Unified - Part 3

 

John 3:3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone

is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

 

Pastor Herk continues that salvation from sin, redemption and forgiveness, escape from God’s justified wrath and eternal damnation, adoption and reconciliation into the family of God, and citizenship with eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven is not something that we were just naturally born into and no control over; we are born-again into this by repentance and acceptance of God’s free gift unto justification (the remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment; or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ). Making the choice to accept and believe by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross as Divine Savior for the payment in full of our rebellious sins, and as the risen Lord of our life ongoing in this earthly existence until we join together with Him in in glorification in the kingdom of Heaven for eternity. The lifelong journey of walking with the Lord and the indwelling Holy Spirit as our guide is a constantly learning experience of growing into the likeness of Christ, called sanctification, which is the act of making holy. In an evangelical sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of consecrated men and women are set apart for a sacred purpose, purified or alienated from sin and the God-rejecting world, and exalted to a supreme love to God. 

 

Philippians 1:27 “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

 

The sanctifying first principle that our practice doesn’t determine our position, but our position does determine our practice applies to the born-again Christian’s walk because the way that we live our lives does not determine our position; God determines our position. The Apostle urges us to live a life worthy of the calling with which you have been called and of the calling you have received. What is it that we need to be worthy of? All spiritual blessings from God, from being chosen by God to being filled with all the fullness of God, which establishes our position in Christ by what Jesus has done for us. Our position, however, determines our practice, the sanctification process in our walk on life’s journey, balancing with our Christian doctrine (position) and corresponding with action to our calling (practice). A child of God is to live, think and act as a child of God. We are to walk worthy of our calling, which is a call to walk on a plain that is commensurate with the position that we have in Christ.     

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

 

Some Christians are primarily oriented to experiences and thrive under the teaching and exercise of spiritual gifts in practice. This is where their focus is. But, they find the positional, doctrinal teaching dry and impractical, therefore out of balance. Generally accepted doctrine (ecclesiastical teachings for the Christian church) is orthodoxy (church tenets and beliefs). It gives correctness of godly thought without the without the practical vitality of the life of Christ. We have to think about Christ’s life and practical aspect of that life was for us. But, practice without godly doctrine of the Christian faith leads to misconnection of meanings or aberrations and wrong feelings in holy Scripture that then lead to easily going off in the wrong direction. The Word of God is doctrine that God put there for us to follow. Salvation and sanctification in living the Christian life comes from the Christian doctrine. As important as each are, we cannot attach too much in importance to one and not the other, otherwise we become out of balance. We need both doctrine (position) and godly action (practice) working together. Practice is the result of the doctrine that we have learned and the proof of its divine nature in growing in the knowledge of God and of good fruit.   

 

Colossians 1:10-14 “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all perseverance and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” All this is because of what Jesus did on the Cross. That common position in Christ is a crucial unifying factor; members of the same body of Believers. 

Let's conclude Pastor Herk's message on Christian unity in the next Post.

In Christ, Brian