Treading Water compared to letting go…

 

When we realize, truly, that we cannot save ourselves, but must rely on God to save us by His grace, is the first time and beginning of seeing ourselves as God sees us. And it’s only in truly seeing ourselves as God sees us that we can know how to treat others, all others, even those who do not believe.

 

We can spend our time looking down on their ignorance, and even arguing with them so as to prove what is right, or we can embrace an intrinsic quality of the Gospel message, to speak reconciliation to the world, the same reconciliation we have already been given.

2Co 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2Co 5:18  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
2Co 5:19  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

So, how do I speak reconciliation to the world? Well, the Great Commission does not actually require reconciliation, but the declaration that Christ has redeemed mankind, that the Kingdom of God is coming, and that ALL will have the opportunity to be in the Kingdom, just so happens to be very, very good news that opens the door to reconciliation.

Mat 24:14  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

So, we, you could say, are advertising to the world what we know every person needs. But, beyond a witness, and the reason we know, is that any particular person can only choose to be reconciled to God through Christ by first hearing that Gospel. The book of Ephesians sure expresses it well.

Eph 1:11  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:12  that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
Eph 1:13  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Therefore, you and I, knowing we believe because we have been witnessed to, can then know that this is possible for others, some of whom are also in this very room with us today.

1Jn 4:6  We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Fabergé

Rom 6:5  For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
Rom 6:6  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 of sin.
Rom 6:7  For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Rom 6:8  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Rom 6:9  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.

So, I would ask that God please grant us the full and ever present realization that we are not called to tread water, to spend our lives in a constant struggle and debate over what is true, trying to prove our Christian worth by overcoming on our own, trying to prove to the unbelieving over and over what is right and what is wrong. Let us see the grace given to us for what it is, so that we can focus on the joy that should exude from us because we know what is true and are relying of God’s Spirit in us to lead us to always do what is true.

At this point, as I draw this discourse to a close, I would like to end with some verses that help express the joy of salvation, things we can focus on and be thankful for, even feeling encouraged by the hope it provided to those who have gone before us, yet who now rest in peace, having died believing, whose example to one extent or another was a devotion to the Way, revealing an intense desire to be in fellowship with the brethren, and expressing their desire to know more of God’s way.

Rev 21:3  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Rev 21:4  And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
Rev 21:5  Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."
Rev 21:6  And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
Rev 21:7  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Joh 5:25  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.
Joh 5:26  For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,
Joh 5:27  and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
Joh 5:28  Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
Joh 5:29  and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.