Ahh so now we find a major sticking point...
Do we possess glory or are we hoping to possess it?
If I don't believe I possess glory because He gave it to me and He is glory a lot of problems arise..
I'm not a new creation? Even though Scripture says I am.
I don't have His Holy Spirit? And that's just horrible since He's the one who is my Teacher.
I'm not a child of God. So why do I do things He desires? I guess out of my effort? That didn't work for the OT people.
I wasn't found in Christ from the foundation of the world?
Without understanding what you now possess, you can not lay claim to grace that enables us to do the will of our Father...
In fact, you're not allowed to pray Our Father because apparently nothing has happened to you yet... so this prayer is off limits to you... You don't know love... because you're waiting to know love until the end of your life... So you can't love God... ouch.
You don't know forgiveness... so you love little... ouch.... I'm starting to wonder if this person is actually saved?
And so many Scriptures make no sense at all...
John 17:22 The glory that you have given me
I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Romans 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified,
he also glorified.
2 Co 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are
being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
- Special note: We are not waiting to be transformed, we are BEING transformed. We are not waiting for death to be transformed...
1 John 3:2 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.
But don't worry! Because I can explain to you the Scripture "hope of glory"...
21And you, who once
were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22he
has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation[SUP]
g[/SUP] under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
- This Scripture on the surface looks like it's talking about eternal life, but it's talking about how we are presented before Him after we die. This is the bema seat before Christ where we all will give an account. Elders are called to be above reproach, etc. Looking at the context we see, they were once alienated and separated, but they are no further. This is of course tells us "if you continue in the faith" is really the belief in who you really are. And as you do that, the other stuff is a fruit of that reality.
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
25of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to
make the word of God fully known,
26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
- Our lives make the word of God fully known to the world. This is the hope of glory. Your life is the only Scripture some people will ever read.
27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
Looking at the context of this Scripture we see the following truths:
1. Christ is in us. This is a present reality.
2. This shows how our lives are an EXAMPLE to others...
3. Continue in the faith is knowing that we are now reconciled, forgiven, justified, glorified...
4. Because those who know the goodness of God live repentant toward Him
5. The hope of glory is not for us, it is for the world. Our lives show them who God is.
As we walk in
maturity we reveal Christ to the world, which is their
hope of glory.
You can see below what continue in the faith looks like...
Colossians 2:6Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
7rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8See to it that
no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[SUP]
a[/SUP] of the world, and not according to Christ.
9For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
12having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13And you, who
were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
15He disarmed the rulers and authorities[SUP]
b[/SUP] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.[SUP]
c
[/SUP]
C.
