Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Today I am on my journey home after some more great days in the Netherlands. It was great to be with my Dutch family and to see many wonderful people touched by the love of God and loving God. Holy Spirit is moving in the nations.
The church is the influencing factor of who we are to the world as the fruit of being a dwelling place of God by His Spirit. That influence is one of life and not one of judgment. The church is not a gathering place for refugees from the world. We have no doubt been rescued from our old lives in the flesh, but that rescue gave us access to God’s throne of grace. We are more than conquerors in Christ.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we embrace a religious structure apart from the world, we live as refugees from the world. If we embrace a culture that sees the cultures of the world around us as an enemy, we become victims and we take a posture that is anti-others. We are not victims; we are overcomers who live for the wellbeing of others through a revelation of God’s love.
If we embrace a religious way of life, we separate ourselves from the world. We may think that we are separating ourselves from the ways of the world but in reality, we are creating another worldly way in the form of some religion. We take on an us and them mentality. We see those in the world as an enemy, and we become victims in our own mind. The spirit of the world opposes the Spirit of Christ, but the people of the world are people that God loves.
Our separation is not a separation from the world. It is a separation unto God while fully engaging as a member of our world. We don’t look to the world for identity, testimony, or purpose. We look to God for these realities. When we find our identity, testimony, and purpose in God we will live in the same way that Jesus lived as a man. We will be life-giving to our world.
When we are life-giving to our world, we will do our part as citizens of the world. Religious systems inspire us to segregate from the world and despise the authority of the world, and they seek to become an authority unto themselves. They resist the lawfare of society and seek to impose their own rules and judgments that they feel supersede the standards outside of themselves. They see their own rules and judgments as something that places them above others.
We are to support and respect authority. We are not rebellious to the authorities of the world but only seek to support them within the boundaries of their appointed responsibilities. We choose to be people of New Covenant life and grace. The authority of God in our lives enables us to receive the authorities of the world in a way that empowers us to be life-giving members of our world. We don’t violate the principles, patterns, and values of our faith in Christ but use them to empower us to be life-giving citizens of our communities. We submit to appointed authorities with the character, nature, and way of God in our hearts and minds.
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same.
Because we are a dwelling place of God by His Spirit, we can receive wisdom from God as to how to be good citizens in the communities of our world. We don’t see our communities as the source life in our lives. We see God as the source of our life and thus we can be life-giving contributors to the places we live.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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