Tag: Christ’s finished work

Christ’s Finished Work: X Factor

6 January 2024 blogpastor Leave a comment

Everyone has heard of the popular X Factor programme created by Simon Cowell, where contestants with musical talents compete with each other to win over judges and TV audiences who vote online. The winner is the one with the X factor (an outstanding special talent or quality) and receives the prize of a record contract.

The X-factor in Peter and John

In a way, the “X factor” was involved in the confrontation between the Jewish religious council and Peter and John in the wake of the remarkable healing of a man lame from birth (Acts 4). The council questioned the authority of Peter and John to perform that miracle. In their answer, Peter and John pointed out that it was not they, but Jesus, whom the leaders had crucified, that had healed the lame man. The educated and powerful council observed and noticed the calm authority and boldness of Peter and John. They closely resembled Jesus. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13 ESV) The disciples had lived with Jesus 24/7 for about three years and had observed and imbibed his teachings, absorbed his attitude and imitated his actions. This was the “X factor” that stunned the religious council.

Christ’s finished work and X-factor

Today, through Christ’s death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Spirit in our hearts, Christ lives in us. His presence, power and purpose permeate our being and change us from one degree of glory to another. We are being transformed into his likeness and image by the Spirit who dwells in us. It is written in 2 Cor 3:18: “And we all with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” The Spirit begins a process of shaping our inner life so that it conforms to the values, character and mission of Jesus. It is a lifelong transformative journey that begins at conversion and leads us to maturity. How does this work?

Practices to predispose ourselves to receive grace

The transformative journey is aided by positioning ourselves to receive God’s grace through various spiritual disciplines:

Receiving God’s Word: Reading and studying the Bible to grasp the meta-narrative and understand who God is and what he has been doing throughout salvation history. Slow meditation of shorter passages and verses that we feel drawn to, allows the Spirit to illuminate, inspire, and create the desire for change in our lives. A renewal of the mind is essential. Romans 12:2 highlights this. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This means allowing the truths, beliefs, values, and perspectives of the Bible to uproot our deeply embedded old patterns of thought and values.

Faith-sharing in a community: Be part of a group that provides a safe space for honest sharing of the ups and downs of life, nurtures faithful prayer for one another, and loving commitment to serve one another. It is also in the community that we nurture qualities and attitudes that reflect Christ – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23).

Regular reflection: Short pauses daily or weekly to reflect on the significant events, conversations, and experiences that affected you positively or negatively in the past day or week. We give thanks for the blessings, whether small or big, for in them we notice God’s love. We pray about those painful and unhappy moments that impacted us negatively and ask God to show us how he is present and how we can grow through that experience.

Loving service: Start loving people and doing things to serve them. We join God in his mission to embrace the world with his love. Gradually, we will discover our passion, giftings, and callings.

Prayer: This is a life-long journey of learning to trust and depend on God for everything. We first need to realize how spiritually impoverished and bankrupt we are. Jesus told his disciples in John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Once we realize this, prayer begins.

Church calendar: The church calendar marks all the significant events in the life of Christ and the church: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Good Friday and Easter, and Pentecost. It provides a rhythm, structure and framework for the spiritual formation of the church. By participating and meditating on the themes and rituals suggested by each, we learn different aspects of Christ and his finished work and embed kingdom values into our lives. By revisiting the same stories and themes with fresh eyes each year, we experience afresh God’s loving embrace and deepen our faith in God.

All these ways help us to predispose ourselves to God’s grace and facilitate the Spirit’s formation of our faith and growth in Christ-likeness.

This is part of a planned series of writings on the topic, “The A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”. I am writing it alphabet by alphabet. Thus far the others that I have written can be found HERE.

Christ’s Finished Work: Worship

29 December 2023 blogpastor Leave a comment

I remember that in the days of paper dictionaries the words before and after “worship” were “worse” and “worst” respectively. Worship keeps the “worse” from getting to the “worst”!

Worship under the old and new covenant

Worship of God under the old covenant was a tedious, costly and bloody affair. The bull, sheep, or goat had to be taken to the priests for checks. They had to be without defects to be accepted. Those who could not afford such costly sacrifices could offer doves instead. Once they pass the checks, the worshipper will kill the sacrificial animal and the priest will offer the best parts, or all the parts on the altar fire to be burnt as an offering to God to atone for the worshipper’s sins. The innocent life of the animal sacrifices paid for and covered the sins of the worshipper. Under the new covenant, animal sacrifices are no longer needed as Christ became the ultimate and sinless Lamb of God who was sacrificed on the cross to take away the sins of the world.

Under the old covenant, during the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the Most Holy Place once a year with the blood from two sin offerings. The blood of a bull is atonement for his sins. The blood of a goat is for the sins of the nation of Israel. In this way, he made atonement for himself and the sins of Israel. He did this year after year. This annual ceremony pointed to a future coming of the Messiah who would be both the greater high priest and sacrifice.

Under the new covenant, we have a better high priest and a better sacrifice. Jesus himself was the ultimate High Priest and the ultimate Sacrifice. Hebrews 9:12 describes this finished work of Christ: “he did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” It was a once for all sacrifice that obtained our eternal redemption. It meant all our sins were forgiven and we have right standing with God and continual access to him. We do not worship to attain peace with God or right standing before God. Instead, right standing and peace with God have been achieved for us who put our faith in Christ. Our worship is therefore a grateful response to the finished work of Christ that secured our salvation.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy (Christ’s finished work), to offer your bodies (instead of animal sacrifices) as a living sacrifice (instead of dead animal sacrifices), holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1 NIV– my comments bracketed)

True and proper worship springs from Christ’s death and resurrection. We do not worship to obtain favours from God. It is a grateful thankfulness that Christ has already obtained and earned salvation for us. It is not mainly singing songs of praise to God and thanking him in a worship service or private prayer. These are important but one of many expressions of gratitude to God. In essence, worship has to do with fully surrendering our whole lives to God. We live our lives in gratitude and surrender and this pleases God. The process of surrender takes time as we let God renew our minds and transform our whole selves (all that we are and have). When I allow God to rule my life more and more in all that I do, be it studying, serving National Service, working in the marketplace, raising a family, or serving among God’s people, I am a true worshipper.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4:23,24 NIV). When the good news of Jesus’ finished work is preached and people respond in faith to the message, they are born again by the Holy Spirit and will be able to worship in the Spirit as they ponder over the wonderful truths of salvation. Without the finished work of Christ, there is no true worship! Without worship, our life moves from “worse” to “worst”.

Prayer

Dear Father, thank you for sending your Son as our High Priest and ultimate sacrifice so that our sins can forever be dealt with and we can then worship you with gratitude and surrender. Empower us to live our lives more and more fully in this path of pleasing you. Amen.

Christ’s Finished Work: Victory

20 December 2023 blogpastor Leave a comment

A problem with no human solution

Throughout history, humans in their self-sufficiency, have sought to triumph over sin and death through various paths and methods. Religious practices of almsgiving and rituals that claim to rid one of sins are present in many religions. The ancient philosophers proposed that ethical and virtuous living could lead to inner peace and immortality. Even the alchemists of the Middle Ages sought the Philosopher’s Stone – a legendary substance that turned base metals into precious gold and silver. It is also thought to be able to create the Elixir of Life, which grants a cure to all illnesses and immortality. With the advances in scientific and medical research, life expectancy has greatly improved in the last century. In the modern era, people look to technology for solutions to overcome death. Cryonics and genetic engineering are two approaches some scientists have been working on. However, there are no signs of perfect solutions to conquering sin and death. They have been looking at all the wrong places. The solution came when Christ died and rose again. Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection dealt with both sin and the power of death, offering us reconciliation and eternal life.

Christ’s death is the only spiritual solution

Victory is defeating an enemy or opponent in a battle, game or other competition. This was exactly what the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to the believers in Colossae: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15 NIV). He was using an analogy that the recipients of his letter would have understood: the victorious processional entry of a triumphant Roman general into Rome after a successful conquest over some faraway country. He would lead the victorious legion with pomp and the defeated and disarmed rulers and generals would be in tow. The chained enemies would be openly shamed and humiliated, while the glory of Rome and the victorious general would be magnified and celebrated.

What were these “powers and authorities”? To Paul, they were the spiritual enemies of God: Satan and his lieutenants. They had been defeated “by the cross”- Jesus’ death and resurrection. Satan had been stripped of his most potent armament. He has been disarmed of his lethal weapons. The kilotons of power (sin and death) that Satan had over human beings have been nullified by the megatons power of the cross. Now all he can do is to deceive and influence people (including Christians) to believe his lies instead of being freed by God’s truth. In the end, Christ’s victory will be manifested for all to see, and every knee that has not yet bowed shall bow before Christ.

Victory over sin

As followers of Christ, we can share and participate in this victory over the enemy. We no longer need to fear the two weapons of the spiritual forces of darkness. We declare by faith that sin’s power has been nullified. “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:18 NIV). The devil tempts us into sin like he did with Adam and Eve, but Jesus has disarmed him of this weapon through the forgiveness of sins, and through setting us free from the power of sin in our life. This is a significant and far-reaching victory.

Victory over Death

The devil’s other weapon is death, and Jesus broke this power and freed all believers from the fear of death. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death- that is the devil” (Hebrews 2:14 NIV). The resurrection of Christ is proof that God will also raise all followers of Christ to a resurrection of life when Jesus returns. This victory is beautifully poetic, powerfully effective, and perfectly complete. All because of the finished work of Christ!

This is part of a planned series of writings on the topic, “The A to Z of Christ’s Finished Work”. I am writing it in alphabetic order. Thus far the others that I have written can be found HERE.