| From
the Church on the Hill
by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@cottonwoodcommunitychurch.org So, the person who has God as their sole object of worship and is working to bring their life and sphere of influence under the Lordship of Jesus should expect to see the age-old promises of the covenant manifest in their life. For instance, Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath (Deuteronomy 8:18, NLT). In the New King James version it says, it is God who "gives you the power to get wealth." Now, this is not an article about the health and wealth gospel. Instead, it’s about the realization of the kingdom of God through the cultivation of the salvation we have been given in Jesus Christ. For, you must work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him (Philippians 2:12b-13). Remember, the kingdom of God is not some future place or event but is simply the rule of Jesus Christ in your life - here, now. That is why you must work hard to show the (comprehensive) salvation you have been given in Jesus Christ. You do this by obeying God with deep reverence and fear. You do not earn your salvation through obedience, you express it. Again, keep in mind, all of this rests upon the proper object of worship. Also, if we understand the covenant promises we will realize the success promised in the Bible is typically actualized in the corporate body. In other words, the prosperity of a people group as a whole is what is in view in the covenant promises. Certainly, the individual can be and is often blessed. Nevertheless, the fullness of the covenant blessings is accomplished in the corporate entity of God's people. This is made clear in Deuteronomy 27 which says, If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: Your towns and your fields will be blessed. Your children and your crops will be blessed. The offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed. Your fruit baskets and breadboards will be blessed. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you will be blessed. The LORD will conquer your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction, but they will scatter from you in seven! The LORD will guarantee a blessing on everything you do and will fill your storehouses with grain. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. If you obey the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways, the LORD will establish you as his holy people as he swore he would do. Then all the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by the LORD, and they will stand in awe of you. The LORD will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Note that all of this rests upon the demand of exclusive worship of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 28:14). Idolatry of any sort is not tolerated. Moreover, while God’s choice of Israel was an act of grace, obedience was required on the part of the chosen to reveal the results of that salvation (cf. Exodus 19:4-6). In truth, this aspect of our relationship with God has not changed in the new covenant age. I’ll be back next week with the conclusion to this series. |
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