Allow me to pick on myself as an example of being Holy as Christ was Holy.
For many, many, years I became trapped under the yoke of systematic theologies. My love for the Lord became misplaced by my thinking that I had to do something for Jesus! When in fact, He only wished for me to follow Him in Spirit and in Truth.
The natural mind or Western mind only accepts one’s credentials on a natural (intellectual) level, yet the Lord God does not function in this manner! A truly “born again disciple” merely follows the Lord Jesus Christ as he is led, and no more. For to do so is rebellion, and acting in independence from God within the flesh at the very best! This is what Scribes and Pharisees do, and have always done, independent of God the Father.
It is really quite simple to simply follow “our” Lord’s leading; if we have the nature of Christ within us. It becomes difficult when we get diverted from the Truth of God, only found by abiding in Jesus Christ ourselves, when we start looking to the world around us, instead of remaining focused on the Lord Himself. People who have never seen Him nor known Him, are incapable of discerning the difference as they are “spiritually dead” or separated from the Lord, because of sin.
Only a true follower of Jesus Christ in Spirit and in Truth will be able to digest the words I have written here today. The rest will flatly reject this post as ridiculous folly or foolishness as they have not the mind of the Lord. I have made the classic mistake of trying to teach people into the righteousness of Christ; this cannot be done, you cannot teach people into Jesus – no matter how good a Bible teacher you might be! Salvation is a work which God does alone, and NO amount of evangelism can change that!
Jesus said, ALL that the Father gave to Him would come, and conversely the ones who are not chosen of God, will not come to Salvation. Now, we do not know who are the lost sheep of Israel, nor the wicked (the ones who reject Christ) except by whether they receive or reject the Gospel, at some point in their lives. However, this problem is not our concern, but the Lords’.
A spiritually mature Elder and the brethren, in general, must be able to tell who is and who is not their brother, or risk being unequally yoked to the world’s people. The fellowship of believers must be only for actual believers – as pigs, dogs, and wolves will indeed attack the sheep, and the sheepfold is no place for such animals, as this is mutually destructive because of “the butcher” the destroyer of the faith!
I could go on and on with this topic, even quoting many a scripture reference, yet it would do no good as I would merely be intellectually wrestling with pigs, who are not in the good of Christ’s work within them, so it would be pointless to continue. The religious leaders at the time of Christ wanted to kill him, and later his disciples. The natural mind sees a disciple as being spiritually proud, or exclusive from their perspective, and they are indeed correct as people who are actually cut off from God “in what they can see”.
Yet having a love for the Truth, and Him alone is the only thing that will save you in continuation of following Him.
Good day, Roland
Lightship Ministries 