When having discussions about Christian living, one topic that often gets overlooked is perspective; how we see ourselves and the world around us. Many of us are so focused on our works and performance, that we miss the central aspect of our identity in Christ and how that should change our lenses.
This is actually integral to the Gospel, and living in your new identity in Christ – and the scriptures contain many examples of how our lenses (how we see and perceive ourselves and our circumstances), can have an effect on our entire life.
So today, and over the next studies, I would like to have a discussion about how our perceptions both reflect and affect our identity and life in Christ Jesus.
Romans chapter 5 verse 11 contains an interesting statement. The verse reads: “And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation.” The verse reads: “And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation.”
And it led me to this line of thought and question: What does it mean to be reconciled? And do we honestly rejoice in our reconciliation?
Sure, we may hear talk about rejoicing, but how often do we even think about our reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ? If we are honest with ourselves, many times we act and think as if we still have not been reconciled at all!
So today in this study, we are going to explore this topic and answer these questions, because Paul spends quite a bit of time explaining this – not without reason – he clearly wants us to know and understand the precise reason and foundation for why we can truly rejoice in God.
As we grow more and more in the truth of Grace and the reality of the finished work of Jesus Christ and what He has done, one of the things that happens is that we see more clearly what He has freed us from. We begin to see that many of the things which we have blindly accepted all of our lives without question and a lot of the things we put up with, simply need not be upon us. We have grown accustomed to many afflictions, hurts, pains, diseases and infirmities – we regard them simply as “facts of life” without giving them a second thought.
In this study today, we will be looking at the truth of what the scripture says regarding these things. As we see what Jesus has done for us, we will also realize that we need not suffer the things which we have accepted as natural, and how we are actually more free than we have even imagined.
God is generous. He goes above and beyond even our wildest expectations when given the opportunity. We often have trouble believing this about God though. A typical thought that I hear people say is that 'if God is so generous, why doesn't He give me more?', however this question exposes a failure to see the true character and nature of God. We have been indoctrinated with an idea that God is sitting up in Heaven demanding to be served and that He must be properly pleased or entreated before He doles out rewards, and even then you had better not expect much!
However this is a totally inaccurate idea and view of God. God is not up in Heaven demanding to be served; He is instead closer than you even realize, and instead of demanding to be served, He is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to serve you! Can you believe that? The God of the universe, has actually willingly taken the position of service, for your benefit – and He actually becomes a gainer of glory by serving you! This is what we will be taking a look at today. How God serves, how you can receive it, and what the truth about God's generosity really is.
One day someone asked me straight out “what is the ministry of the spirit?” – now this man was a believer, and as embarrassing as it may seem, I hadn't actually considered that there were believers today which did not know what the Bible says about the ministry of the spirit, or even that there has been a change in ministry. So his question caught me a little bit off-guard. Since that time, I've come to realize that the majority of believers also have the same question, unaware that there has been a change in ministry due to Jesus Christ.
This is what we are going to be studying today, seeing the change that has occurred in our ministry. It's important to see this truth for two reasons: first because as ambassadors for Christ, we should know what the message from our King is! And second, this will also help us to distinguish between truth and falsehood in ministry.
We have previously studied how walking uprightly according to the truth is not about performance, but it is about believing rightly the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receiving His righteousness. It is the understanding and acceptance of this truth that enables us to truly live the abundant life in Christ, free from uncertainty, worry and fear. Yet many people are not experiencing this, because for the most part, this truth is not taught in today's culture. We are not hearing the original Gospel that Paul preached and received from the LORD Jesus, and therefore we are not experiencing the same results from the Gospel either.
That's why in this study today, we will be examining what the true Gospel is, and how by believing and receiving the message of truth, we can live the abundant life of Christ as we are meant to.
Many times when believers talk about health, they do it from the perspective of the world. As if sickness and disease is just a normal part of life. From a very early age, we are conditioned by the world to accept illness as a natural condition – as just part of being human, and so we receive it without a second-thought. Likewise when believers talk about prosperity, many times it is with derision “we don't want that prosperity gospel!”. As a result, many people spend their lives battling sickness and in poverty But is this what the Bible says should be? Is this what the life of a believer redeemed by Christ Jesus should be like?
Today in this study, we will be answering these questions from scripture as we examine what the Bible has to say regarding health and prosperity, in the light of the finished work of Jesus Christ. And as we see the truth of Jesus regarding these things, we will be able to receive more of Him.
Last week we studied how God will always lead us to righteousness, and how as believers today, we serve in newness of the Spirit and not the Old Covenant of the Law. We also saw that the first area that the Holy Spirit affects when He fills us, is our tongue, because when our tongue is under control, our entire body can be under control as well. There is indeed great power in our words and what we speak.
Today we will be continuing this study by taking an in-depth look at the power and benefit that comes from speaking the words of the Holy Spirit. How letting Him control our tongue can bring life and healing to not only our physical bodies, but to every area of our lives.
Continuing our series on the Wisdom of God. I once many years ago, heard a Christian express that Grace is all well and good, but that he wanted to move on to “deeper things”. I didn't think much about his comment at the time, but since then I have noticed that this idea is actually quite common. Over the years I have witnessed many people come to Jesus Christ with great optimism and joy as they realize the truth of what He has done for them, and they are filled with His Divine Joy and Peace, and then it sets in... the idea that “now that I've received Jesus, I have to work”. I must do this and this and this and that to “grow in Christ.” Now I do believe that there is a growth process for believers, however this growth process is not what some today think that it is.
So today as we continue to study the Wisdom of God, we will be examining how growing in the Divine Wisdom of God actually leads to growing in Grace; and I believe that as we see this truth in scripture, chains will be broken and the joy and peace of God will be loosed again for some that have lost sight of it.