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In part 14(click here to read part 14), we discovered that Christ was the key to unlocking the hidden mystery and that through spiritual rebirth both Jews & Gentiles would access the life of God by faith. Here we explore this further.

[I]. What part does this spiritual rebirth play in achieving God’s ultimate plan to save all who would believe, Jew or Gentile? Salvation is all about receiving the eternal God kind of life, which has been deposited in Christ. When we have Christ in us, we become part of Christ. One Spirit, one Body, one identity.

1. “But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life’s blood, we will also be kept safe from God’s anger. Even when we were God’s enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son’s life.” (Romans 5:8-10 CEV)

2. “God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. And so, if we have God’s Son, we have this life. But if we don’t have the Son, we don’t have this life. All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:11-13 CEV)

3. “Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!” (Ephesians 2:4-8 MSG)

4. “This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less.” (Colossians 1:26-28 MSG)

5. “but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:24 GNB)

6. “Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all.”

(Ephesians 4:3-6 GNB)

2. “But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit with him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17 CEV)

3. “Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 GNB)

4. “(None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church; for we are members of his body.) As the scripture says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.” There is a deep secret truth revealed in this scripture, which I understand as applying to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:29-32 GNB)

5. “In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem. As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” he asked. “I am Jesus, whom you persecute,” the voice said.” (Acts 9:1-5 GNB)

[III]. Once we become part of Christ; our old life is dead and the life of Christ takes residence. We died with Him and now we live through Him. We can only have one life and that life is Christ’s.

1. “For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. For when we die, we are set free from the power of sin. Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again—death will no longer rule over him. And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God. In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus. Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self.” (Romans 6:3-12 GNB)

2. “Jesus said, “I am…the Life…” (John 14:6 MSG)

3. “So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead—killed by the Law itself—in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.”

(Galatians 2:19-20 GNB)

4. “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ–that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life–even though invisible to spectators–is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too–the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.” (Colossians 3:1-4 MSG)

5. “This is a true saying: “If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.” (2 Timothy 2:11 GNB)

6. “This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9 MSG)

“Give your life to Christ”

I was told

But no one took the time

To carefully explain

What He was going to do

With the life I gave

—

At first I thought

He had washed it

Made it cleaner

All I had to do was maintain it

Keep it clean from sin

Needless to say

I failed miserably

—

Then I thought

He had recycled it

Fix what could be fixed

And replace what couldn’t

I then continued

The self-improvement campaign

That just didn’t workout

—

After so much frustration

No joy or peace

No fulfilments or closure

As promised by His word

I went to Him to enquire

What exactly was the plan?

For this life that I gave

—

The answer was shocking

He had crucified it

But it didn’t stop there

He had replaced it

With His very own life

To live in me the life

That only He could live

—

Then I finally got it

There was no longer “independent” I

The only I there was, was one with Christ

You couldn’t see me

I was hid in Christ

So only Christ is seen

—

There was nothing more to try

Except to get out of the way

Submit this vessel to Him

Abide as a branch

Let Him do the rest

To bear the fruit that only He could

So those He loved could partake

—

Selah

(To be continued..)

Every Blessing

Breadoflife

In part 13 (click here to read it), We looked at how Saul, a man through whom God was going to reveal the best guarded secret since time began had to be transformed from a “Hebrew of Hebrews” of the law to Paul an Apostle of grace. Here we begin to unlock this mystery.

[I]. Dictionaries define the word “mystery” as “anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown”, “something not understood or beyond understanding”.

Christ was about to reveal the hidden master plan of salvation for all of mankind to Paul, giving him insight into how it was achieved and how it affected all of humanity. The central key to the unlocking the mystery was Christ, the promised seed. It was through Him that everyone would have access to salvation.

1. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15 MKJV)

2. “The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master.” (Luke 2:10-11 MSG)

3. “The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ (John 1:29-30 GNB)

4. “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” (John 3:16-17 CEV)

5. “And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing…And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. And Abram departed, even as Jehovah had spoken to him…Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, I will give this land to your seed. And he built an altar there to Jehovah who appeared to him.” (Genesis 12:2-7 MKJV)

6. “It was all laid out beforehand in Scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed in you.” So those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham, who lived by faith–this is no new doctrine!” (Galatians 3:8-9 MSG)

7. “Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. You will observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say “to descendants,” referring to everybody in general, but “to your descendant” (the noun, note, is singular), referring to Christ.” (Galatians 3:16 MSG)

8. “Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says, “He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous.” You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith.” (Galatians 3:6-7 GNB)

[II]. How can Gentiles become children of Abraham without being born a Jew? As Christ pointed out to Nicodemus, the answer is in the spirit.

1. “God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female.” (Genesis 1:26-27 MSG)

2. “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.” (John 4:20-26 GNB)

3. “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The Spirit breathes where He desires, and you hear His voice, but you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8 MKJV)

4. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men…He was the true Light; He enlightens every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God.” (John 1:1-13 MKJV)

[III]. Salvation was no longer to be based on natural genealogy but spiritual identity. A level playing field was created to make salvation available to everyone through faith with out any reference to keeping the Jewish laws. Everyone possesses the ability to believe. Both Jews and Gentiles would come the same way to experience spiritual rebirth resulting in a new God kind of life.

1. “And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up: “Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the Book of the law.” The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: “The person who believes God, is set right by God–and that’s the real life.” Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more and more rule-keeping, a fact observed in Scripture: “The one who does these things [rule-keeping]continues to live by them.” Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing–just the way Abraham received it.” (Galatians 3:10-14 MSG)

2. “But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel, hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ–dying that death, shedding that blood–you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all–irrespective of how we got here–in what he is building.” (Ephesians 2:11-19 MSG)

3. “Christ’s love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!” (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 MSG)

4. “But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children. Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised.” (Galatians 4:4-7 CEV)

5. “I have complete confidence in the gospel; it is God’s power to save all who believe, first the Jews and also the Gentiles. For the gospel reveals how God puts people right with himself: it is through faith from beginning to end. As the scripture says, “The person who is put right with God through faith shall live.” (Romans 1:16-17 GNB)

6. “He embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!” (Ephesians 2:5 MSG)

He took on the things that ailed me

God’s power made Him whole again

At the new birth, I became one with Him

Through Him, I am All that I ought to be

Free from all that ailed me

—

(To be continued..)

Every Blessing

Breadoflife

To view others installments in the series, click here