Wednesday, October 23, 2013

SIGN OF THE TIMES--Week 20

Should you be able to tell if someone is a Christian?

What would that person undergo to be Christian?

I think the idea of 'becoming a Christian' might be thought of as running a gauntlet, being put through tests until some great thing is accomplished, like an initiation rite.

A classic sequence would be John 3.22-30. The subject is baptism. Jesus and His disciples are in Judea. John the Baptist's disciples are discussing baptism as purification. But how much water does it take for you to be pure?

Is baptism a rite for purification?

At the wedding at Cana, the water Jesus turned into wine was water for purification, John 2.6. Can water make you pure?
When John's disciples come to him to complain that Jesus' disciples are baptizing also. John has the insight--A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven, John 33.27. In other words, it isn't the water for purification or water for baptism, it isn't who is doing the baptism or how much is enough purfication. It is simply the gift of God.

Now when we look at our souls we have to see that whatever one is, he or she has the gift of God. We might not be aware of the gift we have been given, we might not like that to which we are called, but it is the gift of God. If we are a gifted musician or writer or businessman, it is from God. If we have been given an opportunity which few have been given, it is from God. If our life seems mundane, ordinary, simply modest and reserved, it is from God.

In our passage John immediately realizes he is the bridegroom to the Bride. He realizes he is the messanger, that he must decrease so that Christ can increase.

How did he realize that?
We begin and end with our chosenness. Ephesians says we were predestined before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1.4, to be holy and blameless before Him. So before the foundation of the world, we stood before God holy and blameless.

What was that like, before the foundation of the world?
When we look at Romans 8.28 we find a certain language and approach. We find that God causes all things to work for good to those who love Him. Jesus had said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, Matt. 22.37.


All of this means being chosen before the foundation of the world has to do with loving God and believing in God. According to John, this 'already' is a gift. Our Christian life consists in realizing the role of love and belief in our own souls. When we realize this, our life comes to us.
John realized who he was and who Jesus was by knowing--He who comes from heaven is over all, John 3.31. The apostle Paul was told who he was and what he would do in Acts 9.15,16.

What about us? We know that to love God is to know Him. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2.10 that some--did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. When we receive the love of the truth, we will know God in Jesus Christ, to be saved.

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