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Pursuing and seeking after peace that brings good days in life, has been the pursuit of our meditations; and it has been through the words of the apostle Peter, that declares the path to it to be, He who would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, to do what is good; let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11] And, the peace that thus becomes your experience is because, the chastisement for it, was laid upon the Lord Jesus, on the Cross of Calvary. He became sin, so that you and I, and all who choose to put their trust in Him, can become the righteousness of God in Him, to be delivered from darkness, and conveyed into His Kingdom.
And the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, declares the word of God. Therefore, the Holy Spirit plays a very vital role in your experience of peace, for peace in God’s perception is not superficial. It is a well being and wholeness in your entire being, that begins in your spirit, to radiate in your soul and find its expression in your body externally in your conduct and behavior. And it happens when your mind is governed by the Holy Spirit, when He comes to live in you, as a deposit guaranteeing your salvation when you receive Christ as your personal Savior. For, the mind that is set on the flesh is death, but the mind that is set on the Spirit is life and peace. [Romans 8:6]
And, there are two aspects to the truth of the Holy Spirit living in you. One is the assurance of the physical resurrection of your body when the Lord comes again. That is in the future. But, the Holy Spirit of God living in you, also has a direct and powerful implication concerning the life that you live now, even here on earth, as the resurrection power of God is made available to you, in your mortal body. It is what Paul explains with a wondrous exclamation saying, But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. [Romans 8:11]
Newness of life :
It is newness of life in you that becomes possible because, you can identify by faith with the Risen Lord, who was raised from death to life, overcoming the power of sin and death, and the grave. The tomb was empty. It is the truth that you and I remember and celebrate on this day, to appropriate and apply the significance of it in our lives, the newness of life. As Paul writes to the Romans, Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. [Romans 6:4]
Newness implies that the old has gone away. Therefore you need not cling anymore to your old way of life, for you now have the wisdom and power of God in you. You need not live like you used to live. Rather, you can embrace a new life that has been made available to you through the victory of Christ on the Cross, where He died to rise again on the third day, to be seated now at the right Hand of God in the heavenly realms, and where you are seated together with Him as a heir and co heir with Him. But knowing and applying it in your life today, is a step by step process. It is a line upon line, precept upon precept, a word here and a word there, that the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance in your heart, connecting it all wonderfully step by step, in order to reveal and also empower you to live in the newness of life that God has ordained for you, to grow from strength to strength, and from grace to grace.
You know – you believe – you reckon – you offer :
They are the steps that will see you appropriate the truth of the Risen Savior, and apply it in your life, in order to experience the new life that God has accomplished and prepared for you, all by the one perfect sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross. It was where He so loved you, and gave Himself for you.
1. You know :
Knowing the nature of God, in a personal relationship with Him, through His word, and His Spirit, in prayer and in sweet communion with Him continually, is where it all begins. And, it is of paramount importance, for it is through relationship that revelation truth comes in you. You need to know within you with certainty, that He is a God who is good, and altogether so. It is His basic nature that will never ever change. It is where your experiences in life come into play, because some people may tend to move away from God, owing to the bad and unjust evil that had happened to them. And they may lay the blame on God, when they do not know Him, and who He is. For, He does not have anything bad to give you, all because He is a good God! Then why have bad things happened to me, may be the question in the hearts of those who do not know Him. But it will not be so with you, when you know Him in a close and intimate relationship with Him. For then, you will know that He is a God who even when seemingly bad things happen in your life, can turn it around for your good. You will know that He is a God who causes all things to work together for good, in the lives of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.
2. You believe :
Knowledge of a specific truth as a revelation from God, when you are in a relationship with Him, will invariably lead you to believing in it. But then, the question then arises as to, the nature of your belief. For, Christ died on the Cross of Calvary, and rose again. It is a truth that has split history into two. But, it is when you believe that it is applicable to you, that you will know that all that belongs to Him is yours, for you are in a covenant relationship with Him. Otherwise it will find you standing outside the circle, knowing that He died on the Cross, and furthermore arose from the grave, but the newness of life that could be yours as a result of it would be difficult for you to receive and walk in.
An example of it would be the leper who came to Jesus, saying, ‘Lord, if you are willing, let me be healed’. He knew that Jesus could heal, but could not bring it down to his life, in order to be cleansed and healed. And, Jesus, who is ever so compassionate towards human frailty, lovingly reassured him to say, ‘I am willing, be clean’. [Matthew 8:2,3] Often it is easier to believe that the Lord can work mighty miracles in the lives of others, but the truth that He died for ‘you’, is the faith that gives rise to expectation that needs to be in you, in order to appropriate in your own life, what He has accomplished on the Cross. ‘It is all about you’; He loved ‘you’, and gave Himself for ‘you’.
It is the core belief that will see you receiving by grace and through faith, all that is His, and comes to you through the new covenant, ratified on the Cross of Calvary. ‘My peace I give to you’, was the Lord’s promise to His disciples. And, it is applicable in your life, if you would only believe; believe that it is for you! It is then that your faith becomes profitable to you, in guiding you to your godly destiny, the place where God wants you to be. Otherwise the sad and pitiable condition of the Israelites, who could not enter the land of promise because of their unbelief, could be the story of any child of God. It would be a failure to enter the rest of God, that He has prepared, a rest in your work, and an absence of strife and toil. And, it is what the writer to the Hebrews cautions against, for it was to their forefathers that the gospel was preached, and yet it did not profit them, because they did not combine it with faith. [Hebrews 4:2] It is your believing, that connects you to what Christ has accomplished on the Cross, and brings it to application in your life. And, what facilitates it is the third step that you need to take; one that comes after knowing and believing in what Christ has done, to say, ‘It is finished’.
3. You reckon – consider, or, calculate :
The Cross and resurrection of the Lord is your path to a victorious Christian life. And Paul explains the crux of Christianity, as he connects what Christ has accomplished, to your life, in the here and now, and in the then and there, for to the Christian, there is hope in death; life does not end here. [Romans 6:8-14] Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. [vs 8] Knowing that, Christ having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. [vs 9] For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. [vs 10] The verses describe what Christ has done to conquer sin and death on the Cross. And then, in the next verse, Paul talks about how it is applicable in your life, as you know the truth and put your trust in it.
‘Even so’, ‘consider’ :
Even so, consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. [vs 11] ‘Even so’, ‘consider’, are the key words that you need to focus upon, in order to see the truth of the outworking of the Cross of Christ coming to pass in your life, to set you free from the dominion of sin.
Count – calculate – conclude :
Have you counted the cost, of the Cross ?
Have you calculated rightly about what happened on the Cross ?
Have you concluded correctly, about how it is applicable in you ?
They are powerful questions, and can change your life forever, when approached rightly, to calculate and conclude rightly. For, when reckoned otherwise, the wrong calculation of man can in no way change God, who will still remain the King of kings and Lord of lords. But then it is the man who calculates wrongly, who will remain a pauper, unable to partake of the wondrous riches of God, made available to him through the Cross. But when what has been accomplished on the Cross, finds its direct application in your life, you do not have to live like you used to, for you will have newness of life in you.
The importance of counting :
Counting is an activity that you do time and time again in various ways. It may be when you withdraw money from an ATM machine, or when you buy something at the super market. But you take care to count rightly. But, of immeasurably greater importance, is the calculating and counting of the cost of the Cross. And, it needs to happen every day of your life, for His mercies are new every day. For, it is how newness of life comes to you, to replace your old way of life, one that may have filled you with frustration and futility. The bible paints a very clear picture of a frustrated man. He is one who awaits the coming of night when he wakes up in the morning, to then wait for the morning when night comes! Fulfillment and rest are very far from him. But for you, when you count rightly, everyday you will wake up with a song of praise to say, ‘This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it’! It is the newness of life in you. And the One who gives you newness of life, is now living in you. It changes therefore the dynamics of the equation, when it comes to counting, calculating and concluding.
Counting the cost , is not paying the price! :
The Lord Jesus has spoken about a person’s need to sit down and consider the cost, before beginning to build anything, so that he can complete what he starts. [Luke 14:28-32] Faith is never foolishness that ventures out merely based on a gut feeling, only to eventually fall. It is based on hearing the truth of God’s word. And when it comes to following the Lord, counting the cost, is calculating knowing that the price has already been paid, by the Lord on the Cross. The Lord also describes the need for a king to sit down and consider the strength of his army, before going to war, to then send emissaries of peace, if he found the advancing army to be more numerous and stronger. But with the devil, He did not come to negotiate peace; rather it was to establish peace by His victory over him. The enemy’s head was crushed on the Cross, by the Savior of the world. He has done it all.
And, there is no need at all for you to cut a deal with a devil in your day to day affairs, or compromise with his unholy ways any more. You need not live like you used to live. It is newness of life that can be yours now, to be able to say like Paul, ‘I know I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’, and, ‘I know He is able to guard what I have entrusted in His hand’.
In your calculation, have you included Christ ?
The Risen Christ and His Spirit within you, is the truth of the newness of life in you now. Christ in you, is the all important difference. It is why, Paul is able to declare, ‘It is no longer I, but, Christ lives in me’. [Galatians 2:20] Without Christ, you cannot overcome sin’s power, or the craftiness of the evil one. Therefore, if Christ, and everything that He has already done, is doing, and is going to do in your life, is not included in your calculation, you are not calculating rightly. And, when the Risen Christ finds no place in the happenings of your life, God’s word describes, what can happen. It is in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, in the chapter that deals with the resurrection of Christ, to end with a glorious crescendo of thanksgiving and praise for victory in Christ, where it is set forth one by one. [1 Corinthians 15:14–19]
1. Preaching, and 2. faith is in vain :
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is also empty. [vs 14] Preaching of the word would be merely a thought for the day, devoid of all power. It is why Paul, very emphatically declares, that he preaches Christ crucified. The currency of a country is backed up by the gold reserves that it has in a central and safe location. And it is what gives value to the currency that is in your possession, to make it profitable. What makes the preaching of the word, and your faith, valuable and profitable, is the truth of the Risen Christ. It is precious and valuable, much more than gold that perishes.
3. False witnesses :
Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up. [vs 15] It would make you and I, and every person who testifies to the truth of the Risen Christ, a liar and a false witness.
4. Still in your sins :
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. [vs 17] If Christ is not risen, your faith in Him has no power, and you will continue to live under the bondage and dominion of sin. You would still be a sinner, with no hope of redemption. But, as a Christian, you have hope, even in death. You know that ‘six feet under’, is not the end of your life’s story.
5. Most to be pitied :
If only for this life, we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. [vs 19] Life will become steadily miserable, when you live only for the present, with no hope that is everlasting. The world’s futile philosophy will be yours; one that says to you, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’! [1 Corinthians 15:32] It is why he goes on to warn next about the company you keep, for they can corrupt you, and the need to be sober and vigilant in order that you may not be deceived by the lie of the enemy. [vs 33] But with the Risen Christ in your life, every day instead of increasing your misery, will be an opportunity for the manifestation of God’s glory. You will be connected to the eternal purposes of God, in which even in suffering and pain there will be meaning. But otherwise, even the pleasures of life will become meaningless, and empty. Therefore, do your calculations right! If you are alive today, God has a purpose for you. And as you count and include the Risen Christ, it is a truth that points to your resurrection from the dead; and you will then get your calculations right!
Recalculating and getting it right :
Christ rising from the dead, is the fact. And in the light of this truth, Paul recalculates step by step from the positive side, even as you and I have to do, to get it right.
Christ – the first fruits :
He is the first fruits, the prime example of what is going to happen in the lives of those who choose to put their trust in God. But now, Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. [vs 20]
1. Your preaching is profitable :
Paul makes a very emphatic statement, because he is calculating rightly. Your sharing of God’s word with the one who needs it too will be confident and strong, when you stand on the truth of resurrection. It will be profitable, for it will accomplish the purpose for which it is sent. For, the word of God is self targeting, it has been said. And, in a world that is seeing a proliferation of laser guided missiles that can hit a target with pinpoint precision, from thousands of miles away, it is a concept that can be easily understood. It may be just one word that is from God. But it can address the needs of a thousand people who hear it very specifically, according to what is happening in their lives at that very point of time. It is what the Holy Spirit does, even as he leads a person to the greatest blessing in the world, which is salvation.
2. Your faith is powerful :
The devil is not after your silver and gold. All he wants to do is to weaken your faith. For, then he can move you from the place of God’s will and purposes for you. But your faith can be powerful, more precious than gold, when it is validated by the truth of Christ’s character, the revelation of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. [1 Peter 1:7] He is risen from the dead; He is alive forevermore, and His Spirit lives in you, and is poured out upon you to give you power to be His witness.
3. You are a true witness :
Therefore, you will not be a false witness, when your calculation is right. Instead you yourself, will be a living testimony. For, you are not what you used to be, and all because of what Christ has done for you, and is doing even now in you.
4. You are the living proof of the resurrection of Christ :
For, but for the resurrection of Christ, you would have perished in your sins. But now you are no longer under the power of sin or the control of the devil. And the One who has delivered you is in you to confirm it. You now enjoy the protection of God. And, if God is for you, who can be against you? There is absolutely no need for you to wallow in self pity, brooding over your seeming lack and inabilities. For, you are out of darkness and in the marvelous light of God. Your faith is powerful; hence your prayer is powerful. The effective and fervent prayer of a righteous person, has great power, and brings wonderful results, declares the word of God. You are righteous because you have put your trust in the God who is righteous, and your prayer is powerful, because you are praying to a powerful God.
You may be going through a valley of shadow of death, but as the psalmist says, He is with you, and you will come through to the other side to experience His goodness and mercy all the days of your life. The valley may seem confining and dark, but He is with you. All you need to do is to keep walking, And it is when you arrive at the top that you will be able to see all that God has brought you through, and also all the goodness of God that lies ahead of you. It is His presence with you, as He walks, and talks with you, that makes all the difference. It made the hearts of the disciples on the road to Emmaus who were initially downcast, burn like fire within them, to be encouraged and strengthened. As He walks with you, there will come a time when you will be able to take your attention from your problem, to shift your focus on Him, and His words to you. And you will then be able to say like the psalmist, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
5. The Risen Christ – your eternal hope :
Christ endured the Cross, for the joy set before Him. It was the joy of seeing the salvation of you and I, even as He is seated at the Father’s right hand, in resurrection splendor, never to die again. He is the hope, of what you and I will be one day, in a glorious resurrection. Christ is your eternal hope, not merely for this life only. And calculating and concluding rightly, you will not say, ‘Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die’. His presence counts, both in the here and now, and in the, then and there. And, as He is, so are you in this world. [1 John 4:8] Therefore, when Christ is involved, it is the words of the prophet Joel, that becomes your wondrous promise; His word to you, that can never fail.
You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord, who has dealt wondrously with you. And My people shall never be put to shame. [Joel 2:26] And the One who has given you this blessed hope is living inside you now! He holds your future; and because He lives, you can face tomorrow without any unhealthy fear, to live life joyfully – Just because He lives! As you give thanks unto the Father, for giving you His precious Son, for the Cross, and what He has accomplished through it, may the blessing of the knowledge of His presence, His purposes, and His prosperity, come upon you, to remain on you, all the days of your life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
