The Believer's Club

October 12, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Well, I trust that you have taken some time to consider my last perspective, and now, as a full-fledged member of the “I Can’t Live the Christian Life Club,” are ready to explore the benefits of membership.
The truth is I have never liked negative titles, so before I get involved with the ben-fits, I want to give you the “official” name of our club, a much more positive identification—“The Believer’s Club.” Of course, this begs a significant question: What is it that we believe? Please allow me to give you a bird’s eye view.
1. Each of us believes (is fully convinced) that we were born in Adam—dead to God, alive to sin, with no inclination for God whatsoever, and helplessly and hopelessly destined for Hell—justly so (see Romans 3).
2. Each of us believes that God reconciled us unto Himself while we were yet sinners (see Romans 5:10).
3. Each of us believes that we were redeemed from this Adamic, sinful family solely by the grace of God, by His choosing to do for us, what we could never do for ourselves, and could, certainly, have never deserved (see Ephesians 2:1-9).
4. Each of us believes that our redemption was accomplished through the vicarious death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, without any assistance from us whatsoever (see Romans 6).
5. Each of us believes that, having been purchased off the slave block (redeemed), we were justified, sanctified, and glorified by and through the precious, shed blood of Jesus—a perfect and complete work (see Romans 8:28-30).

6. Each of us believes that God has forgiven us forever of all of our sins—past, present, and future (see Ephesians 13-14).
7. Each of us believes that the person we were in Adam, actually died in Jesus, when He died on the cross [“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live . . .” (Galatians 2:20a NASB)].
8. Each of us also believes that that person, who was crucified in Jesus on the cross, was also buried in Him [“Therefore we have been buried with Him, . . .” (Romans 4a NASB)] and, therefore, no longer exists.
9. Each of us also believes that the life we now live is not our own, but the life of Christ being lived in and through us [“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; . . .” (Galatians 2:20 NASB)].
10. Each of us believes that we are, therefore, new creations in Christ Jesus—old things have, indeed, passed away and new things have come (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).
11. Each of us believes that it is not our task to live the Christian live, but to rest in His finished work—the work He accomplished in our behalf.
Now that you have a bird’s-eye view of what we believe, let me move on to the benefits of membership, which can be summed up with this single statement: The pressure to perform is off!
Enough for today! I will continue on the morrow—