What's His is Mine!

For this is what the Lord has commanded us: 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' - Acts 13:47

Paul took a scripture from Isaiah 49:6, clearly referring to the work of Christ, and proclaimed it was God's calling to him.

Can he do that? Sure. Can we do that? Yes.

Paul, knew that those who are joined to Christ by faith are part of Christ in actuality.¹ What belongs to us now also belongs Christ - our sins, griefs, shortcomings.² He embraced them and took them to the cross. What belongs to Christ is now ours³ - his payment for our sins, his resurrection, his fellowship with the Father, his anointing with the Holy Spirit, his seat on the throne, even his call to ministry and the work of others in Christ. He now lives his life through us (though not exclusively), and not just for our benefit, but to those He came to save.⁴

- fritz

^{1 - 1st Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 5:30
2 - 2nd Corinthians 5:21
3 - Romans 8:32, 1st Corinthians 3:22
4 - 1st John 4:17}

Still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

"[H]ave you not read what God said to you, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living. When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching." - Matthew 22:31b-33

The faithful knew this verse as God's introduction of himself to Moses,¹ but Jesus revealed a meaning they hadn't realized.

Sadducee's, a scholarly religious group in charge of the temple, did not believe in a literal life after death because they found no evidence of it in the books written by Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy. This caused real contention and confusion among the less studied who were considered common and unintellectual.

Jesus settled the issue and gave hope to all by pointing out, from their own section of the Bible, that when God said "I am"(not "I was") Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's God he was saying they were still very much alive in a very real place, still worshiping God as their own.

The term, "gathered to his people", was not a euphemism for some bone pit but a place of continued fellowship with God and loved ones who had passed on.

"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" - 2nd Corinthians 5:8

- fritz

^{1 - Exodus 3:6}

More literal than we realize

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. - 2nd Corinthians 5:17

The Bible takes our bodily connection to Christ¹ more literally than we realize. The biblical position is that what you do, Christ is doing.²

This may be hard to grasp when we only see ourselves in the mirror, but we've had something similar in our business community for years - its called a corporation. In a corporation the activity of the President, factory worker, and everyone in between is all viewed as the activity of that corporation, and the corporation bears the liability.

Like a corporation, when we give our lives to Christ we are viewed as one with him and our actions reflect upon the whole, not just ourselves. To this new "corporation-like" creation both Jesus and we have contributed all we had and what we now have is shared by both. I contributed my body and my sins, he contributed his body, his payment for sin, his grace, his love, his mercy.

Now, in a very real sense, when I go to work it is the new creation sitting in the chair typing on the keyboard. When I go to prayer, it is me and Jesus as a unit standing before God with all debts paid. When I misbehave, it is both Jesus and I who bare the liability in the eyes of the world.

Unlike a corporation, he actually begins to move on us physically, mentally, and spiritually to actually become more like him.

We need to adopt the viewpoint God has already ascribed to us, it will help us understand God's word and help us cooperate better with what he is doing with us.

- fritz


^{1 - Related Post: July 18, 2010 "Members of His Body"
2 - 1st Corinthians 5:16}

Members of His Body

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." - 2nd Corinthians 5:17

Something happens when a person gives his or her life to Jesus; the Bible says a new "creature" is begun. The term "creature" literally means "formation", "building", "creation".

This is not just a euphemism for a mental change or attitude adjustment; the biblical view is that we become joined to the risen Christ in such a way that we are bodily part of him and he is bodily part of us.

Our physical bodies are not valueless. God created them with purpose and, joined with Christ, they become an expression of Himself.

Listen to how the Apostle Paul expresses it,

"Now the body is ...for the Lord; and the Lord for the body ... Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. - 1st Corinthians 6:13, 15

How would your actions change if you saw your body as actually being God's earthly representation of Christ's body?

-fritz

Bible - a book about one man

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. - Luke 24:27

Two travelers on the way to a place called Emmaus picked up a stranger they did not recognize as Jesus. He took them through the Bible with a new perspective. Their response, "Did not our hearts burn within us!"¹

The Bible is, really, a book about one man.

All the apostles saw it that way. Paul, quoting a very familiar passage about Adam and Eve said it really means something more:

"For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." - Ephesians 5:30-32

Our very salvation hinges on the fact that when we accept the living Christ, Jesus, as our savior we are joined to him. Both we and Jesus are no longer just ourselves, we are eternally linked in covenant.

He took on our sinfulness, we take on his righteousness² to become one new man³, the last Adam⁴ (male and female ⁵). We now approach God with nothing owing and all debts paid, his Grace working is us in all circumstances to bring about our good and more.⁶

- fritz

^{1 - Luke 24:32
2 - 2nd Corinthians 5:21
3 - One new man (not referring to Jew and Gentile but us and Christ) - Ephesians 2:14-15
4 - Last Adam - 1st Corinthians 15:45
5 - Adam, male and female - Genesis 1:27
6: - See Post from July 11, 2010 - "Where is God's Blessing"}