25)
Whereof I am made a
minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to
fulfil the word of God;
26)
Even the mystery which
hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints:
27)
To whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which
is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
28)
Whom we preach, warning
every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus:
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any
people do not understand this subject because of a fear of not being able to
fulfill its requirement. Generally, "church people" do not like to
talk about or deal with perfection.
The
Lord gives us the understanding of His word via the Spirit, which often does
not "make sense" to the human mind. In that it is impossible to
relate the spiritual to the human, any attempt to do so is futile.
In
salvation, "position" is everything. You see, the Lord sees us victorious
in Him. Therefore, He states to us that we must be "positionally
correct"(that is, in the right "position".) When we speak of
being in the right position, we are not speaking of "faultlessness"
or being "error-free," but we
are s peaking of being sin-free. This is the result of being in
union with Christ. This is the
"position" for all who would be called by His name.
Being
"in union with Christ" relieves us from the threat of weakness. For,
you see, weakness stems from reliance upon ourselves.
Being in right position also gives us favor with our God and confers upon us
the blessing of operating by the direction of God. When we fail to operate by
the direction of God, we become "disconnected" from the Power Source,
thereby becoming weak.
A
right relationship with God makes us right in the sight of God. We are to
esteem this relationship by esteeming the God Who gave it to us. If we are
doing this, then we will readily give to God the glory that He requires. If we
refuse, we can rest assured that He will get what belongs to Him—somehow.
He
wants us to glorify Him by working in His vineyard to accomplish His purpose.
To do this, we must remember that there is one
work and one ministry to carry out the
ministry. We are, as Paul stated, called, equipped, and sent by God to proclaim
"what saith the Lord." The hearing of the
Word will be the only thing able to help
In
both past and present, men have tried to make a human application of the Word.
As previously stated, the mystery of the ages is revealed only by the power of God's Spirit. The Law was never meant to teach
spiritual lessons, but all lessons started after the Day of Pentecost. The Law
served as a code of conduct to guide the Israelites only until the means was
given for the human spirit to come under subjection of the Holy Spirit.
There
is no way for Man to "make it" unless he accepts the revelation of
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Many are and will be lost, not by choice,
but because of lacking the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a necessity because He
equips us—to do whatever, whenever it
is needed. The only way that we are able to be available to the Lord is by
having our human impulses controlled from the inside. In that the Holy Ghost is
the author of this "position," God will eliminate all confusion and
panic in those willing to submit to Him.
Our
lives, fraught as they are with trials and tests, are those things which settle
and establish us with a praise. We must come to accept
that no problem situations, trouble, sickness or finances are able to change
the perfect position of God in our lives—or ours in His. On the contrary, our
"life-praise" is a confirmation of our completeness in Him.
The
change of any circumstance comes from our
ability to change it—not our ability to change someone else. God will never
allow anything to come to us except that it can be changed by our submitting
ourselves to Him. No one is responsible for our salvation or damnation—but us.
It has been ordained by Him that no one else can control our denial or acceptance
of salvation. Commitment to a man, a church or commentaries does not excuse one
from a true commitment to Him. Change must come first by acceptance—then comes understanding. The reverse is
true according to the World.
All
one has to do is look and listen to see that God's word is His bond. We will
promise God anything when we are in need and we will give Him nothing in return.
"Perfection in Christ Jesus," along with its myriad meanings, also
means that at some point, we will have to be honest with Him—and ourselves.