One In Jesus

God’s cosmic plan, dating back to the foundations of the Creation, is for us to be saved so that we’ll do certain works that he prepared for us. What works?

He begins to explain in —

(Eph 4:11-12 ESV)  ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

First, some of us are gifted as leaders and therefore called to “equip” Christians minister to (serve) one another to build up the church. Continue reading →

Ephesians is perhaps Paul’s most global, cosmic epistle — although Colossians gives it a run for its money. If you want the big picture, flip to Ephesians.

(Eph 1:3-6 ESV)  ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,  ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love  ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. Continue reading →

Paul gives a lesson on how to be new creations in Colossians. (A very interesting and rewarding epistle we rarely cover in Bible class. I have no idea why.)

(Col 3:8-10 ESV)  ⁸ But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  ⁹ Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices  ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Continue reading →

There’s this strand of thought in the New Testament that we rarely talk about (well, several such strands are out there, actually). You see, Paul likes to talk about Christians as being a “new creation.”

(2Co 5:17 ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

(Gal 6:15 ESV)  For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Continue reading →

This is a pet peeve, but an important one. Nearly all the spiritual disciplines advocated for in Christian literature are individual disciplines — prayer, meditation, solitude, Bible study, etc.

Indeed, most of these are the sorts of things that can only be done alone. And the entire thrust of scripture is toward community.

Yes, yes, yes, we should all have a personal relationship with Jesus, but we should also have a community relationship with Jesus. Indeed, God created Adam and Eve. The only thing God made that he declared “not good” was that it was “not good” that Adam be alone! Continue reading →