Jesus speaking of Himself said, "I can do nothing." That means that Jesus could not heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, or resist sin or walk in the holiness of God. What He did was rely upon the Father. He said it was the Father in Him who did the works. Jesus was rightly connected to the Father by fully relying on the Holy Spirit.
Now we have many things in our contemporary western Christian worldview that make it difficult for us to take serious the claims of Christ. One is our view of salvation. We are taught in western Christianity that salvation is a prayer to be prayed that moves your final destination from hell to heaven. However, Jesus proclaimed that He came to give a certain kind of life and that life was to be in abundance. This new life involved a new order, one ordered after or by the kingdom of the heavens. This life was abundant because it came from above.
Now Jesus intended for this life to be experienced now. We are living in eternity now therefore, the eternal life is for now. Now Jesus modeled this life for us while He was here. It was a life that was ultimately concerned with the Father and His kingdom. Jesus practiced a certain lifestyle that enabled Him to live relying on the divine assistance of the Holy Spirit. This included solitude, prayer, fasting, simplicity of life, celebrating, etc.
Now Paul argues in the book of Romans 5,6 that we who have given the rulership of our lives away to Christ, who have put our faith (confidence) in His rule over us have "died with Christ." He says we should "walk in the newness of life." He states that those who receive "grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign (rule) in life." (Rom 5:17). Now are tendency is to think of grace as a one time gift of get-out-of-jail-free. However, anyone who will take a in-depth look at grace will see immediately that is more than that. It is God in action. Grace is the empowering presence of God that enables you to do what God has called you to do and be what He has called you to be.
Therefore, let's read Romans 5:17 in my paraphrase: "those who yield to divine assistance will be given the free gift of being able to act righteously and this will result in a life of overcoming victory. Paul moves on to say therefore, (in light of the divine assistance made available) do not yield your members to acts of unrighteousness but of righteousness. This language is very clear we have a choice to make.
Those who have given rulership of their lives to Christ have Christ living in them through the Holy Spirit. Those in the grip of grace have a choice that people still ruling themselves do not have, the availability of divine assistance. It is now up the the person to choose not to give themselves to unrighteousness but to Christ and His Spirit in them. The option is not sin or don't sin it is rely on your own strength which will result in sin or rely on divine assistance given you through the Holy Spirit which results in righteousness and life!
Therefore the greatest of saints among us are not those who need less grace but those who consume the most grace, who live and rely on the power and presence of God as our model Jesus did. Now we are free from sin, however, we are not free to live righteously until we train and prepare ourselves to rely on the Holy Spirit
Now the question must be asked, is there a way of life that will assist us in relying on divine assistance? The answer is of course found in the life and practice of Jesus. We will discuss more in following blogs.
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