One of the annoyances the texting era has brought us is conversation carried on in strings of letters we’re supposed to understand. Even the most oblivious among us has probably mastered LOL (laugh out loud), and one of my personal favorites is BRB (be right back).
One that confused me for a while was IYKYK. There’s some irony there, because if you know what it means, you know that it means “If you know, you know.”
That’s not bad shorthand for the subject of assurance.
The catechism of the Global Methodist Church phrases it this way: “God’s spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” Like much of the catechism, the phrase immediately brings to mind several scriptures that assure us of the same thing. God himself gives us assurance of our pardon. IYKYK.
In Romans, Paul uses the metaphor comparing a slave to an adopted child. Both are members of a household. For the slave, though, membership in the household is limited and can be ended. For the adopted child, though, there is confidence of permanence.
In both Romans and Galatians, Paul speaks of the child crying, “Abba, Father,” using the term of intimacy that a small child would use to address a “real” parent. There is no hesitancy there, just the confident joy that a young son or daughter would express upon seeing its father. It is God who provides us the assurance that our newly restored relationship is real and lasting.
The assurance can come as an internal assurance. I recall the first time I truly felt God’s presence within me, I literally LOLed. (Unfortunately it happened at a funeral so it got me a few disapproving looks.)
Another way that assurance comes is presented in the first chapter of 2 Timothy, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” We are assured that God has saved us not just by what we feel, but by the visible change it makes.
Even Jesus, upon his baptism, was marked with a visible assurance from God, as the spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove and a voice said, “This is my son, with whom I am well pleased.”
At the risk of sounding negative, though, I have to admit that I, like most Christians I know, don’t always feel God’s presence in a powerful way. At times, I struggle to feel his presence at all.
Those difficult times are something we all experience. When they come is when the self-discipline Paul speaks of in Timothy comes in, as I have to remind myself that I’ve felt this before, and God has always been faithful to return his assurance to me, and will be again.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
From the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church:
60. How can we be assured of this pardon?
God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.
Romans 8:15-17 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Galatians 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith…
Galatians 4:6-7 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Ephesians 1:13-14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
2 Timothy 1:7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
Hebrews 10:15-17 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”
Book of Doctrines and Discipline, Paragraph 102 Read it here
61. Is salvation only pardon and assurance?
No. By regeneration, God renews us in righteousness through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
1 Corinthians 2:14-26 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 5:16-25 [Walk by the spirit. Lists acts of the flesh and fruits of the Spirit] Read it here
Ephesians 2:1-5 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
2 Peter 1:4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Confession of Faith, Article IX* We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe regeneration is the renewal of man in righteousness through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth the believer becomes reconciled to God and is enabled to serve him with the will and the affections. We believe, although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and fall into sin; and we may even then, by the grace of God, be renewed in righteousness.
*From the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the Global Methodist Church.