Sonship

S: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons, Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son in to our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Galatians 4:4-7

O: Sonship has always appealed greatly to me. I knew the story of the prodigal son before I was saved and the idea of a perfect, loving Father seemed too good to be true. To be inducted into sonship to God was well beyond my comprehension, let alone forgiveness for sins.

This passage I find is an excellent recap of what God did-quite literally, and why. God sent His Son, Jesus, under the same curse as every man at the time (the Law, which inevitably brought judgement upon every man) so that He would be the propitiation for all people's trangressions, thus redeeming them-but also so that those who were chosen to be redeemed would also be adopted as God's children. The Son for sons.

I can't explain why God sent His Son, or why He chose to be a father to such people. But when I hear someone say that God is a father to the fatherless, my soul really cries an amen-In my greatest time of need, God does not shut me down and say that I'm not good enough to come before Him-as He has paid the cost. The veil has been torn, and I know that I am a son, adopted by the Heavenly Father.

...Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son in to our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father" Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

"Abba," though phrased differently in Korean-literally means father (just an interesting fact). When I read that word, I think of...well "dad." Meaning God is not some regal, upright judge that aims to glean more evidence to condemn me, but rather an upright and holy judge that aims to correct me because He loves me.

I love my family, both my blood family and spiritual family. One day I hope that the two may just meld together to be my family. But, speaking as a son of God, I should always cherish the fact that sonship was not earned-but given as a gift to those who were shown unmerited favor by God through Christ.

A: Why should I be meek about my inheritance? A son delights in following a perfect Father-one who knows all, sees all, and has unlimited power. A holy Father should have holy sons, obedient to the ways He has laid out for them. Should my soul not cry out for my Father? How strange it would be to not know one's own Father or His embrace. I will take my place that which was given to me-knowing that no one can take away the joy and peace God gives me in the reassurance of Sonship and redemption in Christ. I will know and declare that I am a son (and be proud of it), redeemed and perfectly loved by my Father.

P: God, I still plod along, still not quite getting it, I think. But it certainly will not stop me from believing that You actually miss me-love me, and are reaching out to me even in this moment where I am so weary from the week's work and events-unwilling to see Your Son for who He is in these very words-the Word of God. I'm sorry-I totally suck. It's not getting any easier and I know there is no magical cure in tons of Bible reading that leaves most feeling dull and lifeless, even afterwards. But, remind me of Your cross-teach me to meditate on it day by day and reshape this heart back to You, Father-because, truth be told, I miss the feeling of sonship. Only when I'm with other brothers and sisters in Christ do I legitimately remember the feeling of being loved and so privileged to be caught in Your grace. Do me the honor of drowning in that love and grace, everyday-I want to feel Your very heart beat as I Seek you face to face...knowing that You seek me. Lord, help me-it's no easy task, but I want to take joy in You...peace in You, excitement and passion to serve You as well as to serve others...but mostly, just to run after You, Jesus. In Christ's name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Soap - The Blessings of Redemption

S: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Ephesians 1:4-14

O: This was a large passage-I usually go through the LJ reading highlighting things that especially strike a chord in me and I ended up highlighting pretty much half the chapter. It's amazing how I used to tell myself "Oh, it's just the first chapter-just the introductions of 'blessings upon this' and blah blah blah" and that I needed to jump and dig into the book rather than to take the introduction as seriously or with the same reverence people approach specific portions of Scripture. Today I found myself thoroughly humbled as I regrettably took the same approach and got owned. HERE WE GO!

(S:) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him."

Immediately my first thought of blessings returns me to my old posting on what blessings are and how they differ for us and for God. God being "blessed" meaning that He is seen as who He is-Holy, and worthy of worship. For the man, however-being "blessed" means that God looks upon us with favor. And so, the beginning of this huge feast of Jesus' word is about the blessings-with those two definitions in mind, the way how God is characterized as being "blessed" (more like...a characteristic) and how He is such, specifically through His Son and the blessings that He has given us. This made a lot more sense to me in my head-being coherent is hard after almost 2 weeks of bits and pieces of bread (spiritual bread, that is). But He is blessed and He gives blessings to us, in Christ.

So what is the first blessing I see? He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. The reminder of unmerited favor is stressed upon when looking upon salvation-so CRAZY blessings of predestination! Why did He choose us? So that we would be holy and blameless before Him. I think this is insane-I mean, it pretty much states that whomever He decides, they will undoubtedly stand before Him (Holy God, righteous and good) to be...like Him: Holy and blameless.

(S:) "In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

But, not only did He choose us-He also took us in as adopted sons and daughters through Jesus. This is what He intended, that he would be glorified and praised (God is blessed!) and He gave this amazing inheritance of son-ship through the Son (we are so blessed!). Praise the Lord!

(S:) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

And yet again, in Christ we receive even more blessings-The forgiveness of our sins (We are blessed). Of course, this is necessary to stand before God, blameless-but, it's not as if He chose us to be saved through our own actions (because it's impossible) - But He chose for us to be saved in the only way possible-through the propitiation, that which is Christ. He gave us something that would have been unattainable if it were not for the "riches of His grace which He lavished on us." Lavished. I love that word. It means to have bestowed in abundance-He bestowed the riches of His grace in great abundance upon us all. How worthy of praise is He, who so freely gave such blessing? How truly and beautifully gracious is He? In the Beloved, we are so blessed.

(S:) In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.

When I read this, the idea of Christ being the center came so quickly and in such reality that I got really, really excited with my highlighting, HAHA. But yeah, all things for the glory of God (Blessed be the Lord in Christ). The blessing for us is the fact that God showed us His will (the Gospel) to the crazy extent that even angels longed to look into the Gospel (1 Peter 1:12) and yet, we are the ones who receive His grace in boundless ways. When God has been so good to us, how can we not make Him the center of all things?

(S:) In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

And yet again, this is the third time that predestination...being chosen by God by His grace is emphasized! Being chosen is a huge honor! It's...pretty much implausible, even (Oh, Lord forgive me-I cannot praise You enough for being who You are in Your mercy). To me, it's as if I were watching the Olympics and suddenly the judges pointed at me and took me down, and gave me a gold medal. The side story being that I was horribly injured and someone competed in my stead-and yet, I still received the prize. It would be tantamount to incredible kindness to the point of insanity. But that is who God is-His love far surpasses anything else.

The blessings keep on coming-Not only were we chosen (to be holy and blameless before Him), given the privilege of being God's children, forgiven of our sins through Christ, and given the privilege of knowing His will for us through the Gospel, but He rounds it off by giving us yet another inheritance...that being the Holy Spirit indwelling those who belong to Him. I'm not sure, but if I were to count my blessings that were each of infinite worth...I have about five things I can say that God has bestowed upon me. Five FAT blessings that sum up Jesus and what He's done for us that makes everything else pale in comparison. And all this to the praise of His glory. We are so blessed-and He ought to be worshiped, and made as the center.

A: Today I look at the Gospel in a simple heartfelt reminder in Ephesians, realizing that I have taken my blessings for granted. The blessings of redemption are not to be taken lightly-Each one is like a precious jewel, and it can never be taken from me! God, in His abundance of grace, love, and pleasure-has chosen me (to be holy and blameless), adopted me(as a son!), forgave me (as I could never forgive myself), allowed me to draw near to Him in Christ (reading of the Word...Christ is the Word), and resides in me (HOLY SPIRIT). Just looking at that in words is staggering. How wonderful is this God we serve? And so, my application is simple-to never forget these blessings and to remind myself that in this-Christ truly is the center of my life. By understanding the impossibility of each of these if it were not for Christ, draws up all the more passion and love and joy that is contained in knowing Him. And to also know that I had nothing to do with any of this! It was all by His doing. All this to the praise of His glory.

P: Father, be blessed. You are blessed in every way. Your grace overflows in the lives of those you chose. All these things...to the praise of YOUR glory. You are worthy of it-that in Your will, the Gospel was formed by Your very hands and that You would include a wretch like myself-so that I could live and see and learn and do all that I do...all thanks to You. Thank You, Father-Jesus has never looked more wonderful in my life and I pray that each day that the love grows deeper as You, if it is pleasing, reveal Yourself to me through the words you speak to me in my daily bread. God, I am so terribly lazy and unworthy to even be graced by this encounter with You, but I am also living proof of how far your love extends-to the very reaches of where Hell is, where I would assuredly be going if it were not for You. And so, I want to worship You because of that-looking at You, I how far gone I am and how desperate my life is without You. Teach me remembrance of Your blessings-that I may walk straight in the path of righteousness in Christ. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria