As the body of Christ, we are His hands, His feet, and we should strive to speak His words, see with His eyes, and love with His heart. We’ve been washed in His blood, and we are the redeemed.
And this is not merely a spiritual renewal though that is the foundation of all that flows from it. We are renewed when we reckon ourselves dead to this world and alive to God.[1] When we put off the old man born in sin in the line of Adam and are re-born in the likeness of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the second Adam.[2]
This action: cleansing the sinner of all guilt and making us able to stand in the throne room in the very presence of God with no shame or feelings of inadequacy may seem extravagant. Paul tells us that we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, and that all this is not some hap-hazard addendum.[3] No, it flows directly from all God’s wisdom and prudence.
This action on God’s part not only impacts the spiritual renewal of the believer. It also leads to a physical and mental renewal which the believer experiences here-and-now. This is the redemption of our bodies.
And just as Christ is redeemed now so is the believer who is in Christ Jesus. Our bodies will someday be glorified fully in the presence of God, but in the here and now we taste the first fruit of our redemption in the total renewing of our lives.[4] For as members of the body of Christ, as children of God, as joint heirs together with Jesus we are born of one baptism and filled with one Spirit.[5] We are the body and Christ is the head.[6]
However, since we are born of the flesh as descendants of the first Adam. Conceived, born, living in sin, and the members of a lost and degraded race, we must be redeemed and sanctified before we can enter the kingdom of God. Remember we were chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. Once we have accepted Christ as our Savior and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead this inheritance is our possession
However, we must possess our possessions for them to do us any good. If we don’t accept the love of God in and through Christ Jesus, they are just so many gifts lying about unaccepted.
The life is in the blood.[7] And it is the shedding of His blood that is the first action in the unfolding of our redemption. This is the Good News and it’s the best news ever. Christ poured out His blood so that we might be freed from our burden of sin. There is no longer an unbridgeable gulf between God and humanity. The sin life, the sin nature that the first Adam assumed when he disobeyed God and then passed on to all his offspring has been washed away in the blood of Calvary.
Lord, let us see with your eyes, hear with your ears, love with your heart, and touch with your hands. As we strive to be about Your business send us somewhere to be a blessing to someone somehow.
He is the head we are the body
As the body of Christ, we are His hands, His feet, we should strive to speak His words, see with His eyes, and love with His heart. We’ve been washed in His blood, and we are the redeemed.
And this is not merely a spiritual renewal though that is the foundation of all that flows from it. We are renewed when we reckon ourselves dead to this world and alive to God.[8] When we put off the old man born in sin in the line of Adam and are re-born in the likeness of our Savior the second Adam.[9]
This action, cleansing the sinner of all guilt and making us able to stand in His presence with no shame or feelings of inadequacy may seem extravagant. However, in the verse we are currently examining Paul tells us that we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins and that all this is not some hap-hazard addendum. No, it flows directly from God’s all wisdom and prudence.
This action on God’s part not only impacts the spiritual renewal of the believer. It also leads to a physical and mental renewal which the believer experiences here-and-now. This is the redemption of our bodies.
And just as Christ is redeemed now so is the believer who is in Christ Jesus. Our bodies will someday be glorified fully in the presence of God but in the here and now we taste the first fruit of our redemption in the renewing of our lives in totality.[10] For as members of the body of Christ, as children of God, as joint heirs together with Jesus we are born of one baptism, filled with one Spirit, we are the body and Christ is the head.[11]
However, since we are born of the flesh as descendants of the first Adam conceived, born, living in sin, the members of a lost and degraded race we must be redeemed and sanctified before we can enter the kingdom of God. Remember we were chosen in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. This inheritance is our possession once we have accepted Christ as our Savior and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead.
However, we must possess our possessions for them to do us any good. If we don’t accept the love of God in and through Christ Jesus, they are just so many gifts lying about unaccepted.
The life is in the blood.[12] And it is the shedding of His blood that is the first action in the unfolding of our redemption. This is the Good News. Actually, it’s the best news ever. Christ poured out His blood so that we might be freed from our burden of sin. There is no longer an unbridgeable gulf between God and humanity. The sin life, the sin nature that the first Adam assumed when he sinned and then passed on to all his offspring has been washed away in the blood of Calvary.
Lord, let us see with your eyes, hear with your ears, love with your heart, and touch with your hands. As we strive to be about your business send us somewhere to be a blessing to someone somehow.
[1] Romans 9:11
[2][2] Romans 5:12-19
[3][3] Ephesians 1:7-8
[4][4] Romans 8:1-11
[5] Galatians 3:26-29
[6][6] Colossians 1:18
[7][7] Leviticus 17:11
[8] Romans 6:11
[9] Roams 5:12-19, I Corinthians 15: 20-22 & 45-49
[10] Romans 8:1-11
[11] Galatians 3:26-29
[12] Leviticus 17:11, Leviticus 17:14, Deuteronomy 12:23
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