Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…Even at 0-dark thirty, I’m bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. I had cataract surgery this past week, so now when I open my eyes to start a new day, I see the beauty of a whole new world with clarity and in vibrant colors. Wow! I didn’t know what I was missing, but I sure love what I’m seeing. So when you add to that the excitement I’m still feeling about the “Steps to Freedom” class yesterday at Grace Church-St.Louis, that explains the attitude of gratitude -even at this early hour.
Nothing makes me happier today than seeing those moments when “the light-bulb turns on” in someone’s mind and you know they’ve just experienced an “ah-ha” moment. Thankfully, those moments are frequent in the “Steps to Freedom” class, which is based on Neil Anderson’s classic, “Victory Over the Darkness.” This class illuminates the pathway to “the abundant life” Jesus promised as we realize the power of our new identity in Christ. This is the plan Apostle Paul was referencing in Ephesians 1:4-5, “Long ago, even before he created the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
Many Christians believed that when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, their lives would immediately turn around and everything would be rosy. But the fact is…if you had financial problems, relationship problems, health problems, job problems, anger issues, etc. the day before you made the choice to accept God’s Gift of Grace, you are still burdened with those problems the day after you made your decision. The good news is…at this point you have everything you need to overcome those issues. But whether that happens or not depends on your willingness to participate in a process of change called “sanctification” (becoming more Christ-like). That’s what becoming a Christ-follower is all about…change – making intentional choices to become the person God created you to be.
Jesus was very up-front about this. He said in Luke 9:23: “If any of you want to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, pick up your cross daily, and follow me.” Again in John 16:33 he said the same thing, but he added the hope we are looking for at the end: “Here on this earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but fear not, because I have overcome the world.” The good news for us is…if Christ has overcome the world, so have we. Why? Because we are in Christ. The truth is, because of our new identity in Christ, we inherit everything that is true of him. Take a moment and let that last statement sink in. We are the righteousness of Christ. Why?…because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. We are now a Saint (sin free; set aside for sacred purpose). Why?…because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. We are worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes. Why?… because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. We inherited eternal life. Why?…because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. We are heir to all the promises in the Bible and all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm. Why?…because we are covered with the blood of Jesus. Wow!
The challenge for all Christ-followers is not only to know your new identity in Christ, but to believe it and let it change the way you live. After all, we are called to live a different life than we see in the world around us. More to the point… we are called to let Jesus’ light shine through us. So how do we do that?
If anyone has ever been in a recovery room, surly you’ve noticed the plaques on the walls inscribed with such pithy sayings as, “Let Go, Let God”; “Just Turn It Over”; “One Day at a Time”. Wow! No doubt that’s the truth. But again, how do we do that. There is a lady in one of the meetings that I attend who frequently exclaims, “I just can’t handle this mess. I’m just going to turn it over to God!” I’ve always wondered what she thought was going to happen, so one morning after the meeting I asked her, “Barb…when you say you’re just going to turn it over to God, what do you expect?” Her reply was, “I expect God to take care of it.” Hummm? (I’ll return to this a bit later.)
“Long ago, even before he created the world” (or man), God had a plan which centered on Jesus Christ. So let’s examine this. If God had a plan centered on Jesus Christ even before he created the world, no doubt he knew man was going to use his free-will for purposes other than for which it was intended. (The intent of free-will was so we could choose to love him back and enter into a relationship with him. Man, however, chose to use free will to satisfy himself rather than keeping the focus on God.) That still describes all mankind today who are not in Christ.
But because we serve a loving, merciful God who gave us from Creation to 2016 years ago to overcome the issue of sin (living separated from God), he implemented the plan referenced in Ephesians 1:4-5 and explained in Romans 5:6: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time to die for us sinners.” I love the way this verse explains itself. What was just the right time? When we were utterly helpless! And what was the state of man? A sinner! That’s a pretty severe incitement of our fallen state. But it also makes clear that without the Gift of Grace, we could never have been able to enter into an eternal relationship with our creator because we are stained with SIN!
God came to our rescue because he knows we are only dust. Left to our own volition, he knew we could never rise above our sin-nature (or what our culture calls our “human nature.”) The same is still true today…and yes, even for Christ-followers. Why? Because we live in these fleshly bodies; we live in a fallen world; and we have a formidable enemy who wants to do everything possible to ship-wreck our effort to break free from the kingdom darkness. That’s why God’s salvation plan for us not only includes forgiveness of sin and eternal life (which takes care of our eternal destiny), but the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which empowers us to become the person God created us to be…right here, right now.
It is absolutely imperative that those who are in Christ understand the power that we have been given. As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, “Let Go, Let God” or “Just Turn It Over” is the right answer, now I’m going to reveal the truth of the Holy Spirit. Barb’s answer before missed the mark when she said, “I’m just going to let God take care of this mess.” God doesn’t take care of our messes, but the Holy Spirit will empower us to take care of our messes. Remember, Jesus said, “Here on this earth you will have many trials…” Overcoming these trials in a way that brings honor and glory to God IS WHY we have this power. It’s all part of becoming more Christ-like, and we want to make intentional choices that lead to this outcome.
So here is how we do it. We call on the Holy Spirit to “give me wisdom, strength, courage, perseverance, patience, insight…whatever it is I need that allows me to become the person you created me to be (His “Masterpiece” referenced in Ephesians 2:10, so we can do the good works you planned for us long ago.) The power of the indwelling Holy Spirit allows us to rise above the world around us, and to resist the temptations of the flesh and Satan. In short, this power is the secret weapon of all Christ-followers because it allows us to live the life we are called to live. And why do we have it? Because we are in Christ. This is how we achieve victory over the darkness. A-men!
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (Pastor Dan)
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