Christian Duty
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Intro
Intro
Say the word duty and people run for their lives. Duty brings to mind hard work and toil.
Its better to be off duty than on duty.
Others have no idea that christians even have a duty.
But the bible makes it clear that we have a duty to preform as christians.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Let me tell you what christian duty is: Christian duty is nothing less than the obedient living out of your faith.
And, i will even go so far as to say that Christian liberty, victory and blessings flow out of the diligence in whch we preform out duty.
Christan duty is not a secondry issue but a primary one.
4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
For a soldure to be a good soldure and enjoy victory he must carry out his duties.
For the athlete to compete and win the prise he must carry out his duties.
For the farmer to sow and reap a wonderful harvest he must carry out his duties.
And for the christian to enjoy the victory, blessings and harvest he too must diligntly carry out his duties.
in fact, most casses of defeat, depression, loss and failure can be traced back to a christian neglecting his spiritual duties.
Victory, blessings and harvets are directly linked to the obedience and diligence of each christian to preform theiur duties.
So what are the christian duties that grant us thse graces?
The 3 fold Duty of the Christian life.
1: Appropreation
1: Appropreation
To appropreate something means to take it without it without earning it.
It is generally a rather negative word, but biblically it is a blessed word.
and it a word of faith.
The Christian duty of appropreation means to take by faith the promises of God, promises which we have not earned but are granted to us by grace.
For example:
How many of you have earned salvation? none, But how many of you have received salvation by faith though grace? amen.
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord,
The cup of salvation is a cup none of us have aerned to pick up, but we receiev it by faith.
We take hold of it by faith.
Without appropreation we would not have strength.
5 Or let them lay hold of my protection, let them make peace with me, let them make peace with me.”
Notice the words “lay hold of”, its already there, its already provided, but for it to become active in your life YOU must by FAITH lay hold of it.
Perhaps the best example of this kind of appropreation is found in:
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
That word consider is translated many ways: count yourseles, recon your selves..
It all means the same thimg: “To take hold as true.”
Every single promise in scripture is a promise that must be recieved by faith as being 100% true, and they are true!
By faith:
I am more than a conquer through Jesus Christ.
I am adopted into God’s family.
My name is written in the Lambs book of life.
I have not been given a spirit of fear.
My God will supply all my needs.
each one of these promises exists as a cheque which must first be cashed ie Appropreated before its effects can be manifested.
2: Formation
2: Formation
If appropreation is the duty of taking by faith what God has provided for us, then formation is the making or fashoning our lives by faith to the pattern laid out in scripture.
It means to live your life as one would if they truly believed all scripture to be true.
Your confrom and transform your life arounf what you believe to be true.
Look at covid 19, no judgment, but there are people who truly believe that covid19 is a deadly virus, and they live their life around that belief. double maks, no shops, gloves, sanitiser.
then there are other, which truly believe that its yes, its dangrous to people with comobilites or weakned immunbe systems but pretty harmless to the majority and live their life around that belief.
only werar maks when you have to by law, dont bother with the gloves and repeated sanitizing.
Now for the christian, we have been presented with verious truths about life from scripture, and depending on how truly you believe thse facts, your life will be lived around those beliefs.
for example:
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
The Christans duty is the formation of their life to the example given to us by Jesus Christ.
Do you truly believe that Jesus Christ is always present and always watching?
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Well your actions alone and behind locked door will form around that belief.
You wouldnt watch a dirty movie, brows porn, do drugs, get drunk, swear, blaspheme, speak to your wife, your husband, your parents in a mean, unhorrible, derogotory manner.
So if you do any of these things what is shows is a lack of diligence on your part in forming your life around biblical truths.
Lets look at another example:
Evangelism. Many christian do not share their faith because thy are afraid, they dont know what to say, they dont know the answers to questions they might be asked...
But scripture tells us:
19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.
So their fear is evidence that they do not practice the formation of their life around scripture, because if they did, then theis verse would instantly banish all those fears and concerns.
Donation
Donation
Appropreation - the taking by faith of God promises.
Formation - The making of your life by faith in God;s promises.
And finally Donation:
The giving of oneself by faith in accordinance with God’s promises.
The Christian duty is always going to come to the point of beiung obedient.
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
It is our christian duty to be givers and not takers.
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
God has promised to supply all the spiritual needs of the church.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
However, God has also said that it is the Christians duty to supply all the physical needs of the church.
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do.
2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Daily Duty
Daily Duty
My feriends our Christian duty is not a once a month or once a week devotion. It is a daily, day by day diligence.
The Word:
18 And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the rule.
prayer:
9 my eye grows dim through sorrow. Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you.
cross bearing:
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Day by day, every day, daily.
Christian victory is won and lost on a daily scale. And each neq day bring a new oppertunuty to preform our duty in a godly, diligent manner.
The solder who trains once in a while cannot expect to win the victory.
The SAthlete who trains once ina while cannot expct to win the race.
And the farmer who tills the ground once in a while cannot expect to remap a harvest.
Apopropreation, Formation and donation are daily duties of every christian - are they yours?
