Kickin' it up a notch!
(Learning to live out our faith)
Pt I: What are we?
Basic premise: New Creations in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:17) and those new creations are the "righteousness of God" 2 Cor 5:21
We have been transformed from Sin into righteousness by the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. We enter into this transformation through baptism of the Holy Spirit and Water (John 3:3 and 3:5) as evidenced by Saul transformation into Paul (Acts 9). Saul began with spiritual blindness, scales that blinded him to seeing things through God's eyes, from the kingdom of Heaven. Jesus afflicts him with physical blindness in order to call his attention to his own spiritual blindness. As Paul is baptized in the Holy Spirit by Ananias through the laying on of hands (Acts 9:17,18) "something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again." At this same time, he then receives water baptism and he begins to see Christ for who he is.
Likewise, we, prior to baptism in the Holy Spirit are spiritually blind to the truth. In order for us to know we are the righteousness of God, having been made into new creations through Jesus the Messiah and Risen Lord, we must have the scales taken from our eyes. This will open the door for us to then become Who We Are.
Pt II: Who are we?
Matthew 6:9: "pray like this: Our (hemon) Father (pater)….."
Jesus instructs us to take on the identity of coming from God:
Hemon: Greek for "our", possessive pronoun declarative of ownership expressed collectively
Pater: Greek for Father---"generator, male ancestor, founder of family and <metaphorically> originator and transmitter of anything"
Jesus instructs us to recognize that we are from God now. This links back to the new creation. We are now, due to his work on the cross and what he proclaims/instructs/commissions us, made new of God. He is now our originator, we come from him. "You ain't from 'round here, are ya?" No, I'm not. I'm from heaven; I'm from the kingdom of God. I am "of" God. He is now my originator. This is what allows me to now know who I am. I may have genetics from my physical human parents, but I have new spiritual DNA which has authority over the physical DNA, why? Because Jesus had authority over it was evidenced in his signs and wonders and he has given that authority to me.
This means I am a Christian. In identifying me as a Christian, it now means I identify myself as having come from God.
What right does Jesus have for this?
Baptism: Matthew 3:16,17 "….and a voice from heaven declared, 'This is my son in whom I am well pleased'".
Transfiguration: Matthew 17:5 "…and a voice from the cloud spoke saying 'This is my beloved son, listen to him'".
In the east, these passages are in accord with the culture which identifies a son as having come of age and is now authorized to act on his father's behalf and in the name of the family. These passages identify Jesus as the very son of God originating from the father, of the same substance of the father who originated him and he then takes this substance and uses it to make us the same!!!!!
We can also take another step in what God confirms for us through Paul's letter to the Galatians: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." ( Galatians 4:4-7 <ESV>) In other words, we are no longer slaves, or gentiles or Jew or whatever. When Jesus becomes our Lord we receive the adoption of God into his family, into his relationship with us. This qualifies us as heirs, which solidifies our claims unto sonship. Without this, we would remain lost, yet we aren't. This means that, each promise that the Father has made for his son, he has made for us……think hard on this. If you have been adopted and your new Father is The Father, then each promise given throughout the entire Bible to The Father's Son is then also given to you through the same Son since his spirit now rests on you. When you pray, you are no longer praying and having God see you as Betsy or Bob or Peter or Norah. Since the Spirit of the Son is on you, God now sees you as His heir on earth, seeing you through the same spiritual eyes he sees his begotten Son.
No matter what the words spoken into your life may have been but whatever family you may have or not had, the Divine Ultimate Truth is that those words now cannot, I repeat: CANNOT carry the same weight as the promises spoken by your new Father. His word is eternal, everlasting, and whatever has already been written cannot be unwritten. When those other words creep up, yes, they will creep up, then turn back to the words your Father has spoken over you and remember the promises, remember His truth and allow yourself to live into that.
We now are:
"The living righteousness of God as children of God and therefore given authority to act on His behalf and on representing the entire authority of the kingdom of Heaven here on earth."
Pt III: What do I do with it?
Now knowing that I am a new creation who is the righteousness of God and heir to His Kingdom, what am I supposed to do with this knowledge?
L I V E I T!
How?
Here's five ways to get started:
- Share the good news (Matthew 10:7)—by faith you can be a new creation
- Heal the sick<raise the dead and cleans the lepers> (Matthew 10:8)—mend that which is broken
- Cast out demons (Matthew 10:8)—cast away that which divides
- Forgive as you are forgiven (Matthew 6:14)—forgiveness demonstrates faith
- Love as you are loved (John 13:34)—loving God and others sums the law
- Share the good news: The good news is that as many who will receive now can become this same righteousness of God, new creations who are the heirs of the kingdom and who now have the spiritually legal right to lay claim on the promises of God for their lives. Each of us has that available. Of important note, however, is that this is not ours exclusively. To truly live this out, we must also share this with all. That doesn't mean we are responsible for whether they will receive it. That is on them. You, though, just as the prophet Ezekiel, are responsible for speaking the words of life that you yourself have received. In Matthew and Luke (both located in Chapter 10 of each Gospel) Jesus commissions itinerant ministers to go before him into the towns that he will be coming to. His instructions are clear: "….and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'" (Luke 10:8 ESV). In proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom, one is directed to share the fact that God has put forth His love. He wants people to return into relationship with Him. In truth, He wants it so bad, that He send His Son to bear the burden of everything that ever has or will spate someone from that relationship (which is what sin is) so that you and I don't have to. This simple truth contains all the weight of creation. That weight is His love having made us for himself. Not out of necessity but out of desire, out of love.
This does not necessarily mean that you have to become the next great television evangelist. I so much love how St. Francis instructed folks on how to share the kingdom, "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words." The way we live our lives should show the world around us that God's kingdom has come near. When we extend our hands, give someone a smile in the midst of their chaotic day, hold back our tongue when we are wronged, etc, etc, we are showing them the presence of the kingdom. This is our duty, our responsibility and our privilege as heirs of the kingdom. We must demonstrate in our own lives to the world around us that the Good News is living and true. We must be the example of this. Without a witness to the transformative power of Jesus Christ working in us, our Good News is no good news at all. In fact, it is any news if there is no clear demonstration of the power of the Good News.
- Heal the sick: This is both as is and also as something else, so to speak. There is an incredible amount of evidence that Jesus has full expectation that when you pray for them, they will get better. When you come across something stubborn, he even gives the means by which to raise your faith to a level to deal with it more successfully. He did not send out 70 (or 72 depending on the way the translators translate the original texts) and tell them to ask and hope and just maybe, if Father God is in just the right mood, he will grant the boon of showing up and maybe kindasorta heal them, though not necessarily all the way……Bogus! He commanded them, and then commands us (end of Mark's Gospel—and if it is such a limited text that we should be careful about using it, it never should have made it in as part of the Canon of Scripture!) to go out and heal the sick.
Now, healing takes place on a multitude of levels. There is the most obvious level of actual physical healing. This is the occasions when bones knit back together, or cancer disappears or diabetes goes away or new organs or …….and the list goes on. No, not everyone I have prayed for has experienced instant and complete healing of every ailment. Sometimes the healing comes along slowly. Other times it comes quickly. Yet, there are even other times when, to my own surprise, no physical healing takes place that can be detected.
(Note: medical advice should always be followed until such a time as any healing that takes place is verified by a physician. Also, please do not take this to mean that professional help/assistance should not be sought. This is not the case. Doctors and nurses are here for a purpose and we should use them also.)
The next level is at the mental or emotional level. Various kinds of trauma have led to various kinds of and levels of emotional scarring. These may appear as anything from personality disorders to strained relationships to poor social skills to mental illness and all the areas in-between. Healing at this level may be instantaneous or it may come over time or it may never come. I have witnessed times when it came and then, through choices/circumstances/etc the healing left and the issue returned.
Even further in understanding healing is the spiritual aspect of this. We can readily become subject to our own spiritual issues. These issues lay deep and may have been introduced by generation issues, exposure to a number of occult sources or even having dabbled in it ourselves (from tarot to horoscope to crystals). God wants us to be made whole. He desires that there should be nothing which separates us from him. If this were not so, he would not have sent his son. The greatest challenge I have witnessed to date, is denial and minimization of issues. I heard it said once (and please forgive the lack of recall regarding the source) that the devil has two ways to win; the first is that you accept him and his ways and begin to follow him. The second; pretend he doesn't exist. Either way, he can assert his influence in your life. This spills over into general spiritual issues. Pretend they do not exist and they continue to influence your life (read that as relationships, jobs, etc, etc). Even worse, maybe, is "that's just the way I am." In this way, one may actually have accepted what is going on as "normal" for them and therefore does not see any need to, nor develops a desire to, have these things change.
I believe fully that this is not God's plan. In Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, he states, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." (ESV 2Cor 5:17) The word "new" in this, coming out of the Greek, means "never was before but is now". So, this new creation that this person becomes is remade. In terms of healing, this may result in miraculous cures, being set free from spiritual oppression, transforming of behavior or any number of other changes. This is not forced upon us, we have to work with God in order for the change to take place, but it will if we subject ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit and cooperate with Him and His will for us. This is healing.
- Cast out Demons: Okay, so again, we can look at this in two different ways, both equally true and equally necessary to understand. The first is the most obvious: if there are spiritual beings sent from God and they are good doing the will of their creator, then there is likely other spiritual beings which represent the opposing forces that interact against them. These would be considered demons. There is a plethora of material out there, both good and bad, which tackle the subjects of deliverance and exorcisms and the like. Please, with the support of spiritual mentors/pastors/etc. read carefully.
Now, the second use of this is in the metaphorical range. In this, we can look at habits, addictions, and other compulsive behaviors in much the same way as we look at spiritual oppression. Certainly there may be some element of spiritual involvement in any of these, but that does not mean there is a demon behind every drink, porno, or chocolate cake. Yet, we have been given, by the nature of who we are in Christ, the authority to cast these out. How? By putting ourselves into His, Jesus', will. We ask him before we turn on the DVD player or put in the website or reach for the cake; "Is this within your will?" Provided you are willing to receive and then act upon this word, you will keep "it" cast out. Make no mistake; it was comfortable in your house. It wants to come back to visit. It has probably even shared stories with friends about how nice it is. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7b) The temptation will continue to exist that prompts you to return to whatever the habit was. This must be resisted. In the resisting, we honor the change that God has effected in us. This leads us further and further into His perfecting of us, remaking us in the image of the only begotten Son.
- Forgiveness as you have been forgiven: There is noted in several areas of the Gospels, that we are to forgive. This is one way that we live into the forgiveness that we have been given by God through His Son. When Jesus uses the parable of the unjust servant, the paraphrase of which is that he was shown incredible mercy by his boss in forgiving a huge debt, but wouldn't even show a small amount of mercy to a fellow slave, his forgiveness was cancelled and he instead had to serve out his sentence. Jesus closes it the statement that we should also forgive in order that we can ourselves be forgiven. What does forgiveness mean or look like? According to the way we are forgiven, as expressed through Jeremiah, it means "forgive them their transgressions and remember their sins no more." Yup, you heard it here. In stark contrast to the societal norms of today, biblical forgiveness, faith based forgiveness includes both forgiving (letting goal/cancelling a debt" and forgetting (not allowing it to be recalled to mind in order to be used again). No, this is not today's norm. But it is God's. If we then are to be imitators of Christ, then, when we pray Our Father….forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, we best have already forgiven them. Forgetting is not always easy. Sometimes it can be downright difficult. Yet, it is ultimately necessary. Given that we are making a conscious decision to let something go, it may take a lot of practice. The enemy (or family or friends or circumstances or whatever) may bring it to mind again and again. Our response? "Resist the devil and he will flee." Make the choice to no longer hold onto these things. Ask Holy Spirit to turn your mind from dwelling on this. Seek Jesus' own heart for those circumstances you find difficult to get free from. When you find it difficult to let go, when the memory keeps coming up over and over again, repent of it, seek God's forgiveness and look to move forward.
First and foremost, this forgiveness needs to take place between you and God. In your heart, you forgive whatever the debt is. This does not necessarily mean that you directly go to the person and pronounce to them your forgiveness, especially if they have never repented/acknowledged whatever the debt is. Yet, it does mean that you lose the burden of it in your own heart. Your interactions are no longer weighed by that burden and you no longer have that burden to get in the way of loving that person with God's love for them. (Please note: loving a person God's way does not necessarily equal escaping consequences for behavior. Our own debt is wiped out not because of our own works or faithfulness, but are wiped out based upon Jesus' work on the cross.)
Secondly, (this is probably the trickier part of forgiveness) this forgiveness takes place face to face after repentance. When Jesus answers Peter, he tells Peter that as long as brother repeats, he should keep on forgiving him. Repentance is a whole other presentation. Until the repentance happens, you do not continue to operate as if they still owe the debt. That would not be following in our Lord's footsteps. Without announcing the forgiveness, though, you love them. Interact to whatever degree is safe (for example in cases of abuse, there would be no expectation for a person to continue to subject them to the abuse again and again in the name of forgiveness. In such cases, the forgiveness would occur between the abused and God in order to free the abused into receiving God's healing, while not having any or minimizing the amount of contact with the abuser in order to ensure that no further abuse happens. I have no expectation that anyone should continue to be abused for the sake of forgiveness or love or anything. I find it nowhere in scripture that a person should subject themselves to abuse).
In this forgiveness that we practice, we find forgiveness. According to the word, God's property is always to have mercy. He does not desire to lose anyone. Yet, if we continue to hold grudges, ruminate over issues, fantasize about revenges, have we not placed ourselves in the position of judge? And, is not that position of judge reserved for the one who comes again to this world to judge one final time at the end of days? I believe his name is Jesus and is mentioned someplace in this book called the Bible. If judgment is reserved by him until the end of days, and he has been granted the power and authority to do so by his heavenly Father, could it not then be equated with idolatry if we assume the position of judge? Jesus had asked Peter who loves more and Peter responded that he believes that the one who has been forgiven more loves more. Jesus affirmed this as truth. We forgive because we are forgiven. We are forgiven because we are loved, therefore we are to love and that love includes forgiving those who "have trespassed against us."
- Love: This is the commandment that Jesus gave his disciples "Love one another as I have loved you." (John 15:12) How did/does Jesus love us? I used to think that it was all about the dying part. Over time, I have been shown that the dying part is only the culmination of the living part that showed the desire of that love. Jesus loved us enough to continue to teach us even when we didn't get it. He loved us even when we got it but wouldn't live it. Jesus loved us even when we denied knowing him. Jesus loved us even when we betrayed him, led others astray, did things that directly hurt God, knowing sinned, knowingly strayed, even knowingly embraced the darkness for a time. He loved us through all of that looking forward to the day that we would turn our eyes to him and he would see reflected back to him his own love for us now loving on him. Jesus not only died for our sake, but he also lived and endured torture, temptation and betrayal for us. It is this love that we are to have for one another. It is this form of love that is to compel us in all we do so that every step becomes a step in which I (we) stay in the kingdom of God and bring that kingdom and all of its love and healing and power to a people who are hurting and in desperate need of such love. This is the love of God, the love of Jesus that we are commanded to have.
This love is not a reckless love. This love is not a selfish self centered can't wait to get my own needs met love. This love is sacrificial, calculating, compelling, forgiving, healing, restoring, guiding, learning, teaching, seeing, and comforting love. In the context of this text, there is not enough room to include the necessary outlining of what this love is and what it is not. Paul's first letter to Corinth in the 13th chapter has an outline of it. It is this same love that God Holy Spirit speaking through both Peter and Paul tells us men to have for our wives. It is a love that is not a fairy tale emotion. It is a conscious choice that even when our emotions or wants attempt to get in the way of, we still choose. As Jesus prayed in the garden on Thursday night/Friday morning, "not my will, but your will be done." It is that kind of love. It is the love that not only compelled Jesus to the cross, but it compelled him from the cross to seek His Father's forgiveness for those who put him there. It was that love which compelled him from the cross to seek to ensure his mother's safety and designate John to watch over her as his own mother now. It is that love which compelled him to take his Father's entire wrath for all sin of all time to be poured out on him so that those who believe will no longer perish, but have eternal life.
As followers of Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God who lived, taught, suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty awaiting the time he is to return again……as followers of that Jesus, we are to love as he loves, because he loved us first.
In Conclusion
Here is a start.
Seek mentoring
Seek discipling
Seek training up in the way.
In doing so, go out into the world rejoicing in the power of Jesus Christ, bringing every person you contact that much closer to an encounter with a God who loves them.
