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Partakers: With Whom and Of What? - part 3 of 3 (Amplified Bible)Just as we walk according to either the Spirit or the flesh, and just as we drink of the cup assigned to us either by the Lord or the devil, so we live the moments of our earthly life motivated either by legalism or grace. Performance-based legalism nullifies faith-based grace. To be a partaker of God’s grace is to be a participant, a receiver of that grace, and then a dispenser of that grace. “But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favor) has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded” {Rom 5:20b}. As a Pharisee, Paul had kept the Law, only to discover that “…the Law never made anything perfect…”{Heb 7:19}. Finding in Christ the fulfillment of the Law, Paul set new goals: “…that I may [actually] be found and known as in him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired)…”{Phil 3:9}. Like Paul, we are co-crucified, co-buried with Christ, free to become partakers of His resurrected life. But only as we allow ourselves to be freed from imposed restrictions and requirements of the law (seeking to achieve God’s favor through works) are we prepared for the release of Christ’s life-giving Spirit to live through us. Unfortunately, many interpret the Christian life as one of a “new birth” experience (being born again) but neglect continued transformation by the Word and the Spirit which alone can produce a “new nature,” the character of Christ being lived out through us {Gal 6:15}. Even those of us who understand that spiritual transformation is a process fluctuate in our obedience, sometimes following rules and expectations acquired from habits, traditions, and upbringing, and sometimes obeying the Word of the Lord through yielding to the Holy Spirit within. How often do we operate out of the self-imposed “I should” or “I must”? How frequently do we condemn ourselves for some supposed failure or omission about which the Holy Spirit has not convicted us? Do not these accusations stem from “laws” (often self-imposed) which we erroneously consider as ways (works) to gain God’s favor? Only when we face the repulsiveness and stench of our own attempts at self-justification and self-righteousness from God’s view are we brought to the realization that only Christ in us is the hope of glory {Col 1:27}. By God’s grace, not our own striving or doing of works are we “saved…(made partakers of Christ’s salvation)” {Eph 2:5}. As we confess (agree with God) about our own inability to please Him apart from the faith He imparts and the grace He bestows, we realize the restrictions we place upon ourselves, others, and even the Lord Himself. So long as we live and operate under the “law,” we stifle the possibility of God’s living creatively in and through us. Only as we come to the end or our own fleshly goodness, resources and answers can His grace find available vessels for the demonstration of the Christ-filled and Christ-lived life. -Ruth French June Newsletter 2004 | Righteous Living Today | Maturing the Home - A Message for Fathers Pastor's Journal - June 2003 | Choose to be Chosen | Partakers: With Whom and of What? part 3 of 3 |
Biblical Counseling for Leaders
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