alive

Hold Fast and Stand

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By Linda Rex

February 9, 2025, 5th Sunday in Epiphany—What do you believe about the Lord Jesus Christ? Why do you believe what you believe? What impact does this belief regarding Jesus have on your life, if any?

The apostle Paul, in our New Testament reading for this Sunday, 1 Corinthians 15:1–11, challenges the Christians in Corinth with the basics of their faith. In his letter to them, he addresses quite a few issues which were occurring within that church, which brought into question the seriousness of their faith in Jesus Christ. If they truly believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, who lived, died, and rose again, appearing to many people after his resurrection, then why wasn’t their behavior demonstrating this? They were acting more like the culture they lived in than they were acting like Jesus Christ and his kingdom culture. This was a grave concern for the apostle.

In this passage, Paul rehearses an early statement of faith which was probably recited by the believers of his day. He reminds his readers of how Jesus Christ, in his life, death, and resurrection, fulfilled the prophetic Word, which predicted his life’s events. Going on beyond that, Paul points out the many eyewitness accounts of encounters with the resurrected Jesus, who after his bodily resurrection interacted with, and ate and drank with many people, before he ascended back to heaven.

Today we do not have the benefit of being able to have a face-to-face conversation with those who knew Jesus Christ personally and witnessed his life, death, and resurrection. But we do have the written testimony of the New Testament scriptures, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, who enables us to understand and believe what we read about Jesus. Because of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we are able to come to faith in Jesus, realizing that he is still alive and active today in our world and in us, and in our lives.

It’s important, though, to remember that Jesus Christ is not just this person who lived many millennia ago. He is so much more than a human being who lives and dies and ends up forgotten or memorialized in a book somewhere. What makes Jesus so significant is that he is not just human, but is God in human flesh. This means that his life here on earth is of eternal significance, and what he did for all of us as humans is profound. In and through him, we have new life. Our human existence, our personhood, has been transformed, brought up to a new level within which we live and participate by faith in Jesus Christ.

What difference does it make that we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior? Faith in Jesus Christ, in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension, means that our human existence is grounded in something beyond our transient, temporal existence. Our culture is constantly changing and morphing into something new. Its trends and expectations are always being replaced by new ones, which are grounded in changing human opinions, preferences, and passions. Instead of the solidity of our Maker’s design and redemptive work, we are beset by a kaleidoscope of possibilities and impossibilities, which are ever in flux.

But Jesus, as the perfected human, who brings us into right relationship with his Father in the Spirit, stands as our Rock amid this constantly changing scene. Jesus provides us with a foundation which is solid, and on which we can take our stand, no matter what may come our way. As Paul addresses the issues in the church at Corinth, he brings the believers back to the basis of their faith—Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose again, as their Messiah. He was their unity, in spite of their many differences. He was their wisdom, right relationship with God and one another, and their redemption. It was Jesus they were growing up into by the Spirit, and who gave them all the Spirit’s gifts and blessings for the benefit of the entire Body. The true evidence of life in the Spirit was when they were actually living in such a way that they resembled Jesus Christ. Today, as we gather in Jesus’ name, we want to be sure that we heed the apostle Paul’s words by living in truth of who we are in Jesus. Jesus is our life. May our lives, words, and deeds be a true reflection of him in every way, for this is our true humanity.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us so much that you gave your Son and your Spirit so that we could share in your love and life. Enable us to trust in Jesus, and by your Spirit, to live out our faith in a way that is a true reflection of your kingdom glory. Amen.

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to 1ames, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”      1 Corinthians 15:1–11 NASB

“… When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ … When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.”     Luke 5:1–11 NASB

“In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ ”      Isaiah 6:1–8 NASB

[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/olithold-fast-and-stand.pdf ]

[More devotionals may be found at https://lifeinthetrinity.blog ]

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In the Dying We Live

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By Linda Rex

March 17, 2024, 5th Sunday in Preparation for Easter or Lent—When I was growing up, one of my favorite places to visit in the backyard was the avocado tree. Each summer the sun was blazing hot, and its big limbs and large leaves provided a shady place to play. When the tree was laden with avocados, we delighted in eating the fruit with a spoon like a special treat.

Because of this happy memory, a few years ago I took the pit of an avocado I got at the supermarket, and put it into a small glass of water. When it finally sprouted, I planted the little seeding in a small pot. Since then, the spindling tree has grown to be about three feet tall, bearing leaves about the size of the sole of a shoe. The original seed became part of the root of the tree, and soon there was little evidence of the avocado seed the tree had come from.

In the New Testament reading for this Sunday, Hebrews 5:5–10, the writer points out that the Son of God isn’t the one who decided to be our high priest, but he was chosen by the Father for this task. As the Son of God in human flesh, Jesus Christ experienced suffering, but through prayers and supplications, trusted that his heavenly Father would deliver him. Having been perfected in his trust and dependency upon his heavenly Father in the midst of acute suffering and death, Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for us, serving as our high priest. Elsewhere in the book of Hebrews, we read how Jesus, because of all he went through, is the perfect high priest for us now, interceding on our behalf, offering our prayers and supplications as well as our worship to the Father, and receiving from the Father and giving to us all that he desires for us to have.

The process of coming to be our high priest through suffering and death is what Jesus describes in the gospel reading for this Sunday, John 12:20–33. Jesus clearly saw his upcoming crucifixion and death, and knew what he was facing. He described it to his listeners as being like when a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies. The process of dying, for a grain of wheat, isn’t really a death so much as it is a radical transformation. The grain of wheat ceases to exist in its present form—in effect, it dies. But it is still very much alive, though, beginning to take another form as it puts down roots into the soil and the sprout pushes up out of the ground, reaching into the sunny sky.

If the grain of wheat were to lay in the ground and never make this change, it would be because there was no life in it. The grain of wheat would simply rot away and become part of the soil in which it was placed. But when it come to Jesus, in his crucifixion and death, there was every reason to expect that what came up out of the soil was going to be new life. The One who was buried in the tomb was the Son of God in human flesh. Even though the human body died, this was not the end. Out of the tomb arose Jesus in glorified human flesh, ascending to his heavenly Father, to serve as the high priest on our behalf—the One who is uniquely equipped by his suffering and death to intercede for us, to advocate for us, and to help us.

The process of growing and developing, whether for trees or for people, involves both positive and negative aspects. To gain strength and durability, a person, or a tree for that matter, must experience challenges, opposition, or suffering. The negative aspects of one’s existence, when given to God and borne in union and communion with God in Christ, can actually become the means by which God strengthens us, grows us up into Christ, and forms his likeness in us.

One of the things our culture today doesn’t seem to embrace well is the idea of suffering, difficulty and struggle. To feel pain or loss is often seen as something to avoid, rather than being seen as something that, when embraced and accepted and learned from, may actually be a means by which we may grow and become more like the humans God always intended us to be. Yes, it’s probably good to avoid or ease pain and loss when it occurs, but it is also good to ask the Lord what it is we are needing to learn in the process of dealing with it. Perhaps we may even ask the Lord, as Jesus did with tears and supplications, for God to remove the ordeal from our lives. Indeed, Jesus pleaded with his Father to that end. But ultimately, the true solution was and is in Jesus’ surrender and submission to the will of his Father. As Catherine Marshall likes to say, this is the one prayer which is always answered: “Not my will, Father, but your will be done.”

It is in this place of dying, of surrendering our will and our control of the situation into the hands of our loving Father, that we find our true life. Indeed, it is in this place of dying that we begin to rise into new life. Our true life is not in what is right before us, but in the person of Jesus Christ—in our union and communion with our Father, through Jesus, in his Spirit. It is in this place, as we go through the challenges of this life that we discover eternal life, now and forever.

Our heavenly Father, sometimes life can be really hard, painful, and frustrating. It is difficult for us to understand why you allow things to be the way they are, especially when we have to experience pain and loss. Grant us the grace to, in all honesty and authenticity, pour out our hearts to you, but to also yield to your perfect love and grace in submission to your will, through Jesus our Lord and by your Spirit. Amen.

“So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.’ In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”     Hebrews 5:5–10 NASB

“… And Jesus answered them, saying, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, “Father, save Me from this hour”? But for this purpose I came to this hour. …. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.’ But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.”      John 12:20–33 NASB

[Printable copy: https://lifeinthetrinity.blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/olitin-the-dying-we-live.pdf ]

[More devotionals may be found at https://lifeinthetrinity.blog ]

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Living the Risen Life

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By Linda Rex

EASTER SEASON—Earlier this week I kept hearing a song playing in my mind which we sang together at GNF Sunday— “He’s Alive!” by Ron Kenoly. It goes like this:

Hallelujah, Jesus is alive
Death has lost its victory
And the grave has been denied
And Jesus lives forever
He’s alive! He’s alive!

He’s the Alpha and Omega
The first and last is He
The curse of sin is broken
And we have perfect liberty
The lamb of God has risen
He’s alive! He’s alive!

This song is very upbeat and celebratory. It expresses a profound joy at Jesus’ resurrection. And I believe it also expresses in a more subtle way the affect Jesus’ bodily resurrection has on each of us. This is not only a song of hope that one day we will live again, but it also speaks of the power of God at work in us and our lives even today.

In a family, there is a culture which affects the way in which family members interact with one another as well as how they make decisions and how they live their lives. The culture of a family can bless or harm those who are family members. It is often influenced by its generational history of dysfunction, affluence or poverty, health or lack thereof, and many other factors.

One of the most difficult struggles I have found as a family member is to live out the transition which occurs as a result of Jesus’ resurrection. What I mean is, when Jesus’ new life begins to go to work within us by the Holy Spirit, we often find ourselves at new crossroads with our families and friends. The normal ways in which we function as a family and community were supplanted millennia ago by a new way of being which Jesus inaugurated and established in his life, death, resurrection and ascension. And Jesus is empowering us to live in this new way by the Holy Spirit.

As adults, we may have a faulty self-image created within our own family culture of shaming, abuse, and/or legalistic fault-finding which clouds how we look at ourselves and others. Or we may be obsessed with success and achievement because this was the significant value of our family of origin. We may have been so denigrated and humiliated by our peers and/or parents while growing up that seeking the approval of others became a way of finding meaning and significance in this life. Within our family culture, there may have been unspoken rules about what was allowed and what was not—and we may still follow these patterns even though we are free as adults to find healthier and happier ways of living and being.

Jesus is alive, and I have come to believe this deeply. Jesus is real and has revealed himself to me in so many ways, that for me to say he is not would be an act of complete dishonesty on my part. Going beyond Jesus is alive, then, to Jesus has risen to reign over all, puts me in a place of decision: Do I continue to live my life according to the unspoken rules of my family culture (or even culture in general), or do I live it according to the truth I have encountered in Jesus and have come to believe in?

If all we have ever known is our family’s dysfunction, we could believe that this is the only way things are done. This can be so much a part of the way we do things that we don’t even give it a second thought. If our parents always communicated at the top of their lungs in hostile, angry ways, then it is only natural that this would be the way we conduct our most intimate relationships. If dishonesty, manipulation, or controlling behavior was all we saw and experienced in our families, we may quite naturally follow this pattern in our significant relationships. But is this the risen life? It may feel normal and comfortable and it may come easy, but it is not by any stretch of the imagination an expression of the life of the risen Christ.

We find in Jesus Christ that our humanity is rebirthed. Jesus after the resurrection manifested a transformed humanity which not only was modeled after the divine order but also bore the marks of his crucifixion and enabled him to continue to participate in mundane human activities like eating, walking, and talking. He was still completely human, though glorified, and entirely divine.

Jesus’ risen life meant that the old humanity which was destined only for death was redirected onto a path which led to eternal life. This eternal life Jesus described as intimately knowing God the Father and the Son whom he sent (John 17:3). It was a way of being that was the abundant life Jesus promised us (John 10:10). We as human beings were created to “walk in the garden” with God, sharing with him our thoughts, feelings, and experiences, no matter how intimate. From the beginning we were meant for relationships with God and one another which were other-centered, mutually submissive, loving, and serving.

The risen life is empowered by the Holy Spirit and grounded in Jesus Christ. He was and is the perfect image-bearer of God in his humanity, and we, by the Spirit, are growing up into Christlikeness. We are called to “lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and … be renewed in the spirit of [our mind], and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:22-24 NASB). The reality is that the life Jesus lived which fully reflected the Father is now ours, and we can participate in it by the Holy Spirit.

The gift of the Spirit enables us to live the risen life and participate with Jesus in his mission in this world. As we experience more and more the healing power of Jesus within us and our relationships, we share those experiences with others—bearing witness to and sharing what he is doing in and through us with others. We pray for them and care for them as the Spirit guides and Jesus leads us. All of life, then, becomes an expression of God’s love for us through Christ in the Spirit, and our response of love and gratitude in return.

Thank you, Jesus, for giving us new life. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for making real in us the life of the risen Lord. Thank you, Abba, for giving us your Son and your Spirit to enable us to experience your real life and participate with you in your mission to share your love and grace with everyone through Jesus our Lord. Amen.

“I will not die, but live, and tell of the works of the LORD.” Psalm 118:17 NASB

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