Learning God's Precepts

 A witness is someone who sees something and is willing to demonstrate it, both by their words and by their life.

What do you really believe?

Does your life truly demonstrate the things you believe?

 

Personally, I believe that Jesus is the only way. That there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved, and that this salvation brings about the obedience of faith. I believe that heaven is real, and so is hell.

Now, does my life truly reflect that belief?

I don’t know that the answer is yes

Because I'm not sure I demonstrate this belief to people I meet every day; the ones I cross paths with as I go about my daily life.

If the answer is no

Does this make me a hypocrite?

 

Hi! And welcome to learning God’s precepts! Today’s topic is Our Identity in Christ Jesus, and I’d like to warn you that I’ll be quoting the bible a lot in this episode – think of this as a bible study so please open your bible app, if you don’t have any, please download the YouVersion Bible app, that’s the one I use and I really like it.

So, let’s start.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. 28aThen God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;”

Genesis Chapter 2vs18 And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 21And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. 22Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Vs 23And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

You might be wondering; if the topic is our identity in Christ, why all of this is important? I believe that in order for us to be properly grounded in the now/present, we must have a solid understanding of the past, and what better place to start than at the beginning.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 5,  that marriage is a pointer to our (i.e. the church) relationship with Christ, and when Jesus was asked about marriage in the book of Mathew Chapter 19 vs 4 – 6, He referred us to the beginning, when the first male and female humans were created, so I too have decided to go and start from there – and before you stop listening, this is NOT a podcast on marriage. Nothing wrong with a marriage podcast, I might even do one in the future, this doesn’t focus on that.

Now, back to the topic.

When God made Adam, the bible says that he breathed on Him the breath of Life. What exactly is this breath of life?

Well, in John 1:4, the Bible refers to Jesus by saying that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  Jesus Himself said that He was the Light of the world, and that He is The Way, The Truth and The Life.

So, in Jesus is a life that is the light of the world and the light of men and according to Genesis 1:5, God used that light to create a boundary to darkness.

To summarize, God breathed the breath of Life into man and this life is a light that gives boundary to darkness. This isn’t that hard to imagine because every time you come into a dark room and put on a lamp; darkness starts when the light doesn’t reach.

So, in the going about of His normal everyday life, the man that God created was able to push back on darkness (i.e., give it a boundary), by virtue of the life he carried. Jesus also alluded to this when he said that we were the light of the world, a city set upon a hill.

Now that we have understood what type of man it was that God created, we can move to the very first command that God gave to them - Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it – but Adam was alone i.e., singular. And even though God made them male and female, Eve was still inside Adam, and Adam was the only human body roaming the earth. And even though Adam was good, as he was, being singular meant that he couldn’t actually fulfil his mandate and this aloneness/ singularity of Adam is the one thing that God said wasn’t good.

So here we have a man who was good, carried the breath life of Christ was the light of the world, but he is unable to multiply himself because the body he had was only a seed producing body, and even though the seed was good, it was of very limited value in the world without a womb to receive it, carry it, grow it, and birth the fruit. So, God steps in, puts Adam into very deep sleep, and makes His very last creation, the woman. And in her was placed the womb that could carry and birth the seed.

This is where I’ll begin to draw the parallels with Jesus and then establish our identities.

In Mathew 28vs 19-20 what we fondly refer to as the great commission, Jesus said that we should “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

If I am allowed to paraphrase this, this is the exact same order that God gave to Adam in Genesis when He told him to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Our Lord Jesus gave us the exact same commission, but this time the way to fruitfulness and multiplication was different.  Because what is born of the flesh is flesh, only that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

So how do we move from being born of the flesh to being born of the Spirit?

In John 12:24, Jesus in reply to Phillip and Andrew said – “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”

That word alone comes up here again. And in the same way that the Father said in Genesis that it was not good for man to be alone, Jesus also insinuates that it was not good for Him to be alone/singular. He wanted to multiply Himself.

And that death was the only way.

Now, if we flash back to when eve was created, Adam was put into a very deep sleep before Eve was removed from his side. At that time, there was no sin in the world, so even though Adam was put into a very deep sleep, death had not come into the world, so Adam was asleep until God was done creating eve, then and only then was he brought back to claim his eve.

But now, as soon as Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the version of them that God created and that had the life that was Light and that gave boundary to darkness died. Sin took its place, entered the world, and with-it came death. So, it was no longer a simple matter of putting Christ, the Second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) to sleep, death now had a claim to man. Plus, unlike the first time when the bodies had not been created, the only way in which bodies can enter this world had been established in Genesis. For God to fully circumvent humanity would mean that He had come back to collect the earth that He had handed over to man and that would be in the day of judgement – check out Jesus’s parable about the owner of the vineyard and the stewards he left in charge in …

But since God wanted to save man, He decided to come as man, to begin a new creation, but with the bodies of the old creation. Unfortunately, after the fall, these bodies had a new lord, they belonged to sin and the only currency that sin understands is death, it doesn’t want dollars or pounds or Euros, it wants death. (Romans 6:23 for the wages of sin is death).

So, Jesus Christ was crucified, and by this He paid a debt He didn’t owe for crimes He didn’t commit but that was placed on Him. This has implications.

Now, in today’s world, if someone is imprisoned for a crime they didn’t commit, when the truth comes to light, the judge declares them innocent and orders their release, at this point, the jailer has no right to hold them back in prison.

But even though they get released, the life the person lost by the time spent in jail cannot be returned, a prize has been paid that cannot be retrieved.  Through Christ Jesus, sin was crucified, and it received its payment which is death. So now sin has received a payment of death from someone who doesn’t owe him. The accounts are not balanced, the math is not “mathing” and needs to be fixed.

So, Jesus decides that He is going to apply the gift card principle – I pay someone else get to take the goods! Jesus has paid but He’s not buying, He’s offering it to us. So, Jesus substitutes His payment for the sin in us, all we had to do was accept the offer. This means that as soon as we accept this offer, sin has no hold on us again because he has been paid.

But our Lord Jesus did not just stop there, He didn’t just pay the price and ask us to evacuate sin, no He does it Himself. Remember that the only currency that sin wants is death, and once it receives it’s payment, the same way that the Life that was Light “died” in Adam, is the same way the sin life dies in us when we accept the sacrifice and exchange of Jesus on the cross and then in the same stroke Jesus gives us new life – His Life – the God Kind of Life, similar to the same way that Eve was removed from Adam and seals us with the Holy Spirit.

But now, instead of Eve being in one human body, each of us represents a body part. And in the same way that God the Father finished creating Eve and then brought Adam back to claim her, Jesus will come back when His bride is ready. That is why He said that no one knows the day of His return, only the Father does. And since the Father is the Gardener, it is Him that will know when the Bride/Garden is ready and will call upon the groom to claim His Bride.

 You might be wondering, is there enough “Life Light” for all of us? Yes, there is. In the same way that there was enough sin life in Adam to distribute to everyone born of Him, there’s even more Life that is Light in Christ for everyone born of Him.

Have you received this new Christ Life?

The Bible tells us in Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27 that Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God, but the Adam and Eve that were made in the image and likeness of God died – no one met them! In fact, Genesis, chapter 5 vs 3 tells us that Adam “begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth” All the descendants of Adam are made in the image and likeness of Adam, the fallen man.

That is why our Lord Jesus said that unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God! The problem was never what you did or didn’t do, those things are only a result of who you are. A cat is a cat, and can never be a dog, no matter how many tricks you teach it, or how much time a trainer trains it to act like a dog, it is still a cat! In fact, it will get to a point the cat will rebel.

Do you want to receive this new life? Are you tied of acting like something that you’re not? I’ve been there.

And I can tell you without asking that it’s like sitting at the table where a huge buffet is laid out and you’re watching everyone else go pack a plate, but you can’t seem to get to the table no matter how hard you try. You turn to people for help, and they give a spoon out of their plate, pat you on the back and tell you that you’re okay, but you know that you’re not. Those who even try to help tell you to pick up more plates and more spoons, and more cups – to do more – but the problem is not the plates or spoons or cups, the thing that they cannot seem to get is that you cannot see to get to the buffet table.

That you came across this today, is because God wants to reach you, yes you specifically. And now that you have seen who you are and what Jesus has done, the only right response is to turn to Him and ask Him to save you and give you this new life.

Do it now, and please be sincere – He will take care of the rest.

• ·  God loves me unconditionally in an almost overwhelming manner; therefore, I will depend/trust Him totally with my life. This means seeking His face in everything, obeying His voice every time, and inviting Him to lead every aspect of my life. This is how I abide in Him
• I am a new creation – the cross is my beginning. Christ Jesus lives in me; He purchased my body with His blood on the cross. Therefore, this is His life and only His life should manifest through mine.
• Jesus is my righteousness and my way. I am one with Him, and His life in me makes me Holy. It is ONLY by and because of Him that I have access to the father. This means that every time I come to God in prayer and the Word, the only ground on which I stand on are the finished works of Christ. And because I did not make myself worthy, I cannot unearn my worthiness, access to God is not about my works but is always about Jesus.
• The bible is the Truth and therefore it is the final authority on everything. It serves as a transforming agent used by the Holy Spirit to mature me and train me to become like my master Jesus.
• I am Holy; therefore, I will pursue Holiness. I am righteous; therefore, I will hunger for righteousness and be filled.
• The Lord is my teacher, and He has called me to teach that which He has taught me.
• I am transformed/grow by light/revelation/illumination, therefore I must submit all aspects of my life to the Word of God.

 

Isaiah 9:6 – For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. KJV

 

Before experiencing God as my peace, every time I thought of peace, I associated it with external situations, i.e. if this and this happens, then I’ll have peace, or if people around me behaved better, then they wouldn’t irritate me so much and then I’ll have peace.

But when I was about 16 years old, I was in a very bad place mentally, (isn’t everything the end of the world when you’re a teen?). I zeroed in on what I thought was the cause and unfortunately, it was something out of mine, or anyone else’s control, and for the first time in my life I went to God, unable to help myself or find help anywhere else.

And God did something I didn’t even know was possible – he poured His peace into my heart. I had no idea that that was even available! The end result of that gift was that I changed and came out of that mental space. And most surprising of all, the thing I thought was the source of my sorrow was still true, but it had no hold on me anymore and could not dictate my mood.

God can, and does give us the gift of peace, even as we are inside the storm.

I have discovered since that time that whenever I’m in the middle of a storm, the situations don’t change first, but God works on me, and when I grow/change, these situations then change.

With God – it’s always works from the inside out, not the other way around. Cos if God only changes the situation, every time we find ourselves in similar scenarios, we’ll be right back at that bad place. But if God we can receive from God what we need for that situation, we’ll find that we’ll never go back to that place again

True Dominion right? God is Good!!

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. - Romans 13:14 NASB

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; - 1John 3:7 NASB

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthian 5:21 NASB

 

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably asked yourself – Since I have already received Christ Jesus and He dwells in me, why then am I asked to put Him on? And how does this “putting on” work? Plus, won’t this be works?

I’m going to be frank and say that this really confused me for a while and no matter how hard I tried, I kept getting the same “Christianese” answers that did not help or provide any clarity. But now that the Holy Spirit has helped me to understand, I feel the need to put it out there.

So, I have before me a bottle of liquid laundry detergent, it’s opaque, and full of detergent. (Feel free to go pick one up right now, and if you don’t have one, any opaque bottle would do).

Let’s imagine that this bottle is who we were before we were saved by Jesus Christ. One day, we’re your everyday regular shmegular bottle of detergent, and then then we get really lucky and meet Jesus and what does He do? He pays for us, empties out our detergent content, (Romans 6:6) replaces it with clean water, and puts us back on the shelf to come back for us later.

To everyone else, we still look the same. And even to ourselves! We know that something has happened, but like the bottle, we can’t see what really happened within us, we just know that something has happened. But knowing that something has happened is not the same as knowing exactly what happened and what it means for us.

Now, this water represents the new life that we have received – Christ Life – and though we have received this water, we do not know how to be a bottle of water, we only know how to be a bottle of detergent. We need to unlearn everything we know about being a bottle of detergent and learn how to be a bottle of water.

So, when someone comes by and tries to pick us up, we let them know that we do not contain detergent, and we have been paid for by someone else (we refuse to submit ourselves to them).

In this analogy, the process of unlearning the habits and behaviors of a bottle of detergent is how we put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13), while the process of learning the behaviors and habits of being a bottle of water is how we put on Christ, manifest the Life of Christ Life and practice the righteousness that we have already received.

We practice righteousness because the life we received is righteous. If you say that your detergent has been poured out and replaced with water, if anyone pours you out, water not detergent should come out, no matter what your bottle looks like. This is why our fruit is the only significant sign of who we really are. (Matt 7: 16-20)

To conclude, as with all other things we must start with Jesus – the author and finisher of our faith, therefore the first step is Knowing and believing – as far as that scenario is concerned – the finished works of Christ. Once that is out of the way, the rest becomes possible. 

Because, if Jesus is not the beginning, how then do we expect to finish?