2016-11-11
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit is leading us through building a foundation to discuss false prophecy, as it’s depicted in Colossians. Last week, the issue of how we can tell the difference between information which is the truth from the Spirit from that which comes from a less trustworthy source. We absolutely must rely on the Lord. The only way we can do that is to read the Bible (His word) daily and pray often, asking for His help in wisdom and discernment. The more mature we are spiritually, the more we can perceive the Lord’s constant presence and the more we understand our need to rely on Him. This is God’s mystery, which is Christ in us as believers [COL 1: 26-27; COL 2: 2-3].
As believers in Christ, we inherit the Kingdom of light [COL 1: 12]. The term, saints, is used for the community of believers. It’s helpful to look into the Greek meaning of the word, saints. It is hagios[L1] [L2] [L3] [L4] [pronounced hah-gee-os], which has a Strong’s number of 40 and is an adjective meaning “set apart by or for God, Christ-like, sacred, holy, different from the world.” The subject of who the saints were in Paul’s time is described in RO 1: 6-7, “And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” Another citation which outlines this notion is 1 COR 1: 2, “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.” A more intricate description is found in 1 COR 1: 26-31, “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things—and the things that are not --to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, Who has become for us wisdom from God, i.e. our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Let’s look now at 1 COR 6: 9-11, “Don’t you know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, not idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” From today’s point of view, we can find some pretty controversial comments in this last passage. Our society is trying to consider some of these worldly types acceptable, but God hasn’t changed His mind. We don’t find anything considered canon has been added to God’s word to allow this change. As saints we must live in our world, but not be of our world. COL 1: 13-14 restates what God, the Father, has done for us. “For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
PRAYER: O Lord, we are forever grateful that You chose to give us faith in Jesus Christ. While we are still capable of sinning and are therefore, still sinners, we are forgiven for our past sins and willing to cooperate with You in the process of sanctification. Christ obeyed Your command for Him to serve a three-year ministry during His earthly incarnation, Then, He had the obedient courage to suffer, die on the cross. He was resurrected as “the Firstborn among many brothers” [RO 8; 29]. Because of all of this, we who believe in Him and are willing to confess our sins can be saved [JN 3: 16], eternally forgiven [1 JN 1: 9], and justified [RO 4: 3]. We are considering the huge impact for good that this redemption really is. You have set us apart to be “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” [1 PET 2: 9]. We do declare Your praises for “calling us out of darkness into Your wonderful light.” Each day with each trial we face, You further our spiritual maturity and bring us closer to You. Of course we must make Your agenda our own, and we pledge to do this. We step forward to be counted and accept Your “seal of ownership” [EPH 1: 13-14], a sign that we have the Holy Spirit, have been redeemed, and are held precious by You. We offer You our thanks, praise, and love. It is our desire to obey Your commands as Your Son did. We will use the talents You have given us to do the work of building Your Kingdom. It is our great pleasure to convey the truth of the Gospel to those who have not yet come to faith but will listen. And, we will do so with the accuracy that comes from daily studying Your word and listening for Your answers to our frequent prayers. We pledge You our obedience, best efforts, offering these things and all we do to Your glory, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Our discussion of producing fruit continues with a deeper examination of the deliverance from the consequences of our sins. Seeing the Greek words and their original, intended meanings helps us to better understand God’s priorities for our lives. If God has the power to completely change a person’s life like He has with mine, then we can all be encouraged with regard to our sainthood. The use of this term is not meant as it is in the Roman Catholic church, where humans name other humans who have done great things as saints. Here, it is meant in the sense that God alone decides who is going to believe in Jesus Christ and who won’t. My own approach to those who haven’t yet come to faith is that anyone willing to listen to the witnessing I do for Christ is a potential believer. He can become a believer, not by what I say and do, but by answering God’s call to come to faith and be baptized. It’s the Holy Spirit, Who does this work. While baptism doesn’t save a person, faith in Christ and willingness to confess one’s sins does. Baptism is an outward sign of an “inward transformation by the renewal of one’s mind” [RO 12: 2]. It is quite appropriate for me to end this devotion with praise and thanks to God for calling us to believe in Jesus Christ!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2016. All Rights Reserved.
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