Matthew 28:18-20 New International Version 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Mark 16:15-18 The Passion Translation
15 And he said to them, “As you go into all the world, preach openly the wonderful news of the gospel to the entire human race! 16 Whoever believes the good news and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe the good news will be condemned. 17 And these miracle signs will accompany those who believe: They will drive out demons in the power of my name. They will speak in tongues. 18 They will be supernaturally protected from snakes and from drinking anything poisonous. And they will lay hands on the sick and heal them.”
If you want to do something for the Kingdom of God, then it is not just for the pastors of the church. God has something to do for every believer. Doing the work of ministry, or the deeds is a voluntary privilege and a chance, not a command (although presented as a Great Commandment, and thereby as if in a form of a command - but we are no longer under the command, we are under grace which presents us the open doors and the possibilities, but does not obligate us to do the deeds). Hence, we can. But we do not have to!
(And before the reader has time for counterarguments, our relationship with God can be likened based on Song of Songs, to a close love relationship in the natural sense. If we really love someone, we feel compelled to do something about it. Similarly, the love of Christ compels us.... 2 Corinthians 5:14.)
Based on Ephesians 2:10 we are called to do the deeds, or to be more specific, the deeds of Jesus (and even greater deeds than He did, for in John 14:12 He had not yet taken the Cross and sent us His Holy Spirit which allows us to do the mentioned greater things).
Our righteousness and our salvation come from God.
There is nothing we can add to it, as to meriting our salvation - it is a free gift, provided by Jesus, who became the Saviour of the mankind.
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.
New International Version
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. |
In Him, we change from inside out. He gave us His Holy Spirit and a new inside man, which wants to do the will of God, and which has the spiritual DNA encoded into it. It is about our daily choices from now on.
How to react? Whether we react and respond in flesh, or in spirit. And yes, we are still human. We still have our soul and body or the fleshly natural side. But the good news is that we are no longer the slaves to our physical wants and urges.
We can do better and different. We can tap into the spiritual inside us and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. We can be on top, and reign and rule in this life - over ourselves, to begin with.
When we learn to understand our new spiritual identity and who we are in Christ as new (spiritual) creation, it becomes easier to learn and follow the ways of the spirit.
It is easy to bear (good) fruit. Look at the nature around us, and its fruit-bearing. A fruit tree does not have to sweat to develop the buds and blossom in spring, and bear its fruit in the autumn. It is all a part of its DNA, encoded into its seed. Life springs forth from the seed.
Our new spiritual (spirit led) life comes from the spiritual seed which birthed us as a new creation - a spirit being (and yes, we retain our former qualities as a human being, just with a little extra or supernatural on top, taking us from merely natural into a new - supernatural dimension). And ultimately, our free will decides our daily choices and more pivotal decisions. Holy Spirit points out the higher way. Yet, just like it happened in the Garden with the first humans, God leaves the final decision to us. Free will makes us different from robots. He wanted us to choose Him, and love Him - but out of our free will - and not out of compulsion.
death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
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We are so used to looking at ourselves, and it makes us see our faults and failures quite like the first couple saw themselves after the fall. They became self-conscious. Previously they were conscious of God.
God restored the pristine condition of the first humans.
He gave us via Jesus more than the first humans ever had.
He gave us a spirit, and created us anew, into a new and somewhat different species. Still human. But with a different - spiritual content. And this content - the spirit, birthed from above, from a spiritual seed (instead of the natural one) - from the Spirit of God - had all the commandments of God imprinted into it. It opens to us the door to the supernatural, and provides us with everything it takes to be on top of the things, pertaining to life in godliness.
2 PETER 1:3
His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
New International Version
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” ROMANS 5:5 KJ21 and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us. |
He made us into living beings, who resembled everyone around in all ways, but one. We are no longer just the combo of body and soul, or a fleshly natural being. We retained all our prior functions and yet, obtained something new, something God-like. This was the new birth, being born from above, from the Spirit, into the likeness (or: image) of God.
This new creation means that we have received more, and this helps us walk a higher walk, and do and we want to do things in a different way - the way it is pleasing to God.
When we walk according to the spirit, we automatically do what is right.
But because of free will, we are free to do this or another way.
We have a choice, whether to walk according to spirit, or according to flesh.
Galatians 5:16-18 New International Version 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
We may want to learn who is Jesus, and who are we in Him.
from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
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