts it, "Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the Law of Moses." (Ac 13:39, NIV 78).

Paul clearly described his relationship to the law as having died to it. “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:19-20, NIV). Notice he said it was through the law that he died to the law.

However, he also said it was through the body of Christ that we died to the law. "So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God...But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." (Rom 7:4,6. NIV)

Paul explained that righteousness cannot be gained through the law. "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal 2:21, NIV). "Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because 'the righteous will live by faith.'” (Gal 3:11, NIV). He said it this way to the Romans: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin...For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law." (Rom 3:20,28, NIV).

Paul proved from Scripture that not only is it impossible for anyone to be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law, but anyone who relies on the works of the law is under a curse. He wrote: "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'" (Gal 3:10 NIV). So not only is it a bad idea to rely on the law for justification, but it will actually bring a curse on you.

Dear people, we are set free from the curse, since Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Paul said, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'" (Gal 3:13, NIV 78).

Be careful that you are not trying to be justified by the law, or else you will alienate yourself from Christ and fall from His grace. "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." (Gal 5:4, NIV).

We need to understand that we are no longer under the law's supervision. As Paul said, "Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (Gal 3:25, NIV 78). That means we don't need it's shadows and types, since we live by faith in Christ. We no longer need circumcision, which has no value in Christ. The only thing that counts now is faith expressing itself through love. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (Gal 5:6, NIV). What counts is a new creation! "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation." (Gal 6:15, NIV).

The one command that sums up the entire law is "Love your neighbor as yourself." Paul said, "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Gal 5:14, NIV). By obeying this command, you fulfill the entire law. "Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Gal 6:2, NIV).

But love is not something the flesh can produce, because it is a fruit of the Spirit. You can only produce love if you are living by the Spirit. Conversely those who live by the Spirit won't gratify the desires of the sinful nature, but will bear the fruit of the Spirit, against which there is no law. "So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." (Gal 5:16, NIV). As long as you are living by the Spirit, you won't be able to sin or violate the law of God. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Gal 5:22-23, NIV). There is no law against anything the Spirit of God produces in your life as you live to please Him.

That's why we must always sow to please the Spirit. "Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Gal 6:8, NIV). Without faith, it’s impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

In all of this, let's remember that we don't nullify the law by this faith, rather we uphold the law (Rom 3:31). "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." (Rom 2:13, NIV).

Just because we are under grace and not under law, that does not mean we should continue to sin. "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!" (Rom 6:14-15, NIV).

Obedience is Essential for Disciples
I have written in many of my articles about the Law and the Spirit, and the need for obedience, which I would encourage you to read at the links below, especially the first two in the left-hand column:

Is Obedience Optional? The Law of Christ  The Law Fulfilled in Us The Law Established Through Faith The Cost of Discipleship The New Covenant Costly Grace Deleted Scriptures in the Bible? Faith Works! The Obedience of Faith Is Practical Righteousness a Lost Truth? Law of Love in the New Testament Righteousness by Faith and Not Law Wesley and Henry on the Gospel Law

The Law is Good if Used Lawfully      Striving to Enter the Kingdom of God Aim for Perfection Righteous Deeds and White Robes Doing What is Right Your Rewards Are Based on Your Practice Partaking of the Divine Nature Walking in the Perfect Will of God Pressing on Toward the Goal Obedience by the Spirit The Spirit's Law of Life The Spirit of the Law What Then Must We Observe? The Flesh vs. the Spirit

Putting it All Together
If you have come to know Christ as your Lord and Savior and you have been born again, then you have died to the law and are redeemed from its curse. You are no longer under its supervision. You have died to what once bound you. You have been released from the law so that you serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. You no longer need the shadows and types that were found in the rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the law, because you now have the realities of those things, which are found in Christ.

If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! No one who relies on the law is justified before God, and no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law. Those who seek to be justified by the law are under a curse. They have become estranged from Christ and fallen from grace.

We maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Indeed the righteous will live by faith. Just as we come to Christ by faith and are born of the Spirit, we must continue to live by faith and live by the Spirit. After coming to Christ by the Spirit, we cannot attain our goal by human effort, no matter how valiantly we may try. Yet we have an obligation to obey God's commandments and we fulfill the entire law by loving our neighbor as ourselves. We fulfill it by bearing one another's burdens.

This is why we need to read the Word of God, press into the Lord in prayer, really get to know Him intimately, and seek to please the Spirit. Then we will bear the fruit of the Spirit against which there is no law.

Attribution notice: Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®.

Author's note:  If you enjoyed this post, you may also like By the Spirit of God Alone, Led by the Spirit - Part I, Led by the Spirit - Part II, Baptized with the Spirit, Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit: What's the Difference?, and the other posts available through the links on the Home page.  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Him.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_______________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.