Sunday Report
It has been over a year since we breached Jesus’ words in Mark 9:49. This mystery of Godliness reveals within us the continuing purging of our sinful clay bodies with God’s righteous decree that “everyone will be salted with fire.” This is our Lord’s way of taking us deeper and deeper into His grace and agape love! We are justified by faith and disciplined by His grace because, for one thing, we are being prepared for an eternal weight of glory!!!
It’s been 50 plus years since we had a US military “draft.” In those days a “boot camp” was more common to everyday language. It was the first 16 weeks of military duty where a young male learned to be a soldier within the compulsory two-year stint. We had to learn discipline, obedience, wearing a uniform and a backpack! Our identity as a soldier required a new kind of mom called a Sargent!
The agape love of Christ pervades the entire scripture both Old Testament and New. “The love of Christ” is indispensable not only to divine doctrine and our faith, not only to Romans 8, but to us personally. We are in Christ Jesus; He is our very essence; we are rooted in Jesus’ love. The grace of the Holy Spirit is even now equipping us in His agape love, so that, we may glorify the Father through His Son Jesus.
Paul completed his Romans doctrinal statement on justification by faith with verse 30! He lays out how we have obtained access into God’s grace, in which we now stand, by faith, with admittance into His very own glory. We are to consider ourselves dead to sin, alive in Jesus Himself, because sin has no more dominion over us. We are in the Spirit and not in the flesh because Christ Jesus, in fact, dwells in us. He predestined us; He called us; He justified us; He glorified us!
Each time we sit down to consider Romans 8 we are whisked into God’s agape love. The Holy Spirit is revealing God’s own challenge for our Faith to flourish in Him.
The Holy Spirit carries us into the core, where we sense the pith of our Father God reaching down into our created dust to share Himself through the image of His resurrected Son, Jesus … into us! Forming together, both flesh and blood, into which He has beathed, not just life, but His own Life a second time; it is His glory exciting our palate. Taste and see!
We have slowed down our walk through this section of scripture. Many things disclosed in scripture are not obvious on a first read. Our Holy Spirit ministers and reveals mysteries into our heart when we are disposed to agape love Him and seek His heart.
A case in point is verse 28 which is also tied to the beginning of verse 29 with “For those whom he foreknew.” Obviously, those whom He foreknew are related to the “all things” that work together for good for these are the very ones he foreknew; they are included in God’s own purpose and is part of the “mystery” of His will.
The Arizona sky this evening was heavily dotted with light clouds reflecting a western sunset of colors, mostly orange. It is one of the things Arizona provides in addition to a summer heat! It was a glorious sight, reminding one that God’s plan and purpose is current and in effect; He is in charge; you and I are His sons and daughters! This is exactly what our scripture is telling us; His purpose is established; it is in effect and on schedule! We are “the firstborn of many brothers” and our sunset is a reminder!
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for saints according to the will of God.
For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed into us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed into us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth even to now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
We have an eternal location and position in God’s family because we are Spiritually re-born into God’s Kingdom. Even though being small children in God’s Kingdom, as we saw in our last GraceNotes, we are to grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus Himself through the guidance of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. We are a container where the Holy Spirit of God is dwelling. We are to be holy because He is holy!
As we move into this section, we must connect with what proceeds because “For” establishes this connection “for” us. We are dealing with the change in our identity from fleshly mortality into Spiritual eternality of our righteous life in Jesus, who loved me and “gave himself for me.” Since we have been “born-again,” we now are in the Spirit, sons of God with an intimate relationship with our Abba! Father! Amen?
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! The Son of God, Jesus Christ, came into our created flesh so that we could enter into God’s Spiritual kingdom of righteousness and truth. We were created with bones and flesh and re-born In Christ Jesus, so that, we might live in His eternal life, in the eternal kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit and Jesus ... glorifying Him while still in our flesh!
How amazing is this! This scripture is totally different than what we might think we would read in God’s Word! And it does mean exactly what it says!
The fact is, we are not in the flesh! A believer has the literal Spirit of Jesus living within his own person and is no longer ruled by a fallen human nature! We have been made alive by the living presence of our resurrected Jesus and released from the power of flesh. We are no longer in the flesh, but rather, we are in Christ Jesus. Paul continues to repeat this message because it is so crucial to our Spiritual understanding and because our human experience contradicts God’s declared truth. We are redeemed; we are God’s purchased possession!
Romans 8 is a hallmark section of scripture. It has been described as the most brilliant facet on the redemption diamond. Martin Luther is said to have read this chapter everyday for the last year of his life.
But as a stand-alone spiritual statement, Romans 8 does stand on what is previously written in earlier chapters. After all, it does begin with a “Therefore” and we must then have to understand what the “therefore” is there for!
This past January we breached Jesus’ words in Mark 9 that “everyone will be salted with fire.” This mystery of Godliness reveals within us the continuing purging of our sinful clay bodies with God’s righteous decree; we are justified by faith and disciplined by His grace; this is our Lord’s way of directing us deeper into His agape love and grace!
Have you sat in front of a fireplace drinking in the wonder of dancing flames? Have you noticed the gradient colors of orange and white throbbing to be unleashed? How they send emissary sparks into new places while consuming twigs and logs! Fire changes matter from one form into another leaving evidence of what it was and never again will be.
