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Friday, October 23, 2015

The Freedom of Belonging


So, how is God ministering to me in my wretched condition of knowing I am an absolute and utter failure at impressing him, or anyone else?

Thankfully, I am not writing about how I felt when I first got up in the morning. I am writing about how I feel after spending time alone with my heavenly Father, listening to what he has to say to me in his word.

And yes, when we put all our faith in what God speaks through his word (“faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ,”[1] don’t you know), we DO end up feeling completely different from when our sarks (flesh) can only see things based on what we can do in our own strength.

First, I felt a fresh acknowledgement of, “without faith it is impossible to please him.”[2]I recalled Romans 7, with Paul’s description of not being able do the good he wanted, or stop doing the bad he didn’t want to do. In the flesh, we cannot please God. Any questions?

Second, as I started to consider Romans 7, I only got as far as this: “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”[3]

I love the imagery of a believer having already died to the law through our fellowship in salvation. The reason that we have died to the law is “so that you may belong to another.” According to the law, if someone is married, they cannot belong to another person. However, if one person dies, the other is now free to belong to someone else. In a similar way, we are to see our new life in Jesus Christ as a death to the law, and a brand new relationship of belonging.

Third, Paul already set the stage for this change from law-to-life when he wrote, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”[4]

If our baptism was a genuine expression of repentance and faith, we are to see it as a baptism into Jesus’ death, cutting us off from the law. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so all believers have been raise to “newness of life,” and now belong to another, to our God and Father.

Fourth, the felt-need to impress people is associated with law. If not the law of God, then whatever laws are in place to impress. Families have laws regarding what matters, and those who play by the rules best get the best attention. Denominations have their distinctive ways of doing things, and those who most distinctly follow those distinctions are the most impressive.

Except that the whole notion of impressing anyone has no place in the kingdom of heaven. The new way of looking at things is that we “belong to another.” 

For me, this was a deeply comforting expression this morning. God wants me to know that I am fully dead to the law, but in order to bring me to fully experience something most wonderful, that I belong to him. I do not belong to him by any law whatsoever, but by the grace of God working in my life, raising me from the dead, seating me with Christ in the heavenly realm, doing all through faith that is just as much the gift of his grace as salvation itself.

The conclusion of the matter is that God wants me to feel belonging because of what he has done for me, not what I think I need to do for him. My works could never impress him to begin with. Jesus’ death gives me everything I need to be dead to the law, the standard of righteousness that can judge me as a sinner. And, his resurrection gives me everything I need to both belong to God, and to enjoy doing the good works that express that belonging.

No wonder God’s word would declare: 
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.[5]

© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)






[1] Romans 10:17
[2] Hebrews 11:6
[3] Romans 7:4
[4] Romans 6:3-4
[5] II Peter 1:3-4

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