PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Romans 5:1–6 (NIV)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
CONSIDER THIS
Gravity. How does gravity work?
Physics defines gravity as “the force that attracts a body toward the center of the earth, or toward any other physical body having mass.”
As a thought exercise, let’s consider two opposing gravitational powers: The power of Sin which pulls us down into the realm of death, and the power of grace which pulls us up into the realm of life. This is a helpful frame for me to think through chapters five through eight of this letter to the Romans.
Before we proceed let’s make clear that these two gravitational powers are in no way equal, as grace is infinitely more powerful than sin. However, let’s also acknowledge both gravitational powers do exert force on our lives at the same time, creating a dire conflicted-ness in the church in the midst of the desperate chaos in the world outside of the church. For simplicity’s sake, I like to think of them as the gravity of heaven and the gravity of hell.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
As has been noted and yet cannot be overstressed—we are born into the power of Sin and bound in the realm of death (i.e., the gravity of hell). By the mercy of God through the cross of Jesus Christ—in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension—the power of Sin has been broken and the curse of death has been defeated. In other words, human beings can escape the gravity of sin, death, and hell but only by the power of grace and be caught up in the gravity of life and love, which is the realm of heaven.
Now here is the grace of God in its most potent biblical sound byte:
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
So how does gravity work? It just works. It is all about where you are standing. Salvation is a shifting of the center of gravity from the power of Sin to the power of God.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Faith is not a matter of mere belief in this as true. It is a movement of trust.
The secret is Jesus. He is our center of gravity. He sits at the right hand of God in the heavens—and simultaneously he sits on the throne of our hearts. In other words, amazing grace is the very real life on-earth-as-it-is-in-heaven. A trusting faith in Jesus is the key; not a passive belief in God.
How does the gravity of the gospel work? Let’s give Paul the last word today:
because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
THE PRAYER
God our Father, thank you for the gospel, who is Jesus Christ, through whom we are delivered from the gravity of Sin, death, and hell and into the gravity of grace, life, and heaven. Thank you that these are not abstract concepts but they have been fleshed out in the literal physical body of Jesus Christ himself. Holy Spirit, please interpret these things into my deepest mind and heart such that they would flow out and into every fiber of my being and aspect of my everyday life. Jesus, you are the secret. You are the gospel. I belong to you. Praying in your name, amen.
THE QUESTION
Does the gravity analogy help you to better grasp how both Sin and grace work upon and within our lives? What might it mean for you to walk in faith—to step out of the gravity of Sin and into the gravity of grace?
THE HYMN
Let’s get back to our fight song this week, “And Can It Be.” We will sing verse 1 again today and add another verse each day of this week. It’s hymn 569 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Let’s sing it like it’s already our favorite.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
P.S. Don’t forget we are gathering this Thursday Evening . . .
Thursday is the day of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the most pivotal day in the whole year. I have invited some friends who helped shepherd the Asbury Outpouring earlier this year to join us for some storytelling and a time of impartation. No registration is needed. Here’s the Zoom Link. Share the link and invite your friends. It will be powerful.
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4 Responses
The “gravity” of self-focus hides right in the center of both sin and pride, disguised as a small “i.” The “gravity” of grace offers to rescue the human race from the orbit of self-focus by drawing people into the brilliant light and humble community of ongoing Christ-focus.
This post using the gravitational pull of hell in contrast to heaven brings to mind the operation of magnetics. We are like a chip of iron once attached to the magnetism of evil, our sin nature. The Holy Spirit is imparted to us in such a way that our polarity is changed in such a way that allows us to break free and thus be drawn to the magnetic force of heaven. As true believers, we become magnetized ourselves and therefore are used by the magnetic force of heaven to draw other chips of iron as well.
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Perhaps the analogy could be extended to the principal of flight. There is lift, gravity, thrust and drag. Lift and gravity have been discussed. Drag could be likened to the besetting sin of Romans 12:1. And could thrust be likened to not just sitting around idly but moving forward in the Christian life? And who or what propels us forward like a propeller providing thrust to an aircraft?