Claiming our inheritance

“Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:11-12). There are three things listed here that should characterize a Christian: power, patience and joyful thanksgiving. They are described here as part of our inheritance… what Christ has made available to us. Imagine having an inheritance, yet not knowing about it, or, knowing about it, not claiming it! The Christian life is not just a grind, as we keep on trying to become better people. We cannot change at all without the continuous empowering of the Holy Spirit being poured into our lives.

People seek the power of Spirit to make them feel better or because they get excited about the supernatural. But the power of the Spirit is given to change our lives and make us more like Christ. Even when we witness a miracle, it should motivate us to know the Christ who performed this miracle better. A changed church is a powerful church. There should be no contradiction between character and charisma. The fact is that God will pour out His Spirit most powerfully on those whose lives He can trust to use that power wisely and in a way that will reflect well on Him.

With power comes patience. When we have experienced the power of God in one area, it gives us patience to wait in others. And along with power and patience comes thanksgiving. Life for the world is always cup half-full and cup half-empty. Some cope better with it than others. But for the Christian who is growing in the knowledge of God, life is always cup overflowing even in the face of suffering. The same man who wrote the opening words also wrote this: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21) He is the same man who, with his back raw and bleeding, sang praises to God in the Philippian jail. Was it not the power of his praise that precipitated the earthquake that set free not only him and Barnabas, but also everyone around him?

Think about the consequences of your praise. Power, patience and thanksgiving…. we cannot work any of them up by our own strength, but they are freely available in the Holy Spirit to those who ask for them — an inheritance to be claimed.

Maturity is measurable

“So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). The result of receiving the knowledge of Christ is that our lives change. Milton had a keen insight when he talked about the pilgrim’s progress. Christian maturity, holiness, or whatever you want to call it, is measurable. If we are not moving forward we are moving backward because the will of God is constant continuous positive change. The change may be small at times but we are always moving in the right direction.

Christians should be the most directed and motivated people in the world, and the church should be the most directive and purposeful institution. As we change, it gives us a hunger for even more of the knowledge of God. Knowing Christ gives us a desire for God’s wisdom and the willingness to apply it practically, even if it means doing the opposite of what the world would do. Honesty, as Ben Franklin said, actually is the best policy, even if our human nature would prefer protecting ourselves through lying and cheating. When we find out that God’s ways and His Word work, it gives us a hunger to know Christ and His Word better and to find even more wisdom.

After a period of time, the accumulation of knowledge, wisdom and insight begins to make our lives different from the lives of those around us and becomes a powerful testimony to the ability of Jesus Christ to change men and women for the better. To stop with salvation and forgiveness and refuse to move further into the knowledge of Christ and His wisdom being applied in our lives produces religious people whose lives are sadly not much different, and sometimes even worse than the lives of those around them, and it turns people away from Christ.

Knowledge that changes everything

“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding…” (Colossians 1:9) Here, as in Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon, Paul prays that believers would receive the knowledge of God. “Knowledge” refers to the personal relationship we have with Christ. This is not something that accumulates as random pieces of information; it is something which “fills” our lives. Knowing information may have no effect on our lives at all, but knowing Christ changes everything.

This knowledge is supplemented with “wisdom” and “understanding”, or “insight”. “Wisdom” refers to an accurate understanding of life and the world around us which comes from God’s Word. “Insight” carries the idea of the strategic ability to apply that wisdom. When we come to know Christ, we are delivered out of ignorance and into relationship with Christ. This is real knowledge. With this knowledge comes a correct perception of life through the Scriptures, and with that in turn comes the ability, by the power of the Spirit,  to apply that understanding practically. Without the knowledge of God through Christ, our knowledge and wisdom will be limited. We will attempt to understand the creation without understanding the Creator.

The world has information, but the church has revelation. The difference between the two is that revelation changes how we live. It does this by changing all our values, so that everything we do comes out of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for us. We do not think as the world thinks. We do not have the same values as they have. We realize we are in this life to live for Christ and for others, not for ourselves. Why, without an encounter with Jesus Christ, would we want to love others, to put their interests ahead of ours, to forgive those who have wronged us, to live to the highest standards in our finances even when everyone else around us is cheating? We would never live like this on the basis of worldly wisdom, but only on the foundation of our knowledge of Christ.

The wisdom of the world says to stick up for yourself and do a few good works along the way to make yourself feel better and look good. The knowledge of Christ says to lay your life down even for your enemy.  The knowledge of Christ is the only way to gain true wisdom and the only way to make your life a true success.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! My background has all sorts of things in it… church planting, academic theology, travelling in different countries; above all a passion to bring Word and Spirit together in a way we don’t often see in our Christian culture. I realize your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it. The function of a true Bible teacher is to present the Word so that it arrests the attention of those who hear it. They may agree and be moved to action, or provoked into disagreement. Either way they hopefully begin to think through the true dimensions of our faith in a way that is often missed in our superficial approach to church and to truth. One of the things I enjoy is the opportunity to have open forums in which people can ask any question they want about the Bible. Interesting discussions result, as you can imagine!

Maybe we can engage with each other in that kind of way through this blog! So let this adventure begin…

Glory Seekers

In Ephesians 1:17, Paul addresses his prayer to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory (verse 17). Nowhere else in the Bible is God called the “Father of glory,” though God is identified countless times as Father and as the source of all glory. The root meaning of “glory” in Greek actually goes back to the word “appearance,” which figuratively means our reputation -- how others look at us. Behind our outward appearance is the inner core of who we are as a person -- our “essence,” as one Bible scholar puts it. Our essence makes an impact. The impact, multiplied over and over by our words and actions, creates our reputation -- what people think of us. This is our “appearance.” It could be a good appearance or a bad appearance depending on our life and character. But when the Bible uses this word in relation to God, it takes on a different meaning.

God’s essence is his holiness, his complete love, truth, faithfulness. The impact this makes on us is like blinding light in our darkness. The supernatural power of who he is means that he often encounters men and women on earth in the form of blinding light, lightning and so on, such that to gaze on his appearance means death. This outward “appearance” or “reputation” of God is totally different from ours. And so the word “glory” came to be associated with the appearance of God alone, his glory. In English we created different words like “reputation” for when we are talking about people and not God. Yet as we become like Christ, we begin to carry a measure of his glory. We begin to look like him. We who behold the glory of the Lord, Paul says, we who are being filled with his Spirit, are being transformed form one degree of glory into another (2 Cor. 3:17-18).

In the charismatic world, we make a terrible mistake by identifying glory with someone who comes with a dramatic prophecy or apparent word or supernatural manifestation from God, or perhaps someone with a dynamic personality, or someone claiming to be blessed with material prosperity. This we foolishly call glory, and we follow such people --and become the blind leading the blind. But the true glory is manifested in people whose essence is so filled with the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit is able to produce the love, goodness, faithfulness, joy, peace, long suffering and gentleness of Jesus Christ in our character and our actions. As these actions impact the world around us, we gain a good glory. But this is truly the glory of God, for it is ultimately created by God himself through his Spirit. If we are going to be glory-seekers, this is the glory we should seek.