The God Shot With Tara-Leigh Cobble

The God Shot: Galatians 3:2-3

"I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3)In this letter, Paul is talking to the churches in a region near modern-day Turkey. These churches are filled with mostly Gentiles, which is another way of saying anyone who isn't a Jew. These Gentile believers believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus who was Jewish. Jesus had kept all the Old Testament laws, not just the 10 Commandments, but all 613 of them. So His new followers were trying to figure out if they needed to follow all those Jewish laws too. And here, Paul gives them the best news imaginable, Jesus saved us by fulfilling those things for us! We're saved to our faith in His perfect life of righteousness and His complete provision in His death, not by our own actions. Praise God! He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: Galatians 3:1

"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified." (Galatians 3:1)Wow, who is Paul calling a bewitched fool? That's strong language! This is Paul's letter to the Churches in Galicia, a region near modern-day Turkey. He wrote this letter around AD 15, not long after Jesus' death and resurrection. If you read the New Testament, you'll see lots of conversation about the differences between Jews and Gentiles. Gentile is a collective term that refers to anyone who isn't a Jew, people like me, and possibly you. One of the main topics of conversation was whether or not the Gentiles who follow Jesus had to also start following all 613 of the Jewish Old Testament laws. Stay tuned in the days ahead for Paul's answer. In the meantime, may you fix your eyes on Jesus. He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:21

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)This verse describes what Martin Luther referred to as the glorious exchange. When God looks at our great sin debt, He knows our hearts are bankrupt and that we can't pay it. So He credits us with the righteous life Jesus lived. Contrary to popular belief, God doesn't pull out a scale and measure your good works against your bad works. According to Scripture, we all fall short of His standards. But here's the good news: Jesus didn't come to help us get our act together so we could live better lives in hopes of having more things to add to the good side of the scale. He came to live the life we couldn't live, then credit it to our account. Sin is the only thing we contribute to this glorious exchange, but He loves you center and this is how He demonstrates His love by drawing to us in our sin and giving us what we could never earn. He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:20

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20)When you love something, don't you want to talk about it? When something or someone delights you, don't you love to think about it? For instance, I love Israel, Blue Bell ice cream, and Jesus; not in that order. But you'd be hard-pressed to spend a day with me without hearing me mention one or all of them. Because of the great work God has done on our behalf, we can't help but talk about it! In his letter to the Church at Corinth, Paul has just finished reminding them that they have been reconciled to the God of the Universe. This is huge! The best news ever! Spread the word! Let everyone know so others may hear what happened to you and desire it for themselves. And he encourages them to not just proclaim this reality but to live out of this reality. Today, may your delight in God inform everything you say and do. He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)What does it mean to be reconciled to someone? It means to receive someone into favor. We are God's enemies by birth because we are sinners by birth. It's not just something we do, it's the state of brokenness we were born into. But God the Father sent God the Son to live a perfect life on our behalf doing something we could never do: face our death penalty Himself. By Jesus taking on our sin and granting us His righteousness, he did just that. We've been adopted into God's family and are received with favor in His Kingdom. We've been reconciled with Him and Paul says that not only are we citizens in God's Kingdom, but we've been appointed as ambassadors of that Kingdom. We are representatives of God's great story of redemption. So today as an ambassador of God's Kingdom, share the story of Him and His great love. Let everyone know that He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:17

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" - (2 Corinthians 5:17)I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded of this truth regularly. Paul wrote these words of encouragement to the Church at Corinth. They were one of the wickedest churches in Scripture, steeped in sin and idolatry. Yet Paul is reminding them here of their true identity, even though we're still in these bodies of flesh, stumbling and struggling, redemption is ours because of Christ Jesus. When God adopted us once and forever into His family, we got an entirely new future and a present identity to go along with it. Believer, you have been set free from the penalty of sin, you have gained an eternal inheritance and you've been granted God's Spirit to guide your heart into truth and remind you that you belong to Him. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. If you are in Christ, redemption is your life story. If you are in Christ, you know that He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:16

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer." (2 Corinthians 5:16)The Apostle Paul who wrote this letter to the Church at Corinth once considered Jesus to be nothing more than a man. Paul actively led the aggressive persecution of Christians until God changed his heart and he became a follower of Jesus. When that happened, he no longer regarded Jesus as a mere man. Paul finally understands that Jesus is fully God and fully man, the one who took the penalty of death for the sins we committed and then raised from the dead. Because of that, Paul has also come to understand that we too will have life after death. We are more than just what we appear to be in the state of our brokenness and we too will someday be fully restored thanks to Jesus who set us free from the penalty of death. He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)What does it mean that the love of Christ controls us? In Greek, the word control means to hold together. The love of Christ is what's holding you together right now. Not your love for Him, but His love for you. God's love for you is what sustains you do life, death, and everything you'll face today. Jesus has already paid the penalty of death for us. He has already conquered death and He has already lived the perfect life of righteousness that the Father required. Jesus traded all His perfection for our sin and our penalty. He died and was raised so that we might be adopted into his family and live with Him eternally. He loves you and He holds you together today. May you feel it and delight in it because He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:12-13

"We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you." (2 Corinthians 5:12-13)As Paul writes this letter, he and his fellow missionaries are being slandered by false teachers in Corinth. They were saying there was no way Paul could be a minister of God because Paul had endured too much suffering and God would never let His anointed one suffer like that. False teachers still speak messages like that today. They say God has an easy life for you, one where you're rich, hot, happy, and you'll never be sick. You can claim anything you want in Jesus' name. But Jesus said, "we will be hated on his account" and Philippians says we were granted suffering on behalf of Christ. So if you're suffering today, it's not a sign that you don't belong to God. In fact, He draws near to those who suffer. He's with you and sometimes in our suffering, it's easier to see that He's where the joy is!

The God Shot: 2 Corinthians 5:11

"Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience." (2 Corinthians 5:11)What do you think of when you hear the phrase, "the fear of the Lord?" Punishment or walking on eggshells? In Scripture, there are two different types of fear and the Jews even had two different words for it in Hebrew. There's the kind we all know and hate and then there's the fear of the Lord, which is made up primarily of delight and awe. It's the way we feel about the Grand Canyon. We know it can kill us, but we drive for hours to stand at its edge and marvel. Paul wants to share that delight with everyone. He wants to help others see the beauty of God and His great rescue of us. At the same time, Paul is being accused by some local false teachers who have a different message about God and He wants the Corinthians to know that His message is the message of truth. There is nothing Paul won't endure to help others see Jesus and to know and believe that He is where the joy is!