Several years ago, while boarding a plane, a family asked me if I would switch seats so they could sit together. I gladly gave them my seat and took one directly in front of them. Before the plane left the ground, the eight-year-old boy began kicking and pushing on my seat with his feet. This continued throughout the three-hour flight. The mother was sitting right next to her son, but she just sat there as if she did not care whether or not he behaved. But it mattered to me….

Some have concluded that since God has already forgiven believers all their sins, past, present, and future, that He doesn’t care how they live after salvation. However, Scripture informs us that He cares very much how believers live after salvation! He has repeatedly instructed us that we are to live apart from sin. In Romans 6:1-2, the Apostle Paul asks: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Apparently, believers at Rome were confused about whether living in sin mattered because some had misrepresented what Paul taught about the grace of God. In Romans 3:8 he responded: “And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come?” Paul wanted them to know it simply was not true that he taught that it didn’t matter to God if we continued to live in sin. He told the saints at Thessalonica: “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth [this instruction], despiseth not man, but God, who hath given unto us His Holy Spirit” (I Thessalonians 4:7-8). They needed to know he was speaking with divine authority when he instructed all believers to live apart from sin. The saints at Corinth had fared no better. Even though they were saved, the two letters to this church describe a lifestyle of horrendous sin. So, Paul wrote them, saying: “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit [our minds], perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (II Corinthians 7:1).

God cares how we live after salvation. If you’re allowing known sin in your life, make a decision right now, while God is speaking to your heart, to turn to a higher standard of holiness.

I got a call from an eighty-eight year old woman who had found one of our church tracts with my phone number on the back. She had come to grasp the basics of right division. She saw distinctions between the Body of Christ in Paul’s letters in contrast to the rest of Scripture written to and about Israel. However, she was adamant that she did not want to attend church, establish relationships with other believers, or have any expectations placed upon her. After a forty minute conversation, she asked: “Am I wrong to not want those things, and to only want to do my own thing separate from everybody else?” I said: “Since you asked me the question, the answer is: ‘Yes, that is wrong.’”

It is a blessed thing for us to have so much good Bible teaching available in our day through books, videos, and, in some cases, even on television. Thank God for these good avenues of ministry. However, we should never lose sight of the fact that every single letter written by the Apostle Paul was written to a local church, or the leader of a local church. God’s primary method of building up the believer, grounding them in sound doctrine, giving them regular encouragement and prayer support, having a place to regularly serve Christ, and a place to point others led to Christ, is through the local church. God never intended for believers of any dispensation to be isolated from these local and regular means of edification. This was true even with believers in Israel’s program. Those with a kingdom hope in the Book of Acts always gathered in groups and developed close bonds with one another (Acts 2:44-47; 4:23-33; Hebrews 10:25). The Apostle John likewise addressed seven different kingdom churches in Revelation 1:19- 3:22. Notice also when Paul addresses the saints in I Thessalonians 3:6, he rejoices in their mutual love for one another, saying: “…that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you.” These kinds of close bonds between believers should be our experience too as we interact in a local grace church.

Bible study on television is no substitute for the loving, encouraging relationships found in a local church. It should only be a supplement. Especially if you have a grace church within driving distance, you should make the decision to end your isolation and consistently attend. Fully commit to that assembly without delay.

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Historically, I’ve had a weak immune system and frequent illness. In recent years, we’ve been regularly taking a range of specific supplements. Over the Christmas holidays, all of our immediate family, including grandchildren, were quite sick. We still saw them for Christmas and church and even babysat. Then we had good friends from out of state stay with us for a week. One of them becoming quite sick. Through it all, my wife and I escaped the “bugs” they had. We were careful, not only to take the vitamins, but to do so with food. For vitamins to work properly, you must have food in your stomach so the supplements can absorb into your system.

As we read Paul’s letter to the saints at Thessalonica, he tells them: “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it…as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (I Thessalonians 2:13). Paul was writing to believers who had allowed the Scriptures to make a real difference in their lives. They allowed God’s Word to convict their hearts and empower their walk. That’s why they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1:9) and urgently “sounded out the word of the Lord” reaching many with the gospel (1:8). That’s why, with expectation, they were waiting for the Rapture (1:10) and why they abounded toward each other in love (4:9-10).

God’s Word is intended to make a difference in the way we live every time we read it! If we read it like the noble Bereans in Acts 17:11, we will absorb it “with all readiness of mind.” That means we will allow it to encourage, convict, instruct in paths of righteousness, and break old patterns that do not exalt our Savior. But just as vitamins need food to do their proper work, the Scriptures need a yielded heart and a mind that is looking for the right things. Is God’s Word “effectually working in you”? Or, is Bible study only an academic exercise? As you listen to or study the Scripture, embrace the deep doctrines. But don’t forget to look for things to transform the way you live. When the Holy Spirit convicts about a needed change, allow God’s Word to “effectually worketh also in you” by applying truth to yourself with a yielded heart.

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William Ashley “Billy” Sunday was an outfielder for the Chicago White Stockings in 1887. After a night of drinking with teammates, he attended a Bible service at the Pacific Garden Mission. It was there that his life was changed when he accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior. He left his professional baseball career to preach “fire and brimstone” evangelistic messages over much of America. These meetings were usually held in tents with sawdust in the aisles. Many “walked the saw dust trail” to trust in Christ. This writer heard the gospel for the first time in a church that formed after one of those evangelistic campaigns. Billy Sunday’s life had an obvious, marked change when he got saved, and it should be the same for us too.

When many in Thessalonica heard and trusted in Paul’s Gospel of Grace, there was a radical change in their lives that produced godliness. In I Thessalonians 1:9-10, the Apostle Paul praises them saying: “…ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven…” They were never the same again. Other than forgiveness unto salvation, what kind of changes took place in their lives? There were at least four major changes. Paul told them: “…ye were ensamples [or examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia” (I Thessalonians 1:7). Paul pointed to them as examples of transformed lives that all believers should emulate. He praised them, saying: “from you sounded out the Word of the Lord…in every place…”

(1:8). They chose to be consistent and aggressive in their evangelism. In this and other ways, they were willing to “…serve the living God…” (1:9). They did not just sit on their salvation doing nothing. They intentionally served their Savior. Paul said they expectantly continued to “wait for His Son from heaven” (1:10). Perhaps it was this latter anticipation of our Lord’s return that produced such dynamic, godly changes in their lives.

As we read about testimonies of dynamic change in the saints from biblical times, or in accounts in our present day, it should cause us to examine if there has been a dynamic change in our life. Surely when you stand before Christ in eternity you’ll want Him to read a record of godly change in your life. Let today be the start of incorporating all four of these life-changing principles into your life. Choose to live a transformed life.

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