Last time we pondered verse 16 of our summer text, today we will consider 17-18. These are the promises the Holy Spirit, through Paul, is asking us to consider, and which He will work into our hearts as motivation to walk in a manner pleasing to Him, to be drawn into the obedience of the faith. (Romans 1; Romans 16) These are promises rooted in God, who is unchangeable in His goodness, power, and love;, and He is not fickle like mankind, His word is sure.
Our Summertime text in 2 Corinthians:
6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,
“I will dwell in them and walk among them;
And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Our series, if you’ve noticed, makes much of the “therefore” in 7:1, as a reminder to never consider our call to holiness as an act we perform on our own. As we live the abundant life, abiding in the True Vine, with His streams of living water flowing through us, this fruit of “perfecting holiness in the fear of God” will manifest. As we abide, having hearts in which the Spirit has written the Law (Hebrews 8-10), we will love what God loves, desire what He has for us, and delight to do His will as Jesus delighted to do the Father’s will. This is whole-person holiness, not mere outward act, never compartmentalized or fragmented. Read just today’s verses again:
17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord.
“And do not touch what is unclean;
And I will welcome you.18 “And I will be a father to you,
And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,”
Says the Lord Almighty.
Welcomed
In Christ, we are welcomed by God, ushered into the Kingdom. We come away, or out, from what we have grown accustomed. The world feels familiar to our fallen nature, but it is not our true home. We are a people that knows we are here for a season, awaiting our eternal inheritance, the place prepared for us. Our citizenship is in heaven. And so here, we are reminded to no longer become entangled with anything unclean. We repent and come away, time and time again, as the Spirit leads us (Romans 8).
It is not merely a “come out from their midst” but also a coming “further up and further in!” (c.f. Lewis’ Last Battle)
In the epistle to the Galatians, Paul tells them “now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God…” This welcome, this entrance, is the beginning. He transfers us from the present darkness of this world into His marvelous Light, into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son. Into being known, and belonging. We are welcomed as those united to the Beloved Son. It is not on our own merit, it is not something we have attained or gained on our own. This welcome is of Love, by His choosing, a gift of grace.
No longer an enemy. It is particularly refreshing to set aside time occasionally to consider the truth of our former enmity. Remember how great His mercy has been! Remember how lavish His grace has been? How great was your former enmity–war, strife, opposition, active hostility. You were hostile to God, for you did not subject yourself to the Law of God, you were not even able to do so. (Romans 8:7) We may have all chosen ways to try to conform, but our partial outward attempts were not whole-person, pure, rooted in love. You were “formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless…” (Colossians 1:21-22; see also Col. 3). “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts [inordinate desires] and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another…” (Titus 3:3). “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts [inordinate desires] of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” (Ephesians 2:3)
Consider who God welcomed, how complete that welcome and acceptance is, and that those He has welcomed, He has purified and cleansed (Hebrews 9, Titus 3, John 15). He welcomes, and transforms–rather than welcoming those who attempt to transform themselves. Consider your calling (for He called you), that you were not wise, or good, or strong–but by His doing you are now in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:2, 26-31). He who has called you is impartial and faithful!
Welcomed by God does not mean welcomed by the world
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts [inordinate desires], drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 1 Peter 4:3–4
Let us look closely at a key word in this passage, dissipation. To dissipate, as a vapor disappearing; slowly wasting away by misuse; to gradually disappear and be lost as waste; disintegration. Had you ever thought of your former life–life outside of Christ–as dissipation? Giving in to the desires of our hearts (which are inherently wicked, Jeremiah 17:1-10) is dissipation. In Christ, we are given a new heart, a heart to know Him and love Him and love all that He loves; our desires are no longer directed away from goodness and loveliness and purity and harmony and The Majestic Glory (2 Peter 1:16-19).
The world, caught up in the excesses of dissipation, will malign those who are welcomed by God, who are being transformed into His image from one glory to another (2 Corinthians 3:18). They will twist Scripture, quote convenient portions, to sway your emotions and draw your minds away. Be often feasting in His Word, and far less often listening to sound byte size snippets.
Welcomed, gaining an entrance, into the only Way. Remember John Bunyan’s wicket gate? Pilgrim met travelers who feigned obedience, and who made their own way, but who did not enter through the gate at the very beginning of their journey. They never finished their journey. Think of the Wheat and Tares. In our local churches, we too will meet those who outwardly take part in our worship services, but inwardly are not partaking of Christ. They are not transformed by gazing upon His beauty, nor are they transformed by the renewing of their minds, but rather attempt ‘christianity’ on their own terms.
We are welcomed, and kept. All the promises are ours in Christ Jesus. This welcome can not be undone, He never requires a repeat.
Adopted
By His Spirit dwelling in each of us who are His, we cry out Abba, Father! We cry out in prayer, in praise, in thanksgiving–because He has adopted us as sons and daughters.
Usually sons, because heirs and access to all available resources, etc. Here, sons and daughters. In union with the Firstborn of all creation and Firstborn from the dead, we are coheirs! (see Colossians 1:13-20 and Romans 8:16-17)
We are created in the image of God, but we are not therefore created as sons and daughters. Because of our sin, we are separated. Dead in our sins. By His grace we are made new, new creations. This is hard to swallow for some who are so enamored with who they have fashioned themselves to be apart from Christ. But hearing His call to come forth from the dead, we who are in Christ delight to be fully alive, fully human, set free from what was wasting us away into the glorious freedom of His sons and daughters!
Consider this with me, and make time to slowly ruminate on this portion of Romans 8:
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.
Consider the “freedom of the glory of the children of God.” In Christ we have been set free from so much, and also for much. Have you ever dug through Scripture, appreciating the fulness of our freedom?
Therefore, having the promises of welcome and adoption, we are secure, and desirous of what is truly good, having hearts set free from the corruption that is in the world through disordered desires. Lusts, inordinate desires, desires that control and enslave us rather than serving God’s purposes for creation.
As sons and daughters, we can walk, or run, away from the pigsty of our former choosing. We are told in Galatians that as His adopted children we do in fact crucify the fleshly desires. In Christ, we can rightly picture ourselves in the parable of the prodigal son–the Father running to greet us who are returning with a heart desiring of pure communion with Him, and having been clothed in Christ’s righteousness, and ushered into a party unlike any we’ve planned for ourselves. He who has called us, and who has transferred us from the domain of darkness into His kingdom, dwells in us, walks among us, is our God, and is our Father! How marvelous are His ways!
Welcomed Into…
Look once again through verses 14-16, and see that we are welcomed into righteousness, light, harmony, commonality and communion, and being the temple of God; from the rest of Scripture, look this week as you read, and consider the fulness of His Kingdom, and the Way into which we are invited to walk, and “lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus laid hold” of you (see Philippians 3).
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash