Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (13)

 

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” What wonderful words, “grace and peace,” knowing they come from “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Can I really desire anything more today? Can I really desire anything more when I draw my last breath? What about you?

 

The letter to the Romans, as indeed the entire Bible, is the story of how God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bestow grace and peace on us and infuse grace and peace within us – but at what cost! O the fathomless love of God for us! “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son!”  “…who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).

 

We have been “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).” “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1 -2).

 

O how we should ever protect our standing in grace, how we should flee from anything that would seduce us into our own works, our own righteousness, our own self-justification. "You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4).

 

There are many facets to grace and peace, but there is only one Source of true grace and peace, and that is God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father bestows grace and peace on His daughters and sons, our Lord Jesus Christ showers grace and peace on His brothers and sisters, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27).

 

It takes a lifetime, and more, to understand and experience grace and peace; actually, as Paul tells us, the peace of God exceeds our understanding (Phil. 4:7), and the same can be said for His grace. We can view a thousand photos of the Grand Canyon, but nothing can take the place of a personal encounter with this great wonder. We can read definitions of God’s grace and peace, we can hear the testimonies of others concerning God’s grace and peace, but nothing can substitute for our own experience of God’s grace and peace; nothing can quite so humble us, nothing can take our breath away, nothing can introduce us to such an awe and reverence for the Divine, as our own encounter with God’s grace and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

But I write of a way of life, not an isolated experience without a root system. For in God’s grace and peace the seemingly inconsequential in a seemingly mundane day is clothed with the grandeur of God. Grace and peace in Christ become the air we breathe, our biosphere, that which conveys the ever-present life of God in Christ to our entire being.

 

Now then, if God bestows His grace and peace on us, we are called to bestow that same grace and peace on others (Matthew 5:38 – 48; Ephesians 4:32 – 5:2; 2 Cor. 1:3 – 7). In fact, we are called to make peace, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9).

 

“Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Can we make this our prayer for others? When standing in line in a store, can we pray this for those around us? When pumping gas, can we pray this for those we see? When stopped at a traffic light, will we pray this for those in other vehicles? When thinking of family, friends, neighbors, coworkers…might we pray for them to receive the grace and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

We cannot purchase grace and peace, we cannot earn it, we cannot merit it, we cannot deserve it; but we can receive it – from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ; and having received it, we can pass it on to others.

 

There is no sweeter air we can breathe, no surer source of life, than the grace and peace of Jesus Christ and God our Father.

 

Amen.

Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (12)

 

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“…called as saints…” Is it not to our Father’s glory that in Jesus Christ He has called us and brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light, taking sinners and making them saints?

 

I recall one of my preaching professors, Haddon Robinson, saying that “The difference between an amateur speaker and a professional speaker, is that an amateur will ask, ‘What do you want me to speak about?’ While a professional will ask, ‘Tell me about my audience.’” Paul wrote to saints, he did not write to sinners; Paul wrote to the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth. Is it safe to assume that Paul knew his audience? Is it safe to think that Paul knew the Gospel and that he knew what he was doing when he consistently called his audience “saints”? Perhaps Paul was mistaken?

 

One of the beauties of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians is that he lays out both the forensic and organic path we have in Christ, from being sinners alienated from God, indeed enemies of God, to becoming His beloved sons and daughters, to becoming saints in Jesus Christ. So many professing Christians have been taught that they remain sinners after coming to know Jesus Christ, and thereby functionally reject their glorious inheritance in Christ during their time on earth, living beneath their calling, and often providing an excuse for disobedience; after all, they have been taught that they remain sinners. This identity crisis has us abandoning our heavenly citizenship for earthly identities and affinities – well, what we can expect if we think we remain sinners?

 

Regarding Romans, after the glorious message of Romans 1:1 – 5:11, Paul goes on to establish our new creation and identity in Jesus Christ; first that we no longer are in Adam but in Christ (5:12 – 21), then (Romans Chapter 6) that we have been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, raised with Christ, and therefore that we are to consider, to reckon, ourselves “to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11). This is to be our way of thinking, both about ourselves and other believers in Jesus Christ.

 

Then in Romans Chapter 7 we are taught that having died with Christ, our marriage to the Law has ended and we are married to Another, to Jesus Christ. In Romans Chapter 8 we have our glorious sonship in Jesus Christ, culminating in one of the great crescendos of the Bible.

 

One of my points is that having addressed the Roman Christians as “saints,” Paul will demonstrate just how this is so. I am not suggesting that this was in Paul’s mind as he wrote “called saints” in Romans 1:7, after all, this was his typical and normal way of addressing and thinking about the Christians to whom he wrote, he knew his audience; however, I point this out should any of us wonder just how Paul could write such a thing – he could write it because of the amazing love and redemption that we have in Jesus Christ, a love and redemption that transforms sinners into saints – both forensically and organically.

 

How comprehensive is this redemption? What is its goal and purpose? Consider Romans 8:28 – 30. It is the Father’s desire that we be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ might be the “firstborn among many brethren” (see also Hebrews 2:10 – 13). Therefore, God has predestined us, called us, justified us, and glorified us – in Jesus Christ. And in 8:31 when Paul asks, “What shall we say to these things?” His answer is, “If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spear His own Son, but delivered Him over for us, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” This is for us, in Christ, today.

 

If we are to insist that the Word of God shape our theology and thinking, as opposed to experience, then we must not confuse temptation with actual sin, and we ought not permit our experience of sin to define who we are in Christ, that is, should I sin, I must look to the reality of the Word of God for my identity and not my experience of having sinned. God’s Word, holy Scripture, is a reality greater than my experience, and thus Scripture is to define my experience and my identity – for if I don’t know who I am, how can I read His Word and hear His Voice through His Word? I am called to read His Word as His son, I am called to understand His Word as His child, as one in whom is the life of God, as one who is fully and completely justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and as one who is called, made holy, and is being glorified in Jesus Christ.

 

This is a miracle, and once I accept the glory of justification by faith and the glories of being in Christ and no longer in Adam, reckoning myself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ, being dead to the condemnation of the Law, and being made a son of the Living God, crying out, “Abba! Father!” – once I begin to look to God’s Word and not to myself, once I begin to see the Face of Jesus Christ – then what Peter styles a “joy unspeakable and full of glory” begins to be mine in Jesus Christ.

 

Can we trust 2 Corinthians 5:14 – 21? Or, are we continuing to know one another “according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 5:16) as opposed to living by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:5)? Have we really been made the righteousness of God in Christ (5:21), or is this some kind of fiction? Are we truly new creatures (5:17), or again, is this a fiction, and a cruel one at that?

 

How shall we view one another in Christ? How shall we view ourselves?

 

“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar’s household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Philippians 4:21 – 23.

 

Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (11)

 

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“to all who are beloved of God in Rome.”

 

Do we know that we are beloved of God? I realize that we may use the word “love” to speak of God, as in “God loves you. God loves us.” But what about the word “beloved”? Do you think the two words have the same exact ring to them? Are they the same, or are they similar?

 

If a husband says, “I love my wife,” is that the same as saying, “My wife is my beloved”?

A survey of the New Testament demonstrates that “beloved” is often used by the apostles when writing to those they served. I think this is more, much more, than us saying, “Dearly beloved,” when speaking to an assembly; for when we say “dearly beloved” I think we say it as a form of address, as contrasted with an expression of deep and affectionate love. Can we see ourselves saying to an assembly, “You are my beloved”? Can we see the difference? Do we say to God’s People, “You are God’s beloved?”

 

Can we hear the Father saying at Jesus’s baptism, “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”? Can we hear the Father saying on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is My Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him!”? Can we hear the Father speaking as we read the prophecy form Isaiah in Matthew 12:18, “Behold, My servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased”?

 

Jesus Christ is beloved by God, and mystery though it is, we are beloved by God. Jesus prays, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me…I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:23 & 26).

 

Notice in our passage that being called of Jesus Christ and being beloved of God are linked together, we are called because we are beloved. Keeping this in mind consider:

 

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…” (Col. 3:12).

 

“…knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you…” (1 Thess. 1:4).

 

We also see this in John 17 where we have been given to Jesus by the Father and drawn into the koinonia love of the Trinity.

 

Paul will return to our calling and God’s love for us in Romans 8:28 – 39, can you see this when reading this passage? Note Romans 8:29 – 30 and 38 – 39. Note 8:33, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?” and 8:35, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”

 

We can live in confidence in God’s calling, His choosing, His election, and His incredible love for us in Christ Jesus; we can live knowing that we are beloved by God and that nothing can separate us from His love. Our lives are to be “rooted and grounded in love” and we are called “to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14 – 19).

 

We are called to be a secure and confident People in God’s love and calling, with Jesus Christ as the Author and Perfector of our faith (Heb. 12:2), laying down our lives for one another and for this broken and sorrowful world (1 John 3:16).

 

When we see our brothers and sisters in Christ, do we see them as beloved by God? When we speak to them, pray with them, serve with them, are we doing so recognizing that they are the beloved of God?

 

How do we see ourselves? Do we see ourselves in Christ? Do we see ourselves at work, at home, in the community, as men and women and young people who are the beloved of God? Do we see our spouses as God’s beloved?

 

O dear friends, are we living as the beloved of God? Secure in His love, are we loving one another? (John 13:34 – 35; 15:12 – 13).

 

Dante Anyone?

 Good morning friends,

 

A friend of mine recently made me aware of a project between six universities on Dante’s Divine Comedy that I want to pass on to you. While the list is below, I’ll point out that they include Baylor (a Baptist school) and Gonzaga (a Roman Catholic school) – yes, they both have good basketball teams but more importantly, if you can believe it, they also have great professors.

 

Three times a week the project sends a link to a short video by a professor, usually less than ten minutes, that leads participants through the Divine Comedy (they also provide the text from the Divine Comedy for each presentation). Previous videos can be watched anytime. These men and women know their material and they are great to watch – they are more excited about Dante than Gonzaga’s basketball fans are about their team (well…maybe that was hyperbole).

 

There is a reason Dante is considered one of the greatest poets of all time; and there is a reason he is considered an amazing Christian thinker. It is said that he was C.S. Lewis’s favorite poet, this means that Lewis not only appreciated how Dante wrote, but what Dante wrote.

 

I hear a lot about “worldview,” and yet our worldview seems to change with the newspaper headlines, and what we value today we are fully prepared to discard tomorrow if it suits our agendas. Dante presents a Biblical worldview that is focused on the glory of God and the transformative glory of Jesus Christ. He not only calls sin “sin,” but he unpacks how sin corrupts mankind. Thankfully, he also shows us the way of transformation into the image of Christ and portrays the glory of God in a fashion that leaves even him at a loss for words.

 

In a season of history in which our teeth are rotting from cotton candy, I hope you will consider taking this journey through the Divine Comedy; Baylor and the other schools have done an amazing job on this project.

 

Here is a link to the website and below is an excerpt from the website:

 

https://100daysofdante.com/

 

From the Baylor University website:

 

100 DAYS OF DANTE

 

A Presentation of

 

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY HONORS COLLEGE

 

With Support From

 

TORREY HONORS COLLEGE AT BIOLA UNIVERSITY

TEMPLETON HONORS COLLEGE AT EASTERN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

WHITWORTH UNIVERSITY

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY/ GONZAGA IN FLORENCE

 

 

At some point, we’ve all been lost, or looked up to see the path ahead dark and unclear. For some of us it’s at the beginning of our spiritual journeys or when we face a hard decision. For others it’s after many years of life, when we wonder what might be coming next.

 

And for one poet, over 700 years ago in Florence, Italy, it was midway through his life’s journey.

 

Welcome to One Hundred Days of Dante.

 

Baylor’s Honors College, with support from five collaborating universities, will lead the world’s largest Dante reading group this fall in honor of the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. Through a beautifully designed, engaging website, we’ll read Dante’s wondrous poem, the Divine Comedy, and discover how it can change our outlook, love of God, and embrace of neighbor.

 

Through 100 short, accessible videos led by our faculty and others, we will guide readers around the world through the poem. Starting this September, tune in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to hear from a great teacher who shares their love of Dante with us, and then share your insights with all of us through conversations on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #100daysofdante.

 

100 Days of Dante is for all of us who want to read a great poem accompanied by a guiding light. For us who want to read not just for careful thinking, but for thoughtful living, applying the wisdom of the past to our own lives.

 

Visit the website now to watch a brief video and sign up for updates. This is 100 Days of Dante: let’s read together.

 

https://100daysofdante.com/

Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (10)

 

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 Continuing to ponder what it means to be “the called of Jesus Christ”:

 

What do you see in the following passages?

 

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out…This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day…No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:37, 39, 44).

 

“…that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life…I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word…I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours…I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even 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 sent Me.” (Excerpts from John 17).

 

There is a sense in which, as we ponder these words of Jesus Christ, that we are invited to take a glimpse into the eternal counsels of the Godhead, the Trinity. I don’t know that this is analogous to walking through the front door, perhaps it is more like standing outside a window that has been lifted up so that we can just hear pieces of conversation and catch a few rays of light. The temptation when we encounter the mysteries of God is to speculate on the things we don’t know rather than meditate on the things that God has graciously revealed to us. When we speculate we miss God’s unveiling of Himself, while if we will humble ourselves before Him and receive what He is revealing we will find ourselves being drawn deeper into the koinonia of the Trinity.

 

When we ponder the above passages, can we see that we do not belong to ourselves? Can we see that the genesis of our relationship with Jesus Christ is in God and not in ourselves? Do we see that Jesus Christ holds us tightly within Himself? While we may not understand it, can we acknowledge that the Father has given us to the Son?

 

In Acts Chapter 15, when the elders in Jerusalem met to consider the ramifications of the Gospel being preached beyond Judah and Galilee, James had this to say, “Brethren, listen to me, Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name” (Acts 15:13 – 14). Do we see what James is saying? God is “taking from among the Gentiles a people.” Just as Jesus called and took fishermen by the shore of the sea of Galilee, just as Jesus called Matthew from his tax business; even so God was calling and taking individuals from among the Gentiles that Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were preaching to – God was taking them to make them “a people,” to make them one with God’s People.

 

We see the deliberateness of God in His “taking from among the Gentiles” in Peter’s vision in Acts 10 and his visit to Cornelius; we see it again in Acts 13 when the Holy Spirit says, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” God is ever the initiator in missions; He calls whom He wills to both engage in mission and to respond to the Gospel in mission. In other words, we cannot go without His grace nor can others respond to the message preached without His grace.

 

If we are indeed “the called of Jesus Christ,” then not only are we not our own, but our work and ministry must not be our own – we must learn to bow our hearts before the eternal counsels of God and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, abiding in the Vine – convinced that without Jesus Christ, the Vine, we can do nothing (John 15:5).

 

Is the mark of the ownership of Jesus Christ upon our lives and the lives of our congregations? Do we live as people who belong to Another? A distinguishing feature of Jesus Christ was that He lived under authority, this is what the centurion recognized (Matthew 8:9); do people recognize this about us and our congregations? Are we subject to the authority of Jesus Christ? Are we living according to the will of Another? Is doing the will of our Father and Lord Jesus our source of light, life, and joy – is it the very reason we live?

 

I hope we will also see the orientation of the Biblical Christian life, that it is centered and arranged with the Trinity at its center, as its focus, and as its purpose and completion. Hence Paul writes, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36).

 

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Cor. 1:30 – 31).

 

Do you think of yourself as being “the called of Jesus Christ”? What does Christ’s calling look like in your life today?

Romans 1:1 – 7, A Meditation (9)

 

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles in behalf of His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

“…among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

The recipients of Paul’s letter were those among the nations for whom Paul and others had received grace and apostleship to bring about “the obedience of faith.” These men and women and young people were “the called of Jesus Christ.”

 

What do we think about the idea that we “are the called of Jesus Christ”? Is this the way we think about ourselves and other Christians? Consider the foundational premise that if we are called to something or someone, then we are necessarily called away from other things. In other words, if we are being called to Jesus then we are being called away from ourselves, from sin and death, and from this world system. Another way to think about this is that if we are called to one group or community or city, that we are at the same time being called away from another group or community or city.

 

We find this idea of “calling” in the Greek word for church, ekklesia, which means those called to an assembly; again, if we are called into something we are also called away from something. In the sense of Church, the assembly we are called to includes a transcendent community of saints that spans time and space and reaches into eternity. Therefore, when we gather as God’s People we experience ekklesia on a local level, on a global level, and on a cosmic level at the very same time (let us hope so anyway). We are where we are because God has called us in Jesus Christ, and hopefully we see this locally, globally, and cosmically; or in an immediate, intermediate, and a transcendent sense.

 

Consider Hebrews 12:18 – 24 which includes, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” How do we relate to this passage? Is this theoretical to us or is it our experience? Are we living in an awareness that the Church, to which we have been called in Jesus Christ, is a definable and distinctive community both in the world and in the cosmic order?

 

Or, perhaps I should write that the Church ought to be a definable and distinctive community in the world – for where do we see the Biblical Church today?

 

Jesus calls us into the fellowship, the community, the communion, of the “called out.” I am called, you are called, we are called. Jesus calls to me, He calls to you, and He calls to us. Jesus calls to me and to you so that there may be an “us,” a “we,” an ekklesia.

 

There are some exceptional barriers to us understanding and experiencing the communion of saints, for we are more like Judah in Babylonian captivity than any other Biblical motif, we are estranged from our center of worship and community. Our self-focus mirrors that of the returned exiles in Haggai during the Restoration, we are taking care of our own houses, our self-interests, while the House of God lies desolate (Haggai 1:9). The very reason Judah was released from captivity was to rebuild the House of God and the Holy City, yet upon their return the exiles forgot their calling, they forget the purpose for their release from captivity.

 

So it is with us, we have been delivered from sin and death to serve God in righteousness, as the People of Jesus Christ, a dwelling place of God in the Spirit; and yet we twist our lives and preaching and teaching into a message that is centered on us, centered on man, as opposed to being focused on the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ.

 

If we are indeed called, then we belong to the One who calls us. If we are collectively called, then we collectively belong to the One who calls us. In Christ, our lives are no longer our own, they belong to Jesus Christ. Our failure to understand this is an exceptional barrier to us being the People whom God called us to be.

 

Consider the trajectory of 1 Peter 1:1 – 2:12, noting 1:18 – 19 and 2:9 – 10. It is because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that we are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession…”

 

Is this how we are living today?