RECONCILIATION TO GOD THROUGH JESUS
od created us for the kingdom. We are His
people whom He chose to live and reign with Him. We bear the image of God
in whatever we do. Therefore in whatever we do we should reflect God’s
image. There are no shortcuts; we need to come to a place where we
surrender our life to God’s will for us in His Kingdom.
Where and what is the kingdom of
God we are to rule? The Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God is
within, and we receive the kingdom through the Holy Spirit, Romans 14:17,
‘. . . for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but
righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’ How do we enter the
kingdom of God and reside there? ‘For all that is in the world; the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the
Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust
of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.’ -- 1 John 2:16-17
Jesus told us that the kingdom
of God is within, Luke 17:20-21, ‘Now when He was asked by the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, ‘The
kingdom of God does not come with observation; ‘nor will they say, 'See
here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.’
God designed us for intimacy.
In God's eyes we are significant. We are uniquely created with individual
spirits that God cherishes. God’s desire was for a relationship with us
that would reveal His love to others. Walking in the Spirit, we are free
to give away His unconditional love. God created us for deep, unreserved
communion with His entire creation. Faith in God brings hope through our
relationship with the Father through Jesus’ sacrifice that revealed His
love for us. In this relationship we find total acceptance which leads to
joy and gives praise by rejoicing in God. By God’s grace we receive a
renewed heart and spirit by which we reveal His grace, mercy and love to
fallen humanity.
God's love is the only
intangible that can fill mankind’s soul. The Holy Spirit will satisfy our
spirit when we realize through the grace His presence working in our life
that we are God's children. Then we begin to experience God's love for us
when we begin to give it away for the sake of love itself.
God set us free from the flaw of our 'old
nature' and dealt with the issues of our character on the Cross. When we
accept who we are in Christ, and allow God to meet all of our needs
through Christ, we begin to walk in the Spirit. This is resting in the
finished work of the Cross.
Most believers do not come to Jesus out of
a deep sense of guilt and shame to find new life. They usually come
because they have hit rock bottom. In other words, life's traumas are
overwhelming them as it does in most of our lives sooner or later.
We are all born with a sinful nature.
This is what we relate to first of all. We are prisoners of sin. This is
a fact. When God’s grace and mercy move in to “quicken” us we begin to
see a light at the end of the tunnel sin led us into. Only when we turn
to Him for salvation will we escape the trap. It is only after we come to
Christ that we realize the depth of our human failings and weaknesses.
For in the person of Jesus Christ we see the very nature of God which in
comparison to our nature is a radiant light that repulses the carnal
nature. After we turn to God through the hope of the Gospel, we find a
new life in Christ. After looking into the light of Jesus Christ’s lift
do we look backward and realize the depravity of our past and the sinful
nature that held us captive.
Knowledge of our personal
weakness is a necessary step in Christian growth. Godly sorrow is a gift
and necessary to find true repentance. Could we really know the perverted
condition of our hearts before we know God’s nature? Can we understand
the consequences of sin without knowing His holy standards of behavior?
Can we receive godly sorrow which leads to repentance before we come to an
understanding of our sinful nature and condition?
Most of us in the life do not come to the
point of despair and hunger for an intimate relationship with the Lord
Jesus. The guilt and shame that binds us up emotionally in youth also
affects our concept of God’s love for us. We often reject God’s attempt
to restore us because of the rejection in our past. We have all be
abandoned by our significant care-givers and transfer the emotional
detachment to God’s character. When the conscience convicts us of sin and
we fail to meet God’s standard the enemy of our soul can cause us to
reject the Lord’s call to us for reconciliation.
God the Holy Spirit randomly, in our
conception of His will, prompts us to answer the call of salvation
throughout our life. Understanding salvation as God’s work alone leads to
thankfulness and praise. In our hindsight we’ll see how often God
intervened on our behalf. The deep appreciation of what God accomplished
for us in Christ is necessary to begin to comprehend the depth of His love
for us. When we understand His love for us, well understand the beauty of
His salvation and praise God; ‘For there is no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus...’
As Christians, the more we see
what we were and what Christ accomplished for us, the more we will rejoice
in Him! To know God our Father in heaven’s character will cause us to
understand the significance of grace, His presence working in our life.
When we understand the depth of God working in our life, His grace, we
begin to receive a true revelation of His holiness. Then the depravity of
the original sinful nature, the flesh will repulse us. Those who know the
horrible condition of human nature become the most
optimistic about the love of God with
every step toward a true knowledge of God’s love.
A correlation exists between our awareness
of sin and of God's grace and love. Where God’s love abounds, His grace
also abounds. Believers who comprehend their corrupt nature or tendencies
learn to express an endless confidence in God's forgiveness. Receiving the
peace that surpasses all understanding to guard our heart and soul is a
deposit from the Holy Spirit’s presence working in our life. The very
peace that guards our heart and soul fills the emptiness that began God’s
quest in drawing us to Himself. Furthermore, it is when we’ve learned to
reveal God’s compassion to others that we continually receive from Him
that created the joyous expectation the Lord Jesus Christ has for us.
Thus we know that the good things that we receive come from God first!
When God regenerates Christians they
concern themselves more often with what they do than with whom they have
become, the children of God. The problem is not what we did by nature; it
was our old nature! Let's take a look at God's assessment of the ‘old
man’. In 1 Cor 2:14 we clearly see the problem with the spiritually dead,
"Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for
they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them
because they are spiritually discerned." Even from birth we are guilty:
Ps 51:5 reads, "Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother
conceived me." Our very hearts are evil from our youth, Gen 8:21 ..."for
the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth." Again scripture
states that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; Jer 17:9:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can
know it?”
How does God reconcile our predicament?
Fortunately, God places us into the Death, Burial, Resurrection, and
Ascension of Christ through a vicarious atonement. We are in Christ
spiritually while He lived on earth.. We were fore known by God and
created in Christ Jesus. We are part of His renewed creation. We have a
renewed Spirit and heart. The old nature, old man, or carnal nature is
put to death on the cross since we were in Christ as part of the future
creative workings of God.
Jesus broke the power of sin and death for
us. He overcame so that we can overcome sin and death ‘in Him'. God
robes us in the righteousness of Christ! God imputes Jesus’ righteousness
to us. The problem is that many Christians don’t know and understand
these truths! More accurately I’m afraid that many people assume they are
Christian since they know what Jesus did for His bride. Part of the
problem is we don’t know who we are as a result of being placed “in
Christ”. Without a proper understanding of our new identity “in Christ”
and what Christ accomplished for us, we will never receive God’s victory
while on this planet anyway!. Receive means take as one’s own, to set
apart for a particular purpose, and to claim! How many of us know that we
are God’s children.
Satan often deceives
well-meaning Saints into believing we have to crucify the Old Man. Praise
God! He already crucified him! The book of Romans states this at Rom.
6:6, “For we now that our old self was crucified with him so that the body
of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to
sin.”
Now that we know that God
crucifies the Old Man, or old nature, with Christ, the flesh is the
remaining problem! The real hurdle is the flesh or self-life. We also
refer to the flesh as the corrupt nature. God says that my flesh is the
problem and that his Son is the only solution. This is not what most
people want to hear, but this truth will bring victory and freedom from
bondage.
God loves us enough to tell us the truth.
We must accept that the flesh is the problem and that Jesus is the
solution. There is no other solution to the problem or the carnal nature
also known as the old man. We will find the life which God intended us to
live is in Christ alone. The flesh does not want to change or agree with
God which is to confess the truth. The apostle Paul revealed his
assessment of the carnal nature before one’s conversion or the corrupt
nature afterwards in Rom 7:18-19, 21: "For I know that nothing good
dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I
cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want
is what I do. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is
good, evil lies close at hand."
We inherited other natural
characteristics from Adam after the fall as well. We incorporate a whole
range of self-defense mechanisms to preserve the flesh or "self-life". By
nature the flesh will defend our "self" life, justifying our actions. It
is totally corrupt. The flesh is also self-centered which really creates
a dual dilemma. The real issue is the flesh’s focus upon self and the
consciousness of self. The call of the gospel is away from self and unto
Jesus. This we clearly see in 2 Cor 5:15, "And he died for all, so that
those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died
and was raised for them." While we may admit that we are sinners saved by
grace, the flesh is unwilling or unable to accept the accountability and
responsibility for our actions.
Will we acknowledge the flesh as
the problem? A simple way to evaluate our corrupt nature is by asking
this objective question: What is the single observable constant within
our control that doesn't change in our relationships, circumstances, and
situations? Is it not YOU? Let’s ask this another way: Is there anyone
who prevents you from being the person God wants you to be? The
responsible person is you! When we face the reality of our corrupt nature
by accepting God's assessment, we are ready to learn who and what God
created us to be for His enjoyment! When we believe that God did intend
for us to enjoy all the benefits of serving God and His creation we will
surrender our will to His will. This will start a whole new area of
growth which comes with the pains of knowing how selfish we are before
attaining our Victory in Christ over the flesh.
The kingdom of God is within
every Christian. God reveals His kingdom and all its glory in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is a place of maturity we will come to, where we know
God’s will for us. To find ourselves ‘in Christ’ unfolds the revelation
of the mystery of our reconciliation by God, which is ‘Christ in us - the
hope of glory’. The Lord revealed the truth to the prophets and holy men
of God. The kingdom of God consists of the believers in Christ who
respond to His desires. We are being set free to willingly act upon His
initiatives through the Holy Spirit to do the Father’s will. The kingdom
of God is where we make a clear, enjoyable, and helpful impact as a
believer.
God intended for us to stay
dependent on Him for all of our needs. When we submit to God and remain
focused on Christ, we fully connect to the Vine, and will bear fruit
effortlessly. God’s Spirit within us will direct our efforts and
initiatives which will then be in line with God's will. The former
heavens of brass now melt with our prayers, the environment cooperates,
and we overcome this world through Christ. We bear the fruit of mature
and godly character through the operation of God's grace and mercy.
However, a word of caution, the flesh will try to imitate this
relationship in the form of works done in Jesus name.
Faith paves the path to life in
the Spirit by accepting the relationship God that designed for total
redemption on His terms alone. We cannot in or of ourselves erase the
'old man'. Redemption comes only through blood atonement. The only
acceptable sacrifice is the one God provided for us in the person of Jesus
Christ. When we accepted Christ as our sacrificial lamb, His blood did
not cover our sin, it totally paid and took them away, never to be brought
up against us. God does not forget our sins, as some people teach that is
an error. However, what He promises is to never to use them against us.
The Good News of the Gospel
comes clearly into focus when we take time to see that we were sinners
both in our makeup and behavior. But there is a remedy, the final
solution is the atoning death of Christ. God knew we need freedom from
our sinful nature, or character, and freedom from our remaining corrupt
nature the ‘flesh’ through our co-crucifixion with Christ. As we accept
our co-crucifixion with Christ we will be able to celebrate our freedom
with Christ and begin to live passionately, as we allow Christ to become
our life through the renewed heart and spirit we receive from God.
Learning to rest in the
atonement of Christ comes from the realization that God approves of us
totally. When based on performance, relationships trap us in the quagmire
of the manifestations of the flesh. A prevalent problem of many
Christians is that in order to get our need for approval met, we attempt
to live up to the expectations of others. When we do not get that
approval, the flesh finds a way to numb the pain. When we live for
approval by others instead of resting in Christ’s Victory, the need traps
us in the vicious cycle motivated by necessity. However, when Christ
cleanses us from what was wrong with us, sin and the 'flesh' or
'self-life', we have total acceptance with God. When we come to realize
the relationship God wants to have with us 'in Christ', we can stop
'doing' in order to 'be' approved by people. We are someone God approves
of already. Jesus has set us free to be thankful for being delivered
from the bondage of necessity, from the compulsive snares of the flesh.
‘It was for freedom that Christ set us free’ (Galatians 5:1).
God gave us a spirit of love, power, and a
sound mind. The result is the life of Christ dwelling in us through the
Holy Spirit. The mystery of past ages was revealed to the church through
the apostle Paul, Col 1:24-27, ‘I now rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for
the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister
according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to
fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages
and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them
God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ The
gift of eternal life in Christ is received by faith. We see this in Rom
1:17, ‘For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ and in 2 Cor
5:7, ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’ Paul wrote to the Ephesians
in Eph 2:8-9, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast.’
The ultimate key to Life in
Christ is to get out of the way and allow Jesus to reflect His life
through you. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman and He will only live the
Abundant Life through us in the areas that we surrender to Him. The key to
a new life is to give up on ourselves. If we allow Jesus to be our Life
and set our mind upon Christ, we find a life of untold joy and peace. We
find the truth of the Christian life in the following anthem. ‘I can do
all things through Christ who strengthens me.’
God is waiting for us to come to
the end of our own strength so that He can reveal His love by supplying
all of our needs in Christ Jesus. Discovering that Jesus is our source of
life usually comes as the result of discovering some need or lack in
ourselves. God's reply to relying on our own strength is seen by the
Prophet Isaiah, it is written in Is 40:31, ‘But those who wait on the
LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like
eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.’
The word ‘renew’ should actually translate ‘exchanged’ which is the reason
the Victorious or Abundant Life is also known as the Exchanged Life. This
is why people use the terms to express how we exchange our life, to put on
Christ, and let His life reflect through us.
he basic needs for acceptance and approval
are near and dear to the heart of our being. Independent thought does not
occur until our ‘identity’ or awareness of self is well under way to being
formed. Since we are all taught to perform for acceptance and approval we
are set up for a trap. The primary care-givers are responsible for our
identity with God. We fill out time attempting to get acceptance and
approval. In order to get those needs met a person will do whatever they
need to. This is true for everyone who is not taught that their
acceptance and approval hinge on whom God is and their relationship with
Him. We have been wonderfully and reverently made.
Society in general does not hold
the mainstream Christian view on sin being worthy of damnation and God’s
righteous wrath. Society in general gives two basic options. The first
is humanism. People believe their behavior is accept acceptable. What
he/she feels about himself/herself is normal and continue to live in open
sin. They believe in relativism. These are the children of disobedience.
The second option leads to a case of mistaken identity and spiritual death
also. These people may believe in God but are taught to suppress the
desires of the flesh. The belief is that their works will justify them
and they suffer in silence expecting God’s approval.
God offers an alternative to the
identification disorder, a new identity in Christ. People suffering from
the disorder will find freedom from the mistaken identity, feelings, and
behavior associated with the disorder by replacing aberration with Truth.
A mistaken identity involves the whole person - body, soul, and spirit.
It is a disorder of the natural order created by God. There is only one
standard for Truth. God’s Word is the revealed truth for the Christian
and therein we find the answer to setting anyone free from a mistaken
identity.
The most obvious identification
disorder is the sin of idolatry. The scenario is the same as for any
individual in society; we are all pleasure seekers. No matter which way
we look at it, people just want approval and acceptance. It is in their
deviant relationships that they find their need for affection, approval,
and acceptance. When God is to be their source.
We all have valid needs and wants. When
we fail to find pleasure in an approved manner if we find acceptance from
another source we fill perform in an inappropriate manner to find our
approval. Even sinful behavior becomes acceptable if we are paid off in
affection, which is a form of addictive pleasurable sensations.
The idolatrous relationship is often a
mistake for love, which is a God given gift. Love is not earned, love is
given. When a person identifies with the emotions and feelings for love
they Buy into them and are led astray. The sinful relationship that meets
their wants and needs is no longer justified except in humanities
conception of right and wrong, humanism.
Why does this confusion happen? A major
predisposing factor is a child’s unsatisfactory relationship with the
parent. A child whose love need goes unmet over a long period of time
develops ambivalence toward the source and tries to survive without it.
Through a process these people defensively detach even while these is
still a deep need of much love. Involved in this ambivalence is an
ingredient of disidentification with the parent(s). The emotionally hurt
child says, ‘I don’t want to be like you.’ Since the parent or primary
care-giver is representative of God to the child. The mistaken
coincidental identification with God’s identity results in transferred
ambivalence toward God. The rejection of our attempt to receive
affirmation and approval is transferred unto our relationship with God.
Our deep desire for intimacy with God exists along side a desire to resist
such intimacy with family members fearing rejection again. These fears
(an extension of the parent-child conflict) now confuse our desire for
intimacy with God. Thus, an ambivalence toward God exists rather than
love. And idolatrous behavior is an attempted solution to meet a
legitimate need for love that has bin misinterpreted.
So in essence, the longing for affection,
approval, and acceptance from the parent may be a determining factor in a
persons identification disorder. The unacceptable relationship with the
parent couples detachment with the ambivalence and therein lies the
ingredient for disidentification. For our purpose, it means that they
reject their identification as a child of God and have no way to meet the
legitimate need of being loved. Therefore, idolatry in part may be an
effort to gain the affection, approval, and acceptance from the parent.
Some of the reasons for the alienation
between the child and the parent(s) include but not exclusively, the
following scenarios:
1. a poor identity model
2. parents who do not a model for
heterosexual behavior
3. parents who detaches from the child
emotionally and/or physically (rejection)
4. parents who are never satisfied with
the child’s performance which gives the child
a feeling of insecurity and lack of
acceptance
5. an over-protective parent who smothers
the child
6. parent who makes demand on the child
to be to emotionally what the partner is not
7.
a parent who views the other gender in a negative way
8.
child abuse which always causes fear and degradation
9.
older siblings, care-takers or peers may usurp the parents role
and abuse the child physically, verbally or sexually. Labeling, using
words to degrade. A person’s identification is influenced by the names
they are labeled with.
Healthy relationships need to be
modeled without enough positive input through our primary care-givers. If
there is too much negative input, a person may begin to feel alienated and
may withdraw using one or more forms of rejection. A self-defense
mechanism that is often used is isolation. People begin to pull away from
the parent who do not give them the affection, approval and acceptance we
all need.
The mechanism of isolation is often
intensified by hearing Christians speak of someone’s behavior in a
derogatory manner. Idolatrous behavior is a sin but Christians are to
reject the sin, not the sinner. Rejecting the sinner blocks the person
from seeking help from the body of Christ, the church who are called to be
ministers of reconciliation.
Isolation may lead to a retreat
into a fantasy world to avoid the pain. The flight may lead into an
imaginary world that leaves them void of a true moral compass. When a
person needs fulfillment they will find a way to satisfy it from people
they admire. The admiration gives birth to envy and our pleasure
addiction often becomes eroticism. Lonely and insecure, the person will
trade off sex for affection, acceptance, and approval.
Idolaters prey on people without
a secure identity and seduce them with the offer of understanding and
compassion. The victim is often seduced over time since they are confused
as to their identity and often in some way trying to escape the pain of a
hurtful relationship with a significant other. There is a solution to
their identification crisis through faith in God who places them ‘in
Christ’, thus they are now identified with Jesus. This is only the
beginning of God’s reconciliation. The desperate need to belong comes to
a resolution. They are offered affection, approval, and acceptance from
God and through their brothers and sisters ‘in Christ’.
The solution God offers is
salvation, acceptance, security, and approval with their total surrender
to Him. The possibility of getting these real needs met is an open
invitation. Temptation is a false offer to get our needs and wants met.
The idolatrous lifestyle offers guilt, deepens the feelings of
inferiority, and widens the gap of ambivalence experienced in relating to
Christians, all of which lessen the ability to be truly intimate.
C. S. Lewis summed up this process in
these words: “We are born helpless. As soon as we are conscious we
discover loneliness. Born lonely, we try hard to fit in, to be the kind
of person that will cause others to like us. Craving and needing very
much the affirmation of others, we compromise, put on any face, or many
faces; we do even those things we do not like to do in order to fit in.
We are bent toward the creature, attempting to find our identity in him.
Slowly and compulsively the false self closes its hard brittle shell
around us, and our loneliness remains.”
Spiritual needs are real.
Unfortunately, when we don’t have our validation from our primary
care-givers the disidentification is carried over into the spiritual
realm. Our parents reflect the image of God to us when we are children.
They are our sole source. Truth be known, God is our only source. We
become idolaters when seek another source for any of our needs. When the
truth is suppressed the non-believer has a distorted conception and this
is the basis for accepting his/her role as a human being. When the truth
about God is suppressed we may not gain a sense of who we are, a child of
God, His creation in His own image. “And God created them in His own
image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them.” - Genesis 1:27.
“The healing of man - his
loneliness - has to do with acknowledging himself to be a creature,
created, and in looking up from himself, from self-worship to the worship
of the Creator of all that is. But man would be God. Thus from
worshipping God as Creator, man worships himself, the creature.
Idolatrous behavior is merely one of the twisted paths this basic fallen
condition in man takes. Truly, to write of the healing of the idolater is
to write of the healing of all men everywhere. We are all fallen, and
until we find ourselves in Him, we thrust about for identity in the
creature, the created.”
Mankind is left to serve the
lusts of the flesh if we do not turn to God. In Romans I, it is very
evident, Paul says:
18For the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because what may
be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
20For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without
excuse, 21because, although they knew God, they did not glorify
Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts,
and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Professing to be
wise, they became fools, 23and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and
four-footed animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God also
gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor
their bodies among themselves, 25who exchanged the truth of God
for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the
Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
The evidence suggests that mankind,
being darkened by the fall, is given over to the ‘flesh’, the carnal
nature before a person comes to Christ and is regenerated. Until a person
is given a renewed heart and spirit through regeneration they cannot
overcome sin. It is part of their nature. People may feel abandoned by
God, for God has given man up to the consequences of his own choice(s).
The natural man is lost until God reaches out to them with the truth.
God’s love is revealed and overflows to the world. This is seen in
sending Jesus Christ to die for the sin of the world in John 3:16,17: “For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17For God did not send His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved.” Only through regeneration can a man be ‘born again”; for
a new creation is the only help cure for the offender.
The Old Testament had only one
option for the sin of idolatry. Death! This is seen in Leviticus. Today
the answer is the same since the Law is still in effect. So God in
fulfilling the righteous requirements of the Law sent Jesus to die for the
sins of the entire world. Accepting Jesus death as our substitutionary
death fulfills the requirement. By accepting Jesus death as our own we
are set free from the law of sin and death. This is exactly what living
by faith in God is. Nothing more, nothing less. For it is written, “The
just shall live by faith!”; and again in Romans 4:5; “But to him who does
not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
accounted for righteousness,”; the word clearly states that Jesus died, He
died once, for all, Romans 5:10. And in Romans 3:25, the scripture says
that He became our propitiation or our sacrifice.
In “The Broken Image” the author states:
“The Old Covenant by its blood sacrifices foreshadowed the New. The God
of the Old Testament, the God who is faithful and true, who is all
loving-kindness, came into our world in the Son - gave Himself for our
salvation. This is why the cross is at the center of our faith. He who
is love, peace, truth, righteousness, faithfulness gives Himself for us
and to us. He lives in us. This is glory, fullness of being. This is
identity. It is this we choose or fail to choose. Fallen man endlessly
attempts to find other ways to be healed, paths or methods that bypass the
cross. But in the end we make one of two choices. We choose either the
heaven of the realized identity in God, or the hell of the self in
separation.”
The atoning work of Christ on the Cross is
for the healing of the idolater. God’s judgment and punishment of sin was
placed on Jesus all at once just as sin entered the world through Adam.
The sinful nature is dealt a death blow on the Cross with Jesus. The fear
of death, hell, and abandonment has lost its power to frighten and condemn
you, for Christ received the condemnation for it. And God, having
accepted Jesus sacrifice for sin, gave our Savior the power of our
resurrection. We know we are assured our victory in Christ as it is
revealed in Romans 6:5-7: “For if we have been united together in the
likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness
of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For he who has died
has been freed from sin.”
Yes, we are all free from the power of
sin. From this vantage point, we can view sin from a different
perspective. Healing our broken identity starts with being set free from
the power of sin that reigned in our life until we died to it through
Christ death for us. Now, we are in Christ and we are God’s children. In
II Corinthians 5:27 the Apostle Paul summed up our new identity and
freedom from our passed sins and past: “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new.” We are a new creation the moment we receive
Christ and complete in Him.
8Beware
lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to
the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and
not according to Christ. 9For in Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily; 10and you are complete in Him, who is the
head of all principality and power.
11In
Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by
putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of
Christ, 12buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were
raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him
from the dead. - Colossians 2:8-12.
No longer do fear, condemnation and
punishment lock you into the inevitable. Christ’s death is treated as
yours and therefore your sinful nature with its sinful inclinations,
iniquity, is not charged against you. God does not approve of your
mistaken identity by ending judgment against it. God does not approve
what He has already declared to be sin. Furthermore, God has not
suspended judgment against sin, only against you. He has transferred that
judgment to Christ, whose death for sin you treat as yours. The end of
God’s judgment takes away your guilt and a lot of anxiety. And that can
be frightening if fear and guilt have been the only motivations that have
held you together. But God is bringing you to maturity, providing you
with a new motivation for change: obedience to the One whose love to you
creates love within you. So, “But God demonstrates His own love toward
us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” - Romans
5:8.
Yes, you have a new identity as a new
creation and are in Christ by God’s doing, I Corinthians 1:30,31; “30But
of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption—31that, as it
is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the
Lord.”
5For if we have been
united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be
in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For
he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with
Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing
that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no
longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He
died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He
lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12Therefore
do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its
lusts. 13And do not present your members as instruments
of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to
God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are
not under law but under grace. - Romans 6:5-14.
We have died to the power of sin and
are no longer slaves. Now we belong to Christ and are present ourselves
as slaves to righteousness, Romans 6:18,19; “And having been set free from
sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19I speak in human
terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented
your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness
leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as
slaves of righteousness for holiness.” To understand and live this
truth is to be liberated.
In Christ, we have become the
righteousness of God. He has given us everything we need - a renewed
heart and spirit; and the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us. We are
now complete in Christ. God has changed your nature - you are free to
obey God and embrace your God-given identity within the confines of the
new covenant.
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