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16 March:       
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

 

Sometimes people go through their life feeling guilty and undeserving. That may be particularly true with regard to the religious world where people know the nature of their sins and understand that they do not deserve forgiveness and/or heaven. But God has decided that He wants His children to be blessed and with Him and since sin demands punishment God has allowed Jesus to die on the cross as that punishment for all those who believe and accept Christ as their Savior.

To fully understand how this works we need to study the function of justification.

 

Justification:

  • 1. the action of showing something to be right or reasonable
  • 2. the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.

The first part of the definition is important to us because we are going to stand before God for judgement. We are going to want to be right or good before Him in order to be invited into His kingdom and spend eternity with Him instead of in the lake of fire.

The second portion of the definition is important because we cannot make ourselves righteous. Rom 3:23 tells us that we all have already messed it up and will instead stand before the Lord condemned. This makes the following scriptures extremely important for our eternal future:        Rom 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified (being made right/righteous)  through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.         Rom 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”           Gal 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of the law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.”                Paul sums it up in Phil 3:9 “(I have suffered the loss of all things so that I)  may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

We need to know that we can and will only stand before God justified or made right in His eyes based on our faith in His Son. We need to know that there is no way for us to obtain our own righteous: Rom 3:19,20,23 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes knowledge of sin (and) all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”       These verses make verse 24 extremely important: “(we are) being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”.    

God has GRACIOUSLY agreed to justify us through the works of Christ. Christ’s achievement of a sinless life ending by death on the cross has achieved for us what we could not do ourselves. But for His life to accomplish justification for us we must believe what the gospel, the ‘Good News’, teaches and accept it and the Lord into our hearts.

Acts 16:29-33 “And he (jailer) called for lights and rushed (into the prison) and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must  I do to be saved?’ They said ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’  And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and his household. He washed their wounds and was immediately baptized, he and all his household.”

You will notice that the answer to how he could receive eternal salvation was that he must believe in the Lord. This was then accomplished in that very moment by the Apostles when they spoke the word of the Lord to them. After he had heard the story of Christ, he and his household with him were then baptized. Apparently, he believed and something in the message expressed the need for him to be baptized. So, he believed and obeyed.

In all the early verses they stipulated that our justification was going to be achieved only through our faith in Jesus Christ. Our justification will not be by doing all the right things. So, when Paul speaks the story of Christ to this man and he believes and is therefore justified or made righteous - why then does he and his household go through the process of being baptized?         Consider another situation in Acts:          Acts 8:35,36 “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to Him. As they went along the road they came to some water: and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? . . . And he ordered the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.”                    With both the jailer and the eunuch the message that was preached led to a belief or faith that was then followed by baptism.  If they brought faith into the hearts of their audience, which then made their audience justified/righteous before God – why then were they baptized?

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”    Mtt 28:19,20 “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”.    This is exactly what happened with both the jailer and the eunuch. The message of Christ was preached and those listening believed and were then baptized. This example is followed in ALL the conversions recorded in Acts.

So what is the significance of being baptized if we have been justified in our faith?

Rom 6:3-5 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

So, what happens when you are baptized? When you are baptized your action of going down into the waters, in God’s mind, is that you are going down into the grave WITH Jesus and when we come up from the waters, you are coming up from the grave to live a new life – with Christ.  Colossians echoes this also:  Col 2:12,13 “having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions”.

Baptizing someone who is too young to have understanding of “Jesus preached to them” cannot have the proper faith that is needed to make a commitment to follow Christ.  Acts 19:3,4,5 “And he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ And they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after, that is, in Jesus’. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Our baptism is the result of hearing the story of Christ and believing that story, and having a proper faith in the Lord, we begin walking according to the teachings of Christ. 2 John 1:4 “I am very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father.”  Rom 6:1,2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”   Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who love me and gave Himself up for me.” 

Faith results in love and obedience to what is taught in the Word.  2 Tim 3:16.17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”   So, in our Christian life we start by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; He came to earth and lived a mortal life, dying on the cross for us and then being resurrected by His Father in heaven. He then ascended to heaven and is siting on the right hand of God interceding for us, on our behalf.

Once we have achieved that faith, we then begin living out that faith in our lives. The first step in living faithfully and obediently is being baptized so that all our sins are removed from our souls. We then begin reading, studying, understanding and obeying: Rom 6:16,17 “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

Jesus tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We are serving self or God. We are told time and again that our lives are to bring glory to God by our good works; that is the message of the Parable about the sheep and goats and the Good Samaritan Parable.  Our lives of faith results in lives of love:  James 2:14-18 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has not works, is dead, being by itself. . . . I will show you my faith by my works.”

 

Conclusion:

  1. We are justified and made righteous because of our faith in Jesus.
  2. Our faith/belief in Jesus results in our living the way He wants us to.
  3. He wants us to imitate Him in order to bring glory to the Father.
  4. Our imitating Christ causes us to take up OUR cross and living “FOR Him!!!

 

 

9 March:  Observing the Lord’s Supper:

1 Cor 11:20,22 “Therefore, when you meet, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another drunk. What? Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you!”  

Paul is setting the context for the rest of the chapter. The congregation is meeting for worship, and this includes the Lord’s Supper. The problem is that they have incorporated the Lord’s Supper into their lunch meal and the way they are doing it brings embarrassment and/or shame on some of the less fortunate.         So, Paul then launches into the nature and purpose of the Lord’s Supper.

From this Paul then returns to his previous topic –  the wrong way in which they are  conducting themselves:       1 Cor 11:27-34   “IN AN UNWORTHY MANNER”            

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For whoever eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason, many of you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.   But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world. So, then my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not come together for judgement (condemnation).”

 

  1.  “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner” / eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly”   In what way is Paul accusing them of taking the Lord’s Supper in an ‘unworthy manner’?
    1. 1 John 2:9,10 “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.  The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in Him.”   
    2. 1 John 3:10,17  “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious; anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.” “But whoever has the world’s good, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in Him?”
    3. Mtt 4:22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing’, shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.’” And from this Jesus tells the parable of leaving your gift at the altar and making things right before coming back to God with your gift.

 

Do you get the idea here that our relationship with our brothers and sisters is paramount in the Lord’s mind?  Maybe – that is why the second greatest commandment, only second to love the Lord – is to love our neighbor. And if loving our neighbor is so important – how important do you think loving our Christian family is???

So Paul’s accusing them of taking the Supper in an unworthy manner is in relation to how they are treating their brothers and sisters in Christ. He is not making a reference to how sinful a person is during the course of their daily lives. He is referring to how a person is relating to his fellow brothers and sisters in the church.

And in the situation Paul is describing, one must admit that you cannot truthfully say that you are showing love and compassion when you are feasting, and another person is being left hungry.  Your relationship is not right with Christ if this is happening, and you are therefore taking the Lord’s Supper with a wrong heart and therefore, in an unworthy manner.

  1. For this reason, many of you are weak and sick, and a number sleep (died).    Paul then seems to state that their wrong spirit has already begun to affect their spiritual condition. Paul seems to be inferring that there are three stages in a person’s wrongful condition.
  1. “Weak”: Parable of the Sower – seeds falling into the weeds struggle to survive and become like the dead – unproductive. How many parables did Jesus tell like the 5,3,2 talent servants and non-producing olive tree where weak and useless examples are condemned and judged worthy of destruction? James asks us what use is it to tell a brother to go and be warmed and filled when we have not done anything to help their situation. Jesus does not condemn the goats for doing evil and perverse things but rather they are condemned for doing nothing for those in need all around them. If we are not willing to take up our cross and serve (remember the foot-washing story) others then we truly fall into the category of ‘WEAK’ Christians!

B. “Sick”: Sower  - seeds falling onto the rock ground – they look healthy and good but soon, because of affliction or persecution fall away.     Col 2:6-8 “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”           Paul is referring here to the need for us to become knowledgeable and well-grounded in the truth so that we are not led astray. Paul clarifies this even better in Rom 12:1,2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is”.   James tells us blessed is the man who perseveres for he will receive the crown of life which is promised to those who love the Lord; James later tells us that we are to be doers of the Word and not merely hearers. If we are busy serving the Lord in our lives, we are a lot less likely to be led astray by false prophets.   .

C. “Asleep”/dead:  1 Peter 3:1-4 “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment …”.       Isaiah 9:16 “For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.”      Mtt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits

Regardless of what others may preach, I do not believe in “once saved, always saved.” I believe that it is most certainly possible that we can be led astray or wander from the truth like the lost sheep. Those Christians who have become weak or gotten sick are perilously close to becoming dead if they do not awaken, repent and come back to the truth. And what is the source of this situation?

Summary:   “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner . . . . eats and drinks judgement to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.”

The teachings of Scripture make it abundantly clear that our relationship with each other affects our relationship with our Lord. We need to make sure that there is no divisive spirit existing within our family. To allow that to exist is to bring danger to us all. So, in the spirit of laying our gift at the altar and going to make things right let us do what the Holy Spirit has taught us:    Rom 16:17 “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.”   Gal 6:1 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.”      2 Thess 3:15 “Yet do not regard him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother.”

I offer these verses as an example of the attitude which ought to be operating within our hearts. We approach our family members with love and compassion and keep relationships honoring the “UNITY” which Christ expects of us: John 17:20,21 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone (Apostles), but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”  Our light will shine and bring glory to God if we live up to His expectations and our souls will be united with Him in the presence of God when He comes again.

CONCLUSION:   We need to make sure we are right with each other. We need to come together at our assemblies with joy, appreciation, honor and respect for Christ and for each other because that is what these emblems represent – God’s love and sacrifice FOR US - ALL.