Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that
which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen.[1]
Yesterday my focus was on the glorious blessing of God’s
grace that HE is the one who is working to equip us, and that this working is
not some mediocre expression of reluctance, but to the measure of what is
pleasing in his sight (it should be a huge relief to us that God does what is
pleasing in his sight instead of what our sarks think is pleasing in our
sight).
Today the focus turned to God’s credentials that certify
that the things he is presently doing, and that he has promised to do
throughout the remaining course of time, and the grand conclusion of his work
in our new eternal home, are not only assured by the fact that he has already
fulfilled a host of promises to prove his faithfulness, but that the
fulfillment of these promises has given us this new covenant in Jesus’ blood,
with Jesus himself as the guarantor of this new covenant, securing our eternal
life both now and forevermore.
Let us look at the things God shows us about himself, and
about us who know him as Father, so we can build each other up in our most holy
faith.
God’s Credentials
the God of peace
POINT: By very nature God is the God of peace, so his
ability to bring his beloved children to have peace with him is settled. Not
even the prince of darkness can keep him from saving and keeping all he has
chosen for his eternal inheritance.
who brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus
POINT: Because sin has ruined our peace with God, securing
the necessity of divine wrath against our sin, and the penalty of death both
separating us from God forever, and securing our eternal condemnation, God
created a covenant in which the death of his Son would give us peace, and his
resurrection from the dead would give us the eternal mediator, the eternal
guarantor of this new covenant.
the great shepherd of the sheep
POINT: Through the law, God showed us how the sheep could
never have peace with him if the covenant required something from them to
guarantee their standing with him. In the new covenant, everything is secured
by Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, who not only laid down his life for
the saving of his sheep, but is alive to shepherd his sheep in all the
blessings of the new covenant.
by the blood of the eternal
covenant
POINT: The fact that the eternal covenant is in Jesus’ blood
makes certain our eternal salvation, for Jesus’ death has secured this covenant
without any need for good works on our side. All that God has intended to do in
his beloved children will be done on the merits of Jesus’ person and work, and
the eternal nature of the covenant, completely finished in the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ, assures our hearts today that all the remaining aspects of the
covenant will be accomplished because “it
is finished”.
God’s Continuing Work
equip you with everything good
that you may do his will,
POINT: It is of great encouragement to us who are the
children of God that God is the one who equips us. This is especially
significant for me after focusing last Sunday’s message on how the leaders are
to equip the saints for the works of ministry.[2] I
have often bemoaned that there has been such a famine of anyone wanting to
equip me for ministry, and God’s answer to me is that he will equip me, and he
will equip us. This means that all the equipping I need for my ministry as a
leader will come from him whether he ever chooses to do that through other
members of the body of Christ or not (he has done this through men from a distance,
but not through men in person). This also means that my own weaknesses and
failures will not keep him from equipping his church for everything good for
doing his will since, even in my involvement in people’s lives, it is still him
equipping us for his will and his work.
working in us that which is
pleasing in his sight,
POINT: It is God’s work to equip us by an ongoing
relationship of working things into our lives, things that are pleasing to him.
Not only should it be a huge relief to us that his standard of working in us is
his own good pleasure, but it should be a huge encouragement that he is
constantly working these things into our lives. The fact that he will bring his
work to completion at the day of Christ assures us all the more that the end
result of his work will be a people who are fully restored to the image and
likeness of his Son, able to enjoy what is pleasing in his sight. It is
actually overwhelming to think of what it will be like to stand in the divine
presence and see our Father looking at us with PLEASURE in us, as was shared
earlier this week, exulting over us with loud singing!
through Jesus Christ
POINT: Not only has God secured the eternal covenant through
Jesus Christ, but what he continues to do in us to equip us, working into us
that which is pleasing in his sight, is through personal relationship with his
Son. This is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so essential, because it is
in this fellowship with Jesus by his Spirit that God works everything into our
lives. Even his constant confronting of our sarkiness is what he is doing
through Jesus Christ to lead us into the joy of living out of our new hearts,
in fellowship with his Spirit, in the righteousness, peace, and joy, of the
kingdom of heaven.
Joining God’s Continuing Work
Now may…
POINT: Since the human writer of this letter, carried along
by the Holy Spirit, expresses the desire of his own heart in this grand
crescendo of revelation, we know that this ought to be the longing and prayer
of our own hearts. We join God in his work by desiring and praying for this
very same thing, not as though everything begins with us and God will do
nothing unless we pray, but that prayer is one of the means by which we join
God in what he is doing. He brings us alongside him in his work by working in
us both to will and to do what is pleasing in his sight, and so this involves
graciously tuning our desires to him until we find ourselves asking for the
very things we read and hear in his words.
by the blood of the eternal
covenant
POINT: Since the eternal covenant in Jesus’ blood is the
only means by which sinners can come to God, we respond to the provision of
this new covenant by coming to God with hearts full of faith in what God has
done, what he is doing, and what he will do to complete the promises of this
covenant. We join God’s work in this covenant through the repentance and faith
that marks our experience of resurrection in Jesus Christ, and then by living
as children of the kingdom of God, standing in the grace of God that has saved
us, and growing up in the life of faith that is the only way of relating to God
in covenant relationship.
equip you with everything good
that you may do his will
POINT: if God is doing the equipping, we must join his
workout program; and, if he chooses to equip and help others through us, we
must see our work as resting on his work in and through us, never what we do
independent of him in our own strength. We join him in our own equipping by
submitting to whatever he is doing to train us every day (Beatitudinal as that
may be), and we join him in equipping the church by fully engaging with him in
our ministry to others to build them up in Christ and possibly equip them for
their ministry in building up the body of Christ.
working in us that which is
pleasing in his sight
POINT: Since God is working in us to will and to work for
his good pleasure, we join his work by working out our own salvation with fear
and trembling. [3] This is not only about the past work of
Christ completed on the cross, but also the continuing work of God that, “beholding the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”[4]
Since God is working on us by degrees, we seek to join him in his work with
full and joyful submission to his will.
© 2017 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.)
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