Phil. 2:15-16

Morning Meditation 7/26/17

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."

Webster's says this word means, "free from or not deserving blame; guiltless:" The word blameless in Strong's Dictionary means, "blameless, deserving no censure, free from fault or defect"

It is a fact that Christians will be blamed at times for things they didn't do. Joseph was blamed for making advances toward his bosses wife. But he was blameless. He did not make the first or slightest sexual advance toward her. But Potiphar believed his wife and had Joseph put in prison. Joseph was blameless.

God teaches in His Word that we as His children are to be blameless in cases like this. In this meditation we will look at some of the places where this word is mentioned.

WE ARE TO HAVE A BLAMELESS HEART

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 3:13, "To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints."

1. First of all, we see the goal that the Lord had in mind for the Christians in Thessalonica. "To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God. . ." The "he" in this verse is the Lord. We are the objects of the Lord work. First His saving work and second His maturing work. If we will let Him He will take us from birth as babes in Christ to full grown children. The word "stablish" translates "sterizo" and means, "to make stable, place firmly, set fast, to fix." The fact is after we are saved we still need to be fixed. Our heart and/or inner man is fixed when we are saved. But we still have a battle with the flesh and this is the area of spiritual growth. And the Lord will train us in this but we have to make the choice to let Him.

2. Second, Paul by inspiration recognizes that we are going to be falsely accused. And he is teaching us in this verse for us to make sure that we are blameless when we are accused. It is God whom we will all stand before some of these days. God has all the facts even the thoughts of the heart. He also knows those who falsely accuse us. And if they have falsely accused us they will have to give an account. We need to make sure we are blameless. If someone accuses us and we are guilty, we should immediately acknowledge it and tell them you have ask the Lord to forgive you and you are asking them also. If they don't it is in their ball park and will stay there as long as you continue in an attitude of unforgiveness.

If we do not forgive as the Lord says, it will reflect and cause others to be wrong, when it is probably not their fault. I recently talked to a brother and asked his forgiveness and our relationship was immediately restored. It would have been a sad thing for me to have gone to my grave without making this thing right when it is a simple matter of humbling one's self and admitting you were wrong. It is so easy to try to get technical and without realizing it punish a brother by the lack of forgiveness. The fact is we do not have the responsibility of punishing but of forgiving. I was to blame and God wanted me to be blameless. And the only way that could take place is for me to confess my part in the wrong and ask the brother for his forgiveness of my part of the wrong that separated us. I can't tell you what a freedom that I have as a result of obeying the Lordship of Christ in this matter.

Paul adds by inspiration of God in verse 13, "To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." The words, "In hagiosune" and this means according to Strong, "majesty, holiness, moral purity." This is holiness of the heart. God looks upon the heart. The words, "To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." The words "your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." The word "coming" translates "parousia" your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." If we are not right at His coming, things will have to be made right. I would certainly rather get His forgiveness now, as to have to get it right before the united host of the saved at the judgment seat of Christ."

WE ARE TO LIVE A BLAMELESS LIFE BEFORE OTHERS

1 Thessalonians 2:10, "Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:"

This is not a boast on Paul's part, but it is a reminder. Paul lived what he preached. The people in the church at Thessalonica noticed his holiness of life he lived. All he had to do here was to remind them. They knew.

Paul was definitely in trouble in Thessalonica. Acts 17:1-10, "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the other, they let them go. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews."

Here Paul is not to be blamed for the trouble that he is in. He was doing nothing that the law forbade. He was contradicting the religious opinions. But religious opinion many times will bring more persecution for what you believe than what the Bible says. I recommend the Foxes Book of Martyrs. You will discover multitudes have been killed in the past for their faith and most of it was over an interpretation that the persecutor did not agree with.

God's people are to so live their lives that they are blameless in the community where they live. People may not like us, but they ought to have to make something up if the are going to accuse us of anything. They had to tell lies on Jesus to bring an accusation against Him. He was blameless. He was also sinless. Now we can't be sinless but we can be blameless.

WE SHOULD BE BLAMELESS IN TESTIMONY

Philippians 2:15-16, "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain."

The "ye" is the plural you. This means that Paul is speaking to the whole Church. This blamelessness should be characterized in all Christians. People may not agree with our belief in Christ, but if we are blameless and undefiled, they will not be able to find anything that they could say against us without making it up.

If we are blameless in our testimony this means that our witnessing for Christ will harmonize with our life style. There is nothing worse than to have a professing Christian who is constantly witnessing on the job and that person have bad practices in his own personal life. This is what blamelessness in our testimony means. It means that when we witness of saving faith in Christ and the person to whom we are witnessing has seen you drinking or telling and/or laughing at dirty jokes. I had a church member one time that worked in the same work area that another of our church members worked. He told me that he had never heard such a foul mouth as this professing Christian had. The foul mouth Christian finally quit church. If I know human nature, he probably did not quit over his foul mouth. He probably quit over something else. Foul is defined thusly: "scurrilous, profane, or obscene; offensive: foul language." One certainly would not be blameless if he used the kind of language described by this definition.

Some Christians insist that God is not concerned with the language we use. Ephesians 4:29-31, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:"

WE NEED TO BE BLAMELESS IN OUR WHOLE BEING

1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Paul is speaking by inspiration of God. He desires the whole person be blameless. He says in this verse, ". . . I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." To Paul the spirit, soul, and body was the whole man. The word spirit is spelled with a little "s" which is referring to the human spirit. The soul is mind, emotion and will. It is not difficult to see the soul as expressed through the body. The body can easily be defiled by drinking, and fornication, and pornography, etc. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

May God give us grace to live a blameless life while in this world, that we might be a powerful witness of saving faith in Christ Jesus.

In Christ

Bro. White