Romans 6:4-7 4 Therefore we
were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His
death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man
was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
1 Corinthians 6:17-19 17
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
It’s really from
this place that it becomes possible to recognize more of who we are, or who we
are able to develop to become – as we really ponder and meditate on this verse.
We may not be Christ-like – in fact much of the time we certainly are not, but
we are called and enabled to grow in Christ-likeness, because of our new DNA in
the spirit.
A new born baby,
especially one that has perhaps had a difficult birth, may look nothing like
either parent except to the most doting of mothers – I remember seeing one of
our family household just after birth, when the skull was still soft, and
looked like the Mekon for those old enough to remember Dan Dare in the Eagle,
or perhaps like Megamind for those in the modern cartoon media….whatever. The
fact is the head was out of shape, and the baby looked like a car-wreck to
anyone unfamiliar with the birthing process. But it did not take long for
things to settle, and indeed as the baby became a child and then a teenager,
parental likeness became more and more apparent. So it is a natural process,
that we, as children of God, might be a total mess when we are born again, but
as we grow and learn how to mature, the parental likeness will happen – if we
choose to apply ourselves to the task.
The first effort
is of course learning obedience. Much as a baby’s first word after the odd
gurgle, dribble and Mummy, will probably be ‘no!’, new born Christians also
struggle a little with obedience. And as we grow in spirit, just as in natural
world growth, if we do not learn obedience, we remain immature and fail to fulfill
our various destinies.
And in the opening
scripture from Romans 6, it is in truly
understanding what Jesus did for us on the cross, and in His resurrection, that
we become His harvest, carrying His presence throughout the world.
When we achieve
that in ourselves, and even just in the process, we have much to offer those in
the world who do not have that strength through Christ. We have a precious gift
to give. The question is – how do we release the gift, who to, and when?
The way to know is
to seek God, inquire of Him – He has the wisdom. That is why we are all doing
the Hearing God Course, is it not? The key to success is to hear God's heart, and align ourselves to Him and His way, rather than presenting our own agenda for Him to comply with!
As you also heard over the last couple of Sundays, the road to the
Promised Land has two main elements – obedience towards God, and the provision
of God. He does not ask us to do anything without giving us the ability and the
authority and the power in Him to accomplish it. In fact, when you recall the
story of how the Gibeonites fooled the Israelites, and so caused them to
disobey God, they are also told that they made the mistake because they did not
inquire of the Lord, which they had been required to do. One disobedience sets
off consequences of disobedience. It is just the same today. It might start
with judgment, or gossip, and ends up with antagonisms, splits, loss of
ministry, soured relationships – just what satan loves to achieve, especially
amongst God’s people.
John 15:9-15 9 " As the
Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My
commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's
commandments and abide in His love. 11
"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that
your joy may be full. 12
"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. 13 "Greater love
has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends if you
do whatever I command you. 15 "No longer do I call you
servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have
called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made
known to you.
He calls us
friends. Friendship invokes trust – trust is a two-way street, and it needs to
be earned. But also and often trust has to be given first and honoured. When we
are entrusted with someone’s life, hurts, personal embarrassments, whatever –
we are being trusted to behave with honour, and not rush out and write an
exposee for the front page of the Sun!!!
When trust is
honoured, more trust ensues. We have learned to trust God, because when we have
applied His word to basic truths, He has honoured us with His word – and we did
not try to run before we could walk – we simply saw the scripture which said
‘Heal the sick’ – so we did – and God did! Once we learned to trust God, He was
then able to teach us about the challenges we would face; that when people were
not healed when we prayed, it was not a problem at God’s end – He already had
our trust. So we were able to learn how to look for other hindrances and
obstacles instead.
Now some of you
may not have seen answers that you expected or wanted from prayer. However, I
do not think we now have anyone in the church who has not witnessed at first
hand an answered prayer for healing, whoever it was that prayed. And everyone
has heard testimony after testimony of the goodness of God, and all that he is
doing and has done all over the world at this current time. So there is great
opportunity to trust God.
Now consider the
community we meet on a daily basis. What do we do in our daily encounters that
cause trust to grow? If you haven’t thought about it before, start today. In
your daily activity, make a conscious effort to develop relationship and trust
towards yourself amongst members of the community. Those who respond are the
first ones to cultivate to the point where they will trust you when you offer
to pray, or you invite them to a function. Without trust, it is only by a
seriously strong word and unction from the Lord that would develop a path to
salvation for someone who is otherwise a stranger – and that does happen, and
will happen – but only if you have developed the ability to hear God clearly
and shown yourself trustworthy to be put in charge of His most valuable jewel –
someone ready for salvation.
For trust to be
developed, people need to know you are safe, a port in the storm of life, as it
were. They also have to have the confidence to see the Christ Spirit in you,
even if they do not know what it is they are seeing. Whatever the
circumstances, we are all going to coming up against challenges that are beyond
our ability to help – but never beyond God’s. Recognise what God is doing,
and also what God is not doing, and seek His heart. And in all things, give thanks to God.
We are in the
Christ lane, it is privileged, carries responsibilities, and needs attention.
But it is a journey of joy, if we will keep it so.
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