(This message series is inspired and excerpted from Heaven is Now by Andrew Farley)
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. (Hebrews 10:19-23 NLT)
“Christian Lipstick?
Jesus had a way of truth telling with word pictures. He told the Pharisees they were like a filthy coffee cups that were only polished on the outside, or worse yet, tombs full of dead people with a coat of whitewash on the outside. Today we might say “that’s like puttin’ lipstick on a pig!”
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. [26] You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. [28] So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:25-28 ESV)
Christianity at its core is not about behavior modification. It’s not a behavior improvement program centered on a historical teacher who models goodness. No, real Christianity is about regaining what was lost in Eden–life . We can pretty ourselves up, polish ourselves, and engage in behavior modification. Still, we are spiritually dead. We can start reading the Bible, going to church, and acting loving toward those around us. Still, we are spiritually dead. We arrive on planet earth at age zero with a set of spiritual genetics. We arrive with Adam’s spiritually dead genes. Everyone is somewhere spiritually. When we are born, we arrive in a spiritual location–we are in Adam. So if God is going to fix our problem, he has to change our location. And that is precisely what he does:
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22 ESV)
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, [31] so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31 ESV)
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14 ESV)
As we are placed in Christ, we obtain not only a new future but also a new spiritual past. At one time we had Adam’s past. We died because he died. We were condemned because he was condemned. But when we become new creations in Jesus Christ, we get a new past – Jesus’s past. …We are no longer the sum total of our past. Instead, we receive a new spiritual past no longer marked by our sins but rather marked by a radical surgery that took place within us. We has Adam’s DNA extracted from us and replaced with Christ’s DNA. We inherit Christ’s spiritual characteristics. Yes, right here and right now, we are like Christ in our human spirits:” (loc. 813 of 2138)
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, [4] by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV)
[How do you explain what this transformation has done for you, without listing behaviors?]
“…Righteousness, in simple terms, means okayness. We are 100% okay with God because of our new birth, not because of what we do. As we get this issue of righteousness settled in our minds, we can stop chasing after okayness. We can rest. This is what it means to hear the Spirit bearing witness to our true identity. He convicts us of our righteousness so we no longer hunger and thirst after for more. We see that we already have it all. What’s done is done. We are okay, and we are okay forever. We have become the righteousness of God:” (loc. 833 of 2138)
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT)
Be honest, do you really live like you are 100% okay with God? Elaborate . . .
Once we are saved, we are in the Spirit all the time. Our location in the Spirit is permanent. However, there are still two ways we can walk: we can walk according to the flesh or according to the Spirit. In each moment we choose as an act of our will to walk one way or another. Are we being led by God’s Spirit, allowing him to bear witness to out true identity and desires? Or are we heeding the call of the flesh and trying to get our needs met through other strategies?
[Are there still areas of your life that you hold on tight to the flesh (mind, will, and emotions) like finances, or stress relief?]
However we choose to walk in a given moment, it’s important to know we are still in God’s Spirit. When we walk in the flesh we are simply not acting like who we are. Nor are we acting like who we are in. The source of the sinful behavior is not really us but an outside entity we allow to function as a parasite:” (loc. 864 of 2138)
Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. (Romans 6:12 NLT)
So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. (Romans 7:17-20 NLT)
But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. (Romans 7:23 NLT)
“…We Christians need a couple of tough questions answered: If I’m so much like Jesus now, why do I still struggle with temptation all the time? Aren’t I sort of half new and half old? …It is essential that we recognize that sin is an outside agent. It resides outside of our ‘inner man’ in the members of our body. It’s a parasite that can control our life – if we let it. If we let it, we end up acting on [its sinful desires] (Romans 6:12), not on our own desires.
…We were re-created in Christ Jesus to say no to sin and yes to who we really are. As we have our senses awakened to heaven’s grace, we hear the Spirit bearing witness: We are new. We are righteous. We are in Christ. And we are on the right team.” (loc. 876 of 2138)
Have you fought this battle that seems to war within you in the past? How will you fight the good fight differently now that you know the battle is not in you?
Heaven Speaks (What Jesus might say if He were sitting right here)
“Beware! There is a parasite called sin at work in your life. Even though you are a new creation, evil is right there with you. I died to sin’s power, once for all, and took you with me through that death. Therefore consider yourself dead to sin and alive to me. Don’t let sin reign in your body. Don’t obey its lusts. Instead, offer yourself to me and offer your body as my instrument. As you do, you will experience the true fulfillment I desire for you. Don’t be deceived by the allure of sin. Sin’s power seeks to dominate you, to master you. But you are designed to be controlled by my love. You’ll find nothing beneficial built into your life if you succumb to the call of sin. Instead, sin’s nasty network of thoughts will wreak havoc on your mind and emotions such that you’ll feel you’ve lost your way. Sin breeds confusion, and the earthly consequences are often beyond any expectation. I want clarity for you. I want you to see my truth and experience the benefits of all that I have invited you to. I have called you out of sin’s domain into a place of light where you can see that my face is toward you. I have handcrafted you to love those around you and think of their good. Since you live by my Spirit, keep in step with me. The fruit of my Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is your destiny, to express me and bear my fruit. Abandon the empty pursuits of sin and look deeply into my World to discover the ways I’ve planned for you. Seek my truth and crave it as it quenches your inborn thirst for conformity to me. I love you, I have made you like me, equipping you with everything you’ll need. Discover who you are and live free! – Jesus” (loc. 896 of 2138) (inspired by: Rom. 6:10-13, 21; 7:17-23; 8:29; Gen. 4:7; 2 Cor. 5:14; 1 Cor. 6:12; 10:23; John 14:14; 15:5-8; 17:17; 1 Peter 1:3-4; James 1:23-24.)
Awakening (a sample closing prayer)
“Thank you, Jesus, for making me new. You gave me a new heart and a new spirit, and you placed your Spirit within me. I am so grateful to belong to you and to be aligned with you. Thank you for making me family. Thank you for showing me how to rest in the righteousness you gave me. I choose to own it and rely on it so that I walk with you in unshakable confidence. I choose to believe that sinful thoughts are not of me but instead war against me. I am now obedient from the heart. Thank you for bearing witness to my radical new identity as a child of the living God, literally and actually born as offspring of your Spirit. I love you, Jesus.” (loc. 905 of 2138)
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