2014-05-02
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week, we had a chance to see how God keeps up His end of the covenant He has with us. Of course, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to the cross, so that those who believe in Him and are willing to listen to the truth are given eternal life [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. We are also justified and are given eternal forgiveness for our sins, i.e. we are reconciled to God [RO 4: 3; 1 JN 1: 9]. How wonderful it is that we are adopted in to the family of God [RO 8: 14-16] and are joint-heirs to the Kingdom with Jesus [RO 8: 17]! Moreover, Christ became poor although He was rich, for our sakes [2 COR 8: 9], and our God meets our needs from His wealth through Christ, our Lord [PHIL 4: 19].
Today, we ask: How do we live in this covenant relationship with Christ to hold up our end of the pact? The western world’s first real experiment with social living came with the early Christian church. It is described in AC 2: 44-47, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The idea was that people with different skills shared them with their fellow believers. With enough people in this group, all their needs would be met. Had everyone been equally faithful and honest, such a plan might have worked. But people are sinners, infected with natural desires of the flesh that invited such behavior as was seen exhibited by Ananais and Sapphira, whose story is in AC 5: 1-11. Basically, they sold a piece of property and held back a portion of the proceeds for themselves, rather than turning it all over to the believers. They lied to Peter about that and both paid the ultimate price for it. The governmental corruption and widespread alcoholism seen inRussia today is another example of why socialism/communism doesn’t work.
This information is not offered as a viable excuse, but more as an observation of human behavior. Our own society in this democratic country has it foibles as well –all traceable back to the war that goes on within us between the natural self with its human desires and the Holy Spirit that Paul describes in RO 7: 7-25. That is why Paul can truthfully say, as he did in RO 3: 23a, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God …” Those individuals who are genuine believers choose to stop sinning, but still have sins which are subtle and hidden in need of being revealed to them. We can choose not to heap more sin upon our sin, however. But such a choice takes plenty of prayer and God’s help in countering the temptation to which we are exposed.
From the point of view of economics, each of us has a skill set which others need. This skill set is given to us by God when we are created [RO 12: 6-8]. What real covenant partners do is to use these skills/gifts/talents for the one over-arching purpose—an offering to the glory of God. RO 12: 4-5, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to the others.” We are told in our service to the Lord to, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality” [RO 12: 12-13]. When money changes hands with honesty and frequency, an economy is strong. The same is true with the production of products and/or services in the name of God. Such an economy is healthy, free of greed, corruption, and without sinful motivation. This healthy exchange between the partners in a covenant relationship is the basis of “Kingdom-building” and “Kingdom work.” In such an ideal paradigm, God’s agenda and ours are one and the same.
As a covenant partner, we can ask and answer the question: Are we our brother’s keepers? Without the Holy Spirit, we might ideate as follows. “Stay as far away from a fellow in trouble as possible. That way we can avoid being entangled in a law suit.” I’ve actually heard people say that to me. But that’s not the ideation of a true believer and a partner in the Covenant of Grace. Paul makes the point, in 1 COR 2: 4-5, “I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” He goes on to say in (14), “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The Holy Spirit’s indwelling of the soul of such a man is the missing link here. On the other hand, the man with the Holy Spirit is described in (15) as “one who makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject ot any men’s judgment.” Paul goes on to quote IS 40: 13 in asking, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” for perspective in (16). And then, states, “But we have the mind of Christ.” This puts the responsibility on the believer to know better and to make choice right with God, which is to understand that “yes, we are our brother’s keepers!”
PRAYER: O Lord, we cannot make excuses for our sinfulness, and that is because of the guidance and wisdom You make available to us. You have asked us to cooperate with you in the process of sanctification, which means for us to seek, stop, and reveal hidden sins within ourselves. We are grateful for Your presence and intervention in our lives. We understand 1 PET 5: 6-7, “Humble ourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” Furthermore, You have given us important reconnaissance in 1PET 5: 8 and JAS 4: 7 in dealing with Satan’s temptations. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour…Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” It’s important for us to understand that You don’t just ask us to fend off temptation without giving us the means to do this. EPH 1: 18-20 tells us we have the same power to do this, as the Father used to raise You, Lord Jesus, from death to eternal life. We like to take these verses in the eternal sense: PS 37: 27, 29, “Turn from evil and do good. Then you will dwell in the land forever…The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” In that, we substitute the word “Kingdom” for “land.” We are able to submit to You, because we know that it is from You that all goodness comes [PS 16: 2]. We want to shape our lives to be as close to Yours as we can. We offer You our love, honor, praise and thanks forever, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: In this exchange between covenant partners with each other and our Covenant Partner, we want to look at the roadmap we will take in this process. The map that is better described as the sanctification process. It is on-going and active; it is the Lord’s efforts to perfect and purify us from our sinfulness in preparation for glorification [that day when we will return to the Father’s side and share in the glory of Jesus Christ as co-heirs to the Kingdom for eternity. There are some citations for me to share, which reveal God’s will for our thoughts and behavior, His hope for our decisions and meditation. I’ve written before about how God gives us strength for our souls as we seek Him. Some of this bears repeating for us to remember this amazing power, which is available to us. PS 138: 5, “When I asked for Your help, You answered my prayer and gave me courage.” JER 29: 11-13, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. You will come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” PS 84: 12, “O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You.” The Lord is like a healthy garden, a riot of fragrant bloom after a long, hard winter. Those are my words to describe the difference between living, guided by the Lord and faithfully obedient to Him and existing only in disobedience and rejection of Him. Such words mean a lot to people who live in Minnesota, our country’s Siberia in the winter time, especially after the winter we just had. Our Lord loves us, and we can take comfort in knowing that He will guide us even through the tough times in our lives, loving each of us all the while. Our Lord Jesus has made it clear that He is our Redeemer Who is most intentional about bringing as many of us as will cooperate with Him back to the Father for a blissful eternity [JN 6: 39-40], something He will do in God’s perfect time and way. Praise and thanks be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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