Wednesday, September 16, 2015

RESPONDING TO OUR NEW IDENTITY

      Christianity is really quite a simple thing. We came to Christ [often in great need] we asked Him to enter our life in that same need, be it great or small. We then simply believed that He had entered our life and gradually gained faith by learning [knowledge] over time that what happened to us was eternal and true; all the work of The Father; all by Grace, [no work on our part] just as God declares in the bible. "For by Grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves;  it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" Eph. 2:8.

      However we also soon became aware that the negative circumstances of life still prevailed. We got sick, our children disappointed us, we had many troubles in this life etc. When those circumstances came upon us our former joy was overridden. If you are normal you became discouraged. You asked God to intervene and often He did. But there is always a new problem, a new event to replace the last trying episode. We know from the Words of Jesus that tribulation will be ours on earth always. We want relief of course. How may we find it? Cannot we be happy and free by doing something different with ourselves? Perhaps not.

     The Word of God however does promises us a different spiritual life than the life we experience in the flesh. But this difference does not come by our action, but by faith in a specific event; the Life and Death of Jesus Christ and our co-death and co-life in/with Him; heavenly/spiritual, a mental acknowledgement of a sustained faith in Jesus Christ as the object of that life. "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision [status, church work or personal accomplishment] avails anything, nor uncircumcision [the natural mans self righteous life] but a new creature" Gal 6:15. How may we tap into this promise live as a new creation to honor Him; not to please ourselves. The very purpose and intent for us from our Father. We must make it ours. What are we to do to establish His identity as our own in a conscious way?

      Will we find comfort from the storm by a new behavior, a renewed determination, service and commitments? Really what amounts to a self righteous feeling. Perhaps on some level, in our natural emotions we might, at least for a time. But is this God's way? Not according to His Word. We are Spirit dependent. "God has from the beginning [think creation] chosen you to salvation though sanctification [separation unto a life in His Son] of the Spirit and belief of the truth' 2 Thess. 2:15.

      Then what are we to do? Can we even do anything ourselves to make it all better? Or to be the Christian we think we must be. There is a challenge now before us, we must now; "Study to show yourselves approved unto God" 2 Tim 2:15. "A workman that is not ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of God" 2 Tim. 2:15.

      L.S. Chafer founding president of Dallas seminary had this to say regarding mans natural propensity towards the fleeting value of law and works: which includes service and the busy church/ community life; at least as a application to forming our Christian duty and functional church life in a attempt to establish our Christianity: "Any aspect of life or conduct which is undertaken in dependence on the energy and ability of the flesh is, to that extent, purely legal in character, whether it be the whole revealed will of God, the actual written commandments contained in the Law, the exhortation of grace, or any activity whatsoever in which the believer may engage. Dependence on the arm of the flesh [natural effort]  is consistent with pure Law; dependence on the power of God [His View and estimation of us seen in His Son] is necessary under pure Grace [no effort or action on our part, only that of faith in our position in Christ Jesus]. Since there is no provision for the flesh [natural Adam mans work on earth] in God's plan for a life under Grace, the Law [works, self effort, service etc. done in our Adam identity] is done away with".

      Well then how in the world are we to pursue our Christianity? Find, understand and live in this new race of men on earth we have become. Could it be we must embrace a new identity to explore a life under pure Grace, a entirely new perception of ourselves just as described in His Word? Is it all really as simple as a new mental attitude, to gain a new self image, a perception of ourselves as the new creation we are; "Hid in Christ". "Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which [His and our co-death and co-life together in glory] Christ has made us free" Gal. 5:1

      Yes this in fact is the case. The word I think which best describes the new creation life, as a realized pursuit, is motivation! What is our life mental/spiritual motivation? How do we measure our self perception? Have we learned and began to become the saint the Word of God describes as identified with Jesus Christ, living under the freedom of pure Grace self identified in His Son? As Paul we must say; "God.... called me by Grace to reveal His Son in me" Gal. 1:15,16. What is our world view Adam's or God's, as we observe and live in the visible? Do we reveal Jesus Christ in our mental perception of our own being?

      I fear few have even considered exploring a completely new description of themselves. Let alone applying to themselves a position or identification in glory. Made known clearly by God's revealed view of the saint in His Word: as a partaker of a heavenly citizenship, inherited by us, as to the exact status of His Son in Glory. But the Word says we must know and live this attitude in order to live life's true purpose under Grace. "For He has made Him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteous of God in Him" 2 Cor. 5:21.

      "The Law is not of faith" Gal. 3:12. "The Law will break you grace will make you". There is nothing more sure than the steps we take in life guided by the Spirit and the Word under Grace. Yet there is nothing more difficult, as to our discernment of the Spiritual walk, in separation by Grace [sanctification] than winding our way through all that surrounds us in this world.

      The motivation to change usually comes by pain, weakness, suffering. We might by God's grace suffer enough in mourning the natural Adam, who is only and always sin. Perhaps then we will learn to see the Christian life when accompanied by the world, performing good works in a attitude of a worker for Christ here, making the world a better place, the counterfeit system not fully rejected, brings about only death as it will always fail. But once we see this death as true of us and therefore no hope in a natural earthly environment for our souls, as self definition, we will find that by Jesus Christ Grace is revealed as to its power to bring awareness of a completely new life by faith. God waited for us to need Him more deeply. Now by a new revelation we have gained something most important. The new creature life found only in Christ as our soul's object. But then comes responsibility.

      Our new power, new creature identity, born to a entirely new race, becoming by faith heavenly men and women, requires a recognition of that responsibility. Which was first brought about by God's sovereign act in the new birth. Now we must act! Not in self effort, but in trust and faith that God will ultimately conform us into the image of His Son by the change in our identity, by gaining new knowledge from His Word and the consequent change of character to our soul.

     That is to our personality, our self description of our being; fully in our converted conscience recognizing and reckoning upon accepting by faith the truth of God's intent, that we live only by a conscious faith that His Word is true in a literal sense when we are told: "Put on the new man" Eph. 4:24

      God operates along this line of thought, this is His will and desire; it is moral and requires a obedience of faith as to the recognition of just who we are by the new birth. Now Jesus Christ by the Word and by the Spirit has become our Object, our Teacher; meekness and lowliness as learned of Him. We sow to the Spirit in this way and walk in the Spirit by our new recognition of the heavenly positional life in Christ. All of this is connected to a moral responsibility on our part and must be maintained by faith ever seeking His knowledge, knowing His mind, to enjoy the freedom of the new creation life in Christ.


      We cannot simply reconcile Spirit/faith/identification mentally, or work out our responsibility and His sovereignty as to His choice to see us only in His Son, us as new heavenly creatures identified in Christ, like a puzzle. Or make it a self determined work to gain it's understanding as a mental pursuit. But we can live in it spiritually by faith. This requires a maintenance and a constant awareness of two humbling facts derived exclusively from God's Word. The Adam man we are, in all its efforts on the earth is seen as a dead thing by God. Faith and trust in His promise that by His holy Spirit all that we are now newly in His Son will be maintained by Grace forever. By that truth exercised as a mental attitude we may attach a true value to what we have become in Christ Jesus! We may respond to who we really are. "That I may know Him and the power of His Resurrection" Phil. 3:10.

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