One Wonderful Result of The Incarnation

John 17:20-26: ²⁰ “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

1 John 1:3: We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

Donald Fairbairn, in his book “Life in the Trinity”, describes one of the beautiful results of the Incarnation. He believes that the Orthodox Christians in the East have their theology right but missed the implications of “God becoming man so that man could become like God.”

 Jesus is reigning forever as Incarnate God – Fully God and Fully Man. 

The implications of this are: 

1) that His Essence matches the same Essence as God the Father.

2) At the same time, His essence matches ours (as He is fully Man).

3) As a result, for us who have been united with Christ Jesus, we have access to participate in the Fellowship of the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. This access is granted because Jesus is both God and Man. We have been drawn into the Triune community of God; this fellowship is discussed here in John 17 as well as in 1 John 1. We are being made one with the Father as Jesus is one with the Father. (We will never take on the Essence of God but we will spend all of eternity being more and more united to Him!)

Because of Who Jesus is and what He has done, we have access to relationships with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Not only to have a relationship with God but to share in the same relationship that God the Father has with God the Son and with the Holy Spirit for all of eternity. What a wonderful Lord we serve!

All by grace, for His Glory

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:10 NAS)

Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians brilliantly explains who we are as Christ followers (our Identity) in chapters 1-3 and ‘how we should live’ as a result of following Christ Jesus (our Behavior) in chapters 4-6. Here, in chapter 2, is a verse that connects both themes.

First, it is vital for us to remember that we are created in the Image of God. When satan (or anyone else for that matter) tells you lies about who you are, it is important to remember that you have been created in the Image of God. Not only that, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ has bought for you your salvation. To not value ourselves and our identity as Christ followers is to cheapen the inestimable worth of the blood of our Savior.

Second, God has created us in Christ Jesus to walk in good works. Whatever call that the Lord may have upon your life (corresponding to the unique design that He has given to you), it is important to remember that we are to do good works. These works have been prepared by God for you to do. It is your job as a faithful Christ-follower to seek out the Will of God for your life.

But, here’s the kicker. The Glory belongs to God. It is easy, and somewhat our nature (thanks to Adam & Eve), to see our good works as a result of our own strength. What is crucial to remember is that, not only are we to do these good works, but when we do them, it is because the Lord has given us both the strength to perform them and the works themselves. So…

If it is by the grace of God, then it is to the Glory of God.

Whatever we do, may it be done unto the Glory of God (for His praise and our transformation – see previous post), for it is only by His grace that we have these works to do and the abilities to carry them out.

My Allotted Portion

My Allotted Portion

The LORD is my allotted portion and my cup,

the one who supports my lot.

The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.

Psalm 16:5-6

Ancient Israelites had a tribal representative who cast lots for them in the assembly. Lots were used to make decisions of all sorts, but especially land allocation. This section of Psalm 16 is an extended metaphor of land inheritance, but what strikes me is how clear the Psalmist makes it that the LORD is his real inheritance. When I read these verses, I’m tempted to think about all the blessings that God showers on me – my portion in terms of loving family, faithful friends, material provision, and so on. But other parts of Scripture affirm these good gifts that God showers on us; other psalms thank God for His blessings and favour, and other verses enjoin us to be content with the ‘lot’ that God gives us. Psalm 16, though, started with the Psalmist exclaiming boldly to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good besides Thee.” (16:2) And in v.5, he declares that the LORD is his allotted portion and his cup. God supports my lot because He is my lot – my representative and my inheritance. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places and my inheritance is beautiful to me because it is the riches of God’s glorious inheritance in the saints – that is, Himself. Lord, help my heart to echo the Psalmist’s joyful contentment in having You as his glorious, more-than-sufficient portion.

To the Glory of God...

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

"To the Glory of God"

This phrase has reshaped my thinking and the way that I view myself and the world over the past few years. When I first heard that God’s primary concern is His Glory, I hesitated to believe it. My first thought was ‘aren’t we supposed to be selfless?’ Yes, that’s true. Humans are to be selfless, but the point is to glorify God. Even when Jesus showed the ultimate demonstration of selflessness by going to the cross, His purpose was to glorify His Father by doing His Father’s Will. The glory of God is the reason that we were created. Our purpose and God’s purpose are one-and-the-same: to bring Him Glory.

When I hear the phrase ‘to the Glory of God’, I think of two things, and I would challenge you to do the same: 1) praise and 2) transformation. The purpose for our existence is to praise God, but it does not end there; we are being transformed into His Glory. I don’t mean that we will become ‘gods’ (we will never share the same essence as God), but that we are to be reflecting Him more and more as followers of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Jesus is the ‘radiance of His Glory and exact representation of His Nature’, so as we are transformed into the Image of Jesus (Christ-like or ‘Christian’), we are being transformed into the fullness of God. It is a transformation process that will last for the rest of eternity. We will spend forever increasingly reflecting the Glory of God. Praise God that He has aligned our purpose with His (to bring Him Glory) and that we have this opportunity to day-by-day be transformed by the Holy Spirit at work within us to reflect Jesus, who is the Glory of God, to a world desperately in need of a Savior.

Remember the Body

Remember those who are in prison as if you were in prison with them

and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

                                                                               Hebrews 13:3

I used to subscribe to Voice of the Martyrs newsletters, and there were seasons in my life when I actively remembered persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. But it occurred to me today that I have not earnestly interceded for the global, suffering church for a while. As I read this verse, God reminded me of the multitude of faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are languishing in prison or being physically attacked because of their faith in Jesus. Recent news has highlighted the plight of the Christians in the Kenyan shopping centre. Our chapel speaker today, a US Congressman, told us that intense persecution and conflict has resulted in the number of Iraqi Christians dropping from 1.4 million to less than 500,000. One of our fellow students here was imprisoned in China because he was an active house church leader. And yet I forget to remember those in prison as though I myself were in prison with them. I somehow forget the many Christians who are beaten and killed for Jesus every day. But I invariably manage to remember when I am hungry or thirsty or tired – and take action to secure food or water or rest. Hebrews 13:3 reminds me of another body that I should be just as concerned about—the body of Jesus Christ, that is, the Church. Lord, help me to remember the other parts of your body who are suffering for you. Remind me daily to pray for them, to encourage them as I can, and to seize opportunities to speak out for them.

Overcoming: The Way of the Cross

Revelation 5:5-7

⁵ and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

⁶ And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. ⁷ And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Revelation 7: 4, 9, 14

⁴ And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel….
⁹ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands…….¹⁴“…These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the above verses John hears about a Lion but sees a Lamb. He hears about 144,000 but sees a great multitude that no one could count. The Lion of Judah overcomes as a “Lamb standing, as if slain” and the 144,000, a figure that seems to represent an army, actually is a great multitude of martyrs. How we expect that the Lord would have overcome is not the way that He actually overcame. No Messiah-expecting Jew (Peter is a great example of this) would have ever expected this either.  Jesus has overcome by submitting to the will of His Father and taking on the cross, with the intent of glorifying God and bringing us salvation. This great multitude, whom John sees worshiping the Lamb, has overcome in the same manner: by following Christ’s example in submitting to the will of God. They are not an army of Christian soldiers readied with supernatural artillery but martyrs in white robes cleansed by the blood of Jesus. They embrace the example of the Risen Lamb. It’s what Luther called having a Theology of the Cross (as opposed to a Theology of Glory). It is a victory that we find in submission to whatever trial that God calls us through. No matter what path may lay ahead, whatever ‘little Gethsemane’ we may face, we must be defined as ones who love and pray for our enemies, who overcome evil with good, and who say, as adopted children through the blood of Christ, “Father, Thy Will be done.” May the same Holy Spirit, whose power raised Christ from the dead and now dwells within we who believe, fill us with the strength to overcome whatever painful paths may come while helping our gaze to stay firmly focused on the One Who has Overcome.