In Pursuit of Truth (3)

When we are reborn in Christ and become reborn in Spirit, where do we start? We understand that our way of life has changed, because we’ve changed. The tough question is; where do we start? Nine times out of ten we tend to start at the middle or worse even, at the end. Scripture gives us a good idea of what we should look like and how we should behave as reborn Christians, therefore we practice hard at these desired qualities – and start in the middle. You see, just like our race the other day, our Christian lives have a start, middle and end. You can’t start at the middle, because you need to see, experience and learn some things from the start first. These things will enable you to do what your supposed to do when you come to the middle and end. Does that make sense?

Imagine a 10 month old baby trying to run… how funny would that be?! It’s ridiculous to expect anything more than him/her to crawl or perhaps walk at this stage of their growth and development. A baby needs to crawl before he/she can walk and walk before he/she can run. The same principle applies to our Christian lives; we cannot start out with running – we need to crawl and walk first.

When we read the New Testament Epistles, we need to apply the same principle. There is a first, middle and final part to it. In order to understand (and apply) the middle and final part, we need to comprehend the first part (and apply it). If we don’t read Paul’s letters in this way, we will never really grasp the meaning of what he wrote. Let’s have a look at what Paul did in the book of Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:1-4 (1) Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus: (2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: (4) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:

God has blessed (past tense) you and me with all the spiritual blessings in the Heavenly Places in Christ. We need to see that we are spiritual beings with a human experience and not the other way round; we are created in the image of God and he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Paul then goes on:

Ephesians 1:17-21 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; (18) having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (19) and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us- who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might (20) which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, (21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Christ is sitting at the Father’s right hand in the heavenly places; the place where (Ephesians 1:3) the blessings are poured out. Then Paul goes on to include man’s history in Chapter 2, when he declares:

Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have ye been saved), (6) and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:

Take note: God raised us up with Christ and we are seated with him in the place where we (have already) receive(d) all spiritual blessings. You see, our dilemma starts when we understand that we should resemble Christ in our words and thoughts – and then go out to fake it (we try to be different, but we just can’t keep it up, then we end up faking it anyway). We’re starting at the middle! Paul is trying to tell us (in Ephesians chapter 1 and 2) that we’re supposed to SIT first. We need to see that Christ did everything that our Holy and Righteous God expected as an offering for sin – we may now receive His gift and SIT with Him (the WORK is done). We are unconditionally accepted – no walking or working could ever change that. Isn’t it interesting to note that Adam’s (the first man) first day on earth, was the day that God chose to rest? Adam didn’t contribute to God’s work after he’d been created, God had already completed everything! He was only meant to enjoy God’s work and to REST IN HIM.

Sin brought a disturbance in this way of life and God made the perfect way: Christ would do all the work (like God in the garden of Eden) necessary, so that man can exist in a state of REST in Him. Jesus spoke about this ‘work’ in John 5:17, the work that he had completed in John 19:30.

And this is the mystery of the Gospel, that God went a step further and finished the work of salvation in Christ, so that you and I can simply receive it by faith and live our lives from within His Rest (from a seated position in the Spirit). It is not a command to ‘sit down’, but an invitation to see ourselves as ‘seated’ in Christ. That is why Paul prays for the enlightenment of our spiritual eyes; so that we may see God has finished in His Son, Jesus Christ!

In the next post, we will have a look at the middle and final parts of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians and it’s significance to us. So, keep reading… J