“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ESV
A Christian is a thankful person for exactly this reason and not for some sentimental thing or another. The opposite of living in grace isn’t living in sin; it’s living in rage and thanklessness at and to God. And it’s this basic heart condition that brings all the other sins. This is the elemental fact of human life everywhere repressed (Romans 1:18-21). The existence we have outside of Christ isn’t one that’s neutral toward God, but hostile to Him (Romans 8:7). It refuses to give thanks and acknowledge His sovereign presence despite the overabundance of evidence (Psalm 19:1).
Due to this psychological/theological sleight-of-hand, we very often misunderstand what sin is. We begin our reasoning mid-stream and are prone to legalistic errors rather than a biblical – and, therefore, true – comprehension of the facts. Yes, sin is any want of conformity to, or perversion of the law of God. But the law is spiritual and we’re in the flesh (Romans 7:14). Watch for this: we’re prone to redefine God’s law so as to limit and/or control it for our purposes. It’s rebellion against God and His rule that’s the root of human sin. Sinful actions are the perversion of God’s good gifts and there’s nothing sinful in itself (Romans 14:14) but in its use.
For example, sex in marriage over against adultery. Or Abraham and his 318 men wailing on the kings of the East who took his nephew hostage over against Cain and Lamech. Sex and violence, as our choice examples here, each have a place in human life – a category, that is. Sin is mankind choosing the category rather than God!
Okay, now to where we’re going with this:
Thanksgiving as man’s natural state – that is, redeemed state; in the flesh, we’re hostile to God and literally hate Him for the simplest fact that He won’t let us have our way.
The proper theology is one that leads us to glorify the Lord in thankfulness for our delivery from false/self worship and its ugly offspring: ingratitude.
The primordial sin is us insisting upon being our own god…of daring to say that God isn’t totally and completely God and that we can categorize life without reference to Him and His word/law. In short, when we dare to presume the right to think of right-wrong without Him, we act as God and declare war upon Him. We set our will against His. This sets off an extreme set of catastrophic consequences (sin brings death and God’s judgment) as well as our personal separation from Him (thereby fracturing us soul, spirit and mind). Our crazed insistence upon ruling by our own judgment (playing pretend gods) has utterly devastating psychological, physical, social, and political consequences. Made to worship the Lord and live to glorify Him, we instead try and make the world our own…we try and make it obey us!
This is the foundation of our frustration in life. It’s also the starting point of all our violence, strife, manipulation, slavery, political wrangling, and other intrigues. We want our own way (Proverbs 14:12) and set off to achieve it by “hook or by crook.”
In the book of Job we learn that he (Job) is the Elon Musk of the land – greatly blessed with material abundance. We note that the Bible tells us of Job’s amazing wealth.
“He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.”
Job 1:3 NLT
Yes, the Lord tells us of Job’s impressive possessions. Note that it doesn’t tell us how he obtained all this. In covetousness our minds swing that way. It’s none of our business – only the Lord’s. (One thing to see about mature Christians is how they so frequently say, “that’s none of my business”).
But Job isn’t only fantastically rich, he’s devoted to the Lord too. He’s up every day very early and he offers sacrifices for his children just in case they sinned! Instead of being domineering over his family as his great wealth and power would give him occasion to do, Job instead takes his private time to pray for them. What an example of a faithful man who knows that it’s God alone who is the Righteous One. Job knew that he had no personal righteousness but God alone was holy. Legalism grows from our sinful thinking that we’re good before God; it’s a form of atheism in that it rejects God’s righteousness and seeks to establish its own. Legalism is the process of trying to get our own way by using God and His moral law as our tool and weapon. It’s a continuation of the cosmic war by subterfuge and infiltration. Job, on the other hand, shows that true love and family grows from knowing the truth about self and God.
Well, what happens next is a key part of true life knowledge.
God calls Satan to give account. Never forget that the Lord isn’t competing with Satan for power. Only the Lord is the Lord and He doesn’t answer to or compete with anyone.
Here’s the account:
“Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence.”
Job 1:8-12 NLT
Of course, there’s so much to be said of this surprising interaction. So many questions beg, but God owes us no explanations. He gives us this and with this we’ll content ourselves.
Satan, the Tempter and Accuser, does his thing. Once the highest and most beautiful angel, he’s looking upon this petty creation (Job) and all his blessings, and he despises him. Why does the Lord love such a lowly being as this, Satan must wonder in fury. Let us take care, therefore, when we look upon others with covetousness, bitterness, and hatred lest we be like Satan. Job is only “faithful,” the Accuser reasons, because God has hemmed him in with so many multiple blessings.
In other words, it’s a quid pro quo.
Satan says this about you too!
He/she loves your blessings and not you, Satan hisses to the Lord. Give them trouble and they’ll curse you to your face!
So, why must Christians suffer in Christ? Well, this is one critical reason. Our sanctification, the process of growing up in practical and personal holiness, is that we’re increasingly able to understand our deepest commitments. Sin is, remember, the cosmic rebellion of declaring ourselves god and this very thing sets us on a path of frustration, covetousness and conflict. The math is simple: if we pretend to live in the world as if it’s ours then we can never be “happy” and must, like Cain, blame others for our frustrations. Cain killed Abel because he couldn’t get at God; we’ll slander and abuse our neighbors for the same reason.
Satan’s slander against Job represents the central theme and struggle of our walk with Christ. What was unknown to Job (the glory of the cross and excellency of Christ) is now known to us! Oh, what incredible joy in the heart of those who know that they have peace with God through faith and grace alone! The great chasm between us and God has been filled with the broken body of God’s Son on our behalf…and we walk with our timid little baby steps in His world across that precious flesh that He sacrificed for us. We reach out for His hand like Peter sinking in the water; we cry out to rouse Him when, in our ignorance and tiny faith, we think He’s asleep to our danger.
And He rescues us, sustains us, brushes us off so that we shine like new…washing our feet every day all over again. What a Savior and Lord this is!
Oh, and there’s more, Job was written so that we can read this:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Romans 5:1-11 ESV
The sad thing for Satan is that he was right.
Unless God comes to us and gives us grace, we will certainly curse Him because it’s the nature of sin to hate that we aren’t God. But now, in Christ, we have salvation (restoration) to the full order of the logic of creation. We can enter again into the presence of God like we’re back in the pre-fall Garden – and we/you can do this right now. Bow your head, Christian…or raise your eyes…and say His name. There! You have an audience with the Almighty. The price of this precious admittance was God’s Son crucified for our sin. What shall we say to this God who has saved us? What tone can be in our voice but that of unrelenting joy and gratitude?
So, praise Him. Thank Him for some joy you have right now and Satan will be pierced because this is what you’re made for in the first place! Your thankfulness proves the truth of our creation that we are sons of God and not God; we are His creation for His glory and not our own. Give thanks for the blueness of the sky, or the gentleness of the breeze, or the laughter of your family. Give Him thanks because that’s the battle.
Sin hates. It’s constantly frustrated because it lives in a world it wants to control but can’t. The mind of the flesh is always centered on what it wants. The mind in Christ is always centered on Him and is, consequently, giving thanks and rejoicing in the unmerited favor or grace.
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