November 4, 2002
LifeWay Family Bible Series for Nov. 17
Faith in Christ changes the trajectory of a life
___ Romans 5:111; 1821
___By Rick Willis
___First Baptist Church, Roscoe
___Faith in Christ changes the trajectory of a person's life by giving a new relationship to God, securing a new eternal destiny and providing a new strength for present challenges.
___A new relationship to God
___When individuals turn to Christ in faith, they establish a new relationship with God. The Bible uses various expressions to describe the change that happens as soon as faith takes hold. The common denominator in all these descriptions of salvation is God's love.
___The new relationship is described as "justification" and "reconciliation." When Romans 5 describes what has already happened to a Christian, it says, "we have now been justified" (5:9) and "we have now received reconciliation" (5:11). Both terms refer to a new status before God.
___A transfer of identity takes place through faith in Christ. By birth, every human enters life identified with Adam. In the Adam company, the human race is guilty before God and estranged from God. In the Christ company, people receive from God not what they deserve but what Christ deserves. By identifying himself with doomed humanity on the cross, Jesus has opened up the way for anyone to move out of the Adam company and to take their stand in God's grace by faith (Romans 5:1819).
___The result of joining the Christ company is a whole new birth. Whether called justification, reconciliat
ion, adoption (Ephesians 1:5), redemption (Colossians 1:14) or salvation (Acts 4:12), the new status believers receive is a gift of God's love. We don't deserve it. We can't possibly attain it ourselves. We didn't even ask for it. Instead, while we were still guilty, estranged and blind, Jesus died to win us our new relationship with God through him (Romans 5:8).
___Like a marriage or an adoption, the new relationship is invisible, but it can be represented by symbols, and it blooms into a different kind of living.
___A new destiny with God
___When individuals turn to Christ in faith, they secure a new eternal destiny. A few people in every generation deny any reality exists beyond what we see. For them death is the end, period. But most people seem to have an intuitive recognition that something more awaits on the other side of death.
___The Bible says God's judgment comes after the life of this world. In this world, good and evil, love of God and enmity with God, right and wrong are mixed together like wheat and chaff. In the end, God will divide the wheat from the chaff.
___For the world that lives apart from God now--what Paul might call the Adam world--the only prospect is God's wrath. Divine opposition to human sin, selfishness and apathy is as consistent as death. For those who reject God's love to the end, the only possible destiny is utter loss and hell.
___In contrast, Christ broke the chain of death. His resurrection brought eternal life to light, and with it the hope of salvation. A share in God's glory awaits all who are in Christ (Romans 5:2).
___In Romans 5:18, Paul employs language some interpreters have taken as assurance everyone will be saved. Instead, Paul emphasizes in this chapter the contrast between the two destinies--those identified with Adam and those who by faith transfer their identity to Christ.
___Although a change in trajectory may appear to be small, it makes for a whole new direction, and the ultimate destiny is dramatically different.
___A new power from God
___When individuals turn to Christ in faith, they receive Spirit power for Earth living. Between the new standing with God and the new destiny with God comes the life of faith lived out in the world.
___We are not delivered from mortal suffering as soon as we put our faith in Christ. Occasionally, Christians teach true faith should bring all disease and want to an end. This is heresy because heaven hasn't arrived yet! On the contrary, the Bible takes for granted that Christians suffer.
___Not the presence of suffering but the purpose of suffering changes for the believer. Trial and suffering become the training ground for growth in faith and maturity. Therefore, Paul even says the Christian is freed to rejoice in suffering, because God provides strength in it to endure and grow in the character of Jesus (Romans 5:34).
___God's power in the life of a Christian does show evidence. Differences appear in attitudes, in relationships, in moral character and in handling difficulties. The differences become more evident with time and practice as the Holy Spirit grows more influential inside.
___From first to last the new life that results from Christian faith brings about "peace with God" (Romans 5:1).
___Questions for discussion
___ How can you tell if a person has gotten married? Compare those indications with the new life conversion brings.
___ How has faith in Christ made a difference in you? Where would you be now if Jesus were not present in your life?
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