inseparable
12Jan08
Now find yourself constantly in Christ. You live in him and he lives in you. Outside of Christ everything in the world can go wrong. But if your life is truly hid with Christ in God, then you are literally inaccessible to the wicked one. Anytime you suffer, you suffer with Christ so that you can share in his glory. If you’re hated, it’s because they hated Jesus.
And because the testimony of Jesus resounds for all time - they will also keep your word. What a friendship, what an honor, what authority: what a love >>
how do we “awake to righteousness” and subsequently “sin not” as Paul wrote to the Corinthians?
I think it comes from the fear of God, and thus consequently the knowledge of Him. The rest of that verse even goes on to say “for some do not have the knowledge of God.”
A knowledge comes from…well…
Psalm 119:9-11
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
That’s one of the most valuable questions anyone can ask.
First off, who specifically (in the city of Corinth) was this written to - & what was the discussion?
great question luke10! you have basically asked “who am i in Jesus?” you are the righteousness of God in Him -realizing what Father has said and done is where the awaking happens…….we are infinitely more than we have yet reckoned with…
by the way, beautiful bit of prose to start this out glen!
Awakening to righteousness is a kingdom thing. We do not do it. We can only initiate the awakening by asking Jesus to “awaken us.” For the Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. These three qualtites are mysteries and are not just attributes as we understand them. For example, His righteousness is what the Father is doing. Jesus spoke constantly of a Kingdom which had very different qualities. Healings. Deliverance. The full measure of God! Read Rev 21 - a powerful place in which we now draw our lives from everyday via worshipping Him who sits on the throne!
There are 9 fruits of the Spirit and against them - there is no law. (Gal.) After you ask, the Holy Spirit comes and begins communicating the purposes, plans and intimacies that transform your mind. The process is relationship–knowing Jesus and His Kingdom ways! Sin is no longer the focus!!!!!! Jesus is your desire!
You ask because you believe. Have Christians truly believed that Jesus’ work has truly killed sin? Have Christians truly believed that his finished work on the Cross truly buried sin in the ground, that they now have complete access to the Father and the Kingdom of God? Have Christians truly believed that his death and the Father raising Him up from the dead on the 3rd day is truly sufficient atonement and a complete demostration of the fulfillement of the requirement of the law?
We must believe that before we ask. Otherwise our prayer focus might as well be witchcraft - always seeking to fix “what is wrong” so we some how obtain to righteousness (and usually as we define it). We were MADE righteous through the Blood of Christ. 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. (Col 1:14) He is mighty! He is all powerful! He has first place over everything! Therefore, he must have first place over your belief that you are not fully a member of His family seated at the right hand in heavenly places. He must have first place over sin and it’s being in your life by what he has done! Then sin no longer has a hold of you. The old has gone! The new has come!
Colossians 1:15-23 -
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach– if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
SEE THE KINGDOM IN WHICH HE REIGNS!
Ah yes - that’s key. Awaking to righteousness is a kingdom thing, and it’s very much a conscious thing. Is it possible for believers to be asleep to righteousness?
“….And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach– if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven….”
I think so if one loses hope. The value of hope. One of the three most important things Paul mentions in Corinthians 13 after talking extensively about love. “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
The greatest is love because God is Love. Love is the person, Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit is a name and not a thing (i.e. the Holy Spirit)
The three qualities one must have to have life are faith, hope and love. Hope can be lost and therefore faith sours and though the Love will not deny itself, we can deny Him even through omission. Hope will not sour if there is a testimony of evidential experience in a person’s life.
Relationship is the amazing dynamic in all of this discussion. I have friends and professional relationships that grow and change over time. As a result, if time lapses without interaction the relationship suffers. I lose hope in the relationship of having what was cultivated. Unless you start over. I think with Jesus, it can be the same. We lose righteousness because we have lost the value of hope in the gospel we have heard. Therefore moving in faith does not happen and Love is not experienced and cultivated.
The righteousness of God comes from the character of the Father, his ways and Him and the Son imparting their glory and truth through Holy Spirit to us. We must be in constant state of receiving that which will be revealed. Paul called it praying continually. Conversation with Jesus. Asking, listening, responding and believing which all begin with the “hope in the Gospel we have heard.” Hope comes easy and faith gets stronger through experience. No experience. No righteousness.
What makes that even stronger is the greek word translated hope (elpis) is really better translated “expectation.” It’s not just a “hope things work out” hope. We have an expectation, a strong confidence based on the great and precious promises Father has given us. And you’re right, it’s by these we get to share in the Divine Nature right now, consciously mixing the promise of the Word with faith.
Is it fair to say that being asleep to righteousness looks like this, while being awake looks like this?
Exactly. The hope of the Gospel is the expectation that Jesus is actively in your life communicating to you the way to find him. I was going to use the term “unbelieving believers” who pursue that form of godliness but in real terms have turned Christianity into a religion or philosophical viewpoint that only seeks out perfection as it’s end results (the most extreme form of Godliness without power). Social justice or “feeding the poor,” as Paul puts it, is commendable but is not neccessarily being a Christian. The distinguishing mark of a Christian is the imparted life of Christ transforming and restoring a human into His image and likeness. We are ambassadors of reconciliation first bringing light into a dark world of poverty and destruction. To impart expectation that leads to faith in Christ to anyone is the most significant thing one can do.
I believe the acts of kindness that matter only come from the cultivated hope of the Gospel. Doing the work without hearing Him first is a waste of time. Only the works of Christ shall remain. Faith comes by hearing the very Word of God. What is that Word Holy Spirit speaks to you? To me? To us collectively? Nothing is impossible…. now!