davidbowerkingwood

As a Christian, Your Primary Responsibility is to Serve as God’s Representative in All Situations!

When a Christian is born-again, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, everything changes forever! We are born into a new family and given a new father, and our former sin nature was crucified with Christ on the cross.

The profound importance of the changes we experience, when we are born-again, are of a spiritual nature and cannot be seen with our mortal senses. These spiritual changes will outlast our mortal bodies by an infinite amount of time, and are the determining factors in our coming eternal existence!

The following verses help us understand, to a limited degree, the changes that have taken place. In Galatians 2:20 it is revealed:

“²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

and then in Ephesians 2:1-10 it is written:

“2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, ³ among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

A Staggering New Reality!

The implications of those eleven verses is truly mind-blowing and reveal a staggering new reality in which all born-again Christians now exist; we are a new, totally unique, form of life! Recently, I published a three-part series on the subject of “What is Salvation?”

In this series, I attempted to show how extensive the changes are to individuals who receive Jesus Christ as Savior and are born-again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.

In light of those amazing changes, what is expected of us as members of our new family? The Bible makes sure there is no question about that; in Mathew 28:18-20, the Lord Jesus Christ clearly specifies his commands to the new Christian community:

“¹⁸ And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”

God’s Representatives

Mankind was intended to serve as God’s representative to his creation and to have dominion over the earth; but all that was lost, when Adam disobeyed a direct command from God and died spiritually there in the Garden of Eden along with all his descendants who would be born of an earthly father; the earth became the dominion of Satan and a spiritual battlefield in the spiritual war between God and Satan.

God’s plan for the redemption of his earthly creation was initiated at the First Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ; at that time, God inaugurated a brand new creation, the Christian, mankind indwelt by God, the Holy Spirit.

This new creation will continue to come into existence until the end of this age when all born-again believers will be called home to heaven. I have written more on this in an essay, “What Does Being a Christian Really Mean?

During this Age of the Church, Christians are intended to serve as God’s representatives to his creation. Christ is living his life in each individual Christian man or woman, in order to do the “good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

As God’s representatives on earth, we are charged by God with the responsibility to love and care for his creation. Our mission on earth is a continuation of the work of Jesus Christ, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

We have been given the opportunity to serve as messengers of God’s grace to all who will receive Jesus Christ as Savior. In addition, we can serve as God’s representative to all the big and little creatures which have been placed in our care.

In some instances, we may be the closest thing to God they will ever see; let them see their creator’s love reflected in you!

5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Ephesians 5:1-2