PART 1 CHURCH TEACHINGS

What Are the Bundle of Benefits Received at Salvation?

PART 1 CHURCH TEACHINGS

CHAPTER 1

To Learn about the Bundle of Benefits Received at Salvation

Why should you go to church? What should be going on there?

I’m sure there are many different reasons as to why a person goes to a place, where those, the body of Christ, the living church are gathered together.

Some of them could be because:

• It gives them hope that when they die, they will go to a better place.
• It allows them an opportunity to volunteer in church functions so that they can help others.
• It provides for their children a place where they can receive positive messages about peace, helping one’s neighbor, etc.
• It’s a place where they can make friends.
• It’s a place that will provide for their family, when needed, a physical structure that can be used for their kids to get married in.
• It’s a place that provides in its’ teachings an organized approach to please God.
• It’s a place that will provide a formal ceremony at physical death reassuring their family and friends that they have passed on into a heavenly abode, where they are now waiting to see them when they also depart from this earth.

All of these are what I would call reasonable human expectations. We want to be liked by others. We want some assurance of a better place after this is over. We want to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves. We want to help others. We want others to appreciate us. But the question is, is there a lot more to our spiritual life than just what appears for us on the surface?

This is what this study is all about. God should be someone who we depend on moment by moment. He should be someone whose presence can be experienced by us on a daily basis. He should be someone who helps us overcome addictions. He should be someone who helps us overcome the weaknesses of our flesh. He should be someone who communicates to us by different means. He should be our closest friend.

Does your relationship with God sound something like what was just described? If it is, then you are blessed. If not, then why not find out what you’re missing. This is what will be presented to you in the following chapters. Are you ready to find out the answers to the questions posed in the beginning of this study which I will condense down to one question?

When I go to church, what should be going on there so that I can learn how to be set free from regrets, disappointments, low self-esteem, and human weaknesses and evidence a new life that operates in a new nature, with a new mind, with a divine perspective that changes my outlook about myself, about others, and the circumstances of life so that Christlike qualities are expressed in Word and in deed?

Please join me in this study and find out what else should be going on there.

If you have responded to the gospel of Christ, and have received the indwelling Spirit, what you should be made aware of are those spiritual realities that have taken place in your life at salvation. The answers to the questions, what is salvation, and what are those additional benefits that you have received is what we will take a look at next? 

What is salvation?

Salvation is the bundle of benefits received by the person who believed the Gospel message, the good news message of repentance to God the Father and believing in Jesus Christ as to who He is and what He has accomplished. The initial benefit is the receiving of the indwelling Spirit, who causes our spirit to be made alive. Contained below are a list of the additional benefits. There is one thing you need to remember, i.e., these benefits have been given to you by God the Father. You can’t lose them, because you didn’t earn them. So, rejoice in what God has provided you with.

• Your human spirit has been made alive.

The human spirit is a spiritual apparatus that allows us to store spiritual knowledge (doctrine). Knowledge (doctrine) heard goes to the mind, and from there to the human spirit, and then to the soul, where it builds rooms. 

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• You have received the indwelling Holy Spirit, who comes to dwell in our human spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

• You are quickened by the Holy Spirit.

This means that by the power of the Holy Spirit we have been spiritually resurrected or another way of saying this is, we have been made spiritually alive with Christ. 

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

• You are given eternal life.

Eternal life is the quality of life one experiences, when God rules his/her life. This can also be called the zoe life. It is also conceived of as life that never ends, because it comes from God.¹

John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

• Your old man is crucified with Christ.

Our old man refers to the sinful and corrupt nature located in our blood that has been crucified with Christ on the cross through our identification with Him. The body, which has belonged to or has been ruled by the power of sin, may now cease to be an instrument of it and thereby is no longer subject to its control.

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

• You have been made an heir of God through Christ.

We are no longer to be treated as servants, being bound by the oppression of the Mosaic Law, but as sons - members of God’s family. And because we are sons, we are also heirs as those who: possess God himself, partake of His nature, possess every blessing to which we are entitled.

Galatians 4:6-7 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

You are seated together with Christ in heavenly places.

God the Father has raised us up from spiritual death to spiritual life �" from a death to sin to a life of righteousness, being made alive and raised spiritually with Christ. He has caused our spiritual position to be in heavenly places with Him who is seated at the right hand of the Father as our Head and Representative. We are admitted to exalted honors in virtue of our connection with Him. Even now our life and thoughts are raised to the heavenlies where He reigns.²

Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus

• You are God’s handiwork.

For we are God the Father’s workmanship (denotes a work of art or masterpiece; spiritual handiwork), being made a new spiritual creature in which there is a moral and spiritual renewal for good deeds, which God has prepared beforehand a path of good works that He will perform in and through us as we choose to walk by faith.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them

• You are redeemed and forgiven.

In Christ, through our belief in Him, we are in a permanent and continuous state of redemption (the setting us free from the slave market of sin; to no longer be prisoners; on release of the payment of a ransom), and the forgiveness (to bid go away or depart; the taking away of; has lost from God’s mind) of sins, into which we are brought and in which we live.

Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins

• You are a fellow citizen with the saints and of the household of God.

Whether Jew or Gentile, we are members of the same family of God, being entitled to the same privileges, and regarded by Him as His children.

Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God

• You are complete in Him.

This completeness includes the furnishing of men with all that is required for their present (i.e., to be richly furnished with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit³) salvation.

Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power

• You are known by the Lord.

We are marked by God so as to be recognized by Him as His; and this mark also serves as a perpetual reminder to us that we are not our own.⁴ This mark or impression serves to identify what is sealed, together with its owner, and to specify its purpose or function.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

• You are reconciled to God the Father.

For the unbeliever this reconciliation refers to a changed relationship between God and a lost world. The means of reconciliation is Jesus Christ, who was given as a propitiation for the sins of the world, which removed the rebellious and sinful man’s enmity toward God, thus satisfying His justice.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, …

Jesus has made it consistent for God to pardon. He has made atonement so that God can be just while He justifies the sinner, who repents and believes in His Son. Jesus, by the agency of His Spirit, overcomes the unwillingness of the sinner to be reconciled, humbles his pride, shows him his sin, changes his heart, subdues his enmity against God, and secures in fact a harmony of feeling and purpose between God and man, so that they shall be reconciled forever.⁵

2 Corinthians 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation

• You are translated into the kingdom of His Son.

God the Father rescued us from the dominion (the spiritual power by which mankind is held) of darkness and placed us in the kingdom of His Son.   

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son

• You are sanctified.

The will of God, which was for the sanctification of men, was accomplished through Jesus atonement for sins on the cross. When we believed in Christ, we were placed in a sanctified state meaning that we are in a permanent and continuous state of salvation⁶ into which we are brought and in which we live.

Hebrews 10:10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

• You have become an adopted son.

God in his foreknowledge knew beforehand who would freely believe in His Son for salvation, and it is on this basis that they are chosen. God implements a plan in time called predestination for whosoever will receive Him, with mankind (the elect) choosing to respond to God’s initiation for salvation. God takes a believing sinner regenerates him, and by means of this makes him His child (teknon, a born one). Then He takes this child and places him in a legal position as an adult (adopted) son (huios).⁷ The apostle here uses as an illustration the Roman practice of legally adopting a child, and thus not only bequeathing to him the material possessions of the one adopting, but also giving him his civil status.⁸

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

• You are ambassadors for Christ.

We have been brought into a permanent and continual state of ambassadorship (persons who represent someone else and who carried a message from the person whom they represented⁹).

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

• You are made righteous.

God the Father has made Christ to be a sin offering (the sin of the world, past, present, and future, were placed on Him meaning that He bore the punishment due to them in His body) for all mankind (in place of us), the purpose of which was so that those who believed in Him would be made the righteousness of God in Him. Another way of saying this is as Christ who was perfectly innocent, by a voluntary substitution, is treated As IF he were guilty, so we who believed in Him being guilty and who deserve to be punished, are treated, through His vicarious sufferings, as if we were perfectly innocent.¹⁰ Righteousness is not to be taken as a quality or habit received by us, but in the sense of that which is approved or acceptable by God. On the grounds of Christ’s righteousness (acceptability) to God the Father so, we also have become by faith righteous (acceptable) to God the Father.

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

• You are declared righteous.

Therefore, being justified (declared righteous; having been put right with God) by faith

(believing), we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, and are no longer threatened by His wrath.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

• You are the recipient of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

1. Baptized with the Spirit.

By the agency of the Holy Spirit, each of us has been suited to our appropriate place by means of the endowments (gifts) of the Spirit to constitute the body of Christ-the church.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

2. Sealed with the Holy Spirit:

When the Holy Spirit comes into our life, He is the seal (the stamp of ownership) indicating to God who is His. A seal can also refer to a down payment in the sense of having tasted the Spirit we have begun to taste the life of the future world that God had promised¹¹ us.

Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

3. Given gifts (spiritual endowments) by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts individually, to males and females, as He wishes.

1 Corinthians 12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

4. Provided security by His seal.

The Holy Spirit is God’s seal indicating that the transaction whereby the Son of God paid the penalty of human sin at the Cross is a finished transaction, and that God owns us as His property by right of purchase¹², until the day of redemption. Some say that the day of redemption refers to the rapture of the church, when we will meet the Lord in the clouds of the air not only receiving a glorified body at this time, but also rewards in regard to the spiritual quality of our works.

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

When we hear messages from those in leadership, they will vary greatly. However, hopefully these spiritual realities that have occurred in our life at salvation will be presented at various times from the pulpit reminding us of who we are and that what we have received can never be taken from us. There is a lot more that has taken place in our life at salvation that I’m sure we are unaware of. So, when you get a chance read these additional spiritual realities over again and pick out one or two of them for yourself to memorize and meditate upon thus reminding yourself of these eternal truths.

Again, I will ask this question. When I attend to the gathering of the saints, what should be going on there? The next thing that should happen there, is we should be learning about something that will help us to rely on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Do you think you know what this is? Let’s find out.

 

Reviews

[Spamalott]

Sorry, but everything you put forth here, and in following chapters, is undercut by a few basic, and unavoidable, points.

There've been about 1,000,000 deaths worldwide from Covid 19. And that ignores those who live on, crippled for life. So where is this kind and loving diety? There's no evidence that ANY religion has faired better than another. But if, as you say, God wants people to behave and believe as you say they should, And god cares, on an individual basis, there should be. Why follow what you claim are the rules only to find that your beloved, rule-following wife is dead of a disease that God sent?

And you can’t get around that by saying that all religions work, because atheists fare no worse—or better. So you have three possibilities:

1. There is no Supreme Being.
2, There is a Supreme Being and he doesn’t care.
3. There is a Supreme Being and he/she LIKES death and suffering.

And you can’t talk about going to a “better place,” and morn the dead. if you believed it was better you'd celebrate every death.

So in the end, let’s use your words:

1. “God should be someone who we depend on moment by moment.”

Yup, he should be, but there's not been one miraculous cure due to prayer. And good deeply religious people die of it at the same rate as devil worshipers. So by your words, he fails that test.

2. “He should be someone who helps us overcome the weaknesses of our flesh.”

I'm not sure that sending a plague that kills a million people counts as helping overcome weakness. You?

“He should be our closest friend.”

Friends don’t either sit by and let you die, or cause you to die.

So: In general, with church matters, there's no problem too big to be explained away with double-talk. But not this time. This time, praying doesn't work. Going to church gives you Covid. And, Faith is just as effective as Chloroquine.

[JayG]

• It gives them hope that when they die, they will go to a better place.

Dunno...seems to me that if people believed that, they would go around killing people to send them to that better place, especially if they're suffering. Sure, you'd go to hell, but look at all the good you'd be doing. It is a better place, right? And why punish murderers if they're really sending the person to a "better place?"