2016-03-04
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week I was led to write about how we differ from those under the Covenant of the Law by the fact that we are urged to live in the Spirit of the law and not by the written code [RO 7: 6; 2 COR 3: 6]. The last phrase in 2 COR 3: 6 is, “…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” This gets right to the heart of the matter. Legalism doesn’t lead to a deeper understanding of what God teaches us, nor does it lead to eternal life. The Holy Spirit gives us faith and opens our minds/hearts to an understanding of God’s teaching. He also motivates us to be faithfully obedient to God’s will, which we learn through daily study of His word and prayer. It is the Spirit Who leads us to take the steps necessary to gaining eternal life. Moreover, we get to better know our God, Who loves us so much. His love for us is so great that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the cross for us [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. That faith in the Lord given to us by the Holy Spirit, coupled with genuine repentance, is what leads to our justification, salvation, and eternal forgiveness.
I frequently have computer chats with people who don’t have faith in Jesus Christ. Most of them struggle with intangible phenomena, things like faith [defined in HE 11: 1], grace, sacrifice on behalf of others, etc. These seekers would rather discuss tangible things that can be counted or tested or held in one’s hand. When the issue of God’s supernatural powers comes up, they are intensely uncomfortable. And yet, those intangibles are real. Our reality as believers is Jesus Christ! That’s at the very heart of our belief system, how we make choices and act in our lives. One such reality is described in MK 15: 38, “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” This describes an event that happened right after Christ breathed His last on the cross, and such an event couldn’t have been carried out by human hands! With His physical death and the shedding of His blood, our Lord opened the heavenly Holy of Holies to us all [HE 9: 11-12].
For greater understanding of the significance of this sacrifice, let’s look at HE 10: 19-22, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” It’s not enough to stop here to gain full motivation for being faithfully obedient to God. We must add HE 10: 23-24 to it. “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He Who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
When I chatted with one rejecter of Jesus as Lord, he wanted me to provide material proof of the hope of the resurrection and other intangible supernatural things God has done in my own life. The best answer I could give him is how my own attitude had changed from anger, disrespect of authority figures in my life, and willingness to do vandalism in my rebellion to placing Christ at the center of my life and spending my life serving God while I serve other people. I described how my feelings of hopelessness, misery, and lack of direction before Christ was my personal Savior was transformed to hope, much-improved covenant relationships, and a strong direction for my life after I accepted Him and His leadership. When I was young and unaware of God’s love for me, I made bad mistakes in who constitutes a good friend in my life. The wrong choices led me to a lot of emotional pain and disappointment. In the course of maturing as a believer in Christ, I have been surrounded by wonderful people, who teach me both by their examples and words what faith-strengthening, meaningful friendships yield.
Law Verses Grace
Law: Grace:
Forgiveness for one year eternal forgiveness
No sure justification justification guaranteed
Sure spiritual death eternal life
Sin revealed release from sin’s power
No understanding of the Trinity belief in the Trinity
No understanding of God’s mystery God’s mystery revealed
Leads to legalism understanding of the Spirit of God’s teaching
We can now see that God is patient, drawing as many people as He can to Himself [2 PET 3: 9]. As one sees the sweep of mankind’s history with God throughout the Scriptures, one has to see the longstanding and profound nature of God’s love for His human creation. PS 33: 5, “For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.” PS 32: 10, “Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in Him.”
PRAYER: O Lord, We acknowledge Your great sacrifice, that of Your Son Jesus’ physical life on the cross. It gives us great motivation and allows us to know just how far You are willing to go for us. We are told, in RO 8: 29 and other verses, that we can carry with us the hope of one day being glorified, resurrected to eternal life with You in heaven. As we study Your word [2 TIM 3: 16-17] and engage with You in prayer, we learn that Your love for us is shown in many ways, and that we can rely on You. We have come alive in Christ and are dead to sin’s power over us through His blood shed for us. He is the Center of our lives and our Reality. He gives us hope that no other can give us. 1 PET 1: 3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade—kept in heaven for you…” Throughout our history, You, dearest Abba, have civilized us, informed us of what pleases you and what doesn’t through the giving of the law [Shavuot-EX 24: 7-11], recognized our need for justification, salvation, and eternal forgiveness by the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross, and have seen to it that we received the Holy Spirit [Pentecost-AC 2: 2-4]. Your loving heart is revealed in the keeping of Your ancient promise made in EZK 36: 26-27. We thank and praise You for being Who You are and for the many ways You bless us. PS 63: 3-4, “Your constant love is better than life itself, and so I will praise You. I will give You thanks as long as I live; I will raise my hands to You in prayer.” God of our hearts, we send You our love and loyalty as our divine Covenant Partner. In Christ’s holy/mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will look at some of the ways God’s love is manifested in the blessings we have received as believers in Jesus Christ next week. I’m commanded to also discuss just Who the Holy Spirit is in our lives. There is great comfort in knowing that we are not alone, left feeling hopeless or without direction. Even in our times of greatest trial, we have our loving Lord to Whom we can turn. I have learned that even when I pray about something repeatedly and can’t discern an answer, our Lord has a righteous reason for that. It is a message He wants us to get or a lesson He wants us to learn. The discoveries He has led me to have given my life direction. Some even at times have been things God built into me that came as a shock to me. I’m an ordinary person; there is nothing special about me. God does this in all of us. He fits us to be obediently faithful to His will. He has both an immediate and a cosmic purpose for our lives. We often know the immediate purpose, since that is tied in with the skill set He gives to do His Kingdom-building work. In Abraham’s case, it was to obey God in leaving Mesopotamia and eventually going to Canaan [later Israel]. Our cosmic purpose is another matter. We are unlikely to know what it is, except that if we obey Him, it will be carried out. This purpose is the legacy we will leave behind at the end of our earthly lives to impact future generations. Abraham’s cosmic purpose was to establish a monotheistic belief system, Judaism, and the royal line of David, out of which Christ arose [IS 9: 6; IS 11: 1]. We are called to be faithfully obedient to our God, and He chooses to love each of us beyond measure. Praise and thanks be to Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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