In Adam (Identity Part 2)

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned"... -Romans 5:12

Before a person can truly appreciate the wonderful truths of being "In Christ", there must be an understanding of what it means to be "In Adam". Romans 5:12-21 explains the predicament of every human being that will ever be born on this earth.

The Bible makes clear, the fact that everyone is born a sinner (Ps. 51:5). The problem is not that people become sinful when growing up, nor do they become a sinner when their first sin is committed. Everyone sinned when Adam sinned (Rom. 5:12). Therefore, we were born in Adam and our identity lies in the nature that he brought forth because of his choice to sin. All sins that are committed are the direct result of the Adamic Nature that mankind inherited at conception.

So, because our identity is in Adam the devastating results naturally flow from this source. We are self-centered, prideful, arrogant, untruthful, unloving, and rebel against God. Another thing also happens. We have the tendency to look at these outward sins and cut off the branches when the problem lies at the roots. To use the words of Dennis McCallum, "our doing arises out of our being" meaning our problem does not lie within the branches. The source must be taken care of! We must have a new identity or the patterns of sin will continue to dominate and control us.

This is the bad news of the Biblical teaching on identity. Adam is our spiritual father and we inherited a nature that produces sinful actions. This nature is never taken away from the believer this side of heaven, but our identity can change. The remedy for this change involves death and a connection to a new Root.

There is no longer a need to fix and cut off the outward sins that our nature produces. This will never bring long term change. Change that Paul longed for in his Romans 7 cry "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death". The Bible deals with the root issue and goes straight to the source for a solution.

How long have you been trying to clean up the "branches" while never taking a look at your roots?

To be continued...

Ponderings from Sunday Morning

This post will be pretty informal, but I want to remind y'all of some key truths that I was reminded this morning at church.

During the main service, we were in 1 and 2 Kings. I attend Kingsland Baptist Church and we're going through all 66 books of the Bible in order. So this week brought us to these two books- which are actually one book in Hebrew Bibles so I think that's part of the reason why Pastor Alex divided it like this. Long story short, there is something we must remember from these stories in the OT (Romans 15:4), and specifically from what was discussed today: How easy it is for us to get distracted, to fall into sin, and not fully render our heart, soul, mind, and body to devotion to the One True God.

Salvation and sanctification are always by God's grace through faith no matter what dispensation we're looking at.

For the wise King Solomon, his sin was 1000 wives and concubines (1 Kings 11:1-8) who he not only loved, slept with, was enraptured by, but he was a worshiper of their gods! This is a reminder to us of...

1. The simple perspective of life God gives us (Love God and Love others in faith and obedience; Or don't and experience the sin and death involved with a life not rendered fully to God).
2. The choice we have daily to serve and obey Him in faith.
   
3. The ease of falling into sin. Solomon's was unique to his situation as it can be with ours. Whether pornography, drugs, alcohol, prostitutes, murder, business, busyness, family, or even being religious, the ways in which we can love ourselves are many. The way in which we can love God and others are few but rewarding and joyous.

So let us serve God this day: To seek Him in all things!

Secondly, let us never get comfortable in our situation. Whether married, single, divorced, or widowed- wherever God has us- do not fall into the trap of being idle or being content with what the world offers: The American Dream.

During Sunday School, Steve Hyde spoke to us for 45+ minutes on the opportunity for missionary opportunity throughout the world and especially in Cambodia, where he currently resides and serves alongside the government who's trying to reconstruct a broken society: Feeding the poor and homeless, rescuing the child from prostitution, drug dealing, and slave labor, and being love with flesh on it to people in whatever situation.

I want to emphasize to everyone reading that you are, as we will continue to expound upon in the posts on our identity in Christ, valuable because of what Christ has done/who He is. We have all been made in the image of God and Christ has died for all men because He loves them. And your life is defined not by what you do or who you are or who you think you are (unless it's Biblically accurate), but it is rooted in Christ! That being said, we have the opportunity to make much of our lives for the glory of God by faith and obedience to His Word.

God doesn't expect us to be perfect, but God does want us to be obedient in faith.

Lastly, after Hyde was done speaking, I asked him about how he does evangelism. I've been really turned off lately in how many do it. The message is, as I've seen, usually very clear and precise, citing what they're saying from the Scriptures (Christ died for our sins and rose again), but the actual presentation tends to be overly confrontational, argumentative, and extremely shallow. I don't doubt the need for people to know the Gospel, but I do wonder if the people who do it actually build life relationships with people when they do this.

It was refreshing to hear Steve Hyde tell me he builds relationships while providing for natural human needs when he's out ministering/on the mission field. He even went on to say that he will not talk with others about Christ unless he can commit to being there to disciple them and grow them in Christ.

I say this last point on evangelism because of two things missing from the American Church today:

1. Real community by deep friendships.
2. Discipleship. While evangelism is certainly emphasized, it's not always backed by a strong relationship and dedication to growing that person in Christ and teaching them what that looks like.

Identity (Part 1)

Humanity, since the creation of the world, has gone through life asking the question "who am I?". History has seen many different answers to that question. Whether it be fig leaves in the garden of Eden or a high-paying job, people usually define themselves by what they do/don't do and what they have/don't have.

For the believer, this question is usually answered by what we do/don't do for the Lord. Most of the time our sense of identity comes from our own feelings about ourselves. I don't "feel" loved by the Lord. I "feel" like the Lord will not bless me. My patterns of sin make me "feel" like I will never have victory. Or, the sometimes scarier perceptions can come as well. I have done so much for you Lord, You must like me more. I shared my faith today Lord, therefore you will bless me. I haven't sinned in three days (yeah right!), I must be acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

May I offer a different and Biblical way of thinking about our identity? The New Testament Epistles are very clear on this issue. Our identity rests solely "In Christ"! Not in the things we do/don't do. Not in how "good" we are. Rather, our identity is in the Risen Christ (who He is and what He has done). Paul makes this very clear when he writes in Colossians 3:3:

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

We must start viewing ourselves the way God sees us. It doesn't matter what others think about us. It doesn't even matter what we think about ourselves. What the Lord declares of us must be our focal point.