Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Judges 9 was not only an indictment upon the Hebrew people in the days before the era of monarchy, but of all men who seek to have their pleasures and comfort met at all cost, even if it means entering into revolution with a man who was and is willing to take unjust means to accomplish their goals. Abimelech was a bramble king that those whom God had called to be mighty oaks planted in His Word were willing to subject themselves to an unholy king because they had ceased to trust in the Righteous Lord to rule over them.

For Sunday school this week, we will be examining the relationship and essential nature of the means of grace, and Word and Sacrament to the life of those who are the disciples of the Triune God.

This Sunday morning we will come to more of the idea that our works are deeply rooted to the nature of our being, and that for those who have been set free -justified-, ourselves and thusly our works are no longer slave to sin, we are not imprisoned by anything other than a want or desire to go the way of the old man. This does not mean that there are not times where we deeply feel the longing to go back the chained-life, and still even feel like a prisoner, yet you are not. Rather, as one who has been set free live like a free man and present yourselves to God, give thanks to God for His work of grace, and seek that which is above. Think of yourself as one now enslaved to God, who has bought you with His precious blood.

We find the program for how the people of God can defeat their enemies and rule well, as those who are called to righteousness and humility under the ultimate Lordship of the Messiah, even now that He has ascended to the Throne of heaven and earth, no longer the suffering Servant, but the righteous, reigning, sovereign King of heaven and earth. God doesn't even need 300 to conquer the powers of earth, in fact He took the Throne with just one man, the Messiah. What then is there to learn from God as to how He chose to whittle the Israelite army down, and not just for one battle, but for how the faithful are to honor God in every endeavor, no matter how great or small--

Knowing what we know, that we have been freed from the curse and weight of sin, and that having died with Christ and raised with Him, we are no longer under the mastery of sin, we are free to sin or not to, the call comes not as legalism nor as a command which we cannot fulfill, but one we can, -Do not let sin reign in your mortal body-- resist the siren song to sin, not out of misguided legalism, but Spirit-wrought liberty under the Gospel reign. The call, we must say, is simple, but is is by no means easy, for there is a war of affections, of desire, of knowing and doing, that is waged within us, each and every one of us. Do not let sin have dominion, that is do not give up on the fight against sin, but instead devote yourself to God.

This Sunday, we look again at the glorious life that has been given to us, even as we are united to Christ in his death, and in his resurrection. Whatever else we are, if we have been baptized with Christ in his death, then surely we have been raised with him in his resurrectio, and this is the foundation of our new life. Sanctification, then, is not only a calling. It is an inevitability, even as we have been filled by the Holy Spirit go forth then, in confidence, that in Christ you were made whole and in Him you are being made new.