SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/7/2017 11:29 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Reminder”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
3:1a
Message of the verse: “If then you have been raised up with Christ”
Paul is not asking a question here as the “if” should be
translated as “since” making this a statement or a reminder that they had been
raised up with Christ at the point when they became believers. There is no doubt that this happened to
them. John MacArthur writes that the
verb actually means ‘to be
co-resurrected,’ so there is no doubt that this happened to them and of
course this is a very important statement, not only for the Colossians but for
all true believers in Jesus Christ as we have been co-resurrected with Him.
Let us take a look at Galatians 2:20 another very
important verse: “"I have been
crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
So as we look at this verse we know that we have entered into Christ’s
death and also His resurrection as God has seen all true believers do this when
Christ died and then was resurrected from the dead. Baptism is a picture of this truth, both
spiritual and physical water baptism, as the water baptism pictures this
spiritual baptism which places us into the body of Christ as we become a part
of the catholic church, catholic meaning all believers. Once a person has been born-again and become
a part of the entire church family then they are to then be baptized in order
to become a part of the local church. Let
us look at Romans 6:3-4 which teaches the same thing as Galatians 2:20 “3 Or do
you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as
Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness
of life.” Now as mentioned
earlier this baptism is not water baptism but spiritual baptism.
John MacArthur writes about what it means to have eternal
life because of what Christ has done for us:
“By saving faith they [believers] have entered into a new
dimension. They possess divine and
eternal life, which is not merely endless existence, but a heavenly quality of
life brought to them by the indwelling Lord.
They are thus alive in Christ to the realities of the divine realm.
“Consequently, Christians have an obligation to live
consistently with those realities. Paul
delineates the specifics of that obligation in Romans 6:11-19,” and with that
quote we will end the Spiritual Diary.
“11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”
4/7/2017 11:49 PM
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