Why did Jesus come?

Why did Jesus come? To redeem us? Yes (Galatians 3:13). To forgive us? Yes (Luke 23:34). To give us eternal life? Yes (John 3:16) To reconcile us to God? Yes (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). To re-create us? Yes (2 Corinthians 5:17). But if I had to sum up what He did in God’s plan of redemption, this would be my answer:

1 John 3:8b (NIV) The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

Destroy the devil’s work. What are the devil’s works? Taking us out of fellowship with God. That made us vulnerable to sin and all of its side-effects – death, sickness, lack, depression, and fear, for starters (look at Deuteronomy 28 for an extended list). That’s what Christ redeemed us from – the curse of the Law. Instead we are once again related to God, with the benefits of that relationship to a good Father.

Look at what Jesus sent His disciples to do:

Matthew 10:7-8 (NIV) As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Jesus told us we’d receive power to witness to what He’s done when the Holy Spirit comes (Acts 1:8) and gave us a list of things that should accompany preaching (Mark 16:15-20). Are we as Christians working towards that goal of “doing what Jesus did”? Telling people about God’s love and goodness, and demonstrating it? Or are we busy making ourselves comfortable in our homes and churches, while we hope and pray that He will come back quickly?

Doug

Identification

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (NIV)
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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

“Identification” with Christ is the idea that we are not just “sinners saved by grace”, but new creations, recreated to be like Jesus. We’re transformed, not unlike when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. This is a one-way transformation, the butterfly does not go back and forth between the two stages.

Jesus became as we were – men born of a woman and subject to temptation – so that He could make us to be like Him. 1 Corinthians 15:22 (NKJV) says “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” But we don’t always think that way. Too often believers are like a butterfly that keeps thinking and acting like a caterpillar. We hang onto our identification with Adam, rather than our identification with Christ. It’s instructive here to read Romans 5:12-21 which further contrasts Adam-life and Christ-life.

There are about 135 verses in the New Testament that identify us with Christ – “in Him”, “in whom”, “Through Christ”. These verses describe our position in Christ. A list of these verses is here. Here are a few of those verses:

• We have been crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)
• We have died and been buried with Christ (Romans 6:2-5)
• We have been made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)
• We are raised with Christ (Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:1)
• We are positionally seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6) – we can boldly go to God’s throne of grace (Hebrews 4:14-16)
• We are joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)
• We reign with Christ (Romans 5:17, Revelation 1:6, 5:10)

We live FAR below what Christ has done for us – in the way we approach God in prayer, in the way we respond to life and circumstances, in our hopes and expectations. We need to recognize what Christ has done for us and who he has recreated us to be. We didn’t get there by our own efforts, but we can’t lose sight of what He has done in and for us.

Doug

Glory restored

God covered man with His glory at creation – “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26 NKJV). It was as if God looked in a mirror and used that as His pattern for how to design and fashion man.

Psalm 8:3-6 (NASB)
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!
You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…

The word “God” in verse 5 is the correct translation. The Hebrew word is Elohim, which is consistently translated as “God” – except in this verse! Saying “man was made to be a little lower than God” makes some people nervous. Translating it as “angels” (NKJV) or “heavenly beings” (NIV) started in Jewish traditions, was carried over into the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures) and even respected modern translations. For example, the NLT says “a god”.

In creation, God created man to be like Him, and covered man with glory. This is why they didn’t realize they were naked until after the fall – the glory acted as a robe for them (Genesis 3:7). Once they lost their glory, they felt they needed some other covering – their heavenly covering was gone.

That glory’s been restored to us! While Jesus was praying in John 17:22, he said: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…” (NKJV)

As we take time to learn more about Christ, to spend time in fellowship with him, we are transformed by that glory and image:

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV) But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

We have no idea what all God has given us, the extent of what Jesus has done for us, and how it affects us. We live so far below who He has made us to be, because we look at our own lives, failures, and circumstances, instead of looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)

Doug

Living from Heaven

Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

It’s not that we’re to be so heavenly-minded we’re no earthly good. Instead, we realize that our supply, our strength, our value and purpose don’t come from earth, but from heaven. That’s why we set our eyes on heaven.

In heaven, there is no lack. In heaven, there is no sickness. In heaven, there are no critics. In heaven, you have value that men might never see when judging you by their values.

Doug

Deny Yourself

Luke 9:23 (NIV) Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me….”

As I was preparing the message for this past Sunday, the Lord said to me “If you’re not willing to deny yourself, you won’t take up your cross, and you’ll follow from afar.”

He pointed out that “denying myself” was not asceticism or a “vow of poverty” done towards attaining greater spirituality, but it was making choices with the idea of doing what is “right” rather than what I want.

- When God wants something you have, you have a choice.
- When you want something that’s wrong, and you know it.
- When you choose to serve, when you’d rather be served.
- When you choose trust God’s goodness in the midst of an unanswered prayer or calamity.

Self-control is as much a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) as love is.

More on this in my 6/20 sermon audio.

Doug

Two very different people

Our Lectionary readings for 6/13 covered two very different people, both of whom were recipients of God’s mercy:

In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan the prophet addresses King David, after his adultery with Bathsheba and arranging for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle. He was “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) that did some very wrong things.

In Luke 7, we read about a sinful woman – possibly but not certainly a prostitute. She worshiped Jesus without concern for the way people thought of her, particularly Simon the Pharisee, the dinner host. Unlike David, she had a “track record” for wrong living.

Neither the quantity of sin, nor the severity of sin, kept them from God’s grace. Both of them received forgiveness and mercy. I elaborated on this more in my sermon from 6/13. The audio is available.

Doug

Gifts for Tough Times

Romans 5:1-2 gives a list of four gifts we receive because of faith in Jesus Christ:

Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV) Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

These gifts are justification, peace with God, grace, and hope of God’s glory.

Being justified means having God’s approval, being regarded as innocent, “just as if I’d never sinned”, declared righteous. Justification and Righteousness are adjacent in Strong’s Greek Dictionary, so being righteous means to be in right-standing with God, having the ability to approach God without any feeling of sinfulness.

Being at peace with God means absence of conflict, reconciliation, full relationship, at one with.

Grace is privilege, undeserved favor with God (God is inclined to favor us, do favors for us), “God’s riches at Christ’s expense” (an over-simplification, but it works).

Hope of glory is the confident expectation of God’s manifestation and presence, experiencing God’s glory – both in this life (John 17:22) and eternally.

With these gifts, and God’s love poured out on our hearts (verse 5), we have more than enough capability to get through the tough times – pressure, affliction, hardship, trials or tests – mentioned in verse 3.

This is the basis for my sermon from May 30, 2010. The audio is available on the recent audio sermons page.

Persevere!

Doug

More of the Holy Spirit

Different churches have different doctrines about “when you receive the Holy Spirit”, “how you receive the Holy Spirit”, etc. I could write a book – and far more learned theologians than I have – about this. I do want to bring out this point: However or whenever you first receive the Holy Spirit, you can also receive more of Him.

The disciples received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as Jesus had promised (Acts 1:8) that they would:

Acts 2:1-4 (NKJV) When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

About 4-5 years later in Acts 4, they’ve gathered together to pray after encountering persecution. I find it interesting that they prayed for more boldness and more miracles to happen in the face of these attacks. Let’s see what happened:

Acts 4:29-31 (NLT) And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

These ones – who already received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost – received more of the Holy Spirit a few years after that. That simply says to me, that no matter how much of the Holy Spirit I have working in my life, I can ask for more (Luke 11:9-13).

I spoke more on this topic in my sermon from Sunday 5/23 (Pentecost) on the “Recent Audio Sermons” page.

Doug

Proactive prayer

In Mark 9:14-29, Jesus had just come down from the Transfiguration with Peter, James and John, and encountered a scene – his other disciples had tried to cast a demon out, and couldn’t. Jesus took care of it himself. At the end of the reading we’re told:

Mark 9:28-29 (NKJV) And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

The thing is, Jesus didn’t pray for an hour before he cast the demon out, and he didn’t fast for three days first, either. But other readings in the gospels indicate that Jesus had a full prayer life – he had done his praying well before the crisis hit.

It’s much easier to believe when our prayer life is proactive, before we have an incident that requires Divine intervention. That way, when it comes, we’re more confident and less worried.

Doug