The Kind of People we ought to be

Peter said: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with the promise we are looking forward to new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:10 - 13, NIV, emphasis added).

As the time to the end is approaching, the key to success does not depent solely onl what we say or do, but what kind of people we are. We need to live holy and godly lives. We should feel that there is nothing permanent on the earth and that this is not our abiding home. Our great interest are in another world. We should be serious, humble and prayerful; and should make it our great object to be prepared for the solemn scenes through which we are soon to pass. A habitual contemplation of the truth, that all that we see is soon to pass away, would produce a most salutary effect on the mind. It would make us serious. It would repress ambition. It would lead us not to accumulate what must so soon be destroyed. It would prompt us to lay up our treasures in heaven. It would cause us to ask, with deep earnestness, whether we are prepared for these amazing scenes, should they suddenly burst upon us.

The true Christian does not dread the coming of the Day of the Lord. He looks forward to it as the period of his redemption, and would welcome, at any time, the return of the Lord and Savior. While he is willing to wait as long as it shall please God for the advent of His Redeemer, yet to Him the brightest prospect to his future is that hour when He shall come to take him to Himself.

The kind of Christian life we ought to live

In Revelation, John heard a lund voice saying in heaven: "They overcome him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11, NKJV, emphasis added).

What does it mean - "They did not love their lives to the death"?

I believe it means, for these people (the true Christians) it was more important to do the will of God than to stay alive. In other words, confronted by a situation in which to do the will of God would cost them their lives, that is the price they would pay, they would not look for any alternative way, any way out!

The word I choose to use to describe such Christians is "committed." Such Chrsitians are committed to obeying the Word of God and to doing the will of God regardless of the consequences for their own lives.

Chapter 9:21 - 24 of the Gospel according to Luke pictures an enthusiastic crowd following Jesus, excited by the miracles they have witnessed. But apparently Jesus is more interested in personal commitment than in that kind of enthusiasm:

"Then He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it" (Luke 9:23, 24).

The message of Jesus does not promise any easy way through life. On the contrary, in the Sermon on the Mount, He exhorted:

"Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who finds it" (Matt. 7:13, 14, emphasis added).

I believe, if your picture of the Christian life does not include God's demands for sacrifice and a life laid down, you may need to question the "way" that you are traveling on. You may discover that you are on the broad, easy way that leads to destruction and not on the narrow, difficult way that leads to life. In the contemporary Church some ministries emphasize only the blessings and benefits of the Christian life and never speak about the conditions that we have to fulfill in order to obtain those blessings and benefits. Such ministries could be compared to a merchant who displays an attractive range of goods, but never attaches a price tag to any of them.

Paul's commitment to his calling


According to Galatians 2:7, God had committed to Paul the responsibility of bringing the Gospel to the "uncircumcised" - i.e. the whole Gentile world (read Acts 27 and 28). The key to this would be to establish a centre in the city of Rome. From there, many different channels would automatically carry the Gospel to the whole ancient world - channels of commerce, education, finance, governmental administration and natural social intercourse. Because of Paul's special calling, he was the person best qualified to establish such a centre in Rome.


Because of the significance of Paul's move to Rome, he encountered tremendous spiritual opposition on his journey there. I do not know if in Paul's day there was anything corresponding to the luxury cruises that are so popular today, but I do know that Paul was not on such a cruise. On the contrary, he was traveling on a freight ship as a prinsoner in chains. Furthermore, the ship was caught up in a storm so horrific that for two full weeks the people on board never caught a glimpse of the sun by day or of the moon and the stars by night.


Satan's challenges for Paul


Luke said: "But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, 'Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship. For there stood by my this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve'" (Acts 27:21 - 23, emphasis added).


Paul used two phrases here to describe his relationship to God: "to whom I belong" and "whom I serve." In the economy of God's household, these two can never be separated. If we do not belong to God, we have no right to serve Him. There are no hirelings in God's household. On the other hand, we cannot belong to God if we are not available to Him for His service. God does not welcome to His household spoiled, self-indulgent egoists. They have no place in His Kingdom.


In His Kingdom, God has no place for hirelings. Those who serve in God's Kingdom do so because they are members of His household. This means that we cannot separate the two phrases Pual used to describe himself - "to whom I belong" and "whom I serve."


Eventually, the ship on which Paul and his companions were traveling was dashed against a rocky promontory and began to break up. This gave those on board an opportunity to escape to dry land.


Have you ever wondered: Was Paul in the will of God in this whole experience? I believe that Paul was fully in the will of God, and his whole journey to Rome was ordered by God. But satanic forces that feared the possible impact of Paul's ministry in Rome did everything in their power to destroy him befoe he could reach his destination. The storm that he encountered was not of purely natural original but was brought about by satanic forces in the heavenlies. It was similar to the supernatural storm that destroyed Job's sons and daughters (read Job 1:19).


In His divine wisdom, God sometimes permits His servants who are doing His will to be exposed to the malice and rage of Satan. In this way, they get insight not only into the true nature of the forces that are opposing them, but also into their personal need for persistent vigilance.


Peter said: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lions, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).


It would be a frightening experience to encounter a hungry lion in search of prey! The Bible never instills fear into us, but, on the other hand, it never encourages us to underestimate the power and the ferocity of our satanic opponents.


After the shipwreck Satan had one more challenge. The people who had escaped safety to land began to collect fuel for fire. Paul did not merely stand on one side waiting for others to get their hands dirty; he was among the first to start gathering fuel. Satan used this as an opportunity to make one final attempt to destroy Paul.


"But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, 'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, thought he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.' But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm" (Acts 28:3 - 5).


Out of all 276 people (Acts 27:37), why did the viper choose Paul as its victim? Was there some supernatural intelligence operating through that viper? Behind this was Satan of course!


But Paul was full of the Holy Spirit. He did not feel the need to pray or to speak in tongues. To the amazement of the local islanders who knew how deadly a viper's bite was, Paul simply shook the snake off into the fire and went on gathering fuel.


The secret of Paul's victorious life


What was the secret of Paul's victorious life? He himself explained in 2 Timothy.


"For this reason i also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Tim. 1:12, emphasis added).


The secret of Paul's victorious living is summed up in that one word - "committed." He was totally at God's disposal - He believed and yielded to God completely.


In Philippians 3 he stated the supreme ambition of his life:


"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but on thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3: 13, 14).


Salvation and Holiness


In some section of the contemporary Church, an unscriptural separation has been introduced between salvation and holiness by careless pastors or teachers of the Word. Holiness is represented as being a kind of optional "add-on" to a package deal salvation. This is an unscriptural attitude toward holiness.


The writer of Hebrews said: "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).


Paul said: "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1, emphasis added).


The phrase, "these promises" refers to previous three verses - 2 Cor. 6:16 - 18):


"I (God) will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty".


Obviously, these are wonderful promises of God for people who pursue holiness. And without holiness on one will see the Lord - no salvation. Therefore, acheiving personal holiness is not something that God will do for us. It is something that God offers us the grace to to for ourselves! It cannot be separated from the fear of God. It is the logical outworking of our personal commitment to Jesus and an essential condition of the victory over Satan that God has promised us. Paul knew what holiness meant.


Conclusion


The last two verse of Acts give a wonderful picture of the victory that concluded Paul's tempestuous journey.


"Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him" (Acts 28:30, 31).


An appropriate comment would surely be: "Mission accomplished!" The Gospel for the Gentile has been established in the city that dominated the whole Gentile world - Rome!


Paul, being a person who "did not love his life to the death," is the kind of people we ought to be.