Part 12 – To be holy (continued)    

Paul made it clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 that it is “the God of peace himself who makes us perfectly holy.” We don’t make ourselves holy; he does. 

It’s what God got across to the Israelites too, in telling them to observe the seventh day each week as a day of rest. “You must observe my Sabbaths,” he told them through Moses in Exodus 31:13, “as a sign between me and you for the generations to come, that I am the Lord who makes you holy.” 

That’s why they set aside the Sabbath each week, to remind them that God was committed to making them holy. And having them do nothing but rest on the Sabbath got the point across that HE was the one doing it, not them. They had nothing to do with it, just like they had nothing to do on the Sabbath, but rest. 

And how important was it to God that they got that point? Verse 14: “Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you.” And so holy was the Sabbath day to God that “anyone who violates it must be put to death, and anyone caught working on that day (and not resting) must be cut off from his people.” So if they didn’t get the point of the Sabbath rest they were banished, expelled, thrown out, and even put to death (verse 15), because they didn’t belong with God’s people. 

That’s because God’s people are those who grasp the importance of verse 17, that “the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” They get the point as to why he rested. It was because “his work was finished,” Hebrews 4:3. It was done. He had everything figured out. And his Sabbath rest pictured that. 

And it still does. That’s why “There remains a Sabbath-rest for the people of God,” verse 9, because it gets the same point across to us that God got across by the Sabbath-rest he told Israel to observe, that this life of ours is not our doing, it’s his. He’s the one making us holy, not us. 

The Sabbath rest HE took at the beginning of creation is still a reminder, therefore – to us, just as it was to the Israelites – that “I am the Lord who makes you holy.” We don’t make ourselves holy, he does…(more on this tomorrow) 

Part 11 – To be holy (series continued)    

So how can we be holy like God is holy, when we “were alienated from him and were enemies in our minds because of our rotten behaviour,” Colossians 1:21?

Well, it was God who got the ball rolling because “he reconciled us to himself through the death of Jesus’ physical body, so we can stand in his presence holy, blameless and without a single fault,” verse 22. It was “the power of God,” therefore, 2 Timothy 1:8, “that saved us and called us to a holy life,” verse 9, and “not because of anything we have done.” We had nothing to do with it. It happened purely “because of his own purpose and grace – grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” 

So here was God, before we even existed, already setting in stone what his goal for us humans was. He would set us humans apart from the rest of his creation to make us as holy as his Son (Romans 8:29), so that his human creations could share the same glory his Son has (John 17:24, Hebrews 2:6-11). And he made absolutely sure his plan would work out “in accordance with his will and good pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5,9,11) by handing over the reins to his Son (9), and not leaving anything up to us.  

And rightly so, because we humans would have a nasty habit of either losing sight of his purpose for us, or resisting it – starting with Adam and Eve, continuing with Israel, and also in what we ourselves were like “not so long ago,” Titus 3:3, when we too “were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, being hated and hating back.” Anything but being holy, in other words.  

But fortunately, verse 4, thanks to “the kindness and love of God, our Saviour stepped in and saved us from all that” by “giving his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds,” Titus 2:14. 

Our calling to be holy, then, is the commitment God made to us. Being holy is what he called us to be, and “He who calls you is faithful. He will do it,” 1 Thessalonians 5:24…(more on this tomorrow) 

Part 10 – To be holy     

Paul wrote that we were “called to be holy” (or ‘saints’ – same Greek word hagios) in 1 Corinthians 1:2. And to Timothy he writes the same thing, that “God saved us and called us to a holy (hagios) life,” 2 Timothy 1:8-9. And in Ephesians 1:4, the Father “chose us before the creation of the world to be holy (hagios) and blameless in his sight.” So we were chosen, called, and saved to be (hagios) holy. 

To give us a clue what (hagios) holy means, the Holy Spirit is the hagios Spirit of God. So it really means holy. Which puts the pressure on a bit, because in 1 Peter 1:15-16 Peter writes: “just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ (Leviticus 20:7).”  

Which seems like an impossible task, because how on earth are we going to be as holy as God? And especially when God told Isaiah, “for I am God, and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me,” Isaiah 46:9. 

But the “none like me” bit gives us a clue what being holy means. It means being stand alone different, nothing like anything in this world. Which ties in with Romans 12:1-2 when Paul writes, “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” How? By “not conforming any longer to the pattern of this world.” Or as Jesus said, when describing his disciples, “they are not of the world any more that I am of the world,” John 17:14,16. To be a (hagios) saint, therefore, means being ‘stand alone different’ to anything in this world. Just like the Holy Spirit is stand alone different to all other spirits. That’s what being holy means. 

But how long does it take to become that holy – if, that is, we ever can? Not that long, it seems, because the author of Hebrews 3:1 calls the people he’s writing to, “holy brothers.” So they were already classed as “holy” – despite some of them being in danger of “drifting away” too (2:1). So they weren’t classed as holy for their top marks in behaviour.

What made them holy instead, was Jesus “making people holy through his own blood,” Hebrews 13:12. So, in asking myself, “How on earth can I be holy like God is holy?” – the starting point isn’t what God expects us to do to be holy; it’s what he’s already done for us in his Son…(more on this tomorrow)

Part 9 – To rest in him     

In Galatians 2:20, Paul made the startling statement that “I no longer live.” But he had to be alive to be able to write that, so what was he getting at? 

Well, he followed it up with another startling statement, that “Christ lives in me,” by which he meant, “The life I’m living in this earthly body is based purely on trust in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” His entire life, in other words, was Christ’s doing. And that’s what he rested in and relied on every day.

He explained how it had been made possible in several other startling statements he made in Colossians 3, that we’ve already been “raised with Christ,” verse 1, our lives “are now hidden with Christ,” verse 3, and amazingly, that “Christ is our life,” verse 4. So while we’re alive in these earthly bodies of ours, Jesus has our lives totally in his hands, directing and shaping us for his grand appearance in verse 4 when he reveals to the world what he’s been doing with us. 

So (in one author’s response to this), “Do you see what this does to life? It turns it into an adventure, doesn’t it? You never know what any situation is going to result in. A creative God, beginning to work in the most ordinary circumstances, can suddenly make them break wide open, and you have something on your hands which staggers you, which you never dreamed could happen, and which even alarms you, so vast are its possibilities. This is the kind of God we have, that we can expect him to do this – and therefore we can rest in him, and not be anxious about what’s happening to us.” 

Because this is what he saved us for, so rather than struggling to be a Christian we have this picture from Paul of us sitting with Christ in his world and he’s doing the work of shaping us. So, when Paul writes in Philippians 2:12, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” he doesn’t mean “get anxious about how we’re doing,” he meant get excited about what we’ve got, “for,” verse 13, “God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

That’s why “God called us into fellowship with his Son,” 1 Corinthians 1:9, because “He will keep you strong to the end and blameless on the day he appears,” verse 8. Good reason to rest in him…(continues tomorrow)

Part 8 – To show off the new human     

So what is this new human we’ve been saved to be? According to Paul in Colossians 1:26 it’s been a “mystery kept hidden for ages and generations” – but – “is now disclosed to the saints.” So the saints have been given hidden knowledge.

But hidden knowledge about what? Well, it’s to the saints, verse 27, that “God has chosen to make known the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

This “hope of glory” Paul speaks of was Jesus’ hope too, that we join him in the glory he’d always experienced with his Father (John 17:24). It was the same glory he looked forward to returning to after his human death too (verse 5). And now it’s the glory we seek and receive as well (Romans 2:7,10). 

And there’s no mystery anymore as to how that glory is made possible for us: it’s “Christ in you.” Well, that makes sense because “in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in a human body,” Colossians 2:9. To have Christ in us, therefore, means we have the fullness of Christ in his human form living in us – the exact point Paul makes in verse 10, that we’ve “been given fullness in Christ.”  

Which makes sense of 2 Corinthians 5:17 too, then, that “anyone in Christ is a new creation,” because what else could we be but a “new creation” with Christ’s fullness in his human form living in us? 

But for what purpose do all these new creations and new Christ-like humans exist? According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:10, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus (that put to death our old self), so that the life of Jesus (now living the fullness of his life in us) may also be revealed in our body.” 

So it’s not just for our sakes that Jesus is making us into “new humans,” it’s to show off his handiwork to others. Because in us he’s unfolding “the mystery kept hidden for ages,” of the glory that’s coming to us humans. And if people don’t know it’s happening right under their noses right now, they will when Christ appears and those transformed by the Holy Spirit into his likeness “appear with him in glory,” Colossians 3:4…(continues tomorrow)

Part 7 – To come alive in Christ     

The reality of what God created us for – the human potential he gave us in Genesis – comes alive in Christ. Apart from him it won’t happen (John 15:5). Only Jesus is “the way” to our human potential being restored (John 14:6), “the truth” of how its done, and the source of bringing it all to “life” in us personally.

Our attachment to Christ, then, is essential, which is why the Father raised Jesus from the dead and “united us with him in his resurrection,” Romans 6:5. Which is quite startling, that “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms,” Ephesians 2:6. Not “will” raise us up in a future resurrection, note; it’s “you have been raised with Christ,” Colossians 3:1. It’s happened already.

So right now we’re alive together with Christ. We sit with him. It’s what the Father ripped us out of this “dominion of darkness” for, to “bring us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,” Colossians 1:13. 

So we’re right there with Jesus in his world. And for what purpose? For creating new humans, who are being restored back to what God made humans to be in the first place. All these new humans coming alive in Christ, therefore, so that one day, Colossians 3:4,“When Christ appears” and “you appear with him in glory,” the whole world will see what God had in mind for us humans. Because there these new humans will be, in all their glory for all to see: living witnesses to the glory Jesus prayed we’d have in John 17:24. 

To come alive in Christ, then, means becoming a new creation. And that’s going to make a huge difference in our lives, because “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you,” Romans 8:11. The same Spirit that raised Jesus to new life from the dead is now living in us to do the same thing – “conforming us to the likeness” of Jesus, because that was the Father’s original and intended plan for us (verse 29).  

Jesus became the first of those new humans, and through the Spirit many more are coming alive to “live that new life” too (Romans 6:4)…(continues tomorrow) 

Part 6 – So Jesus can live his life in us     

We see what our human potential is in the life of Jesus, because he lived what his Father created us humans to be. 

But we didn’t live it. We blew our potential right off the bat in Genesis, and since then “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23.  

So the Father gave Jesus the job of restoring the glory we’d fallen short of. But how, when Jesus was the only one who’d lived it, and none of the rest of us had? Well, the solution to Jesus was obvious, as we see in his prayer to his Father in John 17:26, that “I myself may be in them.” Simple solution: live what he had so successfully lived as a human, in us. 

And it’s not surprising that Jesus came up with that as the obvious solution, when in his own human life it was trusting the Father to live his life in him that had enabled Jesus to be so successful (John 14:10-11). So if we could trust Jesus for the same reason, then as Jesus said,“anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing,” John 14:12. We could be, and live, like him.

He explained how he’d make it possible too: it would be through the “Spirit of truth” living “with” us and “in” us (John 14:17), “taking from what is mine (all that Jesus is) and making it known to you” (John 16:13-14). The Spirit takes everything in Jesus’ life – every teaching, command and example – and fills our minds with them too (John 14:26). And that’s how Jesus lives his life in us. 

Which is what Jesus wants to do. Using his own analogy in John 15:5 – “I am the vine; you are the branches” – he’s constantly feeding who and what he is into us. And by trusting him to do that, through the Holy Spirit, we “will bear much fruit.” More and more we become like him and what the Father intended us humans to be, thereby restoring the glory of our potential that we lost in Genesis. 

The key to it being verses 7-8, that “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish (to become like him), and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory.” Because what gives glory to the Father is the unfolding of his plan in humans becoming like his Son…(continues tomorrow) 

Part 5 – To turn our disaster into joy    

Our human potential was amazing in the beginning, but it soon turned into a disaster when evil got a foothold in our heads.

But the Father had a plan of salvation that would take the utterly unsalvageable and restore it, and in so doing turn our disaster into joy. It would be like restoring a mouldy banana or a rusted piece of metal to its original pristine condition, when the rot and rust are so bad it’s impossible to salvage anything. But God takes the unsalvageable and restores it to its original beauty, by taking upon himself (as the human Jesus) the suffering and death we brought on ourselves and transforming them into joy. That’s the marvel of God, but how does it work? How can disaster be turned into joy?

As a grandparent, I got a little glimpse of how this works when our 5 year old granddaughter broke one of our dishes. It was beyond repair and she was devastated. She fell on the floor, crying her eyes out. I got down on the floor with her, hugged her tightly and said, “Cheer up, all is forgiven!” It had a magical effect on her. She stopped crying, looked up at me and said, “OK,” and off she went, happy and free. From an unsalvageable disaster to joy. What a marvellous transformation it was.

How did it happen? By the same process Jesus transformed our unsalvageable mess into joy – by absorbing the pain and penalty of our sin into himself, just like I absorbed the cost of the dish, and my granddaughter’s pain. And what was her reaction? Instant relief, peace of mind and joy. I imagine she could hardly believe her luck. Here she was sitting in a pile of broken dish parts being hugged – and at no cost whatsoever to her either. She was forgiven, loved and free to go.

Which is exactly what God does with us. We bring all this suffering and death on ourselves but God comes as Jesus and doesn’t hold any of it against us (2 Corinthians 5:19), nor does he expect us to pay for what we’ve done. He absorbs it all himself.

How can you not want to hug a God like that? But that’s exactly what he’s after, a hug. A hug of relief, peace of mind and joy on our part when we realize God knew our pain, shared every bit of it himself, and absorbed the cost of all our disastrous behaviour in himself, so we’d know we’re forgiven, fully loved, and free again to fulfill our potential…(continues tomorrow)

Part 4 – To enter Jesus’ world    

The goal of the Father’s plan of salvation was us coming to love his Son as he always has. And Jesus happily went along with it because we would then experience the Father’s love as he always has. 

Jesus willingly died for us, therefore, so we could enter the world he lives in, as we see in John 17:24 when he prayed, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.”

And this is what Jesus now lives for, verse 26, “to make you, Father, known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” That’s the world Jesus lives in, of knowing and experiencing the constant love of his Father. His greatest wish, therefore, is for us to live in that world too.   

Or as Paul phrased it in Colossians 1:12-14, we can “thank the Father for enabling us to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For the Father has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

The Father wants all his children to live in the world of his love that his Son lives in. That’s why the Father “rescued us” – saved us – “from the kingdom of darkness” that we were stuck in and couldn’t get out of. 

And we know how he did it too, that “in Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” It was through Christ’s shed blood on the cross that made Jesus’ love for us so real. And that’s when a whole new world of love and light opens up to us, understanding what the Father wants for us, and how real he made it for us through the love of his Son willing to give his life to buy back the potential we had in the beginning.  

And why did the Father do it this way? Because it shone a bright light on his Son, “the Son he loves” (verse 13, NIV). 

That’s what the Father wants us to see through this whole process of saving us. It’s how great his Son is, in giving his human life – and his resurrected life – to make his Father’s plan for us happen…(continues tomorrow)   

Part 3 – By an unusual solution     

To restore our human potential, the Father came up with a most unusual solution: “redemption through Christ’s blood,” Ephesians 1:7. Which is a bit harsh on Jesus, isn’t it, because why should he have to suffer and die for our foolishness? 

But Jesus didn’t see it that way, because he knew “The Father loves the Son,” John 3:35. So whatever the Father had planned for him – including dying a horrible human death – there was a loving purpose behind it.

Jesus also knew that all his Father’s plans were being fulfilled and completed “through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16), including “placing everything in his hands” (John 3:35), “bringing all things in heaven and on earth together” under him (Ephesians 1:10), and making him the source of our eternal life (1 John 5:11-12). So Jesus knew how much his Father revered, loved and trusted him.

So what could possibly be the Father’s purpose in having him die, then? 

Well, look at it from the Father’s point of view. He knows how great his Son is, which is why he handed the reins of his plan to him. But how could he get us to see his Son as he does, so that we come to love, trust and revere his Son too? Because as Jesus said in John 14:21 – “the Father loves you because you have loved me.”

To the Father, loving his Son is the key, so what did the Father put in his plan that would give us the love for his Son? Well, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us,” 1 John 3:16. 

This is how we’d come to love his Son, in seeing his willingness to become human and die for us. Which explains why the Father let us get in a horrible mess in the first place, because in his solution we would see the love of his Son. And to the Father there is nothing more important than that. 

And there’s nothing more important to Jesus too, because in loving him the Father loves us. And to Jesus there is no greater gift he could give us than that (John 17:24, 26). No wonder, then, he went along with his Father’s plan, when he knew this was what it would lead to…(continues tomorrow)