A Sinner saved by grave or a saint? Part 2

Following on from last week here are some further thoughts…..

So if we are more than ‘sinners saved by grace’ why is it that we struggle with being called ‘saints’?

Here are three possible reasons:

• We look the same – we have not been noticably transformed or are identifyably any different, we don’t suddenly have ‘halos’ or possess a ‘holy auror,’ or walk around 6 inches off the ground.
• We don’t necessarily feel like it. We have some measure of a ‘born again’ experience. I say some measure, because for some it’s more dramatic than others, yet no less real – some can name a date, for others it happened over a period of time and they are not sure when they actually crossed the line; for some it was a dramatic experience, for others it wasn’t…..
• We still find ourselves struggling with sin. I mean if I am a new creation why is that? Perhaps you think, what changed? Did anything change?

If we are to move forward it helps us to remember something of how life works in both the natural and the spiritual:

• In some ways becoming a Christian is a bit like moving from one country to another and then becoming a citizen of that country. You may well take on the new identity but you you still have memories and thinking patterns that reflect your previous history or citizenship.
• Then there is the matter of growth in knowledge and understanding.  A child doesn’t understand immediately who he or she is, but over a period of time learns who they are, and grows into it.
• Then theres the not so small matter of experience. It’s not just knowledge and understanding but the working out of it through decision and action. Such decision making and action can confirm or work against our knowledge of who we are.
• Lastly Christians are in a ‘war zone’ and the enemy will contest everything. Even as Satan confronted Jesus as to who he was, so he will confront those who believe in and seek to follow him.

Where are you  on the spectrum?

Have you crossed the line into the kingdom? If not I urge you to believe in him who lived and died that you might have a new identity, and know the power of the life to come.

Are you still a babe in Christ? It’s time to start growing – feed on him and his word; draw on the new life he has given you.

Are you taking responsibility for your decisions and their consequences? It’s time to start behaving as well as believing.

Are you caught in the battle, your shield is down and you’ve dropped your sword – it’s time to pick them up again and start fighting for your spiritual life.

Have you dropped out of the battalion – the local church – you need to get back into it, find your family and fellow soldiers.

Saved Sinner or Saint?

Following on from last week one of the outcomes of worm theology is to think of the Christian as ‘just a sinner saved by grace’.

There may be some truth to that statement but theres an awful lot of truth missing – enough to make it wrong. The scriptures repeatedly state in various ways that we are not what we were, that we are new creations, no longer in Adam but in Christ, in fact the letters are addressed not to ‘sinners saved by grace’ but to those who have become ‘saints by grace’! The problem is that in many of the older versions of the Bible many of the letters were addressed to those who were ‘called to be saints’, but the ‘to be’ was in italics which means that it wasn’t in the original.

Now whoever we are, we all live out of our perceived identity, and if we take this as our cue we will always be Romans 7 Christians, and Romans 8 will always be elusive. The flesh will always be the powerhouse of our lives and not the power of the indwelling Spirit of God. My observation as a pastor/minister was that people who thought like this lived this.

Are you a Christian listening to the lies of the enemy? There is a higher truth than your past truth, and it is God’s truth that in Jesus you are a new creation – ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven; you have a new identity as a child of God, you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you saying ‘Abba, Father.’ You have the power to live a different kind of life.

Predestined, called, justified and glorified?

I was preaching on Sunday on the subject “Salvation belongs to our God – Understanding the Process of Salvation” and I was struck in my preparation by the fact that Paul says we have not only been justified but we have also been glorified (Romans 8:30).

Now it’s strange that the rest of this verse we treat has being in the past or the present active tense – we’ve been predestined to be like Jesus; called; justified - and yet I don’t think I’ve ever heard a preacher say that we’ve been glorified, that’s usually something that’s going to happen when we die, when the ultimate transformation takes place, yet that is not what the text appears to say. Indeed Paul elsewhere talks about us being changed or transformed from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18), so for Paul this has a very real and present application.

The reality is that something happened when we were born again, saved, became a Christian. Prior to Christ there was no glory in our lives. We were lost and dead in our tresspasses and sins, dominated by our passions, with the constant downward pull towards defeat and death. Our lives reflected darkness not light; bondage, not liberty etc..

But this gospel, this good news that Paul calls ”the glory of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4) changes all that! He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He translates us from darkness to light. He snaps the fetters and sets the captives free. He takes the rebel and makes him or her a priest and a king. He transforms the sinner into a saint.

Yes God not only justifies us, he glorifies us. He lifts us up and sets our feet on the eternal Rock of Jesus Christ our Lord, and exhibits us as trophies of his glorious grace. He takes sinners, redeems them and puts his Spirit in their hearts adopting them as his very own sons and daughters, with all the privileges that bestows!

Again Paul says “Such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1Corinthians 6: 11). Such they may well have been, but now they are radically different! The God of glory has met them and they have met him in Jesus Christ, and now they can never be defined by what they were – hallelujah!

It may be that you need to go and draw afresh from the well of salvation (Isaiah 12). To put on your beautiful garments and shake off the dust (Isaiah 52:1, 2) that has gathered on you or that the enemy keeps thowing back at you. To realise afresh that your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, therefore you can arise (Isaiah 60:1), lift up your head and walk tall in this world.