26 May Now…and yet to come…but mostly ‘now’
26 May 2026
Most of us live pretty close to our calendars. Whether or not you’re still in the work force, there are schedules to keep, appointments to remember, birthdays & anniversaries to celebrate, holidays to keep in mind… timetables, to-do lists, and medicine to take at appointed times…And for the most part our schedules are for the “now,” the current day or week. We know life is often volatile or uncertain so we live in short term blocks of time. Things change quickly & so we think in the near term rather than long term.
As followers of Jesus we have the wonderful opportunity to live both in the now and in the yet-to-come. What do I mean? Well…in Romans 6 Paul writes: 3 Have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may walk in newness of life. 5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.
The question Paul’s originally answering is a curious one…“Since God responded to our sin with grace, should we sin more to receive more of God’s grace?” To that, he says “No” in the strongest possible terms. But he follows that up with what we have in Romans 6:3-5. In glorious terms Paul describes the effect of baptism: we die & are raised with Christ. In our dying & rising with Christ we have, first, a new now: we “walk in newness of life.” Our baptism changes our lives immediately. Freed from the power of sin & death we can live the effect of our salvation from baptism onward. We are now no longer slaves to serving our own desires or what we perceive as our own best interests. We are clothed in Jesus as he dwells in us by his Holy Spirit. We are baptized into the church, we have a whole new family, a whole new mission for our lives (Christ mission of proclaiming his rule in word & deed), and a whole new set of strengths & gifts to offer within the church & to the world to reveal the goodness & grace & glory of God. Right now we can live in growing imitation of him. We are given a new “now.”
But I reckon too many of us were taught that baptism was a “yet-to-come” gift. It forgives me for my eternal good & life with Jesus in heaven after I die. That’s verse 5. Yes indeed, as Christ was raised beyond the clutches of death, we will be too because we are united to him in baptism. But in between the “now” and the “yet-to-come,” there’s work to be done, a gospel to be shared & lived in a world that still rejects God’s claim on all of it, and lives to be blessed in the name of Jesus by our hands & hearts & gifts.
In Christ, we get both “now” (now we also may walk in newness of life) and “yet-to-come” (we will also be raised to life as he was). Look at your calendar…your weekly to-do list. Jesus has claimed control of it for his purposes. Now think about your “yet-to-come” life…He has that already in his hands. So…where will you invest yourself this week?
Let’s keep working on the now…and celebrate the yet-to-come…but focus on the ‘now’
- Sunday May 31st – our worship & teaching theme this week: What if God really could…Make you strong? Let’s not hide our weaknesses, or pretend they have the last word over us. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. – 2 Corinthians 12:9B – Jesus does not lift us out of our weaknesses. He joins us to strengthen us in them.
- Sunday June 7th – Biggest Morning Tea & Giving Beyond Ourselves for the Cancer Council! Thank you in advance! This is always a fantastic morning together!
- Saturday June 13th – LWF Prayer Morning at our house. Starting at 10:00 .a.m. I’ll have the coffee pot fired up & ready to pour, and we can pour out our hearts to God for his great blessing & grace.
- Saturday June 20th – We’re hosting a Regional Gathering for our gospel co-workers in the CrossLink Christian Network. From about 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. we’ll have about 20 people from around NSW gathered to pray, worship, learn & catch God’s vision for his church moving into the next years of life together as a Network. We’ve been asked to provide morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. I’ll say “Thank you” now…Some of our guests will be staying over & worshipping with us on Sunday the 21stwhich is our 13thbirthday! I still marvel at how God continues to bless us! And it looks like he isn’t finished yet!
Looking forward to seeing you all Sunday!
John
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