Paul as Popeye…

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, NRSV)

Paul here told the Corinthians, “But by the grace of God I am what I am!”

I yam what I yam…

I am a sinner saved by grace!

We are all dependent upon the grace and love of God. and we look up to Paul, but he says he is the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle because of his past. Yet he is the model for most of us in our faith walk.

and if we looked at the heroes of our faith we would see that they really aren’t the kind of people we should be modeling our lives after, but they are, because they have been transformed by God’s grace, and so have we, so we can all say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am!”

no longer I

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;  yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.  But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!  But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor.  For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. (Galatians 2:15-21, NRSV)

We know that we are not justified by the law.

We can not work our way to heaven, or earn salvation. It is a gift of God.

Apart from the Law, so that no one may boast they are better than any other.

So then why do we act like we are better than other people?

The Jews of Jesus day were saying the Greeks were out because they were not Jews, and they were outsiders.

Are we really any different today? Now some of us are, but we all have moments where we fall into an elitist state, and think we are better than others. We shut outsiders out.

We are called to love as Christ loved us, which means we see no separation between us and others. Christ came to bridge the gap for all of us with God.

So there is no Jew or Greek, Slave or Free, Male and Female, Christian and non-Christian, we are all united and need to look on the other as we look upon ourselves.

Spirit ~ Water ~ Blood

Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. (1 John 5:5-15, NRSV)

The one who will conquer the world is the one who believes that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God!

And this is how we know that Jesus is the Son, because He came by water and blood and because the Spirit testifies to the truth in each of us.

These are the 3 that testify, water, blood and Spirit. The Spirit gives us the truth deep down in our lives, and gives us the power to come to God, and gives us the truth and the hope of the relationship we have in Christ!

As Martin Luther said in his explanation of the third article of the Apostles Creed:

“I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church he daily and abundantly forgives all my sins, and the sins of all believers, and on the last day he will raise me and all the dead and will grant eternal life to me and to all who believe in Christ. This is most certainly true.”

through the Spirit

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-11, NRSV)

Through the Spirit our chains are released and we are not held captive to our flesh.

We are freed in Christ to live a life that is not bound by our fleshly wants and desires.

The Spirit dwelling in us, gives us the power and hope of a life that shines a light in the dark places of this world.

So live into the freedom you have through the Spirit dwelling in you!

love one another

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:7-17, NRSV)

Everyone who loves is born of God. If you are loving you have been filled with God.

You see we can not of our own capacity love, without the in filling of our lives with God.

For we did not love God, but God loved us and sent His Son to be a bridge for us to come to God. And because God has loved us this much, we need to let that love overflow from our lives and love each other.

Even the person you can not serve, we have to serve them in love, because that is how we were to God before Jesus came, but God still sent Jesus to bridge the gap.

So love one another!