November 1, 2009

• Letter 21 on assurance and fighting for joy (knowing our inheritance in the saints)

  Dear co-heir in Christ,

  I really wasn't planning to write you today, but this morning I woke up thinking about Paul's prayer for the Ephesians at the end of Ephesians 1. I'm not quite sure why, but I think it's because it's All Saints' Day. Let's read and pray that prayer together for one another, shall we, so we might rejoice in Him together...

  For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
  
  22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
  23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
  

  My friend in Christ, because we have shared in Christ's death and resurrection by faith, we also share in His inheritance in the saints! Look there at the vast wealth of riches He has for us. (Yes, we know our love for all the saints is weak, but yet He is working that in us, is He not? That growing love is a sure sign that we are His. O, may He continue to grow our love so we might truly love one another as He has loved us.)

  I hope you would take time today (and every day) to reflect on and give thanks for the inheritance you (we) have with all the saints. All I could do early this morning was to think on God's unconditional love for me in Jesus Christ. There was no theological treatise. No real verses even came to mind. Just thoughts that the riches of His inheritance which were poured our for me, for us, through the cross of Christ! He has given us Christ and therefore He freely gives us all things! His love! His mercy! His grace! His peace! His embrace! His acceptance! Our Father lavishes us with every good gift! He loves us! Joy flooded my soul. It was wonderful..He is wonderful!

  And can you imagine how the Father feels when we delight in Him and rejoice in Him like this? How He must feel when we make much of Him and His love for us...

  You know how you feel when you purchase or make a gift to give someone, and you've got just the perfect gift to give them. And you are so happy to be the giver and are anticipating how the gift will be received. Do you not receive pleasure when the person delights in the gift you've give him/her? Doesn't that give us a small (very small) picture of the Father's joy when we rejoice in Him and the glorious inheritance He has given us?

  What does our God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, want to give us? Go back and read the words in Paul's prayer and bask in our Father's love for us. As we reflect on the riches of His inheritance, how can we not rejoice? Oh yes, we do know Him, but can't we see how much more there is to know of Him. You can see that Paul is really straining here. These are things too wonderful for words. How can we describe the riches of God, really? Is He not infinite? Infinitely good and wonderful and magnificent! Though we have tasted of the cup of salvation, we know the cup will never empty. The stream will never dry up. Pleasures forevermore. He is glorious! He wants us to enjoy Him forever! Our inheritance is glorious! He wants us to enjoy it! His power toward us is immeasurably great! The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead and put all things under his feet and made Him to be the head of the Church – that is the same power that is keeping us and guarding our imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance. How much more wonderful than any earthly inheritance! Yet how often do we settle for temporary trinkets rather than pursuing the pearl of great price!

  As you know, yesterday was Halloween. I remember when our children (now grown) would go trick-or-treating. People gave them candy. They didn't deserve it. They didn't work for it. They just showed up and plunk, plunk, plunk – candy dropped into their bags...over and over and over again until the bags were filled. (Yes, I know using the Halloween picture has its limitations, but I hope you would bear with me here...) Our children came home beaming...(well, perhaps not beaming initially, since they were often chilled to the bone – it gets cold in Wisconsin by the end of October – one year we even had some nasty snow showers!). But anyhow, after they got home, they started to unpack their loot. They're excited. They're sorting through all the "riches." They would get their candy out and lay it out on the floor and then sort it and begin to count it all. Then of course the trading would come since they always got some things they'd didn't like, so they would trade with each other. But they had so much fun with it all.

  Now consider the riches we have in Christ, which we know are far and away so much more in comparison to a bag full of candy. God gave us everything. We didn't deserve it. We didn't earn it. We couldn't earn it. It's an outright gift. He chose us to lavish the riches of His inheritance on us. Why? Because He loved us. In His sovereign grace, He chose to have mercy on us. We were paupers and He has raised us up into heavenly places. He freed us from the penalty and the power of sin. He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit as a guarantee of His inheritance to us. He has come to dwell in our souls. Should we not be beaming like children as we reflect on the riches our Father has given us? Of course we can't count out His riches like my children could count out the candy they got. God's riches (like God Himself) are unsearchable, inscrutable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, infinite and far too glorious. The Lord continues to give and give and give. Just when we think there might not be any more treasure, He opens our eyes to even greater, more glorious treasure awaiting us. There is no end to His love for us. Yet on some small scale we can begin to recount the treasure He has given us. Isn't that what we hear the Psalmist telling us to do: Forget not His benefits? Or when Paul tells us to give thanks in all things. And we know that throughout the Old Testament we hear the Lord's continuing admonitions to Israel to remember, not to forget, take heed and so forth. And you know how they always got into trouble when they forgot. Don't we also? When we forget, don't we begin to lose a sense of the wonder of God's love for us? (O, God forbid that His love becomes but a theological concept to us!) When we lose the sense of wonder, we find it harder and harder to rejoice in Him. O, let us always, always, always be like that one leper who went back and thanked the Lord Jesus for His healing. May we never act like the other nine lepers. May we always see ourselves as the tax collector and never the Pharisee. All we have is from Him, through Him and to Him and to His glory alone.

  And let us remember that God's riches are perfectly suited for each one of us...now we don't understand this but part of His riches include His ordaining suffering in our lives. In Romans 8:17, Paul tells us we are heirs of God and heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him that we may be glorified with Him. That includes the pain, struggles, tears, hardships, losses and betrayals we experience. Yes, God is sovereign and He does ordain these things for our good, so let's not be tempted to think there is anything better than what He has given to us. We can be certain that our present sufferings and momentary afflictions are working an eternal weight of glory. So there's to be no trading His riches (even though they may not seem to be riches to us today) but rather trusting in Him and in His sure and steadfast love for us. By faith and patience we inherit the promises. He always gives His children good gifts, even when we don't see it at the time.  So aren't we quite foolish and brutish when we don't give Him thanks in all things? Can we not trust He is working all things, even bad things, for our good even when it might not look like it? O, how we need His grace to help us to bless the Name of the Lord at all times like His servant Job. I know these are hard things for us, but His grace will always be sufficient for us so we might be able to rejoice in Him always.

  My friend, let's remember not to skip over the first portions of Paul's letters that speak of the blessings and privileges and riches we have in Christ. We so often want to get to the application. (There's no application without our knowing our inheritance, our position in Christ. We have no real power apart from our knowing who we are in Christ.) God has raised us up into heavenly places. Let's ask our Lord to reveal more of Himself to us through His Spirit, so we might be able to rejoice in Him and bless His Name at all times. Paul tells us we have been given the Spirit so we might understand the things freely given to us by God. Let's not just read of the inheritance, let's not ever take it for granted, but let's actively seek to know Him and understand the riches He has for us. He is our Beloved and we are His. The Israelites were told to possess the land the Lord had given them (Joshua 13:1, 18:3), let's begin to possess the inheritance He has freely given us. The inheritance does us no good if we don't possess it. God has given us a glorious inheritance. Like that gift we so delighted to give to a loved one. How would we feel if they never opened it? And what good would it do them? Would it not sadden us? Is this not how our Father feels when we do not seek to open our heart to receive all He has given us.

  God wants our joy to be complete. Part of that is our knowing the riches of our inheritance in the saints. Let's take time daily to reflect on Him and His love for us, and the riches of our inheritance in the saints. Yes, we are sinners, but saved sinners. We are saints. There's no other type of saint, is there, but a saved sinner? Though we are saved sinners God has qualified us to share in His inheritance of the saints. Let's enjoy the inheritance He has for us. When we enjoy our inheritance, we enjoy Him. Let's bask in Him together, shall we? I would love to know how this passage of Scripture has blessed you today.

  Rejoicing in Him today,
  Karen

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  You can read my other letters on assurance and fighting for joy here.

  (HT: Halloween at my house.)

  • 3:40 PM
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