From David Platt, in a series on The Gospel, Possessions, and Prosperity (my last post was based loosely on the first part of this series, this one is a quote from the final part in the series.  As shocking as it sounds at first, Platt’s explanation makes sense and I found it to be both challenging and freeing - that’s a good mix.

We do not owe Jesus anything.

So we do not live and give sacrificially because we are in debt to Christ, we live and give sacrifically because we are indwelt by Christ.  This is the beauty of it – we’re not trying to pay Jesus a debt in salvation; instead, everything we’re doing is His work in us.  It’s His grace in us, His life overflowing in us.  He is indwelling us, and our possessions are now being used by Christ in us for His glory in the world.  We interfere with that in our sin.  But this is why we are not motivated by guilt – we are always motivated by grace.  So we needed the sufficiency of Christ on the cross to free us from sin, but we also need the sufficiency of Christ today to free us from our lust for possessions and to free us to run after Christ as all satisfying and to use the resources Jesus has given us for His glory in the world.

The entire series is here (4 parts).  I highly recommend it.  Really… it is an encouragement and a joy, while making the urgency of obedience clear.  Good stuff.

http://www.brookhills.org/media/schurch/secret-church-the-gospel-possessions-and-prosperity/

I believe it is important to know we can not pay Him back for salvation.  We only fool ourselves if we think we can.  Not only can we not pay Him back, but we don’t even own our self.

1 Cor 6:19-20
19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Not only have we been purchased by Christ and are owned by Him, we belong to each other.

Romans 12:3-5
3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

In general, it looks like all we can do is decide to love and obey Him and persevere.  He provides all the rest.  Through His indwelling in us, He brings life to our mortal bodies.  Amazing Grace!

This was really freeing for me, but at the same time it challenged me to think that He should be doing through me what He did when He was here.  If He is not doing it through me now, I am hindering Him in my sin.  Yet… freeing and liberating with that challenge.  I think we need both parts, and that is what struck me as so inspired in Platt’s message.  Given our place in this world, and given what He did for us, it must be grace and free, but it cannot be cheap or easy.