Think about it. Jesus says to us, "Follow Me." That means He intends for us to do exactly what He did. Then Peter asserts that God has already given us everything we need to live and be "godly," or, literally, like God.
Do the math: Jesus calls us to be like Him, and God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, deposits everything we need into our spirits the moment we step into faith in Jesus. The truth is, when Jesus spoke those supernaturally pregnant words, "follow me," He knew God was backing Him up. He wouldn't have said them otherwise.
In the Jewish culture of Bible times, when a Rabbi said those words, "Follow me" to a pupil, it was the most powerful thing any of them could hope to hear. The clear implication of these words is this: "You recognize that I am a great teacher. Now I am affirming that I see in you the potential to be at least as great as I have been. I fully expect you to do everything I do and more. I will invest everything I am in your training, and I expect nothing less than for you to outdo me before you are finished."
When Jesus called the disciples, that's what they heard--an expression of unlimited confidence in their value, character, and talent. That's an amazing thing for the twelve, and for the seventy, but even more amazing for us. The confidence He has placed in us as New Covenant believers is even greater.
Jesus' call to us says this: "Follow me, and you'll do greater things than I have done. How will you accomplish this? Well, it won't be without me. I have given you my Spirit, and because I am constantly before the Father in heaven praying for you, pulling for you, your potential is unlimited--unthinkable--unimaginable. My confidence in you is not only based on the talent and character I have placed in you as my creation, but even more so on my own limitless life inside you. So come, follow me."
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
You are Supernatural
We are not of this world. We are citizens of heaven. To those who believe in Jesus, God gives His own life, His divine nature. John says we are "from God." We are supernatural.
Paul scolds the Corinthians for acting like "mere men." Most of us do the same. How do we avoid that mistake? Acting like normal, everyday human beings just seems to come...well, naturally. How do we learn to live like the supernatural beings we are?
"Be transformed by the renewing of your minds." Step one...heck, maybe all the steps are just this: change your mind. Eradicate every trace of belief that you are "only human." Practice seeing yourself as God's offspring, a new creation, a heavenly being in an earthly disguise.
My suspicion is, the more you identify yourself with the divine, the more you will allow God's nature and the character of Jesus to ooze and gush and pour out of its hiding place in your spirit. Forget trying to change your behavior; devote yourself to a radical change of mind. Simple, really: see yourself as supernatural, and supernatural actions will follow.
Paul scolds the Corinthians for acting like "mere men." Most of us do the same. How do we avoid that mistake? Acting like normal, everyday human beings just seems to come...well, naturally. How do we learn to live like the supernatural beings we are?
"Be transformed by the renewing of your minds." Step one...heck, maybe all the steps are just this: change your mind. Eradicate every trace of belief that you are "only human." Practice seeing yourself as God's offspring, a new creation, a heavenly being in an earthly disguise.
My suspicion is, the more you identify yourself with the divine, the more you will allow God's nature and the character of Jesus to ooze and gush and pour out of its hiding place in your spirit. Forget trying to change your behavior; devote yourself to a radical change of mind. Simple, really: see yourself as supernatural, and supernatural actions will follow.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Jesus Took the Test and Gave You His Grade!
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, [4] in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4.
Since we get our life from God's Spirit in us, and not from our old sinful nature, we exist as those who have met every requirement of God perfectly. Why? Because Jesus passed the test for us--with flying colors I might add. He never sinned. He made an A+, a perfect score. Then, in the wake of total success, He allowed Himself to receive the punishment for all the failures of mankind.
Read More...
I'm stealing this illustration because I never had a teacher this dishonest, but a friend of mine was lucky enough to play small college football and take a course under one of his assistant coaches. I don't know what the course was, but it doesn't matter, really. My friend hated school in all ways, except that it gave him the opportunity to play football, so whatever the class was, it was sure to be stressful for him...at least that's how he thought it would be.
However, as the professor/coach brought the first day of class to its conclusion, he asked all the football players to stay after class. I'm sure most of them expected him to give them some sort of speech about "no preferential treatment and they'd better take his class seriously or they'd suffer on the practice field for it" or something of the like. What they got was quite the opposite.
Here's the gist of what he said, "I don't want you guys worrying about this class. I want you thinking about football. Therefore, I'm marking your final grade right now. All of you will receive an A for this class, no matter how you actually perform. I don't want to see you in class; get your sleep. Simply show up on test days--I'll let you know at practice when they are scheduled. Come in for the test, sit down, and write something in every blank. It doesn't matter what you write, just don't be the first to finish so no one gets suspicious."
My friend normally hated taking tests, but this was a new world! He showed up every test day with complete freedom and confidence! He had never experienced this kind of feeling before in an academic situation! On test days, he had always been worried, stressed, frustrated, or even depressed, but not any more! He knew he would be successful, so he felt no pressure at all.
As unethical as it was, that teacher's system for his players is a pretty good illustration of what Jesus did for us, with one drastic exception: Jesus didn't cheat for us. What Jesus did was even better. He took all our tests for us and gave us His grades!
You see, the commands of the Old Testament are like a school curriculum for us, but we don't actually have to pass. This is a curriculum meant to show us that we could never pass on our own and therefore need help, big time.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, [4] in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4.
Since we get our life from God's Spirit in us, and not from our old sinful nature, we exist as those who have met every requirement of God perfectly. Why? Because Jesus passed the test for us--with flying colors I might add. He never sinned. He made an A+, a perfect score. Then, in the wake of total success, He allowed Himself to receive the punishment for all the failures of mankind.
That's what it means to be a sin offering, and that's how we got His grade instead of ours. He exchanged our dead, sinful spirits for His living, perfect one. He gave us His life in exchange for death, and therefore all His success in exchange for our failures.
You see, like that coach/professor, God doesn't want you worrying about being good enough. He wants you keeping your head in the game. There's a lot for us to do here on earth. He doesn't want us wasting our time with religion, so He took it out of the way. He has taken all the pressure off.
Therefore, we can walk into every test of life with total confidence, knowing that God always sees us as A+ students, always celebrates our success even when we fail, because He judges us by Jesus' performance, not our own.
(By the way, if that makes you want to go live a sinful life because you know God won't judge you, there's a good chance none of this applies to you...you need to become an actual believer in Jesus.)
For those of you, however, who sincerely long to please God in all you do, this should be the best news you have ever heard. Psalm 119:32 says it this way: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free!" When we truly understand the grace and goodness of God and His complete and utterly free gift of complete and utterly irrevocable righteousness in Jesus, we are free to live like the A+ students we most deeply desire to be.
Here is your grade card for life and godliness and Christianity and righteousness and holiness: Jesus took the tests and gave you His grade.
Since we get our life from God's Spirit in us, and not from our old sinful nature, we exist as those who have met every requirement of God perfectly. Why? Because Jesus passed the test for us--with flying colors I might add. He never sinned. He made an A+, a perfect score. Then, in the wake of total success, He allowed Himself to receive the punishment for all the failures of mankind.
Read More...
I'm stealing this illustration because I never had a teacher this dishonest, but a friend of mine was lucky enough to play small college football and take a course under one of his assistant coaches. I don't know what the course was, but it doesn't matter, really. My friend hated school in all ways, except that it gave him the opportunity to play football, so whatever the class was, it was sure to be stressful for him...at least that's how he thought it would be.
However, as the professor/coach brought the first day of class to its conclusion, he asked all the football players to stay after class. I'm sure most of them expected him to give them some sort of speech about "no preferential treatment and they'd better take his class seriously or they'd suffer on the practice field for it" or something of the like. What they got was quite the opposite.
Here's the gist of what he said, "I don't want you guys worrying about this class. I want you thinking about football. Therefore, I'm marking your final grade right now. All of you will receive an A for this class, no matter how you actually perform. I don't want to see you in class; get your sleep. Simply show up on test days--I'll let you know at practice when they are scheduled. Come in for the test, sit down, and write something in every blank. It doesn't matter what you write, just don't be the first to finish so no one gets suspicious."
My friend normally hated taking tests, but this was a new world! He showed up every test day with complete freedom and confidence! He had never experienced this kind of feeling before in an academic situation! On test days, he had always been worried, stressed, frustrated, or even depressed, but not any more! He knew he would be successful, so he felt no pressure at all.
As unethical as it was, that teacher's system for his players is a pretty good illustration of what Jesus did for us, with one drastic exception: Jesus didn't cheat for us. What Jesus did was even better. He took all our tests for us and gave us His grades!
You see, the commands of the Old Testament are like a school curriculum for us, but we don't actually have to pass. This is a curriculum meant to show us that we could never pass on our own and therefore need help, big time.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, [2] because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. [3] For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, [4] in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4.
Since we get our life from God's Spirit in us, and not from our old sinful nature, we exist as those who have met every requirement of God perfectly. Why? Because Jesus passed the test for us--with flying colors I might add. He never sinned. He made an A+, a perfect score. Then, in the wake of total success, He allowed Himself to receive the punishment for all the failures of mankind.
That's what it means to be a sin offering, and that's how we got His grade instead of ours. He exchanged our dead, sinful spirits for His living, perfect one. He gave us His life in exchange for death, and therefore all His success in exchange for our failures.
You see, like that coach/professor, God doesn't want you worrying about being good enough. He wants you keeping your head in the game. There's a lot for us to do here on earth. He doesn't want us wasting our time with religion, so He took it out of the way. He has taken all the pressure off.
Therefore, we can walk into every test of life with total confidence, knowing that God always sees us as A+ students, always celebrates our success even when we fail, because He judges us by Jesus' performance, not our own.
(By the way, if that makes you want to go live a sinful life because you know God won't judge you, there's a good chance none of this applies to you...you need to become an actual believer in Jesus.)
For those of you, however, who sincerely long to please God in all you do, this should be the best news you have ever heard. Psalm 119:32 says it this way: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free!" When we truly understand the grace and goodness of God and His complete and utterly free gift of complete and utterly irrevocable righteousness in Jesus, we are free to live like the A+ students we most deeply desire to be.
Here is your grade card for life and godliness and Christianity and righteousness and holiness: Jesus took the tests and gave you His grade.
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