Be back on 1/11/2010 with 1 Thessalonians 1

Have a very merry Christmas!

I'll be back with morning messages when daily worship resumes on 1/11/2010.

Snow Policy

We will have church, Lord willing, every Sunday, but we ask that you make a wise and cautious decision concern your own participation given your location and the road conditions.

Colossians 4

We have a Master in heaven. No matter how many people we may rule on earth, we are not the ruler over Jesus Christ. Having a master over us, should we consider our position to be unfortunate? That depends entirely on the one who is our ruler. There is no better master than Jesus. What kind of master is willing to give his life for someone who is his servant? This is what Jesus has done for us. Can there be any doubt of His affection for us and His commitment to us.

Not only do we have the best of all masters, but our Master is in heaven, at the center of all rule and authority, with a Name that is above every other name in heaven or on earth. When we recognize His presence with us, we are forced to consider a very mysterious fact: that Jesus, who is at the right hand of the Father in a realm that is somehow beyond us, nonetheless assures us that He is with us with all His divine power and love. We acknowledge this when we pray. His ear is not too far away to hear us, and His embrace reaches us though His Word, His sacrament, and through the arms of love stretched toward us in the body of Christ.

The progress of growth is an amazing thing to consider. As with Christ, in the church we have a community that is a heavenly entity, and yet we are near it and in it on earth. For any of the nations of the world, there was once a day when the body of the Lord’s worshippers had virtually no expression within that land. Then God opened a door for the Word in that place, and those who had been sent out to preach went through that door. When men preached, people heard and believed, and they were brought into the body of Christ.

The message that the church declares is called here “the mystery of Christ.” It is a mystery not because we are unclear how it is going to end, but because something that was once hidden has now been so clearly revealed. All of the many Old Testament references to the coming Messiah and to the facts of His death and resurrection have now become wonderfully alive to so many people. It is as if the mystery was solved in the coming of Jesus and in the events of our redemption. Now we revel in the wonder of the clear revelation of our rescue from the bondage of sin.

Meanwhile, there are so many that have still not heard this message, and many more have not really embraced it. This heavenly institution, the church, is living in a world where there are many outsiders to the kingdom of heaven. We need to conduct ourselves wisely here, for we are representatives of the Messiah. That means that we have a job to do, and we cannot waste the brief years of our lives that remain. Our speech should be seasoned with the truth of God’s covenant love and grace, the salt of our sacrificial offering of our lives for God’s purposes. We undertake this mission together with others with whom we have a vital Christian connection.

There are men like Tychicus in our lives who are brothers in Christ and faithful servants in the Lord. They come bearing the news of others who preach the Word, and of many who have heard and believed that message of Christ. There are others like Onesimus who have come from our own churches and who have been sent out as the Lord’s representatives to other lands. We are always happy to hear of their progress and we pray for them in their various trials and victories.

There are even men like Paul and Aristarchus that may be detained for a season by civil authorities who have mistakenly come to the conclusion that it will be wise to stop the progress of the church through the imprisonment of the teachers of the faith. There are gospel companions like Mark, Barnabas, and Luke, who we read about in other places, as the Lord brings us through such a variety of life experiences in His service, strengthening the bonds of lasting affection among those who are committed to the Word of the Lord.

There are many whose names and stories we do not know, but we understand that they labor in prayer for us. They want to see us growing in Christ as those who would be eager to follow the Lord’s will in difficult situations. In addition to these individuals there are whole churches about which we know very little, yet we have Christ as our common bond, and we wish them well. No matter what we know or do not know about such bodies, we can rightly ask the Lord that all of the gatherings of those who worship Him would think and live more and more according to His Word.

In all of our acts of service in support of this worldwide community of the kingdom of heaven, we hope to faithfully fulfill the charge that God has given to us. The service we give to others is an expression of the divine love of the One who was utterly faithful, even to the point of His death on the cross. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. If we suffer in a heavenly cause, we will not lose. If our days end in the prisons of men, we have a home for us where Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father. The fact of a glorious eternity even now reserved for us in heaven, if embraced with the fullness of the soul, is enough to turn our chains into badges of honor that the whole church can consider together with some measure of joy. The Lord’s grace has been won for us through the cross, and that same grace will abound, and will be with us forever.

Colossians 3

We live on earth, and earth is quite a place to be. There is so much to see here, and so many people to enjoy. This is also a place with a serious problem. Sin and the judgment of God have taken a toll on the earth. There is something within us that longs for some other place, some other age, some other person or God who will make things right. We are told that God “has put eternity into man’s heart” in such a way that man “cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). There appears to be a universal yearning for something more, though we perhaps suppress this desire in our denial of God. But for those who have the wonder of Christ in us, the hope of glory, there is no need to deny Christ, and no sense in ignoring glory.

There is a realm of glory, an age of eternity, and a person who is the Lord of both. We have been raised with Him, and it is our great privilege to seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. For so many important reasons we should set our minds on things that are above in heavenly realms, rather than longing for things on the earth, where the most durable treasures still decay. It is a true principle that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). In our union with Christ in His death, in some sense we have truly died, and yet we live. Not only do we still have as many days remaining here as the Lord wills, but more than that, our life is even now somehow above in heavenly realms, where Christ the Son of God lives and reigns. He will return from that place as He has promised, and we will appear with Him in His glory. This is something we should be thinking about regularly and specifically.

It is not as if men have nothing else to think about on earth. We can think about all the pleasures that this world affords, many of which may involve immorality, and might be an offense against our God and against our new life that we have been granted in Christ. We need to see these kinds of idolatrous lusts as something of our old life that is now dead through the death of Jesus on the cross. There is a way of thinking, speaking, and living that must be put off now, and there is a new way of honest love, a new way of heavenly society that we need to pursue more fully here below. As we hear the Word of God, the self is being renewed with resurrection life, and we are made by the Spirit of God to be more like Jesus Christ.

Whether we are Jew or Gentile, or any other way that we might define ourselves according to the categories that the world uses to segment people, these things are nothing compared to the eternal fact of our citizenship in realms of glory as God’s chosen people. This realization has great earthly significance. The root of our lives has been planted in the soil of heaven in Christ’s ascension, and the fruit of Christ-like meekness and love should fill the earth wherever we go. As the church lives in the world, we should leave our Savior’s fingerprints of life on everything we touch. This is the way to live out heavenly peace in a place that seems to be far too ready for a fight.

We have also been called to have unusually thankful hearts before the Lord who saved us by His blood. When we refuse to be thankful, we unnecessarily invite trouble into our lives. The alternative to that kind of disorder and disappointment is to let our hearts be filled with the Word of our ascended Lord, who is singing to us in the Scriptures of the glory of that realm above. In the voice that comes from the heavenly Word that rings in our hearts we have the message that we need, a message that not only corrects our idolatrous immorality, but also teaches us about a better way of life, a life of thankfulness to which we have been called.

This way of life does not resist that structures of authority that we have here on earth, but joyfully submits to the pattern of husband and wife, parent and child, superior officer and obedient foot soldier. Whatever our position may be, we can live it out in appropriate respect for those who are in some sense above us, and with generous love toward those who are in some sense below us. This life is a gift from God for us, an opportunity, and if we have to suffer in it for a time, we know that in just a little while we will be in that other realm with Jesus Christ. It is our joy to please Him now as we consider what He has reserved for us above.

In every opportunity for honest work and gentle service, the wounds that we bind on earth are somehow an expression of our care for the One who was wounded for our transgressions. There is some mysterious representation between the ones we love and care for here, and the One who loves us forever in the heavens. He feels the kindness of a gentle embrace. He hears the word that is spoken in love. He receives the gifts that we give to the weak and the poor, and none of this is forgotten in the heavens. We serve the Man of Sorrows when we serve the weak. He has already given the full measure of His love in winning heaven for us through the cross. He knows how to repay us for any act of resurrection love to which we give ourselves in His Name today.

Colossians 2

Our love for the Lord’s church often begins with those whom we know and have seen face to face, but it cannot end there. We desire the very best for all in the body of Christ throughout the world, and there can be no question about what the best is that we seek for all. It is not merely riches, comforts, friendship, safety, or the appearance of spiritual wisdom or self-restraint. More than all these good gifts we want Christ, both for our own lives and for all the churches that we have heard of, and even those of whom we may have no knowledge at present.

Paul speaks of his earnest struggle for churches of which he may have had very little personal knowledge. It is a striking fact that the growth of the first century church was way beyond the capacity of any of her greatest apostolic leaders to keep up with. How much more so is this the case in the centuries that follow and especially in our day. We regularly hear some small bits of information about the progress of the message of Christ in far-off continents. How many churches are we completely unaware of? Even if we receive some correspondence from a body of believers in far-off lands, we do not even know whether the message is trustworthy. Yet the Head of the church, the Lord Jesus, knows all of His people.

In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. It is Christ who makes all the difference between the way of truth and some false spiritual pathway that can only lead to the dead-end of idolatry. Some of the false roads look very impressive. Yet they turn out to be only a painted backdrop on an empty stage, devoid of real life. But we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, the Author of all that is. It is ours to walk in Him as those who have fellowship with the living God.

Christ is better than any philosophy or any rigorous program of ceremonial or moral discipline. He is God. All that is God dwells in Him. Yet He is also man, so that the fullness of deity dwells within Him bodily, and now He has a resurrection human body. Though He is a man, the days of His humiliation are over. He is the head over all rule and authority.

Our union with Him is a glorious fact. When he was cut off from the body of God’s covenant people in the ultimate fulfillment of circumcision, that is through His death on the cross, we were in Him in that death, and it was the death of death for us. When His body was placed in a borrowed grave, we were united to Him, for we were buried with Him. When He rose from that grave, we were with Him in His resurrection. Every sacrament of the Old or New Covenant that gave a visible expression to the reality of being a part of the covenant people of God, whether circumcision or baptism, finds its ultimate fulfillment in this: that we who deserved the wrath of God have been saved from that fate because the Son of God was cast off for our sake, and we have been kept in the people of God in Him. We are united with Christ, and Christ is in us.

This is not merely a ceremonial fact, as important as ceremonies may be. It has become an eternal reality. We experience the fact of spiritual life even now, and there is so much more yet to come. Without this great blessing, our record against God, the debt that we could never pay, would all still be standing against us. But now that record has been cancelled. The legal demands of God are not against us any longer. They were nailed to the cross, and we are free and forgiven in Christ. No fallen angel can win a case in God’s courtroom against us, since our record is spotless because of Christ’s impeccable righteousness. Quite the opposite, the cross that is our good news says nothing good about the one who first said to Eve, “You shall not surely die.” He and His league of allies have been publicly exposed by the dying love of God for sinners, a plan that they have always hated, which has now come to pass, and has been proven successful in the resurrection of Jesus.

Having Christ, we have no good reason to return to any man-made system of ceremonial acceptability. What we eat or what we do not eat cannot do what only Christ has done through the cross. There is no holy calendar that we could observe that could make us holy, but the blood of Christ has accomplished that task with much righteousness to spare. There is no other special spiritual relationship or knowledge that will ever pass as a valid Christ substitute. The most rigorous program of fleshly denial is still only a fraud that may appear successful to those who imagine that something that we don’t do will finally make us safe in the Lord’s house. We have something much better than secret experiences or any number of rules that say, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch.” We have Christ, and we are in the body of Christ.

The Head of this body is the one through whom all life comes. The body itself is composed of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation, even from places where we have never been. We have precious eternal connections with people we have not yet see, though they too are in Christ as we are in Christ. We simply will not give up this great Christ, the Lord of immortality, for human rules and philosophies that must perish, and He will never give up on us. We cannot choose some other supposed savior from the varied options of self-made religion. The Lord of glory died for us, and has secured for us the riches of heaven. A lifeless idol, or a human philosophy, cannot love us as He has loved us, and cannot raise us up as He has raised us.

Colossians 1

It is such a great blessing that there are those servants who have brought to us a true Word from the Lord by the will of God. That word is full of the grace and peace of God which has been won for us at great cost by Jesus Christ. God uses that word as a call to our souls, doing a spiritual work that enlivens the faith of the Lord’s people and their love for Him and for all those who belong to Him.

This Word that comes by the will of God through His messengers excites our imagination concerning the life to come as we consider the hope that is laid up for us in the present heaven. The story of heaven is a part of the good news, the truth that we have heard and believed. This good news bears fruit wherever it is proclaimed and believed. For this work of fruitfulness to grow in the best way, the message of Christ that is preached must not only be spoken, it must be understood. Specifically, the power of the word is most clear as those who receive it understand that all the blessings that are for us have come to us as a gift of God. To see this more and more clearly is to understand the grace of God in truth.

The church that receives the message of grace, hearing of the death of Jesus Christ and the life that He has given to us at such great cost, would naturally desire to speak to others of this good news. The ears can work without the engagement of the soul. What is necessary for the fruitfulness of the gospel is a spiritual work. Without a powerful work of God upon our souls, we cannot have the kind of endurance and patience with joy that is appropriate for those who have been delivered out of the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. If we have heard about the inheritance that is ours through Jesus, if we know what it is to have our sins definitively forgiven, if we are aware that we were once enslaved in a world of evil but have now been purchased back, redeemed, by the blood of Lamb of God, it makes no sense for us to be lacking in enthusiasm for this great state of affairs. We should be filled with joy and have the message of our salvation on our lips regularly.

When we look at our lives honestly we see that the love of many has grown cold. How can we recover the warmth of the kind of faith that grows? We need to meditate on the wonder of God, and particularly the glory of the one who has given Himself for our blessing, Jesus Christ. He is the icon of God, the visible manifestation of the invisible God, and is the source of all creation. There is nothing that was made that was not made through Him. This includes not only the wide array of beautiful and orderly organisms and elements in the natural world all around us on earth; we are told that the Son of God also created all things in heaven. All things were not only created through Him, but also all things were created for Him. He is the end of all things and He is before all things, in the same eternal realms as the Father and the Spirit. He is above all unseen authorities, including all angelic hosts, and all things hold together in Him.

Now that Jesus Christ has purchased a people through His blood, He has taken His place as the head of that body that the Scriptures call the church. This is especially good news for us, since in Him we have seen our resurrection destiny. He is the firstborn from the dead, and will have complete preeminence forever over everyone and everything in the world of glorious life.

Jesus Christ is obviously not some lesser god. All the fullness of God dwells in Him, and through the cross He has accomplished what is necessary to reunite heaven and earth that was severed through the sin of mankind. If we can grasp today the wonder of what is being accomplished in Jesus Christ, how can we not bow down before Him as Lord? How can we not thank the Son of God who has given us peace through the blood of His own cross?

Do you want to have an appropriate message that would be worth sharing with others? Think of this Jesus Christ. Think of His cross, the ugliness and beauty of it, the hate that it represents and the love that it displays, the apparent weakness of it and the overwhelming power of it. Think of where you would be without this Jesus and the cross, and what kind of hope you would have when your mortal life comes to an end.

You were not close to God, but far away. You were holy, but evil. You were not full of some good purpose for living, but were fighting against God. But now, because of Jesus Christ, you are reconciled to God, you are counted as holy and blameless in Christ, and even your suffering has great meaning. Above all, this great divine Son of God is in you, and He Himself is your confident assurance of all the glory of heavenly life. Your best days are yet to come. You can safely rejoice in Christ, and you can rightly share the message of this good news with others. This is a struggle that is worthy of your heart and your life.

Philippians 4

The Apostle Paul considers this church in Philippi to be his joy and crown. He came over to Macedonia originally by divine revelation. In a vision a “man” of Macedonia was urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” In Acts 16, the first convert recorded was a woman of Macedonia, Lydia, but there followed many other men and women, included Paul’s jailer. Now two particular women in the congregation who have worked with Paul in the past, Euodia and Syntyche, have to be asked to agree in the Lord. They need to seek the mind of Christ, to have humility with rejoicing. This is always the way in the churches. People have problems with one another as they do in extended families. The existence of churches in Philippi does not mean that all the implications of the fall have been entirely overturned.

To labor for gospel unity in any church involves the help and blessing of everyone involved. Paul seems confident that whatever the conflict may be, that with the help of some loyal companions that a solution will be found. The answer for us comes not from some specific plan of compromise, but in the continued transformation of the church by the resources that come to us from God.

If our names have been written in the Lord’s book of life, we should be able to rejoice in him, and to repair all kinds of troubling disagreements. If we are willing to really rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, our relationships with one another can surely be healed, and we will be able to demonstrate a gentleness and a reasonableness with each other that will be a testimony of the mind of Christ that may be impressive to those who had heard something of a broken friendship that has now been repaired by God. Our problems will not all go away, but we are told to let our requests be made known to God in prayer. Whatever we may lack, we still have the One in whom our hearts rejoice, and with Him comes a peace that surpasses all understanding, and guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. If we will not rejoice in the Lord, then how will damaged relationships be healed?

So much of our battle of living is fought in our minds. When we rejoice in the Lord, our minds are filled with thoughts of the one who is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of all praise. We will do well if we think about Him, and about all things that are truly consistent with our faith in Him. This is the kind of example that leaders in the church need to set. Do we love Christ, and are we ready to admire Him as the bride to be in the Song of Solomon reviews all of the glories of her knight in shining armor?

To be more aware that we have Christ in us and among us in the church is to take a healthy step toward a new and God-given contentment. It also spurs us on in a new urgency to see the Word of the Lord’s kingdom prosper. When we support the ministry of the Word, we do so out of love for our King.

The Philippian church had developed a pattern of giving to support the Apostle Paul. Paul was not writing to them seeking further help, but was more concerned that they continue in their kingdom investments for their own benefit. For his part, he had learned the secret of contentment. Our sense of well-being is not based on how much wealth we have at any moment, but in knowing that the Lord who owns everything and who can do everything loves us and distributes His blessings according to His good plan. Through Jesus Christ, we can do all things, for Christ can do all things. Therefore we can be content whether we have a lot or a little.

Paul had received a great gift from the church through their messenger Epaphroditus who he was now sending home to them. Their care for him expressed in their giving was a fragrant offering to God. The apostle was confident that God would supply all their needs as generous givers. God is not poor, yet He became poor in Christ that we might be rich because of the gift of His death. Heaven is not a place of poverty. Through the work of redemption, Christ has secured for us some of the glory of that place where Christ lives and reigns. In heaven we will be lavishly supplied with so many wonderful blessings. Even now God has riches in glory that He can use to supply all of our needs.

The humble heart, the mind of Christ at work within the church, gladly gives glory to God. We enter into that kind of true worship even now. What must it be like to enter into the worship of God in heaven? God certainly deserves all of our glory. So we stay together in the blood of the Lamb who redeemed us. We greet one another with affection, and we receive correction. This grace is not just for a special person or for a special moment. It is for the whole church, and it comes back to the fact of Christ, our Redeemer. From His life and death we have been given grace. The grace of God is ours in the Lord. We have every reason to rejoice, if we are willing to rejoice in the Lord. May His great mercy fill us every day. It was good that Paul went to Macedonia and was loved by the church in Philippi. It is good that we can yield ourselves now to the love of Christ. It is good when we allow the humility and joy of Christ to push from our minds smaller thoughts that may actually bring trouble upon the church.

Philippians 3

The mind of Christ is the answer for the church. If we are to do what the Lord tells us to with anything resembling a full and willing heart, we need spiritual resources of awakening and real growth that can only come from on high. We know from the Word of Christ and from the pattern of His life that following in the way of His mind will involve suffering. One aspect of the mind of Christ is the humble willingness to be low so that someone else might be blessed. Yet there is another important component to following Christ that Paul has already mentioned, but which is more fully developed in the remainder of this letter. The person who thinks like Jesus will not only be a man of sorrows, he will also rejoice in the Lord. This combination of grief and joy does not insist that we always dance, but it does call for a serene trust in Almighty God under challenging providences, such as the imprisonment of this apostle.

The rejoicing that is a part of genuine Christian optimism is not blissful ignorance, or happy denial, but truly a realism that is informed by an overwhelming and secure hope. Though grief and joy do exist together, joy that is based on the eternal purpose of God will eventually get the upper hand over trials and discipline that we face from our heavenly Father. Our rejoicing is in the Lord, and His purposes shall surely be accomplished. To ignore our reason for joy is unsafe for the Christian, but to contemplate the Lord’s promises gives us a present security that can help us through many difficulties.

This optimism or hope-based realism is not an uncritical acceptance of everyone and everything. The Christian mind is a discerning mind. There are those who want to muddy the gospel with old ceremonial regulations that have no power to bring this kind of joy. Some divisions within the church are necessary and some evil ideas need to be confronted. A return to the Old Testament ceremonial ways of circumcision is not the mind of Christ for His worldwide church, and it must be conclusively rejected.

Paul understands the mind of a Pharisee. He has impeccable credentials for that society. He knows what it is to be puffed up with law-keeping as a badge of personal righteousness. The problem is that such righteousness cannot save anyone. The real mark of acceptance by God is not the Old Covenant sacrament of circumcision, but faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the fruit of the New Covenant gift of the Holy Spirit.

Even in a church composed largely of Gentiles, disagreements concerning the ceremonial law might easily arise. There might be Gentiles who have made the decision to submit to circumcision through the encouragement of zealous Jews, and now those new Jewish converts and their families might consider themselves above the others in the church that have not submitted to circumcision. Paul knows all about these kinds of credentials, and he knows that they do not impress God. In fact, as Paul considers all of his proud accomplishments as a Pharisee, he knows them to be dung compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. This is very understandable. The Son of God who saved us is far to be preferred to even the best ritual, but the ritual of circumcision is not the best ritual. It is past its expiration date, and needs to be thrown out as a badge of glory before it brings trouble into the church.

The righteousness that we do have is not our own, and it does not come from the ceremonial Law, but through faith in Christ. It is a righteousness from God, and not from men. It is the only righteousness that is consistent with heavenly rejoicing. With that perfect righteousness credited to us, it has become our privilege to suffer the loss of all things that our own supposed law-keeping might theoretically win for us, or that men could bestow upon us based on their kindness or admiration. It is now our glory to share in the sufferings of the body of Christ, and to be like Him in His lowliness.

Old Testament pilgrims were to visit the temple for certain feasts every year. They went up Mount Sinai singing the Songs of Ascents. We sing those songs now as those who live after the coming of the Redeemer. We are travelling as well, but we yearn for the heavenly Jerusalem. We stretch toward the day when heaven and earth are one, and we walk in the power of Jesus’ resurrection. We expect to reach a destination where we will see the fullness of the glory of God’s eternal purpose. If we have to become like the Lord in His death, we will do so, provided we can also be with Him in His resurrection. It is on this kind of journey that the gift of the joy of heaven will gain the upper hand over grief that yet remains with us as we mourn with those who mourn.

We are pilgrims and we are on our way to a land that we have not seen. We have the title to an estate there won for us by the Redeemer’s blood. This is why we press on. Even within the church there may be secret despisers of the cross of Christ, but we don’t want their mind in us. We want the mind of Christ. In this journey, we travel with others who have caught a glimpse, by faith, of the land that is preserved for us in Christ over the Jordan. This is the way of maturity, not through any ceremonial righteousness, but through heavenly-mindedness grounded in the cross of Christ. We are citizens of that good land, and we look for the glory that will come to us from the powerful King of Glory who abides there. This kind of thinking is sure to win the day against our own small-minded feuds. Any boasting in ceremonial badges of honor, on the other hand, completely lack this power, only puffing up the kind of pride in us that fuels the flame of useless quarrels, wounding the beloved host for whom Christ died.

Philippians 2

Paul is counting on the affection of the church in Philippi for Christ, for the gospel, and for one another when he calls them to live in imitation of Jesus. Do they have any joyful energy for the message of the cross? Does the love of the Father mean anything to them? Is their experience of the blessing that comes from the Holy Spirit something upon which they place any real value? Are they moved at all by their concern for one another in the household of God? The obvious expected answer to all of these questions is, “Of course!” Paul then presses the implications of these good motions of the redeemed soul, and calls upon the church to further pursue true gospel unity, rejecting the bait of ungodly factions that will only destroy the peace of the church.

To respect what Christ has done in building up the church requires a sensitivity that goes beyond self. We have to look on others in the body of Christ as significant, even more significant than our own selves. If we have this kind of humility, we will naturally view the needs and interests of others as worthy of our careful consideration. This can cause us to think about what we are saying and doing that may end up hurting people for whom the Lord Jesus shed His blood. We too easily see people as an inconvenience, rather than thinking of their needs as our opportunity to serve the Lord who loves them as He loves us.

This way of life does not just come from a having a nice personality or a good family heritage. We need something more than an external makeover; we need an internal work of new creation. Paul moves us in the right direction for this fundamental change. He says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” We need this mind of Christ. Are you willing to give up your own predispositions and heart habits, and to have these increasingly displaced by the genuine change that comes from having the mind of Christ in your midst?

Before you agree, you may wish to take a closer look at this mind of the Son of God. In His divine nature He has always been fully divine, but He was willing to take on human nature, and to become man for our sake. Not only did He become forever God and Man in one person, He become a particular man who would live the life of obedience, even to the point of the shameful death of the cross. The cross was a punishment designed to expose evil publicly. Christ became a sin offering for our sake, and then became the open display of the most extravagant and costly love of unworthy people ever known in all the history of mankind.

The cross was in accord with the eternal plan of God, and was full to overflowing with the highest merit in the eyes of God, though in the eyes of the world it was despised, and that by design. It should be obvious that the whole point of crucifixion as a penalty among men is to display someone who is to be despised by all. Yet God’s opinion is to be preferred to even the highest approval that the world may give to anyone. The world cannot give us resurrection from the dead, and even if we were able to accomplish such a feat, it should be obvious that the world can never give us heaven. Resurrection without heaven would be to live forever in a land of sin and misery. Christ was raised and ascended into heaven. He has been given the name above every name, but the pathway back to heavenly glory was through the depths of suffering and disgrace contained in the love of the cross.

This is what the lowliness and glory of the mind of Christ is all about? Do you want this mind in and among you, which was also in Christ Jesus? To have such a mind would certainly help you to turn away from glory-now schemes that only destroy others and bring trouble upon the church. It truly is what you and I need, whatever the cost might be to us of following the Lord in the path to glory that goes first through a willingness to see others as better than ourselves and to act for their good.

This is the only approved pathway for the true follower of Christ, and it is not easy. It involves fear and trembling, but it is the way of God’s work in you, granting you works that are consistent with the gift of salvation. It is the way of a drink-offering life that is poured out before the Lord out of reverence for Christ. Though it does involve loss, it is the way of true Christian rejoicing. If you choose instead to pursue worldliness, should it be that surprising that happiness in Christ seems very elusive?

Paul is himself an example of this kind of life. So is his fellow minister Timothy. He is genuinely concerned for the welfare of the Philippian church, and in acting in accord with that good concern, he is seeking the Lord’s own interest, for Jesus’ concern for His own church cannot be seriously questioned. The evidence of His love is most obvious. He gave His life for us. Who would you be willing to risk your life for? One of their own countrymen, a man called Epaphroditus who came to Paul as a messenger from the church in Philippi had risked his life to care for Paul in prison. He almost died doing this. But Christ has accomplished his greatest service of obedience and love with more knowledge, more willingness, greater suffering, and greater efficacy than anyone who has ever loved anyone at any time or in any place. Our search for inspiration need seek no greater example than our Savior. It is His mind in us that we can seek, and if we follow Him, we will save ourselves and others within the church much regrettable divisiveness and misery.

Philippians 1

There are some New Testament letters, like Ephesians, that seem like they could be just as much directed to any church as to the church referenced in the name of the letter. Others, like Philippians seem to have a specific purpose in addressing a situation in one particular church. This purpose is sometimes very obvious, as when Paul writes so forthrightly to the Galatians about the serious danger from those who insist that the law concerning circumcision is still in effect and needs to be applied to Gentile converts. In other cases the matter may be more delicate, requiring some reference of concern that will hopefully lead certain people in a better gospel direction. In the church in Philippi, there were two women who had served faithfully together for the cause of the gospel, Euodia and Syntyche. These women were not getting along, and Paul was concerned about the impact that this might have more broadly in the church, so he called upon the leaders there to help these women move toward fuller Christ-like living.

The first three chapters of the letter seem to prepare the way theologically for the repentance that was necessary, whether they were intended this way by the apostle or not. The letter teaches us about a humility of life that is supremely displayed by our Savior and is worthy of our every imitation.

Paul addresses this letter to all the believers in this city, but he makes specific mention of two biblical offices in the church, overseers and deacons. Christian humility needs to be displayed by the leaders in charge of spiritual oversight and the ministries of mercy and administration if the church is to be an environment within which Christian lowliness seems plausible.

This is a church for which the Apostle has a special affection. They have been willing to give sacrificially to his work of kingdom proclamation, and are counted as his partners in the good news of Jesus Christ. God has begun a good work in them, and Paul assures them that the Lord will bring that work to a wonderful fulfillment at the day of the return of Jesus Christ. Paul has full confidence in their love for him. Writing this letter from prison, Paul is aware that some would try to take advantage of his confinement in order to speak against him and even to pursue their own private agendas. Yet he is determined to rejoice in this providence of his imprisonment, since he sees that it is causing more and more people to step forward and to preach Christ, even though some may do this with improper motives. It is also a plain fact to Paul that his imprisonment has enabled the message of Christ to circulate more fully among the ranks of his captors. He sees all of this as a big win for the advance of the gospel.

Though Paul cannot be with them in person at this moment, he assures the church that his love and affection for them in Christ is strong, and that he is praying for their own growth in love and discernment. In all of this, the Apostle is displaying to the church that the way that the Lord is using him is not about Paul having preeminence in some contest of pride. This should help others to humbly seek peace with one another in the church before factions develop on the various sides of any quarrel that could unnecessarily trouble the church.

Our message and our methods must be all about the one Messiah who gave Himself for us, or they will prove to be disruptive to the cause of the gospel. Paul’s attitude about the progress of the cause of Christ despite his own imprisonment is deeply instructive to the church in all times and places. Even more profound than his charitable and hopeful comments in the light of his unjust incarceration, Paul is able to put the right perspective on the more ultimate question of how he is to react in the face of the possible loss of his life. He knows that for Him, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To be with the Lord in the present heavens is better than to remain here on earth. If Paul’s life is taken away by some enemy of the faith, the apostle is prepared to trust God in such a moment. Better still, he is able to trust God if the Lord chooses that he remain here on earth for the further encouragement of the churches who are praying for his release. If he lives, he lives for fruitful labor in the Lord’s vineyard. If he dies, he will have a still greater communion with Christ, which is certainly far better in so many ways. Yet with exemplary humility and lowliness, Paul is able to leave this matter in the hands of the Almighty.

Each of us is called to have this kind of heart and life, a way of joyful humility that makes sense for those who love the message of the cross. There can be little question where our strength comes to live in this good way. Christ has travelled this road before us. He has proven the power of living for God’s glory and pleasure in a way that may seem to be weak to the enemies of the gospel. He wants to hear that the Philippians are devoted to that way of life that allows the Lord to be first in our hearts and our life choices. There is a yieldedness to God that only makes sense in light of the cross. The person who tries to follow such a pattern of life can only do so over the long haul by the strength of God’s Word and Spirit. Such a person has learned that it is a great privilege to suffer for the sake of the Lord and his church. It is this kind of love that must be added to our profession of faith if it is to serve as a witness to those who claim to seek Jesus.

Ephesians 6

We have been exploring the Christian way of life that flows from the grace that we have received from God. In this life, we know that we will have sin, yet it is the Lord’s will to sanctify us. The blood of Christ is the power behind our new standing with God, but it is also the power for our growth in holiness. As those who have seen what holiness is in Christ, and who have been granted the Holy Spirit in us, we are given new resources for worship, for thankfulness, and for godly submission within the structures of authority that the Lord has established.

This kind of growth in grace is not only for adults, but also for young ones. Children can be filled with the Spirit too. Though they may not yet have the intellectual and emotional maturity that will come with more years, they can hear the law of life and seek what the Lord desires by the Holy Spirit. One of the most important things that they can do in living a life of love is to obey their parents in every way that would be pleasing to God. This is the right thing for a child to do, and pursuing this kind of obedient life comes with the extra encouragement of the Lord’s promise of blessing. If a child wants to have a long life of pursuing what is good, he can do no better than to listen respectfully and lovingly to his parents, and to pursue all of their lawful directives.

Parents, and particularly fathers, are given a commandment here as well. They are to bring up their little ones with the Lord’s nurture and with the Lord’s loving correction. They must seek the aid of God’s Spirit in avoiding the kind of ungodly frustration that does not help in the raising of their children, but tends to produce only anger in those they are trying to lead, rather than submissive and grateful hearts.

In whatever other relationships we may have within our households, or within work environments, or other social engagements of common enterprise, we should try to honor and obey those who have been placed in positions of authority above us, whether with our consent or without it. Those who are in charge are to use their positions of trust in a way of fatherly love, and not according to inappropriate impulses that lead to abuse. In all of these varied relationships we are aided by our consideration of our Lord’s love and our true desire to yield ourselves to His holy will. Even when we may have a human superior who is not particularly worthy, through our consideration of the Lord’s mysterious providence that has brought us into such a relationship, we can serve such a person from the heart, recognizing that when we submit in a difficult situation, our obedience is an offering of love to the Lord who was willing to die for us. The Lord is very willing to repay us in situations where we face some injustice with patience and faith, if not in this life, then in the next. He sees our tears, and he notes our submission to Him, though we may not understand His decrees in every situation. He is not partial to the slave above the master, or to the master above the slave, but He does take notice of the obedience of faith, especially in the midst of trial or distress.

In all situations, however difficult they may be, we are reminded that the source of our strength for this cross-love, this resurrection living, is the Lord Himself. Imagine that in our time of trial, it is the Lord that is giving us the spiritual resources that we need to be patient in affliction. We may not be able to mount up with wings as eagles; we may not be able to run or even to walk with any strength; yet if Christ has given us the grace to stand in Him in the evil day, then He has given us a tremendous gift that should not be despised. Are you standing in Jesus today under a difficult burden? Praise God! You are still standing.

With this in mind, put on the armor that God has for you to fight the good fight today. Do not consider other people to be your foremost enemies, but recognize that behind a Judas is some devil you cannot see. Even fallen angels have some purpose in the movements of the Lord’s good providence. There is a purpose in the cross, even though wicked men seemed to be doing their will through it. There is a higher plan being achieved in it according to the love and justice of the Almighty. Therefore you can put on the truth of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the peace of Christ, the faith of Christ, and the saving power of Christ. Christ is the perfect warrior who continues to do battle for you. Use His Word as your supreme weapon, and use it with love and grace, remembering that you too have been saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally pray to God in all situations by the power of the Spirit who fills you. Pray with a firm acceptance that His will is better than your will, and that He is powerful in the vindication of His own holy Name. Pray for your sanctification and for holiness of the entire church. Pray that the Word of Christ would be boldly preached, and that it would be received eagerly by the power of God. And may God’s grace be with us as we travel together toward that Jerusalem that is above, where evil men and angels will no longer trouble the beloved of the Lord.

Ephesians 5

We could summarize the whole story of Ephesians in one sentence if we wanted to: Know God more and more in all His grandeur and grace (1-3), and then act accordingly (4-6). Since the beginning of God’s dealings with man, the root commandment has been this simple. The Lord speaks as our great and loving Father. He says to us, “Be like Me.” Of course there are some things that we just cannot do. God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His very nature. Yet as creatures of God, as those created in His image, we can consider this our prime directive, that in every appropriate creaturely way, we are to be imitators of God, as His beloved children.

The coming of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit are together a tremendous advance for us in terms of our understanding of this way of life. We could not conceive of a better way for us to understand this duty of divine imitation than this two-step plan of God. 1. God would become a man in the person of His Son and display the life of love before His people, and then, 2. God would plant Himself within their souls in the person of the Holy Ghost and would move them along in the way of resurrection obedience.

Before we proceed further in the way of appropriate Christian living, we need to remind ourselves that all who call upon the name of the Lord are saved. Even this statement is not broad enough, since there are those who die in the womb before they are born, and there are surely other elect who die in infancy or without the physical capacity to call out to God in a way that any man could here. Can we doubt the Lord’s mercy to His elect in such situations? Therefore we should remember the Lord’s plan to build a kingdom of grace, and we should never doubt that all of God’s elect shall certainly be saved. The point of Christian ethics after this reality of salvation is admitted, is to act as those who are bound for glory, not to win for ourselves a glory that we could never merit through even our best actions.

There is a way of life that is inconsistent with the hope of resurrection glory. Things like sexual immorality and covetousness are so far from the way of heaven that Paul says that they should not even be named among the people of the Lord. We must not think that grace permits us to descend into debauchery. Though Christians may fall into all kinds of sin, we need to think of ourselves, at root, as new creatures in Christ, not as idolaters or swindlers. We are children of light, and we should walk in that way by the power of the Lord. We cannot continue in associations with those who will drag us back into the old ways of darkness, for we are, in Christ and by His Spirit, the light of the Lord in the midst of a world of depravity.

There should be much about us that speaks of good news to others around us, a way of life that says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” It is a way that does not condemn, but which is deeply convicting to others because of the work of the Holy Spirit calling them to the Lord. We cannot live out this calling as monastics who have no contact with the world, but we surely cannot live the heavenly life in drunkenness and debauchery.

We need the way of resurrection thinking to come to us by the hand of Almighty God through the Holy Spirit. We need more than a touch from the hand of God; we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. When God’s Spirit fills His people, what do they do? They worship by the Spirit. They give thanks by the Spirit. Finally, they submit to one another by the Holy Spirit out of a sense of reverence for the One who submitted to the Father and travelled the way of the cross on His way home to heavenly glory.

This Spirit-filled submission is not dismissive of the structures of authority in this world, but deeply respectful of the order that the Lord has established for honest and holy living. As Spirit-filled Christians we do not turn away from an orderly life of marriage and family; we find our place within that life according to our calling. The joy of being a wife takes on a renewed meaning for Christian women, since the church of Jesus Christ is to be the holy bride of our beloved Husband. The privilege of being a man who gives himself for his bride is not a despised entanglement, but an opportunity to serve as one who is thankful for the best of all husbands.

Our confidence is in this great ascended Lord of the church. Not only did He give Himself up for us, but now He is cleansing us by Word and Spirit. We shall be His forever in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Let us live now as those who are counted as holy in Him. Our faith cannot just be a matter of holy words, it must be more than that, displaying the beauty of our shining Husband who will never leave us or forsake us. We need to live out the glory of our salvation in our homes and in all of the structures of society that our God has established as we await the day of the fullness of glory reserved for us even now in the heavens, where our Beloved Savior lives and reigns.

Ephesians 4

The foundation for obedient spiritual living is obedient spiritual thinking. For the first half of this letter, the Apostle Paul has presented the truth to the church in a way that should thrill the hearts of the redeemed. Here are some of the things we have learned: God is big. The Father has chosen us in love. The Son shed His blood for us. The Spirit is enlightening the eyes of our hearts. Our God has a wonderful eternal plan concerning heaven and earth. He is bringing about that plan in Jesus Christ and in the church that is united to Him. Our lives are full of meaning in Jesus. God is able to do far more in and through us than we can even ask or think. These are the ideas to which we must continually return if we want to grow spiritually.

There is a way to take in these truths, a way of thinking about and talking about the Lord, and a way of responding to God’s gifts which can yield real progress that brings glory to God. Paul explains this way of life in the remainder of this letter. We start with God. Paul calls himself a prisoner for the Lord. What a way of speaking! He is a happy prisoner, because he loves his Keeper and his Keeper loves him. Paul wants to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have. Yes, we are captives of Christ; yes, we are His servants; but we are so happy to discover that we are fellow-heirs with Christ, and sons of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, that we are willing to consider real change according to the command of the one who gave His life for us.

It seems ludicrous for us to even say something so weak as this, that we are willing to consider obeying God, but it is better for us to be honest, rather than to have overly high spiritual pretensions combined with low spiritual attainments. The humility, gentleness, patience, and love of Christ are not optional for us, but real progress in these areas does not come easily. We are still too ready for division in the church and too slow to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Because we would rather not deal with people, we might prefer anonymity in large crowds of worshipers who will not know us. We might choose to use some kind of technology that allows us to keep our spirituality private and personal. This is not God’s way. He wants us to be working with real people as we live out the oneness of the body of Christ. There is only one church with Christ as the one Head. Though we have particular assemblies and particular individuals within every church that have specific gifts, the individuality that we have should be working toward a unity that is ours to experience in Christ within local gatherings of worship where we come to know people in person.

According to Psalm 68, despite the separation we feel because of time and distance, Christ is our one King in all eras of the life of the church, and He has ascended to God’s heavenly sanctuary. Before He ascended, He first came down from heaven in order to do His great work of redemption. It was necessary for Him to become man in order to die for men. He descended from heaven for this purpose, but having accomplished that great atonement for us and having been raised from the dead, He then returned to heaven, and from that great height of the power of God, He showers His beloved “captives” with heavenly gifts. We are being taken up with Him, and He is with us here below by His Spirit. He gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers in the church. They are gifts from Him, not for their own pride but for the good of the whole body. They are serving up the Word in all sorts of contexts that help the church to move forward in faith and love. The source of everything good for us is Christ, and the goal of every step of real spiritual life is Christ. He is the maturity we seek in the church.

The Lord has a plan for His worldwide assembly, and for each of us individually within each church. That plan involves not only the end result of what we will be like in heaven, but also the way that we grow toward that end now on earth. That way will come by His Word and Spirit working through all kinds of people. We are to do and speak the truth in love; not blasting people with everything all at once with no concern for their feelings, but living the truth of love in their midst, and seeking opportunities to build each other up in faith that can be received by those we want to bless in some way. Everyone in the body has a part in this life of grace.

What that means is that each us needs to be willing to put off old patterns of life that do not conform to the love of the cross and the glory of the resurrection. We will only do this if we have been renewed in the spirit of our minds. As we put off the old self of the man of the Fall, we simultaneously put on the new self of the Man of the resurrection. This will only happen if we are willing to confess our sins to one another, pray for one another, and help each other in this new way of life. It is best for each person to do their own confessing, and for those who love to speak words of forgiveness and life. This is the way for people to change patterns of falsehood, sinful anger, stealing, corrupt speech, and bitterness of heart. By the Lord’s blessing of the body working together in true Christian relationships of love we find divine resources by the Holy Spirit enabling us to walk in truth, forgiveness, diligence, and spiritual edification.

This kind of life must be lived together, since we are one in Christ. In His death we have all the sin-defeating power necessary to move ahead in a life that will be fruitful. The pathway of sin is not the final destiny of the church. As Christ has risen from the dead, we too can walk more and more in the newness of life He has for us. We are forgiven, and now we can help one another to walk in the way of His love by the Spirit He sends forth from on high and in accord with the Word that He speaks through His servants in the church.

Ephesians 3

The Apostle Paul was given a special job that had much to do with God’s plan to bring the message of grace to the world. The pivotal figure in the plan of grace was not Paul, but Jesus. It is Jesus who had provided the obedience necessary for Gentiles (and Jews) to have right standing with God. It was Jesus who took the sins of the elect on Himself through His death, so that the debt that we had before God could be cleared. It was Jesus who proved the reality of the plan of God in His own resurrection. It was Jesus who sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations. It was Jesus who met Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and left this persecutor of the church blinded and bewildered, so that he had to be led by the hand to the home of a Christian man named Ananias. It was Jesus who informed Ananias that Paul would be His chosen instrument to carry His name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. It was Jesus who gave Paul great insight into the mystery that Gentiles would be on an equal standing with Jews in the Lord’s church as fellow heirs of the promises of God together with circumcised believers. There were many passages in the Old Testament that had clearly indicated that the plans of God for mercy extended far beyond Israel to all the family groups of the earth (See Genesis 12:1-3, Psalm 100, and so many others). What was something of a mystery was the extent to Gentiles would be members of the same body with Jews, and that they would be able to remain as Gentiles, rather than having to become Jews according to the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant. This blessed message, entrusted to Paul, came from Jesus.

As with all gifts that we are given, Paul’s knowledge of the Scriptures and the eternal plan of God was a trust given to him by God, and it was something that He saw as a matter of stewardship, not of money, but of something far more valuable, the gift of salvation that the Bible calls “grace.” The way that elect Gentiles would become fully acceptable to God would be through the message of God’s grace to us in the death of Christ.

This message is called the gospel, which means “good news.” Paul was made to be a messenger of that good news, a servant of Christ and of the good news of Christ that people everywhere needed to hear and to receive. The fact that Paul had a very important and special role to play was obviously not a matter of Paul’s merit, since he was chosen in the act of troubling the church. There was no better choice, in a sense, to remind us that Christ has brought us this good news by the working of His power through servants that He chooses to use for His own purposes. If we have heard the Word of grace and have been given the great task of proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ, none of this is for the purpose of glorying in ourselves. It is our privilege to stay at our post, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ.

God’s plan (Ephesians 1:10) to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, is now moving forward. The way that Jews and Gentiles have become one body in Christ is now clear, and should be clearly proclaimed. Together in Him we have been given this sacred trust as well, since it is through the church that the manifold wisdom of God is being made know, not only in all sorts of lands on the present earth, but even to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. All of this is happening according to the Lord’s eternal plan that God has realized in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and King.

In Jesus we have a new boldness and a confident access to the throne of Almighty God, so that we can come to Him with praise, thanksgiving, and all kinds of petitions, both on earth and in heaven, and we are heard as the beloved of God through faith in Jesus. Meditating upon these privileges and making use of them in prayer will help us to grow in courage and hope. The troubles that we face in a world of misery might cause us to be tempted to give up and to leave our calling behind. We need to remember the eternal purpose of God to bring glory to Himself in the reuniting of heaven and earth in Christ. The decisive victory has been won at the cross, and the best evidence of that victory has been provided through the Lord’s resurrection. By God’s grace, it is ours to stay the course that has been charted for us.

Meanwhile, the church faces troubles, the ministry runs into obstacles, and individual Christians suffer. Paul writes this letter from prison, but look how he is getting through this challenging providence. He is persuaded that the trials he faces in the course of preaching the gospel to Gentile lands is for their benefit, and that somehow it is glorious, and not some accident or mistake. He is not writing to get their pity, their money, or their approval. He is writing to be a blessing to them and now to us as we receive this message of true Christian thinking.

He is moved to prayer and not to bitterness. He knows that God’s plan is big, and that he is privileged to be despised and imprisoned as a part of that plan of bringing together all things in Christ. He wants them to have spiritual power from the Holy Spirit. He wants them to have Christ, to have faith, to have love, and to have all the good things of God in increasing measure, so that they might be filled with all the fullness of God together with the church everywhere. No matter how deep your trouble may be, no matter what prison you are in, no matter how dark your night is, take in the truth of these words: God is able. He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. May He receive all the glory for His grace among His people who worship Him, now and forever and ever. So be it!

Ephesians 2

It is too easy for us to imagine that we bring something to God that makes Him like us. The truth is that God has great resources of mercy and pity for us, and it is His prior commitment of love that makes everything happen in our lives concerning our movement toward Him. The reality of our prior spiritual condition is so far from recommending us to God that Paul can say that we had no life at all with which we could have moved toward the Lord. We were dead in our trespasses and sins.

This is not just about some particularly nasty people. All of us in churches throughout the world were once following the course of this world, following the devil, by nature deserving the wrath of God, just like all the rest of mankind. If we see others who are still living the spiritually dead lifestyle, we can honestly say that we were once exactly like them. We cannot imagine that we were any better than them.

But someone has changed that situation, and that someone is God. God had a great love for us, not because we were of a lovable nature, but because of the richness of His own mercy, and His amazing resources of faithful commitment. He was like the Good Samaritan who had compassion on the wounded Jewish man on the side of the road and was determined to do something about us. He saw us in our spiritual death, He recognized us as His beloved, and He decided to come to us and to breathe new life into us. This is His great gift of love, of Christ, of heaven, of blessing to us, and it is by this grace that we have been saved. He saw us and made us alive together with Christ.

We were deserving of hell, but Christ was deserving of heaven and of the fullness of heavenly riches. Jesus took our hell in His death, and we have been granted the gift of Him and His heaven. Not only are we counted as being in Jesus’ family, we are raised up with Him, and we are seated with Him on His throne in heavenly places. This all seems so foreign to us because of the miseries and uncertainties of this present life. There is another age ahead of us. That age is reserved for us, in a way, in a current place, heaven, as if God is storing up an entire time period of eternity in a spatial entity that is beyond the reach of our technology. The way to that place now, the way to the age to come of eternal life, is only in Christ. One day that place will become an eternal age in a renewed world, and it is the intention of God to show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus when that age is finally here.

Until then we have faith. That faith is the way that the people of God have access to this eternal gift of God’s grace, rather than by our own works. Faith is what connects us to the works of another, the only Man of merit, Jesus. We trust Him. We believe in Him. He is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. When we believe in Him, we have Him, and we have the future He won for us. This is faith, and even that is a gift from God, so that all the credit for our excellent future goes solely to God, who has provided. He has works for us to do, but even that is due to His kindness and mercy, for He has left us a new life full of meaning.

It is amazing that a person can be saved for a great life of service through this kind of arrangement of substitution. To think that those who were far from God among the uncircumcised nations of the world have now been granted faith and life in the Jewish Messiah is wonderfully good news. This has all happened through the blood of Christ. The death of Jesus has accomplished what the Law could never have done for us. We have been brought near to Israel’s God.

In former days the Law was a dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles that kept all but the chosen people far from God. Now that division between circumcised and uncircumcised has been torn down in the death of Jesus. The old ceremonies are abolished. The time of shadows has been superseded by the glory of the brightness of the face of God in the love of Christ for us.

We have peace with God through Christ, and through Christ Jews and Gentiles have peace with one another, and can share complete fellowship in the New Testament church. Gentiles have the Savior of the chosen people. They have the Holy Spirit of God promised to the chosen people. They have the God of the chosen people as their Father. They have the citizenship of the chosen people. Together we are being built up into a new temple of chosen Jews and Gentiles on the cornerstone of Christ, and on the apostolic and prophetic foundation granted to us in the Scriptures. Together we are growing in what is destined to be the promised resurrection temple of God. God Himself died for us in Christ, and God Himself lives in us together by the Holy Spirit. Together we are the chosen people of God by His grace, through the faith He has granted to us in the Son of God who died for us. All this has sprung up from the inexhaustible wellspring of the electing love of God for the unworthy and not from anything that we could have offered to God. This is grace, and it is worthy of celebration. Blessed be the Name of the Lord who saves unworthy and desperate sinners!