This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you're familiar with the part I was given in God's plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief. As you read over what I have written to you, you'll be able to see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God's Spirit through his holy apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board. (Ephesians 3:1-6 MSG)

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In part 14(click here to read part 14), we discovered that Christ was the key to unlocking the hidden mystery and that through spiritual rebirth both Jews & Gentiles would access the life of God by faith. Here we explore this further.

[I]. What part does this spiritual rebirth play in achieving God's ultimate plan to save all who would believe, Jew or Gentile? Salvation is all about receiving the eternal God kind of life, which has been deposited in Christ. When we have Christ in us, we become part of Christ. One Spirit, one Body, one identity.

1. "But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger. Even when we were God's enemies, he made peace with us, because his Son died for us. Yet something even greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, we will be saved by his Son's life." (Romans 5:8-10 CEV)

2. "God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. And so, if we have God's Son, we have this life. But if we don't have the Son, we don't have this life. All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:11-13 CEV)

3. "Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish!" (Ephesians 2:4-8 MSG)

4. "This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less." (Colossians 1:26-28 MSG)

5. "but for those whom God has called, both Jews and Gentiles, this message is Christ, who is the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Corinthians 1:24 GNB)

6. "Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all."

(Ephesians 4:3-6 GNB)

[II]. How does this spirit of Christ get in us and what happens to our spirit? A union of our spirit with His through spiritual baptism takes place. The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and Scott, the most authoritative source for the meaning of Greek words, gives the primary meaning of the word

1. "It is through faith that all of you are God's children in union with Christ Jesus. You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised." (Galatians 3:26-29 GNB)

2. "But anyone who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit with him." (1 Corinthians 6:17 CEV)

3. "Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink." (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 GNB)

4. "(None of us ever hate our own bodies. Instead, we feed them, and take care of them, just as Christ does the church; for we are members of his body.) As the scripture says, "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one." There is a deep secret truth revealed in this scripture, which I understand as applying to Christ and the church." (Ephesians 5:29-32 GNB)

5. "In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem. As Saul was coming near the city of Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?" "Who are you, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus, whom you persecute," the voice said." (Acts 9:1-5 GNB)

[III]. Once we become part of Christ; our old life is dead and the life of Christ takes residence. We died with Him and now we live through Him. We can only have one life and that life is Christ's.

1. "For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life. For since we have become one with him in dying as he did, in the same way we shall be one with him by being raised to life as he was. And we know that our old being has been put to death with Christ on his cross, in order that the power of the sinful self might be destroyed, so that we should no longer be the slaves of sin. For when we die, we are set free from the power of sin. Since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that Christ has been raised from death and will never die again---death will no longer rule over him. And so, because he died, sin has no power over him; and now he lives his life in fellowship with God. In the same way you are to think of yourselves as dead, so far as sin is concerned, but living in fellowship with God through Christ Jesus. Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self." (Romans 6:3-12 GNB)

2. "Jesus said, "I am...the Life..." (John 14:6 MSG)

3. "So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead---killed by the Law itself---in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross, so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me."

(Galatians 2:19-20 GNB)

4. "So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ--that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life--even though invisible to spectators--is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too--the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ." (Colossians 3:1-4 MSG)

5. "This is a true saying: "If we have died with him, we shall also live with him." (2 Timothy 2:11 GNB)

6. "This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him." (1 John 4:9 MSG)

"Give your life to Christ"

I was told

But no one took the time

To carefully explain

What He was going to do

With the life I gave

---

At first I thought

He had washed it

Made it cleaner

All I had to do was maintain it

Keep it clean from sin

Needless to say

I failed miserably

---

Then I thought

He had recycled it

Fix what could be fixed

And replace what couldn't

I then continued

The self-improvement campaign

That just didn't workout

---

After so much frustration

No joy or peace

No fulfilments or closure

As promised by His word

I went to Him to enquire

What exactly was the plan?

For this life that I gave

---

The answer was shocking

He had crucified it

But it didn't stop there

He had replaced it

With His very own life

To live in me the life

That only He could live

---

Then I finally got it

There was no longer "independent" I

The only I there was, was one with Christ

You couldn't see me

I was hid in Christ

So only Christ is seen

---

There was nothing more to try

Except to get out of the way

Submit this vessel to Him

Abide as a branch

Let Him do the rest

To bear the fruit that only He could

So those He loved could partake

---

Selah

(To be continued..)

Every Blessing

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