Complete salvation…

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 4:28–5:6)

Paul’s illustration comes from OT history, a story that is current today. The offspring of the slave woman are still persecuting the offspring of Abraham, the man who is called the father of faith. They are not members of the same family as those who have the faith of Abraham.

Faith removes the yoke of “I must do it myself” that carries the load of keeping all the laws in order to be right with God. Jesus Christ removes that yoke and sets me free by doing it for me. Being “in Christ” means this is how God sees me — sinless because I am hidden in His Son by faith because He loves me.

In the NT, many verses speak of what faith working through love looks like, but no one can take credit for that; it is the work of Christ who works in us like a hand in a glove. This is why Paul could say God's strength is perfected in weakness (gloves are useless without the hand) and that he was the chief of sinners, yet his life was one of amazing obedience.

These verses build me up. I know that without Him, I cannot do anything that warrants approval. Obviously not circumcision, but even the love He speaks of and demonstrates is beyond me. Everything I do apart from faith is not only useless, it is also sin. (Romans 14:23) The NT also says:

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (Galatians 3:22)

Yes, I still sin, yet the wonder of faith in Christ, He also promises:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Therefore, God's salvation is utterly amazing and total. He takes care of every possible issue or argument that anyone might give or use as an excuse to say NO to the invitation of Jesus Christ to put their faith in Him.

Lord, doubts come. It is easier to walk by sight and give up hope when prayers go unanswered or even are not prayed. We humans want what we want right now. But You love us and take care of us and use even trials to transform our lives that we are more like You. Jesus, You are so easy to love with all my heart! Thank You for such a total salvation!

A Simple Salvation?

 

What if God had decided in Eden to forgive Adam and put him back into the garden with the same one command and he and Eve just kept breaking it? Or what if God gave His people the Law and never offered any other way to be right with Him? This would mean that to be ‘saved’ all people must totally obey God, and when we didn’t, we had to make all those expensive sacrifices, do those time-consuming purifications, and vow many abstinences. This means  remaining under a yoke we could not bear.

Think about the options. Disobedience could demand “a thousand lambs,” and “rivers of oil” rather than a sincere confession and repentance. Instead, in Christ we are forgiven, cleansed and through faith given a glorious life requiring only that that we believe what He says and live in relationship with Him. 

Faith is about our believing in God's goodness and the reality of His intentions. It is about trusting His Word, relying upon His promises, and gladly receiving and embracing His crucified Son. Faith is also having a sincere respect to all I discover about His will. What can be easier than this? 

Yet even in the days of the apostles, and still to this day, some try to introduce a multitude of legal burdens. Do they envy God's incredible expression of His goodness in the Gospel? Or has He been guilty of treating us too favorably? Faith does not take God for granted or treat this favor lightly; it simply believes what God says.

Even so, faith is not a clear understanding or even a clear knowledge of every revelation. In His kindness, He reveals Himself and only obliges me to believe Him, not fully understand Him.

In the family of God, faith comes in varying degrees, yet it is a simple matter that can happen in the hearts of children, the ignorant, or those older and wiser and well-educated. It is within the ability of all. Not only that, God does not require that we reason Him out, nor that everyone should be a philosopher, a theologian, or an orator, only a believer.  

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3–4)
And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

As someone recently said, “It is so simple. It has all been done for us. All we need to do is believe it.” He is right; this is simple. Why do many not believe it? Perhaps they have never heard it? Or more likely, the statement is for sinners only, and without admitting the need to be forgiven and cleansed, God will not impose or force His great gift of faith on anyone who refuses to believe that they need Him.

PRAY: Jesus, You said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32) Abiding simply means to stay there, not drift off into what You don’t say, or stay stuck with my own ideas of self-importance, and think that I don’t need You. I realize the most common reason that people do not have faith is because they see themselves as ‘good enough’ and their sin is not so bad. An honest look in the mirror and I know that I do need You. Thank You for the gift of the Gospel and for not giving me what I deserve. 

Faith -- for salvation and for all of life

Today's reading is confusing in that it speaks of Christians who live without faith. This needs clarifying. First, no one can be a Christian without faith. However, the NT letter to the church at Galatia describes those who believed in Christ and were saved, then fell into the notion that they had to live their Christian life in their own strength and their own efforts. Faith in Christ includes faith for all of life, but they thought they had to do something to earn God's grace. This letter addressed this concern in several ways. The first calls them to consider where this idea came from and how evil it is:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:6–10)

Next, Galatians presents the true gospel. Salvation is by faith in Christ, never in ourselves or anything we do, no matter what it is, or who it is:

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15–16)

Then these believers who were trying to live by works were plainly told they had been duped into thinking their perfection came by self-effort. How could they think that would work. If self-effort could not get them saved, how could self-effort change their lives?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:1–14)

The reading for today did not distinguish between people trying to perfect their lives by works and people who try to get saved by their works. The former happens to some Christians, but the latter cannot be called "Christian" for they never trusted the Lord for anything. I cannot 'try to act like a Christian' if I am not one. Not only that, once Christ saved me, He keeps me in His care and changes my life. My faith may falter and I might fail to act like what I am, but that cannot change what Christ has already done, nor does it change the reality that I belong to Him.

PRAY: Jesus, my assurance is in You. Always. If I put it in myself, I'm walking in the flesh and forgotten what You have done and are doing for me. You are my Savior; I am not. You are enough.

 

 

Jesus is the Hand in this glove

 

When a person is drafted into military service, they begin that life by being taught how to live it. While some of those principles apply to civilian life, doing them does not make that person a soldier or a marine or whatever part of the military they aspire to become. They must first be enlisted.

This is also true of becoming a Christian. I began that life when God called me to Himself. Then He began to teach me how to live it. Sadly, those principles are often preached to civilians who cannot live like members of God’s family until they are members, because without that calling, they do not have what is needed to be it. All efforts are self-effort and even if those things seem to be the right things, doing them without faith is what the Bible calls sin.

Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

(Jesus said) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4–5)

In this world, a person can enlist in the army when they hear the call to do so. In the spiritual realm, that call is something like “Uncle Sam wants you” only it is Jesus doing the calling. Many Christians attest to hearing Him call and that it comes to them when they were ready to hear it. Some  might say no to the existence of God, or no to the reality of their sinfulness, or no to all sorts of ideas they have about religion and the church, but when Jesus calls, that invitation is irresistible.

I remember one woman who said she heard the gospel at camp when she went there to pick up her sister. She had no intentions of listening never mind responding, but when she heard Jesus, she  tightly grabbed the chair in front of her to keep herself seated. It didn’t work. She went forward, was filled with faith and saved.

This happened also to Saul who became Paul. He was on a road planning to destroy Christians when Jesus called him and transformed his life. From that time on, he became a mighty soldier of God. While not so dramatic, God did the same in my life. He walked into my living room and revealed such powerful truth to me about Himself that saying no was impossible.

My point is that God never asked me to first give up my old life, to be poor in spirit, to deny self, or anything like that. He just gave me faith to believe that Jesus died for my sin, that Jesus is God in human flesh and wanted me in His kingdom. I knew this was true. The training to live for Him came after that and because He had come to live in me, I had the ability and the desire to do His will.

PRAY: Jesus, You know that we who sin cannot save ourselves nor can we do any of the things You require unless we have You in our lives. Any self-effort is just that — self-effort, and because it is, we “go our own way” instead of the way that You clearly say is the only way: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) and Paul affirms it: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9) I cannot claim any part of becoming Your child as something I did. You are the Savior and You did it all and are still doing all as You enable me to live as Your soldier and Your child.

Everyone lives according to what they believe!

Thoroughly believing in something changes my behavior. If I believe my house is on fire, I will stop what I am doing and run outside. If I believe the grapes in the market are ripe and sweet, I will part with my money and buy them. If I believe my child’s life is in danger, I will protect him. If I believe that Jesus died for my sin, I will stop feeling guilty and feel the joy of a forgiven person.

If “Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God” but this is not what Abraham believed . . .  

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, (Romans 4:2–5)

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:7–8 quoting Psalm 32:1-2)

Believing this changed my life. The greater my understanding of the depth and breadth of both my sin and the gracious forgiveness of God, the greater the change!

A neighbor once said to me, “Maybe you just changed yourself?” I said not yet at the time couldn’t explain why not. I know now that our lives are always based on what we believe. If I believe I could be saved by going to church every Sunday, or by being baptized, or by trying to do the things Christians are supposed to do, I would be living that way without any faith in God, trusting myself for my salvation. God says that is not acceptable. I fall short.

If I believed that salvation was only for those with the outward trappings, I would be saying that people like Abraham are God’s people because circumcision marks them as His. But that cannot be. For one thing, it leaves out women who were never circumcised in Israel, and for another, God says this is not the means of salvation.

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. (Romans 4:9–12)

Whether circumcision, or any other form of action or behavior, unless it comes from faith, it is mere imitation, different from the life that is changed because I totally believe what God has said. This message is repeated over and over in Romans and throughout the Bible. What I do does not save me or change me. I live according to what I believe and believing what God says results in change. God calls this grace, undeserved blessing that comes through faith, faith like Abraham, faith like generations of believers since this father of faith.

For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (Romans 4:13–17)

^^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, every day You show me that the behavior I am not pleased with, or that is not producing love, peace and joy, comes from believing something false, something You do not say. I’m learning new ways to think, learning how I must not conform to the world’s way of thinking, discovering where my mind should focus. If I take care of the innermost me where You dwell, then the outside me does what You want it to do. Focus on Jesus — such an amazing plan for being transformed into Your likeness!

Today’s thankful list . . .

The gift of salvation by grace through faith (even though it is not as easy as it sounds)!

Blessed as I prayed with others.

A great workout and an exceptional trainer.

Fun of watching the men’s soccer team working out and enjoying it.

Google maps on my phone — works wonderfully well.

A hubby willing to not only take me out for groceries but carry them from car to house and help put them away.

Sunshine after a rainy morning.

My idea for granddaughter’s birthday exactly matched what she wants to do.

Faith family ties

Wherever we go, no matter the country or the culture, when we meet Christians, we have an incredible sense of family. I have flesh and blood relatives with whom this family thing is in name and bloodlines only because we have little in common. However, in the family of God, we have much that we share.

This family begins in history. God spoke to a man called Abraham and told him what to do: “And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) This family began by faith and by God’s gracious gift of declaring that He considers righteous all those who believe Him. This is not about anything Abraham did — although how he lived proved that He believed God. He was not like others who didn’t hear or know God or if they did, refused to trust Him.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)

According to this New Testament verse, the promises of God are for those who believe like Abraham did. The phrase that includes those who keep the Law of God is almost tongue in cheek because no one does. It may have been inserted there in the same tone as “You can have eternal life as a gift or earn it if you are a perfect person.” This isn’t going to happen!

The New Testament reiterates over and over that eternal life is given freely to those who believe what God says. Obviously, the faith to believe requires knowing what God says. Before the Bible was written, God spoke to Abraham — we don’t know how. Then He gave us the Old Testament which foresees that the way to God is by faith. Then He gave us Jesus Christ:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1–3)

Again, faith is presented as the way to become a child of God. At first, Jesus was welcomed but when the people realized they needed to trust Him totally, they reacted and crucified the Savior. However, He rose from the dead and as this good news was shared, many people believed, just like Abraham believed.

The Galatian Christians believed. Their life of faith began by taking God at His word, but after a while, they thought they needed to add Law-keeping, just to be certain. Paul wrote them saying:

Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Galatians 3:5–9)

In this passage, God affirms that believing as Abraham did makes us righteous. He even says we are offspring of this man, not by bloodline but because of faith, putting us into the family of God the same way as Abraham and the same way as anyone else who hears God speak and believes what He says.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Oh precious Jesus, this explains the sense of family with other Christians. We are children of God by faith. We share the Spirit of God and hear Your voice. You are One and speak unity to us. You are love and that love is in our hearts. This also explains why our spiritual enemies try to mess up our family with strife, anti-God ideas, false teaching and so on. But the reality cannot be ruined for it is something that You have done and . . . “Whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

Today’s thankful list . . .

Enduring power of God.

Being a child of Abraham by faith and part of God’s family.

The gift of faith so I believe God.

My family, both those by blood and marriage and those by faith.

A lovely day (25c / 77F) with no wind.

The walking trails close to our home.

My pacemaker, now giving me energy to do things I could not do six months ago!

My hubby who is so eager to help, to encourage.