IN CHRIST ALONE

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

In Pastor Harry’s sermon this past Sunday, he used a graphic that illustrated where we start as Christ-followers, at the point where by faith we accept Christ’s death on the cross and His resurrection as the payment for our sin, and where we finish when we see Him face-to-face, with our sanctification complete and our glorification intact.  In thinking through this series of studies so far, I thought back to the Depravity phase, which I tend to think of as the seeking stage of human life.  What I mean by that is that there is a hunger in the human heart that only Christ can satisfy (Bread of Life).  There is a thirst that only Christ can quench (Living Water).  There is an emptiness (God-sized hole) that only Christ can fill.  The only way (as in this sermon series The Way) for us to know the fulfillment God originally intended for us is to be in Christ.  We were meant to live in harmony with God until Adam’s sin, the rebellion of which lives within every child ever born with the exception of Jesus of Nazareth.  However, for some, Justification is chosen and immediately the seeker becomes a Christ-follower, but better yet, that person is in Christ and Christ is in that person. 

Scripture tells us that we have been reborn, a new person created out of the old. With this new creation comes a new way of living, a transformation that is literally life-altering, in a very distinct and pleasant way.  While there will always be pains of living in a sinful world, we walk by faith and not by sight, meaning that the pain is felt but mature believers will not be shaken, as they have the Prince of Peace living within them.  Sanctification is a growth process that Christ started in us and will finish within us.  God’s grace grows us daily if we will only discipline ourselves to remove our own will and let His be done.