The word saints in the N.T. Greek means holy ones and that is what we are in the Messiah Jesus. We are not holy but the spirit of the Messiah and the spirit of God is. We are not righteous, but the spirit of the Messiah Jesus and the spirit of God is.
Notice:
Romans 8:8-11: This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad; in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
John 14:23: Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and WE will come unto him, and make our abode with him [by the spirit of God/the spirit of Jesus].
2 Corinthians 6:16: ...you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Amazing grace: It is the indwelling of the spirit of God and the spirit of His beloved son Jesus that gives us a status of righteousness. It is all of them and nothing of us and yet the scripture says that if we have the spirit of God/spirit of the anointed one in us we are saints - holy ones.
We all as followers of the Lord Jesus and his God and his Father need to realize how much power we have access to by being indwelt by both our God and his precious son Jesus. Jesus said:
John 14:12: Truly, truly, I say unto you, he that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
When he went to his Father he sent down the power of the spirit that he told the disciples to wait for and to use to do what he commanded them to do....
Luke 24:46-49: And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooves the Messiah to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but wait in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high.
Do we realize that we all now possess this power from on high, that it indwells all who believe in the one whom God has sent and live by the message that he brought? So where is that power being used today? Where is the good news message being preached as Jesus preached it, with the sign that accompanied his preaching? Did he not say that we who go forth preaching the good news and living out his message would do greater works than he did during his ministry? Why do we not experience that same power working in us and through us? It is because we have so little faith to exercise what we have been given!
Jesus said if we have faith we can do anything in him....
Luke 17:6: And the Lord said, If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree, be you plucked up by the root and be you planted in the sea; and it would obey you.
If we are truly walking by the leading of the spirit of Jesus and God that indwells us we will be exercising faith and obedience to all he has told us to do. We will be living our lives for him in everything and in doing so grow in faith as we experience the joy of walking on the narrow difficult path that leads to new age life, resurrection life now. Do we not realize that the same power that upholds the universe indwells us and we are to use that power to do the works that God called us to do!
Ephesians 2:10: For we are His workmanship as new creations in the Messiah Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
ANOTHER VIEW:
Holiness is not only a possibility for the Christian; holiness is a requirement. "Without holiness, no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). The difference between God and us is that He is inherently holy while we, on the other hand, only become holy as new creations in the Messiah and we only increase in practical holiness as we become spiritually mature - Messiahlike. The New Testament emphasizes the pursuit of holiness in this world and the final attainment of holiness in the world to come.
To be "holy" means that we are, first of all, "set apart for honorable use." Whereas we were "once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures . . . Yehovah - God our Savior saves us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:3-5; cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11). The Lord took the initiative to pull us out of our former lifestyles. He saves us, cleansed us, and set us apart for righteousness. If we have believed in the Messiah Jesus for salvation, we have been washed by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit and set apart from the world for godliness (see Romans 12:2).
However, the pursuit of holiness does not end when we come to the Messiah. In fact, it just begins! There is positional holiness that we inherit at regeneration and practical holiness that we must actively pursue. Yehovah our God expects us to cultivate a lifestyle of holiness (1 Peter 1:14-16) and commands us to "cleanse ourselves of all defilements of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1 NASB). Bringing holiness to "perfection" means that we should be increasing in spiritual fruitfulness every day. We are to consider ourselves "dead to sin" (Romans 6:11), refusing to revert back to our former lifestyles. In this way we "cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable," becoming vessels for "honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master . . . for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). Holiness is the mark of every true disciple (1 John 3:9-10).
Cultivating a lifestyle of holiness does not mean that we must draft a list of do's and don'ts to live by. We are free from the letter of the law which kills (2 Corinthians 3:6) and now we live according to the leading power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-18).
We are told, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13).
In this verse, we see cooperation between God and His children in sanctification. We "work out" what God "works in" us, because God has a timeline for the virtues that He wishes to cultivate in our lives. Our responsibility is to yield to His wishes, "working out" with focused attention and great care for those things that He is causing to grow in us. Holiness will not be brought to completion in our lives with no effort on our part. We are invited to participate in God's work in us.
This is, perhaps, the most important lesson that we can learn as disciples of the Lord Messiah Jesus. God's ultimate desire for His people is that we be holy, conformed into the image of His son, Jesus (Romans 8:29; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4). Holiness is the will of God for our lives.
Of course, the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38). None of us will reach sinless perfection in this world, but God has made provision for our sins through the sin-offering sacrifice of the Messiah Jesus. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Our pursuit of holiness in this world includes daily confessing and forsaking sin (see Hebrews 12:1-3).
God helps us in our weakness by giving us His Holy Spirit that reveals the mind of the Messiah to us and enables us to carry out His will (1 Corinthians 2:14-16; Philippians 2:13). When we yield to the Spirit of Yehovah our God, we become fruit-bearing disciples, yielding a harvest with which God is well pleased (Galatians 5:22-23). On the other hand, when we suppress the work of the Holy Spirit by rebelling against His will for us, we stifle the design of God, sabotage our own spiritual growth, and grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30).
If God was gracious enough to redeem us from sin and death and give us new life in His son the Messiah Jesus, the very least that we can do is offer our lives back to Him in surrender and holiness, which is for our benefit (cf. Deuteronomy 10:13). Because of God's mercies, we should be living sacrifices, "holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1; cf. Deuteronomy 10:13). One day, in the Kingdom of God, we will be free from sin and all its effects as glorified immortal men and women. Until then, we "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" and keep running our race (Hebrews 12:2).
No comments:
Post a Comment