The Joy of Glory

2 Timothy 1:1-2:2 (click here)
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God…

…what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 1:5, 8 and 2:2)

Reflection
Who shared the Gospel with you? A relative? A friend? A co-worker? A stranger?

The point is not really who it was, but that it was a “who.” In other words, somebody shared the Gospel with you. That’s how it works in this community called the Church. God works through the community to grow the community (Acts 2:42-47).

Young Timothy’s grandmother passed the faith to Timothy’s mother and it was passed on to him. Thus, his heart was prepared to hear the Gospel when Paul first shared it with him. In view of such a history of faithfulness, Paul calls Timothy to likewise not be ashamed of the Gospel, but to pass it on!

What he’s heard he is to speak so that others may hear and be equipped to speak.

The fact that you are a Christian means that you have heard the Gospel from someone. Therefore, in light of that faithfulness God calls you to likewise not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord! He calls you to speak the Gospel just as it was spoken to you.

Take what was entrusted to you and entrust it to others.

We can all likely name the person or persons who shared the Gospel with us, but can we name the people we are sharing the Gospel with now? I’m not just talking about evangelism with non-believers (though that is included), but also discipling younger believers so that they will be able to speak the faith to others.

Who are you discipling?

This is not about guilt… oh no! Guilt is not the motivating factor Paul uses with Timothy and it is not the motivating factor I want for us! Paul aims to motivate Timothy by telling him that God will provide all the power he needs to make disciples. If Timothy should remain silent, he will miss out on an incredible experience of the power of God that results in his own joy! Paul is motivating Timothy with joy… and I aim to do the same!

There is a joy in not just knowing Jesus, but making him known. Don’t miss out on the joy of sacrificing yourself, your desires, your reputation, your time, etc. to make Christ known.

I’m not trying to guilt you into this, but to joy you into it!

Don’t miss out on the joy of God working through the community to grow the community… the joy of us sacrificing ourselves for the next generation of Christians… the joy of being a cruciform community.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Colossians 3 (click here)
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:9-11)

Reflection
Have you ever been guilty of thinking that you are better than someone else? I think all of us have done that before… whether we would admit it or not. There is something in our sin-soaked hearts that immediately likes to size people up and tear them down to ensure that we outrank them.

The ancient world was no different.

In Colossae, people considered certain ethnic backgrounds superior to others… Jews boasted in their closeness to God through observing the law… others saw their freedom as proof that they were better than all who belonged to that powerless class known as “slaves.”

This was a culture in which you leveraged every possible advantage you could to get ahead… doesn’t really sound too unfamiliar does it?

Apparently, Christians in Colossae were having a tough time leaving this mindset behind and so Paul reminds them that this is simply not who they are anymore. The primarily thing that defines their identity is not race or social class, but Christ!

They’ve become part of a new community and they are being renewed, recreated into the image of Jesus! It’s not that all their differences disappear, but in Christ their differences are not advantages or disadvantages, but simply a multi-faceted display of the glory of God as he unites all sorts of people into one people… his people!

Christ is all, and in all!

Therefore, they are to no longer lie to one another, use one another, take advantage of one another in order to elevate themselves. No… now they look to Christ who did not even use his deity for his own advantage, but humbled himself to the point of death on a cross for God’s glory and the good of the Church.

That Christ is our all! That Christ is in us all! That Christ empowers us to be a cruciform community… a people who no longer try to use our differences as advantages, but as ways to serve each other. We humble ourselves for the glory of God and the good of the church… and in doing so, we are being formed into the very image of Christ… we are being a cruciform community.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Ephesians 2 (click here)
For [Christ] himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-16 and 19-22)

Reflection
The temple was a massive structure, dominating the Jerusalem skyline. You could literally see it form nearly anywhere in the city. The people lived in its shadow.

This was a constant reminder to all of many things: the presence of God, their call to the law, worship by sacrifice, sin causing separation, etc.  Yet, it not only reminded the people that they were divided from entering into the direct presence of the Lord… it also reminded them of divisions that existed between them and others.

You see, in the temple there were several courts where people could gather. The closest a non-priest could get was the court of the men… Jewish men that is. Outside of that was the court of the women… again… Jewish women. Then came the court of the Gentiles where all others could gather.

There was a division between Jews and Gentiles… a literal dividing wall. Much like there was a massive veil dividing the people from God’s presence in the Holy of Holies.

You are likely familiar with what happened to that veil. When Christ died, it ripped from top to bottom… symbolically showing that through his sacrificial death, Jesus atoned for our sins and opened the way for us to be reconciled with God. He killed the hostility that sin had caused and brought peace!

…but not just between us and God…

We tend to focus only on what Jesus’ death accomplished for our individual relationship with God, and we fail to see what he accomplished in our relationships with one another.

He “has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace…”

There is no longer Jew and Gentile separated by a dividing wall, but all who place faith in Christ are a part of a new humanity… united because of him!

It’s like Jesus’ death tore down the temple altogether to create a new one… not built out of stones with dividing walls, but built out of his people… uniting them together so that they, the church, are the very dwelling place of God!

“In [Christ] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

We are a community created by the cross! Do we live this way? Or… do we try to resurrect dividing walls of hostility?

If the church has been created by the cross then it is to live by the cross as a cruciform community.

Making Us One
*Lyrics by John-Mark Dorough, Joseph Wolnski, John Ball, Brad Brown, and Jeremy Moore

Father we have wandered
Fashioned empty idols that serve ourselves
Cast in our own image
Remind us who You are

Father we’ve forgotten
That You’ve called us together
To bear each other’s burdens
And worship You as one

Lord You tore down the walls
And You are making us one
Heal divisions between, give us unity
In Your bond of peace

At the cost of our desires
Teach us to be humble as You were
With gentleness and patience
To serve each other’s needs

Father be our anchor
In the storms that can divide us
Teach us how to listen
Build us up in love

Lord You tore down the walls
And You are making us one
Heal divisions between, give us unity
In Your bond of peace

One Word, one truth, one Spirit, one hope
One Church, one light, one body
Found in Christ

Lord You tore down the walls
And You are making us one
Heal divisions between, give us unity
In Your bond of peace

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.