"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And
their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;"
(2Timothy 2:15-17).
1) Moses was approved of God. He built the tabernacle exactly as
God instructed him. God also warned Moses to take heed to build it exactly as God had
instructed.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Are you keeping and
building it exactly as God instructs? Does He find your body adorned as is pleasing to
Him?
In our text we also read that we must be diligent in this matter.
In Greek it means to make speed, not to drag your feet. So waste no time to make sure
everything is according to God's Word in your life.
As a Christian there's no time for slackness. There are foolish
people who say that this way is legalistic, but that's just because they themselves are
lawless.
When you buy clothes ask God to lead you to buy what will please
Him, for if you buy and wear the same type of clothes that prostitutes and the children of
the world wear, then you show by that that the spirit of the world is also in you.
2) We read that we must be diligent to show ourselves approved to
God - not approved to man, but approved to God.
Like silver or gold is purified by the fire, and all the
impurities are removed, so God's fire goes to the depths of our being - that we don't just
appear righteous outwardly but are purified to the depths of our being.
You also need Godly knowledge and wisdom in your life. Everything
you do must have the mark of God on it.
A certain girl who got converted said that the first step for her
is to part with her old friends. Have you taken that step?
You must be much alone with God as Moses was alone with God on the
mountain top.
No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother,
saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to
the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I
will remember no more.”
- Jer 31:34
Be faithful to the end.
Do not be like those who preach about God but they themselves run
after another woman while being married. God's Word doesn't allow that. By that they show
clearly that they are not approved of God, but the devil is running their life.
Be a worker that works and needs not be ashamed, for many will be
ashamed when they stand before God. You must rightly divide the Word of truth.
There are those who have forsaken the Gospel and brought in modern
things which are not in God's Word. You need to rightly divide the Word of God.
You need to cut straight according to God's way, as a woman cuts a
dress from a pattern and she follows the pattern. She doesn't just cut anyhow.
Your life should be an example which shows others how to be a
Christian.
God has given us a pattern, the Bible, His Word. Perhaps you just
read the Bible like a newspaper. But you need to read the Bible with the Spirit of God
revealing His Word to you. So a Christian needs great skill to live and act right.
Unless you do it right and cut God's Word right in your own life,
it will be a mess and a joke to others who look at you.
3) The Bible gives us many instructions, how children should act
towards their parents and parents towards their children. The Bible even says that if you
cannot handle your children appropriately then you cannot keep a position of authority in
God's church. Calvin wrote that a preacher with insubordinate children must be stopped
from preaching.
The tv must not be your pattern. That's from the devil. It's the
fashions of this world, of Hollywood, Paris etc.
God's Word also teaches us how the wife should live with her
husband and the husband with the wife.
You as parents should instruct your children, not just when
they're small but even when they have grown. They must know that you instruct them and
that you and your house serve the Lord.
Paul also instructed Timothy not to lay hands quickly on anyone
lest one partake in their sins. If you lay hands on a person who lives in sexual
immorality without that person being repentant about the matter, you are sharing in his
sin.
Counsellors also need to be diligent in their calling to show
themselves approved so that they can instruct and pray for those who come to them for
counselling.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in
the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of
the scornful." (Psalm 1:1).
Don't be in the company of evil people who speak evil, lest their
words find root in your heart and sin grows there.
So don't allow someone to come to you and slander someone else.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with
idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them,
and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2
Corinthians 6:14-16).
Has your life been cut according to God's pattern?
