Letter for January 1987

Dear Friends,

The Bible verse I have chosen as a message for us all in 1987 is found in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1. It reads as follows, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.”

This verse tells us a wonderful thing that has happened to all who believe on Jesus as their Saviour, and then tells the response we should make in our daily living because this wonderful thing is true.

I would like, in this letter, to say something about these two points.

The wonderful thing that has happened to every true Christian is that they have been raised with Christ. This means we have a share or participate in Christ’s resurrection. The Bible speaks of us as being in Christ when he rose from the dead, and that being in Christ we have risen to a new lift ourselves. We have this resurrection life within us and have access spiritually to the same place as Christ is now, that is into heaven, and the presence of God. Because of this the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 that we have been raised with Christ and made to sit in heavenly places with him.

Because we have been raised with Christ, two tremendous things are true of us. We have a holy risen new life within us like Christ’s resurrection life, and we spiritually dwell and enjoy that heavenly realm which Christ lives in now. These two things are experimentally known in our lives. Firstly, the new holy life hates evil and causes us to hate it too, and this new life, which the Apostle Paul calls the spirit within us, causes us to fight against the sinful tendencies which still occupy our bodies. Secondly, because we dwell spiritually in the heavenly realm, we find we appreciate heavenly things, and we find a wonderful joy in worship, prayer, bible reading, Christian fellowship and the like, and in these things we have a taste of heavenly joy.

This new joy in Christ and fellowship with God is something we rejoice in and bless God for, but we do find that there is conflict because of it, as our sinful nature reacts against these new desires.

In the second part of our verse the Apostle Paul urges us to live in this heavenly realm as much as possible, so that our lives may show the fragrance and beauty of heaven.

Paul says, “set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God”. What he is urging us to do is respond all the time to the influences and desires of this resurrection life within us, arid enjoy them, so that the desires of our sinful flesh may have ever decreasing power over us.

What this means in our lives is, on the one hand, to use all the means God gives us to enjoy the blessings of this new life he has given us, and, on the other hand, to respond always to the good spiritual influences this new life produces in our lives. This means we will seek to worship God in church, and take advantage of the fellowship and teaching that goes on in the week; that we will spend time with the Lord in prayer and in Bible reading; that we will engage in spiritual conversation when we can, and other such spiritual activities. On the other hand we will seek to mortify, that is put to death, all the desires in the world and in our flesh which would cause us to do wrong or to neglect or deny the new life within us, and that we will respond willingly and joyfully to the spiritual desires that we have.

Thig must be our constant activity. Some of the time we shall be so rejoicing in the Lord that it comes easily; at other times, when temptation it strong, or things are difficult for us, we shall have a struggle. But we still keep on. The important things is to never forget that this resurrection life can never he lost. We have been raised and can never die or go back. Also it is important never to let the devil discourage us into believing our failings prevent us from coming to God. God says in the first letter of John - “If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the riqhteous, and he is the one who brings us back into favour with God again”. Why? because God says “If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

May 1987 be a year of progress for us all in knowing more and more of the blessing of being raised with Christ, as we set our hearts on things above.

Your servant for Christ’s sake,