Enjoying the Gospel

sunflower

Continuing to look at Colossians 3:12 and what we just saw, the reality is that grasping this has huge implications for our lives. It greatly affects how we respond to God. If I chose Him, then my life becomes all about me and my glory, and subtly God becomes my servant, because after all, He ought to be happy and grateful I chose Him. And if I chose Him, then I can un-choose Him. And so on it goes. Very little security here. Very little peace (which Paul mentions in v. 15 which again is sourced in having been chosen). We must be careful because we begin to make salvation and the life there that follows as totally up to me and my ability not to sin or to be faithful. And salvation is up to my strength to persevere and remain in Christ. AND subtly my glory competes with God’s.

But if God chose me, then there is great security and peace in my life. But it also changes everything about the goal and purpose of my life and the reason behind me being chosen. In being chosen, there is great gratitude and thanksgiving and humility due to grace. And now in gratitude and thanksgiving, I become His joyful servant because of undeserved grace. And then to live for His glory is a joy and seems like the only right response due to His great grace.

And this has implications far beyond just us as individuals. The context here is about the body of Christ, the community and fellowship of all believers regardless of race or ethnicity or social status. All of us who are believers are in the family of God by God’s gracious choosing. Not because we are white or black or Jew or Gentile. But because of great grace.

This creates great unity, humility, gratitude, thanksgiving, or at least it ought to amongst us as a body. But if I chose and got myself in the family, then individuality makes sense. But that is not what this text says. We are a community established and sourced in God’s grace. We are to be about God and His glory. And thus everything else we see in Colossians flows from this starting point of God’s grace.

God’s choice of us as believers is the basis for everything we see in the remainder of Colossians. Starts here with grace. When I quit fighting what God’s Word clearly teaches and submit to it, even while admitting we might not totally have it figured out as I would say, the doctrine of election becomes a source of great comfort for me. It’s a comfort because God’s sovereign purpose to save those whom He has chosen cannot fail (see, Rom. 8:28-39).

I am in God’s family by His choosing. Let that wash over you believer. Let that comfort you believer. Let that free you up to recklessly chase after God and to seek first His kingdom, knowing nothing can separate us from His love because we have been chosen, adopted by grace. Let us share the gospel knowing that it is not up to us to convince anyone, but to share the gospel with love and grace and gentleness and pray that God would graciously save others thru the hearing of His Word. God’s grace is here for the taking. And that may sound weird given what we just looked at, but that is the truth. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Period. And that is by grace.

I challenge us to really consider this truth today. To contemplate our position before God, and our attitude and approach to God and His grace, to His commands, to the Word. Have we become forgetful? Arrogant? Proud? Haughty towards others because we have forgotten grace? Have you clothed yourself with that grace and what it means for your life?

Are we living out of the overflow of the grace of God in having been chosen? Have you even responded in faith to the grace of God in repenting of your sin? Has any of this brought about disunity amongst the body? Any repentance to one another that needs to be made?

Have you simply recognized grace and the gospel, acknowledged it, but not clothed yourself with it and applied it to your life, embraced it and enjoyed it as you were intended?

When we were in the DR, we had the privilege of delivering the gifts that members of TCO bought for each girl. And it was a joy to watch the girls open up the gifts. And there was one particular girl, I watched her and she simply held the gift, wouldn’t open it. And you could tell she was torn, struggling. I walked over to her and encouraged her to open the gift. Over and over I asked her to open the gift. I asked her “Why won’t you open the girt?” She could speak some English and she said she was scared it was not what she wanted, that she was praying for one gift. There was one gift she wanted more than anything else. I begged her to open the gift, to take the risk. And she did. And to her joy, and to my joy in watching her open the gift, it was what she wanted.

She immediately started yelling and crying, and other girls who knew what she wanted started yelling and crying. And she said “this is the one gift I prayed for, I wanted so bad for it to be this. I was crying, others in our group were crying, just seeing the joy of the girls enjoying what we gave them, what God had given them thru us.

Here is why I share that. You chose a girl to give her a gift. Grace. That girl could not make any claim on you, wasn’t deserving of the gift. GRACE. You picked a girl, didn’t mean anything against the others. You picked that one. Offered a gift.

Imagine for a moment if this girl I shared about just looked at the gift, kept it wrapped up. There is a pleasure and joy for them in simply having a gift, of knowing somebody cared. Some of them shared that. Imagine even if they opened the gift but didn’t take it out of the box and play with it. Not full joy that was intended by the gift.

The real joy we had was seeing them put on the shoes, take the dolls out and play with them, sing with the microphones. That was what they were given for, real joy in enjoying the gift, taking the clothes and wearing them, not just hanging them in their closet.

My fear is that might be some of us here today spiritually. We acknowledge the gospel, see it, look at it, don’t deny its existence, admire it, protect it, but we have not truly received it and clothed ourselves with it, found our joy in it, we don’t cherish it as our treasure.

Christianity is more than just acknowledging the gospel, or not denying the gospel. To receive it means to clothe ourselves with it, to take it out of the box and enjoy it, to find our joy in it. My fear is that some of us still have the gospel in a box on a shelf in our rooms and haven’t truly received it in the sense of finding our joy in it, clothing ourselves with it.

The gospel wasn’t meant to simply be admired or acknowledged. It was meant to be submitted to and to be enjoyed.

 

 

 

My fear is that might be some of us here today spiritually. We acknowledge the gospel, see it, look at it, don’t deny its existence, admire it, protect it, but we have not truly received it and clothed ourselves with it, found our joy in it, we don’t cherish it as our treasure.

 

The gospel wasn’t meant to simply be admired or acknowledged. It was meant to be submitted to and to be enjoyed.