A Call To The Remnant

The nobody’s perfect card. How many times have you seen it played? The great excuse, it is often a cover for mediocrity and the life less lived. Its the great tragedy of identifying ourselves as sinners rather than saints. We have been called to be extraordinary and the path to the extraordinary is found by the words “follow me.”

We are instructed to be holy as He is Holy. He that called us is Holy and He has called us to be holy. Several hundred years ago, in times of inquisition, the inquisitor’s would come and ask the locals “who among you are living exemplary lives?” This would point them in the direction of those who were truly born again, it would identify them for martyrdom.

If we found ourselves in similar conditions, would we be identified by the locals? This call to the beauty of holiness cannot be heard if you identify yourself as a “mere sinner,” saved by grace. You will not find that in the New Testament. We who know Jesus are children of the living God. We are not sinless but neither are we “mere sinners.”

Too often that is used as an excuse for placating the world, a kind of virtue. It is not virtuous to identify yourself as a sinner. And before someone says well Paul says “of whom I am the chief,” in regard to sinners saved by Jesus, remember the context. Paul is saying that he is the chief of all saved sinners, meaning there was no worse sinner than he and despite that, Jesus saved him.

This is the humility of Paul saying that no one was worse than He , yet still he was saved. It was not that he was still the chief of sinners after being saved, God forbid. That is not how he identified himself and in fact he is bold enough to say “You are to imitate me, just as I imitate Christ,” in 1 Cor 11:1. This really should be the last line in chapter 10, read it in regard to Paul calling us to holiness.

We are new creatures in Christ and behold all things are new. We carry His name among the world. We bring His light down into the darkness. Our total identity is in Christ. There are no other competing identities other than being children of the light, adopted sons and daughters of the Living God, priests and priestesses in a Royal priesthood. This is what we offer the world. They can be saved from drowning in their own sins.

It is strange that all down through the ages that this has been a hated truth. The notion that we count ourselves as separated from the world brings great conviction to the world. “Who do you think you are,” has been the cry down through the ages, the initiator of it being the devil himself. He despises the sons and daughters of the Kingdom.

And so the answer to the world when they say “who do you think you are,” is not to say “we are just like you but we have this theological technicality.” No, the answer is the same as Paul’s “we were just as you are, worse even, but we have been redeemed and rescued by grace and so can you be.” “We have been delivered from the curse of sins deadly power and we have been empowered by His Holy Spirit to live such a life.” An actual witness that brings credit and glory to God because He enabled us to live such a transformed life.