2011-03-18
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I’m led to continue writing about a very special kind of love called agape, which means unconditional love. It is the foundation of every covenant that God has made with His people. We’ve learned that God’s heart aches for them and for those who are potentially His people-those who have not yet come to faith, but who are likely to do this some time during their earthly lifetime. We’ve seen that humans are not good at guessing who these people might be, e.g. Saul of Tarsus, a dedicated member of the Jewish Sanhedrin [ruling council] whose job it was to persecute newly converted Jewish Christians in his time. [He was converted on the road to Damascus and became the greatest apostle of the early church, assigned to the Gentiles, Paul, AC 9: 3-9]. This most seeming unlikely man is by far not the only one. Paul expresses his own angst for the lost traditional Jews in RO 9: 3, and God gives him the surprising promise of RO 11: 25 that the “stubbornness of the people of Israel will not be permanent, but will last only until all the Gentiles called to faith come to it.” This gives us an inkling that God hasn’t used all His power to influence people yet.
God wants us to know His power, and He showed it to us first with His ability to punish His own chosen people, the Jews, with two dyasporas-loss of nationhood and scattering of the people-in their history. This was the use of His power to punish without destroying them for their disobedience to Him in practicing idolatry-the sin He hates the most. But He also shows it to us another way. RO 9: 22-23, “And the same is true for what God has done. He wanted to show His anger and to make His power know. But He was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of His anger, who were doomed to destruction. And He also wanted to reveal His abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of His mercy, those of us whom He has prepared to receive His glory.”
This needs to be seen in light of RO 3: 26. “God did this [offered Christ so that by His death He should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in Him] in order to demonstrate that He is righteous. In the past He was patient and overlooked people’s sins, but in the present time He deals wit their sins in order to demonstrate His righteousness. In this way God shows that He Himself is righteous and that He puts right everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus.” The bottom line is that for awhile in their history, mankind had no way to know what God’s will was. When He gave them the Covenant of the Law, this was made clear. Yet mankind misinterpreted it, ballooning the 10 commandments to 613 and making their faith legalistic and focused on ritual over true understanding of God’s teaching. That was the time God decided to bring Christ, His second personality, to earth to serve a ministry, to die on the cross, and to make those who believe understand the practice of their faith not by legalistic rituals, but by the Spirit given to them. Christ’s blood shed was the institution of the Covenant of Grace, prophesied in JER 31: 31-34 and described in 1 COR 11: 23-25. This notion is expressed in RO 7: 6, “Now, however, we are free from the Law because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of the written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.”
No discussion of this type is complete without saying something about free agency and the covenant relationship. If we practiced grace without license, we would be like that group called the Antinomians who lived in Paul’s time and made it necessary for Paul to express God’s distaste for this approach to the people [RO 3: 8]. On the other hand, Christ tells us, in JN 8: 31-32, “So Jesus said to those who believed in Him, ‘If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’” The kind of freedom He speaks of here is not grace without license, but it is free to behave righteously without God’s condemnation [RO 8: 1], free to know what real happiness is, free to know what real unselfishness is. God knows that selfish, self-centered people are never really happy deep down. He also knows that we are fee to carry on our lives of faith, knowing that we don’t have to worry about experiencing spiritual death, the worst fate of all. Spiritual death is defined as conscious torment forever with no chance of escape. As for free agency, there are many ways for us to express ourselves and make choices and still be right with God. What God tells us is what choices would be wrong. Our world is not a series of dichotomies, “my way or the highway.” Instead, we deal with lots of questions that have gray areas or more than one correct answer. Within God’s will, there are lots of ways to express our individuality and still be right with Him. Of course there are some areas, where there is only one right choice, but the difference is that we now have the power to make that choice. People who are not saved are headed for certain spiritual death. Believers in Christ are not. JN 14: 6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father, except through Me.” When we are free in our faith in Christ, we are free to know the joy that comes from serving others and using God’s freely-given wisdom to make right choices.
PRAYER: O Lord, we bow our heads in reverence to say, “thank You; we praise You,” for the love You show us, for the great sacrifice of Your only Son’s life physical life on the cross, for our salvation, and for the gift of Your Spirit [JN 3: 16: RO 3: 24-25: RO 8: 14-16]. Without You, we can’t succeed in making right choices, in living in a way that is right with You. With Your Spirit to guide us, Your word to enlighten us, and prayer to lead us through dealing with our challenges, we are helpless and alone. You have promised never to abandon us [PS 9: 9-10], and You are a Lord Who always keeps His promises [PS 138: 8]. You are our Covenant Partner, the One Who always sets an example for us in His goodness, consistency, loving kindness, and self-control. You equip and encourage us to display the fruits of Your Spirit [GA 5 :22-23],showing us what living righteously is all about. Every day, day after day, You patiently listen to our prayers and encourage us to do what is good and pleasing to You. We can pray, 2 THESS 2: 16-17, “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who loved us and in His grace gave us unfailing courage and a firm hope, encourage you and strengthen you to always do and say what is good.” You guide us as to where our attention should be, in COL 3: 1-2, “You have been raised to life with Christ, so set your hearts on the things that are in heaven, where Christ sits on His throne at the right side of God. Keep your minds fixed on the things there, not on the things here on earth.” You have promised us Your Kingdom forever, if we are willing to endure in our faith in the Lord Jesus and live it out while here. In Your own good time and way, You will bring us back to Your side in heaven for an eternal life of bliss and fellowship with You. For what more could we ask? We are blessed to have a God like You in our lives. We thank and praise You, in Christ’s holy and mighty name. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to begin the next segment of these “Our Covenant” messages, which is the question: Is God mean and evil? There are some that would choose to believe this, which gives rise to the Holy Spirit asking us to examine this question. Have you ever encountered someone who chooses to reject Christianity because he believes God is evil and selfish? I have, and I found his arguments pretty uncomfortable. So, we’ll look at what we learn about how God that answers that question. We are so blessed to be in a covenant relationship with Him, to know that we are objects of God’s attention. PS 33: 13, “The Lord looks down from heaven and sees every person.” When we are living righteously, and I don’t mean self-righteously, we have nothing to worry about in this sense. It’s only when we are sinning that we feel concern. Furthermore, 2 CH 16: 9 is true. “The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those who hearts are fully committed to Him.” Yes, God really does reveal Himself in our daily lives. There is nothing sneaky about Him, no desire to do this just to catch a person up to condemn him. When we know and believe God’s word, we can find a lot of revelations about His attributes in it. God really does want us to know Him well, to know Him as our loving and wise Covenant Partner. We can take real comfort in knowing that a day never goes by that our God isn’t concerned about every detail of our lives [PS 37 :23-24]. When we believe and obey Him, He is ready to defend, protect, provide for, and comfort us. He is the best Friend we will ever have! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15