Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; 1 Peter 1:17-21
Our faith, in general, brings with it a great many
mysteries. But then, why shouldn’t
it? After all, faith is about accepting
and following the ways of our Almighty God – the One who is so far above us,
who is incomprehensible, who is unquestionable,
who is indescribably powerful and eternal, and who understands us in ways that
we may never understand ourselves. The
prophet Isaiah wrote about many Godly mysteries in chapter 55
of his reflections.
In verse 3
he reminds us that God desires an everlasting covenant of eternal life with all
who would come to Him in faith, who would listen to Him, and love Him, and obey
Him, and in no other way. Our incredible
God wants a relationship with even us!
Verse 7
reminds us that even as sinful and faithless as we may be, our perfect Lord God
will show His love, kindness, mercy and compassion to anyone who turns away
from the ways of Earth, and seeks the grace that will always be available to anyone
who will turn to the Lord for His forgiveness and pardon over our errant ways.
In verses 8 and 9,
we read of the Lord’s majestic and mighty ways, that they are so great, so
awesome, so incredible, that we can’t even begin to imagine what they can mean
for our lives in faith.
Verse 11
tells us that no matter what God’s Will may be, it can never be interrupted or
curtailed, and will always “achieve the purpose that He has intended.
And the entire chapter assures us that all of
creation – not just the human aspects – will sing out loud to praise Him for
His gracious nature, for the glory that abounds within Him, and for the hope
that is inspired by the desires of our almighty, all loving God whose work is
always given fully for our behalf!
And our scripture readings for today continue with thoughts
on the blessings that come from trusting in the many mysteries of our God, even
though we may never be able to
understand them, even in the most elementary of ways.
Read 1 Corinthians 15:50-58
As “perishable” people, we have always known that
death is a sign of the end of life. But
in this passage, Paul assures us that it definitely is not, at least for those
who have given their own personal life and death over to the Lord Jesus. And the change that God will enact to bring
us into His imperishable, inconceivable, and shared presence will be the
greatest and most blessed mystery that we will ever encounter.
By the grace and love of God, our earthly death,
instead of being an end, becomes a time of transition that brings us into a
condition of worthiness, allowing us to stand, with joy and celebration, in the
holy presence of our Lord and Savior.
And the good news is that the day of this change is getting ever closer,
and will only be held back until God’s Will says that this time has come.
The most vital aspect of this mystery is that there
is nothing that we can do to produce this change, or to hurry it along, or even
to understand how it all comes together for us.
The only thing that remains within our scope of possibilities is to
surrender control and desires for our life to Jesus Christ, and this being an
absolute necessity if we are to be changed for the better, and not remain mired
in the depths of worldly condemnation.
Paul then moves on to speak about the victory that
Jesus produces over our death. I’ve
always liked the hymn “Victory
in Jesus”, especially the chorus that proclaims:
O
victory in Jesus
My Savior, forever
He sought me and He bought me
With His redeeming blood
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory
Beneath the cleansing flood
This hymn reminds us, over and over, that the
victory of Jesus is only available to us through the sacrifice He made at Calvary
– the blessing of His suffering and agonizing death of 3 days, in exchange for
a life of eternity for you and me. And
everything changes on that glorious day – life for death, the end of our
conflict with sin, no more opposition from false teachings, no more perishable
mortality, and only the atmosphere of Godly love, compassion, truth, and hope
will be left.
Now that is a change that we can unhesitantly
and confidently be thankful for, as well as one which we can literally live well
with forever!
Read 1 Peter 1:17-21
In
Peter’s first epistle to the church, he contributes to Paul’s discussion of the
lack of any value that can exist in the world’s “perishable” treasures, versus
the “imperishability” of the blessings of God, most notably, that which comes
from the power that is found in the blood of Jesus. And he specifically says that there is no
redemption in the valued objects and ways of earth, and that there is
infinitely more value in the imperishable blood of Christ. While the treasures and gifts of the world
can support our human existence during the time we live within this plane,
those valued things of earth are just as vulnerable to loss and destruction as the
entire world is. And the valued ways of
God are just as indestructible as God Himself is. But even though the immeasurable ways of the
Lord will last forever, they can become ineffectual for our salvation simply by
our denial of faith and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior - the One who is the source
of all redemption.
Peter
then takes the discussion to a whole new level, in that our faith, trust and
work in and through Christ, also leads us to faith and trust in both the Father
and the Holy Spirit. Faith in Jesus and
the Spirit work within us, by the plan that the Father works in His Son. It was God’s work and word that continued to
flow through the teachings and life of Jesus, and which now continues to work
within all believers. It was no
coincidence that Jesus referred to us as His brothers and sisters (Matthew12:49-50). His reference to the
faithful as members of His family is an important distinction for the
Church. In Jesus’ day, inheritance, and
responsibilities of inheritance, were established and ordered by the law.
But
in the case of God, “family” is based in God’s Will alone, and not by worldly
criteria. It is given solely to those who are obedient and faithful to the
Father and His Son, and shared with those who deserve to inherit all that the
Father is and has. We will have shares
just as the Son Jesus will have. And one
day we will discover that the old saying is absolutely true – that when we
enter heaven, we will be amazed at who is also there, and equally surprised at
who is not! For God, the gift of “family”
is just that vitally important.
It
all has to depend on who is faithful and living in the sacrifice and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the
one mystery surrounding Jesus, the one that we all have to learn sooner or
later is this – that nothing else is going to change in our life, until we ask
Jesus to change our life first!
