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Where Do I Fit in God’s Big Picture? (Part 2)

Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 07:27:26 +0000

In the previous post, we saw from Ephesians 1:3-10 how God’s grand design and purpose in choosing us before the foundation of the world is to bring us into His family: “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will“ (verse 5). Because of Christ’s work for His Church, the believer is now in a special relationship with the Father. We are adopted into God’s family, in which Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers (Romans 8:29). This is his top goal in redemption.

The Father’s Heart for Family

Several scriptural passages point to the fact that the Father adopts us into His family so he can mould us into the image of Jesus. Romans 8:28-29 attests,

“28. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.“

The Father desires a family of holy sons and daughters whose lives are patterned after that of the firstborn Jesus. The moment we are born again in Christ, the Father declares us justified—which is to say, in the court of heaven, we are regarded by the Father as if we have never sinned. The final stage of our salvation is glorification—where we will be fully formed in the image of Christ. As 1 John 3:1-2 says, we shall be like him when we see him at His second coming. That is the day when we will be given bodies that never grow old or sick and when sin is destroyed, and we shall be perfect, like Jesus:

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and sowe are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.“ (See also 1Cor. 3:7-17; 2Cor. 3:18).

However, from the day we are justified till the day we will be glorified, we are on a journey of sanctification, through which the Father shapes and fashions us into the image of Jesus. How does God do this? Phil Wilthew, in his book, “Multiplying Disciples“, puts it this way:

“We might imagine it like this: God the Father is the potter; we are the clay and Jesus is the model. The Father has his hands on our lives, shaping, moulding, changing, restoring, and ultimately fashioning us to look like Jesus. By the power of the Spirit, the Father is forming us into the likeness of Christ. This is discipleship—the intentional process of allowing ourselves to be shaped by the goodness of God in his Trinitarian glory.” 1

Thus, discipleship is vital to our sanctification. In discipleship relationships, we position ourselves intentionally to be reworked by the Father via the power of the Holy Spirit into the image of Christ, and deliberately and actively contribute to exposing others or positioning them to such means of grace that facilitate their growth into the image of Christ.

One of the ways we intentionally position ourselves to be discipled and disciple others is through intentional, meaningful relationships with other believers. Our Lord had hundreds, if not thousands, who came to listen to his sermons and witness his miracles, but the real discipleship happened with the few who followed him everywhere. Those were the people he trained to be like him. That training occurred over food, intimate conversations and simply through living life together. Small groups, one-on-one book reading, and hospitality, where families spend time together sharing their lives are some of the avenues where discipleship happens. Discipleship is all about living life together rather than just one structured meeting per week.

Terry Virgo poignantly notes:
“The root of sinfulness is independence – everyone turning to his own way (Isaiah 53:6) and doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). The church is God’s antidote to independence. It gives you the opportunity to open up to others, with all the pains and pleasures that accompany that process. The moment you believe in Christ you are saved and thoroughly justified in God’ssight. But from that time a process of sanctification begins to take place. You were a sinner; now God wants to make you holy. You had huge areas of selfishness, thoughtlessness, pride, fear, anger and so on.

Many of these things can be overcome by personal application of the truth of God’s word and the inner work of the Holy Spirit. But much of your character will change only through close fellowship with other Christians and discipleship accountability. Jesus directly discipled twelve men. Their experiences included wonderful encouragements: ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah!‘ and fearful confrontations: ‘You are thinking from men’s point of view, not God’s.‘Impetuous Simon was discipled and became Peter, the Rock.” 2

My question for you is, are you committed to fellowshipping with other believers? In most local assemblies, this happens through church small groups. If there are small groups in your place of worship, do you belong to one? If you do, are you committed to developing deep, intentional relationships to build up those in your small groupand, by extension, the larger church assembly? And even if there are no small groups in your church, you can start one. Find another Christian with whom you can meet on regular basis to read the Bible and other good Christian books and pray.

Ephesians 4:15-16 teaches a phenomenal truth: because we are united to one another and to Christ, our growth is tied to the contribution of other members of the body [of Christ] as theirgrowth is tied to ours:

“15. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16. from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.“

This is quite striking: The whole body grows only when each part is working properly. I contribute to the nourishment of other believers God places around me as they contribute the nutrition I need to grow so that the entire body [of Christ] builds itself up in love.

In this series’ next and final post, we will explore our Father’s heart for the nations and how we fit into His grand purpose for unifying all things in Christ.

Notes:

1. Phil Wilthew, Multiplying Disciples: A toolkit for learning to live like Jesus, pp. 26.

2. Terry Virgo, No Well-Worn Path, pp. 256.

The post Where Do I Fit in God’s Big Picture? (Part 2) appeared first on TGN.

Where Do I Fit in God’s Big Picture? (Part 1)

Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 06:08:20 +0000

The story is told of a man who on his hospital bed, called his wife and three children to his bedside to give them his last wishes. “To you, my darling wife, I leave that big hotel on Kairaba Road (imagine a 13-floor hotel)”. The wife burst into uncontrollable tears. Turning to his eldest son, he said, “to you, my son, I leave the hospital in Kotu” (imagine the size of a busy tertiary referral hospital like Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital). His son wailed even louder than the mum.

Then he turned to his daughter and said, “to you, my daughter, I leave the football stadium at Bakau” (think the size of Baba Yara Sports stadium). Even more loud cries and tears. Then finally, to his lastborn son, he said, “and to you, Abdoulie, I leave the school complex in Fajara” (imagine a high school complex like Mfantsipim School), as the life ebbed out of him, and he slipped into the next life. Even louder screams and sobs!!!

A nurse standing by was intrigued and asked, “I know it’s sad to lose a loved one. But your father has left you all such wonderful properties; why so much weeping and wailing?” To which they replied, with deep sadness in their eyes: “He was a cleaner. The so-called properties he handed over to us are where he works, and he has just passed on the responsibility of cleaning those places to us!”. Seeing as these were the last words of their husband and father, this wife and kids were despondent, not only to lose their loved one but more for the fact that they felt obligated to carry out his last wishes—cleaning those vast properties he assigned to them!

We usually take the last words of a dying man very seriously, don’t we? Much like a will. Whether you like the contents of the will or not, you usually have to carry it out unless there’s reason to doubt that it was genuine. In Matthew 28:18-20 we’ve got the last words of our Lord before he ascended to heaven. He said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

From the very start, Jesus’ first words to his disciples included a promise to make them disciples who make disciples:

“Follow me,” Jesus said, “And I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19).

And his last words to them included a command to carry on with the task he assigned to them from the very beginning, namely, to make disciples who make disciples. This is a command to every Christian who’s worth his salt. Yet, our attitude to this great commission—the final command of our Lord—can be likened to the response of the wife and three children to that man’s last wishes.

Rather than filling us with excitement, the mention of evangelism conjures feelings of dread in many Christians. For many of us, the command to “go and make disciples of all nations” was meant for specialist “evangelism committees”, a few evangelists and missionaries, and professional pastors and teachers. C. H. Spurgeon, in his usual pithy way, puts it like this:

“The gospel command is, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” but it is so little obeyed that one would imagine that it ran thus, “Go into your own place of worship and preach the gospel to the few creatures who will come inside.” [1]

David Platt notes instructively:

“Jesus has invited all of us to be a part of His plan. He has designed all of His people to know His joy as we share His love, spread His Word, and multiply His life among all of the peoples on the earth. This is the grand purpose for which we were created: to enjoy the grace of Christ as we spread the gospel of Christ from wherever we live to the ends of the earth. And this purpose is worth giving our lives to seeing it accomplished. It’s worth for millions of people who do not yet know the mercy and majesty of God in Christ. And it’s worth it for you and me, because we were made to be disciples who make disciples until the day when we see the face of the One we follow, and together with all nations we experience His satisfaction for all eternity.” [2]

I think David Platt hits the nail on the head as to why so many of us neglect the command to go and make disciples of all nations; namely, because we have yet to grasp the big picture of God’s heart for the nations. So, in this three-part series of posts, we will attempt to explore God’s big picture for our world.

In Ephesians 1, from verses three through ten, we read:

“3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4. even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5. he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6. to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8. which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9. making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10. as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

This verse is part of a long, complex statement beginning in verse 3 and ending in the 14th verse. In this passage, Paul describes the grand scheme of God’s salvation as carried out in Christ — beginning from eternity past with the choosing or election of the Saints, to eternity to come, when God will once more head up or re-unite all things under the rulership of Christ. As the details unfold, we get to realise that the purpose of Christ’s redemptive work is to undo the effects of the fall of man.

After our first parents had disobeyed God and their eyes opened to their sin and shame, they run and hid from God’s presence, when he came by in the cool of the evening to fellowship with them as at other times. Thus, we see that the fall produced in man a dread of God’s presence and a sense of guilt.

By contrast, God’s elective grace towards the Christian justifies him (declares him guiltless) through faith in the cleansing blood of Christ. Restored to the right relationship with God, he can once more walk before God in love (without fear or guilt)—for perfect love casts out all fear (1 John4:18).

Further, God adopts the believer into His family, fully granting us the rights of a son—including giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is a seal of His ownership and a foretaste of the inheritance that awaits the believer in heaven. Paul’s explanation for all of these is,

“according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7b-8).

Notice in the Ephesians passage that few words or phrases occur repeatedly. One is the phrase “In Christ” or “through Christ.” Throughout the Bible, this is another way of describing Christians. A Christian is simply someone who is “in Christ” (see Romans 16). Also, notice the phrase “the purpose of his will” or “the mystery of his will”.

It is instructive to note that the first time we encountered the term, God’s ‘purpose’ or ‘will”, it was in connection with our adoption into God’s family. The second time we encounter the term, it is linked with God’s plan to reunite all things, by which we can deduce that God’s plan to reunite all things starts with adoption into His family. And the common theme in both places is the term “In Christ”. From this, we can say the following:

1. God’s big plan or picture is to reunite all things, both in heaven and on earth

2. His means of doing this is encapsulated in the phrase “in Christ”, and

3. His primary reason or endgame for all of this is adoption, i.e., to bring us all into one big family consisting of people from all nations and ethnicities and cultures, united by their shared love for Jesus and the fact that they are in Him and washed in His blood and filled with His Spirit.

If you have already placed your faith in Jesus for salvation, you have taken the first and vital step in aligning with God’s purpose to reunite all things. But as there are so many people out there who as yet don’t know Jesus, it behoves us who’ve been adopted into God’s family to make it our primary concern to see others come to salvation and be a part of God’s global reconciliation agenda.

In future posts, we will explore how God outworks his great purpose in and through us, culminating in reunifying the entire cosmos.

Notes:

1. C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures To My Students, Lecture 5: Open Air Preaching — Remarks Thereon; available from: http://www.romans45.org/spurgeon/misc/lect5.htm.

2. David Platt, in Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples, by Francis Chan, pp. 8.

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The Christian’s Pursuit

Kwesi Sena — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 06:14:02 +0000

“1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.“ Colossians 3:1-2.

I have discovered over the years that whenever I’m asked to describe myself, what I say is more of what I desire to be or how I would like others to see me more than who I truly am. Perhaps, if you asked an independent person to describe who I am, they might say something completely different from how I would describe myself.

In these two verses, the apostle Paul is like the independent person describing the life of his readers. It didn’t matter how they would introduce or call themselves; who they truly are can be determined by what they seek after and what they have set their mind on.

When someone becomes a Christian, something fundamental changes in their lives. It is not like joining one more association; Jesus calls it new birth, and Paul calls it a new creation. This should come with new desires and affections. Paul identifies two things that must fundamentally change when someone becomes a Christian. The things they seek after and what they set their minds on.

We live in a world that encourages, no, lures us to pursue more wealth, fame and power. The selling point is that if we had more of these things, we would be happy and secure. But the history of man has conclusively made it clear that more of these things neither provide happiness nor the security we so desperately crave. Yet that has not stopped man from falling for the world’s deception.

Before becoming a Christian, we all believe this deception like the rest of the world. But Paul reminds his readers that the mark of a Christian is a mindset on things that are above and the pursuit of true riches, which can only be found where Christ is seated, at the right of God. The question is, do you see any difference between your pursuits before and after becoming a Christian? It is sad that for some Christians the pursuit of things on earth has rather increased since they came to faith.

May the Lord, through his Spirit, help us seek and set our minds on things above where true joy and riches reside.

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