JOY in the Righteousness of Christ!!!

    Today I had the opportunity to play violin at First Lutheran in Fargo with a small chamber orchestra.  At the beginning of the service I was confronted with a very interesting phenomenon.  The pastor greeted the congregation and then told them to greet each other with the JOY that has been given us.  People turned in their pews, shook hands, and mumbled a soft 'goodmorning', or 'peace be with you'.  This is very similar to what happens in many services but it leads me to ask one question.....where is the JOY???
 
     Jesus died for us! He saved us! We live in freedom for the Kingdom of God!  When we come together to worship Him we ought to be ecstatic. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:9-11)."  The love of God completely satisfies and fulfills us.  We are no longer looking for things in this world, we have been given it all. He is utilizing us, mere sinners, to bring Heaven to Earth!!!

          How glorious, how wonderful!! So many times we forget what God has done for us, and that we are truly saved.  We say we, as sinners, are justified in Christ; and then we go a step further and say our sin is justified as well.  God does not want us focused on ourselves or our sin, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2)."  We forget that God made us righteous in his eyes, that we are redeemed, we are his children.  Are we going to sin? Yes, but we ought to boldly step forth with the expectation that we will not.  Jesus has died for our sin, the Holy Spirit is inside of us and empowers us to do things beyond our own capability.  We ought to have faith and trust that God will keep us from temptation. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13)."

        Not only will this allow us to live in God and he in us, but if/when we do sin, repentance will come easier but will be much more painful (it is true repentance).  If we do not expect to sin, not because we are strong but because God is, and then we do sin; the blame falls on our own shoulders.  Then we can be broken and in agony over what we did, for we were given everything to overcome it and yet we still fell.  We did not glorify our father in heaven, we did not rely on Him, and that should crush us.  Thankfully our God is loving, compassionate, and abounds in mercy.  He forgives us and we can once again take on the mantle of faith and  bear the very image of Christ.  "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! we died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life (Romans 6:1-4)."

      I'm coming to realize that the transformation of re-birth in Christ is much more radical than I had previously thought.  Our minds our truly renewed!  What if Jesus' lifestyle and relationship with God wasn't unreachable, what if he came to show us the standard Christian life.  He redeemed us, allowed us to be in relationship with God just as he was/is, and then sent the Holy Spirit to enable us to do so.  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:20-21)!"  Righteousness is not from us, it is from God.  It is not about what we can do or who we are, but from what He has already done and who He is!  Sometimes we fall into a trap, we 'act as if we are humble, but in actuality we merely don't have faith in what God has done.  Lack of faith can be misunderstood as humbleness.  God didn't say you will be saved, he said you are saved.  He didn't say pray for the sick, he said heal the sick.  He didn't say be the light and salt of the world, he said you are the light and salt of the earth.  This is not our own doing but by the grace and will of God, who wants us to trust completely in Him and to be obedient.  "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-18)."

       God is not a fan of skepticism, he doesn't care if we get everything theologically correct right away, he tells us to have faith like a child, to listen to our Father, to FOLLOW Jesus, and to GO make disciples of all nations. Single minded obedience chosen as a friend of the Lord. We have Joy when we realize what is attained by, from, and through God.  When we gather together as the body of Christ our joy should be tangible in the air.  When someone comes to Christ, it is the most glorious moment for the Kingdom and we ought to rejoice with greater enthusiasm then when our team wins the Superbowl.  Keep in mind that even with Joy we will still feel sad sometimes, we will feel compassion and sympathy, we will suffer; but even in our suffering we can by joyful. "But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:14)."  We can have joy in our trials and in our suffering because we have been given the opportunity to glorify God in them, and to shine his light.  It is not about us, it is about God, this is what gives us great Joy!

      We are loved...period. Let your joy be expressed to others in service, words of encouragement, teaching rebuking, prayer and compassion.  "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 14-16)."  Our fulfillment is in God, our lives our given to Him, and our Joy is found only in Him.  Step boldly out in faith, disciple one another and glorify God in everything, for he is the only one worthy of it.  All things are from Him and through Him.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 5:21 - 6:1)!"

Excerpt #2 from Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship"

        In the following passage, Bonhoeffer writes about the Christian community in relation to the world?  How should we view the world, and how should we interact within it?  For we are no longer of this world, we live in it but are not of it.  The kingdom we are apart of is from another place.

       "The Christians live in the world.  they make use of the world, for they are creatures of flesh and blood, and it was for the sake of their flesh that Christ came into the world.  They indulge in worldly activities.  they get married, but their marriage will look quite different form marriage as the world understands it.  Christan marriage will be undertaken 'in the lord' (1 Cor. 7:39).  It will be sanctified in the service of the Body of Christ and in the discipline of prayer and self-control (1 Cor. 7:5). It will be a parable of the self-sacrificing love of Christ for his Church.  It will even be itself a part of the Body of Christ, a Church in miniature (Eph. 5:32).

         The Christians buy and sell, they engage in trade and commerce, but again in a different spirit from the world.  They will not only refrain from driving a hard bargain with one another (I Thess. 4:6), but (what to the world will appear incomprehensible) they will prefer to let others gain unfair advantage over them and do them injustice, rather than take their case to a pagan law-court over 'things that pertain to this life.'  Should the need arise, they will settle their disputes within the Christian community, and before their own tribunals (I Cor. 6:1-8).

      Thus the life of the Christian community in the world bears permanent witness to the truth that 'the fashion of this world passeth away' (I Cor. 7:31), that the time is short and the Lord is nigh.  This thought fills them with joy unspeakable (Phil. 4:4).  The world is growing too small for the Christian community, and all it looks for is the Lord's return.  It still walks in the flesh, but with eyes upturned to heaven, whence he for whom they wait will come again.  In the world the Christians are a colony of the true home, they are strangers and aliens in a foreign land, enjoying the hospitality of that land, obeying its laws and honouring its government.  They receive with gratitude the requirements of their bodily life, and in all things prove themselves hones, just, chaste, gentle, peaceable, and read to serve. They show the love of God to all men, 'but especially to them that ore of the household of faith' (Gal. 6:10; II Pet. 1:7).

     They are patient and cheerful in suffering, and they glory in tribulation.  They live their own life under alien rulers and alien laws.  Above all, they pray for all in authority, for that is their greatest service.  But they are only passing through the country.  At any moment they may receive the signal to move on.  Then they will strike tents, leaving behind them all their worldly friends and connections, and following only the voice of their Lord who calls.  They leave the land of their exile, and start their homeward trek to heaven."

Excerpt from Bonhoeffer's "The Cost of Discipleship"

         I have just started reading this book, and already I can tell it will be very challenging and convicting.  Here is a few paragraphs about grace, and the differentiation between what Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace and costly grace.  Generally we utilize the grace of God to justify our lifestyle... but this is not the gospel message.  Rather grace allows for us to follow after Christ, denying ourselves and following him which will include suffering and persecution.  It is costly because as a christian our whole life is given for the purpose of His kingdom.  But it is grace because we are allowed to follow Jesus Christ.

        "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without Church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 

        Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has.  It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods.  It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him. 

           Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.  It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price,' and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us.  Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.  Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.

         Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs.  It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him.  Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart.  grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light.'"