2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Yesterday, I began writing about the mark of the covenant as a reminder of the promises made. The Lord directs me to share more citations that will shed light on this subject as it relates to the oneness of the covenant relationship we have with God. The question arises: Where are our covenant marks? To begin answering it, we need to look into some of the practices of the Jewish culture. In NT times, brand marks were put on slaves, soldiers, and Temple servants. In a sense, modern people living “in Christ” are all three. We are like Paul, slaves or bond-servants to Christ. RO 1: 1, “From Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, set apart and called by God for the Gospel.” GA 1: 10, “Does this sound like I am trying to win man’s approval? Am I trying to be popular with men? If I were still trying to do so, I would not be a servant of Christ.” We are also soldiers for Christ often on the front lines of spiritual warfare. 2 TIM 2: 3-4, “Take your part in suffering, as a loyal soldier of Jesus Christ.” Were we not soldiers, we would have no need for the tools of spiritual warfare that we are given as outlined in EPH 6: 10-18, which I hope you will review. 1 COR 6: 19-20 reveals us as Temple servants too. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who lives in you and Who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; He bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s glory.” The message is really nailed down in GA 6: 17, “To conclude: let no one give me any more trouble, because the scars I have on my body show that I am the slave of Jesus.” We must ask ourselves: Would we be willing to bear these marks on the Lord’s behalf-even to the point of martyrdom?
Part of the oneness of the covenant relationship we have with the Lord is the sharing of possessions and names. There is a common life in which the two become one. Let’s look at the question: Do the things that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ also belong to us as His covenant partners? 2 COR 5: 1, 4-5, “For we know that when this tent we live in-our body her on earth-is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home He Himself has made, which will last forever…While we live in this earthly tent, we groan with a feeling of oppression; it is not that we want to get rid of our earthly body, but that we want to have the heavenly one put on over us, so that what is mortal will be transformed by life. God is the One Who has prepared us for this change, and He gave us His Spirit as the guarantee of all that He has in store for us.” Now look at one of my favorite citations that makes this clear, 2 COR 5: 17-18, “When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come. All this is done by God, Who through Christ changed us from enemies into His friends and gave us the task of making others His friends also.” The ultimate unselfishness of Christ is revealed in 2 COR 8: 9, “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of His poverty.”
Isn’t it wonderful the way the Scriptures illuminate Christ as He really is? We don’t have to rely on human understanding to see that-only God’s word [PR 3: 5]. Let’s look at two more citations that show how Christ shares His possessions with those who are faithful, because of the oneness of the covenant relationship. RO 8: 15-17, “For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Sprit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, ‘Abba! My Abba!’ God’s Spirit joins Himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children. Since we are His children, we will possess the blessings He keeps for His people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for Him; for if we share Christ’s suffering, we will also share His glory.” PHIL 4: 19, “And with all His abundant wealth through Christ Jesus, my God will supply all your needs.”
I find this evidence of God’s unselfishness nothing short of amazing. It has certainly led me to feeling that real spiritual maturity involves two important elements: the things of heaven and an unselfishness about them. We must first recognize what Christ was teaching us in MT 6: 19-21, “Do not store up riches for yourselves here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and robbers break in and steal. Instead, store up riches for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and robbers cannot break in and steal. For your heart will always be where your riches are.” We must study the Scriptures for the discernment to tell the difference between earthly things and those of heaven. And then, we must take the second step. This is the step that led Christ to give us the great commission of MT 28: 19-20, “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them My disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” Yes, Dear Ones, as our Covenant Partner, Christ has pledged His presence with us wherever we are. He has pledged all that He had to give. Now, that is the kind of unselfishness that I, for one, would like to emulate. How about you?
PRAYER: O Lord, You have taught us that our faith, trust, and obedience in You will bring us eternal protection that only You can provide. That might mean that we will be called upon to bear scars from having done spiritual warfare as Paul did, or that we will bear a mark that You place on us to keep us from evil. The citations in the first part of this message bring us to examine our willingness to stay the course, endure suffering that might come our way, and trust in You to protect us. We are Your bond-servants, your soldiers, and Your Temple servants. In the second part of this message, the citations You give us demonstrate Your willingness to share all that You have with us in return for our diligent loyalty. What more could we, as Your children, ask? The lesson You teach us by the example You set is one that will lead us to eternal life. To that end You have given us the work of the cross and the indwelling of Your Spirit within us. We take joy in being as Paul was, “bond-servants for Christ, set apart by You for the Gospel.” We dedicate ourselves to being alive in the Spirit, making Your agenda ours, living our lives sharing and loving as Christ did, and accepting the great commission to share Your word that He gave us. We acknowledge that our spiritual maturity depends on our ability to recognize the things of heaven as being different from those of earth and on storing those riches of heaven by how we live our lives. Our hope is that one day, we will occupy those mansions in heaven that You have prepared for us [JN 14: 2]. In humility, we offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise, and utmost thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am directed to write about the “koininea” relationship we have with God and other believers, as it relates to the oneness of the covenant relationship. We are so undeserving of the blessings our Abba heaps on us every day. Yet, He has the ability to see through our foibles and still love us profoundly and unselfishly. His greatest desire is that we should mature spiritually, moving forward through the process of sanctification so that we can enjoy a life of eternal joy and fellowship with Him. If we stop and think about it, any good parent wants this for his child. What makes God’s love so remarkable is its depth, consistency, patience, compassion, wisdom, and goodness. No human’s love can match it. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn