Saturday, December 8, 2012
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23,24 KJV).
Beloved, we have a choice—we can serve a theological system (which is worthless), or we can serve the Lord (which is priceless).
We who have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ…” (Romans 8:17; cf. today’s Scripture). In eternity, we will inherit what Jesus Christ will! “But unto the Son he [God the Father] saith, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” (Hebrews 1:8). In the ages to come, Jesus Christ will rule the governments of heaven and of earth (Colossians 1:16-20)—God’s original intention before sin (Ephesians 1:9,10). He will use redeemed Israel to reign for His glory on earth (Exodus 19:5,6; Job 19:25,26), and He will utilize us, the Body of Christ, to rule for His glory in heaven (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6,7).
Before we can serve in the heavenly places for Christ’s glory, God left us here so we can study and believe the doctrine regarding the program that He is operating today. We go not to the “Old Testament,” Four Gospels, early Acts, or even to Hebrews through Revelation, to find God’s will for us—that is Israel’s program. Our doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny as members of the Body of Christ are found only in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. Applying Israel’s program to our lives, as denominations encourage, profits us nothing, for we are not Israel!
At the Judgment Seat of Christ, when the Lord Jesus evaluates the doctrine we Christians believed, vain religious tradition (denominationalism) and philosophy we have stored in our inner man, will be consumed, while the sound Pauline Bible doctrine will remain (1 Corinthians 3:8-15). Hence, Scripture cautions, “take heed how [you] build thereupon” (verse 10). Be careful what doctrine you believe. Remember, Jesus Christ, not a denomination, “loved you and gave Himself for you.” Your loyalty should be to the Lord, not to man (today’s Scripture).
333 Words of Grace 
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Hi Coreen,
I’m not certain, but it seems that you might be posting those Scriptures to refute what Shawn has stated in regards to Paul’s epistles being our pattern to follow and to heed for our edification.
Those are verses that many use to say that we are to follow all scripture for our instructions, and that is clearly not the case. Our instructions to make us fit for the heavenly places are in Paul’s epistles, and it is ONLY by Paul’s gospel (the gospel of the grace of God through the cross of Jesus Christ) that any man can be saved, today. We are to follow Paul as he followed Christ (see 1 Cor. 4:16; 1 Cor. 11:1; Phil 3:17; 2 Tim. 2:7 KJB), not as the 12 Apostles followed Christ (as they were expecting to inherit their earthly kingdom), or not as Moses followed Christ, etc; for those are not our instructions. There are instructions for Israel and her earthly kingdom and there are instructions for the Body of Christ and its heavenly calling. It will matter at the judgment seat of Christ for those in the BoC as to which foundation we built upon, as Shawn rightly stated.
We aren’t saying that we cannot learn from any of the OT (Gen. – Gospels or the New Covenant books (Hebrews – Revelation) or Acts, the transitional book; We can glean from all scripture. All scripture is truth; however, we are to study to shew ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Here are a couple of studies that may be helpful in understanding what Shawn is speaking about:
Hope this clarifies.