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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 4, NUMBER 47, NOVEMBER 21, 2004 CONDUCT MATTERS – PART 2 Last week we introduced the subject of Conduct Matters by turning to one of my favorite books of the New Testament, the book of 1 John. In that article, we noted that John was dealing with a very powerful philosophy of his day, Gnosticism. Because Gnostics viewed all matter as evil, they concluded that their bodies were necessarily evil as well. In their reasoning they took the next step and held that their spirits must than be independent of their bodies and were unable to be defiled by anything the body did. Thus, they believed that they could live lives of unrestrained indulgence and that such would have no consequence upon them spiritually. In practice they believed that conduct did not matter. John showed this to be completely false and contrary to the truth. In this article I want to simply look at several other places in the book of 1 John where John clearly shows that conduct matters. In chapter 2:3-6, we find, “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” John’s point is simple – anyone who claims to abide in Christ has the moral obligation (that is the significance of “ought” in verse 6) to conduct themselves as the Lord did to the best of their ability. “Even as He walked” means in the light, in fellowship with God, keeping His commandments. The responsibility to make our walk equal to our claim is a consistent biblical principle. Paul wrote in Eph. 4:1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Conduct matters. In chapter 2, verses 15 – 16, we read, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” That to which we attach our affections dictates how we act. John wrote of three avenues of approach that Satan uses in his efforts to seduce us to sin, to make us love the world. They are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The word “lust” denotes strong desire, and it can be either good or bad, depending upon its usage. As near as I can tell, “lust” is found 38 times in the New Testament and only three times is it used in a good sense. All the other times, including here, it is used to refer to evil desires, “anxious self-seeking”. It is the lowest form of worldly indulgence, referring to an animalistic desire to fulfill appetites. The “flesh” that John was writing about is not pertaining to skin and bones and muscle and tissue, it is much deeper than that. “Flesh” in the sense of skin and bones, can be used for good or for bad purposes. This is where the Gnostics got it wrong. They thought that skin and bones, muscle and tissue were inherently evil. That is just not true. When John writes about “flesh” here, he is writing about the “seat of evil desires”, he is writing about uncontrolled fleshly desires and appetites. It is somewhat the idea of a man acting like an animal. Again, conduct matters! The “lust of the eyes” is an inordinate and ungodly desire for something that is seen; while the “pride of life” is simply prideful boasting over possessions, achievements – the idea that I have mastery over my life. All of these things are manifested in what we do, and what we do is a very good indicator of what we are inside. Conduct matters! In chapter 3, verse 7, John wrote, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” I love this verse. The plain and simple truth is that one who practices righteousness is righteous; just as the Lord claimed righteousness and lived it. It is important to understand that John is not teaching that the practice of righteousness is how one initially becomes righteous or justified. Rather, his point is that because a Christian has been begotten by God and is in the family of God, and that family practices righteousness, than the child of God is expected to practice righteousness as well. Conduct matters! In chapter 3:17 – 18, we find further, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, an shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth.” If we say that we are children of God, it is our responsibility to act like it. We are to manifest in our lives the love of God, and that love is manifest in what we do. Love that is in word only and not accompanied by conduct that proves it is useless and hypocritical. Conduct matters! Have you ever heard the old expression, “Charity begins at home?” Love begins at home too – and the most important family that we have is our spiritual family. They are the people that we intend to be with eternally. Surely, all of the teaching about conduct and how important it is must begin at “home”, with our spiritual brothers and sisters in Christ. We are bound together by the blood of the Son of God. How we treat each other matters. How we act toward one another, how we speak to or about one another, how we pray for each other is important. It all matters. Greg Litmer
THE MORE CORRUPT A MAN BECOMES, THE MORE CORRUPTION HE EXPECTS TO FIND IN OTHERS.
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