1 Peter

BodyLife: The Three “L”s. (#3, Light)

Our three “L”s form a nucleus of Spiritual identity.  They speak to the essential Life of Jesus Christ, God’s Love shared in us and the Holy Spirit’s Light to guide our glorification in Jesus producing His fruit. 

In our last discussion of Christ’s Life in us, we described our created center in the knowledge of Jesus, receiving supernatural resources to grow God’s grace. Love, Life and Light are all part of our singular wholeness in Christ but each contributes qualitatively to our culture of Jesus’ grace in us. We want to now turn to  “Light” and see how God illumines our  natural soul and uses His word of truth.

FAITH, Growing in it!

Faith is one of the most pivotal elements in the life of God’s people since it determines destiny and qualitative growth in our created existence of grace.  We are  Drilling Down  faith.

When I was a boy, we drove our 1935 two-tone grey Plymouth through a redwood tree. They had a one way road through one of these behemoths in northern California. A few redwoods are still alive today “who” were just beginning life when Jesus was born. It is hard to imagine how massive these ancients become.  I wonder how large we can grow our faith?

Faith, What is It?

Faith is one of the most pivotal elements in the life of God’s people since it determines  the destiny of our created existence AND our qualitative growth in grace.  We are  drilling down  faith.

January Grace Notes  listed 12 commonly known faith verses. One of many omitted is the following:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”  -Romans 1:16-17, (See also Habakkuk 2:4, Hebrews 10:38, Galatians 3:11).

GRASPING LOVE BY FAITH: In Christ Jesus

Our faith is based upon our knowledge of the person of Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him as a person.  A regenerated believer, one who has been born again, knows what it means to have new life. It is easy to identify by our experience of faith when Jesus Christ came into our life. But this new birth is an embryo of life in Christ. It begins a gestation period introducing us into grace accessible by faith.  Being born again is receiving Jesus factually! We literally receive the resurrected life of the person, Jesus Christ.  How is this possible?  … Love!  What has love to do with it? ☺

In human terms it is ridiculously absurd. This reality contradicts natural laws and our sense of what is possible. The colossal nature of what God has done is a measurement of how gargantuan our God of love is!  The regenerate person has within “self” a witness and testimony of the saving power of Jesus Christ as well as God’s immense love which drives grace. Paul says it best in Romans 5, it is so “much more!”

In Christ Jesus - Dec 7

Our life in Christ operates in two scriptural modes. One is grace, the other is faith. Grace is God’s love to us and faith is our response. It is God’s power making them effective. 

We launched our In Christ discussion from a verse platform written by Paul to the saints in Corinth,1Corinthians 1:30:

And because of him (God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption,

We observed these “carnal Christians” are in Christ Jesus. This relationship in Christ Jesus brings a wisdom defined as righteousness, sanctification and redemption.  We identified these “wisdoms” being associated with the work of the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus the Son, operating in our life. Spiritual wisdom is God’s grace cultivated by our faith.  Grace is a spiritual capacity but faith is our soul’s ability to receive and apply it. 

In Christ Jesus - Nov 30

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us the wisdom of God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 
so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”-1Corinthians 1:30-31.

Our life in Christ operates in two scriptural modes. One is grace, the other is faith. Grace is God’s love to us and faith is our response. It is God’s power that makes both effective. 

“But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God (1Corinthians 1:23-24).” 

We have been called by God to be His visible power and wisdom. This is literal context for our verse.  Humbling thought?  Humbling and sobering!

But, it is absolutely true, we are to be visible containers of God’s power and wisdom (2Corinthians 4:11). And what does this power and wisdom wisdom look like? It is righteousness, sanctification and redemption, or to put it another way, it is the resurrected person of Jesus Christ seen in us. It is Jesus Himself, in us, bearing His fruit of righteousness, sanctification and redemption through us, in our life. We need to soak ourselves in this reality!! This is why we added verse 31, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

In Christ Jesus - Nov 9

There are two scriptural modes in which our life in Christ operates. One is grace and the other is faith. Grace is God’s ministry of love to us and faith is our response to his grace. It is God’s power, however, providing context for God’s love through grace and faith. 

We are discussing the amazing gift of righteousness given to every believer in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). This is Paul’s theme in Romans where he proves we are no longer condemned since we have been made righteous, created into a union with God through Jesus His Son. We also became sanctified but sanctification is totally different and separate from being righteousness in Christ. It is important, however, to view righteousness outside the scope of sanctification because it is!

In Christ Jesus - Oct 26

There are two scriptural descriptions for the modes in which our life in Christ operates. One is grace and the other is faith. Grace is God’s ministry of love to us and faith is our response to God’s love. It is God’s power, however, providing context for love-grace and faith. 

Last week we looked at discernment as our response to God’s provision of wisdom. God’s wisdom is contained within His measure of grace. Discernment is a skill set we have responding to God’s grace. In other words, discernment is God’s grace upon grace as we acquire God’s wisdom in faith.

Faith is “willing” our soul into action. Notice, discernment is a skill set we acquire through action we take. “Our powers of discernment have been trained by constant practice” is the way the writer to the Hebrews put it in 5:14. Our “will” is key in responding to God’s grace. Some default to mind’s reason and let “facts” rule our behavior. Others default to feelings or our heart’s desire to prejudice what we do. Our soul follows what we ”will” it to do. Either way, it is our responsibility.

In Christ: The Mystery of Grace

Peter tells us the angels in heaven look at us in wonder because we have a salvation completed in Christ Jesus Himself (1 Peter 1:12).   In fact, as we read the first chapter of 1Peter, we cannot turn away without being awe struck by God’s grace, which we possess in Christ Jesus.  We are the benefactors of God’s love in such an astounding way, a way we actually distort trying shape it and size it into our inadequate capacity to understand.

Understanding the mystery of being in Christ, and becoming an effective minister in our “niche” capacities, is one of our challenges. Paul tells us through his letter to the Ephesians, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16). 

The three New Testament passages used for teaching spiritual gifts for believers are 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4. The first two are more “list” focused and the Ephesians passage, which I prefer, is more “function” focused.

While it is important to express our “niche” capacities in spiritual ministry, our primary focus is to grow up into Christ who is the head of His body.  Maturity in Christ gives us a far better yield of our fruit we bear and enables us to grow in faith.

Milt to Maturity: Spiritual Anatomy - 7

We are remiss exiting this spiritual anatomy discussion without connecting to scriptural teaching about the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). We tend to focus exclusively on being “individual members of it.” 

Jesus Himself makes the point for us in John 17:21,

“That they all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Our connection to the Body of Christ seems secondary because we are insecure about our primary relationship in Christ. Grace is a relationship! The “Body” is interpreted as the church, where we gather to satisfy social needs while becoming spirituality religious. Nurturing a relationship with a living Person is not a religion.

Milk to Maturity: Spiritual Anatomy - 6

We are exploring scripture’s framework for our spirituality. Being “in Christ” conveys meaning it sometimes take years to understand.  We acquire spiritual senses not possessed by natural persons when we become  2 Corinthians 5:17 Christians. Seeing ourselves spiritually helps discern natural things of the “flesh” so we can deal with them spiritually.

The scripture speaks not only of spiritual growth in naturally polluted habitats, but also our hope and glory in Him. Hope and glory are often thought of as waiting for us after physical death. While this is true, it isn’t the whole scriptural story. 

Hope and glory are linked like two companions always traveling together. It is like having spokes in a wheel, one is always there with the other.  Spiritually speaking, glory has to exist before hope can exist. Scriptural glory comes out of God’s existence while hope is man’s expectation of God’s glory. Glory is of God while hope speaks of man.

Milk to Maturity: Spiritual Anatomy - 5

We were thinking, maybe, three Spiritual Anatomy pieces and here we are on number five out of six. As we walk this anatomy path together, we seem to find one more door to open before wrapping up.  Last week, we considered the blending of our human contribution into God’s continuing grace within us. We looked at how we use our mind and heart to build our structure so that God can do His organic work within our soul, bringing us to a complete salvation. The power bringing us into salvation is the same mighty power effecting our salvation as we attain an imperishable inheritance through the living and abiding word of God, 1Peter 1:23.

The term salvation is used in scripture within the context of saving our own soul more often than the more familiar usage referring to our reconciliation, regeneration or new birth. Part of this salvation process is self-judgment so that we are able to build a better structure (our soul & body) in which God is dwelling. God is certainly the project manager expressing His wisdom through our sanctified construction.