Sola Fide – how to be prepared to share

May 3, 2010

Maria Ephesians, Gospel, Hope, Uncategorized , Leave a comment

I read something that Ken Boa wrote recently – it was a very succinct summary of the essence Gospel.  I realize that if I am to be obedient to the Great Commission to share the hope that I have, then I have to be ready and prepped with, at a minimum,  a 30-second blurb.  But I want this good news to roll off my tongue, in order to feel confident.  It’s stressful, if I am not prepped, when someone asks, “What does your license mean – ‘sola fid’?” I purposefully chose those 7 letters just SO someone would ask.

I have taken what Ken Boa says and massaged it a bit to strip it of ‘Christianese’, to make it more accessible to those with no knowledge of the Bible.

“Sola Fide” means – by faith alone. That refers to being right with God, having a right relation with him.  We are right with God only through God’s GIFT of this right standing with him, and that through faith.  Furthermore, this right relationship or ‘righteousness’ is found in the good news or gospel.  The Gospel teaches that Christ died for sin as a sacrifice.  We have to let go of our own efforts of justifying ourselves:  this giving up that is an action called repenting.  Only then, with empty hands and no agenda can we receive as a gift his sacrifice, thereby making us right with God.  Amazingly, this right standing with God brings a boat-load of benefits that defy imagination.

Our record, with the listing of all our innumerable misdeeds since we were infants, is taken away and Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account.  Together, these 2 actions guarantee our admittance into the presence of Holy God for eternity.  But that is not all!  We also get the assurance that we are LOVED, we get a PURPOSE for life that will satisfy us (to live for the praise of the glory of this grace) and we get a NEW FAMILY – we are brought into relationship with other believers both for our comfort and our growth. Last, but not least, we get POWER for daily living – the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  He is a guarantee of our future place in Heaven, kind of like an engagement ring.   After all, the Church IS the bride of Christ. (arrabon meaning a deposit/security in biblical Greek and in modern Greek, it means engagement ring). The Holy Spirit is also the ultimate power source – Paul reminds us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is living in us.  So we don’t have to despair of being incapable of obeying God and relying on him.  The HS gives us the power. We just have to trust and step out to do what He calls & empowers us to do, no matter our fleshly feelings of weakness!

The good news of the Gospel is amazing – but I need to be amazed and astonished daily or I slip into fear, worry and complaining.  So prepping to share the kernel or essence of the Gospel actually helps me as I rehearse continuously.  It keeps my mind focusing on this good news and it prepares me to give a reason for the hope that I have.

Hope that comes from being grafted into Christ

April 9, 2010

Maria Hope Leave a comment

“…If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  Old things have passed away, all things have become new.” 2 Cor 5:17    “ ….it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” Gal 2:20  “…if a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit..” John 14:5b    “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ, in God.” Col 3:2  “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.”Romans 8:11

So what is it?

  • Am I in Christ?
  • Is Christ in me?
  • Am I in God?
  • Is the Spirit in me, or along side of me?

I’ve always been confused about the Trinity and my relation to the three-in-one.  Now I realize that once transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, I am thoroughly mixed in, combined with, part and parcel with all three persons of the God-head.  This is why Paul can say with certainty that if someone is a Christian, he is a new creation with a changed essence.

What are the implications for this change?  As a born-again believer, I now have all the resurrection power necessary to do what God commands me to do.  I can even resist temptation.

This battle with temptation took on new significance the other day.  I had succumbed to overeating while up in NYC and was frustrated with my same old patterns.  A verse from Isaiah kept going through my head, only God had substituted some of the words to make the verse personal to me – Is 58:4b – You cannot fast (overeat) as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high (and expect to be thin).

Then when I was wallowing in discouragement and despairing of ever changing my behavior, I was struck by the reality and fact of the new me.  I CAN battle sin and gain victory through the power of God’s spirit IN me. I am no longer the former Maria, I am in Christ, in God, with the Spirit’s power, too.  Then an idea grew –a way to deal with my besetting battle with food, a plan to change just ONE behavior and to practice that change for 21 days.  My overeating had been primarily in indulging in dessert after the 3 dinners.  So the behavior change to practice was to stop with coffee after dinner and say ‘no’ to any more food in the evening.  I thought, “If I do this for 21 days, it will become a habit”.

Day one was just a matter of setting my mind. Day two I had to deal with what looked like sabotage from a caring hostess who was anxious to feed me mid-evening when I arrived.  I was beginning to think I had to succumb when all of a sudden; she acquiesced and accepted that I ‘wasn’t hungry’.  I was overwhelmed with the realization that God had indeed provided a way out of temptation.  Day three I felt stronger to say ‘no’ graciously to this hostess and stick with my resolve.

Victory, hour by hour, comes from a combination of right thinking and right walking: that is knowing  who God is and who I am in Christ and then walking in a posture of what I have  dubbed ‘TRC’ (my acronym for Trust in, Rely on and be Confident in the Lord and His promises).

Of course, this is just one teeny example of how trustworthy God is even in life’s practical issues.  But if I am a child of God through faith in the power of God, then nothing is outside of his purview or beyond his care.  And when I start to wobble, reminding myself that I am a new creation, totally entwined with the God-head is a good place to go back to!

What is our hope?

March 30, 2010

Maria Colossians, Hope, Romans Leave a comment

Hope is one of those equivocal words; it has more than one meaning.  One hopes that it doesn’t rain or that Mom doesn’t fix hamburger helper again or that one’s lottery ticket will bring in the jackpot.  None of these events are guaranteed or within one’s control.

But Christian hope is different and we need to be mindful of using that word around non-Christians.  Most people are likely to think of the weak, wishful thinking version of the word.  The Greek word for hope is ‘elpis’ and it carries with it the sense of assurance, something solidly guaranteed. You can take Christian hope to the bank.

So what is our assurance, our elpis?  Paul mentions in his letter to the Colossians that because of their hope, they were well-known for their unordinary and supernatural faith & love that was being talked about by many.  Colossians 1: 15 commends their deeds and praises them for “ – the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you”.  It is this hope that has motivated them to unselfishly reach out to others and share their material & spiritual resources.

My husband and I were thinking about how we would talk or act if we had a rich uncle who had promised us an inheritance.  In our scenario, this uncle had even put the large sum of money irrevocably in our names and we had the account # and our signatures were properly recorded at the bank.  We just couldn’t use the funds until he died.  But the inheritance was a fact, an asset waiting for us, an accounts receivable line entry.  We wouldn’t refer to this sure money as the inheritance that we ‘hope’ we get, but the inheritance that we ‘know’ we will get. For it would just be a matter of time.

Our treasure in heaven is even MORE valuable and MORE assured than our hypothetical uncle’s inheritance.  Nothing will change our status; no circumstance such as theft, or earthquake or bank error or computer failure will rob us of what is laid up for us.  What awaits us is a life of favor in the presence of Jesus where we will do what we like best: make much of God.  I know that it is hard to imagine what that will be like, but I am assured by God’s word that it is what we are made to do best.

So how should we act?  All I know is that if I REALLY believe what Jesus has said and what Paul expands upon, then I will be a lot more joyful and peaceful, no matter present circumstances.  As Paul asserts in Romans 8: 38-29, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.  Now I call that hope worth having!

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