EVERYTHING

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. Through these He has given us His precious and magnificent promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, now that you have escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (1 Peter 1:3-4)

Everything God has given us can and should be used for godliness and to grow us closer to godliness. How do we become godlier and do godly acts by using everything God has given us? We do it through knowing God who called us to be His children. God calls us by His glory and excellence.

Through these things, which can be tangible or intangible, like spiritual growth, mental understanding, and heart renewing, we have God’s precious and magnificent promises. We can see and experience God’s promises through His gifts of “everything” when we recognize that everything we have comes from Him. When we recognize this, we realize we are “partakers of the divine nature.”

Recognizing God’s hand in our receipt of what we have and are should lead us to gaze upon God, worship Him, and thank Him. Then it’ll cause us to grow into being more like Christ and using everything God has given us for His purposes so others will know about God and to give glory to God.

We can be partakers of God’s divine good gifts in everything He has and is giving us. We can escape the corruption of the world caused by evil desires because we are divine partakers of God’s gifts—everything—when we believe in Jesus and He saves us.

Be a partaker of God’s promises. Believe in Jesus and be saved.

Imitators not Imitations

 

Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:1-2, NASB)

Before we jump into the two verses above, we must understand the first word we read in verse one, the word, therefore. Some Bible translations put this word after the word imitators. This verse’s word placement does not matter. The important part is that Paul wrote it, and we need to understand what Paul intended with this conditional word. Therefore implies that an action or statement will result in something happening. This tool is a literary technique used to help a person consider what the speaker states next when considering his previous statements.

To help us understand what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5, let us grasp what he wrote before chapter five. Chapter four told the Ephesian believers and later believers, there must be unity in the body of believers, the body of Christ. Verse one said believers must walk in a manner worthy of their calling by Christ. What is this manner? The manner of Christ is one of humility, gentleness, and patience (4:2-3). This manner includes bearing with each other and being eager to keep the unity. Paul reminded the Ephesians they are one body and spirit made so by having the same Lord, faith, baptism, God, and Father (4:4-6). He reached the heart of the matter. Paul said God’s grace gives gifts to Christians through the Holy Spirit (4:7). These gifts equip saints for ministry, building up the body of Christ (4:13). This enables all believers to reach the pinnacle of the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to become a mature believer to the full measure of the stature of Christ (4:7-13). For the rest of chapter four, Paul said by growing toward maturity and unity among the body of Christ, each believer will speak truth and be kind, which shows itself in tenderheartedness and forgiveness toward others of the body (4:25 & 32).

Paul wrote, because of this unity and growing maturity of Christlikeness, believers can, therefore, be imitators of God (5:1). He wrote the word, therefore, to show the result of maturing and being united. Every believer should and will resemble their Father God. The tender image Paul gives is of a loved child’s relationship to his or her father. People can relate to this image of a loving father. For those who cannot for whatever reason, the love of a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor, or church member can understand. For others, the relationship of the heavenly Father to him or her is very close because of His protection and provision before he or she became a Christian. Whoever was in your life and deeply touched your heart, consider that relationship like the relationship of the Father to His beloved child.

To extend this comparison, what does a child aspire to become as they mature? Often, he or she will want to imitate the person with whom their heart intensely connects. My mother was a nurse. As a child, my first aspiration was to become a nurse. Why? Because my mom was very loving, caring, and compassionate. This image portrays part of what Paul tried to explain with his analogy. A child desires to imitate their Father. The Father (or the analogized parent, grandparent, etc.) takes great pleasure and honor in the child looking up to Him. He desires for His child to become ever more like Him each day. The Father wants His children to mature into Christlikeness.

What does it mean to be imitators of God? Paul began explaining it in chapter four. He said He wants His children to reach full maturity in likeness to Christ so that they have unity among their brothers and sisters and are kind (tenderhearted and forgiving) and speak truth (the truth of God, not the world’s idea of truth). Paul continued this thought in chapter five. He said imitators of God walk in love (5:2). Paul did not mean phileo love, a brotherly love a person has for his or her close friendships. He wrote saying imitators of God will walk in agape love. Agape is the love shown to people by God. This love is sacrificial love, beyond mere feeling. Sacrificial love intentionally chooses (wills) to act. Agape love shows a preference for the other person over oneself, no matter what the cost. Most parents willingly would risk their lives to save their child’s life. They prefer the life of their child over their own. This love is about what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:2. God’s children are those who mature and become imitators of Him. This means they will live out this preferential love toward their other brothers and sisters in the faith. These believers prefer to help one another grow, survive, and receive forgiveness. They make the choice to ensure the unity of the body of Christ, regardless of the personal cost to themselves.

That sacrificial love made Jesus' offering of Himself in our place a fragrant aroma to God. What parent, when seeing his or her child do a kind and selfless act, does not beam with pride and love for his or her child? God beams with pride at His children when they become imitators of Him in this way, when they love as Jesus Christ loved them.

The Holy Spirit, by God’s grace, gives each believer gifts to equip himself or herself to mature in Christ and to aid in bringing unity as God designed for His body. This unity builds the faith of other believers, speaks truth in love, and is kind—tenderhearted and forgiving. This unity in the body causes each believer to be imitators of God. Each believer will desire to be so close to God that they reflect the presence and love of Christ, allowing others to see God. Those imitators of God are true. They are not an inferior imitation; one the world says is sufficient. The believers who radiate the presence and sacrifice of Christ are imitators of God, not imitations, like faux leather. These believers desire to be closer to God. They crave it. Believers want everyone to know about God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They care that the truth gets out and all experience life-changing and eternal forgiveness. These Christians are tenderhearted and dedicated to spreading the message of Jesus and His salvation. God's children, imitators of Him, aspire to be nearer to and resemble Abba, the one who never gave up on them and offered forgiveness. Their goal is to be like Jesus, regardless of sacrifices. That is agape love. Agape love is a love that prefers to benefit others instead of oneself.

“Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Will you live out what Jesus Christ put in you—the new person—by His Spirit when you believed in Him? Agape love requires action. It prefers other people over oneself. Consider what Jesus would do?

Be imitators of God, not imitations.

Pledge of Hope

 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” 2 Corinthians 5:5 [NASB]

As I read 2 Corinthians 5 today, God made me aware of a few things I had heard in sermons over the years but had not put together into one train of thought. In this chapter, Paul wrote about living as a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. He told the Christians in Corinth about the mental tug-of-war believers live with continually from the day Jesus cleanses them from their sins and makes them a child of God. All believers experience this tug-of-war. They live in a sinful world and long to be with Christ in heaven, long to be clothed fully with the righteousness of Christ and live in a righteous world, His kingdom. Paul stated that he and other Christians’ desires to be righteous and in God’s presence forever is so deep that it causes them to groan and feel the burden of wanting the life Jesus offers to swallow up and take over their mortal life (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Have you ever felt this desire, this burden? If you’ve ever known a senior-aged adult Christian or a Christian who had a terminal illness, you will recall their spoken desire to be in heaven with God and their loved ones and not on earth. Their desire and burden are so great that it seems they speak of this every time you visit them and even mention it several times during a visit. If you’ve not spent time with someone who had this deep desire, then consider of a time when you wanted something very much. Maybe you’ve not been able to become pregnant and have children. Possibly you’ve wanted to go to university to study for a degree, but the funds were not available. Perhaps you have a family member who has cutoff communication with you, and you have prayed for them to have a change of heart so you can talk with them. Each of these are great desires. They are mortal desires. The desire to be in God’s kingdom and in His presence is an eternal desire. It originates with the Holy Spirit living within a person’s being. The Christian recognizes this world is not his/her own and wants to go to the place of peace, joy, and rest in the presence of God.

Paul experienced this desire. He said he preferred to be away from the body (his mortal life that fights against sin and decays) and at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:7-8). Yet, Paul knew only God knows the time of a person’s death. Because of his love for Jesus, he sought to please Him even while he lived in his mortal body on earth, and not just because he would stand before God’s judgment seat one day (vs 9-10). Paul said while he lived in his mortal body, he desired to please the Lord and that means loving Him. “Christ’s love compelled him and his co-laborers” to tell other people about Jesus and the salvation He gives to anyone who believes in Him (vs 11, 14-15). Because of their love for God and their desire to obey Him, they regarded other people the way Jesus does. Jesus desires each person be saved (2 Corinthians 5:15, John 3:16, 1 John 2:2, John 11:25, Romans 6:10). Prejudice should no longer have place in a believer’s heart. Instead, the love of Jesus for each person must be paramount.

Paul said each person who is a believer once regarded Jesus Christ with prejudice. We, mentally, said, “He could not be that powerful.” Or, we’ve said, “He cannot take away my sins. I am too stained and dirty from the evil I have done.” We might have said, “There is no God and so there is no Jesus. This life on earth is all I have, so why bother a God who was never there for me.” Each of these is a prejudice against Jesus and the Trinity. We judge Him as not powerful, not telling the truth, not caring and loving, not merciful and forgiving, and/or non-existent. Yet, the words in the Bible are testimonies from several millennia. The testimonies of believers, since Bible writers penned what God told them to tell people, proclaim God is real, alive, almighty, omniscient, loving, merciful, and Life-giving. Paul taught about God and the sufficient sacrifice provided for the sins of the world through the sinless life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. This is what Paul proclaimed. He said, “Though we once regarded Christ in this way (with prejudice), we do so no longer” (2 Cor, 5:16). Because Paul and his colleagues had no prejudice against Christ, they proclaimed Him through their lives and their testimony of what He did for them, who He is, what He called them to do, and to whom and how they were to proclaim Him. He proclaimed in verses seventeen and eighteen,

“Therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh [that is, with prejudice]; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

Paul said in these verses, he and the other men with him had no prejudice. Why? Because when they believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, their Savior, He put into them His Spirit and made them a new creation. This new creation occurred at their belief in Him. When they trusted in Jesus, His Spirit came upon them and began changing them from their old, mortal, prejudiced self into His own image. Because Jesus was unprejudiced and came to earth to save each person, each believer is supposed to live a similar non-prejudicial way by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Spirit changes a believer from the old nature (“clothing.” as Paul said) to the new nature. Christians understand and desire what Jesus desires, that each person would hear the Gospel and believe in Jesus as the Son of God for his or her salvation. Because of this, Paul said, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us” (vs 20). God’s desire for all people to receive salvation becomes the believer’s desire. This desire is part of the same groanings and longings Paul expressed in verse four. This desire comes because the Spirit makes Christians more and more into the image of Christ; Christ’s desires become their desires. Jesus’ desire is not just to be with His Father in heaven, but that each person receives salvation and change into His image (nature), change from their old, mortal, sinful nature.

Christians desire and long to be clothed by Jesus’ Spirit with the new nature He gives and to be with Jesus in His kingdom. While they live on earth in their mortal bodies, the Holy Spirit lives in them and changes them continually into the image of Christ. His indwelling is the guarantee, the pledge from God, of their future eternal change into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 5:5). The Spirit of Christ in a person is like earnest money put down for a house or car. It is a guarantee of the future fulfillment of the contract or understanding. Knowing the Spirit is within the believer, that person has hope that one day, the Spirit will one day completely cloth him or her in the new nature. When difficulties in life occur–temptation, trials, and persecutions–the assurance, guidance, and protection by the Holy Spirit remind the Christian of God’s assurance, His guarantee, that he or she will be in God’s kingdom and will experience peace and joy eternally with Him.

This chapter of 2 Corinthians tells us about some purposes of the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus. He lives in each Christian to assure the believer of his or her salvation. The Spirit in the Christian’s life reminds him or her of God’s eternal purpose for him or her with Him in His kingdom. The Spirit is the guarantee of being totally made in Jesus’ image. He gives the believer the deep longings to be with God and the desire to be on earth. This desire to be alive on earth comes with it the desire to love Christ by being obedient to His commands to tell each person on earth about Him. The Spirit puts into each Christian’s heart the love of Christ for each person so he or she wants to tell others about Him. Christians realize they are ambassadors for Christ. The Spirit living in a believer encourages, teachers, guides, protects, and remakes each person into a closer resemblance of Jesus Christ, changing them to have His love and non-prejudicial attitude, desires, and righteousness.

Today, we should each stop and consider what keeps us from believing in Jesus. Is it because it seems God is not real or does not care since you assume He is not listening to your prayers? Next, we should examine ourselves to determine where prejudice lives in our heart and ask Jesus to forgive us and make us like Himself. Then we need to ask Him to show us where we refused for Him to continue making us into His image and confess the sins He shows to us. We should examine ourselves to determine when and why we stopped believing in God and ask Him to remind you of the guarantee by His Spirit of your eternity with Him in His kingdom. Ask for forgiveness for judging Him and His purposes and ask that He put His desires in you, the desire to love Christ and love each person you meet because He loves them. Ask God to help you keep your eyes always on Him. Pray to Him for the will to love and obey Him, even when it makes little sense. Thank God for loving you and saving you. Praise Him for who He is, the eternal, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent God. Praise Him for what He has done in your life and throughout the expanse of time from creation. Thank God for choosing you to be in a righteous relationship with Him.

The Holy Spirit in a believer’s life now is the earnest money of God’s love and plan for you, a plan not to harm you but to give you a hope and a future (Jeremy 29:11). His living in a Christian grows the person to be loving and unprejudiced like Jesus.

The Holy Spirit living in you now on earth is a taste of what you will be fully when you live with God in His kingdom for eternity. 

Each Christian can decide to let the Spirit to change him or her. That permission changes a person from being prejudiced into becoming like Jesus.  As a result, the Spirit, God’s pledge to Christians, reminds them of their future full transformation and transition to living in God’s kingdom. God will make each believer like Jesus and He will give them their inheritance, eternal life in His kingdom.

Will you live as one who received God’s pledge, or will you stay prejudiced?