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Articles 2018-2020
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
God’s judgment for all of humanity was the judicial verdict of death (Romans 5:16, 6:23); we were condemned. And since condemnation has to do with the guilty getting what we deserve, we all deserved to die. But because Christ died in our stead, and because we are now alive in Him, we are free from Heaven’s condemnation. In other words, the Kingdom of God is not about what we deserve; it is about God’s merciful gift of righteousness and His call for us to come and avail ourselves of it.
But as Paul showed in Romans Chapter 7, God has poured the glorious riches of His presence into us while we are yet in our frail physical bodies. He has chosen to manifest Heaven’s amazing treasure in fleshly clay pots. And these human vessels have a law, a principle written into them – the flesh always wants to sin and the wages of sin is always death – what Paul aptly calls the law of sin and death. But notice the good news.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
We were in spiritual bondage, but now we have been set free from the law of sin and death. How does this freedom work? These two laws – of sin and death, and of the Spirit of life, both operative in us, pull us in two different directions. And we must choose. It could be likened to the laws of gravity and aerodynamics. Gravity says that what goes up must come down. Aerodynamics says that what goes up does not have to come down as long as the power is flowing. As a result, if the airplane has an eternal power source, it never has to land. To carry the analogy further, Jesus lived in the airplane the whole time He was on earth. He lived in perfect union with His Father and never succumbed to sin’s downward pull.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
We are no longer under condemnation but the operative power of sin in us has been condemned. Christ, the only one worthy to do so has pronounced over it the judicial verdict of death; it has no future. The implication is clear. Why would anyone sow into something that has no future?
And our Lord lived victoriously on earth:
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
If I simply walk in harmony with the Spirit of God, the requirement of all of scripture is fulfilled in me. This is true because He who lived it out perfectly has granted His righteousness to me. God’s amazing strategy to conquer sin in the human race is well underway. It was revealed in Christ’s life, His death, and His resurrection. And it is still unfolding by His present work in His Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. When any of us stumble and fall, the minute we cry out to Him in repentance, we are restored. And the holy demands of Scripture are again satisfied. What amazing grace!
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Here is what the nations need – life and peace. They do not need another political platform, another government program, or a new proposal by the UN General Assembly. Because men are lost, they are spiritually dead. And only life can solve that. As a result, they have no peace (Isaiah 48:22). And all the psychotropic drugs in the world cannot fix that. When we react emotionally to the world’s rage that has been stirred up by the words or actions of some influential political leader, we do them no good. Many Christians sound just like the lost when certain controversial discussions take place. But if we stand and wait for the Holy Spirit’s insight on how to respond as well as specifically what to say, we will bring both life and peace to the troubled waters churned up by the broken condition of men’s souls.
This is not to say that they will necessarily listen or appreciate what we say. But if they must stumble, let it not be over our reactions to them but over Christ, Heaven’s only stumbling stone. When they do stumble over us, it is because we have inserted ourselves improperly into the equation. The world does not need the Church’s perspective; it needs Christ. And His Church is to be God’s vehicle to bear His presence, to express His love, and to reveal His judgments, His assessment of the nations and their priorities. Clearly, we will never understand our identity and calling if we yield to the world’s evaluation of us as a mere political power bloc.
Paul then goes on to inform us that the Spirit of life dwelling in us is what marks us as God’s children. It is not simply our words that identify us; God himself is the distinguishing factor. And we look forward to the day of His full manifestation, the day of His appearing, the day of resurrection when His life will fully permeate our bodies as it has our souls (Romans 8:7 - 11).
Until that final day, we must by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, the desires of the flesh that wage war against God’s work in us. His presence in our hearts is Heaven’s resident power enabling us to succeed in that inner conflict. And Paul identifies as the sons of God all who respond to the Lord and are led by His Spirit in defeating the lusts of the flesh (Romans 8:12 - 14).
I used to think that the sons of God were those who were led by the Spirit in evangelism, in prophetic ministry, in seeing visions and dreams, etc. While that perspective has some merit, the context in this scripture is clear. Those who are led by Him in putting to death the deeds of the body are participating properly in His family – they are His sons.
Here is Heaven’s answer to the fallen creation; it is the family of God. It is His people on earth responding appropriately to His personal presence resident in and among them.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Paul used an Aramaic word and a Greek word back to back. Abba is the word for father in Aramaic – the language of the Jewish people, and Pater is the word for father in Greek – the common language used generally throughout the Roman Empire at that time. So whether one is a Jew or is from the nations, in Christ there is but one family, and God is our Father. How do we know that we are members of His household?
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
We know that we are born of God by His presence within us. Because of this relationship, our inheritance is God himself. How amazing is that? And we stand to co-inherit what the Father has promised to His Son, if we suffer with Him (Romans 8:17). How does one suffer with Christ? Very simply, we must be broken in heart over what breaks His. One indication that we are walking in the intimacy with Him to which He daily calls us is if what bothers/grieves Him also deeply affects us. And in my thinking, what bothers Him the most in my life is my own sin and failures. If when I stumble, that failure does not bother me very much, I am in spiritual trouble. My insensitivity indicates something wrong in my relationship with Him.
But when we turn from our fleshly desires, when we suffer with grief over our sin or over the sins of those around us, the pain we experience is very real. And if our turning from sin brings us rejection, persecution, or even martyrdom, that suffering cannot be compared with the glory to which God is bringing us.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
All of human history is building toward the work of God coming into full expression. Remember Jesus’ prayer.
that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
God intends to reveal to the creation what He has done in those who have been turning by the power of the Holy Spirit from their own desires and setting their minds on Him. Of course, the full revelation of God’s sons will not occur until Christ’s return. But until that day, the strategy of Heaven is unfolding.
God is conforming us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)
He is preparing a bride for His Son (Revelation 19:7 - 8)
He is maturing a corporate body into oneness with Him who is our head (Ephesians 4:13 - 15)
In other words, God is making known among the nations a people in process, in transition.
Interestingly, many of us want to short-circuit this expanding work. “Lord, let’s just get this over with. Please return now!” But when I look at the bride in her present condition, I do not think I am yet seeing the grand finale of God’s grace. To put it another way, when I look at the Church both locally as well as internationally, it all seems too organizational instead of body-like. The miracle Jesus prayed for was a people coordinated from Heaven expressing one mind/revealing one head – all by the power of the Holy Spirit. The question we face is whether or not we believe Christ will succeed from heaven as well as He did on earth. All of creation is awaiting the fulfillment of His work among us. Paul expected the Corinthians to live accordingly.
Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
(1Corinthians 1:10 ASV)
If we go to any city today, we will see that we are still a work in progress. Let us keep worshipping, trusting, and obeying.
Donald Rumble – January 2018
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