Being “In Christ” by John Piper

Happy Saturday, peeps. I was reading my devotional for today from a John Piper reading plan that I use on my YouVersion Bible app. It is some pretty hardcore, in your face truth, so I wanted to share it with you all. I  hope you all are blessed by it.

THE STUPENDOUS REALITY OF BEING “IN CHRIST JESUS”

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking what it means to be in Christ. United to Christ. Bound to Christ. If you are “in Christ”, listen to what it means.

1. In Christ Jesus, you were given grace before the world was created. 2 Tim 1:9- “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

2. In Christ Jesus, you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4- “God chose us before the foundation of the world.”

3. In Christ Jesus, you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38-39- “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

4. In Christ Jesus, you were redeemed and forgiven for all your skins. Ephesians 1:7-” In Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

5. In Christ Jesus, you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. 2 Cor.5:21- “For our sake, God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

6. In Christ Jesus, you have become a new creation and a son of God. 2 Cor. 5:17- “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Gal. 3:26-“In Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.”

7. In Christ Jesus, you have been seated in the heavenly places even while He lived on earth. Ephesians 2:6-“God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

8. In Christ Jesus, all the promises of God are YES for you. 2 Cor. 1:20-” All the promises of God find their YES in Christ.”

9. In Christ Jesus, you are being sanctified and made holy. 1 Cor. 1:2-“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus.”

10. In Christ Jesus, everything you really needed will be supplied. Philippians 4:19-” My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

11. In Christ Jesus, the peace of God will guard your heart and mind. Phil. 4:7-“The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

12. In Christ Jesus, you have eternal life. Romans 6:23-“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

13. And in Christ Jesus, you will be raised from the dead at the coming of the Lord. 1 Cor. 15:22-” For as in Adam all dies, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” All those united to Adam in the first humanity shall die. All those united to Christ in the new humanity rise to live again.

How do we get into Christ?

At the unconscious and decisive level, it is God’s sovereign work: “From God you are in Christ Jesus.” 1 Cor. 1:30.

But at the conscious level of our own action, it is through faith. “Christ dwells in our hearts “through faith.”‘ Eph. 3:17. “The life we live in union with His death and life ‘we live by faith in the Son of God‘” Gal 2:20.

This is a wonderful truth. Union with Christ is the ground of everlasting joy, and it is free!
Take some time, read these verses and let it all soak in! These are wonderful truths to store away in our hearts! Until next time, be blessed!

A Process of Perfecting

“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.: Phil 1:3-6 (MSG)

This will be just a shorty today. I’ve been under the weather, hence no blogs. I’m feeling a little better, and saw this verse this morning on my phone. I had to jot down just a few thoughts on it. I hope it blesses you.

Here’s the thing, we often wonder if God is really doing anything in our lives, if God is really perfecting us, and if so, why don’t we really see a difference? Sound familiar? For me, I spent the longest time praying to God for His purpose to be revealed. I mean, even as the years passed by and nothing happened on the preaching front, even as I became angry with God for seemingly not doing anything on my behalf, even as I sang on stage harboring doubts about God. I felt like God wasn’t doing anything in me, or for me. And I’m just being honest here. I think if we all look in the mirror, we all have those times where we feel like God is against us, yet Paul fully and completely discounts that thinking. And these verses also tell us that there is never a time when God is NOT working through us, in us, or for us.

Our perfecting, which begins by us being made into a new creation at salvation, continues until the day that Christ returns. This means that everyday, God’s faithfulness wakes us with an intent to continue growing things within us that will transform us daily into more and more of a direct reflection of His Son. And Paul says that he has no doubt! Faith is a really funny thing. We feel it so strongly when we are worshipping with fellow believers in a church service, and this is important. It’s a recharging. But I would argue, that the faith that we muster when we are alone is the faith that really sustains us towards doing the greatest work that God has for us. It’s why digesting and ingesting the Bible is so important. Even if it’s just finding a verse and meditating on it, it gives the further fuel for God to continue His working in our lives. The fact that we are being perfected day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, should be an exciting thing for all of us. To me it means that as long as I have breath in my lungs, God is working in me for His glory. The work that He begun at salvation is daily becoming more and more tangible. Please remember that Hebrews tell us that what is seen was made from that which is unseen. So the results of God’s working within us will often be invisible to us, until a singular moment when we see the results of that God has been doing. Think of it as a seed. Beneath the soil, roots are growing, sinking deeper and deeper into the soil. The seed is absorbing crucial nutrients. We often don’t concern ourselves with this part, but when we see that first bud shooting from the ground, our hearts rejoice.

It’s the same thing in our lives. Behind the scenes, God is growing our roots, increasing our capacity to receive His presence and understand the new life within our veins. But we go about our lives not feeling any differently, focused more on the mire of everyday life. At the appropriate time, God will force the bud to the surface, and we will see the results of all of the quiet time with God. We will see the results of all of the crying out to God in private. We will see the results of all of the time spent prostrate before God on Sunday mornings. Simply put, if nothing else produces results in our lives, God does! His results are the lasting kind that can take us from periods of lack to periods of plenty; and I’m not merely talking about financial plenty.

This work that Paul is talking about, this perfecting, when you finally see the results, it will astound you. For me, it happened on a Sunday morning, when despite my mind furiously working on what I lacked, my spirit man was rejoicing in God for all that He has provided, and every thought to the contrary was immediately silenced. Growth! A bud! Progress! Hallelujah! And while this growth will look different in the lives of each one of us. we will see it! And then when Jesus finally comes back, He will see Christians who look just like Him, as a result of a lifetime of perfecting, blooming, pruning, and more blooming. God is a constant gardener, and our lives are merely the soil for His seeds.

So, there we are. Until next time, be blessed!

Happy, Happy? or Joy, Joy?

I saw a question posed on Facebook today and it really made me start thinking. Here is the question:

“Are Christians supposed to be happy people? Is that something we should be known for?”
I don’t know why, but this question really caught my thoughts. I’ve actually spent the rest of the day thinking about that very thing.
Here is my first response. I don’t believe that Christians are always happy people. To me, happiness denotes something external. For example, ice cream makes me happy. A nice, cheesy pizza makes me happy. I have the thought that happiness is dependent on something external happening to me; something which I choose to allow to make me happy. Happiness can be physically seen through smiles and such. That is what I think happiness is. Some people may think otherwise, but to me, Christianity is not defined by being happy. Sure, we have many reasons to be happy, but I believe the words that should more define us are joy and love.

Joy is something internal. It is a guarded thing. The Bible speaks of joy over a thousand times from beginning to end. Happy or happiness only appears around 30-40 times, depending on the translation. In every instance, I look at the verses and happy does not feel right as a substitute for the word joy. For example, peep this:

“John 16:21-23 (MSG)

The sadness you have right now is similar to that pain, but the coming joy is also similar. When I see you again, you’ll be full of joy, and it will be a joy no one can rob from you.”
In this passage, we see that there is a joy that is ours if we will have it. For me, happiness does not fit accurately here. It feels a little more fickle, or superficial, and comes short of the full indication of what Christ was speaking about. Joy is what the Christian has to give him and her strength when everything around seems to be falling to pieces. It’s the joy of the Lord that upholds us. And in those moments, we may not be able to smile. We may not be able to dance, but that doesn’t mean that we are despairing or sad. The world can not understand our joy, because true joy is only found in Christ Jesus.

SO, I can see why the world would mistake our joy for simple happiness. We try to find ways to explain that which we don’t understand. But we are assured time and time again that joy is a gift from God, one which we can never fully understand, but one which makes our hearts glad and causes us to continually rejoice in the God of our salvation.

Should we be known by our joy? Sure! But the trademark of any true Christian is known in the way we love. Christ even says this, that the mark of a Christian is found in love. The reasoning is simple. God is Love. So, if we are in Christ, then we are in tune with the greatest love in the world. Whitney Houston sang about the greatest love, but her song didn’t even scratch the surface of Christian love. It is because of this love that we can have peace and joy. It is the linchpin of our entire existence in Christ Jesus. Simply put, the world should look at us and think, “Man, that dude has some serious love in his heart! I want some!!”
So, that’s my answer to that facebook question. Maybe I’m just splitting hairs here, and I suspect that I am. But to me, it’s important that we not get caught up in finding connections that might minimize the work of Christ in our hearts. Now, the person who asked the question is full of the joy of the Lord. This manifests itself in his being perpetually happy, but that is the outward manifestation of the inner joy that is working within him. I know this for sure.

What are your thoughts? Am I crazy? Does any of this make an ounce of sense to you? Am I crazy (again)?

Until next time, be blessed!