Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…Yesterday I had the privilege of going back and conducting the Saint Louis Wind Symphony. Since I stepped down last July as Music Director/Conductor, I am now Conductor Emeritus, which means once or twice a year I will conduct on a concert. The February 5th concert will be my first time back, and yesterday was the first rehearsal. What a treat to see all my friends and hear their wonderful music-making skills come alive. Needless to say…I am blessed to be able to do this, and it got me pumped up again. It was just like the good ol’ days… 🙂
Last week I started the first of a two part series entitled, “Undoubtedly He Is Your Savior, But Is He Really Your Lord?”. I talked about what it means to make Jesus the Lord of your life. This week I want to talk about how we do that. If you missed last week’s presentation, I would encourage you to peruse it too. You can find it at http://meetpastordan.com/he-is-undoubtedly-your-savior-but-is-he-really-your-lord-pt-1/
When we make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are immediately justified (made right) in God’s sight. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us exactly what happens at that moment. “We are a new creation in Christ. The old has gone (our sin/human nature) and the new has come (the Holy Spirit). We now, at that moment, have everything we need for living a Godly life. For instance, we have a new identity: we are in Christ, which means our sins are forgiven; we have inherited eternal life; we are worthy and acceptable in God’s sight: we now have the indwelling Holy Spirit; in God’s eyes we are now a Saint (more on that later); we are heir to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm, and we are heir to all the promises in the Bible! All of that happens in the blink of an eye. At that very moment, Jesus Christ is your Savior. But whether he becomes your Lord is strictly up to you.
You are now equipped with everything you need to become the person God created you to be. Ephesians 2:10 describes this. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can now do the good things he planned for us long ago”. To reference once again 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.” That plan was set in motion 2016 years ago with the coming of Jesus Christ to be our Savior.
We are now totally prepared for a new journey, and that journey is the process of being transformed from the person we used to be into a person who is striving to become more Christ-like. The official “churchy word” for this process is “Sanctification”. (wowzer! try working that into a sentence and see how far the conversation goes. 🙂 This process is also the definition of a “Christ-follower”, which means we want more out of the relationship with Jesus than just fire insurance. We want to follow His teaching and His example so we can be set free. In John 8:32: “Jesus told his Disciples, ‘if you follow my teachings you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” And what did Jesus teach? He taught about love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, patience, tolerance, acceptance, kindness, and service to our fellow man.
At this point you might exclaim, “Wow! How can I do that in this fallen world where everyplace I look I see lying, cheating, stealing, bullying, anger, hostility, hatred, envy, sexual immorality, deceit, addictions, and sheer unchecked evil!” As a Christ-follower, we are told “not to conform to the patterns of this world, but to let the Holy Spirit transform us by changing the way we think.” (Romans 12:2) Jesus was very honest when he told us about this journey. He said in John 16:33: “In this world you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world!”
So the truth of that statement is… because we are in Christ, we too have overcome the world. We just have to know that is true, and live our life accordingly. After all, “we were not give a spirit of fear and timidity, but one of love, power and self control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) It is by overcoming the trials and tribulations in this life that we mature and become more comfortable being led by and walking in the Spirit. The more that happens, the more Christ-like we become.
Remember, when Jesus was walking on this earth, he had given up his Lordship to become one of us. Therefore, he lived his life here totally dependent on God. In fact, he said in John 5:19, “I assure you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” Jesus life here modeled the truth of the Word, and his example is what we are to follow. Since Jesus was dependent on the Father, he wants us to be dependent on the Holy Spirit. That’s why the indwelling Holy Spirit was given to us; so we could rise above our circumstances and challenges to become the person God created us to be, and to bring honor and glory to Him through our choices.
Being led by the Spirit and living in the Spirit is about US getting out of the way so the Holy Spirit (the essence of Jesus Christ –Ref. John 14-18) can live through us. From Creation until 2016 years ago, we (Mankind) showed without a shadow of a doubt that we were INCAPABLE of meeting God’s standard through our own effort. In fact, Romans 5:6 refers to us as being “utterly helpless” in our own effort to overcome sin.
So how do we do this? How do we call on the Holy Spirit to empower us to rise above our circumstances or to overcome our trials and tribulations? Well, first we have to be in Christ. Then we stand on the truth of James 4:10: “When we bow down before the Lord and admit our dependence on him, he will lift us up and give us honor.” We say, “Holy Spirit, give me wisdom, insight, patience, strength, courage, perseverance – whatever it is, any one or combination of these things I need to face my problem – BECAUSE I want to bring honor and glory to YOU through my choices,OR I want to become the person YOU created me to be.”
When our motivation for what we are doing is to honor God, his Word says he will answer those prayers. 1John 5:14 tells us: “Anything that we ask for, that is in line with his will for our life, will be given to us.” Let this last verse sink in. Think of the power you display when you get out of the way and TRUST the Holy Spirit to work through you. The more you do this, the more you will grow into that person God created you to be. Galatians 5: 22-23 tells us that “when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, we will experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” This is the source of the peace and serenity we all desire.
Keep in mind, this is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. And as a new Christ-follower, we all will stumble and fall short along the way. But don’t lose sight of this truth. The sin issue was solved 2016 years ago at the cross. Because you are in Christ, our short-comings are no longer counted against us as sin. We are no longer a sinner, but a Saint (one who’s sins are forgiven; one set aside for a holy purpose) that falls short. All God wants us to do now is get up and keep trudging down that path of transformation. At this point we can call on the Holy Spirit and say, “Holy Spirit, this is no longer a short-coming I want to repeat, please help me with wisdom, courage, strength, patience – whatever it is I need, because I want my actions to bring honor and glory to you!
This is being led by the Spirit and living in the Spirit. And this, My Friends, is how we experience the abundant life Jesus promised us, which is characterized by joy, peace and serenity. Enjoy the journey! And enjoy life to the fullest!
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May God bless ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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