Romans chapter six reminds us that something supernatural happens when a person puts his or her faith in Christ. We die with Jesus, and we also are resurrected with him. There is a mystical, spiritual transformation that takes place within the believer. Water baptism illustrates it, but the reality goes far beyond the illustration. One dies to sin, and is free to be a slave to God. Then, is Romans seven, Paul states that believers have not only died to sin, they have also died to the law, and are now united in Christ. Jesus, a person, takes the place of a list of rules and regulations. Not only are we initially saved by faith in Jesus, we are also being continually set right and cleaned up. This process is commonly referred to as sanctification. My life gradually reflects my inward identity more and more. This is possible by faith in Jesus also. Following the law kills.
A new covenant is at
work here. God’s law is written on my heart. It is something internal, not
external. I desire communion with God through Christ, an inward longing that is
motivated by the presence of His spirit. My obedience is not motivated by
guilt, shame or adherence to an external code of morals or ethics. Indeed, when
I think that way, the ever-present sin in me wakes up, and condemns me. Paul
goes on to say in Romans 8 that the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to
God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. (Rom. 7:7).
It’s not a religion,
it’s a relationship. A trite phrase, but quite true (repeat that sentence 5 times quickly). My life changes because I
care about a friendship. I personally and intimately know the best and
brightest man in history, and He has given me riches beyond compare, nearly
beyond belief. I have been given access to glory, and been made privy to a transcendental
purpose. Christ in us, the hope of glory. Suddenly, John Piper’s insistence on
Christian hedonism, as he calls it, makes sense. I am fully satisfied, fully
alive, only as I find that fulfillment in the person of Jesus. I am less alive
outside of that reality.
But oh, the temptation
to make it less than inside-out, less than something real and full of life! I
was reminded of a Eugene Peterson quote as I wrote these words, and finally
found it, in his book, Under the
Unpredictable Plant. In referring to the organic, sometimes messy nature of
the gospel as it works itself out in real lives, he states… “It is to be
expected in these situation that with some frequency certain persons will come
forward with designs to improve matters. They want to purify the church. They
propose to make the church into something that will advertise to the world the
attractiveness of the kingdom. With few exceptions these people are, or soon
become, heretics, taking on only as much of the gospel as they can manage and
apply to the people around them, attempting to construct a version of church
that is so well behaved and efficiently organized that there will be no need
for God.” (24-25). The gospel is more than anyone can “manage.” It is
explosively good news for a sin-bent world. The gospel is also a sanctifying
power to those of us who have the Spirit, but still fight with the flesh.
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