The Foundation of Jesus Christ - Part 1
.... In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul offered the supreme premise for all of our Christian learning: that Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, and He is everything in between! For we are called into the fellowship of God's Son, He empowers us by His grace, He enriches us and teaches us, and gives us gifts; and through His vigilance He confirms us to the end, keeping us blameless until the day when He, Personally, returns for us (1 Corinthians 1:1-9). From the beginning to the end, it's all about Jesus: .... "for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
(1 Corinthians 3:11)
.... In this passage, Paul is making an utterly exclusive claim about the importance of Jesus in our lives, for He will suffer no rivals. As the Father would say of Jesus, "This is My beloved Son, hear Him!" (Mark 9:5-7). .
.... But there is a further dimension to consider. In addition to playing an exclusive role in our lives, the foundational role of Jesus is boundless in it's scope:
.... "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
(John 15:5)
.... In this passage, Jesus Himself makes an utterly boundless claim about His role in our lives. It's application stops nowhere; it excludes nothing; it includes everything about our very existence, stemming from life itself. And within this same boundless spectrum we find His strength, so that Paul could say:
.... "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
(Philippians 4:13)
.... We can do nothing without Jesus, but we can do all things through Him! So Jesus stands alone as all and in all, that in Him alone we may put our trust (Colossians 3:11). Therefore, our trusting in Jesus becomes the make-it-or-break-it of our entire Christian existence! For the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand (John 3:35)....
.... Please take some time to meditate on the sheer simplicity and very, very deep profundity of this situation, and apply it to yourself in the relationship you are building with the Lord. At its very heart, Christianity is faith in Jesus plus nothing. We'll return to discuss the same foundation in greater detail in our next posting.
.... Please take some time to meditate on the sheer simplicity and very, very deep profundity of this situation, and apply it to yourself in the relationship you are building with the Lord. At its very heart, Christianity is faith in Jesus plus nothing. We'll return to discuss the same foundation in greater detail in our next posting.
To proceed to the next lesson, click here
Daily Bible Reading: Luke 23
posted by loren at 12:30 AM
3 Comments:
Jesus is telling us that we can do nothing without Him. But do we really believe this? Someone challenged me over that once: "Do you mean you can’t even get out of bed and turn on a light switch without Jesus?"
"Well," I answered, "Can a dead man get out of bed and turn on a light switch? If he can, then you believe I could do it: ‘for I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me’" (Gal 2:20). There is an actual exchange of life between Jesus and ourselves, as we abide in Him (2 Cor 5:17; Col 3:3).
By
loren, at 8/01/2005 1:03 AM
Paul again discusses the boundless scope of all that Jesus does in our lives, through the gospel. In Galatians 1:1-4, he outlines the four points of the gospel and declares that this is the will of God to deliver us from the present evil age - all of it - the whole thing! (V 4).
In fact, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13). This is called the Inheritance of the saints in the light, and he ‘qualifies’ us to partake of it, just as righteousness is ‘imputed’ to a believer.
By
loren, at 8/01/2005 1:03 AM
Hi Yourice,
It is always a pleasure for you to stop by and read. Also, thank you for your kind words and wishes. I enjoyed reading about the rain in your last posting. I like the sky and the rain very much.
By
loren, at 8/02/2005 1:54 AM
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