2004-12-17
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
I’ve been writing for awhile now about how Christ fulfills the law, and will continue with what the Holy Spirit is giving me on this compelling subject. RO 8: 4, “God [sent His own Son] so that the righteous demands of the Law mighty be satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit and not according to human nature.” If we go back to the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said in MT 5: 9, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Then we must remember, DT 6: 5-7, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Never forget these commands that I am giving your today. Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working.” When you put all these together, God has given us clear direction on what He has created us and equipped us to do. I believe He sent Christ to earth for His incarnation and Atonement at the time that He did, because He knew we finally had enough of His direction to be able to make the choice as to whether or not to sin. That choice was given to those willing to repent and come to faith in Christ as a result of His Atonement. We became children of God when the Holy Spirit joined with our spirits and we allowed the Holy Spirit to take over leadership of our lives [RO 8: 14-17]. Can we make peace? Can we treat each other as Paul urges us to do throughout his epistles? Can we teach our children to love God and obey His laws? You bet we can! But, it won’t be easy in today’s world.
An even more compelling question is: Do you believe that the Kingdom of God is now? Before I give my own answer to this question, look at these citations from the Psalms. PS 145: 13, “Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.” PS 93: 1-2, “The Lord is King, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, He is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; Your throne is establish from old; You are from everlasting.” LAM 3: 40 was written by Jeremiah shortly after the 586 BC destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and before he went to Egypt. “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” He was given the understanding by God that His Kingdom could begin on earth, if mankind were to let godliness be the template for their lives. So now, my answer is that it is possible for God’s Kingdom to begin on earth in the hearts of those with true faith. I don’t even find it curious that Jeremiah would understand this so long before Christ’s Atonement, because God gave remarkable vision to each of His prophets. The sad part of Jeremiah’s story is that he would have to endure so much more persecution for telling the truth because of the times in which he lived. But, I know in my heart that God is rewarding him generously now in heaven.
Even though God has repeated often how He wants us to have His laws written on our hearts and that He wanted to claim us as His children while we claim Him as our One and only God, we can’t do this alone. God knows He must help us, because we are incapable of living without sinning unless we open our souls to the Holy Spirit’s entry and dominion over them. That goes to the very heart of the covenant relationship that we have with God. I believe that the act of spiritual maturation involves us learning to open our souls wider and wider to the entry and dominion of the Holy Spirit. Faith really is not just a noun; it is a verb as well, an action. That’s why James in JAS 2: 17 can say, “Faith without action is dead.” We must remember that MT 26: 19 and MK 10: 27 both tell us , “This is impossible for man, but for God everything is possible.” Once again, we can see this relationship demonstrated in RO 7: 24-25a, “What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body hat is taking me to death? Thanks be to God, Who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!” We don’t even have to question if God will keep His promise in EZK 36: 26-27, “I will give you a new heart and a new mind. I will take away your stubborn heart of stone and give you an obedient heart. I will put My Spirit in you and will see to it that you follow my laws and keep all the commands I have given you.” Praise be to God!
That leads us to our need for self-examination. This is not to produce stultifying guilt, but instead, to let us measure our attitudes and actions against the foundation God gives us in His word, against the ideal that Christ exemplifies. We should do this on a regular basis, because it is the way we can uncover the sin in our lives and expunge it. God equipped us the minute we came to faith, to cooperate with Him in the task of sanctifying us. It’s hard work and takes honesty which can sometimes be very painful. I look back on my past now with astonishment that God has the power to bring me to where I am, and I’m still with a long way to go before He is ready to glorify me. Once we are “new creations” in our union with Christ, we are now being renewed repeatedly in God’s image, so that we can have a full knowledge of Him [2 COR 5: 17; COL 3: 10]. We don’t waste Christ’s blood shed for us when we allow Him to fulfill the Law in our own lives by making the choice to live according to His Law. The benefits of our covenant relationship would take many books to enumerate. We are surely a blessed people when we live with true faith!
PRAYER: O Lord, Your power and dominion over Your Kingdom is real and very personal to those of us with true faith. Your teaching is not nonsense or foolishness to us; it is the driving force, out of our choice, for our lives. We gladly and gratefully submit to Your Spirit, desiring to open wide our souls for Him to meld with our human spirits. This is not easy for us, because we are born into sin and must seek Your help to give us the courage to face the task of getting rid of our sin. We can’t do this alone, Lord, because we are weak and powerless without the faith You have given us. While our covenant relationship with You is complicated and difficult at times, we are convinced that getting the yeast of sin out of our lives is absolutely necessary to have victory in Christ’s holy name over the adversary. John helped us to understand Who Christ really is in JN 1: 1-5, “Before the world was created, the Word already existed; He was with God, and He was the same as God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him. The Word was the Source of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.” John also helped us to understand the sacrifice You and Your Son made for us in JN 3: 16. Your remarkable Trinitarian nature is why we must dedicate ourselves to making our true faith both a noun and a verb, a concept followed by apostolic action. Our faith must conform to Christ’s new commandment in JN 13: 34-35, “And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are My disciples.” No other God is before us, Dearest Abba-only You. We recognize Your sovereign majesty and magnificence. We bow before You with reverence and awe. We offer You our eternal thanks, love and praise. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit directs me to begin writing a series of messages about the true intent of the God’s law. The first part of this will deal with the taking of a life. God’s will for us in this matter is worth our time in examining. We don’t have to be told that mankind’s behavior in this matter has created a very ugly picture at times. Even so, God has given the true believer what he needs to avoid the snares set for us by the devil. Will it be easy? Of course not. However, if my experience means anything, nothing easy in this life is valued in the same way as things for which we must work hard, experience pain, or make tremendous sacrifices. Christ has told us in MT 6: 19-21 to store our riches in heaven and not on earth. While the devil tempts us to be greedy, hateful, revengeful, and give in to the flesh, Christ makes it possible for us to overcome these temptations. Our Abba is the Source of all goodness on earth. PS 33: 4-5, “The Lord is truthful; He can be trusted. He loves justice and fairness, and He is kind to everyone everywhere on earth.” Where is the Lord in our lives? David knew and wrote it for us in PS 34: 19, “The good man does not escape all troubles-he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one.” We need never fear that we face our trials alone. He, the Lord of All, is right there to encourage, to equip us for victory in Christ’s name in all our battles. His perspective brings us understanding, wisdom, and great comfort.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn