What Happened to You? And Why?

Words about the Lord – spoken or written – are inspiring and instructive, but words are not the treasure. Words are only the camera with which we attempt to capture images of the Treasure. And like all cameras, they are limited in their capacity to do so. Pictures of the Grand Canyon are not the same as being there. In the same way, the panorama of God’s glory far exceeds words and spans eternity itself… So, this week enhance the words you receive about the Lord (including these) with your own interaction with Him. 

Text:  Romans 7:4 (NIV) So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

I.  Died to the Law.  

The laws of our state and our country have no jurisdiction over a dead man.  When a prisoner is executed, the legal authorities, release the body to the family.  The Law’s job is done.   

When we came to Christ, the Law’s job was done.  Colossians 2:13-14 God forgave all your sins, by canceling the written code, that is, the Law, with all its regulations, that was against you.  (NIV) “canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness”  

“He took it away, nailing it to the cross.” He nailed it to the cross because that is where the payment was made.

You are as free from religious rules and regulations as a dead person.  Yet, you still live.  So now what?  If religious rules and regulations no longer have authority over me, what guides my behavior?  What gives me my moral bearings? 

II.  Belong to Him.

As Paul put it, “I am crucified with Christ… and the life I know live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me” (Galatians 2:20) 

From God’s perspective, when we received Christ, we died to the jurisdiction of the Law, but He introduced us to a new kind of relationship with Him.  A relationship of belonging.  

We are, each one of us believers, a temple of the Holy Spirit.  As such, the Lord supplies all of us with our own unique “temple objects” to facilitate our worship.  He gives each of us are own assets for possessing our belongingness. 

We belong to Him right now.  We don’t have to try to belong.  We are already qualified for heaven.  Forgiven.  Holy.  Blameless.   

Waiting for redemption from these bodies and the flesh, which wars against the Spirit.  

Belonging to the Lord is all about freedom, not oppression, not servitude.   

• It’s partnership in the family business.   
• It’s assuming the rights and responsibilities of an heir.   
• It’s learning the proper behavior of a royal. 

III.  Bear Fruit for God. 

The fruit we bear for God may appear fruity to others who may not have a very wide capacity to appreciate God’s creativity. Note the God-directed behavior of some of the prophets:

• Hosea’s marriage to Gomer.  (Hosea 1:2)
• Isaiah walking around naked and barefoot for three years.   (Isaiah 20:2)
• Ezekial laid on his left side for 390 days and on his right for another 40 days. (Ezekial 4:5).
• Jeremiah was forbidden to marry and have children.  His friends abandoned him.  He preached for 40 years without seeing any outward fruit.  He had one ministry partner his entire life.  Baruch the scribe. (Jeremiah 36).
• And of course, there was John the Baptizer (Matthew 3)

“Fruit for God” means it’s God’s fruit to use as He pleases.  The value of our lives is not determined by how many people get to experience our fruit but by God’s experience of our fruit.   

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).   We bear it God choses how to share it.

What happened to you? You died to religious rules in order that you may belong to Christ and bear fruit for God.