Yearly Archives: 2018

The Time is Now – 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

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I don’t think I have ever been to a graduation ceremony (and I’ve been to a lot of them – four of my own, and a total of 10 for my boys) where a speaker did not include this line: “Today is not the end; it is the beginning.”

We often think when we have achieved a new status or promotion in life that circumstances will ease and all of life will become easier. It really doesn’t happen that way. Most often, newer and bigger challenges and difficulties find their way to the front door of our lives.

It is likewise an errant thought that life will be so much easier when one knows Christ and is in a saving relationship with God. It is true that the indwelling Spirit and the truths of the Word give us resources not otherwise available to the common man. But in fact, life actually gets more difficult when one becomes an identified alien and stranger in a land hostile to Christ and the gospel.

Some of the Corinthians had fallen prey to believing false accusations about the Apostle Paul, both about the content of his message and the character and experiences of his life. Some of these opponents were surely Judaizers who promoted the works of the Mosaic Law as necessary for salvation in addition to the message about Christ. To combat this, Paul quoted a well-known passage from Isaiah that looked forward to a time when Gentiles would find salvation as well as Israel.

And Paul was saying that this time had now come. He urges them not to receive God’s grace in vain … meaning to take something that was actually empty, since it wasn’t really grace, but was works.

Paul references those of genuine faith as God’s co-workers.  That’s cool!  It really is!  And it means that everything is now going to be easy and the disciple will be well-respected, right?  People will see the reality of God and his power in the life of a servant. The credentials will be glowing and the path easy.

But that’s not how it works out.

The credentials that Paul puts forward, credentials that are fully the opposite of his detractors, involved an upside-down confirmation of his genuine status. Among surprising difficulties were hardships, beatings, imprisonments, endless hard work, sleeplessness, dishonor, fake news, false accusations, sorrows and poverty. Yet with all these losses, Paul said it was accurate to see them as the marks of great gain and rejoicing. It is being like Jesus. It is giving up everything in order to gain everything.

The concept of being identified with Christ is to understand that true rewards are not in this life. The pay for being God’s co-worker is in the eternal realm. Knowing our identity gives us perspective. This is not the end; our identity with Christ is this life is just the beginning. Another graduation is ahead.

2 Corinthians 6:1 – As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” [quote from Isaiah 49:8]

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

6:3 – We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

The Good Kind of Driven – 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

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What excites you?  What gives you purpose in life, waking you up each day with a desire to go into the world and get after living life in a big way?  In what way are you “driven?”

More often than not, when we hear that someone is said to be “driven,” it is a statement about some negative characteristic. We do indeed see lots of driven people in our world. For many, it is about power and authority. This is especially evident in government. The advanced age of so many in Congress is absolutely startling. In actual fact, out of our 100 United States Senators, nine of them are in their 80s and 22 are in their 70s, with 38 in their 60s!  Good night!  Don’t they ever want to retire and play with their grandchildren (or great, great-grandchildren)?  Well … no, they don’t. They simply can’t let go of the allure of power.

Other people are obsessed by wealth. Someone once said, “Money is not the most wonderful thing in life; love is. So I’m in extra good shape, because I love money!”  Arnold Schwarzenegger quipped, “Money doesn’t make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.”  But you get the picture, you know how people are indeed driven to accumulate both wealth and material assets, always expecting that this abundance will bring true happiness.

At one time in his life, the Apostle Paul was driven to zealously uphold the traditions of the historic Jewish faith and observance of the Law. A threat to this predominance was the growth of a fledgling group of followers of a Jewish teacher named Jesus. These early Christians of the church needed to be shut down and eliminated, and he was a crusader to make that happen.

But change came to Paul’s life and values system in a most dramatic way. We could say that his drive-train did a 180!  He was still driven, but the direction and content were entirely different. No longer was it about the stuff that could be measured by earthly standards and metrics. No longer was it about personal gain or aggrandizement. It was now all about living for God.

This change happened because of a new view about Jesus Christ. Paul now understood that God had given Christ to die for sin as the grand sacrifice for all who would believe and thereby find eternal life. Though he would still be wrongly accused of being crazy and self-serving, Paul knew he had a new mission in life … a new drive.

Being vitally related to God changes our identity viewpoint of both ourselves and those around us. In today’s passage, Paul is saying that the Christian has a new way of looking at people around him. It is not the same way people of the world look at each other. We see others with Kingdom glasses. We see them either as brothers and sisters in Christ, or we see them as enslaved by an alien kingdom – in need of our services as an ambassador of the Kingdom of Light.

So there is no reason for the Christian to be insecure. You are not just an engineer, a nurse, a teacher, a mom or dad… you are an ambassador for the Creator-God – the One who holds it all together, the eternal Father. That sure beats anything your unsaved neighbor is able to say he or she has membership within. You represent the sovereign of the universe as an agent of reconciliation and peace.

How well do you serve in this assignment?  Does it “drive” you at all?  Do you drive down the street and hurt for the disheveled people you see passing on the sidewalks?  Do you see the classmates of your children at school who clearly come from a difficult environment at home, one where faith is the primary ingredient of life that is missing?  Is your heart moved when our missions families come home and tell us about the great work of God with Iranian asylum seekers in Europe or in our multi-ethnic, sister church in the capital city of Kazakhstan?

It is nice and a very worthy thing to succeed in the responsibilities of work and family. But our primary occupation is as an ambassador of Christ to bring lost people to a reconciliation with the God from whom they’re estranged. Nothing beats that for personal identity. That is a “good driven.”

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The Benefits of Adoption, part 2 – Ephesians 1:3-8

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Most adoptions happen when a child is very young and at a time when the child has no memory of the event. It is not like the child thinks it through, saying to self, “I need to get myself adopted somehow, so I’m going to act cute and see if I can find someone who will take me into their family and out of this mess that I’m in.”

Yesterday, we gave a first of four summary statements that we could make about this topic of being adopted as a child of God: Adoption leads to an entirely new and better situation for the adoptee.

Today we’ll give the other three …

  1. Adoption occurs by the initiation of the new father and at a time when the child has no memory of the event or contribution to it.

Surely, our adoption into God’s family did not happen because we were really awesome and cute and worked to get it done. No, it happened – in terms of speaking about it in linear time – before we were even born, and actually before creation.

Ephesians 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

This is one of those very hairy passages, theologically speaking. Books have been written on the very complicated doctrines of election (choosing) and predestination. Complicating this is that it involves God (who is outside of time and sees everything – past, present, future – like we view the present moment) choosing us to be adopted (people limited to understanding this in the only way we can think – linear time).

What I know for sure from this text (and all texts about election and predestination) is that it is all because of God’s grace. He is the one taking the initiative, and anything that looks like us finding Him is because He came to us in some way – conscious to us or not – to enable us to find Him.

Ultimately, there is no way around this passage, and many like it, other than to understand that we owe it all to God. Spiritually speaking, we’re like that baby in the crib who cannot make a choice as to who his parents are going to be.

  1. Adoption is a costly proposition for the one doing the adopting.

According to the adoption.com information website, the costs of adoption are:

  • Most newborn domestic adoptions cost between $20,000 and $40,000 to complete.
  • International adoptions tend to cost about $35,000.
  • Approximately 69% of foster adoptions report total costs of less than $1,000. (But there are other sorts of costs and complications that go with this process. There is an emotional rollercoaster of stress; you’re putting your heart out on the street, hoping not too many cars run over it.)

And we see also, spiritually speaking, that the price of our adoption was very high …

Ephesians 1:5 – In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.

We’ve been talking about a lot of theological / soteriological terms the past couple weeks: Righteousness, Imputation, Justification, Atonement, etc.  And in this passage we see the word “Redemption.”  This means to pay a price to set something free.

We should be ever amazed at the gracious Father who paid the debt for our sin – we couldn’t pay it. It is easy to forget this grace. And that is why we are told to regularly observe a time of communion remembrance to recall this great and costly sacrifice.

  1. Adoption brings about multiple changes in relationships, as there is a new father and a new family, with new privileges and perspectives.

Again, it said in Ephesians 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

But then also see how the Galatians 4 passage continues … 4:6 – Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

That phrase, Abba, Father, is a term of endearment and familiarity of close family warmth and relationship. To be a child of God! That is amazing!  That means we have access to the King of Kings as our daddy; we’re not prevented by guards around the throne, we can walk right up to him with our needs and desires.

And it is more than just a relationship with a new father, we have an entirely new family with all sorts of brothers and sisters and beyond. And in the church family, many of us have found that these relationships transcend all others.

And still more, there is a great future with an inheritance of eternal life. This entire idea of being an heir as God’s child will have its own focus as our fifth topic in the IDENTITY series. But it is OK to be amazed by this, even today.

And still more, all of this should lead us to a sense of profound gratitude.

We have had church families from TSF literally go halfway around the world to bring home a child in adoption. That is expensive and self-sacrificial, and maybe even a bit risky. But to secure our spiritual adoption, Jesus came from the glories of heaven and took on human form, becoming subject even to death on a cross, paying a price that we might be adopted as God’s children.

Adoption is a very special thing with very special benefits.

The Benefits of Adoption – Galatians 3:23—4:5

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Being adopted is not the magic elixir for having a grand and successful life, but it almost always puts an adopted person on a better path than what might otherwise have been.

As we look at what the Scriptures teach about the doctrine of adoption, let us consider two primary passages that are just a couple pages apart in your New Testament – in Ephesians 1 and in Galatians 4. Relative to the concept of being adopted into God’s family as children of God, I think there are four summary statements we can make about this teaching. We’ll look just at the first of these today, covering the second through fourth tomorrow.

  1. Adoption leads to an entirely new and better situation for the adoptee.

Children who are in need of adoption are in that desperate place because something has gone terribly wrong …

… They could be orphans due to some disaster befalling their family.

… They might have special physical needs, requiring medical care beyond the resources of their natural family.

… Their parent or parents may be so impoverished as to be unable to care for them.

… Their parents might be impaired through mental disease, or even imprisoned for a crime.

Whatever it is, it is almost always something very bad. And the child is unable to do anything about it.

And so it was for all of us, spiritually speaking. Sin had created a total mess. We had become children of the Evil One. There was an inherited family curse of death upon us that would lead to eternal separation from God. And just as an infant cannot help himself out of his bad situation, so we were lost without God’s intervention and reaching down to us.

Galatians 3:23 – Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

You may recall about the Galatian church, that though most were Gentiles, Judaizers had come in and discredited Paul’s teaching and the gospel message of grace in Christ. They taught that the Law of the OT must still be followed. So, the Galatians were impressed by the Law, and Paul is writing here to give them a proper understanding of the purpose of the Law. It was not to give life, but to rather give strict guidance morally.

Paul illustratively likens it to what little children might have in a home in the culture of that time. There would be a guardian – often a slave of the household – who would strictly make the child behave. At a later time, this oppressive person was no longer needed and was done away with when the child became an adult. And that is the role that the Law played. But now that a full faith has come in Christ, it is no longer needed.

Galatians 3:26 – So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So the time had come – with the coming of Christ – that God’s children through faith became fully a realized part of God’s family. The baptism mentioned is of the Holy Spirit, an act which identifies the believer with Christ and the church. So there are no longer special categories (spiritually speaking) for Jews or Gentiles or slave or free or men and women – all are one in Christ. As such, they are also heirs of the promises made to Abraham – promises about faith and life.

Galatians 4:1 – What I am saying is that as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. 3 So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Paul is saying that there are no great advantages to being under the law or to being underage, even though an heir of a household. It was no better at that time than being a slave. The child had to obey the slave, just as the slave guardian had to obey the master. And spiritually speaking, before Christ, a person was enslaved to the natural forces of this sinful world.

BUT at the perfect time, God sent Christ to change all of this – to set things right by paying a price of redemption and making a full adoption possible.

All of this (in Paul’s argument to the Galatians) is to ask them why in the world they would want to go back to something like that?  That would be a bit crazy, but that is what they were doing.

In this passage we see the beautiful concepts of spiritual adoption – an act that was done to change what was a bad situation.

And as we said earlier in this series, it is all too common for people to underestimate or to not really comprehend the gravity of their situation due to sin. And though not seeing themselves as perfect, neither do they see themselves as so bad as to be spiritually lost/dead, and separated from a Holy God. But people who are apart from Christ need to feel lost before they submit to accepting the directions to be found.  Sometimes, in counseling, people don’t “get” the problem they have and the consequences of errant behaviors, and you have to “bring the floor up to them” because they’re going to hit the floor sooner or later. And so it is with explaining the gospel to people who have not yet trusted in Christ alone.

It is good for us remember from whence we’ve come and to recall what our situation might have been prior to salvation – not just for eternity, but for this life as well.

Chosen for Adoption – Ephesians 1:3-8

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Given my own background as an adopted child, it is totally impossible for me to talk about this topic without a flood of emotions and reflections.

We have some fantastic families in our church who have adopted children, having reached out to adopt either across racial categories in our country, or travelling even to remote parts of the earth to bring children home to a better place.

When you are adopted at a very young age and have no memories of any other household, it seems totally normal to be in the only home you’ve ever known. However, at some point you come to learn and know more about your past. In my situation, it never very seriously dawned upon me that anyone else was a parent other than the two people I had always called “mom and dad.”  Being that they were in actuality my biological grandparents, they were older than the parents of my friends. I do remember just one occasion where my mom went with me as a parent chaperon on a school field trip, and I recall looking at her and the other mothers and making note that she was clearly older than the rest. But I never thought upon it more deeply than making a passing observation.

It was not until I was about eight or nine years old (in 3rd grade, I believe) that my parents sat me down one evening and told me my real story. Though I knew my true mother (but never, ever met my actual father), I was not as close to her as many other relatives. And since there was an open strain between she and her mother (my adopted mom), I often did not have a high view of her in those years. Hearing that she was actually my mother was a terrible moment. I came entirely unglued and melted down emotionally for a brief time. But it was truly brief. It did not take long for the reasoning process to enlighten me to the true understanding that I had been the fortunate recipient of great grace and privilege as compared to what might have been. And that appreciation has only grown more deeply over the years.

And so it is for us, spiritually speaking, as we come to understand the wonderful grace we have received in our adoption by God. As Paul writes to the Ephesians, he speaks of praise to the Father, and of how we’ve been blessed in the heavenly realms … and of the riches of a grace lavished on us.

And just as a child has nothing to do with his adoption and only learns of it much later, our spiritual adoption was done for us very early. In fact, it is so early that it predates us, or anyone else! Yep, we were picked out by God before the creation of the world!!  Wow, that is amazing. And surely it supports the view that it is not because we were just so cute that God got all mushy and chose us. As it says in Romans, the situation is better described as on the other end of the spectrum – while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

One of the women that I’ve gotten to know a bit over the past year of association with the Kingdom United Fellowship has a very unique and colorful way of expressing the joy of her faith on social media. I have seen her on a couple of occasions write something like, “I’m just God’s special little girl, He loves me so much!”  And I told her once that I thought this was actually good theology!  It is not to say that God loves any of us who are his children more than the others, but that He loves us so much as to have given His best for us when we were at our worst.

Imagine growing up in the finest and most beautiful home in the county, set upon a hillside overlooking the most stunning vistas. Your every need is cared for and met by wonderful parents. And like my story above, you are told one day that you are not actually their biological child. Rather, you learn that your original family lives in poverty and dysfunction, even as your natural father is imprisoned upon death row. Would you not grow to rather quickly have an amazement about the great fortune that has come to you – to be where you are rather than where you might have been?

That illustration does not begin to capture the spiritual grace we have by our divine adoption. There is great health is our possessing a proper identity of our family relationship with the Father, through the Son, sealed by the Spirit. We are blessed … for now, and for eternity.

Ephesians 1:3 – Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us.

Children of God – Romans 8:14-17

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We turn over today to the third of our five topics in this series – that of finding an identity by being adopted into the family of God.

This is a deeply personal concept for me, in that it is not just a theological concept, but is also something I have lived in the natural world. Having been an adopted child, I know that it raises a whole variety of identity issues that run the gamut from total weirdness on one hand, to profound gratitude on the other hand.

Over the years of working with children in a whole variety of situations, I have often become very fond of certain kids who have charming characteristics, yet whom I know to be from terribly troubled homes. And a part of me just wanted to adopt them and take them home and provide for them a better life.

Why does adoption happen? You don’t hear about someone being taken from a solid home and family and becoming a part of a dysfunctional household. No, it is always the other direction. There is a story, always either tinged or drenched in sadness, of a child in need who is in poor or even desperate circumstances. Through some advocacy, a family graciously intervenes with an open heart and open door to make the needy child a part of their own household. It is a wonderful thing to do, but it is costly in many ways – certainly in legal fees and concomitant expenses, but also in emotional investment and long-term challenges.

Our adoption by God through the work of Christ was costly in all these ways. Taken from the mess of being born into a sinful family, our adoption gave us an entirely new family identification and standing. It is also a new legal standing, with new benefits and new obligations. When stepping back and seeing what has happened, it should drive us to a deep sense of profound gratitude.

Before our adoption by God, we were living as the children of the evil one who accused us and provided only for our demise. But now being a part of a new family, we have the opportunity to live as an heir of God and co-heir with Christ. And this is exactly how Paul wrote of this in Romans chapter 8 …

8:14 – For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

It is all a matter of living out who you truly are. Yes, there is a gravitational pull toward a foolish, older way of life that has a natural bent. But wisdom informs us that this is personally destructive, that we don’t need to live this way, that we are positionally different than that, and we have a new power within to help us live in a new way that is life indeed. Eternal life, with eternal values. It would be pretty crazy to not strive to live in this better way! It would be the height of foolishness to go back to identification and a lifestyle from which we were previously delivered.

Live like who you are: an adopted child of the King.

Identification with Christ Means Everything – Galatians 2:11-21

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The way we should most want to be seen by others is as having our identification “in Christ.”  That is what really counts. All the other things that we may be – racially, socially, professionally, financially, whatever-ly – all of that is rather meaningless compared to being identified with Christ in his death and resurrection.

Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is a time to speak and a time to remain silent. Circumstances determine which course is wisest. Even Jesus did not speak out on every occasion against everything that he knew was wrong. A modern-day maxim says that one should pick his battles wisely.

In today’s reading, we encounter a historic situation where the Apostle Paul chose to pick a battle – with none other than Peter. Wow! Saints Peter and Paul in a dust-up! Readers of the Scripture seem to more often remember the occasion in the book of Acts where Paul had a serious conflict with another giant of the early church – Barnabas. And look – Barnabas shows up in this passage today. He is on Peter’s side of the equation and standing justly in the firing line also for the verbal tongue-lashing Paul lays on Cephas (Peter).

Antioch was a great church in the earliest days of the worldwide spread of the gospel. There were Jews and Gentiles and all sorts of diversely-gifted people in this local family of faith. If you know the story of Acts, you know that Peter certainly understood that the message of Christ was not an exclusively Jewish truth. It was the Good News of the final work of Christ that had benefit for all peoples, Jewish and Gentile. Peter openly associated with Gentiles in Antioch, that is, until a group from Jerusalem (“from James”) came to be with them. Among these were those who were of a “circumcision group” – meaning that they had not yet accepted the full message of the Gospel of grace abounding, and they were hence still of an opinion that the only way one could be right with God was to believe in Jesus AND still keep the Law.

The stiff, traditional, old-timer, “we’ve never done it that way before” group in the early church were the believers in the church in Jerusalem – very predominately Jewish. Apparently, they also were quite intimidating. I imagine that Peter knew many of them well from the days of following Christ, the passion week, and the resurrection appearances and Day of Pentecost. Even Barnabas was caught up also with Peter in separating themselves off from fellowshipping and eating with the numerous Gentiles populating the church family in Antioch.

For Paul, this was an unacceptable situation that had to be confronted. It was a physical evidence of an insufficient understanding of the work of Christ and the very nature of the Gospel.  This segregation failed to see that the message of the cross was not merely the latest Jewish thing, it was a totally new work of God for all people. In Paul’s mind, what was at stake and what needed to be clearly affirmed was the very issue of justification – that it was a work of grace and not at all a work of the Law.

Some of Paul’s arguments in this passage are difficult to understand, but the essence is that any combination of the Law with belief in Christ was a total mixing of oil and water.

I have always loved verse 20, having memorized it as a young boy as a favorite verse. Paul says he is identified with Christ in his death, being so loved by the Lord that Christ is worthy of Paul’s whole life being dedicated to serving him in faith. And that is the stuff of highest priority and value.

Paul Opposes Cephas – Galatians 2:11-21

11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

The Righteousness Prescription – (1 Corinthians 1, Romans 1)

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Yesterday I talked about how some people like the feeling of grandiose identity that comes with certain titles. Religious people can be like this, insisting upon being called “pastor” or “reverend” (yuk!).  I only use those terms – especially the “Rev.” title – when absolutely necessary.

Another is the “Doctor” title. I like that one a little bit better, though there is confusion with it, especially with children. I have one of these degrees, but if I insisted upon it being used at church, most of the kids would not understand how to differentiate me from that meanie who puts needles in their arms.

I’m going to use the “doctor” title at the end today, so let me explain a couple things about these degrees. I will sometimes let it stand when someone says I have a Ph.D.  Actually, I do not. But most adults understand that a Doctor of Philosophy is different than being a medical doctor (M.D.).  But I don’t correct people most times, as I allow that Ph.D. to be used generically, rather than specifically – so that people don’t think I work in a hospital. To be even more specific, I don’t actually have a Doctor of Theology either (Th.D.), though what I have is deeply infused with theology. My degree is a D.Min. – Doctor of Ministry. The standard for this is an application of knowledge, versus an original contribution to knowledge. But my degree, when stated out loud (D.Min.) sounds like something from the satanic realm, so I’ll sometimes go generic and just reference my doctorate as in the field of theology (as later today).

All of this has to do with identity. And we’ve been talking for our second of five themes in this series about our identity as saints. And that’s a big deal (see yesterday!).  It beats all doctorate degrees for sure. And we are saints, according to a variety of places in the New Testament (often translated as “holy ones” in the NIV and modern translations, though “saints” in the KJV).

For example, when Paul wrote to the Romans, he referenced them as such …

Romans 1:1,7 – Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God … To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

And even when writing to the “lifestyle-challenged / holiness-challenged” church in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:1-2), he says, “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…”

How do you get to be a saint?  Indeed, it is a term that looks toward a future characterization in God’s presence. Though we have it now in a positional sense, we get it fully in the life to come. And the only way to be in God’s presence is to be perfect, to be righteous. And as I’ve spoken and written many times, the ONE THING you need most specifically to be saved is to possess righteousness – the thing you don’t have in Adam, but that you get from Christ.

I am worn out on TV commercials for medications for all sorts of ailments. They show beautiful and happy people enjoying life to its fullest, though you understand from the immediate commentary that they have some serious condition of the heart / skin / liver function, etc.  And there is a medication being promoted that will make it all better … saying, “Ask your doctor if ____ is right for you.”  And then follows a lengthy, low-voice disclaimer (that is FDA mandated, I’m sure) that warns about all the deleterious things that might happen to you if you take this medication … “Some people have found a worsening of conditions. Severe anxiety and suicidal thoughts and actions have followed the use of this medication. Heart attacks, blood clots, strokes and even death have been experienced by some.”

And you wonder if the alleged “cure” is not worse than just living with the disease!

But that is not how it is for the cure of the gospel in identifying with Christ to solve the condemnation of sin from your identification with Adam. The remedy is perfect … oh, not yet in this world; but it surely is in the world to come. And as a doctor of theology, let me prescribe for you the righteousness of Christ and the justification that comes with it.

And if you’ve been on this life-saving medication for even a long time, aren’t you thankful for its benefits?  And don’t you suppose that those around you who are dying without it should be very actively pursued and informed by you who have the prescription for death?  Take righteousness; it cures everything.

It’s a Big Deal to be a Saint (Romans 5:12-21)

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You have probably known some people in life who are insistent upon being called by some title that they have. I’ve known some pastors like this who insist upon everyone using that title (something I’ve never really liked or been very comfortable with). And then I have known some people who have honorary doctorates who desire to have that title used when being addressed. All of this strikes me as a human effort to be seen as a big deal.

But what is really a big deal is to be a saint, a holy one of the most high God. And that is an identification of all who have found salvation in Jesus. So how does a justified sinner get to have such an esteemed designation? The answer is here in the second half of Romans 5, where we get several contrasts and similarities between Adam and Christ.

This is not the easiest passage to handle. It is one of those times where Paul is all over the map in the laying out of his thoughts … jumping off onto a couple of rabbit trails. He begins a main thought, but then jumps off onto an excurses or two, then later finishing his earlier idea.

Perhaps to help us through the passage, I can print it out in thematic order, rather than the consecutive verses as in the text. Beginning with Romans 5:12 …

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

5:18 – Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

5:13 – To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. … 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase.

5:15 – But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

5:20 – But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us consider a pair of similarities and a pair of contrasts relative to Adam and Christ.

Similarity #1 – It was the work of one man who brought both death and life.

Adam >> committed a sinful act >> led to condemnation and death (a legal decree of judgment)

Jesus >> with a righteous act >> brought justification (a legal act of acquittal – the opposite of condemnation)

Contrast #1 – The work of Adam was disobedience; the work of Christ was obedience.

God said to Adam to stay away from one tree and don’t climb it and eat the fruit, or he would die; and he disobeyed.

God said to Jesus to steadfastly walk toward a “tree” that he would be nailed upon, and that he would die, though his work of sacrifice would bring life; and he obeyed!

All mankind was “in” each … with Adam, you had no choice; but you can choose to be identified with Christ and be “in” him in his obedience upon the tree and gain life thereby. That is AWESOME.

Similarity #2 – Sin abounded in the world both before and after the Law.

Picking up on the thought in verse 12 that sin was in the world from Adam onward, with mankind participating in Adam and henceforth, Paul says that even without the written Law there was sin in the world – lots of it!  It could be argued that though there could not be a condemnation of a person for a law that is not stated, there is no doubt that mankind sinned against God’s verbal commands long before a written Law. Some primary illustrations from the Old Testament record …

–           Cain killed his brother Abel.

–           Noah’s pre-flood world was characterized by pervasive evil.

–           Noah himself sinned grievously after the flood.

–           Abraham was called out of a world and culture characterized by idolatry.

–           Jacob’s family of sons was infamous for their dysfunction.

–           The horrors of the Pharaohs of Egypt led to Moses’ ascension and exodus to the promised land.

Finally, the written law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. That might seem like an odd statement, but it tells us that the purpose of the law was to reveal sin and demonstrate God’s perfect, righteous standard. This would have the benefit of driving man toward God’s mercy.

Contrast #2 – There is no comparison of size or scope between the trespass of sin and the gift of God’s grace through the obedient righteous act of the righteous One who brought righteousness.

Yes, the arguments here are a bit complicated, but in the big picture it is all saying one thing. Yes, sin is really, really big, but grace is so much bigger by comparison. It is like when you think about the massive size of the solar system, but then compare it to our galaxy, and beyond that to realize this is one galaxy of countless thousands in God’s universe.

Indeed, it is a wonderful work of God’s mercy in Christ’s provision to provide for us a new identity in Jesus – that of being a saint through the legal decree of our imputed sins being judged and forgiven, and Christ’s righteousness being applied to our account. It’s a big deal.

The Doctrine of Imputation

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Imagine that your great-grandfather had made a terrible business mistake and that it affected the entire family system, down to you even many years later. It was a huge debt, and you have inherited it. There is nothing you could ever do to repay it. The situation is hopeless.

But a generous person of unlimited wealth comes into your life and offers to pay the debt for you. That would indeed be wonderful, and you would surely welcome that to happen.

The institution holding the debt would hear of this and would take the obligation from you and transfer it to the donor to own the debt and provide the payment. And upon making payment, the donor would receive the receipt that would also register in your account as paid in full. There would therefore be no way that any debt judgment could fall upon you, as your account would now contain a “paid in full” designation.

It is difficult to find a human illustration that fully and accurately pictures what Christ has done for our salvation and what it is that we have gained. The first thing that makes this difficult is that there are few ways to communicate the debt of sin that is our identity in Adam. Our illustration falls short, for as we have previously written, it was not just a matter of us inheriting the consequences of another’s failure. We were actually a participatory partner in that sin.

Another impossible piece to illustrate in the payment. Whatever we do to pay off the debt of sin in our own power does not register at all with any value. It is not merely that the debt is too great. Our works and deeds are the wrong “stuff” … as “filthy rags” say the Scriptures. It is like trying to pay a bill with the wrong currency, and there is no way to make an exchange into a currency the bank will accept.

But even with such limitations, I believe there is no better way to present the gospel to someone than to use banking terms. We all understand debits and credits, or assets and liabilities.

One might speak of it this way: Because of sin inherited from Adam, we all have a debt in our spiritual account that we cannot pay. It is too large, and the bank (God) does not accept our payments as legitimate. We need righteousness (perfection), though we cannot earn it and only one person has ever had it – Jesus. But our sin has been taken from our account and put into Christ’s account. He paid the debt with his sacrificial death and our sin was judged and covered (atoned) by his blood payment. However, our account remains empty and still needs the positive credit of righteousness. When we trust and believe that Jesus paid our debt, the righteousness that is in his account and is at the moment of faith transferred to our account. Therefore, when the holy judge looks at us, he does not see our debt (which was removed) nor an empty account lacking a necessary deposit. Rather, he sees a former debt removed and covered by the deposit of Christ’s righteousness – giving us the positive asset that we need to be in right relationship with God.

So three transfers happened: Adam’s sin to our account, our sin to Christ’s account, and Christ’s righteousness to our account. In theology, this is called the doctrine of imputation. This will be the main idea of what we talk about in this second portion of our identity series. This is how we go from being first a sinner in Adam, to now a saint in Jesus Christ through the justification provided.

I have found in my life, as I’m sure many of you have also experienced, that the more you study the great grace of God in salvation, the more you are humbly amazed at just how massive it is. We never fully arrive at understanding the mountainous debt of sin, and yet we never plumb the full depths of God’s marvelous grace. And more fully understanding these identities is the motivating factor behind the decision to work through this particular study and sermon series.