Thur 7.4 – A level playing field

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.10-16; Romans 9.24-26,30; I Corinthians 12.13; Gal 3.28

What is a social class? Political power? Celebrity influence? I could keep going, but the point is that no matter who the HUMAN is, they have no power over other human beings unless those other human beings allow them to have that power. A person in a celebrity because a bunch of other people said they are and are interested in their lives. A person has political power because the people choose him, or because the yield to his tyranny. A person has social status because of our embedded biases and other’s deciding to follow their example.

Very simply, the only One who can command power and authority is a way that demands us obey is the Lord God. All humans beings are sinful according to Romans 3.23! Let’s take a second to examine the thought of this verse:

“ALL” – how many people is that…exactly.

“have sinned” – what is sin? It is our failure to live perfectly according to God’s will for us. And according to scripture, we’ve all stumbled head-over-heels on this one.

“come short” – no matter how close we were, we are short. If you and I run and jump off a cliff in northern California and try to make it to Asia, we will both FALL SHORT of that goal. You may jump further than I, but neither of us has come near to Asia.

“glory of God” – you see that glory is the standard we cannot meet! No mere mortal will come to the standard of God’s holy, righteous, beautiful glory! Some may get a little further here and there, but nobody is even in sight of the goal!

HOWEVER, in you (the believer) is that NEW MAN! That NEW MAN is our way of being conformed back into the image of GOD that was lost when Adam sinned. That same spiritual part of us is where we are going to find the means to live up to God’s will. While nobody is perfect, and we all make mistakes, when we stand before God, all are equal!

When they stand before God there is no difference between the rich man, Lazarus, Peter, Paul, you or me! There is an old saying, “the ground is level at the foot of the cross” and I would have to simply say AMEN to that! Maybe you feel like a social reject, an outcast, unloved and unwanted? That is not so with our God. All can come, and all must come the same way. There is no favoritism with God (I Pet 1.17)

May you find your purpose, meaning, acceptance, righteousness, and life in Him today! Amen.

Mon 6.1 - undressing

Today’s Readings: Colossians 3.7-9; Ephesians 4.17-32

Yesterday was a huge day of the year for Christians. It is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord from the dead! What a great time we had in our gatherings yesterday. I believe many people were able to clearly hear a presentation of the Gospel and respond and THAT is bringing great GLORY to our RESURRECTED Lord.

In Sunday school we talked about how fitting it is this study in Colossians to fall during Easter. As we have been talking about MORTIFYING OUR FLESH, we were able to see how CHRIST LITERALLY MORTIFIED HIS FLESH on the cross. By looking at His example of dying, we are able to more fully understand Paul’s words in I Cor 15.31 where he says “I die daily.”

Now, as Sunday has come and gone and we have all been reminded of the GLORIOUS TRUTH of the RESURRECTION of Christ…and we have seen from last weeks devotions how He left us the example for MORTIFYING… let me draw your attention to another verse from our passage today…look back at Colossians 3.1, remind yourself of what this verse teaches is true about the believer, where there ARE currently wit Christ. The verse says we are RISEN WITH HIM. Risen where? When? How? The answer to all of those questions is in what we have just celebrated. We are risen to HEAVENLY places WITH Him, right now as we speak. So, now that we have that nailed down, the whole next progression of Colossians is to develop what should be different about our lives because of that truth.

We have talked about the things we spend our lives chasing after (seeking).We have talked about the things we spend our lives loving, and having a passion for (setting our affection).

We have talked about the need to kill the members (bodies) that we have on this earth to keep from seeking the things of this earth (mortify).

Today, let’s remind ourselves that if we are truly born again…truly risen…truly a child of God, there are things that should be different! We talked about the illustration yesterday in Sunday School about a McDonald’s employee coming to work dressed as a Chick-fil-a employee…how crazy would that be? You would probably lose your job pretty quickly. However, while we would all agree that showing up for work dressed like one of their greatest competitors would be a huge slap in the face to your company…so is living life as a Christian but being DRESSED in a lifestyle that is according to the OLD MAN who was crucified with Christ that the NEW MAN may live with Him…now…in heaven…resurrected.

Paul says we used to LIVE IN OUR MEMBERS ON THIS EARTH (Colossians 3.7) and when we did, we obeyed them, we were slaved to them…but now that we have that SAME POWER that raised Christ from the dead, RAISING US to be with Him, we also have the SAME POWER to mortify, or kill those, members(bodies) on the earth! As we move into this next thought from Colossians, we see God say to PUT OFF the things of those members. In Colossians 3.8-9 he gives a whole list of things that CHARACTERIZED those members we used to live according to. Look at those things…those are the kinds of things that come when we completely yield to the MEMBERS on the earth – those are some of the THIGNS OF EARTH we no longer live unto.Once that body is MORTIFIED, it is just dead weight. It’s like a huge, heavy, winter coat in the middle of the summer. It’s just hot, heavy, stinky, and limits how freely you can move around. So, why let it remain over you…just PUT IT OFF! That’s what Paul’s saying…once it’s dead, it’s just dead weight, so put it off (UNDRESS FROM THE FLESHY NATURE YOU USED TO LIVE UNTO) and now, live unto God!

1.3 - How can anyone be PERFECT?

Today’s Readings: Colossians 1, Ephesians 4

Last night at the Fridge, we talked about God’s desire for the life of His children from the middle of Colossians 1. One of the things He desires for us, is that we “walk worthy of the Lord…strengthened with all might…meet to be partakers of the inheritance.” Among other things He outlines, even just these seem to be a pretty high standard don’t they???

If you will remember, we also mentioned that the book of Ephesians was a sort of “twin” to the book of Colossians. Check out how God describes the goal of the believer in Jesus Christ in Ephesians 4. After giving a list of spiritual gifts, he says those gifts are given so that “…we all com in the UNITY of the FAITH, and of the KNOWLEDGE of the Son of God, unto a PERFECT man, unto the MEASURE of the STATURE of the FULLNESS of Christ.”  Wow! God actually expects me to be living up to the standard of CHRIST!??! He really expects me to be PERFECT??!!?? How can that be? (I even have to ask myself - ‘Are you sure God means that for ME, because I know ME and I do not think I can pull that one off.)

Now, I know that seems to be a unrealistic goal. But why would God set a goal in front of us and then command us to meet that goal if it was impossible? He wouldn’t, would He!?

Well, the answer to the question is, “NO!” However, we must remember what we talked about last night. The strength that we have to reach that MEASURE, STATURE, FULLNESS and PERFECTION of Christ is none other than CHRIST HIMSELF living inside of us! We have something no other generation of God followers has had, the LIVING GOD doing His LIVING IN AND THROUGH US! Check out what God says in Colossians 1.27-29. It would be easy for anyone to look at these verses and think that it was too tall an order to be filled in our modern world, to think that there is no HOPE. Yet, it was almost like God anticipated that we would think that, so He concluded the chapter with these words… saying that there is a MYSTERY that allows all of this to happen, something that generations past didn’t fully understand. This is mystery is given to us of God which is CHRIST IN us, the HOPE of GLORY. There is no hope to measure up if we are relying only on ourselves. But, when we rely on the Christ IN us, I think HE can live up to HIS OWN STANDARD, don’t you? The last verse even says that it is God “which worketh in me mightily” to accomplish His own purpose for me. Wow!

How can anyone be Perfect??? The only way - to be in the PERFECT ONE (Jesus Christ) and for the PERFECT ONE to be in ME.