By Bob Beanblossom
27 July 2016
It seems to me that we sometimes forget how great the gift of salvation is. We rest in the great grace of His sacrifice and forget that justification by faith thru grace is but the beginning of a great adventure, not the end. Running in place or dragging our feet here limits both our personal growth and His ability to use us for His glory.
Gardiner Spring wrote that, “Pardon thru the blood of the cross is preliminary to advancement thru its righteousness.” (The Attraction of the Cross, 1845) He anchored our relationship with our Creator firmly in the blood of our Savior. There is no other course to salvation. The way is fixed, immovable, set by the very God of the universe who will have no other gods before Him.
Spring then pointed to our sanctification, the growth that yields an increasingly ‘setting aside’ of ourselves for His use. God has set an impossible goal for us to reach: “as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
We might be tempted to give up the fight against the impossibility of God’s command for each of us. Holy as God—not in this life. Exactly. But, before we go hide in a corner, we need to remember that, as children of the Most High God, we have a relationship with that God through the Blood of the Lamb and the indwelling Holy Spirit: we have access to the power of the Creator to move forward in that quest for holiness. There is a path laid out for us as we strive to please Him. God never demands of us what He will not join with us in achieving—if we let Him.
First, the warning: “And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?” (Mark 12:24) We are not called to be spectators or passive vessels waiting for God to move upon us. Paul, in Ephesians 4:1, declared himself to be “the prisoner of the Lord.” A prisoner does his captor’s bidding. Paul, a voluntary prisoner of the Lord as we are, yielded himself to the service of his Master. A primary mission for Christians is to learn of Him through His Word and prayer.
Next, the power: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7) That power comes with the gift of love and of a sound mind. The power comes with the ability to use it.
Then come the tools: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The Word of God is our primary tool and growth requires time in His Word (not reading about the Word) in the spirit of prayer. Fellowship with likeminded Christians and a careful selection of other reading material help, but are no substitutes for the real thing. Limitations to this gift are within us, not in the gift: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:2-4) He is giving us all things—all things that pertain to life in Him and godliness. We are given promises: each promise comes with conditions, with obligations on our part. When we ask, He will give us wisdom and understanding to discern those conditions and obligations.
Why does he give us these magnificent gifts? That we should: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16) This is the fellowship of fellow Christians; fellowship in the sense of sharing Jesus and His blessings, sharing our challenges and failures; upholding one another in specific prayer. A cup of coffee and discussion of the Big Game or The Election are not fellowship in this sense.
As we grow–a parallel activity, with each supporting the other–we have that familiar command, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:7) We are to tell others of our salvation. We don’t need to be great orators—Paul said that he spoke in simplicity. We don’t need three points to a rehearsed message—we simply need to share the change in our hearts and lives. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.