Realigned with God through Christ

The following message is presented by John Elliott, a minister in the United Church of God.

When a complex entity has all of its parts in perfect alignment, its efficiency is maximized. It runs smoothly. It performs its function very, very well. Now this applies to your body, the planets in our solar system, the engine in our cars, and it applies to the body of Christ, which you and I are parts of, integral parts of the body of Christ. Now what happens when the elements within a complex entity get out of alignment? For instance, on earth. Let's look in Genesis 6 and verse 5. Genesis 6 and verse 5. God began with a harmonious alignment of humans with Him in the Garden of Eden, and yet by chapter 6 and verse 5 it says, God is a man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. That's how we sometimes feel when the components of our engine go awry, or the members of our family go awry. So verse 7, the Lord said, I will destroy, I will get rid of this non-functioning, non-aligned element. I will destroy man who I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast. I am sorry I've made them. How about things in heaven that get out of alignment? If we go back to Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7, notice how in the heavenly realm things can become very unaligned. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7. And war broke out in heaven. That's a serious misalignment. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. But they did not prevail, nor was a place found in heaven for them any longer. So the great dragon, verse 9, was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. And he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. How about in the church? Disalignment within the church. We can see over in Jude chapter 1. Just back a few pages here. Jude chapter 1, or Jude verse 8.

Likewise, speaking of individuals who are in the church, but they're out of alignment with God, out of alignment with love, out of alignment with His commandments. They've aligned now with something else, a different timing, a different mindset.

Likewise, these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, speak evil of dignitaries. Dropping down to verse 12, these are spots in your love feasts, beginning to corrupt not only the church, but now the feasts of God. While they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. Totally out of alignment with God and agape love.

Verse 19. These are sensual persons who cause divisions, fracturing.

How about misalignment at the Passover service? Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 18.

1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 18. Here we have a real congregation of the church at Corinth, and Paul is speaking to them by letter, and he says, For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. This body of oneness, all synced up with God in Christ, is being divided. And if we continue on, it says in verse 20, When we think of alignment, we need to be aligned with God. Often, every day, we start to get a little bit out of alignment, and things begin to knock a little abrasive, a little bit of friction, a little bit of disconnection. We need to be realigned with God. In fact, realignment with God is the core of God's Holy Day season, which we are about to enter into.

So as we approach this Holy Day season, and each of those Holy Days, each of the Feast Days, is about realigning with God, it's a good time for you and I to ask, Am I in alignment with God and His kingdom? Let's examine ourselves in the light of being aligned with God, with Jesus Christ, as we approach this Passover. The title of the sermon today is Realigned with God Through Christ. Over in Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2, verse 1, we are told that, And you He has made alive, who are once dead, and trespasses, and sins. He made us alive by aligning us with life, Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, the life, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the Prince of the power of the air, the Spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience. That is very unaligned. We were very, very unaligned, but He has brought us to alignment. Verse 3, Among whom we also once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature childrens of wrath, just as the others. So we need to recognize where we've come from and where God through Christ wants to take us into that oneness, that unity, that spiritual unity. And this previous state that we had was before baptism, before we entered into a new covenant and received the gifts of that covenant or the grace of that covenant, the divine favors that we ourselves could not come up with. That included a calling at this time, an early calling for saints. That included faith, and that is a gift of God. It included repentance. And that is a continual gift of God. If we seek it, it's a tool, a gift. Followed by the forgiveness of sin, which we are given through the blood of Christ for the past sins as we repent of them. And the Holy Spirit. Now armed with those, we can walk with God in a newness of life and sync up with Him. We can be very aligned with the mindset of God and with His kingdom. Continuing on now in verse 4, But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, verse 5, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and by grace or these favors or gifts you have been saved. Now, we were taken out of this system that was heading towards death, and we were brought into life and truth.

We were saved from our own eternal death through repentance and the blood of Christ removing those past sins from us. And, verse 6, and He's raising us up together and making us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You and I, when we pray, come right before the throne of God, spiritually. We are there in heavenly places. Our heart is sown with the kingdom of God. It's our heavenly country that we so desire, and we desire to get rid of this tent, this physical body, and ultimately be with Christ and with God. Verse 8, For by grace, by these gifts that you and I now have that place us in the new covenant, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone boast. Verse 10, For we are His workmanship. As we just heard in the previous message, we are God's workmanship, and we are to be moving, we are to be forming, we are to be aligning with God, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Yes, you and I are to walk. Just recall that everything in the Bible about this way of life, this road of life, this path of life is about walking and wrestling on the way and moving and following and being led by God's Spirit. This is what God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in. Now, under the first covenant, there were sacrifices of animals, but those sacrifices could not take away the guilt of the sins that the people had committed. It did remind them, however, of their sinfulness. In Hebrews 9 and 12, the Apostle Paul explains this to us. Hebrews 9 and 12, that we are not washed or forgiven with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood. He entered the Most Holy Place. That's in heaven. Once for all, having obtained eternal redemption, for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

That's the realignment. Our conscience, our mind, our thoughts, these get filled with temptations and distractions, and very quickly you and I can start to get out of alignment, out of sync, and start sort of creating issues and friction, and if we're not careful, we will even be distancing ourselves from God.

But you and I are to be cleansed in our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And the New Covenant is a powerful covenant with powerful tools that enable us, that help us with all of those things that you and I need to do that.

Grace or favor, these gifts, they are reciprocal. They're given to us to do work that we are to do back for God. You remember how Jesus said, I'm going to give you certain minas, some money here, as part of the analogy, and I'm going to leave that with you, and I'm going to go back to heaven, and I want you to produce with that. And I'm going to come back, and I'm going to judge you on how much you produce.

So you and I have been given these gifts, these favors, we've been given the tools of the New Covenant, and now God wants to see fruit developing, the fruit of righteousness, the fruit of holy righteous character. We need to be doing our part in giving God back the child with His holy righteous character that He is striving to produce.

Let's see how God initiates this New Covenant with a calling and repentance, and then how we are to respond. In Acts 2, verse 36, you'll recall that those who God was giving this calling to right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ at the first Pentecost, Acts 2, verse 36, within their hearts, within their minds, God had already given them the knowledge and the understanding of what was going on. And he says in Acts 2, verse 36, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

So they crucified Jesus, but our sins required no, the forgiveness of our sins, make that clear, the forgiveness of our sins required the death of a Savior, Jesus the Christ. And God the Father and Jesus Christ determined that. And so for us to be forgiven of our sins, Jesus Christ died. Now, when they heard this, verse 37, they were cut to the heart. Now these individuals, I don't believe this was instant. You'll recall that if you go back, same individuals were present when Christ died. And the miracles that took place during His crucifixion, the miracle that took place at His resurrection, these weeks that passed afterward, brought these people back for another festival now, Feast of Pentecost.

And God had been working with their mind. And when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what should we do? You and I have this relationship with God that develops with faith and then gradual repentance, and then we come to the place, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for their mission of sins, and you'll receive another gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now, we are to exercise that Holy Spirit. Let's go over to Romans 6 and verse 3. Romans 6 and verse 3. Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death? So following baptism, therefore, verse 4, we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even also we should walk in newness of life.

So we ought to have a great contrast to our life. Just like Jesus Christ dead in the flesh, raised to glory, you and I, spiritually dead in the flesh, should be raised to a godly state, a newness of life. In verse 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.

And we need to be working on that. For He who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we drop down to verse 11, likewise you also reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's our part of the responsibility here in the New Covenant, using these gifts. It says in verse 16, do you not know to whom you present your slaves to obey?

You are that one, slaves whom you obey, either of sin leading to death. See, we're not guaranteed here just because Christ died doesn't mean, oh, we have eternal salvation. No, we need to decide what we're going to do on our part of this covenant, or of obedience leading to righteousness, doing right right in God's eyes.

But God, be thankful that you were, though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to whom to which you were delivered. Now, when self-reproach is needed, it's important to understand. Sin is breaking God's law, we find in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. It doesn't matter that Jesus died. Sin is still the breaking of God's law. It didn't wipe out the law. It didn't make us, oh, where we don't have to worry about sin. No, whenever we get out of alignment and start breaking God's law, that is sin, and sin requires death.

We are guilty any time that we violate that law, and we should feel that guilt. We should feel self-reproach. But there is something we should do about it, you see. Let's go to Romans chapter 3 and verse 23. Romans 3 and verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That's something that happens. But we should not stay in a state of self-reproach, stay in an emotion of guilt, or stay in a state of being guilty. Moving on, verse 24. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption—that's in Jesus Christ. Now, how can we be justified freely through the redemption of His grace? Grace are those gifts. We have faith. We have repentance. We have forgiveness of sin, and we have the Holy Spirit. We need to use them, and we are redeemed.

We are refreshed. We are realigned through Jesus Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness. In verse 24, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So He will take away that guilt. We are no longer guilty when He makes us just after we repent and after we are realigned, then we are justified because we have faith, and that faith has works.

We are doing what God says to do. Now, when is self-reproach then unwarranted? Well, and that is after we have repented of our past sins. We shouldn't be reproaching ourselves or going back and saying, Oh, I've been a terrible person, or I'm so bad, I wonder if I'll get in the kingdom. No. That would be having no faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

That would be saying, Oh, Jesus, you didn't suffer enough because I just have to keep all this guilt and all these old sins with me. We don't want to do that. Let's look back in Psalm 103 and begin in verse 11. Psalm 103 and verse 11.

That is where our faith needs to be. We need to clean up in God's eyes and then be washed clean and mentally have a picture of ourselves as a holy, righteous son or daughter of God and conduct ourselves that way. Forgetting the past, as Paul said in Philippians, forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to the high called in Christ. So a need for any guilt and reproach passes once Christ has taken that, and we are cleansed. We are realigned. Let's go to Psalm 146 and verse 7. Psalm 146 and verse 7. I'm talking about God who's made everything, and it says here, who executes justice for the oppressed. You know, justice. God is a justifier, and He is ready to justify you and me for things we are guilty of if we repent of them. Who gives food to the hungry. Now think of these in the spiritual sense. He's a justifier when we're oppressed, when we get out of line, but we repent. He gives food to the hungry if we really hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. We're freed from the sins. We're freed from those penalties. The Lord, verse 8, opens the eyes of the blind. We can see God's truth. We can see His way. We can see where to put our feet. He is a lamp to our feet.

The Lord raises those who are bowed down. Notice the Lord loves the righteous. So we need to be right. We need to be in sync. We need to be in harmony with God. We need to be aligned with God.

So let's ask the question, what is the major influence in your life? I ask myself the question, what do I allow to be the major influence in my life?

What do I direct my thoughts through the day? Direct my life that I sort of follow? Is it sin leading to death? Or is it God's gifts and His favors? Praying about God and who He is and love and truth and right. And then pursuing that and repenting and getting rid of anything that is crept in.

And getting the knocks and the bumps and the abrasions out and make it harmonious and drawing together with my wife and with my God and with my fellow man.

See, then things begin to work efficiently and effectively once again. Now consider the answer about what should occupy your mind as you approach the Passover.

What should occupy our mind? Again, what major influence should direct my life? Is it sin leading to death or God's favors leading to life? Let's spend a moment just absorbing a verse here in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 21.

So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now in a sense, we don't see that verse or a lot in that verse, but let's break it apart.

As in sin reigned in death. The word reigned here comes from the Greek word basilou and Thayer's lexicon says it means to exercise the highest influence.

So sin actually was exercising the highest influence to death, toward death.

Now, if we're not careful, then sin, if it has the great influence in our life, is directing us there. Going on.

In this, those who let sin exercise the highest influence, they are dying. They're in the process of dying.

We know the Bible says the soul who sinned shall die. But going on, he says, What does that mean? Well, once again, reigning. What does that word mean?

If even so grace, or the gifts of God, repentance, forgiveness of sin, the Holy Spirit, and the fruits of the Holy Spirit, if these reign, or as the Greek word says, if these exercise the highest influence, then they are taking us through righteousness to eternal life.

So God's gifts need to exercise the highest influence in our life. And we need to focus on these gifts. We need to pray about them in the mornings as we begin our lives. We need to make sure that we're not self-directed, but that we are being led and directed by Jesus Christ.

Now, let's see how the Bible distinguishes these divine gifts. Plural. Gifts, plural.

From one gift that the Bible describes and talks about, which is Christ shed blood.

We're going to see here that grace doesn't simply mean Jesus died for me.

His death for you is singled out as one of God's gifts, one of His several divine gifts or favors.

In Romans 5 and verse 15, notice verse 15, but the free gift, the free gift, single, is not like the offense.

For if by one man's offense many died, that's Adam, much more the grace of God.

Oh, this is God the Father. Did God the Father die for us? No.

But these are the gifts of God the Father, whose gifts come down to us from the Father of lights.

The grace of God and the gift. By the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.

So we have in the middle of the grace of God and the middle of the grace of Jesus Christ a singular gift.

Notice the gifts of the Father, the gifts of Christ's blood, is by the gift of Christ, the grace of Jesus Christ, or by the favors, the gifts of Jesus Christ.

Now let's see this in verse 16.

Romans 5.

And the gift, Jesus is sacrificed, is not like that which came through the one who sinned.

For the judgment which came from the one offense resulted in condemnation.

But the free gift, which came from many offenses, resulted in justification.

What is justification? It means realignment.

So when you and I are justified, Jesus Christ takes away that sin through that singular gift of His blood.

When we use the grace or the gifts that God gave us of faith, repentance, baptism, we're led by the Holy Spirit, this gift then cleanses us, it realigns us, it makes us just again in the eyes of God.

Justification is not eternal salvation.

It is a state that one can get to, just like you would realign anything.

Once we're realigned, great, we're realigned, but it's not a permanent state.

Not our character. It seems like nothing stays in alignment. Everything has to be maintained or adjusted.

In verse 17, For if by the one man's event death reigned, in other words, he had this major influence through the one, much more those who received abundance of grace. That's lots of gifts. See, many new covenant gifts.

Notice, and the gift of righteousness will reign.

Or there's that Greek word again. They will have a major influence in life through the one Jesus Christ. That's what we want. Realignment, using those gifts of God so that they will have a major influence, and you and I will then have justification or a close one walk with God.

Once again, we can go out of alignment with God any time we sin, but then we can get realigned again.

Christ's blood is applied once again, that gift that realigns us with God, as we continue down the road on our journey to the kingdom.

Now, let's go to 1 Peter 2, verse 24.

We will see how this realignment is necessary. It was necessary at our baptism, but it continues to be necessary.

1 Peter 2, verse 24.

Who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. Past tense, you were healed. That healed means you were restored. You were realigned. You were brought back whole, the Greek word means, made whole.

Verse 25. Because... why were we made whole? Because you were like sheep going astray. You know, the sheep were there, they were following the shepherd, and then they began to get out of alignment, and they saw some grass over here, and some went over there, and next thing you know, the sheep have gone astray. But if now returned, the Greek word means turned back to the shepherd, to the shepherd and overseer of your souls. It's the realignment. We need to be realigned. Everything needs to be realigned to regain its course. Every time you drive a car down a road, you'll find yourself realigning. Little to the left, up, back to the right, up, more to the center. You have to realign. Same with an airplane, same with a boat, same with almost anything, same with your walk with God. We all need realignment. Think of the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread and how they speak to our realignment with God. Right now we're putting leaven out of our homes, and we're looking here spiritually inside and saying, hmm, where are the crumbs in my life? Where are the things that are out of balance? Where are the things that I have let in here? Little impurities and things that are not adjusted correctly. And this is a good time of us before the Passover to be realigning. We could call these the Festivals of Realignment with God, because essentially that is exactly what they are. Think of the weekly Sabbath as a day of realignment with God. Six days you'll do all your work, and the seventh day we really pull into alignment with God. We put away those things and those thoughts, and we align our mind spiritually with God. Now think of the Feast of Trumpets. What's that about? Humanity is totally in disalignment. Humanity then will begin to have a leader, an atonement, at-one-ment. You could call that the Feast of Alignment. The Feast of Tabernacles, when everyone on earth will suddenly be understanding who God is. The eighth day, the resurrection of all humans, to be come in alignment with God's law, which they will finally see, and they'll have God's Spirit. So our perfect alignment with God is important, and it was the focus of Jesus before he died. Let's go to John 17, verse 22. John 17, verse 22. This concept of alignment, oneness, unity, whatever you want to say, harmony, this is what God is about, and this is what the new covenant is about. John 17, verse 22. And the glory, which you gave me, Jesus says to God the Father. Let's look at that word glory for a minute. And the glory, from Thayer's lexicon, the first definition of this Greek word glory is the opinion, the judgment, or the view.

So, remember Jesus said, I don't have my own thoughts, my own words, my own mind. I do what the Father tells me. So let's change that word here, glory, to the mindset. The mindset which you gave me I have given them. Or you could say the truth, or the word of God, or the opinion, judgment, or view that you gave me, I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. We all need to have this same code of laws, follow Jesus Christ in being perfect in them, as we get out of adjustment, get washed and back on track. And in doing so, God wants us to be one and in sync and in harmony with them. Same with the body of Christ. This ongoing alignment through Christ's sacrifice is something that enables us to have, eventually, a future salvation. A future salvation in harmony in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ is helping us live in perfect obedience now. Let's go to verse 1 of Romans 5. Romans 5 and verse 1.

It's a ceremony that you and I thank Him and thank God for that incredible gift. Let's prepare for that by being in sync with Him.

We have the hope of being glorified like God is. Verse 3, and not only that, we glory in tribulation, any present struggles we have, knowing that our tribulation produces perseverance. And perseverance in faith and in godliness produces character. There's the divine character that we are to be developing as a gift to God. The habit of obedience. And to character hope, this hope of future salvation, future eternal life. And that, verse 5, hope does not disappoint because the love of God. What is the love of God? Keeping His commandments. 1 John 5 and 3. The love of God, keeping His commandments, has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. See, when Jesus said that glory or that those mental thoughts, that truth, those commandments that you gave me, I have given them. Here we see here in verse 5, the hope doesn't disappoint because the love of God, the keeping of those commandments, has been poured in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that was given to us. Now, where does the Days of Unleavened Bread lead us? Verse 6. For when we were still without strength, in due Christ time, Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 8. God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Verse 9. Much more than having now been justified, realigned, that we have been reconciled by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath, from the death penalty, through Him. Verse 10. For if we were enemies, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. If His life is within us, if we are growing in His obedience, in His mindset, in verse 11. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation, or the realignment. We have had that realignment. We are now to go forth. In the Days of Unleavened Bread, it shows how not only are we to have that realignment, but we are to walk with Him and grow with Him. So in conclusion, between now and the Passover, let's get aligned with God and Christ. As you search for leaven and crumbs in your house, fast and pray that God will show you spiritual leaven that's growing and increasing or finding little places to hide. In Lamentations 3, verse 40, it says, And let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord. Re-align with the Lord. Remember that the Passover service is not some annual forgiveness ceremony where we bring our sins and God takes them away from us there. Rather, this is the time for us to be realigning with God. This is the time for us to be examining ourselves and putting out that leaven in advance of the Passover so that we can come before Him reconciled. Come before Him in a manner that He counts as worthy, spiritually worthy. The time to repent is before the Passover. Let's notice 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 27 in this regards. 1 Corinthians 11, remember where Paul was criticizing the wrong observance of the Passover. Let's go and see the right observance that we should be employing. Verse 27 here, Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the blood of the body and blood of the Lord. We can't come to Him all unaligned. We can't come to Him not discerning what this is about, but rather with deep respect, having been cleaned by His blood. Verse 28, That is what you and I need to be doing now. As David said in Psalm 51 and verse 2, Let's be looking to realign with God every day of our life.

And as we approach the upcoming Passover, let's be ready to show deep appreciation and respect for the gift of Jesus's sacrifice. It remembers an awesome event that our great God and our Lord did for us. Next Sabbath, in preparation for observing the Passover in our homes, we will examine the topic of the symbols of Christ's Passover.