Call to Commitment

 

Christian discipline in Acts

     

Chapter 4

 The end of all things is at hand 

      1.   Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in         the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 

2.      that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 

3.      For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 

4.      In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 

5.      They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 

6.      For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 

7.      But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. 

 According to 1 Peter 3:8, there is to be a unity of mind among the brethren, but that unity is based on oneness with the mind of Christ. The divine principle is found in the prayer of Christ to the Father: “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (Jn.17:23). Unity among human beings outside of Christ is beyond useless; it is dangerous. It is the basis of ecumenicalism that is a religious unity, which rebels against godly principle. It will ultimately exist as Babylon, exposed and defined in the book of Revelation, as a harlot that has been unfaithful to her Husband…. Her Husband being her Creator, whom she has forgotten. It adulterates along with the world’s system, exalts itself and is empowered by the spirit of the devil.

 The mind of Christ is centered on God-ordained suffering. As He walked on earth, Jesus never diverted once from this purpose. A messianic phrase in Isaiah 50:7 states, “I have set My face like a flint.” and the account in Luke’s Gospel, 9:51, records the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: “When the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.