The preaching of the cross is the proclamation that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19). Now He has given us the ministry of sharing this wonderful message of reconciliation. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen to the person who believes. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it. Faith is the work of the Spirit awakening us to the reality of what Christ has accomplished so that the objective reality of His finished work becomes our subjective experience. We don’t cause Him to do something for us by our faith. He has already done all that can be done at the cross. Faith is the recognition of that reality.
Jesus has lovingly drawn us back into the divine circle of Agape love that has always existed among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To know and believe that is to live out of the original plan for which we were created. It is to live from the Tree of Life.
To live otherwise is to live from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and to be doomed to a lifestyle governed by the tyranny of judgmentalism in which every thought, word and deed must withstand the scrutiny of a moralism that Adam was told to avoid at all costs. We have been delivered from the death sentence of moral living and have been set free for miraculous living.
Our lives are nothing less than an expression of our Triune God, pouring out His love through us like the water shooting out of a fire hydrant. His goal is to soak everybody with the awareness of His Agape and He intends to do that through you, His favorite instrument to use for such a task.
Thanks Steve
ReplyDeleteThis is the “Good News” of the included reconciliation of all humanity in Christ Jesus by the Father. This is what everyone needs to hear as the Holy Spirit convinces us of this reality.
Think about it! Loving your neighbor as a new creation in Jesus, is much easier knowing that this also happened to your neighbor! They are included in Jesus in His gracious love, not absent. How about God! Knowing that He chose to believe in humanity and complete all things in His Son before there was even humanity. It shows that redemption is part of creation! What about freedom? Knowing that participation in His relationship does not depend upon our works, rather a trust to believe by the faith already in us. jg
Hi Steve
ReplyDeleteFound this quote after I posted my comment. jg
“The doctrine of the double outcome of judgment is a relatively modern doctrine...it fits the modern age in which human beings believe that they are the measure of all things, and that therefore everything depends upon their decision...if salvation and damnation were the results of human faith or unfaith, God would be dispensable...human beings would be their own god. Jurgen Moltmann”
A great word... I love this thing called Grace...
ReplyDeleteI love that He has freed me to live not in a religious requirement but a relationship of Christ interwoven into me....
Life just doesn't get any better than that!
Believing the Message of the Gospel we can honor God by loving in actions and truth and not just words. This is the faith through love of Galations 5 expresed in I John. Grace goes beyond creeds and formulas and theories to the marrow of who we are. We don't learn about Christ but because we're in Christ we have the Essence of our faith, and the hope of glory, the Indwelling Savior! Thousands better is "in Christ" than to know about Him!
ReplyDelete