It looks like we have a series on our hands, with the previous article serving as an introduction. If I am hearing right, somewhere along the way we will search out the meanings of the four graces found in 1 Corinthians 1:30 — namely, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Before we go there, let me share what I have discovered about applying them generally to our lives.
Alternative Approaches
Our research – particularly discussions with other faithful Christians – has been fruitful. For example, we have discovered three general approaches for applying what Jesus Christ “has become for us” to our lives.
Approach One: Keep It Simple
More than one person I dialogued with about this passage suggested the “keep it simple” approach: accept what has been written as true, believe it, and assume God will do what is necessary to make it a reality in our lives. This is an attractive approach, particularly in our busy, time-constricted lives. If one just believes, all will be well, and we can get on with our lives without too much expended energy on the actual meaning and implications of the passage.
Another form of “keep it simple” is the “just tell me what to do” attitude that occupies most church gatherings. Of course, the problem with this approach is that it bypasses the need for faith altogether. Additionally, no personal searching for the truth is required, and the decision to respond comes with more consideration for convenience and comfort, than obedience to the faith.
There is a worthy side to the “keep it simple” approach: the one that recognizes the wonder of this passage and our inability to understand, receive, and exercise such a promise in our own strength. Regrettably, many give up and move on to less mysterious passages. Christians of this sort rarely get out of their heads and into their hearts, where faith and desire reside. Rather than turn away from the word of God, the serious Christian turns to God for help.
Approach Two: The Scientific Method
I personally struggle with the temptations of this approach; we have all been trained into it: break the passage down and analyze each part for its component meaning; create as many processes as required to apply what’s been learned; and then simply follow those to a successful end. Tozer saw this coming decades ago. “We are in an age of religious complexity,” he wrote in The Pursuit of God. “The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us.” Programs and processes, however well-intentioned, are not the same thing as faith. I have discovered the hard way that, as much as this works in the temporal sciences, it fails when attempting to understand, receive, and exercise the spiritual promises and mysteries of God’s kingdom.
With that confession out of the way, let me add that there is something to be said for a Spirit-led academic approach to searching out the matter of any biblical text. For example, the meaning of words in the original language and the context in which they are used can be invaluable towards our understanding and applying the promises of God in our lives. Of course, “Spirit-led” is the important qualifier. The Holy Spirit being our promised Teacher and Transformer, we must learn to participate with Him in the search.
Approach Three: Participating in the Work
Simply put, understanding, receiving, and exercising the promises and mysteries of God requires a submitted participation in the Holy Spirit’s work, the Lord’s life, and the Father’s work. The Holy Spirit teaches not through our head, but through our spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-11); the Lord exchanges His life for ours (Galatians 2:20); and the Father works in us to will and to do to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Our failure to surrender, submit, and sacrifice in either of these relationships inhibits our understanding, receiving, and exercising the will of God. Andrew Murray spent much of his life on this one topic. “Consecration and faith,” he wrote in Abide in Christ, “are the essential elements of the Christian life – the giving up all to Jesus, the receiving all from Jesus… united in the one word – surrender.”
Furthermore, the deeper mysteries and grander promises – like the one we are considering – require more surrender, submission, and sacrifice. This being a simple principle of spiritual maturity.
A Path for Your Consideration
Light on the first two and heavy on the third is the approach best suited for understanding, receiving, and exercising the mysteries of the kingdom of God. For Jesus Christ to be in us what He has become for us — wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — we must simply turn to God for help, follow our Teacher as He leads us in searching out the matter, and submit to His transforming power.
Transformation is the prescribed path provided by God for our becoming vessels and instruments of the Master’s life. We’ve written much on transformation that we will not cover again here. There are, however, a few related and important points to make.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
Notice the command here is not to do good works, but to let your light shine before men. And not “make” your light shine — just let it. I think it’s pretty cool that He said this knowing He was that light.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4
How many times have we said, “I just want people to see more of Jesus in me.” That’s what we are talking about here! Not seeing Rob’s neat turn of a phrase, or someone else’s great oratory skills, or even Mother Theresa’s amazing service; but seeing the glory of the Father, in His Son, in us.
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. John 17:22-23
Our Lord and Savior has been praying this prayer over us – to our Father in heaven – for over 2000 years. In response, our Father has commissioned the Holy Spirit to make us exactly what the Lord has become for us.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
It is no coincidence that the One sent to teach us all things (John 14:26) would also be our Transformer. Our searching out the matter with Him renews our mind to that of Christ, and a deeper abiding into His life.
Lastly, as Dallas Willard argues in Renovation of the Heart, it’s important to recognize that this process, this way of God for our transformation, is an iterative one whereby we become more of what Christ has become for us, putting on the character of Christ (Romans 13:14) in progressively deeper and higher stages of spiritual maturity. This is the path we are suggesting for your consideration.
Is It Worth It?
The Lord recently woke me up at 2:00 in the morning to tell me He wanted me to stop exercising. That’s not something I would say to myself, nor something I particularly wanted to hear. Pushing back, I was met with:
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. 1 Timothy 4:8
How do you argue with that? Yes, yes, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and we must keep it in working order. I’ve used that reasoning most of my adult life. Has God called me to poor health and weight gain? I hope not; I hope this is but for a season. It may be to only make this point: There are seasons of opportunity for the experience of God’s promises in a special way. Thomas à Kempis would recognize this exactly. “It is not really a small thing,” he wrote, “when in small things we resist self.” A 2:00 a.m. instruction about exercise is a small thing. Resisting it – or obeying it – is not.
Of course, the Lord did not wake you up at 2:00am with instruction to search out the mystery of His Son’s full life in you; but maybe this is His instrument for that instruction. Here is what I know and look forward to: kingdom investments produce favorable returns for everyone involved (and those entrusted to our care).
That’s probably enough encouragement for now. Next time we will begin searching out the matter to see where the Holy Spirit desires to take us. In the meantime, go back to the opening article and consider the questions there — particularly the one about our speaking to God about this matter.
Searching Deeper
For those of you looking to go even deeper, here are a few more thought-provoking questions.
- Where do you see yourself defaulting — keeping it simple, running the passage through a mental process, or actually surrendering to the Spirit’s leading?
- What would it cost you to trade analysis of this passage for genuine surrender to it?
- Where do you see God asking for a small, ordinary surrender right now — the kind that looks unremarkable to everyone but you?
- How might you tell the difference between waiting on the Holy Spirit and simply avoiding the work of searching?
May you enjoy conversing with the One who spoke creation into existence and upholds it all by the word of His mouth.
Have a strong day in the Lord,
Rob
#iamjustthepen
Tozer, A.W. (2007). The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine. Camp Hill, PA: WingSpread.
Murray, A. (1979). Abide in Christ: The Joy of Being in God’s Presence. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House
Kempis, T. (2017. The Imitation of Christ: A Timeless Classic for Contemporary Readers. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press.