A Vessel unto Honor, Pursuing Righteousness, Faith, Love, Peace
We are vessels of mercy, vessels unto honor, and vessels unto glory. The mercy, the honor, the glory, and the treasure in the vessels are all of God Himself, not of us.
Second Timothy 2:20 warns us, “in a great house there are not only gold and silver vessels but also wooden and earthen; and some are unto honor, and some unto dishonor.” Then verse 21 exhorts, “If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.”
The mixture of vessels in 2:20 indicate that besides genuine believers there can be pretenders. We need to cleanse ourselves, to be vessels “unto honor.” This matches 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 which begin, “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers.” These verses touch outward associations.
Furthermore, 2 Timothy 2:22 is about our inward condition. “Flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” The four positive items are all characteristics of New Jerusalem. To pursue them is to prepare our inner being as the testimony of Jesus today and to develop unto the maturity of New Jerusalem.
Let us pursue with those who “call on the Lord.” Calling on the Lord began with Enosh in Genesis 4, and was continued by many in the Old Testament.
It is God’s commandment (Psa. 50:15; Jer. 29:12) and desire (Psa. 91:15; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 13:9) that His people call on Him. This is the joyful way to drink from the fountain of God’s salvation (Isa. 12:3-4) and the enjoyable way to delight oneself in God (Job 27:10), that is, to enjoy Him. Hence, God’s people must call upon Him daily (Psa. 88:9). Such a jubilant practice was prophesied by Joel (Joel 2:32) concerning the New Testament jubilee.
Calling on the Lord’s name is vitally necessary in order for us, the believers in Christ, to participate in and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ with all He has accomplished, attained, and obtained (1 Cor. 1:2). It is a major practice in God’s New Testament economy that enables us to enjoy the processed Triune God for our full salvation (Rom. 10:10-13). The early believers practiced this everywhere (1 Cor. 1:2), and to the unbelievers, especially the persecutors, it became a popular sign of Christ’s believers (9:14, 21).*
Romans 10:12, “the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him.”
* Part of footnote 1 on Acts 2:21 in the Recovery Version Bible published and © by Living Stream Ministry. A New Testament of this Bible, with 9000 footnotes, is available in multiple languages for free from Bibles for America, Bibles for Canada, Bibles for Europe.
