January 4, 2015 A.D., by Pastor Ben Willis
January 6th, 2015I love the way one part of the Bible fills us and completes other parts of the Bible!
This past week I was reading and studying Jeremiah 30-31 even as I was reading and studying this passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Jeremiah, in chapters 30-31, has been imprisoned in the kings courtyard – the federal penitentiary of their day. And if that weren’t bad enough, the Babylonian army is laying siege to Jerusalem around him! But God gives Jeremiah words of hope to share with the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
“Yes, the Babylonians will overcome the Jews; they will take Jerusalem, defeat the remnants of Judah’s army, and take all Judah away into captivity and slavery, But, “the Lord says, “A cry is heard in Ramah – deep anguish and bitter weeping, Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted – for her children are gone.’
“But now this is what the Lord says: “Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you, ‘ says the Lord. ‘Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, ‘says the Lord.”
Ramah was a village to the north of Jerusalem, and the place where a thousand years before the matriarch, Rachel, died giving birth to the youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons, Benjamin. During the siege of Jerusalem Ramah was being used as a detainment camp to hold and organize the men and women and boys and girls of Judah on their way to slavery and captivity in Babylon.
Ramah was the embodiment of Judah’s defeat and Rachel’s death – cries echoed in the cries of husband and wives as they were separated from each other and of fathers and mothers as they were torn from their kids. But God says, “Stop your weeping for I will reward you. Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. There is hope for your future,” says the Lord.
In the midst of their heartaches and heartbreaks and hopelessness God says, “Cut it out! This is not your lot! I have plans for you! There is hope for your future!” says the Lord. Which brings us to our reading from Ephesians 1 This morning, that says, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” And then Paul goes on to list those spiritual blessings: That is
God loved us
And God chose us (in Christ)
God chose us to be holy, set apart, different and
He chose us to be without fault, blameless, unaccusable of sin!*
He’s adopted us to be His sons and daughters along with giving us the legal benefits of being His family in Heaven!
He’s forgiven us our sins – forgiven us! Not holding on to them or holding them against us anymore! And
He’s revealed to us His will for uniting the entire physical and spiritual creation together under the lordship of Christ!
He’s spoken all that over us with the same creative authority that He spoke the heavens and the earth and all the cosmos and creation into being! That’s who we are in Christ! That’s how new we are in Christ!
*(We can be shown our sin; we can be convinced of our sin; we can even feel sadness and sorrow and repent of our sin. But we can never be accused or condemned of our sin. Not in Christ. Not ever again.)
And that’s how we’re called to live in Christ. Not according to our fears and worries and the uncertainties of our circumstances, but according to Christ, crucified, and risen from the dead!
ISIS, ebola, old age, evection, aimlessness, emptiness? Praise Him in the storm! Is He our Father? Can He save? Has He saved us before? Can He save us again? Do we trust Him? Enough to die? Enough to live, to live even in the face of such temptations and persecutions and opposition?
Does God love you? Has God chosen you? Has God chosen you to be different from those around you? Different because you live life His way? Has God made you to be unaccusable of sin? Unaccusable? Are you God’s sons, guys, men? Are you God’s daughters, gals, ladies? Has God forgiven you your sins? Completely forgiven you? Do you know, has God revealed to you, that it’s all for Christ: That you’re for Christ, that I’m for Christ, that we’re all for Christ, that Milford is for Christ, that the Pocono’s are for Christ, that the United States is for Christ, that the nations are for Christ, that the earth is for Christ, that this galaxy is for Christ, that the universe is for Christ, do you know that, do you get that, has He revealed that to you? Then praise Him! Praise Him in the storm! Praise Him in the face of your hardship, struggles, and fear. Praise Him! He’s stronger, He can. He will. Praise Him! All praise to Him! When you praise your team, praise God, too. He’s more worthy. He’s a better bet! When you praise your spouse or your kids or your folks, praise Him, too! All praise to Him!
Enough defining ourselves and our moods by our circumstances. We are defined by our God! Enough being dominated and overrun by our enemies and opposition. God is our refuge and strength, our hope in Whom we’ve put our trust! There is hope for our future!
No matter our present, let’s live 2015 and beyond, like children and people of hope that we are!
Let us pray….