2002-01-01
Yesterday, you will remember that I wrote about Paul’s assertion that when we repent and accept Christ as our Savior, we essentially merge ourselves with God. GA 3: 26-29 and other citations support that. That is a basic feature of the Covenant of Grace to which we are party with God. Another way of looking at this merging is noting the process of getting rid of our old selves and putting on the new. Several wonderful Scriptures shed light on this issue. 2 COR 5: 17, “When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new being; the old one is gone, the new has come.” Our Lord is a Lord of second chances; hallelujah! EPH 4: 22-24, “So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to-the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God’s likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy.” I find real comfort in understanding whatever God has revealed about this process. Part of that comfort comes in RO 4: 3, “The Scriptures [GN 15: 6 & GA 3: 6] say, ‘Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accept him as righteous.’” Inherent in this statement about God accepting Abraham is righteous is God’s action in imputing righteousness to Abraham’s account. What that means, if I understand it correctly, is that by the renewal of Abraham’s mind, God caused him to want to make decisions and take actions that please Him. Another message inherent in this citation is that Abraham is not the only person who was justified (deemed acceptable by God). Anyone who comes to faith as Abraham did is also justified. Another description of this process so grounded in God’s grace is in RO 12: 2, “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind. Then, you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and is pleasing to Him and is perfect.” The next logical question after repenting and coming to faith for a new Christian might be: “OK Lord, I have repented and come to faith, but how do I become an active participant in getting rid of the old self and putting on the new?” God is never One to leave us hanging. He has always told us everything we need to know to carry out His commands. EPH 4: 25-32 is a demonstration of this. “No more lying, then! Everyone must tell the truth to his fellow believer, because we are all members together in the body of Christ. If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day. Do not give the devil a chance. The man who used to rob must stop robbing and start working, in order to earn an honest living for himself and to be able to help the poor. Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you. And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit of God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.” Of course, this is not the only place in the Scriptures where God inspires the writers to give specific commands from Him on how to participate in this process. For example the last four chapters of Romans is full of them. [By the way, I keep going back in many of my devotions to the book of Romans, because of my profound belief that a thorough understanding of this book is like a key that unlocks all the rest of the Bible, both OT and NT. It is the reason that I hope to once again in the future have an opportunity to offer a class on the Precepts two-year study on the book of Romans to our congregation and people from the outside community]. Let’s look at some examples from Romans. RO 12: 4-6a, “We have many parts in the one body, and all these parts have different functions. In the same way, though we are many, we are one body in union with Christ, and we are all joined to each other as different parts of one body. So we are to used our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us...” O 12: 9, “Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good. Love one another warmly as Christian brothers, and be eager to show respect for one another.” RO 13: 13-14, “Let us conduct ourselves properly, as people who live in the light of day-no orgies nor drunkenness, no immorality or indecency, no fighting or jealousy. But take up the weapons of the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop paying attention to your sinful natures and satisfying its desires.” RO 14: 13, “So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make your brother stumble or fall into sin.” RO 15: 1-2, “We who are strong in the faith ought to help the weak to carry their burdens. We should not please ourselves. Instead, we should all please our brothers for their own good, in order to build them up in the faith.” RO 16: 19, “Everyone has heard of your loyalty to the Gospel, and for this reason I [Paul] am happy about you. I want you to be wise about what is good, but innocent in what is evil.” How loving, compassionate, and wise our Lord is! We should meditate on all of this great advice He gives and see if taking it doesn’t bring blessings to blessings to our lives. PRAYER: O Lord, You give us comfort by making Your commands clear and then giving us many ways that You mean for us to carry them out. That does not always mean that it is easy for us to obey You. You love all of Your children enough to invite them to join You in Your work. By doing this, You give us opportunities to also forward our sanctification (Your process of bringing us toward perfection). When we repented and came to faith in Christ, we merged ourselves with You in the Covenant of Grace. To obey Your commands, it is often necessary for us to make major changes in our lives, which are not easy for us. But, You know these changes are necessary to accomplish Your goals for us. As we learn to obey You, You allow us to know You better. To that end, You have given us prayer, Your word to study, the Holy Spirit to guide us, our congregations, and our circumstances. The relationship that You have forged between us, Yourself, and fellow believers blesses our lives enormously. As we trust and obey You, we experience You and the blessings You bring. Through Your great sacrifice of Your only Son on the cross, we are given a narrow, but real path which we can take that leads to an eternal life of joy and fellowship with You. Your word is Your love letter to us. We dedicate ourselves to getting rid of our old selves and taking on the new ones. In humility, we offer You our worship, adoration, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and utmost thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen. Tomorrow, the Lord leads me to continue discussing ways we are united in the Covenant of Grace. We will look at the issue of living and dying with Christ. God’s love is with us every moment of every day. No matter where we are or what we are doing, it is there for us. Our Lord is sufficient for every need we have. He is eager for us to turn to Him in good times and in bad. That is the kind of love everyone has when we are reverent, faithful, and loyal to our Creator. Peter and I send you our love too. Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn