What we needed in our jungle community (see first post, “The Beginning”) was a deeper understanding of who Christ is and and live our community life within the reality of Christ. We all, so needed a better understanding of what being “In Christ” means and to enter into living life and serving in ministry with a greater emphasis and focus on the Person of the Lord Jesus Himself. I’m not inferring that we didn’t understand Christ’s substitutionary work for us at calvary. What I am saying is that we all could have been blessed and helped by a better understanding of Christ’s representative death and resurrection for us at calvary. What indeed does Christ’s representative death (to be “In Christ”) mean for Christ’s own? The answer is found in the Trinity, God eternally existing in Three Persons. The Father loves the Son and has and is and will accomplish all His purpose, works and will, through and by and for the Son.
God’s reality concerning us is that He relates to us entirely through our relationship with His Son. From previous posts we’ve seen very clearly what God thinks of His Son, what His Son means to Him and how much He loves His son. Other than the fact that we aren’t divine as Jesus is, God relates to us like He relates to His beloved Son. This is HUGE. And this is why Romans 8:29, where God is telling us His purpose that we be “conformed to the image of His Son”, means so much more than serving, being humble, and seeking God’s will rather than our own will. Yes, God’s purpose for us is that we become like Christ in those ways, but God is telling us that the foundation of our service is HIS LOVE FOR US in His Son, just like Jesus foundation for His obedience was the Father’s love for Him.
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