Skip to main content

What I Learned on Sunday, 1st Edition

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1, 2 ESV)
Every Sunday morning I try and pick one valuable truth from the sermon I have heard to hold my fort during the week. I was challenged by today's sermon which came from the verse above.
The preacher explained that all who are true followers of Jesus are "saints". He also also said the term means "God's holy people". Most importantly we are God's holy people TODAY, not when we are declared by someone as a "saint".

I was struck by this thought. Apostle Paul was writing to a rugged crew of believers with all their imperfections. And the thing he wants to highlight upfront is that they are God's holy people today.

I was challenged by this because when I think of the local gathering of believers the phrase "God's holy people" is not what immediately comes to mind. But Paul flips the switch. He says that Christian who annoys you a lot, if that person has come to Jesus, he is God's holy person!

That struggling person who never makes the prayer meeting and whose faith you doubt actually is God's holy person. She may not tick all your boxes, but the blood of Christ has already ticked the most important box for her!

This truth is a game changer! If we saw other believers in our own lives [at home, church, work] as God's holy people, it would bring tremendous humility and unity in our relationships. We would move from a posture of condemning to encouraging. We would actually start seeing people grow to be who they are in Jesus!

By the way, the other phrase Paul uses is "faithful". I think he means they ARE faithful in Jesus Christ because Jesus is faithful on their behalf. So there is no immediate aspiration here. If you know Jesus you are already HOLY and FAITHFUL because Jesus is HOLY and FAITHFUL. Another earth shaking truth!

The aspiration of course comes in the blessing / prayer at the end: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". To live out who we are as HOLY and FAITHFUL we need the grace from God and the peace from God. But again those things comes from our identity as God's children and the Lordship of Jesus in our lives.

My prayer this week is that I may see other believers as God sees them!

Until next Sunday's sermon....

Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2014
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Am Mother

I think it is true to say that the Netflix film I Am Mother is one the most disturbing movies I have watched for a long time. The film is set in a near future. Human life has been wiped out. An artificial intelligence (AI) called Mother is living inside a bunker where thousands of embroyos are stored. It selects an embryo and initiates a program to grow a baby within 24 hours. The AI then goes on to raise the child as its mother over the next few years.  After 16 years, the girl, who now goes by the name of Daughter (Clara Rugaard) is a teenager. She has never been outside because Mother has told her that the air is toxic. Her time is spend being home schooled in science and ethics so that she can become a perfect human being. The bond between Daughter and Mother is unusually strong. To our surprise there does not appear to be any mental or pyschological trauma of having a machine as her mother.  The strength of the bond between man and machine is tested when a nameless Woma...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

Pornography as Occultism

There is a kind of helplessness that a man engaged in pornography exhibits. He often speaks of it in terms of a “struggle” or an “addiction.” Now both of those terms are accurate, I believe, but they distance a person from his sin in a soul-decaying manner. Pornography is not just an addiction; it is occultism. The man who sits upstairs viewing pornography while his wife chauffeurs the kids to soccer practice is not some unusual “pervert”; he is (like his forefather Adam) seeking the mystery of the universe apart from Christ. That’s the reason the one picture, stored in his memory, of that naked woman will never be enough for him. He will never be able to be satisfied because he will never be able to get an image naked enough. I say pornography is occultism because I believe the draw toward it is more than biological (though that is strong). The satanic powers understand that “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor. 6:18). They understand that the pornographic ...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →

I am what I am by Gloria Gaynor

Beverly Knight closed the opening ceremony of the Paralympics with what has been dubbed the signature tune of the Paralympics. I had no idea Ms Knight is still in the singing business. And clearly going by the raving reviews she will continue to be around. One media source says her performance was so electric that "there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen as she sang the lyrics to the song and people even watching at home felt the passion in her words" . The song was Gloria Gaynor's I am what I am . Clearly not written by Gloria Gaynor but certainly musically owned and popularized by her. It opens triumphantly: I am what I am / I am my own special creation / So come take a look / Give me the hook or the ovation / It's my world that I want to have a little pride in / My world and it's not a place I have to hide in / Life's not worth a damn till you can say I am what I am The words “I am what I am” echo over ten times in the song. A bold declaration that she ...
Post a Comment
KEEP READING →