Summary and Conclusion
If you have been following along and have answered the several questions I have posed in an attempt to gain a proper perspective on the Christian life then you know what I’m going to say in this summary. Or do you? When answered CORRECTLY, you will be lead to a proper understanding of your role or position in the Christian life. Here are the questions: 1. Who is God? 2. Why did He create you/me/us? 3. What are the top priorities for a Christian? 4. What role does God play in the “economy” of the universe? 5. If God is who the Bible says He is, what does that make Him? 6. If God is who the Bible says He is, what does that make us?
Now for the exciting part. I am going to reveal the correct answers to the questions you have been struggling with over the last several weeks. Or maybe you didn’t have to struggle very much. In any event I promised to answer these questions, so here goes.
EVERYBODY has, at one time or another, thought about the idea of starting over. If only I could start life over, I would sure do things differently. Well, if you have been born again, you do get to start over and it’s never too late to start doing what’s right. The problem I had at this point in my life was, what do I do now? I suspect that this may be a problem for many newly born. What helped me was to step back a little way to gain a longer view. Step back from the “trees” to look at the whole “forest”, as the old saying goes, to gain a larger perspective.
A larger perspective on the Christian life has to start with God. Who He is establishes one end of the spectrum. The Bible is very clear about who He is. The passages I suggested you read describe Him as creator, maker, establisher, designer, farmer, rancher, sustainer of the universe (and beyond, if you can imagine something beyond). Did you get any of these answers? I’m sure you did. After all, we are all reading the same book. But maybe you could cite some other passages that do a good job of describing who He is. If so, way to go. PTL. We all are on the creation list, of course. But how did we get there? I don’t know about you but I am a really cooooool guy, extremely intelligent, very attractive, etc. I’m sure you could offer a similar description for yourself. No wonder He created us. (OK; enough of that nonsense.) When I read these passages, I was convicted. He created me, you, us, for His pleasure, for His glory. From time to time I am given to morbid introspection and when I realized why He created me, I immediately began to reflect on how I am (or am NOT) giving Him pleasure and how I am glorifying Him (making Him look good). For me that was a convicting reflection.
More conviction! I don’t know how much more of this I can stand! What are top the priorities for us Christians now that we have entered into this second (new) life? At the top of the list we find: LOVE GOD (and of course all that goes with it – put Him first, obey Him, follow Him, trust Him, fear Him, etc.). The second priority is like the first. Love your neighbor (and don’t try to get me into a discussion about who my neighbor is because this is really convicting to me). Then comes a really difficult one: Love one another (all you other Christians). Maybe you have heard the old saying “To live above with saints we love, of won’t that be glory. To live below with saints we know, now that’s a different story.”
And last but certainly not least, Luke 14:33. Surely this can’t be true, or can it?
Luke 14:33 “So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. NAS
Now we are really “cookin with gas” (an old peoples’ expression from many years ago). God has a three pronged role in the “economy” of the universe (world economy). Did you get this one right? First of all, He is the owner of it all (including you, me, us). Second, which logically (but also is Biblically well documented) follows from the first, He is in control; He is sovereign. Finally, and the one I particularly appreciate, He equips us; gives us the ability to earn a living (and become wealthy, of course).
So if God is all this stuff (if He is creator, if He created us, if He chose us, if He bought us, if He is owner, if He is in control, if He is sovereign), what does that make Him? What word or words did you use to answer this question? I wish I had a bigger vocabulary. Two words came immediately to my mind: LORD and MASTER.
Now if God is LORD AND MASTER, what does that make us? Worms (the most famous of which all you parents and kids know is “Lowly” worm)? The Bible doesn’t use this term, of course, to describe who we are. The Bible uses three (other) different terms somewhat interchangeably. These are very important words/terms because they suggest what our role is in the world economy. The Bible refers to us as STEWARDS, SERVANTS, SLAVES. Were you ready for that perspective? I sure wasn’t the first time I went through this exercise. We are at the other end of the spectrum.
But now that we have arrived at this conclusion, what shall we do with it? Just chalk it up to an interesting little bit of information? No way! During the next several weeks I want us to explore who these people are, what they are like, what their responsibilities (I know, I hate that word too) are. Will you join me? Come on! It will be fun and you will discover how really important you are to God.