Saturday, April 12,
2014, 8:49 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “I Sing of His Mercy.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read 1 Corinthians 1 (NIV).
Enriched in Every Way
…I
always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For
in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with
all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord
Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you
will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has
called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the beginning of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the
Corinthian church – “to those sanctified” (purified) “in Christ Jesus and
called to be his holy people.”
Paul thanked God for the Corinthian believers because of
God’s grace given to them in Christ Jesus. God’s grace was manifest in this
way: Jesus Christ, God the Son, died on a cross for our sins so that we might
be forgiven and cleansed of sin, and set free from slavery to and the ultimate
penalty of sin – eternal damnation. He died, as well, so that we might have
eternal life with God in glory. He also died so that we would no longer live
for ourselves but for him who died for us (See 2 Co. 5:15). In fact, his grace
given to us teaches us to say “No!” to “ungodliness and worldly passions, and
to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” while we
wait for Christ’s return (See Tit. 2:11-14). When we come to faith in Christ,
by his grace, we die with Christ to our old lives of sin (See Ro. 6), and we are
transformed away from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so
that we might receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being
sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (See Ac. 26:16-18; cf. Eph. 4:17-24).
God’s grace to us not only saves us from our sins and gives
us eternal life with him, but because of God’s grace to us, his Spirit has been
placed within all believers in Christ Jesus, so that in and by his power,
wisdom and strength within us we CAN say “NO!” to worldly passions and desires,
and so we can live for him. Thus our lives have been enriched with all the
spiritual gifts, blessings and provisions God has for us and that we need in
order for us to live for him, to minister his grace in its various forms within
the body of Christ - of which we are members - and so we can be his witnesses
and lights for the gospel of salvation to a lost world. It is the Spirit within
us who leads, counsels, guides, directs, corrects, equips, admonishes,
strengthens, empowers, and teaches us each day. He is also the one who keeps us
firm in our faith to the end, i.e. we cannot serve and live for God in our own
power and strength, but only in the power and strength of his Spirit within us.
Perfectly United
I
appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought...
Coming to faith in Jesus Christ obviously does not mean we
suddenly reach a level of absolute perfection. We still live in flesh bodies.
Although we have died with Christ to sin, and we have been regenerated and
transformed by the Spirit of God, and our sins are no longer charged against
us, but Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account, this does not mean
we become sinless. Otherwise we would not need these epistles to instruct us.
The plan is for us to no longer sin, yet the writers of the
New Testament acknowledged that it is possible and probable that we might still
sin on occasion, yet Christ is our advocate with the Father when we do sin. We
can go boldly to the throne of grace (of God) to help us in our time of need.
God is faithful. He will see us through each and every situation in our lives.
He has already provided the way out from underneath the weight of temptation so
that we can stand up under it. He has freed us from the control of sin, and he
will continue to give us all we need each day to not give in to temptation to
sin. We just have to appropriate to our daily lives what he has already done
for us in conquering sin in sinful man. The NT writers also taught that,
because we died to sin, we should live in it no longer.
As humans, even as Christians, there must still be something
inside us which pulls us towards being followers of humankind, because
scripture speaks much to this issue. Humans must tend to idolize other humans
and have a tendency to follow them, and so this is something we must guard
against. There are many popular preachers and teachers in our world today who
have large followings. Some of them or many of them are not teaching the true
gospel of salvation but are saying what people’s itching ears want to hear,
which is probably why they have such large followings. We need to make sure we
are following Christ and his word and not humans. We are all different people,
uniquely designed by God, so we are not going to all think exactly the same way
on all things, but we should not let our differences over disputable matters
divide us, and we should agree together on the essentials. We are united in
Christ Jesus because of God’s grace, and through faith in Christ, so let us not
let ourselves or other humans and/or their humanistic teachings divide us.
Message of the Cross
For
the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God…
The message of the cross is not only Christ crucified for
our sins, and thus he put to death our sins, but it is also us individually
accepting God’s invitation to his salvation, thus we are crucified with Christ,
dead to sin, but alive to God, no longer enslaved by sin but free to walk in
Christ’s righteousness and holiness in the working, power and strength of his
Spirit within us. This is foolishness to those who are perishing, because they
want to hold on to their own lives and be the ones calling the shots, living to
do what pleases them, making their own decisions, etc. It seems foolish to
them, not only that God would come to earth, take on human flesh and die for
us, but that any reasonable and rational human being would submit and surrender
to the cross of Christ, willingly allowing the Spirit of God to turn them away
from living for sin and self to living for Christ and his righteousness. So,
they may ridicule, mock and even misjudge us, because they don’t understand why
anyone would willingly give up ownership of his or her own life in order to
serve and live for God.
Because of Him
It
is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom
from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it
is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
There is nothing within us which deserves or which is
capable of earning our own salvation. God did not choose us because of our
greatness or our goodness. He died for us while we were yet sinners. He chose
us when we were weak, unworthy, and miserable sinners to receive his free gift
of salvation. Only because of him and through him can we be saved and have
eternal life with God. Thus, we cannot boast in our own human efforts, but only
in the Lord Jesus and what he has done for us in saving us from our sins and
giving us new lives.
I Sing of His Mercy
/ An Original Work
Based off Psalm 32 /
April 10, 2014
Blessed are those
whose sins are forgiven
By the blood of Jesus
Christ.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does
Not count against
them; freedom found.
When, in silence, I
did not confess
My sin to You; had no
strength.
Then I owned up to my
sin and
You forgave and
cleansed me within.
Therefore let the
godly pray to You;
Draw near to You;
grace they’ll find.
They will not be
o’ertaken by afflictions,
But in Christ peace
abounds.
Lord, You are my
hiding place.
I find my refuge in
You secure.
You protect me from
all evil.
You give songs of
vict’ry in You.
Lord, You teach me to
walk in Your ways;
Counsel me in love, I
know.
Help me to not be
stubborn and
Unwilling to follow in
Your truth.
Thank You for Your
love and mercy.
I put my trust in You
always.
I rejoice in my Lord
and
I sing of Him
throughout all my days.
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