The Mystery : Christ IN People, the Hope of Glory

While we have been walking you through the story of God’s relationship with man—past, present, and future, you’ve learned that Paul spent a lot of time writing letters to help Christians grow up into being more like Jesus. While doing that, Paul often talked about a mystery. Do you know what a mystery is? It’s a secret or something that is a little hard to comprehend.

In Paul’s letters to the Colossians, the Ephesians, the Corinthians, and the Romans… Paul mentions this mystery, God’s Secret Plan. He said to them things like:

Pssst. There’s a mystery that has been hidden for ages and generations, but it’s being uncovered now to His heaven seers. God wants to make known/to unveil the glorious treasures of this mystery. And the mystery is: Christ (the Anointed One) comes to live in anyone who is washed in His blood--That’s your hope of partnering in His Glory.

And Paul told the Ephesians… “This mystery… God’s secret plan… is that the many-faceted wisdom of God will be seen…in His Community of People…and He’ll get all the glory for that. “

Did you know?

Do you know what this means? It means that God intends to show the world Himself, again, through His Family/His Church. The Bible says that before the end of time comes, Jesus’ CHURCH is going to be the precious, blameless, spotless Bride of Christ. The Bride of Christ in all of her Glory is going to be made up of people who are living out the purposes of God just like Jesus did. The world is going to see Jesus again in His girl, the body of Christ.

She, The Bride, The Church will show the world Jesus again by being His feet, His hands, His eyes, His mouth, His heart to the world around her.

In talking about this glory, Paul told the Corinthians, “If the work on the old rules that brought death, started with a glory on Moses’ face that was too bright for the people to look at…. how much MORE Bright and GLORIOUS will the work of the Spirit be?

In fact, Moses’ face and the Deal of Rules have no glory now because of the tremendously greater new Glory Deal we live in. Now we have a crazy amount of hope and a crazy amount of boldness. Moses had to put a cloth over his face to hide the fading glory-glow that came with the rules.

But now when someone turns to Jesus, there are no cloths! So with no cloths on our faces, we all have some of that radiance of the glory of God shining out as we are being changed /metamorphosed/transformed to look more and more like Him… getting brighter and brighter with more glory, more glory, more glory all the time.

God became flesh. He was a man. He conquered sin and death and died in our place so that we could have forgiveness of sins. But that’s not all.

His secret plan to win the battle against sin and satan wasn’t about just coming to live with us, but was about His coming to live “IN” those who will let Him be Lord over their lives. Christ, the Anointed, lives in those who bow their knee to Him. And that Anointed Life within is our Hope of Glory—Power that Saves.

Once we are buried with Him in baptism, if we yield to the dead to me and Alive to Him LIFE inside of us, then we begin living His life. That’s the secret mystery that Paul was telling them about--Christ LIVES in those who are His!

So if you want to experience some of the Treasures of God with this wisdom that is so beautiful it is like a diamond… then let Him be Lord of your life, and find some other people who are doing the same. Because the Treasures of His Anointed Life are Hidden in People with this Glory/Christ within.

Today I am on a trip visiting some friends at the ocean. I woke up early, and I thought about getting up to watch the sunrise come up over the ocean. But then I thought: I’ve seen the sunrise come up over the ocean before. And you know… it doesn’t really get more and more beautiful every day. Sure, some days it‘s prettier than others, but do I need to see the sunrise over the ocean one more time? Nah.

But then I realized there was something that I did want to get up and see….something that can indeed get more and more beautiful every single day. Do you want to know what it is? It’s all of my friends who have Jesus living inside of them! That’s something that does get more and more beautiful every day, if we help each other every day with that Holy-Spiriting of encouraging/warning/urging each other to be more like Him.

So a pretty sunrise might be “nice” on occasion… but more and more of Jesus’ anointed life shining out of me and my friends’ lives—that is what I live for and that’s what’s beautiful to me.

Some people live their whole lives trying to stimulate and motivate themselves with more and more “beautiful” or “fun” things. “I want to see this or visit that or eat this or play that.”

They want to visit the ocean or the mountains or the snow to try to do or see more fun or beautiful things. But those things don’t really get more and more beautiful every day. And that kind of beauty or fun only lasts for a little moment, and then the good feeling is gone. Do you know why that is? Because those things are just a teeny shadow of God’s REAL beauty and fun that are found in Christ. But the difference is: Christ’s anointed life inside of people should get more and more beautiful every day.

Some people choose where they live or what they do because of the teeny shadows of beauty or fun, but I want you to learn to make choices based on the beautiful life of Christ that you see in people.

Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s fine to visit the ocean or to live near the mountains. But my REAL home will always be where I see God’s Grace in others’ lives. So I can say, “bye-bye ocean” or “bye-bye fun” because I don’t “neeeed” to see or have you today.

But Jesus… I DO need to see you today because the expression of YOU, on earth as it is in Heaven, is all I care about—today and forever.