“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformed to His death.”
Phil. 3:10

The pursuit of the believer is Jesus Christ. Not just to be like Christ, but to know Christ.

This knowledge does not consist chiefly in facts about Jesus, but rather it consists in an intimate sharing of His person through the work of the Spirit.

It was the Spirit of Holiness that raised Jesus from the dead and demonstrated through the resurrection the power of God. The resurrection demonstrated to the world that the power of death is broken and the way to God has been opened. The death of Jesus was a once for all sufficient atonement for our sin, the resurrection demonstrated that Jesus was who He claimed to be.

The road to knowing Him is a road of suffering and is trod by those of faith. We believe in One whom we’ve never seen, only read about and felt the stirrings of His presence deep within our hearts. We look for a new home- a better one, where lion and lamb repose together in the shade of the trees and the child plays with the cobra. A land free of death and curse.

May your pursuit in life be the One alone who is worthy of all our praise.

Because of grace,
Tim

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“What would it look like to stop treating Jesus as simply a role model and start serving Him as our sovereign king?” Blog post Reasonable Theology

Good Question.
Jesus is the ruling Monarch (Sovereign) of the universe.
His rule is established in His humanity by the fact that He was born of David. His rule is demonstrated by the fact that death could not hold Him. Death is man’s greatest foe-yet even death could not defeat Jesus.

So what does this mean to me?
When it comes to government, we Americans tend to think in terms of a constitutional Republic. We are grateful we have the chance to vote in our rulers to represent us (supposedly). We are grateful we have a voice in the establishment of laws that govern us. We are thankful we can even run for elected office if we so choose.

The Kingdom of Heaven is not a Constitutional Republic. Jesus doesn’t reign because we vote Him into office. Mankind can’t impeach Him either. He rules by the power of His own person- Jesus is King.

Now, in one sense His rule is not complete. Yes the battle has been won and the victory is His. But death is not yet completely abolished and so for now this earth is still enemy held territory (Hebrews 2). One day this will change- he will return and abolish death and win the final victory.

Until then how do we view Him? Kind of like a big brother that we look up to and is sort of a role-model for our behavior? Or rather as the Sovereign Lord who commands our allegiance. When He says “follow me” He’s not simply speaking like a big brother inviting us to follow in His shoes; no He is speaking like a battlefield general who leads His men over the top and into the fray.

Follow me is the command of the Sovereign Lord of the universe. Are we huddled in the trench fearing the conflict? Or are we climbing the ladder and leaving the trench and engaging the foe?

Because of grace,
Tim

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