"In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek."-Hebrews 5:7-10
"Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."-Hebrews 2:8-9
Three things are sitting on my heart today, three things that I hope will aid us in the realization of the world we live in and just how faithful the God we serve truly is. Those three things are faith, suffering, and obedience. All of these aspects are essentially 1 in the same. Suffering is something we tend to shy away from but it is also to be an expectation of the believer. Non-believers have no problem realizing that life is not a walk in the park, so how it any different for a Christian who now hold the standards or righteousness and holiness? Maybe it is the lack there of ... maybe we are convinced that we are saved and thats it? This would certainly be an odd idea to Jesus(Matthew 24:13), and for the Apostle Paul who constantly had the voicing in his writings, and expectant vision of a future justification.(1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:2; 2 Corinthians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:11-13) Despite differences on the issue of salvation I just want to get your wheels spinning and I want to keep the focus on the topic, and ultimate question of "What does that faith look like?"
One of the most powerful ways that Christ is magnified is in His people, more specifically, is when they realize that faith in Christ looks like obedience to Christ through suffering. Often times we encounter churches that are full of people who want to serve Christ but not at the expense of anything like their pride, or their comfort. Instead, we put the focus of donating money to this group or that group so that this select group of "called" individuals can get their hands dirty, we can stay comfy, and every body wins ... right? Certainly, giving is an act of obedience, my worry is that this obedience is a cover for fear.
In the book of Hebrews chapter 5 we learn that Christ "learned obedience through suffering AND, being made perfect became the source of salvation for all who obey Him." In Hebrews 2 we also learn that Jesus was "crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Its important that we allow this reality to set in because there is a bit of a shell shock happening here for most people in the western church! Because of Jesus' obedience to suffer death for us He was in fact able to taste death. The really awesome part in this death is that there is a promised resurrection. Paul says in Romans, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."-Romans 6:3-5
Live with Christ, die with Christ, resurrect with Christ, reign with Christ. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians compares the value of all things to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus ... he finds that anything less than that is rubbish!
"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."-Philippians 3:8-11
"This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering"-2 Thessalonians 1:5
-The interesting thought here is that the evidence of God's righteous judgement is that they may even be considered worthy ... and all the while they are suffering for this faith that is to be counted to them as righteousness. Thats a little humbling to say the least.
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"-2 Timothy 1:8-10
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."-Romans 5:1-5
"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."-Romans 4:13-25
When you address a topic such as this you ultimately find yourself looking at the doctrine of Justification. The view is that we are justified by faith alone but some complications are brought to light when verses like James 2:24-26 are brought into contrast. Despite the contextualization of the verses used to verify each side of the argument we are ultimately in agreement that apart from Christ we can do nothing, and none of us can save ourselves from judgement. The question we are asking is "What does that that justifying faith look like?" A major aspect of that faith is our obedience through suffering! Hope this gives you something to chew on today. Remember, I am not expert of justification, Pauline Epistles, or contextualization of scripture. I am just a thirsty disciple who does what he can with what he's got.
#endure 
"Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."-Hebrews 2:8-9
Three things are sitting on my heart today, three things that I hope will aid us in the realization of the world we live in and just how faithful the God we serve truly is. Those three things are faith, suffering, and obedience. All of these aspects are essentially 1 in the same. Suffering is something we tend to shy away from but it is also to be an expectation of the believer. Non-believers have no problem realizing that life is not a walk in the park, so how it any different for a Christian who now hold the standards or righteousness and holiness? Maybe it is the lack there of ... maybe we are convinced that we are saved and thats it? This would certainly be an odd idea to Jesus(Matthew 24:13), and for the Apostle Paul who constantly had the voicing in his writings, and expectant vision of a future justification.(1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:2; 2 Corinthians 2:15; 2 Timothy 2:11-13) Despite differences on the issue of salvation I just want to get your wheels spinning and I want to keep the focus on the topic, and ultimate question of "What does that faith look like?"
One of the most powerful ways that Christ is magnified is in His people, more specifically, is when they realize that faith in Christ looks like obedience to Christ through suffering. Often times we encounter churches that are full of people who want to serve Christ but not at the expense of anything like their pride, or their comfort. Instead, we put the focus of donating money to this group or that group so that this select group of "called" individuals can get their hands dirty, we can stay comfy, and every body wins ... right? Certainly, giving is an act of obedience, my worry is that this obedience is a cover for fear.
In the book of Hebrews chapter 5 we learn that Christ "learned obedience through suffering AND, being made perfect became the source of salvation for all who obey Him." In Hebrews 2 we also learn that Jesus was "crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Its important that we allow this reality to set in because there is a bit of a shell shock happening here for most people in the western church! Because of Jesus' obedience to suffer death for us He was in fact able to taste death. The really awesome part in this death is that there is a promised resurrection. Paul says in Romans, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."-Romans 6:3-5
Live with Christ, die with Christ, resurrect with Christ, reign with Christ. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians compares the value of all things to the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus ... he finds that anything less than that is rubbish!
"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."-Philippians 3:8-11
"This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering"-2 Thessalonians 1:5
-The interesting thought here is that the evidence of God's righteous judgement is that they may even be considered worthy ... and all the while they are suffering for this faith that is to be counted to them as righteousness. Thats a little humbling to say the least.
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel"-2 Timothy 1:8-10
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."-Romans 5:1-5
"For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."-Romans 4:13-25
When you address a topic such as this you ultimately find yourself looking at the doctrine of Justification. The view is that we are justified by faith alone but some complications are brought to light when verses like James 2:24-26 are brought into contrast. Despite the contextualization of the verses used to verify each side of the argument we are ultimately in agreement that apart from Christ we can do nothing, and none of us can save ourselves from judgement. The question we are asking is "What does that that justifying faith look like?" A major aspect of that faith is our obedience through suffering! Hope this gives you something to chew on today. Remember, I am not expert of justification, Pauline Epistles, or contextualization of scripture. I am just a thirsty disciple who does what he can with what he's got.
#endure
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