created

 This week we begin worship with:

Colossians 1:15-16

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all

things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether

thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through

him and for him.

Both invisible and visible, both creator and creation, both God and man, is our Lord Jesus Christ.

And what was created by him is not limited to what can be touched.  Each "new" area of math exists before the mathematician discovers it.  Each "new" law of physics is not written by the physicist, they too are simply discovered.  

And what is created by Him, is not limited to the past, for He is not limited by time.

• In 1961, R. E. Simon sold his share of Carnegie Hall and bought ten and a half square miles of land (6,750 acres) in then rural Virginia.  He then designed and developed a fully planned community, and used his own initials to name it Reston.
• In 1959, Walt Disney set his sights on Florida, and accumulated 27,433 acres of land and developed not only a theme park, but also the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT).  All to be named "Walt Disney World".

Our verse today tells us that neither of these visionaries created anything.  No area of thought or action is outside the creative act of our Lord and sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ.

attain

 This week we celebrate Assension Sunday and begin worship with:

Ephesians 4:11–13

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

We often confuse "faith" (pistis) and "knowledge" (epignōsis).  Knowledge is what we know about something.  Faith is what we trust about something.  

It has been said that faith starts where knowledge ends, but that divides the two. Instead, I would offer that faith is knowledge acted upon.  One may be taught that ropes used by rock climbers can lift a car, it is another thing to rappel down a sheer cliff!

So then, faith and knowledge represent two parts of the job of any leader.  They should teach their witnessed and tested knowledge to those that have yet to experience it.  But then they must also encourage them to act upon it.

For to achieve "mature manhood" (teleios anēr) one must leave the bench at the altar-call (Harry Krien encouraged me), take one's place in the family of God (George Coonrod encouraged me) and begin a family of your own (Norm Ducharme encouraged me).

I have taught rappelling, and have seen many a boy start with timid steps and grimaced faces as they go over the edge, but finish their decent bounding down the cliff with broad smiles.  I would have failed as a teacher had I not encouraged them over the edge.

Paul wrote the entire book of Romans to get us over the edge.  That is to sacrifice ourselves.  Take an opportunity to read three of the last chapters of the book (Romans 12-15) and go find a cliff.

our

What leads up to our verse is a very candid section that explains there is nothing special about us that we should be chosen:

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong . . . so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

With that in mind, our verse this week reads:

1 Corinthians 1:30

And because of him [God] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from

God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

The phrase "became to us" in Greek is two words "made" (ginomai) "our" (hēmin).  Yes, that second word is the possessive pronoun "our".

What God did was satisfy all the reasons that would have disqualified us, by giving us in the person of Jesus Christ all the things necessary.  The NIV makes this very clear.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV)

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.

authority

 This week we begin worship with:

John 10:18

No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have

authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.

This was a dividing word.  The very next verse reads:

John 10:19
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.

Yes, there was already division over the resurrection.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees took every opportunity to argue over it.  But that was not the really tough word.  

The tough word was "authority" (exousia).  A rabbi taught.  A priest had jurisdiction to assign the required atonement.  The king had the authority to administer the death penalty.  But in this verse, Jesus declared his authority over life itself.

This appeared madness to some that listened.  But others saw the evidence of the miracles.

John 10:21
Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

So, in the very next chapter, Jesus proved it by using His quickening word to raise Lazarus (John 11).

Praise be to God that we too will hear that voice!