Monthly Archives: December 2024

TRUTH AND REALITY

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 2:20-23 NLT
[20] “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, [21] “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”? [22] Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. [23] These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.”

When Jesus walked out of the tomb, He was the same man they buried three days before but yet very different. He still had all the history of His life on earth from His conception and birth to His crucifixion and death, but He rose from the dead beyond the reach of
sin and death. He had never sinned in His earthly life and He was incapable of sin in His resurrection state. He is now the God/man, our advocate and mediator who is seated at the Father’s right hand in the place of authority and power. He is head of the church and ruler of the universe, sovereign and supreme in all things.

It is this Jesus to whom we have been joined by faith, and in whom we have life and live in the world now. We have a vital spiritual connection with Him like branches in a vine through which flows His life and to whom He provides every resource we need to live in and to overcome the world.

So, Paul says, “Why are you still using worldly methods to battle the spiritual powers against you? Do this! Do that! Don’t do this! Don’t do that!”

“These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline.”

None of these seemingly “holy” activities have any influence over our hearts. All they do is clutter our lives with useless prescriptions and create more frustration and failure.

“… But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.”

So, what’s the solution?

Romans 1:17 NLT
[17] “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”

Paul has already laid the solid foundation…Jesus! Jesus has done it all! All that’s left for us to do is to trust Him. This futile “work” of rules and regulations to gain favour with God went into the tomb with Jesus. He dealt “works” a death blow when He died.

Hebrews 3:14 NLT
[14] “For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” God calls our trust in Jesus’ finished work “rest”.

Hebrews 4:2, 6-7, 9-10 NLT
[2] “For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them (the Jews). But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God.
[6] So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. [7] So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.”…
[9] So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. [10] For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors (their efforts to please Him), just as God did after creating the world.”

Against the backdrop of the philosophical nonsense designed to lure these Colossians believers and other readers away from simple trust in all the merits of Jesus, Paul urges them to rest in Jesus because He has done it all for them.

So, we come full circle back to the heart of Paul’s explanation of God’s mystery plan. It’s “Christ in you” that enables us to participate in everything Jesus is and accomplished by His death and resurrection.

IT’S DONE, brothers and sisters! Believe it, rest in it, and live by it. It’s the only way to have a vital part in His mega-plan for us.

SELF-EFFORT IS A FARCE

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 2:16-19 NLT

[16] “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. [17] For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. [18] Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, [19] and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.”
The trouble with this philosophy of self-effort is that it doesn’t work. The difference between faith in a false philosophy and faith in the truth is something like the difference between a Christmas tree adorned with plastic fruit and a fruit tree growing real fruit from its nature.
Religion and man-imagined philosophies try to change the nature of the tree by pinning artificial fruit on its branches. Rituals and rules, washing and eating, and fasting and refraining cannot change the heart. The are only external add-ons that compound human guilt because they are the fruit of self-effort and signs that the “tree” itself is dead.
Something far more drastic and fundamental must happen for a dead “tree” to produce real fruit. The dead “tree” must be made alive. Only God can restore life to a dead person, dead in trespasses and sins.
Ephesians 2:1, 4-6 NLT [1] “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins… [4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”
Grace stepped in and acted powerfully on our dead spirits, restoring life by reconnecting us to Jesus who conquered death, rose from the dead, and is the source of life. Once again, this happened first in eternity by God’s sovereign choice,
Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT [4]”Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
… And in time by reuniting us with Jesus through our faith in His Word. We are once again brought into vital union with the source of Life by trusting in Jesus for His work on the cross. John 1:4 NLT [4]”The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.” This new life in Christ has nothing to do with self and self-effort. It’s all about Jesus, from beginning to end. We are called to put our effort into something quite different, not trying to make ourselves acceptable to God but co-operating with Him through trust and obedience, in becoming what we already are in His sight, holy and blameless.
So, Paul says, don’t waste your time and effort on something that doesn’t work. Don’t listen to those who are trying to pin plastic fruit on a dead tree. You have already been joined to Jesus through faith in Him. You are alive with His life. Now let His life in you produce the fruit of that life, the fruit of the Spirit that grows naturally on a living tree.
Galatians 5:22 NLT [22] “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” This ninefold fruit is the real evidence of your new life in Christ. Once again, it is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

FOREVER FINISHED!

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 2:13-15 NLT
[13] “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. [14] He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. [15] In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.”

On and on, Paul goes, declaring with supernatural insight and understanding the mighty work of salvation Jesus accomplished by His death on the cross.

What went through the mind of Jesus as He hung like a piece of rag skewered to a wooden stake? What were His thoughts as His life ebbed away with the blood dripping from His wounds? Was the outcome worth all this suffering? Would His terrible death accomplish all He set out to do?

What was happening in the unseen realm as the mob at His feet mocked and taunted Him?

Picture the scene in the spirit. First, Sinai! A covenant spelling out God’s holy nature and unattainable demands. Second, Israel! God’s people trapped in sin. Condemned to death for persistent rebellion. Third, hell! The devil and his minions cackling with delight because God’s people are all in their clutches! Guilty! Condemned! Doomed!

Then, Golgotha! What is this? A perfect human, unblemishes by sin, hanging on a torture stake? In life and in death,
“He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. [23] He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”
(1 Peter 2:22-23 NLT)

Above Him the charges…a broken law, a violated covenant. Across the charge, stamped in blood, His blood, “TETELESTAI… PAID IN FULL”

Now who is the guilty one? The one who had Him charged. The devil himself! He overstepped the mark, once and for all. He had Jesus killed for sin He never committed. Jesus paid for sin not His own. Jesus has the right to forgive all sin because He paid the debt in full.

So, Satan, the deceiver, is exposed. He accuses sinners already forgiven. The efficacy of Jesus’ death for sin hangs on this one fact. Jesus is the Lamb slain before time.

Revelation 5:6-9 NLT
[6] “Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. [7] He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. [8] And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. [9] And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

Revelation 13:8 NLT
[8]”And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.”

1 Peter 1:18-20 NLT
[18] “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. [19] It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. [20] God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.”

2 Corinthians 5:19, 21 NLT
[19]”For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
[21] For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

Do you get the picture?

From heaven’s perspective where there is no time or sequence of events, where everything is “now”, what Jesus did to forgive sin and save sinners is an eternal event. The cross in history was a manifestation in time of what was an eternal truth from before time. Difficult as it is for us to understand this perspective, this means that sin was already paid for and forgiven before human history.

This has a startling consequence both for us and for our adversary. Since all sin has already been forgiven, (and we must stay grounded in this truth), his accusations and condemnation are lies. Yes, we have sinned, yes, we were condemned but….our sin has been forgiven and we have been washed clean before time. All that is required is our faith in the one who accomplished this for us.

The devil tries to pin on us what God has already removed forever. His ruse has been exposed. He is the one condemned, not us.

Romans 8:1-2 NLT
[1] “So, now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. [2] And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.”

This is the essence of real spiritual warfare, not battling the devil for victory over sin and death but standing firm in the truth that Jesus has overcome him and we are included in His victory.

So, dear reader, stand in your position, rejoice in your victory, and enjoy all the benefits of your salvation…as the old hymn days, “Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who, like thee, His praise should sing.”

The devil has nothing to hold against you. You are free!

A NEW PRINCIPLE

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 2:11-12 NLT
[11] “When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. [12] For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”

How can anyone in all honesty and in their sane mind write words like these unless they are absolutely true? Compare what Paul has written with the empty philosophies the world presents.

All religions of human origin have one thing in common…they are all do-it-yourself efforts to make contact with some imaginary deity. Each one proposes a different set of rules and rituals to get the deity’s attention and to gain it’s favour.

By contrast, Paul declares with utmost confidence, that the God who came here in a human body, has done an unimaginable job of working on and in us who dare to believe Him. He didn’t come to set up a religious system that will enable us to reach God. He came to do spiritual surgery in us to enable us to come near to God and to clear the way for God to come near to us.

James 4:8 NLT
[8] “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

We can come close to God only because He has taken away the barrier between Himself and us. We can be washed clean of all our sin only because the blood of Jesus provides total cleansing when we repent and turn to Him.

Now Paul takes his insights a step further. God has not only acted FOR us. He has also acted IN us. Through our union with Jesus by faith, we don’t only participate in His life. We also take part in His death. What death did to Him on the cross, (apart from paying our debt, it cut Him off forever from the possibility of sinning), His death does in us. Paul called it “spiritual circumcision”, cutting off that part of the flesh, the self life, that perpetuates a sinful lifestyle.

Physical circumcision, to the Jew, was a sign of his participation in the covenant. Spiritual “circumcision”, a work of the Spirit in our inner man, sets us apart as members of the New Covenant and gives us access to all the benefits of that covenant.

Baptism in water is the outward  sign of our “circumcision”, much more than just a ritual. “Mikvah”, meaning in Hebrew ” gathering” or “collection”, was practised as ritual washing, a common practice in Judaism. It signified, among other things, ritual purification and a change of status.

“THE PURPOSE OF THE MIKVAH
A mikvah is a form of a ritual bath. Like a regular bath, the purpose of immersion in a mikvah is to emerge clean. However, rather than entering the mikvah physically dirty and leaving physically clean, one enters the mikvah for the purpose of spiritual cleanliness.”…

“The word “mikvah” means “a collection” in Hebrew. It is a place where Jewish people go for ritual bathing purposes, specifically relating to rule of purity in the faith.”
(https://study.com>lesson>mikvah)

So, Paul explained, by going through “mikvah”, transliterated from the Greek, ” baptizo”, as “baptism”, meaning immersion, the new believer was identifying himself/herself with Jesus by entering a new status, washing away the old life, to which he is now dead, and entering a new life in union with Christ.

What a powerful way to demonstrate the divine surgery God has performed in our spirit! Baptism is as final as burying a dead body in the grave. It is as purposeful as drawing a line in the sand. The act of baptism forever sets us apart as dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus and His Spirit’s work in us.

Is it any wonder, then that certain false religions will tolerate a family member turning to Christ but will not tolerate baptism. Baptism forever sets the believer apart from from the world. To be a baptised believer in obedience to Jesus’ command, is to be separated from sin and the world to God forever.

However, there is a counterpart to this practice. To authenticate our faith in Christ and what has taken place in the spiritual realm, Paul insisted that we must live it out in daily life otherwise baptism is another useless ritual.

Romans 6:1-8 NLT
[1] “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? [2] Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? [3] Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? [4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. [5] Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.”

Baptism not only signifies death to sin but also resurrection to new life. The ritual practice of “mikvah” must translate into everyday life. Baptism cannot save us. Baptism is the reminder that we have been saved.

So, Paul explains to his readers, your new life in Christ is a reality only as you live out your baptism in your everyday experience. Through faith in the power of God, you are able to translate your identity with Jesus in His death and resurrection into daily experience of overcoming the flesh and living by the Spirit.

COMPLETE IN CHRIST

Christian Life, ,

Colossians 2:8-10 NLT
[8] “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. [9] For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. [10] So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

How can we navigate this life in a world cluttered with philosophical propositions that try to explain the meaning and purpose of life without God? From the meaningless meandering into oblivion of evolution, from jihad to polytheism, to everything in between, how can we know the truth?

First, what is the source of all these conflicting philosophies, all claiming to be the truth?

Paul said “they come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world?” What did he mean? Human thinking, independent of God, will always look for a way to leave God out of the picture. Their reasoning, in tandem with the spiritual forces, influenced by the “god of this world”, will always contradict God and His revealed truth.

Romans 1:19, 21 NLT
[19] “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them…
[21] Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.”

In the end, discovering and believing the truth comes down to one thing…evidence. In a court of law, the verdict of “innocent” or “guilty” depends on the evidence presented. Only accurate evidence can prove guilt or innocence beyond reasonable doubt.

So, what about this message we are called on to believe? What evidence do we have that this message about Jesus, and all its implications, are true? One test will sweep aside all objections and secure a proof that passes all the tests…the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Did He rise again, as He said He would, or is He still in the grave together with all the promises He made?

No matter how many atheists and agnostics have tried to disprove the resurrection, it is a fact of history that stands unassailable throughout time. The resurrection of God’s Messiah was prophesied throughout the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New.

Unlike all other attempts to provide a substitute for the truth, Jesus is alive. Since He is alive, and lives by His Spirit in every believer as He promised, every other promise He made stands on this truth. Jesus is who He is, the Son of God, whom the Father appointed to be Lord over all creation.

Faith in the truth about Jesus, who He is and what He did, has remarkable consequences. Unlike human philosophies that can never transform a life, faith in Jesus causes people to make a rightabout turn. From darkness to light, they start to live again with a brand new nature, in union with Jesus.

Although this new life enables us to move towards God, we still have the tendency to slip into sinful ways. However, God has provided both His Spirit and His Word to empower us to overcome this old wayward nature.

Now, Paul says, there is another truth that we need to know, to reassure and encourage us on this journey towards holy living in preparation for our eternity with Jesus.

Our life on this earth is not a random, haphazard affair, hoping that, against all odds, we will make it in the end. It is imperative to understand that, in partnership with the Holy Spirit in us, we are purposefully moving towards a predetermined goal.

We have two reasons to have hope…

  1. “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.”

Everything we hope for and anticipate for our eternal future rests on Jesus. All the evidence of Scripture reassures us that He is worthy of our trust. Since He is, throughout eternity, our mediator, the man Christ Jesus, He remains forever one of us, died for us, lives in us, and represents us to the Father.

1 Timothy 2:5 NLT
[5] “There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.”

  1. “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

Our union with Jesus secures in us the hope and promise of perfection. However imperfect we are now, even in our best moments and highest aspirations, our union with Christ guarantees that God will achieve His goal of perfect Christ-likeness when we see Him face to face.

1 John 3:2 NLT
[2] “Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

There is no teaching, religion, or philosophy originating in human thought that can come near to this truth, promised by the one who said He would die and rise again and did it!

So, we travel through this maze of life with the hope burning in our hearts that in Christ we are already complete (perfectly holy), and that this perfection will be fulfilled when we see Jesus as He is.