Ephesians; 1:4 – Elected to be blameless. The church presented blameless – Col 1:22.

Tuesday March 19, 2019

 

The elect are the lights of the world. Our culture is becoming more and more secularized. Secularization is when the truth of the Bible is cast to the sidelines of society and is considered biased and unprofitable and even dangerous when questions that lie at the heart of human existence are considered. When a core question is need of a solution, the statesman, the lawyer, the professor, the doctor, and the philosopher are all asked for their opinion and are all considered unbiased and helpful, but the pastor or the theologian is not asked, for he is considered biased and wrong before he even opens his mouth. That is secularization.

 

Marketers of sensation achieve great wealth by poisoning the minds of a society’s youth. They work to use sensation in order to trap young minds and lock into their memory banks ideas that will haunt them the rest of their lives. This puts as risk not only their hungers but the very sacredness of any vow or intention to goodness in all parts of life that are significant to their own well-being and the society’s well-being. Having a conscience and made in the image of God, almost all of the poisoned youth will want goodness in marriage, in family, as parents to children or children to parents, as neighbor to neighbor, but they will not find the power or the desire in the accomplishing of it. When secularization is allowed free reign in a society, nothing can be defined as either good or evil, and eventually you end up with a generation that is devoid of any shame. This is currently happening at an alarming rate in our nation.

 

Christianity will not be removed from our society, for it is legally protected by law, but Satan knows it doesn’t have to be removed. He knows that all he has to do is move her to the sidelines where no one is listening to her.

 

We are the lights of the world. It is of critical importance that we shine the light that is Christ in this world.

 

PSA 37:1 Do not fret because of evildoers,

Be not envious toward wrongdoers.

 

PSA 37:2 For they will wither quickly like the grass,

And fade like the green herb.

 

PSA 37:3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.

 

PSA 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

PSA 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord,

Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

 

PSA 37:6 And He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

And your judgment as the noonday.

 

Christology is the study of the person of Christ in His deity and His humanity, as well as the study of Him as Savior, His incarnation, and the certain future of His kingdom.  Christology will protect the Christian as he faces the principalities and powers (Satan and his spirit world) through the armor of God.

 

The armor is made up of various attributes of Christ: truth, righteousness, the good news of peace, faith, salvation, and the only weapon, which is the sword of the Holy Spirit, the word of God.

 

PSA 89:5 And the heavens will praise Thy wonders, O Lord;

Thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.

 

PSA 89:6 For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord?

Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord,

 

PSA 89:7 A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones,

And awesome above all those who are around Him?

 

PSA 89:8 O Lord God of hosts, who is like Thee, O mighty Lord?

Thy faithfulness also surrounds Thee.

 

PSA 89:9 Thou dost rule the swelling of the sea;

When its waves rise, Thou dost still them.

 

PSA 89:10 Thou Thyself didst crush Rahab like one who is slain;

Thou didst scatter Thine enemies with Thy mighty arm.

 

PSA 89:11 The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine;

The world and all it contains, Thou hast founded them.

 

PSA 89:12 The north and the south, Thou hast created them;

Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Thy name.

 

PSA 89:13 Thou hast a strong arm;

Thy hand is mighty, Thy right hand is exalted.

 

PSA 89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne;

Lovingkindness and truth go before Thee.

 

PSA 89:15 How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!

O Lord, they walk in the light of Thy countenance.

 

PSA 89:16 In Thy name they rejoice all the day,

And by Thy righteousness they are exalted.

 

PSA 89:17 For Thou art the glory of their strength,

And by Thy favor our horn is exalted.

 

PSA 89:18 For our shield belongs to the Lord,

And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

 

To be a light in this world I will have to thoroughly tap into the power of the person of Christ, which He gave me graciously at the moment of my salvation. I will have to wear the armor and wield the sword daily as I live as the elect of Christ, holy and blameless.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is God, the Creator of all things, and the Creator and Head of the church. He is the Savior and reconciler and His kingdom will have no end. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and every believer is beholden to Him and a subject of His kingdom, who have no other choice but to obey Him.

 

God has given us the ability, spiritually and supernaturally, to get to know Him so that our obeyance of the King will be out of love.

 

PHI 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

 

Rather than crushing the dark forces, during His incarnation, during His cross, our Lord removed the weapons that the dark forces used over us - sin and death. He gave us His life, elected and predestined us to it, so that we could live as sons of light.

 

God changed us and overcame the agents of our destruction in His kindness.

 

ROM 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

 

The domain of darkness uses sin and death against man. The elect are here to reveal that man has been set free from those weapons and given life in Christ who has reconciled all things.

 

Demons still rule the nations, but after their defeat by Christ, they took a more subtle approach. It would seem that in the parts of the world where Christ is hardly known, demonic presence is more open, but I only conjecture this. The more subtle approach is not to use named gods that claim to have supernatural power and are represented to men as carved images, but to use the idols that are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life.

 

The marketer of the demonic force is not a temple priest but a radical university professor, a politician, a higher up in a tech company.

 

When Balaam didn’t defeat Israel, being unable to curse them, he got another idea. He returned to Midian and gathered up many harlots and sent them into the camp of Israel, and it worked.

 

Demons in all nations have used this method, and just as in the old method of demonic temple worship, it uses man’s sin and death against him. Jesus turned this curse around and turned it on our oppressors.

 

Think about it. If we are not to wrestle against flesh and blood then we are wrestling against the demonic power that inflames flesh and blood in division, hatred, violence, self-destruction. How am I going to fight such powers?

 

When the kingdom of God is seated in your heart and you are devoted to it, the light of that kingdom will shine forth in this dark world - through you!

 

MAT 5:14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

 

MAT 5:15 Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.

 

MAT 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

 

We must see in this why it is so important to resist sin and to obey our King. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth (in my heart) as it is in heaven.” It is the armor of the King and with it we reveal to the world His victory and His defeat of the enemy. 

 

We were foreknown, elected, and predestined to live in this victory, walking in a manner worthy of our Lord and King, pleasing our King in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.

 

All things are summed up in Jesus Christ; all kingdoms, all the called, all the good and righteous and just acts, all the truth will all be gathered up in Christ.

 

1CO 15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

 

1CO 15:21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

 

1CO 15:22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

 

1CO 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming,

 

1CO 15:24 then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

 

1CO 15:25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.

 

1CO 15:26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

 

At that time, not one more man will die, not one more funeral will be held.

 

1CO 15:27 For He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.

 

1CO 15:28 And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all.

 

Jesus in the end reveals that He did it all, not because He lusted for a throne (which throne He always possessed), but because He loved righteousness and justice, the foundation of God’s throne. The only way that God could make a kingdom out of rebellious fallen men was to take their dust upon Himself and hang judged in their place, which required that He submit to the Father’s will in righteousness and justice, yet while retaining His deity though denying its power.

 

The mystery here is great, and so many people destroy it by making Christ out to be someone that He is not. God the Son, the Son of Man, subjects the kingdom and then Himself to the Father so that God may be all in all.