New Life "in Christ"

The Christian life brings Spiritual life, from the Holy Spirit.  We all have life in ourselves in our human spirit with differing personalities, circumstances, and environments.  But over and above, within and throughout, when a person becomes a Christian the Holy Spirit makes all things new. 

The Apostle Paul describes this truth in Second Corinthians 5:17 by saying, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."  The people in Corinth at that time were caught up in a very worldly culture and needed to understand that being a Christian wasn't just another worldly religion.  It was a complete change of a person from within their soul by the Holy Spirit. 

Paul goes on to explain in the next chapter that as a Christian he sought to live his life, "by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God," etc, Ch. 6:6-7.  He gives a long list of sources of power to live in this new life.

The Holy Spirit is seen to be the key to becoming a Christian and one of the keys to living out the Christian life.  We need the power of God to live in Christ and the Holy Spirit is that power because He is the presence of God with us.  He uses the "word of truth" as well to describe this wonderful life in Christ.  

We can read much more that Paul describes the Christian life to be, but it is a life that is "in Christ" as Christ is in us through the Word of Truth, inspired and illuminated by the Holy Spirit.  This Spiritual life will lead us to become like Christ and to live for him.

FAITH TODAY: 2 Cor. 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

 

 

Renew & Restore

Have you ever become too busy to read?  Have you ever become too busy to study or pray, or even exercise?  Have you ever become too busy to remember what's important?

Well, the last few months have been like that for me.  Between family, work, projects, and new and unexpected problems, I've been distracted from reading, studying, and all the rest.  Life is full of challenges and distractions but don't quit.  Keep on keeping on, in season and out of season.

Our Spiritual lives need time, nourishment, exercise, and rest.  And with too many distractions we can lose our Spiritual zest.  Make time for God, He is the source of our Spiritual life.

FAITH TODAY: Psalm 23:1-3,  "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside the still waters.  He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake."

Spiritual Life

The Christian faith is at its essence a personal relationship with Christ. Often times it is considered to be a religion like all the other religions in the world. And Christianity is religious, but it is primarily a relationship with the Creator of the universe.  

Because it is a relationship it has a spiritual life that manmade religions do not have. This relationship is so radical that Christ described it as being born again to Nicodemus in John 3. We are not born with this spiritual life and when Christ comes into our lives we have a brand new nature, a spiritual life from above.  

But this spiritual life needs nurturing and growth. Just as a newborn baby starts with milk and learns to eat whole food, he starts with crawling and learns to walk, he starts with sounds and learns to make words and sentences, so also our spiritual lives require development.  

One of the great prayers of the Apostle Paul for spiritual growth is found in Ephesians 1:15-23. Paul prays for the Ephesians for three things as he seeks to minister to them. He prays first that they would have "a spirit of wisdom and revelation" as he teaches them because, without a teachable spirit, no one can grow. He describes this teachability in, vs.18-19, as "having the eyes of your heart enlightened," and then prays that they would know "... the hope to which he has called you, ... the riches of his glorious inheritance, ... and the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe."  

We see Paul praying for these Ephesian Christians for their growth in their knowledge of the hope, riches, and power of Christ so that their spiritual lives would be strengthened. And it is the same for us. Our spiritual lives can be stagnant or even sick. But in Christ, we too can grow, we can be enlightened, and we can with a spirit of wisdom and revelation, see the hope, riches, and power available for us in Christ.  

Religion without spirituality is dead, and a spiritual life without a spirit of wisdom and revelation can also be declining. We can however grow up in our spiritual lives by the power of the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things. But we need the eyes of our hearts enlightened and a spirit of wisdom and revelation to have a vibrant spiritual life. 

FAITH TODAY: Ephesians 1:16-17, "I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him."

 

Perspectives

Have you considered your perspective today? It has sometimes been said that everything is just a matter of perspective. But if everything is just a matter of perspective we'd get confused because even that would be a perspective. Faith can also be like a perspective when we believe only those things we see or want.

A couple of days ago I flew a trip to South America and had this wonderful perspective out my window. It's interesting that I see things differently looking down from above. God's perspective is a complete picture as only he can see things in the ultimate way as he looks down from above.

Another one of my favorite "perspectives" is Psalm 8:3-4 where King David was looking up and said,

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"

He goes on to say that God not only is mindful of mankind but he has crowned us with glory and honor. This is because we are made in the image of God as we know from Genesis. God's perspective is very good and when we see the glory of creation we can see a true perspective of ourselves and of the God of all ages. Finding God's perspective is great.

FAITH TODAY: Psalm 8:1 - "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens."

The Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God is often thought of as a reality that will eventually take place in heaven when all of life is over. But the great surprise is that the kingdom has already begun. That's because the kingdom of God is a Spiritual kingdom of the heart and mind that places Christ at the center of our lives here and now.

When people become Christians they accept Christ into their hearts and they are then transformed into a new person. This is a Spiritual birth that happens by the Holy Spirit and Jesus described this as being born again when talking with Nicodemus in John 3:3. At first Nicodemus did not understand what Jesus meant but he certainly understood that Jesus had truth that he wanted.

So often in life we can get caught up in following the ways of the world so that we really miss the kingdom of God. The ways of the world however are all about the progress of mankind in order to promote ourselves. But the kingdom of God is all about a new Spiritual life that seeks to promote Christ. When we pursue the life of Christ our hearts find peace because we can be forgiven of our sins. We also can find inspiration because our minds are filled with the truth of living with purpose before God.

The kingdom of God has come into the world here and now and we can live in this Spiritual kingdom through faith in Christ. The Christian life can also be filled with strength from above because we have the Holy Spirit leading us. But we must accept Christ in all aspects of life to have the Holy Spirit and live in the kingdom of God.

FAITH TODAY: Matthew 6:33 - "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Here and Now

Looking back at the Bible it's easy to think, that was then, but we are living in the ‘here and now’. The people of the Bible lived in a completely different culture and world. They had no automobiles, airplanes, computers, televisions, cell phones, or electricity; and they believed the earth was flat. Obviously, mankind has made great progress in two thousand years.  

But instead of looking back to discredit the Bible or to look just at the here and now to celebrate the progress of man, we should look up to see the eternal truth of God.  

We see that even though our technology and cultures have developed we are still as dependent upon God as ever before. Mankind still needs food and water and air to breathe. We still need sleep and protection from diseases, sickness, the environment, and predators. Man is still finite and confined to the parameters of space and time. And most of all, we are mortal, our lives are temporary on this earth.

The ‘here and now’ is significant indeed but mankind needs answers to the ultimate questions of life. We need to look past our present moment to find the source of life and the purpose for living. We should look up to see timeless truths that are just as true for us as they were for the people of long ago. We may even find that they were more advanced than we are in some ways.

FAITH TODAY: John 6:68, "Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

 

The First Testament

Is the Old Testament so old that it is irrelevant? No, not at all. In fact, the teachings of Jesus were consistent with the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies. It is God's first testament in a two testament Book.  

The first five books of Moses provide a theological foundation for the whole Bible. They describe the creation of mankind in the image of God, the sin and fall of mankind from God's grace, the ten commandments, and also the creation of a particular nation as a covenant people of God. The people of God however needed faith in the promised Messiah who was yet to come.  

God created these particular people by calling the Patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the land of Canaan, their promised land. Jacob's name was later changed to Israel, and his twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel, who over time grew into the nation of Israel. 

The Israelites however were forced to the land of Egypt to find food from famine, only to be saved by their betrayed, yet exonerated, brother Joseph. The Egyptians eventually forgot Joseph and enslaved the Israelites, but God raised up Moses to rescue them and return them to the land of Canaan. After Moses' life, Joshua brought the Israelites into the promised land where they struggled in faith and were then governed by the Judges.  

The Wisdom literature of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes describes many writings and teachings from the people of God as they walked and wrestled in faith. The lessons and questions of life were part of the experiences even for people of the Old Testament, which are the same as we also have today.

The Historical books of Samuel, Chronicles, and Kings describe how the people of God often stumbled in faith and even chose a king to lead them like the many pagan nations around them. They made Saul their first King. Kings David and Solomon followed in a golden age that was soon followed by civil war, and then several different kings, many of whom departed from the Law of God.

The Prophets were raised up by God to call the people of God back to the covenant of God. The Prophets spoke against the unrighteous kings and the coming Exile of God's people from the Promised Land. They also spoke of the redemption of God's people, and Nehemiah and Ezra saw this return and the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.  

The Prophets still speak of living in faith today by living obediently to the Word of God. It is in the brokenness of life we can clearly see the need for a Savior which the people of the Old Testament also saw. Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of God's first testament who came into the world to save mankind from sin.

FAITH TODAY: Isaiah 9:5 - "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

 

 

The Book

If Jesus is alive and at God's right hand even now, we know there is a reality beyond the here and now that is paramount. But how can we know Christ and know this Spiritual reality that is the most important truth in the world? We have to go to God's Book, the Bible, to discover the teachings of Jesus to begin to know Him.  

The New Testament begins with the four gospels of Jesus' life in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These eyewitness stories of Jesus describe the historical and Spiritual accounts from four different personal perspectives as his life was documented in great detail.

Shortly after his life Jesus' disciples began to teach the truth of his message and the book of The Acts of the Apostles describes the early Church and its inception. Jesus commissioned his Apostles to go into the world to also make disciples and to build his spiritual kingdom.  

Through the lives and ministries of the Apostles, they also wrote books of their own teachings that we know as the Epistles. Peter, James, John, and Paul wrote several epistles that describe in greater detail the nature and works of having faith in Christ.

Finally, The Revelation of John describes future events of the kingdom of God. In this book, the apostle John describes a great battle of Armageddon, a final judgment of all people, the Book of Life, and the return of Christ to the earth to establish his eternal kingdom. There is much figurative language that makes the time of Christ's return uncertain. Yet there are also very clear descriptions of a culmination of all things.

The Bible's context and culture are much different than in our own times. Yet the descriptions of spirituality in the Bible have not changed at all from our own spirituality. We too recognize the need for relationships, for significance and purpose, yet we also know the reality of sin and death. Only God can give a true answer to all our needs, and he does so in his Book, the Bible. Only Christ can reveal God adequately because he is the Son of God.  

FAITH TODAY: John 8:12, "Again Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

 

First Things

What does the Christian faith look like in the twenty-first century?  

We live in a crazy, complicated, and confusing world sometimes. Technology is always changing, and we can only wonder if there is anything that is going to stay the same.  Who can understand our culture as we need to have some understanding of truth and reality for today?  When I was young our culture basically believed that Christianity and the Bible are true.  But faith in God and Christian faith is all about Jesus who lived twenty centuries ago. How can we understand that Jesus is the Christ and that Christianity is true in our constantly changing and modern world?

First things first. We must understand the Christian faith through the lens of truth. Our faith doesn't stand on faith itself but upon the truth and existence of God.  The truth of God has not changed even though the cultures of man have changed.  We can know that Jesus is the Son of God, that he arose from the dead and he is alive forever more.  We can know that Jesus is the Christ and Christianity is as true today as it was twenty centuries ago through the Scriptures.  

How can we know this?  I believe Christianity and the Bible are true because they contain truths that only God can convey. The Scriptures still speak to us today.  This book resonates with my soul, as my conscience understands that I need God, I am mortal, and I need to understand who created me and who can save me from sin and death.  I also need to know what the purpose of my life is all about.  The Bible speaks of these truths in such a way that no mere man could invent. 

The truth of Scripture doesn't change with the changes of culture, it's as true today as it was two thousand years ago because it is from God. We read in Scripture that Christ is alive and has sent the Holy Spirit to us, the Spirit of truth.  And Truth is true for every generation or else it wouldn't be true.  And if God isn't true, then, 'What is truth?'  So we can find the truth to the questions of our deepest needs of salvation and the meaning and purpose in life through the Scriptures.  We can find new life in Christ because he is true. 

If Christ isn't alive and at God's right hand then everything about Christianity is false.  But Christ is alive and therefore all of the Christian faith is true and must be oriented around this great truth.  The Bible is trustworthy because it is true.  And truth exists because God exists. 

FAITH TODAY: John 14:6, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.  You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."