October 12, 2016 GETTING VS HAVING
Colossians 2:9-10: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
Many believers struggle with the truth that we are presently “complete in Him,” and as a result, live their life trying to attain to a certain level of spirituality. Not understanding that we are complete in Him is accompanied by a belief that we are lacking in something. The writers of the New Testament understood the power of God to change men at the core-to totally transform them into His image. Many sermons and messages that we hear are geared toward pointing out our spiritual deficiencies and failures and telling us that we need to be more committed spiritually. Missing in much of what we hear today is that our salvation not only assures us of spending eternity in heaven, but our salvation also makes us ‘new creatures’ with the desire and the power to live life as God designed. It seems that the greatest struggle for many is to grasp the truth that we are not who we use to be, but have been made new-not just renovated, or made better. The fantastic news according to the clear teachings of scripture, is that we have been given a new nature, and it is our new nature to walk in His ways, to be free from the dominion of sin, to love Him, to think the right thoughts, and to be imitators of Him! If this is true-and it is-we have to ask why is it that many believers do not experience this reality on a daily basis. Primarily, because we have heard for so long an incomplete or insufficient gospel, we do not know our true identity as sons and daughters of God. There is one scripture, when misunderstood, is used to justify, or excuse walking in the flesh. In the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul is describing what it was like when he was living according to the flesh, saying that he did the things he did not want to do, and the things he wanted to do, he did not do them, and in Romans 7:24 Paul says: “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free the body of this death?” However, in Romans 8:2, Paul makes the wonderful proclamation and gives the remedy for living according to the flesh: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free form the law of sin and of death.” It was not Paul’s testimony that he lived a wretched, miserable life; his testimony was that he had been made new by the power of God and he was able to say to other believers-“Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did.” (1 Corinthians 11:1) When we read the New Testament with open eyes and hearts and without preconceived ideas, we see from Matthew to Revelations the power of God to give ordinary men and women a new nature and a totally new identity. It is this new identity that opens our eyes to see just how great and complete our salvation is, and that we now already have all we need to live the Christian life.
Ephesians 4:24: “and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”
Blessings,
Buddy
For more insight on the subject, read: ‘The Truth of the Gospel’ by Peter Parris.
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