An Open Letter

Dear Friend,

This past school year has been a good one.  Maybe someday all the things God is teaching me will be collected enough to blog about, but right now they're swimming around and won't be caught and organized.  Until then, here is a passage that ties together themes of identity in Christ and victory over sin.  (And speaking of sin, isn't it wonderful that God still loves us even when we mess up?)  The passage is quoted from the NIV, which isn't what I normally quote, but while working through the Exegesis of Colossians class, I liked the way the NIV handled the passage.  The passage reminds me of the precious truth that when God gives us new life, He sees us for who He re-made us to be instead seeing our sinful flesh

"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?  These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.  Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.  Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."- Colossians 2:20-3:4, NIV

"If you’re a Christian, here’s the good news: Who you really are has nothing to do with you—how much you can accomplish, who you can become, your behavior (good or bad), your strengths, your weaknesses, your sordid past, your family background, your education, your looks, and so on. Your identity is firmly anchored in Christ’s accomplishment, not yours; his strength, not yours; his performance, not yours; his victory, not yours." - Tullian Tchividjian

Isn't it restful to know that God has given us everything necessary to live the Christian life through our identity in Christ?

Sincerely,

Celeste

Displaying Grace (through Sin)

One of the greatest parts about being an R.A., and about life in general, is the privilege of living in community with other people.  When the Psalmist wrote "Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!", he certainly was right.  But the down side of community, whether in a dorm, the local church, or a family, is that our sins affect each another.  And the longer life goes on, the sicker of sin I get!  It takes God's beautiful, good design and destroys it.  I'm sick of what it does to the world; I'm sick of what it does to my brothers and sisters; and I'm sick of what it does to me.  But the Apostle Paul wrote that even amid sin, God's grace is still working:

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (Romans 5:18-20; NKJV)

Even sin and it's ugly effects are not outside of God's control, and sin and its ugly effects display God's grace and redemption as glorious.  Luther expressed it well when he wrote to Melanchthon that only a sinner can experience God's grace:

"If you are a preacher of Grace, then preach a true, not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here we have to sin. This life in not the dwelling place of righteousness but, as Peter says, we look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."  (Weimar ed. vol. 2, p. 371; Letters I, "Luther's Works," American Ed., Vol 48. p. 281- 282)

Because of our unique position as sinful created beings whom God has redeemed for Himself, we have the opportunity to experience His grace in a way that would never be possible in a world without sin.  So, sin in the body of Christ is an opportunity to forgiven each other because Christ has forgiven us and to display His redemption and grace against the backdrop of human sin.  With Luther, while we fight sin dwelling in our flesh, we "look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells" (2 Peter 3:13; NKJV).

Rain and Repentance

In Scripture, God uses ordinary events as metaphors; these pictures help us understand His truth.  After it rained today, I was reminded of one metaphor which compares rain to the Word of God:

 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

The popularity of this verse comes mostly from a mis-application that binds God to save every person who every heard a verse read, since the Word never returns void.  However, the word of God in the immediate context is God’s promise to forgive His peoples’ sins and make an everlasting covenant with them in the person of the Messiah who, as the greater David, brings in the blessings promised to Israel’s great king.  Based on this promise, Isaiah begs God’s disobedient people to stop wasting their money on things that don’t satisfy, and instead to call on Yahweh who would have mercy on them.  And as surely as rain brings crops, so certainly will God bring salvation to His people when they repent and turn to Him. 

The purpose of God’s Word that will never fail is to bring repentance and salvation to God’s people.  As I look out the window at the rain, it reminds me that God’s purpose will be completed and His people will be saved.  In spite men opposing God’s work, God’s people will still repent and experience His mercy.  So what about God’s people who have responded to the purpose of God’s Word?  Now our responsibility is to continue to align ourselves under the Word and to proclaim that Word so that it may continue to accomplish its purpose.