We Are God's People

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." 

John 14:21-24 (ESV)

This past winter I enjoyed watching Downton Abbey which aired on the local PBS station’s presentation of Masterpiece™ Classic. This historical drama follows the lives of the Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley, and his family in the early 20th century Edwardian England. The family spans three generations, and it includes the aged Dowager Countess and three headstrong daughters. The Crawleys are the epitome of English aristocracy, whose legacy includes inherited title, lands, and wealth.

The three daughters are all determined to go their own way. The eldest is involved in an illicit love affair. The middle daughter is a conniving gossip who betrays her one of her sisters. The youngest turns her back on her family to marry a “common” man. And the father is at a loss as to how to handle all this upheaval in his family. 

One of the most telling moments in the story occurs when the eldest daughter is viewing an estate that she and her husband-to-be, a powerful and vindictive publisher of a London tabloid, are considering as a their new home. As they view the magnificent oil portraits which hang on the corridor wall, they wonder aloud what is to become of the paintings. The publisher says that he will, of course, buy them. After all, that is how “his kind” obtains such priceless works. His fiancée immediately responds, “Our kind inherits them.”

Unfortunately, the lives of the Crawleys more often than not typify the lives of families in our communities. Parents struggle to rear their children in the legacy that has been delivered to them, and children want to go their own way, even to the point of turning their back on their families and despising their inheritance. Thankfully, God does not waver when it comes to the rearing of his children. 

When the Christian speaks of inheritance, it is not the inheritance of worldly wealth, those riches that men seek and store, where moth and rust eats away at it, of which he speaks. Nor is it just “going to heaven.” The inheritance is far richer, more profound, and more valuable than one thing or a place. The inheritance is a Person. For the Christian, the inheritance is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And besides Christ, there is no inheritance.

God the Father, from eternity past and before he created the universe and reality in which we live, determined to send his Son, Jesus, into the world in the likeness of human flesh to save a people and make them his own. Man was eternally and damnably separated from God through the sin of Adam in the Garden. And all men participated in that fall from grace through Adam’s sin. Death came into the world through Adam. Death has become the curse of man because God is angry with sin and with sinners.

But life has come into the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus. His death, in and on behalf of his people, was the pouring out of God’s wrath on his beloved Son because of the sin of his people. Jesus’ death was the ultimate curse—the innocent dying for the guilty. And that curse has turned into the blessing for all men because Jesus bore in his own body the wrath of God against sin, and Jesus exhausted that wrath. God’s anger against his people has been turned away from his people, and we experience that turning away when we trust Jesus for his selfless act of supreme love. But there is more to the story. 

When we trust Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, we are adopted in the truest sense of the word as the children of God. We are given his name, Christian, and we are given everything that belongs to him. Above all, we are given his Spirit, who takes up residence within us, not only to confirm to our hearts that we are born of God, but to continually transform us into the image of Christ—to become more like Christ in what we say, do, and think. While we may act as headstrong as the Crawley daughters, the Triune God will discipline and disciple us to return to the legacy of our inheritance.

Trusting in Jesus, submitting to him, obeying his revealed will, relying upon his Spirit, fellowship with him in worship, prayer, and daily reading of our Bibles are the things which strengthen us to live moment-by-moment, day-by-day as the people of God. Since the Christian is adopted as the child of God and a partaker in the inheritance which is given to Christ, we have no need to fear anything. Our Father knows all our needs. He has promised us good gifts. The chief gift he has given to us is Christ Himself.

Therefore, we now can and should do all things to his glory. Whether it is our vocations, our schoolwork, or our relationships, we have the promise that God will provide sufficient grace to us so we can do these things to please him as children who return love to such overwhelming love. And if we please him, then others will be pleased.

The people of God possess such a rich inheritance in Christ that it cannot in any way be compared to earthly inheritances. The most important question to be answered right now is this. Are you a partaker of that inheritance? If not, why not?

Dear friend,

April 10, 2012

Dear friend,

Thank you for  joining us Sunday for our worship service. I don't think you should feel too self-conscious about your visit. We are used to having visitors stop by only twice a year -- at Christmas and Easter. Besides, everyone here seemed to enjoy seeing you once again! I also thank you for the conversation that you and I had following the worship service. 

I did not realized that you were so well educated. I was never a very good student, but I did improve as I got older (maturer?). I almost had to repeat my senior year in high school, because I had a really difficult time with English. Perhaps I should not have cut class so often. I was placed on academic probation during my freshman year in college, and I was in danger of losing my scholarship (I almost had too much fun my first year!). However, by the time I began my studies for a master's degree, I seemed to have "cracked the code" on the whole academic thing. Amazing what hard work and hitting the books will do for a student!

I would love to be able to invest the necessary time and resources to study for a doctorate, but taking care of my family (they have gotten used to having a roof over their heads and food in their belly.  Go figure!) and my other obligations make any further formal education out of the question. Perhaps I will have to wait until I retire. Then, I will have to figure out which PhD program would have me.

I was not taken aback, much less offended, by your questions and statements regarding the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. As a matter of fact, it is a rare event when visitors to our church voice such candid opinions as you did. Most visitors, who also happen to be skeptics of the Bible, just say what a pleasant congregation we have, and are reluctant to discuss the sermon at all. I was encouraged to hear you say that you would like to continue having discussions regarding your understanding of Jesus, his work, and his resurrection.

Let me begin our discussion by saying that the death and resurrection of Jesus go hand-in-hand with each other. They are, as it were, on the same side of the coin. Without the death of Jesus, and the particular manner of his death, the resurrection is impossible. And without the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead, his death is meaningless. The two must go hand-in-hand if we are to understand the life and work of Jesus.

The manner of Jesus' death by crucifixion is very important because he had to die that particular manner of death. In the Bible God says, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree," (Galatians 3:13, ESV). Jesus had to be condemned to this manner of death by both the Jewish leadership and Pontius Pilate. Quite simply, Jesus had to die the death of a criminal for the crimes of a criminal. But, and this is the important question, for whose crimes did he die?

The Bible teaches that Jesus was innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever, either in the sight of God or man. The writer of Hebrews states, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews4:15, ESV) Then, if Jesus was to die as a cursed man, it must be man's sin, yours and mine, for which he was condemned. In the Bible God states, "For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21) This lovely Man, who committed no offense against God or man in thought, word, or deed, took upon himself our sin and bore in his own body the wrath of a holy and just God. And Jesus did it voluntarily. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13, ESV)

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is just as important to us as is his death. As I said earlier, the two go hand-in-hand. The fact of Jesus' resurrection proves (yes, proves!) that he is the Son of God. It proves that everything that God said about his Son is true. It proves that everything Jesus said about his Father and himself is true. It proves that Jesus satisfied the holy justice of God by offering himself as the sacrifice for our sins and in our place.

Now men can believe the fact that Jesus died on the cross and was raised from the dead, and it will not benefit them one iota. These are not simply historical facts that we simply acknowledge. It requires me to trust the fact that Jesus offered himself as my substitute, bearing the penalty of my sin that I justly deserve. It requires that I confess, before men, that Jesus is Lord whose has a rightful claim as Master to every thought, word, and deed that I have, speak, or perform. It requires that I believe that God raised him from the dead so that I will be raised from the dead unto new life in Christ, and not to condemnation.

The danger of not believing what God has said about his Son and Christ is not just a future condemnation. Those who do not believe already stand condemned and the wrath of God rests upon him; John the Baptist told his disciples, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." (John 3:36 ESV) The additional danger which comes upon man for not believing and trusting Jesus' death and resurrection comes upon him because he calls God a liar! The Apostle John wrote, "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:22-23, ESV)

I hope this explains to you a bit more following our discussion on Sunday. I hope you will think of more questions, and really hard questions. I don't know all the answers, but I know the One who does!


In the bonds of Christ,


Tom