Give Thanks

Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. It’s not just another Thursday, it’s a day when most of us won’t go to work and for many of us it is a paid day off. Most of us will gather with family and friends for a special meal and time together. Many will watch football and some will play football in parks and fields.
We eat a meal to remember a time of thanksgiving celebrated in 1621 by some of the first European immigrants and their indigenous neighbors. They had fled religious persecution in England, moving first to Holland and then to the new world. They were heading for Virginia but a storm pushed them to land off the coast of what is now Massachusetts. What might be seen as a problem was – in their worldview – seen as providence, God working in their circumstances. The pictures we see of the Pilgrims do not accurately convey the hardship they had suffered. Death had come to nearly every home, and many of the families that gathered were made up of a man who had lost his wife married to a woman who had lost her husband and their combined surviving children. In their hardship they gave thanks for God’s care and provision for them.
On October 3, 1789 George Washington called for a day of national thanksgiving in his Thanksgiving Proclamation. It says in part:
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced . . .
How far we have come.
As we gather on Thanksgiving Day we might think or even talk about what we are thankful for, but how much thinking or talking will be about who we are thankful to?
Romans 8:28 says: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
I know I’ve ripped this text from its massively rich context, but I do so to remind us that God is working. God is working in all things. God is working in all things for the good of those who are called by Him.
The Pilgrims knew this as they went through hardship from persecution by a state controlled church to travel across a very large ocean in a very small boat and faced the New England winters. Our founding fathers – not all of whom were Christians – knew this as they declared independence from England and established that independence with blood.
Here we are the beneficiaries of the sacrifice of the Pilgrims and those who gave everything for liberty. Here we are the beneficiaries of the sacrifice of our families for us. In all of this, God is working and if you are called by Him He is working for your good.
We have been going through hard times. We all know someone who is unemployed or underemployed. In this God is working. We all experience disease, either personally or in those we love. In this God is working. We all experience strained relationships. In this God is working. I could go on but I think you get what I am saying. In this world we will hardship and suffering, and God is working.
Is hardship and suffering all we experience? Absolutely not, though sometimes it feels that way. We also experience great joy and satisfaction, but if our joy and satisfaction is only in our experience it is misplaced. Our greatest joy and satisfaction is in Christ.
We don’t hear the word providence much anymore, but just because we quit talking about it doesn’t mean that God quit. He is working. God is not only our Creator, He is our Sustainer. In Christ God holds the universe together. Colossians 1:15-17 tells us that by Christ all things were created and in Him all things hold together. If He stopped, the universe would fly apart. That’s providence on a big scale, but that’s not where providence stops.
God’s providence affects every part of life. It is by common grace, grace given to all mankind, that the sun shines and the rain falls and food grows. Whether it is recognized or not it is by God’s grace that we have people to love and work to do and homes to live in. But what if we don’t have people to love or work to do or homes to live in? God is still sovereign and He is still good and He is still working.
Are you OK with that? Or do you think that if things aren’t “good” God must not be working? I’m afraid that many have an entitlement mentality about God. Many believe that because they are Christians God is obligated to make life easy. That’s not what Scripture teaches.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
God works all things together for good. That doesn’t mean that everything we experience will be good. When we are born again we receive a new heart, a new nature, but we continue to live in bodies corrupted by sin in a world corrupted by sin. We live with the effects of our sin and the sin of those around us; in this God is working all things together for good.
This Thanksgiving and always I encourage you to remember the One to whom you give thanks. God is good and is working all things together for the ultimate good, redeeming a people for himself who will be resurrected in sinless bodies and worship Him in the new earth where there will be no sin. Give thanks in your circumstances. Be thankful for what you have and what you don’t have. God is good and working all things together for good. If you are in Christ God is caring for you, but His work to conform you to the likeness of Christ does not guarantee ease and comfort in this life. He does guarantee that we will see Christ as He is because we will be made like Him in the resurrection.
Life can be hard, but God is always good. Have a blessed Thanksgiving. Ray

Seventy Times Seven

In Matthew chapter 18 we read the account of Peter coming to Jesus and asking how many times he should forgive his brother when he sins against him. “As many as seven times?” Peter asks.
I suspect this is not a hypothetical question for Peter. He not thinking that someday some brother might sin against him repeatedly and he should be ready. No, I think Peter is living with a brother sinning against him. He is living with forgiving the same guy for the same thing over and over again.
Jesus replies; “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”
Imagine Peter’s thinking; “Seventy times seven? I have to forgive this guy 490 times?”
Jesus, knowing what Peter was thinking when we can only imagine, explains by telling a parable, a story made up to make a point. The story was about a king who came to settle accounts with his people. A servant was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. A talent was about twenty year’s wages for this man. To convert it to our thinking, if you make $50,000 a year that would be $1,000,000. This was an impossible debt.
Unable to pay, the king ordered that this man, his wife, his children, and everything he owned be sold to pay the debt. The man begged his master to give him more time and he would pay him. Does this sound realistic? Does this seem like a good risk? I don’t think so. I think his master would have been ahead to take what he could get and move on.
But the king had pity on the man. He had mercy, not giving the man what he deserved or even the extension he asked for; he forgave the debt.
I don’t think we really understand how huge this was. Our possessions might be seized to pay our debt, but we wouldn’t be sold into slavery. This man received mercy beyond calculation in the debt being forgiven.
This should have changed his life. He should have never looked at anyone who owed him anything without thinking of the debt he was forgiven. But that’s not what happened.
The man found another man who owed him 100 denarii. A denarius was about a day’s wages. At $50,000 a year for six days a week that is just under $160.00. When he could not pay, the man had him put in prison.
This man would not forgive $160.00 even though he had been forgiven 6,250 times more.
What do you think? I think that what this man was despicable. Sadly, I have acted every bit as despicably.
Apart from Christ I owed an impossible debt, a debt I could not pay. Unlike the king in our parable, God didn’t just forgive my debt, He paid it in full. The debt I owed, the penalty for my sin, was eternal death. God paid my debt as His eternal Son took on himself the penalty I deserved.
If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ by grace through faith, your sin, past present and future, has been forgiven because the penalty for your sin has been paid.
Having received this great forgiveness from the One I sinned against, how can I not forgive those who sin against me? Jesus humbled himself in His incarnation and was humiliated in His crucifixion and yet, as he hung beaten and bloodied dying the most agonizing and painful death ever conceived by mankind, asked God the father to forgive those who unjustly convicted Him, mocked Him, beat Him, and nailed Him to a cross to die.
Our parable continues as some of the other servants went to their master and told him what the unforgiving servant had done.
The king called in this servant and said to him; “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Then he threw the servant into prison until he could pay.
Jesus concludes the parable with; “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Jesus is not saying that God will condemn us for unforgiveness, He is saying our unforgiveness condemns us. Salvation is not based on anything we do, nor is condemnation. Salvation is by grace – the freely given unmerited gift of God – alone. What Jesus is saying is that if we are unforgiving we are not forgiven. Unforgiveness is a sign of one who has not been reconciled to God.
Don’t misunderstand, we get hurt by others and we get angry at others and we may struggle with unforgiveness, but if we are in Christ His Spirit is in us and we will be convicted of our sin and come to forgive those who have hurt us and those we are angry with. Those who do not are not in Christ.
I find the way to forgiveness is to consider what forgiveness cost God the Father. I find the way to let go of an offense is to consider the offense of the mocking and beating and crucifixion of the Son of God. Considering this, how can I hold on to an offense? Considering this, how can I not forgive? Considering this, I should gladly forgive my brother more than seventy times seven times.

Walk Worthy

The apostle Paul exhorted the Christians in Ephesus, Colosse, and Thessalonica to walk worthy of their calling and worthy of the Lord who called them. He exhorted them to live in a manner that reflected who they were in Christ. I believe the exhortation given by the apostle to particular churches in his day is for the Church universal and so is for Christians today. We are to live in a manner worthy of our calling and of the Lord who called us. We are to die to self and live for Christ. We are to boldly proclaim the Gospel. We are to sacrificially love.
I think most of us who know Christ as Savior agree that this is what we are to do; indeed most of us would say this is what we want to do, but many of us aren’t doing it – or aren’t doing it very well – because we seem to have little power against our sinful attitudes and behavior. Some of us have given up, thinking that we are “just sinners saved by grace” and we can’t hope to have real or lasting victory. Some of us categorize, believing that as long as we stay away from the “big” sins we are OK. We can live with a little lust as long as we don’t fall in to adultery. We can live with a little anger as long as we don’t punch anyone in the nose.
We aren’t called to give up. We aren’t called to defeat. We aren’t given the liberty to be OK with the “little” sins. We are called to walk – to live – in a manner worthy of our call and the One who called us.
I think most of us aren’t doing this – dying to self and boldly proclaiming the Gospel and sacrificially loving – because we misunderstand the concept. We think we are called to do when in fact we are called to be. We make walking worthy of Christ a matter of doing.
I don’t think this is what Paul is calling us to. Throughout his epistles Paul declares this is who Christ is and this is who the Christian is in Christ. He never says go do this and you will be this, he always points us to who we are in Christ and tells us to be who we are in Christ.
If you are a Christian you are in Christ. You have been born of the Holy Spirit and you are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Paul writes; “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” This is an inspiring thought, but many days this is not our experience. I don’t think Paul wrote this to inspire, I think he wrote it to describe. He wrote it to describe the reality of who we are in Christ.
Paul wrote to declare the truth about those who are in Christ. All who are in Christ have been changed. The old nature has been replaced with the new. We were by nature children of wrath. We were dead in sin, but we have been made alive in Christ.
So, if the reality is that we are new in Christ why is it our experience that so often we don’t live that way?
We don’t live that way because we live in corrupted flesh – flesh that will not be completely redeemed until the resurrection – and we live in a corrupted world. I think most of us get that. That’s why we say we’re just sinners saved by grace.
We don’t live that way because we aren’t being who we are in Christ. We experience defeat by our sin instead of victory over our sin because we aren’t walking in the Spirit. Paul wrote that if we walk by the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. What leads us, our corrupted flesh or the Holy Spirit in us? Are we looking to our experience to define our reality and inform our thinking and our living or is the true reality of who we are in Christ taught in Scripture and validated by the Spirit in us informing our thinking and our living?
We live in our experience, and we can live nowhere else, but our experience should not define us. What should define us is who we are in Christ, and I’m convinced that as we understand who we are in Christ our experience will change. We will walk in the Spirit and not pander to the desires of the flesh.
To do this we need a correct understanding of who Christ is, what He has done, and who we are in Him.
Imagine going downtown and seeing a man living on the street and sleeping in doorways. You comment to your friend who is walking with you how sad it is that people live that way. Your friend looks at you incredulously and asks; “Do you know who this man is?” When you say no, your friend says; “He is the son of Mr. Jones, the richest man in town, and heir to the Jones business and financial empire!”
Why would the son of the richest man in town live on the street and sleep in doorways? I don’t know, but I have a question closer to home. Why do we who are in Christ, born of the Spirit, by grace though faith redeemed from the penalty for our sin, reconciled to God, adopted as His children, indwelled and empowered by the Spirit, dead to sin and alive in Christ, live like the only part of this we get is that we are saved by grace through faith (we hope).
Christians who live this way are like the man living on the street while the heir to the richest man in town. They live with a false identity. They live with a false understanding of who they are. I believe that if we live in our true identity – which we can only do if we understand who we are – we will live in a manner worthy of our calling and the One who called us. We will walk in the Spirit and not indulge our flesh. We will walk in victory, putting sin to death.
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not talking about becoming sinless – as long as we live in flesh corrupted by sin in a world corrupted by sin we will sin – but we are no longer sinners by nature. We have been made new in Christ.
Many Christians live with a deficient understanding of their true identity. Many of us have a deficient understanding of who we are in Christ.

To Live is Christ

This is the picture: Paul is in Rome, imprisoned under house arrest at his own expense, chained to an imperial guard but apparently free to receive visitors and write. He wrote to the church at Philippi, a church he had been part of planting after preaching the gospel there about ten years before.
Paul wrote to encourage the believers in Philippi, to remind them that God was in control and that his imprisonment in Rome was by God’s purpose and plan. Paul wrote to let them now that his confidence was in Christ not his circumstances so they would be encouraged. Paul knew how easy it would have been for these folks to be discouraged.
We need this same encouragement because it is easy for us to become discouraged in our circumstances. We need to be reminded who our God is and what He has done for us in Christ and that He is working in our circumstances to accomplish His purpose and plan.
Paul writes:
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. Philippians 1:18b-26
In the beginning verses of Philippians Paul’s is commenting on his imprisonment and his expectation of deliverance either in this life or the life to come. In this we hear his response to being imprisoned. He is not discouraged, he is confident. His confidence is in knowing that God is sovereign and is in control. Paul is confident in knowing that God is working in these hard circumstances, and that he confident because he knows that God has ordained and orchestrated these hard circumstances. God ordained and orchestrated his imprisonment. Paul was confident in his circumstances because the Lord had told him that he was going to Rome. Acts 23:11 says; “The following night the Lord stood by him and said, ‘Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.’”
Paul is less concerned about how he got to Rome than he is with the work he has come to Rome to do.
Paul has lost his civil liberty. He cannot choose to leave Rome or even the house where he is being held. He is chained to a guard twenty-four hours a day. In this Paul rejoices because he is confident in God and what He is doing. He is confident that by the prayers of the believers in Philippi and the help of the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, he will be delivered. Paul was destined, by the will and work of God, to be imprisoned in Rome, but this was not his final destiny. He will be delivered. His final destiny was to be delivered by the will and work of God.
In our passage Paul makes the most amazing statement; for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. When we read or hear this we connect with our hearts. Emotionally we get what Paul is saying. As believers in Christ there is something in this statement that tugs at our hearts.
One reason we connect with for me to live is Christ with our hearts because Paul is telling us about the love of his life. We connect with this with our hearts because this is a love story. Paul’s life in Christ is the story of His love for Jesus. Paul says that to live is Christ because he loves Jesus in a real and personal way, and his love for Jesus is shown in his life. True love moves the lover to action for the beloved.
Paul’s life testifies that he loves Jesus because he is living for Jesus. His life since his conversion has been about nothing else. He has given himself to the gospel, and he has given himself for the gospel. He has given himself to Jesus’ people, and he has given himself for Jesus’ people. Paul did all of this because he loved Jesus. Paul did all of this because Jesus loved him and gave His life for him and called him.
This is what grabs our hearts. This is a love story. Jesus loved Paul and Paul loved Jesus.
In travelling and preaching and writing and being thrown into jail and being beaten and stoned and finally being chained to a Roman guard, all Paul ever wants to do is tell everyone he meets about his beloved Jesus and the reality of Jesus being the One who died for sin and rose from the dead. He wants everyone he meets to know that by grace through faith in the finished work of his beloved Jesus they can be reconciled to God. Paul loves Jesus and he wants to tell everyone he meets how much he loves Jesus and he wants everyone he meets to love Jesus too.
Chris Klicka was Senior Counsel and Director of State and International Relations for Homeschool Legal Defense Association. He served homeschoolers on the HSLDA staff for 24 years. He became ill with multiple sclerosis and found out that to die is gain on October 22, 2009.
My wife and I were blessed to hear him speak twice, about ten years apart. The second time the disease had ravaged his body and a lesser man would have been in a wheel chair.
Chris Klicka loved families and he loved homeschoolers, but his primary passion at the end of his life was Jesus and the gospel. I don’t think this was a new passion, I think this was the passion that drove all of the work that he did, but disease and imminent death sharpened his focus. His life was an amazing testimony of God’s grace and everywhere he went he told everyone he met about the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The second time we heard him speak he hung on to the pulpit to keep his balance and told us that he was blessed to travel and that he believed that everywhere he went everyone he met the Lord had put there to hear the gospel. I can’t tell you what it meant to me to see and hear this man, his body wasting away but his heart on fire with love for Jesus that fed a passion for Jesus’ people and the lost.
I have an idea that hearing Chris Klicka that day compares to hearing from Paul in the Roman imprisonment as we do in Philippians. The chains were different, but the hearts were the same.
Imagine being chained to Paul, a man who said for me to live is Christ. It wasn’t rhetoric, it was reality.
In saying for me to live is Christ Paul is talking about his love for Jesus and his identity in Jesus, not his activity. It’s important that we get that.
The other reason we connect with this with our hearts is because Paul is telling us who he is in Christ. Our hearts connect because if we are in Christ it is our identity too.
Paul was a gospel man. Paul preached the gospel of the crucified and resurrected Christ and life transformed by grace through faith. Paul preached life in Christ, in this world and the next, by faith apart from the works of the law. This doesn’t take away from anything that Paul did, but he did what he did because he was in Christ. He did what he did because Christ was working in him.
Paul wrote to the church in Galatia:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
For Paul, to live was Christ because Jesus lived in him. The life he lived in this world he lived by faith in Jesus. Jesus loved Paul and gave himself for Paul so Paul loved Jesus and gave himself for Jesus. This wasn’t a trade – Jesus did this so Paul did that – what Paul did was Christ in him. Life for Paul was Christ because Christ lived in him. If you are in Christ this is your life too.
It’s important that we get that. Otherwise we will try and live for Christ in our own power and will either be self-righteous or driven to despair.
Paul wrote to the church at Rome (some who were at the time Paul wrote Philippians preaching from envy and rivalry):
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:1-14
Paul understood who Christ was and what He had done. Paul spent his life teaching this truth with his voice and with his pen. I need this truth to explode in my heart and mind and destroy my weak thinking about who Christ is and what He has done. Paul understood that his redemption was more than forgiveness of sin. Paul understood that by grace through faith we are made new in Christ. Paul understood that grace abounded in him as he walked in newness of life.
We have been redeemed and made new. We are not under law but under grace. The law gives us rules for living, grace gives us power for living. Sinclair Ferguson says that when the Scripture speaks of the grace of Jesus Christ it speaks of Jesus Christ himself and His graciousness. Think about that, the grace we receive is Christ, the grace we appropriate is Christ. Paul isn’t talking about who we might be, he is talking about who we are.
Paul wrote: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
For me to live is Christ.
One more passage from Paul:
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-21
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
This isn’t rhetoric, this is reality. By the grace of God and the power of God in the Gospel we have been made new in Christ. We can find this hard to believe because to a greater or lesser degree the behavior patterns of the old man – the person we were before we were born again – continue in us. But we have been made new in Christ.
Herman Ridderbos writes in his work on Pauline theology:
The new life means a radical transformation, a passing over from a condition of death and slavery into one of life and liberty, which on this account is not to be explained from human effort and moral strength, but only from the creative command of God, no less mighty than the word with which he once called forth light out of darkness. It is in these categories of creation, therefore that the new man is spoken of again and again. The meaning of this is not only that the church has in Christ come to belong to the new aeon, the new order of things, and in that sense to the new creation, but that likewise this almighty and re-creating work of the Spirit enters into the existence of believers in a personal and individual way.
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Think of a house with a rotting foundation and termites infesting the walls. We could install some new vinyl siding, and it might look nice, but the house would still be falling apart on the inside. God isn’t about putting new siding on houses that are falling down. God has made us new and is making us new from the bottom up and the inside out. We struggle to get this when we look at our lives and our struggle with sin. We make what we are doing the gauge of what God is doing is us. This is backwards. Instead of looking at what we are doing we should look at what Christ has done. What Christ is doing in us will be incomplete until we are given new bodies and live in the new world, but what Christ did for us in His living and dying and resurrection are completely and forever finished. We should always consider what Christ is dong in us in the context of what He has done for us.
Paul could say for me to live is Christ because he understood who he was in Christ. I think a fundamental weakness we have as believers is we don’t really get who we are in Christ. We don’t get who we are in Christ and what that means for our walking in victory over sin and the flesh. We get the proposition, we get the doctrine, but we don’t get the reality. We see that this was true of believers when Paul was around because he continued to exhort the churches to know who they were in Christ and to be who they were in Christ. I suspect that, like us, even Paul had days when he needed to be reminded of who he was in Christ.
How are we reminded of who we are in Christ? By being reminded of what Christ did for us, by being reminded of the gospel. God the Son lived in human flesh for us. He was tempted in every way like us and lived a completely sinless life, keeping all of the law for us. He died for us, taking all of the punishment for our sin. He rose from the dead; death had no hold on Him because He was without sin.
Here is reality for all who are in Christ: our redemption is complete. Our redemption was accomplished in the finished work or Christ. Our redemption is applied in the new birth, when we are born again and given faith to believe. Our redemption having been accomplished at the Cross and applied in regeneration we live in the faith given us by the Spirit in us. This is who we are in Christ. This is how we say with Paul for me to live is Christ.
In saying for me Paul is speaking personally, he is showing us his heart; he is showing us what kind of man he is. He is speaking from his heart and from his life. This is a personal letter from Paul to the people who are the local church in Philippi, people who Paul knew and loved.
Paul is confident in his deliverance, not knowing whether his release from imprisonment would be in this life or the next. His confidence is in being in Christ. Imprisoned, Paul lives in a way that Christ will be honored. He lives in a way that Christ will be honored however this works out. He lives in a way that he can say for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
In the present we have received everything that Jesus lived and died for. Our redemption was accomplished in the living and dying and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our redemption was applied in the new birth. We have been made new in Christ. We live in Christ by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, daily being conformed to the image of Christ. We live in Christ looking forward to being in the presence of Christ.
Paul certainly wants to be relieved of his suffering in this world, but Paul’s motivation is not to be free from his suffering. His ultimate motivation is to be in the presence of Christ. His present motivation is to declare the gospel for the glory of God in Christ so that folks might be saved for the glory of God in Christ. As we will see when we get to Philippians chapter four, Paul was content regardless of circumstances. His confidence was in Christ, not where he was or what was going on. Paul was content to serve Christ in this world, but his heart ached to be with Him. His heart ached to be with the one he loved.
Dying was better than living because dying in this world meant living in the presence of Christ.
Jesus gave His life for Paul’s sin, He gave Paul life and a life to live, and Paul spent his life faithfully serving Jesus, telling people about this Jesus who gave His life for sin and who gives life to all who believe. Now he looks forward to seeing Jesus.
I think something happens when we read about the life of Paul. We think that’s Paul and I’m just me. I think if Paul was here he would not commend us for that kind of thinking.
Paul was an exceptional man with exceptional gifts, but he was not a spiritual super hero. He did not have power that we do not have. Paul’s power was in the resurrected Christ by the indwelling Holy Spirit, just like you and me. Paul despised Jesus and persecuted the church, and in His sin he was saved by grace though faith just like you and me. He was called to serve the one who saved him, and so are we.
Paul was an exceptional man with exceptional gifts, and what he was called to do was unique, but all who are saved are called to serve our Savior. Paul was obedient and served where he was at. Paul served at the pleasure of his King. He was obedient to go where it was hard and painful and to go to people who were hard and would cause him pain. He was obedient to travel for the gospel, be persecuted for the gospel, be imprisoned for the gospel and be executed for the gospel.
Paul’s joy in these crushing circumstances – imprisonment, separation, and opposition – is in Christ and the gospel. Paul’s desire to go be with Christ is not in any way escapism. Paul doesn’t want to die because life is hard.
What’s my attitude? Am I hanging out waiting for Jesus to come and take me from this world of sin and suffering or am I confident that while I’m here He is working in me for His glory? Am I building a home – or a church – that is a fortress against a culture and worldview that isn’t my own or am I confident in Christ to engage the culture with a biblical worldview? We’re not here to build forts but embassies.
We do not want to slide into liberalism, but the answer isn’t fundamentalism. Liberalism meets the culture without the gospel. Fundamentalism has the gospel but doesn’t meet the culture. We want to be evangelical, meeting the culture with the gospel.
Thank God that Jesus wasn’t afraid to engage a culture that wasn’t his own. Jesus came with grace and truth to rebels, folks like me who hated Him and persecuted His people. Thank God that He has called and empowered us to bring the grace and truth of the gospel to other rebels that he is calling to himself.
Of course I’m not suggesting that we be unwise about the effects of an unrighteous culture. There are places that we do not go, things that we do not do, and conversations that we do not have, but I submit that where we go and what we do and the conversations we have will offer us opportunity to present the grace and truth of the gospel.
Paul was a man of single focus. Some might say he was obsessive and that it was unhealthy. I disagree. Paul was a man who understood his task and stayed on task but was not driven by the task. He was driven by his love for Jesus and for the people for whom Jesus died. Even imprisoned and facing death Paul stayed on task because of his love for Jesus.
I read a story once – I don’t remember where – about an itinerant preacher who was in a town to preach some meetings for a local church. The travelling preacher found himself in the local pastor’s home with some of his elders and deacons. As they were talking, the local pastor mentioned several times how he was ready to go home and be with Jesus. The visiting preacher wasn’t saying much, so one of the elders at the table asked him what he thought. He replied; “I think it a poor servant indeed who is ready to go home before he has finished the work his Master has given him to do.”
Paul was ready to go home and be with Jesus, but not one second before he finished the work he was given to do. I want to go and be with Jesus, but by the grace of God I want to hang around long enough to finish the work He has given me to do.
That is Paul’s thinking.

The Hope of the Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus was a profound event, and the implications and significance of the resurrection of Jesus are profound. The reality and the implications of the resurrection are of the utmost significance for those who believe. I invite you to consider these things with me. Let’s begin by reading John 20:1-18

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’“ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” – and that he had said these things to her.

This passage is what we call a historical narrative. Historical narrative is one of the kinds of writing that we find in the Bible. Historical narrative is just what the name implies; a story – a narrative – about something that happened in history.
Do you find history interesting? If not, you are not paying attention. History isn’t about facts, history is about people. If you think about an event in history only in terms of facts, it is boring. What makes history interesting is that it’s about people. Real people like us. History is the story of real people in real times in the past. What makes history compelling is the same thing that makes any good novel or good movie compelling, the people, the characters. If we don’t relate to and care about the people in a story we will not care about the story. History is the story of people in the past, real people, people like us. People that laugh and cry and love and grieve.

The passage is not a myth or an allegory; it really happened. Jesus was a real man and more than a man. He was really executed, He was really dead, He was really in a sealed tomb from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, and He really rose from the dead. Mary Magdalene was a real woman. She came to the tomb where Jesus lifeless body had been laid, grieving over the loss of the one she loved so much.

Jesus of Nazareth was a man who at the same time and in the same body was God incarnate, God in flesh. Before He was miraculously conceived in the womb of a virgin named Mary, Jesus was eternally God. He was God as His humanity took shape inside of His mother; He was God at his birth. He was God lying in a manger borrowed for a cradle, and He was God as His mom and dad taught Him to read. He was God when He got hungry and tired and God when His bones ached from sleeping on the ground. In His incarnation Jesus was fully God and fully human. In every way Jesus was human, and at the same time Jesus was fully God. This reality is beyond our finite minds, yet we cannot ignore it, we must embrace it by faith. It is on this reality, the truth of Jesus being the son of David and the Son of God that the atonement and the resurrection stand.

Mary Magdalene knew Jesus and she loved Him. She loved Him enough to watch His execution and to come early in the morning, before the sun was up, to care for His body. The darkness that surrounded her might have seemed fitting, or she may not have noticed because her heart was dark. Mary Magdalene walked to the tomb that Sunday morning with a broken heart. The gospels of Matthew and Mark tell us that she was not alone, but came to the tomb with another woman named Mary.

People followed Jesus. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were some of those people. Everywhere Jesus went He healed the sick and gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and speech to the mute. People were set free of demon possession and the lame walked. Leprous skin was without blemish and withered hands were made strong. Because of all of this, people followed Jesus.

There was another reason that people followed Jesus; He taught with authority. He taught words of life. Because of this some hated Him, and their hatred blinded them to the truth that He was the anointed one, the Messiah, the son of David who had come to be their King and the Son of God who had come to be their Savior.
But some, like Mary Magdalene, loved Him.

Many of us have heard the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus all of our lives. The reality of the betrayal by a friend, the mocking, the unjust sentencing, the brutal and bloody beating, the excruciating pain of being nailed to a cross made of rough wood with the flesh of the back laid open by the scourge eludes us. The words on the page are clean and safe. They don’t turn our stomachs the way seeing it would. We have not experienced the reality of seeing a man hanging in humiliation and dying publicly in agony while those who hated him enough to watch or loved him enough to watch looked on, some mocking and some weeping. Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus die. Not just the crucifixion of a stranger; that would be horrifying enough. Not the death of an evil criminal who deserved to die for his crimes. Mary Magdalene watched as Jesus was unjustly and mercilessly and brutally executed, this man who had set her free from seven demons, this man she had followed and had heard teach and had watched and had never seen do anything but good.
Now she had come to the tomb to do the only thing she could, anoint His body with burial herbs and mourn.

John’s account says she got there early. The passage doesn’t tell us, but I suspect it was in part because it was her first opportunity. She could not go out on the Sabbath which had ended at sundown on Saturday evening. So she came early Sunday morning, so early it was still dark.

To her surprise, she found the stone that sealed the tomb rolled away from the opening. This was not a job that would have been done easily or by one person. Mary ran to tell the disciples, and Peter and John, the author of this account, raced to the tomb. John, the younger of the two men, got there first, but didn’t go inside. He stopped to look in, but when Peter got there he went in to the tomb.
They saw the cloths that His lifeless body had been wrapped in, but Jesus was not there!

John followed Peter into the tomb, and something profound happened. Verses 8 and 9 say:

Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

John was given a revelation of the resurrection before he saw Jesus. Then the text tells us that they went home. But Mary stayed and wept.

We don’t know how much time has gone by, but I suspect that it was getting light. Mary looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus had been. The angles asked her why she was weeping. She replied; “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

In her mind, Jesus is dead and someone has moved His body. Then she turns around and sees someone else, but she doesn’t know who it is. He asks why she is weeping and who she is looking for. Thinking that He is the gardener, she says; “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Then Jesus says her name; “Mary.”

Now she sees. Now she knows even if she doesn’t fully understand. This is Jesus! She turns and says to Him; “Rabboni!”

Jesus is alive!

I imagine that Mary’s first response would be to embrace Jesus. The text says that Jesus said; “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Looking at the language and at different translations, it seems that Jesus wasn’t saying; “Don’t touch me.” Rather He was saying; “Don’t hold on to me.” Both John Calvin and Matthew Henry suggest that Jesus said this to Mary because she may have had a misunderstanding of the nature of Jesus’ resurrection, thinking that things would be as they were before. Things would not be as they were before.

Mary Magdalene did as Jesus said and went and told the disciples that she had seen Jesus and what He had said. She told them; “I have seen the Lord.”

This isn’t the only resurrection story we have in the Bible. People had been raised from the dead before. In the Old Testament we have accounts of Elijah and Elisha being instruments in restoring life to someone who was dead. We even have an account of a dead man who was raised from the dead when his body touched the bones of Elisha in the grave. Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter and Lazarus from the dead. Being raised from the dead was rare, but not without precedent. We even have two examples recorded in the book of Acts that happened after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.
But Jesus’ resurrection was different.

John 11:1-53 tells us the story of the resurrection of a man named Lazarus. He was the brother of Mary and Martha. Jesus knew Mary and Martha and Lazarus and had been in Martha’s home. John 11:5 tells us that Jesus loved them. He had a particular relationship with them and a particular love for them.

When Lazarus got sick, the sisters sent word to Jesus, but Jesus, knowing what was going on and that these events were being orchestrated for the Father’s glory and His, did not go to them right away. After two days Jesus and the disciples left to go see Lazarus. John 11:17-27 says:

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus got there, but it seemed to be too late. Lazarus was dead. Jesus knew this before he got there, as did the disciples because He had told them. Hearing that Jesus was coming, Martha went out to meet Him and they had a short but profound dialogue.

Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Martha was confident in Jesus’ ability to heal whatever disease had killed Lazarus, had He been there. She was also confident that God was able even in this circumstance and that God would give Jesus whatever He asked.

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” In Martha’s mind, Jesus had come too late to save Lazarus from physical death. He’s dead. But, Martha has a confidence in the resurrection of God’s people on the last day. She has lost hope for Lazarus in the present, but has hope for him in the future.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Jesus is declaring who He is. He is the resurrection and the life. He is teaching about the resurrection and He is the resurrection. For Martha and for us the resurrection is about Jesus. All who believe in Him will never die.

He’s not saying that we won’t die like Lazarus. We will die like Lazarus unless we are alive at Christ’s return, yet we can live and never die because of Jesus. He was resurrected never to die again and all who believe in Him will be resurrected and never die again.

Jesus asks Martha if she believes this. She replies; “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Does this remind you of another passage? Matthew 16:13-16 says:

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

This is our primary confession; Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one promised to come and save God’s people from their sins. This same Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice for the sins of all who would believe. This same Jesus rose from the dead and reigns in Heaven in glory while He prepares us for the day when He will come back and destroy all of His enemies and reign in glory over all of creation.

Jumping ahead in the story of Lazarus, we pick it up in John 11:38-53 says:

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.

Martha still doesn’t get it. Jesus has come to raise her brother from the dead and she’s worried about the stink. This is not unreasonable; nothing smells worse that rotting meat. Jesus says; “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” Jesus is there to show Martha and all who are there the glory of God.

Don’t be too hard on Martha, we are just like her.

Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave and he came out of the grave, but this was only temporary reprieve. Lazarus was born heading toward the grave, and after Jesus raised him from the dead he was heading toward the grave again. Jesus resurrection was not so, He rose from the dead never to die again.

There were many witnesses of Lazarus’ resurrection and some believed in Jesus, but some hated Him because their hearts were dead and they were blind to who Jesus was. They claimed to serve the living God but could not see that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. They only saw a man and that man had to be stopped. The events of Lazarus’ resurrection gave faith to some, but increased the resolve of others to put Jesus to death.

Consider the futility of man’s wisdom. The Jewish ruling council thought that they would stop Jesus by killing Him. Killing Him would not stop Him because the grave could not hold Him.

Caiaphas prophesied; “it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” Jesus did die for the people, but not to protect Israel’s standing with the Romans. Jesus died for the sin of all who would believe, for all of the children of God, Jew and Gentile, that would become His people, a people that would no longer be defined as the nation of Israel but as the Church of Christ.

In most of his first letter to the church in Corinth, the apostle Paul rebukes the folks for their sins and encourages them in holiness and love. But before he closes he writes at length about the resurrection of Christ and the future resurrection of the believer, because there were some who were denying the resurrection of the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 says:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, [Peter] then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

This is foundational, so why did Paul save this for the end of the letter? I don’t know, but I do know that a strong conclusion, in writing or preaching, is important because we tend to remember best what we read or heard last.

In his defense of the future resurrection of the dead, Paul goes to the past resurrection of Jesus. In fulfillment of the prophecies, the Christ had come and died for the sin of God’s people and had risen from the dead. In this is our hope of our future resurrection. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, validating that He was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus rose from the dead, validating that the sacrifice for sin was complete and accepted. 1 Corinthians 15:12-19 says:

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Our reconciliation with God is in the atonement accomplished by the finished work of Christ in His death on the Cross and applied by the Holy Spirit as we are born again. Our future resurrection is in the resurrection of Christ. Apart from the resurrection of Christ the preaching of the gospel is in vain, indeed our faith is in vain. Charles Hodge writes:

"This is the first consequence of denying the resurrection of Christ. The whole gospel is subverted. The reason why this fact is so essential is that Christ rested the validity of all his claims upon the resurrection. If he did rise, he is truly the Son of God and the Savior of the world. His sacrifice has been accepted, and God is propitious. If he did not rise, then none of these things is true."

If Christ did not rise from the grave we are to be pitied because we have a Savior that cannot save us. The resurrection is essential to our salvation. If the resurrection of Christ is denied the gospel is subverted because the resurrection validates the gospel. The resurrection is essential to the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 says:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The truth of the resurrection is the truth of the gospel and the truth of the gospel is the truth of the resurrection. Jesus did rise from the dead, and He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the first; in our resurrection we follow Him. Because of His resurrection all who believe will rise from the dead and live forever with Him.

Paul opens the epistle to the church in Rome opens with this:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, (Romans 1:1-5)

The Christ, the Messiah, was promised and foretold in the Law and the Prophets. He was foreshadowed in the covenants and the tabernacle and the sacrifices for atonement. He was born a son of David as was prophesied to be the forever king on the throne of David. He was born the Son of God as was prophesied to be the forever sacrifice for sin. He fulfilled His mission in his death on the cross, paying the full penalty for all of our sin as our substitute. On the third day, He rose from the grave, conquering death.

By grace through faith His victory over sin becomes our victory over sin. By grace through faith His victory over death becomes our victory over death.

God is Holy, and we are not. Apart from Christ we are sinners by nature and behavior and we are condemned by our sin. God’s righteous judgment for sin is death and His wrath will be poured out for sin. It will be poured out in future eternal punishment for the unrepentant sinner. Here’s the good news. The wrath of God was satisfied in the sacrifice of Christ. God’s justice was met at the Cross. Because of the Cross, God can show us mercy instead of judgment.

But this good news is not universal. It is only for those who believe and repent. If you are not in Christ by faith you are condemned. Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God and trust in His sacrifice for your sin. Repent, turn from your rebellion, turn from your self-reliance, turn from your self-righteousness. You cannot save yourself; your best works are worthless before a holy God.
In the substitutionary sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross full atonement for sin was mad. The complete debt for sin was paid. The full penalty for sin was laid on Jesus. The full wrath of God was poured out on Jesus. Because of the Resurrection we know the sacrifice for sin was accepted and that by grace through faith in the sacrificial death of Christ for us we will be accepted by God.

Our hope of a future resurrection is in the historical reality of the Resurrection of Christ.

A Life Well Lived

Death is a fact of life. Setting aside the possibility of being alive when Jesus returns, we will all die. Our physical bodies will not be able to sustain life, yet the end of our bodies is not the end of life. We who are in Christ, redeemed by His sacrifice and born of the Spirit, have the promise of eternal life with Him. This promise is secure in what Christ has done, received by grace through faith apart from anything we do. At the same time, the life new life given to us by Christ is to be lived for Christ.
At our church we are preaching through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven as it is displayed here on earth in His people. The past two Sundays we have looked at Matthew 6:19-24 and 25-34 considering that we are to live this life for the next. We are to make heavenly investments; we are not to be anxious about food and clothing but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that He will supply what we need to live as long as he intends.
If you have been in church very long you have probably heard these passages preached. Of course we agree with them, but how well and how purposefully do we live them? After all, the here and now demands our attention.
This week we put the here and now on hold. We upended our schedules and gathered in the middle of the day on a Thursday to share our grief over a sister who passed from this life to the next, and to rejoice that she passed from this veil of tears to the presence of Jesus where there will be joy everlasting.
Hers was a life well lived. She was good at many things, but what she left behind was the most important thing. People loved her and knew that they were loved by her. Her life was hard, but her heart was not. When she came to the end of herself and embraced Jesus she was not old and she didn’t know it yet, but she was near the end of her life here. In the short time she had to live after she was born again she lived for the kingdom, she invested in eternity.
Diagnosed with advanced and aggressive cancer, much of the end of her life was in treatment, but she used that time as an opportunity to testify to doctors and nurses and technicians and patients – none of whom would she have been talking to if she wasn’t there for treatment – of the goodness and grace of Jesus who had saved her. As her life here was coming to a close she invested in eternity by investing in people.
This world is not our home; we are passing through this world on the way to our true home. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard, but we are not anxious because our Father knows what we need and He is seeing us through this journey every step of the way.
We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness as we move toward Him. Our sister has passed over to the other side and she knows in full what we know in part. She knows all of the meaningless things she did and she knows the benefit of everything she did for Jesus. I suspect that if could send us a postcard she would say something like: “This is so much more amazing that I ever could have imagined. I can’t wait until you get here. Until you do, live your life with wild abandon for Jesus and His kingdom.”
Live this life with wild abandon for the next. That is a life lived well. Invest in the kingdom. How do we do that? How do we live in this realm and invest in the realm to come? Invest in God’s people. Invest in His Church. Invest in the gospel. Invest in discipleship.
That’s what we have been commissioned to do; preach the gospel and make disciples here and around the world. You won’t take anything with you but, by God’s grace to save and power to save, take as many as you can along with you. That is a life well lived.
Thank you, Sister. You displayed Jesus for us, and showed us how to live well. We will miss you, but only for a little while.

a new creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
How many times have you heard a Christian say; “I’m a sinner saved by grace.”
I submit that half of this statement is correct. Christians, those who are in Christ, redeemed by the blood Christ, the perfect and forever and only atonement for sin, made alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit who indwells them, are indeed saved by grace.
Half of this statement is incorrect. Christians are not sinners.
I know this may challenge your paradigm. If you are a Christian and you disagree with me, consider why you would refer to yourself and other Christians as sinners. I think there are primarily two reasons Christians say this. First, because we have heard it said many, many times. We have heard it from church leaders and pastors. We have heard it from the pulpit. Second, because we sin it seems to fit our experience. I submit that both of these are poor reasons to embrace something as truth.
Scripture should inform our thinking about everything. As Christians, our worldview is to be biblical, not informed by popular sayings or by forming our own truth around our experiences. Scripture says; “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” I submit that saying that we are a new creation in Christ, the old having passed away and the new having come, and calling ourselves sinners is a contradiction.
Before I was born again, I sinned because I was a sinner. I still sin, but I am no longer a sinner. I say this because before I was born again I was dead in sin, I was a sinner by nature and behavior; unregenerate sinner was my identity. Now I am alive in Christ. I have a new nature and a new identity. My identity is not sinner, one who is in sin; it is Christian, one who is in Christ.
Yet I live in a body corrupted by sin and in a world corrupted by sin, and I sin. My new nature produces new behavior and at the same time I find that I still do things that I did when I had the former nature. Does this mean I now have two natures, the old and the new? No, I am a new creation, the old has passed away.
The apostle Paul wrote: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:15-20)
The apostle Paul battled with sin. He did things he didn’t want to do, things that didn’t conform to his new nature. Paul was a man; he lived in a corrupted body in a corrupted world. He was redeemed and regenerate, a new creation in Christ, living in the old body in the old world. In these bodies and in this world we will be tempted and we will sin, but in the new nature sin is not what we want so we fight against it. We keep fighting or sin wins, there is no other alternative, but we will keep fighting because we are in Christ it is in our new nature to fight. Note that this isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. We can battle some sin and at the same time give in to other sin. I can avoid committing adultery and at the same be a liar. I can tell the truth and at the same time be proud. Most of us will not commit murder, but who of us has not been angry enough to try and beat another to death with our words?
I suspect that Paul was man who did battle with every sin in his corrupted body and put up a defense against every temptation in his corrupted world. Yet he must not have won all of those battles, or else why would he say; “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Before we go on I need to say something about this passage. There are those who believe that Paul is talking about himself before he was a believer. This is not correct. I come to this conclusion by reading the text in context. The reason I bring it up is because if this is your thinking you will not get what this passage is about. This is the apostle Paul relating his ongoing battle with sin as one who has been born again, who has been given a new nature, and is indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit, yet lives in a body corrupted by sin.
If you are a Christian, that describes you. You have been born again, you have been given new nature, and you are indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit, yet you live in a body corrupted by sin.
All who are in Christ are fully redeemed. We were slaves to sin, but the blood of Christ purchased us for himself, setting us free from slavery. Imagine you were a slave, the property of another, and could do nothing but what your master commanded. The only alternative is to die. Now imagine that someone comes to your master and negotiates to buy you. You leave with your new master, but instead of pressing you into service he sets you free. You are no longer a slave, you are free! Would you continue to call yourself slave?
We were slaves to sin; we were by nature and identity sinners. We are no longer slaves to sin; we are not by nature or identity sinners, yet we still sin. There is the rub. Why do we act like slaves when we are free?
Imagine being a slave your whole life. Freedom might be a dream, but you would not think like one who is free. If suddenly you gained your freedom, you would still think like a slave and act like a slave. It would take time for your thinking and behavior to change.
In Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but we still think like slaves and act like slaves. As we live as free people we learn what it is to be free, we learn to think like we are free, and we learn to act like we are free. We become progressively like Jesus, the One who set us free. We call this sanctification.
The illustration of being a slave doesn’t work for us because we cannot consider ourselves as slaves. We need a more accessible illustration. Think of how many things you do in a day where you are reacting to what you have learned. If you’re driving down the freeway and the guy in the car in front of you locks up his brakes you don’t consider what to do, you react to what you have been taught. Your training takes over. The brain moves the foot to the brake pedal with all urgency because that is what the brain and the foot have been trained to do.
Think of soldiers and police officers and fire fighters and athletes; they devote themselves to many hours of ongoing training so that when they are doing what they were trained to do their training takes over. When they don’t have time to think they react to their training.
Consider a perfect double play. The pitch is hit and the runner at first base takes off for second, the ball, grounded to the short stop, is tossed to the second baseman who tags the base and then rifles it to the first baseman ahead of the batter. This happens because these guys have trained and they are reacting to their training. Each player does what he does because he has been trained to do it.
Now imagine what happens when a right fielder becomes a shortstop. He must be retrained, leaving his right fielder training behind and learning to react like a shortstop.
Our experience is somewhat like this. We have a new position – we are in Christ – but we have to learn our new position. We bring to our new position everything we learned in our old position, and sometimes we react like we did when we were in our former position. Yet, regardless of what our experience suggests, we are not what we were.
Our position is secure. No one who is in Christ is going back. Our redemption is complete because it is complete in Christ, yet we do not completely experience our redemption because we live in corrupted bodies and in a corrupted world. We live with our former training as we are being retrained. There is a tension between the old and the new. Christians live in the tension of being alive in Christ and at the same time living in bodies corrupted by sin. We live in the tension of the new nature and the old training, but we do not live with two natures.
In the new birth we receive a new nature, the old nature is no more, yet we still live in the old body which has been trained by the old nature and will sometimes react to its training. God has changed our position. Our job is to apply ourselves to retraining for and living in our new position, and this will be our job as long as we live here. The best shortstop is the best because he applies himself in practice and he practices throughout his career.