Articles
Once, But Not Now
The realm of politics sure is strange. That is one of the few places where one is criticized and mocked for changing his or her mind, or for changing one's position on an issue — even if the change was for good. Somehow, politics can make maturity and growth sound like a bad thing! I know it's all about political posturing and trying to make one's self look superior to another, but it is utterly ridiculous and unreasonable to complain about someone not being the same person they were 40 or 30 or even 10 years ago.
I know quite a few people that still think I'm the same goofy joker I was back in junior and senior high school, and quite a few laughed out loud at a reunion when I told them what I was doing nowadays. I've even had a couple of preachers say publicly that they couldn't believe I actually did anything with myself, based on what they knew of me when I was a bit younger. [I'm still wondering what they must have thought of me back then, and why.] Thankfully, I have matured somewhat [I still have a way to go] and thankfully I have gotten a bit wiser [I still have a long way to go on that, too], and I can say, “by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10).
But the fact is, we all change, and should change, if we are now Christians. We are not the individuals we were before we obeyed the gospel and began our walk with the Lord. We should not be the same person, we should not have the same focus, and we should not even have the same desires. Consider just a few of the necessary changes, as noted by the following Bible passages.
Once Dead In Sins, But Now Made Alive. Paul reminded the brethren of Ephesus that they were once “dead in trespasses and sins” but God had “made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:1). This was true of the early disciples [including Paul] and it included every man and woman who then lived; it was also true of all men and women who lived before them and all who lived afterwards. It is true of all because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That means you and me, too.
If being “dead in trespasses and sins” was their condition, what changed that they could be then “made us alive together with Christ”? The simple answer is that they had “by grace…been saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8). Their faith in God and Christ moved them to obey the will of Jesus Christ and, as all must do, they had to be “buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3, 4). It is essential that we are “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses” (Col. 2:12, 13). Let us note well that it is in the act of baptism, when we have “faith in the working of God,” that God will make us alive — not at the point of simply believing. Belief without action demonstrates a lack of trust in God's work!
The point is, all who are now Christians have been made spiritually alive by the power of God that worked in us when we trusted that God would do that work in us when we obeyed His command to be baptized for the remission of our sins. That's what true faith is and that is what true faith does!
Once Disobedient to God, Now We Have Obtained Mercy. The apostle Paul wrote to the Gentile disciples in Rome and reminded them, “you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy” (Rom. 11:30). In the immediate context, Paul was speaking of how the Gentiles had salvation offered to them through the preaching of the gospel message because the Jews had, in large part, rejected the Lord and were disobedient to that call to salvation, and once they had made it clear they would not, as a people, accept Christ as their Savior, the message was purposefully then sent out to the Gentiles that they might hear it and obtain God's mercy. That is the story that unfolds throughout the book of Acts, where we see the gospel first preached in Jerusalem (Acts 2), then in Samaria (Acts 8), and then out to the Gentiles (Acts 10) and “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). But this was God's plan!
The first time the gospel was sent specifically to the Gentiles was when Peter was directed to go to the house of Cornelius (Acts 10). It was there the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ was preached, with Peter telling Cornelius and his household, “that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). When Peter understood [by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on them] that God had ordained this, he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord (Acts 10:44-48).
After Peter and his friends returned to Jerusalem, some of the Jewish brethren “contended with him” and complained that he “went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them” (Acts 11:1, 2). When Peter later recounted the story of how he had gone down to Cæsarea and taught them and how the Spirit had been poured out on them, the others Glorified God and concluded, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life” (Acts 11:18); they understood the Gentiles had indeed obtained God's mercy!
Once Alienated From God, Now We Have Been Reconciled To Him. Paul reminded the brethren of Colossæ that before they had obeyed, they were “alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (Col. 1:21, 22). Previously, they were following the desires of the flesh and had their minds set on “wicked works” [the fleshly things] and, thus, were at “enmity against God” (Rom. 8:8). It was only because God loved them [and us] and sent His Son to die for us (Rom. 5:8) that, in spite of the fact “we were enemies,” He made it possible that “we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10).
This was not simply a unilateral act of saving us, with nothing for us to do, however; as we have seen already, those who hear of this plan for forgiveness and salvation — what we know as the gospel — must believe it and obey it, and in that act of obedience, God makes us spiritually alive by washing away our sins and making it now possible to be reconciled to Him. Once the sin separated us, but now with that sin taken away by His powerful work, we can be reconciled! We could not do this on our own, for we were helpless (Rom. 5:6), so He sent His Son that it might be made possible.
For this, we should be eternally grateful; in all actuality, we should be thankful every day for His mercy! It was His mercy — His act of love shown to us — that made it possible for us who were then considered His enemies to now be called His children! I must say, as John did, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).
As the song says: I once was lost, but now I'm found; was blind, but now I see. God's grace is, indeed, amazing. —— Steven Harper
