REPOSITIONED IN GOD
COLOSSIANS 1:12-14
Two weeks ago using this passage we began a series of messages entitled
“From Captive to Captivated”.
We said that within these three verses are 4 things that
God through Jesus did for us. And we said that if we could really get an indebt
understanding of these four things, then we would find ourselves
captivated with God. In the first message we said the first of
those 4 things is that he provided an inheritance for us.
We talked about the fact that our inheritance is shared
among all those who have surrendered themselves to the Father
and are committed to walking (or living) in the light.
We talk about what is included in our inheritance.
What was particularly important in that message was that
God did not just provide us with an inheritance; He also made
us fit to receive the inheritance. Last week using part a of verse 13 we said that
the second thing that God, through Jesus did for us is that He
delivered us from the power of darkness.
There we saw that man in his natural unregenerated state
is spiritually trapped in a realm of darkness under the power
and rule of the enemy of God. Unsaved man is being held captive in the realm
of darkness, chained there by his sinful nature to eternal death. But last week we say Jesus, the perfect sacrifice
for the sins of mankind, take that cross of shame, knock down
the door to the realm of darkness and free mankind from the penalty
of death. He then offers to anyone who will follow him,
freedom from darkness and its power of us.
Those who choose to follow are rescued from darkness.
But Jesus did not release us from bondage
only to have us wander around aimlessly or spiritually homeless. Verse 13 part B says that we have been translated
into the Kingdom
of Christ. At our conversion, the instant that the Spirit
of God came to dwell in our hearts, we were snatched away from
the kingdom of darkness and moved into the kingdom of God’s
beloved son. The title
of today’s message is “Repositioned by God”.
The word Paul uses for translated
is methistemi which generally means to bring over. However, in the context in which it is here
used it has special relevance.
In the ancient world, when one empire won victory over
another it was the custom to take the population of the defeated
country and transfer it back to the victorious country.
Many times the victorious leader would leave the common
man and the poor and take only those who had power and authority,
the wealthy, the educated and those with special trades.
They would take those considered beautiful virgins and
leave the common girls, and widows. They would take the strong and healthy men and
leave, many times kill the weak and elderly men. If Jesus had used mans standard then we would
have all been left. In
ancient times the victor took away a defeated people but Jesus
brought back winners with him.
For the Romans 8:37 describes us as more than conquerors.
In ancient times the defeated ones became slaves in the
new kingdom, and were forced to operate under different laws and
with different religious practices. We too must operate under different laws and
different spiritual practices however, we do so willingly. The translation, this great event occurs at
the regeneration of the believer; at the point where we get saved. It is then that we repositioned from the kingdom of
darkness to the kingdom of light; from the realm of sin, ignorance,
and misery, to the kingdom of holiness, knowledge, and happiness.
No other change in a man's life is as important as this.
And when we fully understand our new position we may find
it difficult to find words to express the gratitude we feel.
There are two important points that
I want to address as it relates to being translated by God and
repositioned in the Kingdom
of Christ.
The first is that we have been given a position of honor
and the second is that we have been given a position of power
and authority.
II CORINTHIANS 6:14-18
We have been
snatched from the kingdom of darkness and are here told to not
go back and join ourselves with that kingdom through binding relationships
with unbelievers. Why are we not to attach ourselves in binding
relationships with unbelievers?
Well because they are in a binding relationship with the
ruler of the kingdom of darkness where in we who are saved have
been brought into the kingdom of light.
We have been given entry into the family of God.
God has become our father and not just in name only.
He wants to serve in the role of Father. A father is the
protector, counselor, and guide of his children.
He instructs them, provides for them, and counsels them
in time of perplexity. God says here that he will be a father for us. Thus, he will be to his people their Protector,
Counselor, Guide, and Friend. He will acknowledge us as his children.
No higher honor can be conferred on mortals than to be in the
family of God,
and to be permitted to call the Most High our Father.
And with God, it matters not who we are or what
we do or do not have. All
that matters is that we have Jesus. The most humble in rank, the
most poor and ignorant of this earth, the most despised among
men, may become children of God, and have the Maker of the heavens
and the earth as their Father and their eternal Friend. There
is no other honor in the world that can compare with being in
the family of God.
ROMANS 8:9, 14-16
We often say that we have been adopted in to the family of God,
but in truth we do not enter the family of God by adoption but
rather by regeneration; by being born again.
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 “Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Think of it like there are only two families in the universe
one that is spiritually alive and therefore connected to God and
one that is spiritually dead and therefore disconnected to God.
Here Romans 8:9 explains that those who do not have the
Spirit of God dwelling in them do not belong to Him and are therefore
not in his family. In order to move from the family that is disconnected
to God you must first be brought back to spiritual life. Thus you must be reborn again of the Spirit
which then births you back into the family of those who are live
in spirit and thus associated with God.
Understanding how we enter the family of God is important
because it will help us to understand the position of honor that
adoption affords us.
Adoption was an often occurrence among the ancient Hebrews,
Greeks, and Romans. By adoption a person was taken out of one family
and incorporated with in another. Persons of property, who had
no children of their own, adopted those of another family. The
child thus adopted ceased to belong to his own family, and was
in every respect bound to the person who had adopted him, as if
he were his own child; and at the death of the adopting father
the adopted son possessed his estate. If a person after he had
adopted a child happened to have children of his own, then the
estate was equally divided between the adopted and blood born
sons.
GALATIANS 4:1-7
The word used for adoption in Romans
8:15 means “to place as an adult son.
This scripture here in Galatians gives us an understanding
of the difference in being considered a child or a son. In the Roman world, the children of wealthy
people were cared for by slaves. No matter who his father was,
the child was still a child, under the supervision of a servant.
In fact, the child himself was not much different from the servant
who guarded him. The servant was commanded by the master of the
house, and the child was commanded by the servant. This was the
case for both natural born and adopted children. The child did not enjoy the benefits of being
an heir until he came of age.
In fact there was a ceremony wherein the male child moved
from being considered a child of Joe to a son of Joe. In
this ceremony the father adopted the child as his son.
Once he became a
son he then was entitled to all rights and privileges of being
the heir of Joe.
How does that relate to the believer?
We are the children of God by faith in Christ, born into
God's family. But every child of God is automatically placed into
the family as a son, and as a son he has all the legal
rights and privileges of a son. When a sinner trusts Christ and
is saved, as far as his condition is concerned, he is a
"spiritual babe" who needs to grow.
However, as far as his position is concerned, he
is an adult son who can draw on the Father's wealth and who can
exercise all the wonderful privileges of sonship.
We enter God's family by regeneration, but we enjoy
God's family by adoption. The Christian does not have to wait
to begin enjoying the spiritual riches he has in Christ. "If
a son, then an heir of God through Christ"
Notice that both
here in Galatians 4:6, and in Romans 8:15 when we talk about being
sons of God you find the term Abba, Father.
Abba was a word used to display
deep affection, respect, parental tenderness and complete submission
to the Father's will. Even
though slaves were considered to be a part of the family, they
were not permitted to use the term Abba, father, or Imma,
mother, in addressing their masters. By using Abba Father, Paul is trying to drive
home the point that we have not just been bought back into relationship
with God, but we have also be awarded the position as son or daughter. Though by condition we may be babes in Christ
by position we are sons and daughters, heirs with all rights and
privileges.
The use of Abba
is to show that we understand the position in which we stood. We are adopted and we know this by the Spirit
of God which was given to us at our adoption. The Father who adopted
us can not be seen by mortal eye; and the transaction being purely
of a spiritual nature, and transacted in heaven, can be known
only by God's supernatural testimony of it upon earth. Yet understanding
our position is so important for every Christian that God in his
mercy did not to leave it to conjecture, assumption, or inductive
reasoning; but attests to it by giving us his own Spirit. In the
kingdom
of Christ we sit in the position of honor
as sons of the most high God.
EPHESIANS 2:6
When we are in
Christ Jesus, God considers us to be already seated in heavenly
places. In the Kingdom of God
we have been positioned in the place of power and authority. Ephesians 1:20 says that Jesus is seated at
the right hand of God in heavenly places.
God sees us as seated in these same heavenly places. In the spirit world we are seated with Christ. The right hand is the place of authority.
Why do we need power and authority?
Because as sons of God we must take over and run the family
business until our elder brother returns.
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
(ambassadors)
2 Peter 1:3 (all things
pertaining to life and godliness) God has endowed us
everything that we need to enable us to bring men to life and
godliness.
