5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In today's reading we look at a specialty that is given to the Christian believer. Before we go there, let us look at verse 1 which says : " ¶ Paul, called [to be] an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes [our] brother,
Though reading this many times over, I am reminded of the fact that many people self profess themselves to be apostles. This is true largely in the charismatic movement. Paul, however, was not self professed, but called by God Himself. We need to remember that. God does the calling and trustfully it is man who does the receiving. If Paul had been self appointed, there would be no credibility to his teachings. Self appointed men are usually in it for all the glory they can attain with Christ as a skin over it all. This sets up for the verses we look at here in regards to Paul's particular calling, but also to the wonderful truth that lies within us all.
Every believer has the enrichment of Christ. Note the verse states that in all things you are enriched by HIM. Christ shows Himself in all we experience in life if we look for it. He holds nothing back, it is all available. Paul makes it a point to note that this is especially evidenced in utterance or speaking, and in knowledge. We don't have to be preachers to have great utterance or special knowledge. These things are all available for any child of God who desires them. I spoke with a man yesterday who said he couldn't pray because He did not have the right words to say. We need no right sounding words. Utterance to God is from our hearts not our heads or our intellect necessarily, all these lead to boasting inside as we try to impress God with our speech.
We know we are enriched because verse 6 states the testimony of Christ is confirmed, or, made genuinely sure, in you. If you have repented of sin and trusting Christ alone for salvation, you have this confirmation and you have as much of it as anyone else. It is personal and it is eternal!
Then Paul makes an interesting statement in the next verse that we come not behind or fall short of no gift. This here I believe he references is the gifts we are given to serve Christ with. Truly each of us differs in our gifts, some I crave that others have, others I am OK with that I do not have. Each of us have gifts, we just need to seek God in how best to use them. But here is the point, that we have everything we need from God to please and serve Him and that exercising gifts we shall be found faithful when he appears. One of those gifts is the anticipation for our Lord's return. Anticipation is driven by our love for Him and the joy we have to serve Him. There is a phrase in the Communion liturgy in the United Methodist Church that says: "free us for joyful obedience." That struck me odd at first reading but we need freed from our self serving ways so that we can concentrate on our real love for service to Christ whom also we love and have this love poured out on us.
Then lastly, "who shall confirm you to the end" that you be found "blameless." The teaching of confirmation is one that I believe has become skewed in Christianity. Many feel their "confirmation" is their salvation, or, it is what they claim as a salvation experience. This is sometimes practiced in taking membership, after some catechism classes, in a church. After passing these rites, you are confirmed. But that is not what Paul means here. Our confirmation lies squarely in our relationship with Christ. We are not confirmed by ritual or our understanding of Bible principles, we are confirmed by His blood and the evidence of which is the Holy Spirit living in each of us. The phraseology here shows that this confirmation is permanent. This verse is one that is a ground laying truth to the work of Christ not being lost in us by us. He confirms us to the end. What end? The end of our lives. Whom He saves He does not cast away again. Take comfort that you are blameless in Him. We do sin now, but as a former pastor of mine once remarked, "God is interested in the long game." You are too precious to lose out of His hands.
This passage is and should be a great joy to the believer! Take courage and strength in knowing that God calls, God saves, God enables and God confirms and does so without hesitation for you and all believers everywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment