divine power

Spirit-Empowered, Not Self-Motivated

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

11 Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.

14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. – 2 Corinthians 13:11-14 ESV

How do you close out a letter like this one? For 13 chapters, Paul has had to defend his ministry, confront the Corinthians about their lack of giving, encourage their continued spiritual growth, and expose the false apostles undermining his authority and hindering his work. Now, as he wraps up his letter, he does so with five simple statements.

First, he tells them to rejoice. He doesn’t explain what they are to rejoice about, but he most likely has their position in Christ in mind. They are children of God, heirs of His Kingdom, recipients of His grace, and possessors of His Holy Spirit, and they have much to rejoice about. Yet it is so easy to lose sight of all that God has done and to allow ourselves to live ungrateful, joyless lives. The life of the believer should be marked by joy and rejoicing, but it is a choice. We must decide to express our gratitude to God for all that He has done for us. Even if we find this life difficult and full of trials, we can rejoice that our future is secure and that all God has promised us is guaranteed. We have an eternity ahead of us, free from sin, pain, and sorrow. Even if we must suffer in this life, we face a suffering-free future because of our faith in Christ.

Secondly, Paul tells them to “aim for restoration.” This could actually be translated, “set things right” or “put things in order.” This interpretation seems more appropriate because Paul has been pointing out issues within the church that were not as they should have been. He was concerned about their reticence to give to the saints in Judea. He was worried about the impact the false apostles had had on their faith. Paul wanted them to get their proverbial act together and pursue spiritual maturity.

It is quite easy for believers in Christ to find themselves distracted from their primary God-given directive to pursue spiritual maturity. Yes, we are to witness and share the gospel with those who have not yet heard. But our transformed lives are one of the greatest testimonies we can give to the power of the gospel. Disorder and disunity in the church are antithetical to our calling as the children of God. Selfishness and self-centeredness are not to characterize our relationship with God. As Paul wrote in his first letter, the Corinthians had a habit of living as if they were still part of the world.

Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? – 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NLT

Paul wanted them to get their spiritual house in order and restore things to the way God wanted them.

Next, Paul told them to “comfort one another.” Actually, this might be better translated as “be encouraged” or “be comforted.” This seems to fit in with what Paul said earlier in his letter.

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 ESV

Paul wanted his letter to bring them encouragement. He knew that their situation was far from perfect and realized that their pursuit of spiritual maturity was anything but easy. So he tried to encourage and comfort them by letting them know that God was not done with them yet. As they were comforted by God, they would be better able to live in unity and peace with one another.

It was a common practice in the early church to greet one another with a kiss as a sign of unity and their common bond in Christ. But Paul insists that they must greet one another with a holy kiss, without hypocrisy and not just for show. A holy kiss can only come from holy lips. You can’t verbally tear down a brother in Christ, then greet him with a kiss as if nothing is wrong. James writes, “Sometimes it [the tongue] praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!” (James 3:9-10 NLT). Holiness is the key to true unity and peace.

Finally, Paul closes his letter with a salutation that alludes to all three members of the Trinity: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Grace, love, and fellowship. These three things are critical to the health and spiritual effectiveness of the church. We exist because of the grace or unmerited favor of Christ, made possible by His death on the cross, and we are to extend that grace to all those within the body of Christ.

In his letter to the believers in Rome, Paul confirms that Jesus’ death was the direct result of God’s love for sinful mankind.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

God loved us so much that in spite of our sinfulness and rebellion, He sent His own Son to die on our behalf. And we are to love one another in the same selfless, sacrificial way.

Finally, as believers in Jesus Christ and recipients of God’s love, we have been given the Spirit of God. We are inhabited by the Holy Spirit, who makes our fellowship with one another possible. He has given each of us spiritual gifts designed to benefit the rest of the body. He empowers us to love as Christ loved, and produces within us fruit that is designed to minister to one another: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NLT).

Our unity is Spirit-empowered, not self-motivated. Our love for one another is made possible by the Spirit of God, not our own self-will. Grace, love, and fellowship, made possible by the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, are all we need for living together as the body of Christ, as sons and daughters of God.

Father, Peter said that Your “divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Petere 1:7 BSB). You loved us enough to send Your Son to pay our sin debt with His own sinless life. Jesus willingly died so that we might live and enjoy forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. And the Holy Spirit took up residence in us the moment we placed our faith in Jesus, empowering us to live as Your sons and daughters in a broken and sin-damaged world. As a result, Paul calls us to be joyful, grow to maturity, encourage each other, and live in harmony and peace. While there are times when those lofty goals seem impossible and unachievable, You have graciously provided everything we need for life and godliness. At no point have you left us to fend for ourselves or to live godly lives in our own strength. Nothing is impossible for You and, therefore, nothing is impossible for us. May I embrace the attitude that Paul had: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13 BSB. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Power to Purify.

/ kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. – Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV

Jesus was the perfect, sinless sacrifice. He became a man so that He might live the life God expects of all men – yet without sin. For Him to offer Himself to God as the substitute for the sins of all men, He had to be sinless, perfectly righteous and a worthy sacrifice, acceptable to God and capable of atoning for the sins of man with His own blood. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh” (Hebrews 8:3 ESV). Prior to the death of Jesus, all men stood condemned by sin – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). And the penalty for man’s sin was death. But Jesus condemned sin. Man’s flesh – his sin nature – condemned him. But Jesus took on human flesh, became a man, and lived a sinless life, turning the tables on sin. He condemned sin, using the very tool sin had used to condemn man – the flesh. “Because God’s children are human beings – made of flesh and blood – the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14 NLT).

But how did He do it? How was Jesus able to accomplish what no other man had ever done before? The quick and easy answer would be to say that He was divine. He was God. He had help. And that would be true, but the help Jesus had was not His divine nature, it was indwelling Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus, the Son of God, was indwelt with the very same Spirit that God has made available to you and me. After the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus at His baptism by John, Luke tells us, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2 ESV). Jesus, the Son of God, yielded His life to the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. In His humanity, He submitted to the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit, in order to provide us with an example to follow. When Jesus told His disciples that God would send them “another Helper”, He spoke from experience. He knew what it was like to have the Spirit of God provide help, guidance, and comfort. Luke tells us that when Jesus returned from His time of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, He did so with power. “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…” (Luke 4:14 ESV). His entire ministry would be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. His miracles would be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the author of Hebrews tells us that was “through the eternal Spirit” that Jesus able to offer Himself without blemish, as sinless, to God. That very significant fact seems to escape most of us as believers. We somehow think that our pursuit of righteousness is up to us. We have bought into the lie that, while our salvation was the gift of God, an act of grace, our sanctification is somehow up to us. We have to pursue holiness on our own. But we have the very same Spirit within us that Jesus had. We have the same power available to us that He availed Himself of all throughout His earthly ministry. Jesus clearly told His disciples that they would have access to a power source that would make possible their commission as His apostles. “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7 ESV). Again, Jesus told them, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven” (Luke 24:49 NLT).

And it is that power from heaven that purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. He renews our mind. He produces His fruit in our lives. He provides us with the capacity to say no to the works of the flesh or our old sin nature. He frees us from slavery to sin and allows us to live in obedience to the will of God – through His power, not our own. Our holiness is not left up to us. Our transformation into the likeness of Christ is not something for which we are responsible. We certainly take part in the process, but we do so by yielding to the Spirit of God. We are to walk according to the Spirit, not our flesh. We are to sow to the Spirit, not our flesh. We are to depend upon the Spirit, not our flesh. Jesus offered Himself without blemish to God, through the eternal Spirit. How much more so must we depend upon that same Spirit to help us live holy lives and fend off the constant desires of our old sinful nature? Peter reminds us, “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3 NLT). That divine power is the very Spirit who lives within us. The eternal Spirit of God. God has made possible our holiness, through the death of the Son of God and the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God. We have all we need.