Application of the resurrection of Christ to everyday life is largely contingent on acknowledging the depth of spiritual death that dominates the flesh. New Christians typically see sin mostly as outward manifestations, without appreciating the depth of spiritual depravity that warps the soul. The work of sanctification is designed to expose the futility of the flesh in accomplishing any genuinely "good" thing. Ideally the recognition that "the flesh profits nothing" leads the believer to completely rest on Christ till His power is manifested. So while we all naturally want to identify with the resurrection of Christ, the presumptive precondition of spiritual life is in fact acknowledgment of spiritual death. Intimate acquaintance with our own spiritual poverty opens us up to resurrection power that strengthens us to walk in the newness of life.
Get a Life
Coming mostly from Romans 6:4-6, this initial episode affirms that Christ is the model for sanctification, and the natural application of the resurrection of Christ to everyday life is the vigilant pursuit of His life. Identification with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ leads to walking "in the newness of life." While the passage mostly addresses the Christian hope of physical resurrection, our future resurrection is foreshadowed by regeneration and subsequent embrace of the life of Christ. Sanctification largely corresponds to the realization that "the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63) and needs to die--hence we unite ourselves to Christ in the likeness of His death. This self-mortification clears the way for the life of Christ to become more prevalent, as we progressively walk more and more in the newness of life.
“The Sound of ‘One Hand Clapping’ Doesn’t Sound like Salvation”
This episode begins with the provocative question: "can you put on the breastplate of righteousness and ignore the helmet of salvation?" The answer provided by Paul is a resounding NO. The breastplate of righteousness corresponds with the imputed righteousness of Christ, based on the double-transfer of 2 Cor. 5:21. The helmet of salvation implies the transformation of mind that progressively thinks more and more like Christ. The breastplate of righteousness principally addresses the PENALTY of sin, while the helmet of salvation points to the POWER of sin being broken, as believers put on the mind of Christ. Paul presents a holistic picture of salvation in Romans 8:1-6, in which both the penalty and power of sin are part of the salvation package. The episode notes that 4 of the first 6 verses begin with "for," alerting the reader that the entire passage is one thought. The primary thought is Romans 8:2, the optimistic resolution of the flesh/spirit conflict of Romans 7:14-25: "the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and death." So the focus of Paul's argument is that the power of sin has been broken in salvation. Verses 3 and 4 undergird this fact. Sin-debt is paid in the substitutionary debt of Christ and, with the penalty paid, the requirement of the Law is fulfilled in those who are "in Christ," who now live a life according to the Spirit. The evidence that one has received the imputed righteousness of Christ is the mind set on the Spirit. The proof that one wears the breastplate of righteousness is that he ALSO dons the helmet of salvation. The episode concludes with a challenge to all to assess their understanding of salvation and modify it as needed, based on Paul's holistic description given in Romans 8:1-6.
Liberated to Think Spiritual Thoughts
This episode spells out the application of the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation, using Romans 8:3-4. The first deals with our hopeless position apart from Christ. God judged all of our sins in the flesh of Christ, while he accounts us righteous based on the righteousness of Christ. This breastplate of righteousness makes us POSITIONALLY perfect before God. The helmet of salvation principally addresses our thought life. As we identify with our perfect position in Christ, God works on our CONDITION, replacing bad thinking with the mind set on the Spirit. Sanctification, the process by which the Holy Spirit conforms our CONDITION to our POSITION, utilizes both the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. The episode highlights the substitutionary death of Christ and warns against a nonchalant view of Christ's sacrifice or a "Christ-and-penance" view of justification.
God Won’t Fit in Your Comfort Box
This final episode merges the lessons of affliction learned by the psalmist with the role of discipline spelled out in Hebrews 12:4-13. Affliction/discipline are the divinely sanctioned means of conforming believers into the image of Christ. Just as the psalmist didn't wholeheartedly follow God and His Law without affliction, so Christians don't surrender fully to the Lordship of Christ without discipline and affliction. The results, according to Hebrews 12:10-11, are very consequential: sharing in God's holiness as we enjoy the "peaceful fruit of righteousness." This is the New Testament equivalent to the psalmist's plea that God establish his ways to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) So when Christians affirm their desire to be like Christ (establish their ways), they shouldn't be surprised when God answers through affliction.
Don’t Despise the Divine Whipping
Psalm 119:75 states "in faithfulness You have afflicted me." This odd statement by the psalmist makes sense because the psalmist, like all sinners, didn't naturally obey God's law and was prone to going the wrong direction. Put together with the psalmist's previous comment, that before he was afflicted, he went astray (Psalm 119:67), God demonstrates His love and faithfulness by afflicting the psalmist to correct the error of his destructive ways. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction." (Proverbs 14:12) This dynamic certainly applies to believers, who though they are regenerate children of God, they nevertheless require periodic scourging to discipline their unruly flesh. "He scourges every son whom he receives." (Hebrews 12:6) The net effect of affliction should be practical holiness, the keeping of God's Law. "He disciplines us for our good that we might share in His holiness." (Hebrews 12:10) So the psalmist declared, "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word."
Affliction Leading to Awe of God and His Law
This episode takes the central theme of Psalm 119, "oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes," and applies it to Christian sanctification. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit conforming us into the image of Christ: He gradually conforms our condition with our perfect position in Christ. With respect to the believer's attitude and obedience to the Law, the Holy Spirit cultivates the inner delight of God's law in the inner man (Romans 7:22), making it the governing disposition of the soul, where we love God (and His Law) with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. Psalm 119 describes affliction as one of the means God uses to force the issue of holistic delight in God's Law. Similarly, the Holy Spirit orchestrates affliction to push the urgency of sanctification, hopefully leading to a more exhaustive embrace of God and His Law. God intends that affliction graduate the believer from simply parroting God's Law into apprehending the "why" of God's Law, leading to delight.
Affliction: When God Speaks Loud
This episode addresses the impasse that many believers discover in sanctification: they agree and delight with the Law of God in the inner man, but they're really not convinced that God's way is better. While many would give lip service to the Scriptural claim that sin leads to corruption (Gal 6:8), many are not really convinced. The apparent consequences of sin are ignored or considered tolerable. So unless God reveals that sowing to the flesh really does lead to corruption, we likely continue in sin. This dynamic is typical for every believer undergoing sanctification, and the answer to this predicament is the same as the psalmist in Psalm 119. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) Affliction is the God-given means to destroy the self-delusions that sin is tolerable and/or that sin is without painful consequences. And, affliction is God's answer to the psalmist's prayer that his ways be established to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) The Holy Spirit, who always intercedes according to the perfect will of God, pleads the same petition, sometimes resulting in pain in the lives of believers. Is it possible that believers' lack of conviction that God's way is better, requiring affliction as the remedy, is the reason why Paul declared "we do not know how to pray as we ought..?" (Rom. 8:26)
Establish Me…with Affliction?
This episode introduces the role of affliction in assisting believers to more profoundly embrace God's law to the point of delight. "Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) Affliction effectively grabbed the psalmist's attention, who left his wayward ways behind, after he was afflicted. Very likely the psalmist knew about God's Law, but his understanding was shallow. Until he meditated on God's Law, he would never graduate beyond mere surface acquaintance. Meditation, "chewing the cud," enables the believer to gain God's perspective on the Law leading to delight. Affliction is one of the mechanisms that God used in the psalmist's life to answer his petition in verse 5, "oh that my ways may be established to keep your statutes.
Are You Still on Milk?
This episode challenges believers not to adopt a welfare mentality towards Christian growth, in which the principal means of grace are neglected. The Word of God, prayer, and corporate worship are the mediated means of grace essential to Christian growth. The author of Hebrews decried the welfare mentality of his recipients: "By this time you OUGHT to be teachers... you have come to need milk and not solid food." This spirit of dependency that doesn't advance to maturity manifests among modern Christians who neglect Scripture, prayer, and corporate worship. Grace is mistakenly viewed as unmediated, coming directly from God, so diligence in cultivating the MEANS of grace is not an urgent priority. This childish welfare mentality describes many American Christians, whose only encounter with God's Law is negative, void of the positive cravings for the Law experienced by the psalmist in Psalm 119. The clear application of Psalm 119 for Christians is the diligent embrace of God's Law resulting in delight. The psalmist's attitude was the antithesis of the welfare mentality common today.