2004-07-09
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We find ourselves in the same situation that Paul described in RO 7: 14-24 wanting to live sanctified lives of holiness and having trouble doing it. Our Father in heaven knows this, but still keeps on loving us enough to keep on doing what really must be hard work in leading us through the process by which He perfects us. His job would have been so much easier had we been born civilized, but we all know that Satan got in the way of that in the Garden of Eden [GN 3: 1-6]. By giving us His word, two-way communication with Him through prayer, the faith we have, and His Spirit to explain His will and teaching to us, the Father encourages us every day to gain His perspective and to realize what a great sacrifice was made for us with His Son’s Atonement on the cross.
COL 1: 15-20 reveals the person and work of Christ. The words of COL 1: 19-20 open out to us the Father’s main plan and how He is to carry it out. “For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in Himself the full nature of God. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to Himself. God made peace through His Son’s death on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.” The utter importance of this passage is my reason for repeating so often. Just as the Father is doing His part in bringing us back to Himself, we must also do ours. That’s what a covenant relationship is all about. Today, we will look at the Law, which, by the way is indeed spiritual and good [RO 7: 12]. Our need to understand this goes right along with our need to understand why we sin, what we should be doing about that, and of course, about the nature of grace (a subject for some upcoming devotions). There was never a need to throw the baby out with the bath water. What I mean by this is that although we now have the Covenant of Grace when we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, we also hold true to the best teaching of the Law, especially the Ten Commandments. In His Sermon on the Mount in MT 5: 17-18, Christ illuminates His position. “Do not think that I have come to do away with the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets. I have not come to do away with them, but to make their teachings come true. Remember that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with-not until the end of all things.”
With this in mind, the question arises: What is keeping mankind from simply stopping his sin? While an obvious answer to this is they inherited sin from Adam and Eve, there is still more to it than that. We must remember what we learn in EPH 6: 12 amidst Paul’s discussion of putting on the whole armor of God to combat it. “For we are not fighting against human beings but against the wicked spiritual forces in the heavenly world, the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark age.” So, we have opposition to our attempts to live godly, sanctified lives from within and without. Is that a reason to give up? You bet not! While it’s true that a sinful nature is the flesh of mankind, there is also the overriding truth of RO 8: 28. “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love Him, those whom He has called according to His purpose.” RO 7: 24-25a tells us, “What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, Who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!” It is Christ Who bought all believers their freedom from slavery to sin with His death on the cross. It is Christ Who fulfills the law [RO 10: 4], not does away with it.
The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, wanted to serve God in a way which would please Him. In the course of his maturation in the faith, he belonged to a number of religious disciplines before it dawned on him that our salvation is through grace. The temptation for man to inflict himself into this process, i.e. think that he can work out his own salvation by doing good deeds, is always there. Some of the denominations have actually concluded that salvation is done through a combination of grace and works. This whole, and I believe flesh-led, approach is in my humble opinion an affront to God. And yes, I’m sure I’m stepping on some theological toes in saying this, but I must. God and God alone, through Christ’s death on the cross, has made the way for human salvation open. Our part is to repent and have faith in Him. Additionally, if we want to mature in the sight of God, then we must submit ourselves willingly to the process of sanctification. Moreover, we must cooperate with it. I’m the former kid who lied, committed vandalism, ran around with the wrong people, railed against the authority and wisdom of adults around me, used every method I could find to get attention, and gave my parents gray hair early. And yet, God knew ahead of time I would spend the latter part of my life in his full-time service. Our pastor mused from the pulpit yesterday at how amazing it is that young pre-seminarians who drank and raised cain in their college years have turned into wonderful, productive pastors. Only the Father and Christ could have brought this about. Only They could recognize that Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of completed Jews [Jews who have accepted Christ] would make one of the greatest apostles of mankind’s history. Now you know why I keep saying, “our God is awesome and amazing!”
PRAYER: O Lord, the sinful hearts of unbelieving mankind continues to be Your greatest disappointment. When Christ stated His purpose in JN 6: 39-40, it was to bring as many people as you had given Him back to You for eternal life. The COL 1: 20 verse tells us You want all mankind to be able to come back to You for eternity through Your Son. And yet, John’s revelation tells us that a large number of Your human and angelic creation won’t end up with You in the New Jerusalem. Instead, they will endure conscious eternal torment in the lake of fire and sulfur. Your example of revealing the truth even extends to Your own greatest disappointment. We stand before You today as believing sinners desirous of allowing Your work in civilizing us and bringing us to perfection, to be successful. Yes, Dear Abba, we know that we must make many changes, often difficult and painful, in our lives to cooperate with Your compassionate and patient efforts to this end. Our first step was to repent and have trusting, obedient faith in Jesus Christ. The second step is for us to follow the example of truth that You set in revealing Your disappointments by confessing our sins. It gives us a better understanding of what we learn in RO 10: 9-10, “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved.” We dedicate ourselves to cooperating with Your work to sanctify us. Your truth is our truth. As HE 4: 12 teaches us, “The word of God is alive and active, sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of man’s heart.” We thank You, Dearest Father, for loving us enough to give us this opportunity of both salvation and sanctification, for showing us that we can look forward in eager anticipation to our glorification and eternal life with You. You are to be praised forever! In Christ’s name, amen.
The Holy Spirit leads me to continue next week discussing our trouble in leading sanctified lives and how gaining God’s perspective helps us in this effort. As I have been writing this week’s message, I can’t help but think about the help that God is giving me in my own life with my own efforts to lead a holier life. The Lord has given me a superb husband and some of the most wonderful friends you can imagine, who set such a great example for me and teach me so many things I need to know. I hope you are surrounded by such people too. Peter and I chose to be active in MN Via de Cristo, and that decision has been a winner in this context. This 4-day spiritual retreat program has put us together with remarkable people trying to be better, more obedient believers. It has given us ways to serve God which have drawn us away from the self-centeredness of the flesh to the caring service of others that pleases God. Through this program, we have the joy of watching God shower His grace on others and thus, giving us infusions of unexpected grace for ourselves. If you have not been through a Via de Cristo weekend and your pastor hasn’t been through, then encourage him and his wife (if he has one) to do this. If your congregation already has Via de Cristo, then seek out someone who has gone through and ask them to sponsor you. This is faith-action you will never regret. Our gracious, generous, patient, and loving Father has enough love to share it with everyone. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn