Clothed in Christ

Galatians 3:26-27 says: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

One of the questions in Bible study this week asked, "How would you say the 'garment' of Christ Himself might make a life identifiable? (Read also Ephesians 4:17-5:8)."

The study previous asked the obvious question about how we identify people in society by what they wear. For example, an answer might be that we identify a person to be a fireman if he's wearing the firefighter's gear.

I struggled a little with this question because the verses seem to point out the negatives, like a person not clothed in the garment of Christ. (Time to ask Anita what she put down for her answer.) After talking to Anita I decided to write down all the contaries to the negatives to see what the garment of Christ entails.

(From Ephesians 4:17-5:8)
Purity -- 4:19
Honesty and trustworthiness -- 4:22,25
Righteousness and holiness -- 4:24
Self-control -- 4:26
Productivity, honesty, generosity -- 4:28
Speaking with consideration and helpfulness -- 4:29
Pleasing to God -- 4:30
Kindness and self-control, forgiving -- 4:31,32
Having a life of selfless and sacrificial love -- 5:1,2
Purity and contentment -- 5:3
Thanksgiving -- 5:4
In appearance of light -- 5:8

It is sobering and humbling to compare this with what I see when I look in the mirror, so to speak.

Galatians 3:27 says, "for all of you who were baptized into Christ...". Now, I don't think this just means a church baptism ceremony type of thing, rather it is a submersion of our selves in the Holy Spirit. Mark 1:8 say, "I baptize you with water, but he (meaning Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit". It is my prayer that we all seek a life in the Spirit.

God Has Assigned The Task

I have a cold and couldn't sleep so I decided to get up, drink a little tea, and listen to TFL via one of the downloaded Podcasts. In the message titled A Call To Service (taken from 1 Cor 16:10-11) I was inspired to blog as I heard the tail end of part A. Below Alistair says something like this.

Paul worked with Timothy in the ministry of spreading the Gospel. Something about Timothy is that he is young, physically frail (weak stomach), and timid. And some folks would ask, why did you pick Timothy and entrusted him with the gospel? Paul would have replied and said, "I understand your thinking but God assigns the task."

One of the reasons people don't engage in ministry is because we are fearful. We are fearful of rejection. It is one of the debilitating factors in Christian ministry. We think: I might not be successful, I might not be able to allow my perfectionistic standards to bear upon the task, I might not look good. Etc...

Listen, if God has put His hand upon you, shows you the pink slip, sign your name on the pink slip and do the job. Don't let us make a circus out of it.

Accept your limitations. You can't do everything.
Assume your responsibilities. You can do something.
Don't let the evil one tell you, that because you are young (or old) frail and timid, that it is somebody else's job.

Also I'd like to add, yesterday I was listening to the last message on FRANgelism, a lesson from John chapter 4. From notes I took as I was listening I wrote that in the spiritual realm the usual pattern is to reap where others have sown, but at times we may sow and never get to reap.

Reapers need to be humble. Sowers need not be discouraged. The hard work of the sower will be honored in heaven. Recall that the last will be first and the first will be last.

Are we reaping? If not, are we sowing? Let us assume our responsibilities. God has assigned the task.

Redemption

In last week's Bible study at Community Bible Study there is a question that says, "For what reason did God redeem us?".

There was a previous question asking to, by any source, define "redeem". I like using dictionary.com because it's quick and easy and is a lot lighter than my big book dictionary. There's even a theological definition included which says, "to save from a state of sinfulneses and its consequences". However, even a secular definition has a theological impact: "to recover ownership of by paying a specified sum". The Lord created us, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3).

The "For what reason" question is interesting because I believe it looks at the character of God. It looks at His motivation. God didn't have to redeem us; he is soveriegn and no one else is telling Him to do so.

The answer that came to me was simply, "Because of his unfathomable love". In Ephesians 3:17b-18 it says: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Going back to the definition of redeem we can say that the specified sum was Christ on the cross. Knowing that the Lord as put such a high price on us to redeem us should encourage us in how we value ourselves and others. It's not self-worth, it's God's worth. It's not self-confidence, it's God's confidence. And Jesus says we are more valueable than the birds of the air or the flowers in the fields. (Matthew 6:25-26)

Again I'm led to say how vital it is to thoroughly study the scriptures. Ideally it is participating in a mid-week Bible study that draws you to study at home each day, like Community Bible Study, or Bible Study Fellowship, or Lifelight, or even if your church has a mid-week small group study. If you cannot find such a structured study then I pray the Lord draws you to take it upon yourself, or gather a few from church and study. Don't just sit in church and think you are studying the Bible. Look at the Bereans, it says in Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

The Christian's Evening Work

There are things, scriptures and quotes, I run into which truly humbles my heart.

From the Galatians study this week one question posed is this: Consider your own life-style. What changes would you need to make to act in line of the truth of the gospel?

The question is in reference to Galatians 2:14. Paul rebuked Peter because he was distinguishing between Jewish and Gentile believers, giving preference to Jewish believers. The question had me read Philippians 2:1-11. This passage admonishes us to put aside vain conceit and in humility to consider others better than ourselves.

What changes would I need to make? Oh man, where do I start!?

Earlier in the week I read this Spurgeon devotional titled, "The Christian's Evening Work". It challenges me to think, how much effort do I put into proclaiming the gospel message, that Jesus died -- not because he did anything wrong, or that there was mistaken identity, or as a martyr, but for the atoning sacrifice for my sin and yours -- so that people may be free from sin and live eternally. Here's a brief point from the devotional.

Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose a day. It has been well said that if a great king were to bring us a great heap of gold and bid us take as much as we could count in a day, we would make a long day of it; we would begin early in the morning, and in the evening we would not withhold our hand. Winning souls is far nobler work; so how is it that we quit so soon?

In the greater context he was addressing me and others who have "day jobs" but in the evening we may put aside the work of our Lord. I think of the spiritual implications of the secular story, "A Christmas Carol", when Scrooge is visited by the spirit of Jacob Marley. Scrooge said, "Jacob, you always had a good head for business." And in reply Marley says, "Mankind was my business!"

Heaven and Hell are serious, so shall we withold our hand to the task? Let the love of our Lord carry us on.