Elder Lee Kong Sing

Living Out the Christian Life Faithfully

When God, through His love and mercies, saves a sinner out of sin and damnation, He imputes the righteousness of Christ upon him and makes him a son of God. The believer is now righteous in the sight of God because of Christ and is accepted by Him and he can henceforth approach God with his prayers and worship. The believer is now said to be positionally and practically righteous which is for eternity.

Although a believer is positionally righteous, it does not mean that the believer cannot become unrighteous in the practical sense. He may in the course of his sojourn, stray from the path of righteousness, living in sin and unrighteousness. Such a believer is regarded as being unrighteous.

On the other hand, the believer who is truly born again in Christ will choose to walk the path of righteousness, observing to do all that is found in God’s Word. Hence, not only is this believer positionally righteous, he desires to be righteous in a practical sense all the days of his life.

What does it meant to live out the Christian Life?

Living out the Christian life means to live righteously in the practical sense where others are able to see Christ in us. What does it mean to live righteously? What is righteousness in the practical sense?

To better understand what it means to live out the Christian life, it is useful to study the life of a Biblical character that exemplifies this life. Much is recorded in Scripture about king David. His life and deeds are found in the Scriptural narratives while insights into his heart and mind in the many Psalms that he wrote. Much has been recorded in Scripture so that much can be learnt by us.

“.. yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes” 1 Kings 14:8b

God regarded king David as the standard of excellence for all the kings of Israel that came after him. What constituted a good king in the sight of God was succinctly taught here in a passage like this.

God called David “my servant”. To be called God’s servant by God is not a title that is easily earned. As was the case with Joshua who was called “the servant of Moses” (Numbers 11:28) at the start of his ministry and only after a lifetime of faithfulness was he later named “the servant of the LORD” (Judges 2:8). A high and honoured title that was also given to David by God.

God described David as someone who “kept my commandments” which means that David kept ALL of God’s commandments. If David was selective in his obedience and chose instead to obey some commandments and to reject others, he would not be regarded by God as having kept His commandments.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

David was further described as one “who followed me with all his heart”. The focus of this statement is, the heart, in other words, willingly and sincerely. A believer who is described as following God with all his heart is one who willingly and whole-heartedly obeys God in all His ways without exception. His desire is to always obey God and to do so with eagerness, always seeking to please and honour God better and better. A willing heart is one that is always ready to hear the truth and always willing to obey it once he has heard it. It delights in God’s truth. God’s commandments are not a burden but a blessing. A willing heart is humble, always ready to submit. A willing heart never thinks he is good enough, in fact it never sees itself as being good at all if not for the grace of God. Not looking to circumvent God’s plain commandments, instead looks at how he can obey God more perfectly in anyway possible. Seen in the eyes of a willing heart, God’s Word is often simple and sufficient to show him all that is required in obeying God’s will.

In contrast, an unwilling heart starts off with reluctance to obey God. The unwilling heart does not want to be troubled with yet more so-called rules thinking that it has obeyed God sufficiently. The unwilling heart hates sermons about sin and repentance. Too many of which is sufficient to cause one to leave the church and find another that will preach things easier on the ears. The unwilling heart chooses what it wants to obey and creates excuses for what it does not want to. The unwilling heart is the fertile ground for endless debates and splitting hairs, fighting over little things and completely missing the point and focus of the message altogether. At the seat of the unwilling heart is pride and sinful lusts that it is unwilling to give up. If rebuked by God’s Word, it fights tooth and nail with self-righteous indignation to deny the sin or worse, to change the meaning of God’s Word so that the alleged sin is no longer a sin. An unwilling heart will never see itself as the one at fault but will always see itself as the victim.

We are very clever and sophisticated in our ways. A professing believer who is basically unwilling to obey God would not come forward openly to declare that he is unwilling. Instead, his rebelliousness and unwillingness is often manifested by how he treats those who bring God’s Word; faithful pastors, leaders or simply another concerned brother. It does not matter that the Word of God has been simply and faithfully shared or the decision and action made was based on Scripture. The unwilling heart will focus on the person and take issue with him, disputing to no end, fighting, criticising and even attacking the person, failing altogether to see that the person is merely following God’s will. The reason for rejection becomes the person or the manner of the person. Pride and rebelliousness has blinded the heart. In effect they have not rejected the person but God Himself.

The sad reality is that the unwilling heart is far more common among professing believers than a truly willing and obedient heart. The humble seeking heart that willingly follows God in all His ways is a diminutive minority.

The next quality that God ascribed to David was the fact that he did “that only which was right in mine eyes”. David did what was right in the eyes of God rather than what was right in his own eyes. The determination of what is right and wrong was left to God, David did not take it upon himself to do otherwise. To do otherwise means to define for oneself what is right and wrong regardless of what God’s Word says. The standard of what is right or wrong then becomes arbitrary, it is whatever one wants it to be.

The dictum of doing what is right in one’s own eyes is what has prevailed over much of Christendom today. The Charismatic movement has resulted in many evils but the greatest of which is how it eroded a high view of the Word of God. Believers have learnt to regard personal feelings and so-called spiritual experiences to be superior over the revealed will of God as found in the Bible. Experiences become their rule for right and wrong even when in comes in contradiction to God’s Word.

We thank God for blessing us with leaders who are very careful and knowledgeable in the methods of the devil in these last days and seek to protect us from external attacks. However, internal to the church itself are members who develop unbiblical ways of thinking that is something we should be aware and concern about as well. Members of the church may also lean upon what they see as right in their own eyes instead of depending on God’s Word. Despite faithful teaching, the unwilling heart will ignore what is clearly thought and choose what it wants to believe. For example, some believe that any form of negativity is incorrect. Confrontations of any kind must be avoided. Judging in any form is wrong. Making a stand that results in division is wrong no matter if it is based on the truth or not. The belief is that God’s ways must always be so-called “peaceful” according to their definition of the word. Although this is not what Scripture teaches and it does not matter to them and they have gone off believing only what is right in their own eyes. No longer is it what God thinks but what they themselves think that matters.

“Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” 1 Kings 15:5

In this description we have an added quality of David mentioned in that he “turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life”. The idea of turning aside with reference to God’s Word is frequently taught in Scripture. It means not to turn to the right or to the left, to keep to a path, not to deviate from it, to keep to a fixed direction. The path that is referred to here is the path of righteousness. Living out the Christian Life faithfully means to keep to this path or journey of righteousness throughout one’s life. However, it does not mean that sinless perfection is expected.

Although king David was an exemplary king, he was not a perfect man. His sin against Uriah and Bathsheba is a glaring example of his failures. David was also not an exemplary husband or father. However, what set David apart was the fact that David was never unrepentant. He may have on occasion sinned and departed from the path, but he always returned and continued upon it till the end of his days and that pleased God.

Living out the Christian life does not mean sinless perfection. What it does, however, mean is that if we have sinned, we do not allow ourselves to remain in it but to repent and restore our walk onto the path of righteousness. There may be times when one will fall off and turn away from the path of righteousness and follow after another path. But one must repent and return.

Living out the Christian life means to live a righteous life in the practical sense. It consists of keeping all of God’s commandments, following after God with all our hearts, doing that which is right in the sight of God and not that which is right in our own eyes and to do so till our last breath. If ever we depart, we must return in repentance and be restored. Our walk may not be perfect, but our desire to keep to the path of righteousness must never fail. This is what it means to live out the Christian life.

Living out the Christian life in righteousness is not an easy life.

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12

All who will live a godly life, which means to live out the Christian life in righteousness and obeying God in all His commandments, will suffer persecution, without exception. Why is this so? The reason is quite simple. The morality as defined by this world will never be in agreement with the Word of God. Unbelievers define what is right and wrong in their own eyes while believers look to God’s Word for what is right and wrong. One is of sin and the other of holiness. One is of light and another of darkness. How can the two agree?

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” 1 John 3:13

The fact is that we should not be too surprised by this truth. It is something we should expect. This is not merely about two parties with a different point of view and deciding to agree to disagree. God’s Word says not only will the world disagree with us, they will also hate us.

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3:19-20

Sinners hate to be reproved of their sins because sinners are consumed by the pleasures of the flesh and the eyes and do not want to give them up. In addition, because of their pride, they will hate you simply because you reprove them of their wrongdoings and sins. Believers who obey God, will inevitably stand against sinners. Whether it be by their words, actions or the occasional reprove. Even simply being known for one’s Christian beliefs can draw anger and flak from some. Often, the hatred is so intense, the world will not hesitate to translate hate into harmful action against believers.

One can, of course, avoid contradiction and confrontation altogether by simply compromising and not making a fuss. Just keep quiet, then perhaps, one can have peace. One can refrain from making a righteous stand by keeping quiet when asked. Or one can refrain from confronting a brother with his sin when God’s Word requires us to do so. One can simply go with the flow and just go along with the majority even when they are in error. But then 2 Timothy 3:12 will still apply to us, however, as a rebuke. It is true that we are no longer persecuted, but it is also true that we are also no longer godly either. We have failed.

One may be contented to think that persecution is found only from the world and that we are safe in the local church among like-minded brethren. Sadly, this is not true. Living out the Christian life is not only hard in the world, it can also be hard within the local church.

Unfortunately, many professing believers share the same mindset as the world. There are many worldly believers. Although they call themselves Christians, they continue to love the things and philosophies of the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life continue to hold their hearts. Despite knowing God’s Word warning them against loving the world (1 John 2:15, 16) they continue to flirt with the things of the world. Before long, professing believers are no longer very different from unbelievers and as such, will come in conflict with believers who choose to be faithful and to live out the Christian life in righteousness. Some would even go as far as to persecute other believers and hence faithful believers will therefore suffer persecution even within the local church.

Hence, living out the Christian life can be difficult both in and outside of the church. Believers who desire to live out the Christian life faithfully may at times become deeply discouraged because of that. We all need God’s grace and strength to persevere in well doing. The declining spiritual condition of the church will continue but the faithful can grow in patience and in dependence upon God.

Why should believers live out the Christian life?

Having established that living out the Christian life will entail suffering as one lives in righteousness among sinners, what then motivates the believer to nonetheless pursue after it? What causes a believer to continue to obey God knowing full well that in so doing he may suffer the anger and persecution of those around him?

The answer is very simple. One would very naturally desire to live out the Christian life simply because one is a Christian. The heart’s desire of a true believer is to naturally want to eschew every form of sin and desire to obey God in all His ways. Such a question seems redundant but yet it has to be asked because there are many professing believers who do not seem motivated to live out the Christian life.

Would the saint who now enjoys the joy of salvation want to exchange it for the temporal pleasures of sin having already known of its enslaving and destructive effects? Would one who once forsook sin because it offended and brought grief to His dearest Saviour proceed then to return to such a path? Would a man again put his hand to an open flame having already known what it is like to be burnt before? Unlikely as it may seem, the sinful heart of man cannot be underestimated in its extent of foolishness and stubbornness.

The new nature in the believer compels him to live out his Chirtsin a life faithfully. He now lives for Christ and not self. He promotes Christ alone, knowing that the only Name under heaven who can save a sinner from death and hell is the Name, Jesus Christ. He lives for Christ to encourage other believers too. Living for Christ, glorifies his heavenly Father. The praise and glory of his heavenly Father means everything to the believer. These are some biblical reasons why every true believer will live out his Christian life faithfully.

How to live out the Christian Life?

A desire to live out the Christian life despite the suffering that follows is of course necessary. However, merely possessing the motivation to do so is insufficient.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Our desire to live righteously cannot be fulfilled without the right knowledge to do so and this can only be found in God’s Word. This is where we will find all we need to know that will enable us to do all good and righteous works to the glory of God. No where else can we learn this other than what God Himself has revealed to us in the Bible. The believer who wants to live out the Christian life must make this his mission in life to faithfully study God’s Word and to obey all of it.

Summary -- As believers, we should all desire to live out the Christian life faithfully. Having been saved out of sin, death and darkness and having tasted the goodness of God, we should not then desire to return to sin and give up fellowship with God. Having experienced and received the love of Christ who saved us by sacrificing Himself, one should not turn away from Him and do again that which caused His death in the first place. The believer who now lives in newness of life and in the light would desire after the things of God. He will love God’s commandments and he would desire to follow after every one of God’s statutes. God’s law is his delight. Departing from every sinful way is wisdom to him. If he has departed out of the way, he should return and continue in the path of righteousness. The believer will not find true peace and joy until he has done so. Though the path may at times seem difficult, he must turn to God for more grace and strength to continue to serve Him faithfully, remembering that God will never forsake those who are His own. May God help us all to live out the Christian life faithfully.