From: christlife+noreply@googlegroups.com
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 20:58:25 +0000
Subject: [ChristLife] Digest for christlife@googlegroups.com - 1
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Today's Topic Summary
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Group: christlife@googlegroups.com
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/topics
- Saints and sinners [1 Update]
http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/8bfb4bd91d245307
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Topic: Saints and sinners
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/t/8bfb4bd91d245307
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From: Jacob <jninan@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 26 08:54PM -0700
Url: http://groups.google.com/group/christlife/msg/87ee5edac46d4919
One miracle of grace is that Jesus presents sinners before God as
saints. When we come to God acknowledging ourselves as sinners and
accept His mercy on the basis of Jesus' death on our behalf, our
status before God undergoes a change. God wipes our heart clean with
the blood of Jesus Christ, redeems us from the ownership of Satan,
causes us to be born again, adopts us to be His children, and imputes
to us the righteousness of Christ (Php.3:9). Now we are called saints
(set apart for God, or morally blameless).
Some Christians insist that now that God calls us saints, we should
not call ourselves sinners anymore. They then proceed to focus only on
verses that reflect our position in Christ and ignore other verses
that relate to our overcoming sin in our lives. It becomes a 'denial'
of reality under an apparent but mislaid zeal to hold up the truth of
one part of God's word.
Some other Christians cannot relate at all to being called saints.
They are bemoaning the sin that they find daily in their lives and
even wondering occasionally if they are really Christians at all. They
think God must be angry with them, and they have no confidence to ask
anything from Him.
Actually, when God looks at us clothed in the righteousness of Christ,
He has not turned blind to the sin we are fighting against in our
lives! These are two different aspects of His relationship with us.
When it concerns our acceptance with Him as His children it is on the
basis of imputed righteousness (Ga.2:16). Since this is based only on
Jesus' death, our relationship with God is not a variable that depends
on our current performance. So we can have boldness to walk into His
presence at all times by the blood of Jesus (He.10:19). His favour
towards us does not waver.
But when God wants to sanctify us and re-make us into the image of His
Son, He keeps watching over every detail of what is going on with us.
He confronts the faults and failures He finds with His compassion (Lk.
15:20). Even when He sometimes discipline us, it is always only in
love (He.12:6). The conviction that the Holy Spirit gives is only
intended to save us from our sins and not to condemn us.
We see a beautiful balance in the life of Paul. The apostle who has
taught us the doctrine of justification and shown us our placement as
saints seated with Christ in the heavenly place was also one who
acknowledged His own battles with sin in his flesh (Rom.7). He saw
himself progressively as being unworthy to be an apostle (1Co.15:9),
less than the least of the saints (Ep.3:8), and finally as the chief
of sinners (1Ti.1:15). Yet at the same time he was experiencing more
of the practical reality of becoming a 'saint' and walking closer with
God!
We are saints and sinners at the same time, according to what
perspective we use. And we need to have both perspectives! Our
acceptance depends only on God's grace which we receive by faith, and
our daily sanctification necessitates our being aware of our
sinfulness.
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