2015-08-14
Good Morning Dear Ones,
One of the greatest gifts to help us get through the challenges of our lives, given to us by our Lord, is the hope of the resurrection. NT readers come across RO 8: 29, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” This is saying that if we make choices to remain in the family of God, we too will be resurrected to heaven for eternity. This notion fits perfectly into the relationship that exists between justification, sanctification, and glorification. Once committed to faith in Jesus Christ and after one has repented of his sins, he is justified, i.e. deemed acceptable by the Lord. Throughout his earthly life as a believer, one is in a working cooperative covenant relationship with the Lord, in which the believer is revealing sin and genuinely confessing it to the Lord, and the Lord is working to perfect/purify the believer—sanctification. At the point where the Lord feels the believer is ready for it, He brings the believer home to His side for a blissful eternity in heaven with Him—glorification.
At the time Paul was taking his three missionary trips, there was a heresy that was opposing Christianity called Gnosticism. It encompassed the belief that only a few leaders held the secrets of this belief system, that Christ was only the Lord of earth until His physical death, and other disagreeable ideas. It was at that time, that it was essential that Paul be effective in countering this heresy and bringing about the spread of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Secrecy has been an issue since very early in the history of Judeo-Christianity. DT 29: 29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” This verse seems to be the first that discusses the concept that God knows more than we have been told, and that we understand the law well enough to be motivated to follow it is important to God. To this very day, this author believes there will be questions that have arisen that will be answered only when we enter heaven. God has given us just enough to engender faithfulness. However, as time went on, more and more of what God knows was revealed to His people.
Confirmation of Christ’s heart-attitude on the issue of secrecy is found in JN 15: 13-17. “Greater love has no one but this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no long call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made know to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask for in My name. This is My command: love each other.” From EPH 2: 8-10, we come to understand that nothing we have or can do is a source for bragging rights; instead, they are gifts from God through His grace. This is because the good things we have or can do are given to us to do good that God already prepared for us to do. That gives us this definition for grace, which is unmerited favor from God. Having said this, our Lord gives us His word [the Bible, which includes both the OT and NT] for our use and betterment [2 TIM 3: 16-17], and prayer [PS 86: 5, 7, & 15], so we can have two-way communication with Him any time of day or night, any day of the year. And, Dear Readers, we should approach God with reverence and awe, as well as listening first for Him in prayer. Our Lord wants us to know Him and His will for our lives well.
RO 5: 1-2, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” This passage gives us even more conformation of the principles stated earlier, firming our need for the Lord in our lives and His most generous and excellent grace. It explains why Christ’s words in MT 5: 3 are so precious: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.” Being “poor in spirit” means understanding that we need to rely on the Lord Jesus for direction and on how to be faithfully obedient to the Father. As Epaphras (at the behest of the apostle Paul) writes to the church in Colossae, in COL 1: 25b-27, the “mystery” is disclosed to the Jews and the Gentiles. “[For] the sake of the body, which is the church, I have become its servant by the commission
God gave me to preach to you the word of God in its fullness the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. In them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of the mystery, which is Christ within you, the hope of glory.” This truth is even better explained in COL 3: 3-4, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Your real life is Christ and when He appears, then you too will appear with Him and share His glory.” Yes, this is huge! It is sufficient motivation to remain faithfully obedient to the Lord throughout the rest of our earthly lives and beyond!
PRAYER: O Lord, what a great gift You have prepared for and given to us. We rest comfortable and trusting in the light of Your full disclosure of the truth. We are grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, acting as our guide and our conscience. Without Your intervention, we are useless and unwise [JN 15: 5]. Learning to rely on You isn’t easy, but it is truly worth the effort. For when we do this, our lives are blessed, our thoughts are pure, our decisions are carefully considered, and our actions are righteous. Moreover, Dearest Lord, You forge covenant relationships between us and other believers and You and us. Our faith is strengthened by them; our service to others is balanced, unselfish, and effective. Long ago, You revealed Your mystery to the Jewish people. But sadly, they became legalistic and stressed format over the content of Your teaching. That is when You sent Your Son, Jesus, to the cross, so that all who believe in You can have everlasting life [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. He didn’t come to this world to abolish the law, but instead to fulfill it [RO 10:4]. That is when You made it possible for the church, Your body, to be established and to spread throughout the world. GA 2: 20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” This is the heartfelt claim all who are true believers in You can make. This is the source of both encouragement and discernment we can have through Him. We thank and praise You for the great gift of Your loving grace given to us, even though we never deserved it. Our lives have meaning and can go on in a blissful fellowship with the You, our Covenant Partner, forever, because of it. It is in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ that we offer You praise and thanks for all Your generosity and goodness for us. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We’ll take a look at what God did for the Jews in ancient times that relates to the eventual full disclosure of God’s mystery to all who believe today. This kind of background will give us a better understanding of God’s heart, the relationship between the OT and NT, and the presence of the Rock [Christ] even back in those long ago times. Being faithfully obedient to God requires a knowledge of Him and His will for our lives, which comes from studying His word. It also requires a commitment on the part of a potential believer to repent, to cooperate in sanctification, to rely on the Lord, and to love the Lord enough to make Him his First Priority in life. While not easy to do, this Christian lifestyle leads to a lot of learning, overcoming challenges, and eventual satisfaction. I know about this from first-hand experience. Long ago I was in a marriage that wasn’t working. One’s covenant relationships should uplift, teach, improve, and satisfy him. But mine wasn’t. I felt worthless and unloved. No matter what I did to solve these problems, they only became worse. After 15 years, including the birth of my son, the relationship unraveled and came to an end. I never wanted to commit to another spouse again…or so I thought. But our God is loving and powerful. He knew He created me to be doing what I do now, to have secure faith in Him. The intense emotional pain I felt went on for many years, but within just a remarkably short time after the end of my first marriage, the Lord brought my present husband into my life. The Father used His power to continue preparing me for what I do now, and to fulfill His will for me. PS 72: 14, “He rescues them from oppression and violence; their lives are precious to Him.” Through His love and giving me the self-discipline to study the Scriptures carefully over time, He “transformed me by the renewal of my mind” [RO 12: 2] to recognize His presence in my life, to feel His love, and to heal me from my brokenness. My second marriage is in its 39th year and counting; I am serving Him in ministry; I have never known more satisfaction or security in my life. This is only a small sample of what the Lord will do in people’s lives. He will bring blessings into your lives too. All you need to do is look for Him. Praise and thanks be to the Lord!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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