2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
I began typing this message with a rather neat typo. Instead of saying “Good Morning…”, I typed in “God Morning…” Now, that’s not a bad idea-to wish you a “God morning!” I think every day should be a “God day.” It might just solve a lot of our problems. The Lord prompts me to go on talking about our participation in the Covenant of Grace taking it as a solemn, binding agreement that unites us in faith and with God. It helps to define some words that we often take for granted from the original Greek that was used when the NT was written. The word, “believe,” as it was used in 1 COR 11: 18, is PISTEUO [pronounced: pist-eu-o, with the accent on the middle syllable and the “u” and “o” as you would normally pronounce those letters when saying the alphabet]. This word is defined as “to have faith, to entrust, to commit, to put trust with.” The verse reads, “In the first place, I [Paul] have told that there are opposing groups in your meetings; and this, I believe, is partly true.” The word, “faith,” as used in 1 COR 12: 9 in the original Greek is PISTIS [pronounced: pis-tis with the accent on the first syllable]. It means “reliance upon, assurance, belief, fidelity.” The verse cited reads: “One and the same Spirit give faith to one person, while to another person He gives the power to heal.” When we take the time to look up key words in the original language, we are given deeper insight into their exact meanings and overcome the imprecision built into the English language. Books that can help you do this, since most of us don’t speak these original languages are “Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,” James Strong, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990 and “The Complete Word Study Dictionary-New Testament,” Spiros Zodhiates AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN 37422, 1993.
It doesn’t hurt for us to be reminded that our committed participation in the Covenant of Grace provides a way for us to avoid second or spiritual death. That alone should be sufficient motivation for us to take our end of this agreement seriously, but it is always better when we keep these agreements for more reasons than that. Understanding the connections that exists between belief and obedience helps too. EPH 2:1-10 really sheds light on how precious to us this covenant relationship with God is. EPH 2: 1- 3 tells us about our past circumstances. “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. At that time you followed the world’s evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God’s wrath.” That sounds pretty hopeless, doesn’t it? And yet, the Lord Who understands this, gives mankind trapped in the market place of slavery to sin a way out of it. He did this through His Son’s death on the cross!
EPH 2: 4-10 allow us to examine the extent of God’s grace and His motive in making what had to be a most painful sacrifice of His only begotten Son on the cross. “But God’s mercy is so abundant, while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience He brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. In our union with Christ Jesus He raised us up with Him to rule with Him in the heavenly world. He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of His grace in the love He showed us in Christ Jesus. For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. [See also RO 3: 24-25]. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift so no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.” Imagine being “raised up with Christ to rule in the heavenly world!” That goes hand in hand with what God told Paul to say to the Romans in RO 8: 17 and 29. By enduring in faith, we are going to become joint-heirs to God’s Kingdom with Christ and be one of those “many brothers” who will be resurrected, as Christ was, to eternal life with the Father. What on earth could be more important than that?! Only God’s grace, nothing that a man can do, has made this come about. That verse should help us to understand that we are born with a poverty of spirit from which God alone can give us relief. Too often, our fleshly selves get in control deceiving us into thinking that we can by good deeds alone or by what we say or by exerting power or control over others that we can bring about our own salvation. Thinking like this is the work of the devil and should be avoided at all costs.
Due to insight that comes to me through taking a course called “Experiencing God” by Pastor Henry Blakaby, I have often written that God wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and to invite us to join Him in His work. EPH 2: 10 is Scriptural proof of that. When we have repented of our sin and have faith in Jesus Christ, we are saved and deemed acceptable in God’s eyes [justified]. That means that righteousness has been imputed to our account and any good deeds we do will be a Godly outgrowth of our commitment to keep up our covenant agreements and to do so with righteousness. We should meditate on the connection between belief and obedience in our individual lives.
PRAYER: O Lord, in assessing what our own attitude and commitment should be about keeping our covenant agreements with You, we need to have a full understanding of the grace You have extended toward us and of the consequences of second death. To help us make that assessment You give us the Scriptures in today’s message and command us to see how they apply to our individual lives. They cause us to see the alternative to being faithful and to think of the misery it brings. Our lives were worthless before we repented and came to faith. They were made worthless by the control the adversary exerted over them. We were slaves to our flesh. But through the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross, You have by Your grace given us a way out of that misery. We dedicate ourselves today to taking up Your invitation to join You in Your work, to obey Your commands, and to take seriously our commitment to keeping our part of the Covenant of Grace. We do this only partly because we acknowledge that it is the only way to eternal life. The other motivation we have is to express our understanding of the love You have for us and return that love, that You so richly deserve, in kind. We humbly offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, glory, trust, obedience, honor, praise, and thanksgiving. In Christ’s holy name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to discuss the relationship between grace, faith, and deeds. If we had only one child, a child we love, imagine how difficult it would be to knowingly place that child in harm’s way. This is a bit like the parents of an adored only-child who reaches draft age and is conscripted into the military during a war. It’s hard to take the time to stand in another person’s shoes, but it is a must if we are to have true empathy for the plight of another. This might give us some kind of idea what God faced when He made the decision before the Creation that Christ would have to do the work of the cross and then acted on it at the time of His Son’s arrest and crucifixion. That should give us some measure of understanding of the depth of the love that God has for each of us. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn