WE completed Chapter 48 – The Self-Life and Reckoning in our study of The Complete Green Letters – Part 4 – The Realization of Spiritual Growth. To recap, we have previously reviewed Principles of Reckoning (again, Chapter 40); the Three Steps in Reckoning: 1) Know and Reckon, 2) Abide and Rest, and 3) Depend and Walk; Chapter 42 – Knowledge of Reckoning; Chapter 43 – Spirit-applied Reckoning; and Chapter 44 – Service and Reckoning. Chapter 45 and the following two chapters took us through the topic in Romans 6, 7, and 8 Reckoning. Having finished Chapter 48, it ended with:
But when we stand firm in the Lord Jesus, armed with a mind to suffer rather than sin, then it is we are yielded and willing to be “alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11). We realize that the practical crucifixion of the cross is freeing us from the life hated by both God and us, and all that matters is that the life of the Lord Jesus may be seen in and through us. “So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:12). “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Pet. 4:19).
THERE is an important principle here of life out of death, the blessings of suffering. Often I have repeated the theme gleaned here and from the pages of Scripture, “The Way Up Is Down.” We do not like to think in these terms, we want to enjoy the easy way, but the Me Monster is not easily dealt with, we need a “self slayer” if Christ is to reign and rule supreme; we cannot serve two masters! (Matt. 6:24) There may appear an oxymoron here, but for the Christian, there is a precious “kingdom coin” with a two-sided impress. On one side is marked “Joyfully” and the other “Suffering.” It can be held forth as Joyfully Suffering or Suffering Joyfully, (James 1:2 – “count it all joy!”).
“Life has its adversities. It must needs have them. Adversity, pain, sorrow, and disappointment — are the lathe upon which God shapes us. They are the grinding-wheel which grinds and smooths us. They are the polishing-wheel which makes us shine……. the song of true happiness often arises from the soul which undergoes many adversities.”
Singing in Adversity – Charles Naylor, 1930.
SIMPLY put, suffering reveals the true self, the Me Monster; it empties us of self that we might be filled anew with Him, our all in all! Chapter 49 is going to take us through Gal. 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.
AGAIN, this is the banner that Paul raised above the Christian’s life that defines and defeats the Me Monster, establishing our high calling in Christ (Phil 3: 14), “Not I, but Christ!
I’m going to pause this summary review here, and take up our first reading into Chapter 49 for next time. For now, consider these four verses I always close my missives with:
“Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” – Neh. 8:10b
“For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: ‘in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength’” – Is. 30:15a
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” – James 1:2
“There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the LORD” – Prov. 21:30
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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“God’s aim is not to make things easy for us — but to make something of us.” J.R. Miller
