Archives for March 2013

One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. One of the questions he asks is this, “If God had a face, what kind of face would He make at you right now?”

Would it be unemotional?  Stern?  Sad?  Frustrated?  Wondering?  Disappointed?  Impatient?  Based on our last two discussions about reconciliation and being bound back together with our best friend – there is only one answer.  He sees you and has a grin from ear to ear!  He is ecstatic about you.

If God had something to say to you today–what might you imagine that to be?  “You need to work a little harder?”  “When are you going to get with it?”  “We need to have a talk?”  Will you hear some nagging feedback?  I don’t think so. God does have something to say to you and me today, and this is what I hear; “Do you know what a joy and delight it is for me to live in you?  Do you know I have loved you from before you were created? I have always loved you and always will.  No matter what. Its a done deal.  Forever.”

Galatians 5:1 tells us that we have been set free from some things so we can be free to live in some things.  And so the joy of my Christian life is not just in the past, just in being set free from guilt, condemnation, punishment, the fear of God, etc.  I am to find joy in the wild current reality of walking with God.

In our last blog we began looking at Romans 5:1 and one of the things that we have been set free for is to “have peace with God.”  We saw how the word “peace” means to bind back together that which was broken.  It means the restoration of a broken relationship.  I used the illustration of our standing face to face with God our Father, his arms wrapped tightly around me, and Jesus walking in circles around us, binding us tight with loop after loop of a long rope.  Then he ties an unbreakable knot in the rope.  Colossians 1:20 tells us he has made peace (bound us together) by the blood of his cross.  That rope that holds us tight is his blood.

Now, a quick look at who I am bound to.  John Stott writes, “To reconcile means to…renew a friendship.”  And so who am I bound back together with?  My friend.  And God is now bound back together with his friend–me.

Do I ever hear God the Father calling me, as a believer, his friend in the New Testament?  Well, yes and no.  The answer is no if I look for God the Father directly calling me or anyone his friend.

But the answer is absolutely YES!  Jesus tells us we are his friends (John 15:14) and we are promised nothing in all creation will separate us from this loving friendship (Romans 8:37-39).  But why is Jesus so committed to us as friends?  Because Jesus only does what he sees the Father doing and he only says what he hears the Father saying.  Jesus calls us friends because that is what he hears the Father calling us.  He treats us as loving friends because that is how he sees the Father treating us.

I have been set free to be my Father’s friend…I am not his enemy.  And he is not mine.  Think about this…it is not only absurdly good news, it is an absurd present reality…God and me…walking in a mutual friendship.  May I be as crazy about him as he is about me.

Like gramma used to say, “You can only serve what’s cooking in the kitchen,” and so here’s what has been cooking in my kitchen.

The Gospel is the good news of freedom…freedom from that which holds us in slavery so that we can be set free for something.  It is always freedom for something.  “For freedom Christ has set us free…”  (Galatians 5:1).  We are never set free just to live in a neutral zone.  We are set free so we can experience a life that is filled with unfathomable goodness and love.

After laying out for us the wonder of justification by grace, Paul starts Romans 5:1 with a huge “therefore.”  “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Peace…not fear, not wondering, apprehension, timidity, no rebuilding of a relationship because of past wrongs…but peace.  God, through Paul, says the number one thing that we are set free for is peace with him.

The word for “peace” in the Greek comes from a verb which means “to bind together that which has been separated”  We have been bound to God.  Picture this, you are standing face to face with God, so close that he has his arms wrapped around you, holding you tightly.  And then you see someone making circles around you with a rope…always pulling it tight…snugging you tightly together.  Loop after loop.  Then finally they put a knot in the rope.  There is no way you can break apart or get loose.  It is impossible.  You can’t even begin to untie the knot.  (Bryan Chapell wrote that, “If God knew we were going to untie the knot of salvation his love would require that he deny us the opportunity.”)

That someone with the rope is Jesus.  Colossians 1:20 tells us that he bound us to the Father with the blood of the cross, “making peace by the blood of his cross.”

Our having “peace” is not a reference to us feeling peaceful, quiet, serene or contented.  To be at peace with God is to be in a state of reconciliation, to be bound back together.  That is us today.  Forever.  Never to be changed.

NEXT BLOG:  We are bound back together with a friend!!!