MONDAY 07 June 2020 “My Transformation”

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Good Monday morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

Yesterday we ended our time together in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago. A very important meeting was taking place, described for us in Acts 15. Paul & Barnabas, and some Jesus followers from the Syrian Antioch church, had come to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles, elders, and other leaders regarding what had been happening among the Gentiles in modern day Turkey, in response to Paul & Barnabas bringing the Gospel of Jesus to that region of the Roman Empire, for the first time. As Paul & Barnabas had given their report in Jerusalem, it was initially well received, but then a small group of Pharisee Jesus followers had stood up in objection. For them, strict obedience to the laws of Moses was critical to living a life acceptable to God.

They said “These Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the laws of Moses.” (Acts 15:5) That statement had caused quite a stir among all those gathered for this historic meeting. Finally Peter and the other apostles, and the elders agreed to meet in a private meeting with Paul & Barnabas, to further discuss this very important issue, and attempt to reach a decision as to what God wanted them to do. That’s where we left off yesterday, so let’s rejoin the scene. . .

Luke writes: “After much discussion Peter got up and addressed them, ‘Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the Gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them, by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as He did to us…” (Acts 15:7-9) Luke records: “The whole assembly became silent as they listened…”

Did you hear what Peter has just said? He acknowledged that he, the Jewish apostle Peter, had been sent by God the Holy Spirit, to go from Joppa, where he was at the time, to Cornelius and the Gentiles, gathered in his home in Caesarea. Do you remember that story, recorded for us by Luke, in Acts 10? Peter here makes a very clear statement, as he had in Acts 11, that God’s acceptance of these Gentiles, as they responded to Peter’s message, was evidenced by God sending to these Gentiles the Holy Spirit of God, in very similar fashion to how the Holy Spirit had come to the Jewish believers at Pentecost, in Jerusalem, and later to the Samaritan believers, in Acts 8. This was huge! Peter was saying God was accepting Jews, and Samaritans, and Gentiles living in Israel, and now Gentiles in far away places… ALL into the family of God! No one had ever made such a preposterous statement before. It was beyond reason to many in this Jerusalem meeting!

Think of the implications of what Peter just said! If true, God was opening His arms, His heaven, and His kingdom, to every living person in the world. . . slave and free, Jews and Gentiles, people of every skin color and culture and language…because of what Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection! No person would be ineligible for salvation by Jesus! This must have been not only shocking to many of the Jews in this meeting, but contrary to all they had ever believed about the pure Jewishness of God’s relationship with humanity.

Have you ever looked at a person and felt they were not eligible for something wonderful or inclusion in the favored groups? Honestly now… was it the clothes they wore, the language they spoke, the smell of alcohol on their breath or the fact he hadn’t shaved in a long time? Was it the color of their skin or their inability to read or write? What Peter was saying here, my friends, breaks down all the walls… for everyone, everywhere! Are you willing to accept that and therefore accept the notion that heaven will be the most diverse place you’ve ever been? If you arrive there, will you feel at home or out of place, ashamed of some attitudes or grateful that God does not have the same prejudices we do!

Then the apostle Peter made another outlandish statement: “God made no distinction between us and them, for He purified their hearts by faith.” Do you see the word “purified“? Peter was declaring God forgave them of their sins and sin condemnation, AND more… God cleansed them, purified them, from all ‘unrighteousness,’! And one more major thing: Peter was declaring that God did this, not in response to any act of sacrifice or circumcision or penitent behavior, but in response to their FAITH in Jesus Christ’s identity as God the Son, and their faith in Jesus’ atonement death and victorious resurrection!

Now pause here a moment friends. For more than 1000 years every good Jew felt strongly that their acceptance by God was based on their ethnicity first... being born into a family who could trace their lineage back to one of the original 12 tribes of Israel. And then secondly their strict obedience, day and night, to ALL God’s commandments and laws. And then thirdly, their careful participation in the weekly Sabbath, the annual festivals and especially the required animal sacrifices. It wasn’t easy to make all this effort, on a daily basis, to try to earn God’s acceptance.

But here the apostle Peter was proclaiming these Gentiles, who were NOT part of any Jewish lineage, and were NOT faithfully respecting all God’s laws, and they were NOT faithfully honoring the Sabbath and the festivals and were NOT offering the required sacrifices… despite all that these Gentiles were FULLY accepted by God because of their FAITH in Jesus and nothing else! No religion in the world, then or now, claims God will accept you on the basis of your faith… except Jesus Christ following Christianity.

Years later Paul explained this great doctrine of our Christian faith with these words: “God [the Father] made Him [Jesus the Son of God] who had no sin, to become sin for us [sinful people] so that in Him [Jesus] we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Now let me carefully explain that: The sinless Son of God Jesus, became defiled by our sin as He took it all upon Himself as He went to the cross. God then poured out His justice wrath on His sin bearing Son Jesus, and because Jesus therefore paid our sin price of ‘perish’ through His atonement death, God can extend sin forgiveness to us who repent of our sin and trust that Jesus’ payment of His life was sufficient to meet God’s death payment requirement. That’s a marvelous, remarkable, outrageous FORGIVENESS we don’t deserve and could never earn. Are you today living forgiven by God, my friends, are you sure?

Then God extends to those of us He has forgiven, the HOLINESS of Jesus!! As remarkable as sin forgiveness is, this next step, the imputation of the holiness of Jesus to forgiven sinners, is almost beyond our ability to comprehend!

It was and still is to this day, one of the most amazing, remarkable, beyond reason realities of God, reaching to a desperate sinful humanity with His mercy (withheld deserved punishment), and His grace (undeserved kindness) through the Redemption (deliverance) from our sin which Jesus has earned for us! Do you see the progression of this step by step miracle?

Step 1… God extends forgiveness to a repentant sinner who trusts in Jesus for their salvation from their sin condemnation.

Step 2… God cleanses the forgiven sinner from the stain and shame of their sin.

Step 3…God then pours the Holiness of Jesus into the life of that forgiven, cleansed sinner!

Step 4… Then God draws that forgiven, cleansed, holy, repentant sinner to Himself in a reconciled relationship of love!

Step 5… Then God adopts that forgiven, cleansed, holy, reconciled, repentant sinner into His spiritual family as a loved son or daughter. And because God is the King of kings, that means that son or daughter is a prince or princess of the KING!

Now ponder that moment and I urge you to take your journal and write a few sentences in your own words which can make this miracle clear and believable!

We need to pause right here. Can you grasp the significance of what I’ve just written and said, as my explanation of what Peter had said? I urge you to go back through those steps and ask yourself one simple but profound question: Have I experienced this work of God in my life?

Then ask this question: What difference has this act of God made in MY life? How am I different from who I would be today if this specific act of God had NOT happened in my life?

Notice my emphasis on ‘act of God’. ALL of these are miraculous works of God. You and I cannot do them to ourselves or to another person. You cannot wish it to be true in your life. Either Almighty God has done these things IN you or He has not!

I invite you to take some time to reflect on this powerful truth and here’s a very clear statement by Charity Gayle in the song “Cleansed” which calls you to consider if you’ve experienced this work of God in your life or not!

Today’s Scripture is Acts 15:5-9.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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