“And we know that the Son of God has come and given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
We have been considering what it really means to be in Christ Jesus … but not just to be in Jesus “positionally,” rather, created in Jesus. There is a huge difference between being symbolically in Jesus and to have actually been created spiritually in Jesus. This is the specific difference our Greek word makes in these few verses we have suggested for memory into our own hearts and souls.
Our pulpits and teachers take great effort to explain we are positionally in Christ. It is an effort to explain why we still have this “old nature.” If we were actually in Christ, literally, then, they reason, we would not have this old nature of sin. How could the Holy Son of God be alive in us when we live in these bodies of sin?
(Smile) I hope you GraceNoters are smiling with me! The truth is, we are in Him and He is in us ... not in our fleshly body! There is a heavenly difference!
We are in Christ Jesus our Lord and no longer slaves to sin. He is not in our fleshly body, rather, we have been created into a new Spiritual Person with a new identity having been taken out of this satanic kingdom of darkness and staked down into Christ Jesus’ Kingdom of light and righteousness.
This is why we declare our three points of fundamental assertion to our own selves:
1. Know our own self in Christ Jesus, who we really are!
2. Accept what the scripture says about being in Christ.
3. Be who we already are in Christ Jesus, who each of us are intended to be by our Creator God, be who we each are called to be!
Confusion arises trying to interpret experience into compliance with what we think the Bible is saying. We have to know and accept what scripture actually does say, in its total context; It is God’s truth which we must accept by faith, rather than twisting into it something making sense to our experience or comfort. The fact is, we are equipped with Jesus’ resurrection power to change our experience rather than accept it. More often than not, our “want to” may need a serious adjustment! The world says, accept yourself as you are! The Bible says, accept Jesus and be who you are intended to be!
Pray with me to hear with our spiritual ears and see God’s Spiritual truth so that we become more vulnerable to Him, accepting the holiness of God’s own righteousness in both our soul and body.
This is fundamental; it is a reason for putting heavy emphasis on being created new in Christ Jesus so that we understand who we really are in Christ Jesus. It is very important we have in our soul’s memory a Word from scripture asserting this reality. By putting the sword of the Spirit into His indwelling hands, we make our selves vulnerable to His Truth in the context of our experience. This is not only fundamental, it is vital!
We bring this up here because we want to “Consider Jesus.” Here is what we read in Hebrews:
“Wherefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.”
Jesus is God’s Apostle sent to us with the good news, not only of our born again salvation, but LIFE in His name. It is not just about the death of Jesus paving the way for our salvation, it includes the resurrection of Jesus that conquers death and provides Life in us, in His name!
Our above Hebrews scripture instructs us that God sent Jesus to us, as God’s Apostle, to deal with these very issues including our life in the flesh. This is what an Apostle does! He is sent forth by God with the message of truth so that we can be correctly instructed in Spiritual Life. When we are created new in Jesus Christ, it is a new Spiritual creation. We become a new Spiritual person who now has to become familiar with what it means to live life Spiritually rather than a physical and temporal life in the flesh.
Isn’t this amazing! God sends Jesus into our humanity to instruct us in a “heavenly calling” and then, Jesus takes our humanity into Himself back to heaven becoming our intercessor, our High Priest, intercessing on our behalf. Jesus is now in heaven representing us in heaven. How is this for a truly honest representative government and we vote by accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord. But it is much more than government, it is family. We are birthed with the seed of God being partakers of His nature.
No wonder we are called children; we are the Spiritual children of God. He was born into our humanity and then we, if we so choose, are born into His Spiritual Person, Identity and Kingdom. Spiritual regeneration takes place in us when we are born from above by God Himself. No wonder we are called “holy!” We are joined into a Spiritual relationship with God Himself.
But it is not just that we are called into His holiness; Jesus is in His humanity, at the right hand of the Father pleading our interests so that we might bring into subjection our fleshly jar container in which we dwell. It is about learning the nature of truth and righteousness within the context of God’s own holiness. Our new creation in Jesus equips us with Jesus’ own resurrection power so that we can put to death the flesh with it deceptive influences.
Putting this into practice is our holy privilege. This is our training, our calling, our sanctification. The Son of God has come into our humanity giving each one of us a particular understanding about His heavenly calling. Our time in flesh is a blessed opportunity to experience God and grow in His grace.
Each of us is a living stone in the house of God! We are His subcontractors building His house. We are living stones building our own house to be joined into His abiding place by His living Holy Spirit. He is building us in Him so that we can actually be whom God intends, children who glorify Jesus and the Father in the Holy Spirit.
We are given capacity by grace to become whom we are called to be! We are created in Jesus so that His Spirit will dwell in us for this purpose. When we see Him, face to face, we will be faithful stewards of His grace or we will be ashamed at His coming!
Christmas time is upon us. As we move into December, let’s Consider Jesus! Consider who He is, the Life giver! What He has done, eradiated the power and effects of sin! Let us consider what He is doing, interceding for His sheep, protecting and making us compete in Him! As Apostle, He speaks to us from God! As Priest, He speaks from us to God!
Consider Jesus!