The Scope of It All

[WordSword]

When we read the epistles to the Romans and to the Ephesians carefully, we cannot but see the difference between where the Gospel places us on earth, and where knowledge of our position puts us. In Romans I am a justified man going on to glory, fulfilling (because walking is the Spirit) the righteousness of the law (Rom 8:4)—all that God had required of a man, magnified in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hence such an one presents the body as a living sacrifice, and serves according to the gift given him of the Father, known by the measure of faith (Rom 12:3). As a believer, he is hated by the world (Jhn 15:18, 24). There is nothing of position in all this, though no one could walk in the truth of the mystery (concerning Christ and the Church - Eph 5:32—NC), if he had not all this. I am through grace as much an Ephesian saint as I am a Roman saint; but I must be the lesser, or I could not be the greater (Mat 23:12).

In Romans I am a delivered one on the earth, walking in the Life of the Lord Jesus (Col 3:4), by the Holy Spirit dwelling in me (Jhn 14:16; Rom 8:11; 1Co 3:16). In Ephesians I am a member of the Body of Christ, in union with Him who is the Head in heaven (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 5:23) and a member of His Body set there where He is, by the same power that placed Him there (Eph 2:6). The power that positioned me there works in us here (Eph 3:20), and now I am united wih the exalted Man: and by His Life I grow into a manifestation of Him where He has been rejected.

The Body of the glorified man is down here on the earth is to “grow up unto Him in all things” (Eph 4:15), “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). Now we are not only opposed by the power of Amalek, who cut off the weak ones (Deu 25:18), but the whole subtlety of Satan is arrayed against us, in order to prevent our being in heavenly beauty down here (the devil can delay a believer’s growth in the faith in Christ, but never effect salvation, nor prohibit faith—NC). The Enemy cannot deprive us of our heavenly position, but he tries to prevent the manifestation of it from us.

This is the scope of the grace given to us in the whole, though we grow into it in parts (in position saints are everything Christ is - 1Jo 4:17, but are learning its application and fullness gradually—NC). The only way to grow is to be conscientiously true to what we so see. “He that hath, to him shall be given” (Mar 4:25). The more separate I am from the world (some separate themselves more than others—NC), and the less I am conformed to it, the less am I warped, and the better I can “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom 12:2).

Every true heart knows its own world. My world may not be the world to you. Music is one man’s world; painting, another man’s world; politics another’s, riches another’s, his family another’s and so on. Whatever is most difficult to surrender is your world; (“surrender” - place after God—NC) and as you advance, according as you seek separation to the Father, you have to separate from what you are most bound by (“bound” worldliness that means too much to you—NC), for it is that which influences you the most. It may even be a paltry thing. Isaac was warped by his son’s deception. Peter wanted to stand well with those who “came from James” (Gal 2:11-14 - these were Judaizing Christians believing in Christ, but were zealous of the law - Act 21:20—NC).

The Lord give you to see the whole scope of His grace, and give you grace to lay aside every hindrance, dealing honestly and truly with the one next to you. Many occupy themselves with the branches instead of with the root. The root is the seat of the evil, and the Spirit of God always leads to it (to put it off at the source—NC).

—J B Stoney 

 

 

MJS daily devotional excerpt for November 27

“The Lord Jesus Christ is the only object for faith, the only One that satisfies us, as indeed He is the Father’s Object; and if we have got but one mind with the Father about Him, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” If you are walking in the Spirit, the Lord Jesus is the Object before you; when you are walking in the flesh, yourself is your object.” William Kelly (1821-1906)
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/