Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "eternal-life"
Now that is glorious!
We've spent the last two posts vetting the theological concepts of justification and sanctification. The concept of justification occurs throughout the New Testament.
For example, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus [ Romans 3:26]. God can justify the sinner and still be just because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind for all of time. His death on the cross served that purpose. The wages of sin is death [Rom.6:23]. Jesus had no sin because He is God. Ergo, His death wasn't for His own sins but for everyone else's. Consequently God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus as their personal substitute sin offering.
Sanctification also fills the pages of the New Testament. By way of example, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure [Philippians 2:12-13]. God lives in the saved person, the born again person, the person who has been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.
The Christian has God's new life already in him/her. Our job is to mature spiritually so that we learn how to allow God control over our life. Instead of living in the power of our old life according to what we think, we live in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God . This maturing process is known as sanctification, and it lasts throughout our time here on earth. The old life remains inside the Christian and he/she has to choose to submit to it or else heed the Holy Spirit.
The third stage of salvation occurs when Christians are raptured, that point of time when the Lord Jesus calls us to meet Him in the clouds. At that time God's kids will be clothed in their new resurrection bodies, and this is their state through all eternity. This resurrection body is like that of the resurrected Christ. He is totally without sin, and so will we be thenceforth. No longer will temptation find a home in us. We will nevermore commit sin.
An example of glorification in the New Testament is in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Behold, I tell you a )mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
In Scripture the number "3" often typifies the superlative degree. For instance, we drive a car, someone else drives a better car, and then there is the best car. "Car" is the base degree, "better car" is the comparative degree, and "best car" is the superlative degree. Consider that there is the thrice holy God, and He is holy, holy, holy. This is Scripture typology to mean that God is the MOST HOLY GOD, the holiest God. No one can compare with Him.
By the same token man's salvation is comprised of three stages: the past or perfect tense stage, the continuous present tense stage, and the future tense stage. Biblical typology reads this as meaning that our salvation is the most complete in every way. Nothing can be added to it. It is lacking in nary a thing. Praise the Lord!Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book I: Chapters 1-16, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book II: Chapters 17-34, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesNumbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesExodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book II: Chapters 17-34: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book I: Chapters 1-16: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesHeavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes: An Exposition of the Scriptures for Disciples and Young Christians: Volume 1: GenesisGenesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes
For example, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus [ Romans 3:26]. God can justify the sinner and still be just because the Son of God, Jesus Christ, paid the penalty for the sins of all mankind for all of time. His death on the cross served that purpose. The wages of sin is death [Rom.6:23]. Jesus had no sin because He is God. Ergo, His death wasn't for His own sins but for everyone else's. Consequently God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus as their personal substitute sin offering.
Sanctification also fills the pages of the New Testament. By way of example, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure [Philippians 2:12-13]. God lives in the saved person, the born again person, the person who has been justified by faith in Christ Jesus.
The Christian has God's new life already in him/her. Our job is to mature spiritually so that we learn how to allow God control over our life. Instead of living in the power of our old life according to what we think, we live in the power of the Holy Spirit according to the Word of God . This maturing process is known as sanctification, and it lasts throughout our time here on earth. The old life remains inside the Christian and he/she has to choose to submit to it or else heed the Holy Spirit.
The third stage of salvation occurs when Christians are raptured, that point of time when the Lord Jesus calls us to meet Him in the clouds. At that time God's kids will be clothed in their new resurrection bodies, and this is their state through all eternity. This resurrection body is like that of the resurrected Christ. He is totally without sin, and so will we be thenceforth. No longer will temptation find a home in us. We will nevermore commit sin.
An example of glorification in the New Testament is in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, Behold, I tell you a )mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
In Scripture the number "3" often typifies the superlative degree. For instance, we drive a car, someone else drives a better car, and then there is the best car. "Car" is the base degree, "better car" is the comparative degree, and "best car" is the superlative degree. Consider that there is the thrice holy God, and He is holy, holy, holy. This is Scripture typology to mean that God is the MOST HOLY GOD, the holiest God. No one can compare with Him.
By the same token man's salvation is comprised of three stages: the past or perfect tense stage, the continuous present tense stage, and the future tense stage. Biblical typology reads this as meaning that our salvation is the most complete in every way. Nothing can be added to it. It is lacking in nary a thing. Praise the Lord!Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book I: Chapters 1-16, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book II: Chapters 17-34, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesNumbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesExodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book II: Chapters 17-34: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesDeuteronomy Book I: Chapters 1-16: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly ShoesHeavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes: An Exposition of the Scriptures for Disciples and Young Christians: Volume 1: GenesisGenesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes
It’s Not Natural!
That by them you may become partakers of the divine nature [2 Peter 1:4].
We have seen a resurgence in the last generation or so of characters from classical mythology. The Greeks and Romans were polytheists (believers in many gods), not people of God’s covenant. They didn’t have the Scriptures and didn’t want them either! They preferred to make up their own accounts about the gods and ethereal life. They created these gods after their own image and according to their own personalities and behaviors.
They even fabricated many supernatural creatures which were composed of different parts of humans and animals. The Harpies were one of many examples of this. A Harpy was a rapacious and filthy monster with the body of a bird and the head of a woman. In Genesis 1 we learn that God created each species to produce after its own kind, thus denying this combination of different species. But when sinful man rejects the Word of God and goes his own way, he can’t help himself. He has to approve of what the Word of God decries.
If you watch sci-fi movies you’ve observed many a strange creature. Some are taken from mythology and some are imagined by the writers of the script. Even wonderful shows which promote Christianity have made use of mythological creatures. Just consider The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend these movies (and the books!) with no qualms. The mythological creatures are not promoted as reality. They are used to depict a mythological world, while teaching morality and fidelity and sound spiritual principles.
But you know, such creatures are not natural. They are escapees from the imagination of polytheists in a long ago time. The Greeks and Romans believed in such fantasies. That’s what happens when man’s mind rejects the Word of God in favor of its own imaginations. Out comes everything not of God, including such unsavory critters as the Harpies.
There is another thing which is unnatural, and Peter brought it to light in his second epistle. Ever since Father Adam sinned by disobeying the Word of God and eating fruit from the kogae tree, he and all his progeny—which includes you and me and every last human being—have been conceived in sin and born with a sin nature. That is what natural means for we humans today. A sin nature wants what the Bible forbids and rejects what the Bible applauds!
What is not natural for sinful man is to become partakers of the divine nature. That is about as unnatural as it gets! But that is just what Peter brought to light for the Christians. To become partakers of the divine nature is supernatural, beyond the ability of sinful nature. It can only be accomplished by grace through faith. It requires the One Who is above nature to intervene in nature to bring it to pass—aka a miracle.
God did this in the Person of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. If you read and meditate on 2 Peter 1:1-11, you will be taught considerable spiritual truth with respect to accomplishing the supernatural in your life. You will learn how to become partakers of the divine nature. Peter begins with faith, which is how we are born again in the first place, viz., by grace through faith. Whoever is born again already has the divine nature in him or her.
Peter wants each Christian to go beyond being born again, by maturing spiritually into holy men and women of God. When we’re born again we become spiritual babies who need to grow up just like in the natural realm. Peter enumerates seven qualities to add to our faith. By following this spiritual exercise regimen, we Christians can grow beyond the baby stage and mature spiritually. Here is Peter’s list of what each saint is to add to his or her faith (vv.5-7):
1. moral excellence
2. knowledge
3. self-control
4. perseverance
5. godliness
6. brotherly kindness
7. love
Why don’t we spend some time reading 2 Peter 1:1-11 and give special attention to how we can incorporate these seven qualities into our character. It will be well worth the effort.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
We have seen a resurgence in the last generation or so of characters from classical mythology. The Greeks and Romans were polytheists (believers in many gods), not people of God’s covenant. They didn’t have the Scriptures and didn’t want them either! They preferred to make up their own accounts about the gods and ethereal life. They created these gods after their own image and according to their own personalities and behaviors.
They even fabricated many supernatural creatures which were composed of different parts of humans and animals. The Harpies were one of many examples of this. A Harpy was a rapacious and filthy monster with the body of a bird and the head of a woman. In Genesis 1 we learn that God created each species to produce after its own kind, thus denying this combination of different species. But when sinful man rejects the Word of God and goes his own way, he can’t help himself. He has to approve of what the Word of God decries.
If you watch sci-fi movies you’ve observed many a strange creature. Some are taken from mythology and some are imagined by the writers of the script. Even wonderful shows which promote Christianity have made use of mythological creatures. Just consider The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend these movies (and the books!) with no qualms. The mythological creatures are not promoted as reality. They are used to depict a mythological world, while teaching morality and fidelity and sound spiritual principles.
But you know, such creatures are not natural. They are escapees from the imagination of polytheists in a long ago time. The Greeks and Romans believed in such fantasies. That’s what happens when man’s mind rejects the Word of God in favor of its own imaginations. Out comes everything not of God, including such unsavory critters as the Harpies.
There is another thing which is unnatural, and Peter brought it to light in his second epistle. Ever since Father Adam sinned by disobeying the Word of God and eating fruit from the kogae tree, he and all his progeny—which includes you and me and every last human being—have been conceived in sin and born with a sin nature. That is what natural means for we humans today. A sin nature wants what the Bible forbids and rejects what the Bible applauds!
What is not natural for sinful man is to become partakers of the divine nature. That is about as unnatural as it gets! But that is just what Peter brought to light for the Christians. To become partakers of the divine nature is supernatural, beyond the ability of sinful nature. It can only be accomplished by grace through faith. It requires the One Who is above nature to intervene in nature to bring it to pass—aka a miracle.
God did this in the Person of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. If you read and meditate on 2 Peter 1:1-11, you will be taught considerable spiritual truth with respect to accomplishing the supernatural in your life. You will learn how to become partakers of the divine nature. Peter begins with faith, which is how we are born again in the first place, viz., by grace through faith. Whoever is born again already has the divine nature in him or her.
Peter wants each Christian to go beyond being born again, by maturing spiritually into holy men and women of God. When we’re born again we become spiritual babies who need to grow up just like in the natural realm. Peter enumerates seven qualities to add to our faith. By following this spiritual exercise regimen, we Christians can grow beyond the baby stage and mature spiritually. Here is Peter’s list of what each saint is to add to his or her faith (vv.5-7):
1. moral excellence
2. knowledge
3. self-control
4. perseverance
5. godliness
6. brotherly kindness
7. love
Why don’t we spend some time reading 2 Peter 1:1-11 and give special attention to how we can incorporate these seven qualities into our character. It will be well worth the effort.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Busted!
(Israel asked the Lord), “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?”(The Lord answered), Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers [Isaiah 58:3].
I recall back in the day when I was a young tyke, barely knee-high to a grasshopper. I had a not so unusual way of obeying my dad. When he told me to clean my room, I did…sort of. Everything on the floor I swept under my bed. Everything on the chair and bed and dresser I tossed into the closet, abruptly closing the door behind the mess.
“Ah, I cleaned my room in short shrift,” I applauded myself. “Dad will certainly be pleased with my diligence in obeying his directions.” After all, when I looked around the room it appeared clean. I saw nothing out of place and in need of redirection. If possession is 90% of the law, appearance ought to be 90% of clean. Right?
Too bad for me I wasn’t the law. Dad was! And he didn’t buy what I was selling. He didn’t settle for poking his head through the door to have a look-see and settle on appearances. He had the audacity to actually enter my bedroom, open the closet door for a peek, and raise the bed skirt to see what was under the bed.
Busted! Dad knew my propensities better than I did. When I “cleaned” my room, I acted without thinking. Dad, contrariwise, recognized my puerile predilection for appearance over essence and cut to the chase. It didn’t take many of those inspections to learn that going through the motions in my obedience to Dad didn’t cut it. I learned to clean my room for real at a very early age.
In Isaiah’s day the Lord’s kids, the Israelites, behaved in much the same way to Father God’s instructions. They were very religious, you see. They tithed mint and cumin, dotted their “i’s” and crossed their “t’s”, and fasted at every conceivable opportunity. And then they parked their carcasses on all the street corners and every other high profile place, and prayed out loud to God, “See how good we are, God? No need to thank us. It’s our pleasure.”
Yes, indeed. These guys were holy rollers and Father God just had to be proud of them! Or were they? And was He? According to the Biblical text quoted at the start of this study, God wasn’t buying what they were selling. He actually had the audacity to enter their room, open the closet door for a closer look, and peer behind the bed skirt to discover the truth. Who’s He think He is anyway? The nerve of some people!
The Biblical text records Israel’s hurt feelings by the words “fasted” and “humbled ourselves”, while the Lord didn’t acknowledge the holiness of their behaviors. Despite the Israelites’ protest, it would seem the Lord had a good reason. His indictment of their religious activity was this: On the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers.
This means that, while the Israelites were going through the motions of fasting, they were cavorting in their own pleasures. They were also oppressing their fellow Israelites who worked for them. The whole point of fasting is to temporarily set aside our indulging of the flesh, in order to strengthen the spirit. In this manner we attempt to draw closer to the Lord in our personal relationship with Him.
The Israelites, you see, outwardly performed religious functions, but inwardly they were still living to please the flesh, to please themselves. Father God gave them quite specific instructions about obeying His Word, but only from the heart, only out of love for Him. They preferred to sweep the mess under the bed and hide it in the closet for appearances’ sake. In this way they had more time to please themselves. Alas for them, but Father God took a closer look into their hearts. Busted!
So how about you and me. Are we busted too? Or do we truly love the Lord and obey His Word as the outworking of our love for Him? It wouldn’t do to be busted at the Bema of Christ and lose our eternal rewards.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
I recall back in the day when I was a young tyke, barely knee-high to a grasshopper. I had a not so unusual way of obeying my dad. When he told me to clean my room, I did…sort of. Everything on the floor I swept under my bed. Everything on the chair and bed and dresser I tossed into the closet, abruptly closing the door behind the mess.
“Ah, I cleaned my room in short shrift,” I applauded myself. “Dad will certainly be pleased with my diligence in obeying his directions.” After all, when I looked around the room it appeared clean. I saw nothing out of place and in need of redirection. If possession is 90% of the law, appearance ought to be 90% of clean. Right?
Too bad for me I wasn’t the law. Dad was! And he didn’t buy what I was selling. He didn’t settle for poking his head through the door to have a look-see and settle on appearances. He had the audacity to actually enter my bedroom, open the closet door for a peek, and raise the bed skirt to see what was under the bed.
Busted! Dad knew my propensities better than I did. When I “cleaned” my room, I acted without thinking. Dad, contrariwise, recognized my puerile predilection for appearance over essence and cut to the chase. It didn’t take many of those inspections to learn that going through the motions in my obedience to Dad didn’t cut it. I learned to clean my room for real at a very early age.
In Isaiah’s day the Lord’s kids, the Israelites, behaved in much the same way to Father God’s instructions. They were very religious, you see. They tithed mint and cumin, dotted their “i’s” and crossed their “t’s”, and fasted at every conceivable opportunity. And then they parked their carcasses on all the street corners and every other high profile place, and prayed out loud to God, “See how good we are, God? No need to thank us. It’s our pleasure.”
Yes, indeed. These guys were holy rollers and Father God just had to be proud of them! Or were they? And was He? According to the Biblical text quoted at the start of this study, God wasn’t buying what they were selling. He actually had the audacity to enter their room, open the closet door for a closer look, and peer behind the bed skirt to discover the truth. Who’s He think He is anyway? The nerve of some people!
The Biblical text records Israel’s hurt feelings by the words “fasted” and “humbled ourselves”, while the Lord didn’t acknowledge the holiness of their behaviors. Despite the Israelites’ protest, it would seem the Lord had a good reason. His indictment of their religious activity was this: On the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers.
This means that, while the Israelites were going through the motions of fasting, they were cavorting in their own pleasures. They were also oppressing their fellow Israelites who worked for them. The whole point of fasting is to temporarily set aside our indulging of the flesh, in order to strengthen the spirit. In this manner we attempt to draw closer to the Lord in our personal relationship with Him.
The Israelites, you see, outwardly performed religious functions, but inwardly they were still living to please the flesh, to please themselves. Father God gave them quite specific instructions about obeying His Word, but only from the heart, only out of love for Him. They preferred to sweep the mess under the bed and hide it in the closet for appearances’ sake. In this way they had more time to please themselves. Alas for them, but Father God took a closer look into their hearts. Busted!
So how about you and me. Are we busted too? Or do we truly love the Lord and obey His Word as the outworking of our love for Him? It wouldn’t do to be busted at the Bema of Christ and lose our eternal rewards.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 1
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The phrase “the righteous will live by his faith” is quoted in the New Testament and is oft repeated. It is a key expression to express the Biblical concept of salvation by grace through faith. We would do well to give serious consideration to what the phrase teaches us about invisible spiritual reality.
There are three foundational positions for mankind to take in Scripture. Two of them wind up in the same place, while the other one finds eternal habitation in quite the opposite place. Here are the three:
1. pride
2. legality
3. faith
The first and third ones are presented in the quoted text with which we began this study. The other one, legality, isn’t. So let’s begin with it, shall we?
Leviticus 18: 5 reads,
So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.
The Apostle Paul quoted this verse in Galatians 3:12. The Lord verbally proclaimed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites from atop Mount Sinai. What with all the smoke and fire, lightning and thunder and earthquake, the Israelites were petrified with fear.
They demanded of Moses that he keep God away from them. Let Moses go and fetch the Word of God from Him and then return and repeat it to them. They pledged to do everything the Lord demanded of them. But don’t let God near them anymore or else they’d die!
Here was the Lord, desiring to create a personal relationship between the Israelites and Himself, and the Israelites wanted none of it. They preferred a more high church approach—you know, some clergy to stand between the Lord and them, leaving them to perform some rituals while the clergy did the personal relationship part.
So the Lord acquiesced and gave them His Law through Moses. The numerous rules and regulations did not comprise many “laws”, of which they could pick and choose which to obey and which to ignore. All of the regulations in the Law of Moses were an indivisible whole. Obey all of it perfectly all the time, or else be a lawbreaker and thus be unfit to live with the Lord.
Hence the Law was not given to save anyone because no sinner can obey all of it perfectly all the time without any failure. The Law was given to show sinful man with his proud heart that he cannot save himself. Ergo, he needs a Savior. That was the purpose of the Law of Moses, and it was given only to the Israelites while they lived in the Promised Land.
Nonetheless, the Israelites were determined to earn their own salvation. They were determined to have a relationship with the Lord by keeping the Law. When they failed to obey the Law perfectly all the time without failure even once, they didn’t get it. They figured the Lord must grade on a curve to accommodate them. Such is the usual and typical thought process of sinful man with respect to salvation. It stems from the pride which lurks in sinful man’s heart.
This is a fine location to camp for the night. Let’s pitch our tents here and spend time alone with the Lord Jesus before falling asleep. We will meet around the camp fire tomorrow to finish this study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Proud Lawyers and Humble Saints – Part 2
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith [Habakkuk 2:4].
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In our last study we noted three positions which man can take with regard to eternal life. Two of them were cited by Habakkuk in the verse we quoted above. The other one, legality, was not. We already gave the Scriptural presentation of legality. Now let’s consider the other two positions man can take vis-à-vis salvation and eternal life.
Habakkuk penned his words in response to the Babylonians. Those fierce warriors were having a heyday. The peoples of the world were falling before them. No one could resist their mighty military.
But they were some of the worst idolaters ever! They perceived all their worldly success and victories as their own achievement. They were big and bad. They were self-made men. They conquered one nation after another, and they cruelly abused those they conquered. They needn’t fear, however, because they were invincible.
This is spelled p-r-i-d-e, PRIDE, dear friends. It is utter arrogance, and a concomitant disdain for fellow man accompanies it. They had their pantheon of Babylonian gods, yes, but those gods should consider themselves lucky to have the Babylonians in their service. “Just look at all we accomplished by our own prowess!” was the motto on the Babylonian seal.
Such was the way of Babylon, when it came to their eternal destiny. They were self-achievers, not by obeying the gods and keeping a set of laws, but by doing what they felt like because they were just that good! If anyone would ever make it to heaven or paradise or nirvana or wherever eternal life was, you just know it had to be them.
So much for the second position man can take vis-à-vis eternal life. This position, pride, winds up in the same place as does the first position, legality. Both pride and legality embrace the belief that man deserves eternal life because he is just that good. He earns his own way because he is good enough to do everything the Lord says.
The third and final position is faith. Faith has nothing to do with pride or legality. Faith is the opposite of deserving or earning eternal life. Faith begins with certain spiritual truths:
1. every man is a sinner
2. the wages of sin is death
3. ergo, every man must die, i.e., not have eternal life
4. the only way out is via a Savior
5. the Savior has no sin of His own for which to die
6. the death of the Savior pays the penalty for others’ sins
7. accepting the Savior’s payment for my sins affords me eternal life
Biblical faith is the way I accept the Savior’s payment for my sins. I don’t do anything to earn eternal life. The Savior already accomplished it for me. I don’t deserve eternal life because I am a sinner who deserves eternal death. The Savior has eternal life and freely provides me with it. I simply accept the Savior’s offer by believing His Word, the Bible. Voilà! Biblical faith.
We conclude our presentation of the three positions man can take with regard to eternal life. Which one do you take?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Leviticus: Volume 3 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Spiritual Amnesiacs – Part 1
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Colossians 3:1, 3-4].
He was a most pathetic character indeed. He got up in the morning and didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know where he came from. For that matter he didn’t even know where he was! Sounds like a cartoon or a joke, right? Wrong! It’s called amnesia.
Sometimes amnesia is mental, other times physical. Sometimes it is accident related, other times emotional due to shock. Sometimes amnesia occurs as a symptom of illness. Anyone knowing a poor unfortunate with Alzheimer’s Disease abruptly recognizes their memory problems. Stroke victims don’t only face loss of motor skills. They sometimes encounter memory malfunction.
How horrible not to remember a foundational part of one’s life. What must go through the minds of those still in their right senses, as far as recognizing the reality around them, yet they don’t recall their name or where they’re at or what they should be doing. Could anything be more disconcerting, dear friends?
Yes, I can think of something much more disconcerting. Spiritual amnesia is qualitatively more disconcerting! The problem with spiritual amnesia, what makes it so devastating to life, is that those afflicted with it don’t know they have it.
In the natural realm amnesiacs know that they don’t know. They recognize that something’s amiss. In the spiritual realm amnesiacs go right on thinking all is well with the world, when in fact all is anything but well.
The reason for this discrepancy between amnesia in the natural realm versus in the spiritual realm is simple. We live and breath and conduct our lives in the natural realm. I mean, if we didn’t we would no longer be in the natural realm. We would have died already and gone into eternity! Ergo, since we function in the natural realm, we recognize when our natural functioning is out of kilter.
Alas, but this isn’t necessarily the case with our spiritual functioning. Even more, it isn’t usually the case, which is what makes it so dangerous and life-threatening. When we become new creations, born again as spiritual recreations, we are still in our natural bodies in time, space, and matter.
Before a person is born again, he functions only naturally. Christians function both naturally and spiritually. Any person, including a Christian, can easily enough function naturally. After all, it’s natural! A Christian must attempt to function spiritually because it doesn’t happen naturally.
To function spiritually a person must first be born again. Next the person must grow up as a new creation. He must mature spiritually. He must stop being conformed to this world and instead be transformed by the renewing of his mind, so that he recognizes what the good and perfect will of God is (cf., Romans 12:1-2).
We will press the pause button here and call it a day. See you tomorrow. Enjoy Jesus today!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
He was a most pathetic character indeed. He got up in the morning and didn’t know who he was. He didn’t know where he came from. For that matter he didn’t even know where he was! Sounds like a cartoon or a joke, right? Wrong! It’s called amnesia.
Sometimes amnesia is mental, other times physical. Sometimes it is accident related, other times emotional due to shock. Sometimes amnesia occurs as a symptom of illness. Anyone knowing a poor unfortunate with Alzheimer’s Disease abruptly recognizes their memory problems. Stroke victims don’t only face loss of motor skills. They sometimes encounter memory malfunction.
How horrible not to remember a foundational part of one’s life. What must go through the minds of those still in their right senses, as far as recognizing the reality around them, yet they don’t recall their name or where they’re at or what they should be doing. Could anything be more disconcerting, dear friends?
Yes, I can think of something much more disconcerting. Spiritual amnesia is qualitatively more disconcerting! The problem with spiritual amnesia, what makes it so devastating to life, is that those afflicted with it don’t know they have it.
In the natural realm amnesiacs know that they don’t know. They recognize that something’s amiss. In the spiritual realm amnesiacs go right on thinking all is well with the world, when in fact all is anything but well.
The reason for this discrepancy between amnesia in the natural realm versus in the spiritual realm is simple. We live and breath and conduct our lives in the natural realm. I mean, if we didn’t we would no longer be in the natural realm. We would have died already and gone into eternity! Ergo, since we function in the natural realm, we recognize when our natural functioning is out of kilter.
Alas, but this isn’t necessarily the case with our spiritual functioning. Even more, it isn’t usually the case, which is what makes it so dangerous and life-threatening. When we become new creations, born again as spiritual recreations, we are still in our natural bodies in time, space, and matter.
Before a person is born again, he functions only naturally. Christians function both naturally and spiritually. Any person, including a Christian, can easily enough function naturally. After all, it’s natural! A Christian must attempt to function spiritually because it doesn’t happen naturally.
To function spiritually a person must first be born again. Next the person must grow up as a new creation. He must mature spiritually. He must stop being conformed to this world and instead be transformed by the renewing of his mind, so that he recognizes what the good and perfect will of God is (cf., Romans 12:1-2).
We will press the pause button here and call it a day. See you tomorrow. Enjoy Jesus today!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Spiritual Amnesiacs – Part 2
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Colossians 3:1, 3-4].
In our last study we were discussing being born again and then growing up spiritually. Let’s continue with this discussion now.
The born again part is known as justification. The growing up part is called sanctification. The born again part occurs as a one time act, just as being born is a one time act. The spiritual growing up part is a continuous process for the rest of our lives, just as is the case of growing up in the natural realm.
And therein lies the problem, dear friends. Not many Christians realize this fact of spiritual life. It is common in the churches to exhort folks to come to the front of the church and “receive Jesus”. When they do so they are patted on the back, given a certificate which declares they are now born again, and sent to the pews to live as good old boys in the church.
Once or twice a year they are subjected to a “revival” service, where they are excoriated for sitting on the pews! They weren’t saved to sit on a pew, you know. They need to get up and get busy! What are they to get busy doing? Your guess is as good as mine. Just stop sitting in a pew and start serving Jesus, y’all hear?
Yep, that is known as revival in the churches. Poor Jesus had to suffer horrifically to get us into heaven. Will we dare repay Him by sitting on a pew like a bump on a log? The shame of it all. Repent, you scalawags! Show Jesus you really love Him. Get busy.
Seems like any ol’ good work is appropriate, so long as we get busy. Trouble is, that is not in the b-i-b-l-e, BIBLE! As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Hmm. I have a novel idea. Maybe we should find out what the Bible wants from newly born again folks, rather than bury them alive under a pile of guilt feelings and send them off half-cocked to “serve Jesus”, whatever that means.
Perhaps church leaders—that would be us, my fellow preachers and teachers—perhaps we might want to read Ephesians 4:11-16 to see how the Bible instructs us to rear the spiritual young’uns under our care. The Holy Spirit gifts each Christian with at least one spiritual gift. This gift defines what ministry the Lord assigns the Christian.
It is the job of church leaders to teach this novel concept to the young’uns, not intimidate them into getting busy for Jesus. We need to be familiar with spiritual gifts, so we can help Christians to discover theirs and know how to direct them in putting them into use in the church. Think that might work? Hmm…
This would be a fine time to reflect on the subject at hand. Let’s call it a day and meet with Jesus for a spell. See you back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In our last study we were discussing being born again and then growing up spiritually. Let’s continue with this discussion now.
The born again part is known as justification. The growing up part is called sanctification. The born again part occurs as a one time act, just as being born is a one time act. The spiritual growing up part is a continuous process for the rest of our lives, just as is the case of growing up in the natural realm.
And therein lies the problem, dear friends. Not many Christians realize this fact of spiritual life. It is common in the churches to exhort folks to come to the front of the church and “receive Jesus”. When they do so they are patted on the back, given a certificate which declares they are now born again, and sent to the pews to live as good old boys in the church.
Once or twice a year they are subjected to a “revival” service, where they are excoriated for sitting on the pews! They weren’t saved to sit on a pew, you know. They need to get up and get busy! What are they to get busy doing? Your guess is as good as mine. Just stop sitting in a pew and start serving Jesus, y’all hear?
Yep, that is known as revival in the churches. Poor Jesus had to suffer horrifically to get us into heaven. Will we dare repay Him by sitting on a pew like a bump on a log? The shame of it all. Repent, you scalawags! Show Jesus you really love Him. Get busy.
Seems like any ol’ good work is appropriate, so long as we get busy. Trouble is, that is not in the b-i-b-l-e, BIBLE! As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Hmm. I have a novel idea. Maybe we should find out what the Bible wants from newly born again folks, rather than bury them alive under a pile of guilt feelings and send them off half-cocked to “serve Jesus”, whatever that means.
Perhaps church leaders—that would be us, my fellow preachers and teachers—perhaps we might want to read Ephesians 4:11-16 to see how the Bible instructs us to rear the spiritual young’uns under our care. The Holy Spirit gifts each Christian with at least one spiritual gift. This gift defines what ministry the Lord assigns the Christian.
It is the job of church leaders to teach this novel concept to the young’uns, not intimidate them into getting busy for Jesus. We need to be familiar with spiritual gifts, so we can help Christians to discover theirs and know how to direct them in putting them into use in the church. Think that might work? Hmm…
This would be a fine time to reflect on the subject at hand. Let’s call it a day and meet with Jesus for a spell. See you back here tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Spiritual Amnesiacs – Part 3
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Colossians 3:1, 3-4].
Rather than push immature Christians into active duty, it might serve the Lord’s purpose better to put them through boot camp first. Let’s continue discussing our topic now.
In the text quoted at the start of this study, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Colosse. As he did in all his epistles, so too did Paul in his letter to the Colossians. He began with doctrinal teaching, with theological instruction about what it means to become a Christian and be a part of the Body of Christ, His Church.
After submitting his teaching portion of his letters to the churches, Paul finished them with practical instruction for living as a Christian. First we need to know who we are, you see, and then we need to realize what this means for us in day-to-day living. This bears a strong resemblance to Paul’s directions to church leaders in Ephesians 4, to which we made reference already.
Paul didn’t pounce on the young Christians like a ravenous lion, threatening to make them his lunch if they didn’t get busy serving Jesus! He instructed them as to what it means to be a Christian. Then he directed them as to how they were to conduct themselves in their daily living.
It will never suffice for actual Christian living, to install programs and activities in the church in order to draw in new pew-sitters. This contemporary approach to “church growth” is about as intelligent as attempting to have a family by purchasing a half-dozen mannequins, and then lecturing them to get busy and help out with the family responsibilities. Yea, that’ll work.
Indeed! It might be easier than getting along with a spouse, while suffering through the teenage years with real kids. But I bet you a barn full of cows the kids will never amount to much! Rearing kids and having a family is hard work. So too is rearing a congregation from birth through spiritual maturity.
When the emphasis is on first being born again and then getting busy for Jesus, spiritual amnesia follows almost automatically. It is like a baby in the crib. The little thing cries. So its diaper is changed and a nipple is stuffed in its mouth. The dear soul sucks himself full, gurgles and burps, then falls asleep. When nappy time is over, he repeats his routine: cry, diaper, nipple, gurgle, burp, sleep.
Can you imagine mom and dad rudely awakening the little tot from his sleep, then growl at him to stop lying in the crib. After all, he should get up and get busy helping out with the house cleaning and cutting the grass. He might only be 4 months old, but that’s no excuse!
Pardon my fun, but I can’t help myself. Sometimes we Christians are so outrageous in our thinking, it’s inexplicable! Especially when we have Bibles we can read in a cudzillion different translations. I hear a voice from heaven thundering, “Pick one up and read.” Novel thought anyway.
Let’s pause on that note and sleep on it. Oh, we might want to talk with Jesus about it before sleeping on it. Catch you again tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Rather than push immature Christians into active duty, it might serve the Lord’s purpose better to put them through boot camp first. Let’s continue discussing our topic now.
In the text quoted at the start of this study, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in the city of Colosse. As he did in all his epistles, so too did Paul in his letter to the Colossians. He began with doctrinal teaching, with theological instruction about what it means to become a Christian and be a part of the Body of Christ, His Church.
After submitting his teaching portion of his letters to the churches, Paul finished them with practical instruction for living as a Christian. First we need to know who we are, you see, and then we need to realize what this means for us in day-to-day living. This bears a strong resemblance to Paul’s directions to church leaders in Ephesians 4, to which we made reference already.
Paul didn’t pounce on the young Christians like a ravenous lion, threatening to make them his lunch if they didn’t get busy serving Jesus! He instructed them as to what it means to be a Christian. Then he directed them as to how they were to conduct themselves in their daily living.
It will never suffice for actual Christian living, to install programs and activities in the church in order to draw in new pew-sitters. This contemporary approach to “church growth” is about as intelligent as attempting to have a family by purchasing a half-dozen mannequins, and then lecturing them to get busy and help out with the family responsibilities. Yea, that’ll work.
Indeed! It might be easier than getting along with a spouse, while suffering through the teenage years with real kids. But I bet you a barn full of cows the kids will never amount to much! Rearing kids and having a family is hard work. So too is rearing a congregation from birth through spiritual maturity.
When the emphasis is on first being born again and then getting busy for Jesus, spiritual amnesia follows almost automatically. It is like a baby in the crib. The little thing cries. So its diaper is changed and a nipple is stuffed in its mouth. The dear soul sucks himself full, gurgles and burps, then falls asleep. When nappy time is over, he repeats his routine: cry, diaper, nipple, gurgle, burp, sleep.
Can you imagine mom and dad rudely awakening the little tot from his sleep, then growl at him to stop lying in the crib. After all, he should get up and get busy helping out with the house cleaning and cutting the grass. He might only be 4 months old, but that’s no excuse!
Pardon my fun, but I can’t help myself. Sometimes we Christians are so outrageous in our thinking, it’s inexplicable! Especially when we have Bibles we can read in a cudzillion different translations. I hear a voice from heaven thundering, “Pick one up and read.” Novel thought anyway.
Let’s pause on that note and sleep on it. Oh, we might want to talk with Jesus about it before sleeping on it. Catch you again tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Spiritual Amnesiacs – Part 4
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Colossians 3:1, 3-4].
The Church grows in numbers when people are born again. Yet that only begins the story. Each Christian must spiritually mature, just as in the natural realm a baby is born and then must physically mature. The Lord gave parents to teach the babies how to mature. He gives church leaders to rear newly born again Christians into spiritual maturity.
If we don’t want our folks to develop spiritual amnesia, dear pastors and teachers and other church leaders, then we must spiritually rear them into mature men and women of God. This cannot be done apart from the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible.
Man’s words about the Bible will do no better than fill their brains with sawdust and ashes. The living Word of God alone can reach their hearts and transform them into the image of Jesus. Without daily quiet time alone with Jesus in prayer and Bible, no personal relationship with the Lord can be cultivated. There is no substitute for this.
Countless church functions and activities only make for a busy beaver congregation. Such a church appears super duper, but they are really only “getting busy serving Jesus”…before they even know Jesus! They are kindergartners who have been sent to establish a new nation in the Promised Land. Such an approach only leads to forty years of wilderness wanderings in the School of Hard Knocks.
To prevent spiritual amnesia was Paul’s goal in his letter to the Colossians. Paul’s cure is best served as preventative medicine. Stop the disease before it even gets started. If it ever does take root, the only deliverance is to give the cure after the fact and hope it succeeds.
Alas, but too often spiritual amnesia keeps the poor afflicted souls from recognizing they have a problem. Hence they aren’t much amenable to the suggestion they take the cure. They’ve become imbued with the practice of “getting busy serving Jesus”. Now that they do so to one extent or another, they are convinced all is right with God. So why fix something when it ain’t broke? (Pardon my French.)
Okay, so what is Paul’s preventative medicine to ward off spiritual amnesia? Listen:
• you have been raised up with Christ
• keep seeking the things above
• you have died
• your life is hidden with Christ in God
• Christ…is our life
• when Christ…is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory
Heady stuff, that. Yet it is so very practical. If I don’t want to lust after every skirt which passes by, then I need to turn my eyes in a direction away from the passing skirts. If I don’t want to feel cheated because I don’t have as many toys as my neighbor, then I need to turn my eyes in a direction away from my neighbor’s toys. If I don’t…well, enough of that. We all get the point.
Stop looking at the world and the things of the world and longing for them. Stop spending day-after-day dwelling on the things we want to buy, the places we want to go, the movies we want to see, the restaurants where we want to eat. Stop focusing on the earth and start fixing our gaze on Jesus.
We will finish this topic in our next study. Jesus is Lord! Let’s bow to Him now and enjoy His presence a while.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The Church grows in numbers when people are born again. Yet that only begins the story. Each Christian must spiritually mature, just as in the natural realm a baby is born and then must physically mature. The Lord gave parents to teach the babies how to mature. He gives church leaders to rear newly born again Christians into spiritual maturity.
If we don’t want our folks to develop spiritual amnesia, dear pastors and teachers and other church leaders, then we must spiritually rear them into mature men and women of God. This cannot be done apart from the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible.
Man’s words about the Bible will do no better than fill their brains with sawdust and ashes. The living Word of God alone can reach their hearts and transform them into the image of Jesus. Without daily quiet time alone with Jesus in prayer and Bible, no personal relationship with the Lord can be cultivated. There is no substitute for this.
Countless church functions and activities only make for a busy beaver congregation. Such a church appears super duper, but they are really only “getting busy serving Jesus”…before they even know Jesus! They are kindergartners who have been sent to establish a new nation in the Promised Land. Such an approach only leads to forty years of wilderness wanderings in the School of Hard Knocks.
To prevent spiritual amnesia was Paul’s goal in his letter to the Colossians. Paul’s cure is best served as preventative medicine. Stop the disease before it even gets started. If it ever does take root, the only deliverance is to give the cure after the fact and hope it succeeds.
Alas, but too often spiritual amnesia keeps the poor afflicted souls from recognizing they have a problem. Hence they aren’t much amenable to the suggestion they take the cure. They’ve become imbued with the practice of “getting busy serving Jesus”. Now that they do so to one extent or another, they are convinced all is right with God. So why fix something when it ain’t broke? (Pardon my French.)
Okay, so what is Paul’s preventative medicine to ward off spiritual amnesia? Listen:
• you have been raised up with Christ
• keep seeking the things above
• you have died
• your life is hidden with Christ in God
• Christ…is our life
• when Christ…is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory
Heady stuff, that. Yet it is so very practical. If I don’t want to lust after every skirt which passes by, then I need to turn my eyes in a direction away from the passing skirts. If I don’t want to feel cheated because I don’t have as many toys as my neighbor, then I need to turn my eyes in a direction away from my neighbor’s toys. If I don’t…well, enough of that. We all get the point.
Stop looking at the world and the things of the world and longing for them. Stop spending day-after-day dwelling on the things we want to buy, the places we want to go, the movies we want to see, the restaurants where we want to eat. Stop focusing on the earth and start fixing our gaze on Jesus.
We will finish this topic in our next study. Jesus is Lord! Let’s bow to Him now and enjoy His presence a while.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Spiritual Amnesiacs – Part 5
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God…For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory [Colossians 3:1, 3-4].
To mature, a newborn Christian must be transformed by the renewing of his mind (cf., Romans 12:2). This is really a simple concept. Stop focusing on the things of the world and instead focus on the things of God. This comes from daily time alone with Jesus, spent in prayer and Bible.
Jesus is “seated at the right hand of God”. We died, which means we no longer live. The old man—he who was born naturally as a sinner—died. It’s what happens when we are born again. The old man spent his time dwelling on the earth and focusing on the things of the world. The new man doesn’t live for such things. Really. I mean it. Really.
If we Christians are so caught up in our affluence and the things of this world, it should tell us something. We should recognize from this symptom that the old man is controlling us. The new man is missing in action. If we cannot recognize this, then we can be sure we suffer from spiritual amnesia. It’s that plain and simple, dear friends.
We died, and dead people aren’t supposed to be in control. To remedy this, we first need to realize that the old life is dead. Then we need to realize what the old life is, so that we keep it buried in the tomb. Next we need to fix our gaze above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. After all, we are “in Christ” so we are there too.
It would be silly of me to go to another land and culture, and attempt to live the way I live here. I may want to eat Tombstone Sausage Pizza for supper in the new country, but they might not have any! I may want to take a hot shower when I wake up, but there may not be one! How pathetic it would be to mope about all day every day, dwelling on Tombstone Sausage Pizza and hot showers, huh?
So too is it with the Christian. We died as mere mortals who live for the earth, who feed the natural lusts of the body. We rose out of death “in Christ” and ascended into heaven in Him. We are seated at God’s right hand “in Christ”. We need to reestablish our wants and desires to fit our new culture and country, viz., up above, heaven.
Oh, there is one more part of the medicinal cure for spiritual amnesia. Paul educated the Colossians,
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Even though we are temporarily housed in this worldly tent on the earth, it won’t be long before Jesus will come again and take us to Himself, that where He is we may be also. Hallelujah! Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
This being the case—and it is a certainty, dear friends—shouldn’t we keep the old man of the earth in the grave? Shouldn’t we want to acclimate ourselves for the glories of our new life in heaven? We indeed should…unless spiritual amnesia keeps these realities out of sight and out of mind.
We died, dear Christians. The new man lives. He is Christ, our life. He lived for heaven while He walked this earth, and He is in heaven now and still living for heaven. Since He is our life, how can we live any differently? We can’t…unless the old man is in control.
Let’s take the cure. Let’s be gone with spiritual amnesia. Let’s refocus our living from the earth to heaven, from affluence and toys to Jesus and new life. What say ye?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
To mature, a newborn Christian must be transformed by the renewing of his mind (cf., Romans 12:2). This is really a simple concept. Stop focusing on the things of the world and instead focus on the things of God. This comes from daily time alone with Jesus, spent in prayer and Bible.
Jesus is “seated at the right hand of God”. We died, which means we no longer live. The old man—he who was born naturally as a sinner—died. It’s what happens when we are born again. The old man spent his time dwelling on the earth and focusing on the things of the world. The new man doesn’t live for such things. Really. I mean it. Really.
If we Christians are so caught up in our affluence and the things of this world, it should tell us something. We should recognize from this symptom that the old man is controlling us. The new man is missing in action. If we cannot recognize this, then we can be sure we suffer from spiritual amnesia. It’s that plain and simple, dear friends.
We died, and dead people aren’t supposed to be in control. To remedy this, we first need to realize that the old life is dead. Then we need to realize what the old life is, so that we keep it buried in the tomb. Next we need to fix our gaze above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. After all, we are “in Christ” so we are there too.
It would be silly of me to go to another land and culture, and attempt to live the way I live here. I may want to eat Tombstone Sausage Pizza for supper in the new country, but they might not have any! I may want to take a hot shower when I wake up, but there may not be one! How pathetic it would be to mope about all day every day, dwelling on Tombstone Sausage Pizza and hot showers, huh?
So too is it with the Christian. We died as mere mortals who live for the earth, who feed the natural lusts of the body. We rose out of death “in Christ” and ascended into heaven in Him. We are seated at God’s right hand “in Christ”. We need to reestablish our wants and desires to fit our new culture and country, viz., up above, heaven.
Oh, there is one more part of the medicinal cure for spiritual amnesia. Paul educated the Colossians,
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
Even though we are temporarily housed in this worldly tent on the earth, it won’t be long before Jesus will come again and take us to Himself, that where He is we may be also. Hallelujah! Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
This being the case—and it is a certainty, dear friends—shouldn’t we keep the old man of the earth in the grave? Shouldn’t we want to acclimate ourselves for the glories of our new life in heaven? We indeed should…unless spiritual amnesia keeps these realities out of sight and out of mind.
We died, dear Christians. The new man lives. He is Christ, our life. He lived for heaven while He walked this earth, and He is in heaven now and still living for heaven. Since He is our life, how can we live any differently? We can’t…unless the old man is in control.
Let’s take the cure. Let’s be gone with spiritual amnesia. Let’s refocus our living from the earth to heaven, from affluence and toys to Jesus and new life. What say ye?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
