Creation to Christ: Reading 7 - August 14, 2016 - Genesis 17, God Chooses. God Changes. God Uses!

Today’s Readings

Context 

Having called Abram as his own and being determined to work through him, God does what he always does, he transforms Abraham so that he is usable. God transforms that which he intends to use. He chooses. Then he changes. Then he uses. That's how God works. 

Devotional - God Chooses, Changes, then Uses

"Well, pastor, of course, Uncle Buford was a Christian. When he was 9 he went forward in an evangelistic service and he was baptized. Now, he never went to church or gave much thought to God, but he was a nice man and 'once saved, always saved,' right?" 

We have created a category of Christianity that the New Testament knows nothing about, a category of believer that the Old Testament would find foreign. It is the person who has had an encounter with the Living God of Heaven and whose life remains pretty much the same thereafter. In this new category we've invented, a person makes a profession of faith and is forgiven of his or her sin. That person receives a guaranteed home in heaven when this life is over. But between here and there, between the profession of faith and the end of life everything remains the same. He goes on being just who he was. She continues with her life without any interference from above.

It is just not a model that is found in the Bible. When a man or woman encountered God, they were changed.

Here in Genesis 17 we see that in stark relief as God calls Abram into a covenant relationship with him and then everything changes. God signifies this in two ways. First, he changes both Abram's and Sarai's names. Abram becomes Abraham, the "father of many nations." Sarai becomes a "princess" - that's what Sarah means. God's involvement in their lives radically alters them. Think how many times God changed the name of someone after the encounter. Meeting God changes lives, changes hearts, changes destinies. If God hasn't changed your life then you need to seriously question whether you've had a real encounter with the Living God.

God did something else in this passage. He instituted a sign of the covenant, a symbolic act known as circumcision. It symbolized two things. First, it was a mark that a man was set apart for God. There should be, in each of our lives, an unmistakable mark that we belong to him. It ought to be obvious to the world! But it also symbolized cleansing, the removal of sin. Israel belonged to God and could no longer live like the world.

We who have been redeemed by Christ have received what the NT calls the circumcision of the heart. We have been taken into the family of God, identified with Christ, sealed by the Spirit - we belong to him, set apart as a holy people. And as a people of God we must conform our lives (by the Spirit's power) to Christ not live according to the ways of the world. We belong to him and must live to glorify him according to the righteous character of Christ.

It is pretty much impossible to make the case for the "unchanged redeemed" category of Christian that we see so many of in the world today. The word of God just does not allow it. I am sure there are people who are genuinely redeemed who show no outward signs, and it is not my duty or right to decide who is and who is not saved.

But we are the redeemed of Christ and we belong to him. We've not only been saved, but we've been circumcised in our hearts, set apart for God and called to walk in purity. The ways of the world can not longer be our ways. The values of the world can no longer shape ours. We must be shaped by the power of the Christ who died for us, rose as Lord of all, and dwells in us by the Holy Spirit. 

Father, I thank you that you have made me holy in Christ. Help me to live out every day what you have made me in Christ. 

Think and Pray

Think through some of the major figures of biblical history, both OT and NT. How did their lives change when they encountered God? Think of Noah. Moses at the Burning Bush. Think of Saul of Tarsus. Consider others as the Spirit guides your mind. What changes did God make?
Are you walking in holiness and seeing the transforming power of Christ in your life daily?