Reflections
But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3:18)
January
By
David A. DePra
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Hyperlink to Date |
Title |
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What
is Christianity? |
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I
Am the Life |
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All
in Christ |
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Crucified
With Christ |
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How
Christ Dwells in Us |
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Redemption |
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Light
is Come |
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It
is Finished |
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Repent
and Believe |
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Made
Unto Us Sanctification |
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Forming
of Christ Within |
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Freedom
from Self |
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All
the Fullness of God |
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How
God Speaks Today |
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Revelation
vs. Information |
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Governed
by the Spirit |
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The
Gospel Concerning His Son |
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True
Ministry |
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Overcoming |
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Victory
in Christ |
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One
Mediator |
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A
Personal Indwelling |
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I
Am the Vine |
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Edification
in Christ |
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A
New Covenant |
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Another
Gospel |
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Adjusted
to the Truth |
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The
Other Side of Travail |
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Faith
Comes by Hearing |
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The
Trial of Faith |
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Guided
Into All Truth |
What
is Christianity?
Of all of the numerous passages that could be presented as a short definition of Christianity, perhaps the best one is found in Colossians:
Christ
in you, the hope of glory. (Col
1:27)
Christianity is CHRIST IN US, or if you prefer, Paul often speaks of US being IN CHRIST. These are the same Truth. There is certainly much that could be added as to how Christ comes to dwell in the believer, and of the Christian walk that emerges from His presence in us. But in the end, our personal Christianity is founded upon whether Christ dwells in us. If Christ is in us, we are a Christian. We are saved. We are on a great spiritual journey. Everything about our Christianity – indeed, everything about the hope of eternal glory – depends upon Christ in us.
Jesus Christ did not come to give us a new, or better, form of religion. He did not come to replace law with grace. Neither did He come to begin a movement. Rather, Jesus came to give us HIMSELF. “Christ in you,” is, “the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” (Col. 1:26) “Christ in you,” is Christianity, the new birth, and the essence of the New Covenant. God has made Himself ONE with human beings through His Son, Jesus Christ.
I
Am the Life
In
him was life. (John 1:4)
If I put my faith upon Jesus Christ, I do not merely receive a THING
called, “eternal life.” I receive Christ Himself -- IN WHOM there is all life.
Jesus Christ is THE LIFE. (John
14:6) Thus, if Christ is in me, I
am alive – in Him. If He is not in me, then I am spiritually dead.
Many professing Christians limit salvation to what amounts to a new legal classification. The doctrine of justification by faith rightly states that because Christ died for us, that if we put our faith in Him, then not only are all of our sins imputed to Him, but all of His righteousness is imputed to us. This is legally correct. But there is more. If we place our faith in Christ, yes, God legally imputes to us His righteousness. But more than this, God imparts to us Christ Himself – Christ in us is why we are alive -- He IS our life. Likewise, because Christ is righteous, He is our righteousness. In short, Christ in us is ALL to us.
Christ is our life – this is not merely some legal classification or
doctrinal position. Indeed, the saint is to learn to live from out of Christ,
instead of from out of themselves. Paul said, “The just shall live FROM OUT OF
faith.” (Rom. 1:16)
There is no life from God except it be received and lived out from the
Person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
All
in Christ
Christianity is, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) And IN CHRIST God has freely given us all things:
He
that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? (Rom
8:32; see also Eph. 1:3)
It is so easy to chop up Christianity into THINGS or doctrines. But in the end, Christianity is the Living Jesus Christ in us. Thus, Christian growth is the revelation of Christ to us, and the forming of Christ in us. Indeed, God has given us ALL things freely in Christ – in Christ is all that God HAS to give. As we grow to know Christ – and He is formed in us – all that God has given to us IN HIM unfolds.
Here we find the essential place of doctrine:
Christ does not emerge from a list of teaching.
Rather, teaching must emerge from Christ – the living Christ Who is IN
US. This is exactly what scripture teaches, and the Bible will
always agree with God’s revelation of Christ in us.
Much error in Christianity is the result of departing from Christ as
being the source of all to the believer.
Paul, the apostle certainly knew that Jesus Christ was crucified FOR him. The fact that Jesus died FOR us – tasted death for every person – is an absolute fact and the foundation of the redemption. But it is precisely because Christ died FOR us that Paul was able to make this statement:
I
am crucified with Christ. (Gal.
2:20)
If Jesus merely died FOR us, then we could be legally forgiven.
But our old man in Adam would not be crucified in Him.
The body of sin would not be destroyed.
(Rom. 6:6) That means we
would remain in bondage to the old. And
there would be no new life possible.
Only if I am crucified WITH Christ does a death take place in me
regarding my old man in Adam. Otherwise, His death has no impact upon me other than a legal
means of forgiveness.
Because Jesus died for us, we can DIE IN HIM.
And only if we die in Christ can we be raised in Him.
This is the basis for all freedom from sin, and victory over Satan. True faith will therefore embrace this Truth and realize
that, yes, Christ died FOR us, but we are also, “crucified WITH Christ.”
It is finished.
How does Jesus Christ dwell in a person? Not physically, but spiritually. Paul says:
He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (with Him). (1 Cor 6:17)
A Christian is a person in whom Christ dwells – one who is, “joined to the Lord.” The Greek word for, “joined,” could rightly be translated, “glued, or cemented.” We are being told that Jesus Christ has made us one with Himself – our human spirit has been joined with His Spirit. This is HOW Christ is IN US; it is HOW we are in Christ.
If we are joined to Christ, then we are joined to all that is in Christ
– we are joined to LIFE HIMSELF. This
is why we are alive. We are not
given a THING or a classification called, “life.”
No. We are given Christ, who
IS our life.
Once we are joined to the Lord, the Christian life is then a matter of
growing to discover Him; of having Him formed in us.
It is a matter of the Living Person of Christ coming to govern us and
manifest Himself through us. But
none of that is possible unless we are first joined to the Lord and He is our
life.
Redemption is the restoration of all things under God – central to
which is the restoration of man back to God.
God finished this restoration in and through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The way back to God is not by adopting a body of teaching. It is not by finding a religion with which I can be comfortable. It is not by finding the right spiritual guru and submitting myself to him. The only way back to God is through THE WAY – Jesus Christ. I am restored back to God only if Jesus Christ makes Himself one with me personally – only if Christ dwells in me; only if I am joined to Him spiritually.
Do not confuse the words, “redemption,” or, “restoration,” with
the word, “repair.” Jesus did
not come to repair, cure, or fix the old creation.
He did not bring the Adam race back to life AS the Adam race.
Rather, Jesus came to put a final end to the Adam race and the old
creation, and thus, usher in a NEW creation.
If any man be IN CHRIST, he is a NEW creation. Old things are passed away….all things have become NEW. (II Cor. 5:17)
I’m not sure there could be any statement that expresses the finality of the Redemption. Death and resurrection are unto a new creation. Old things have been left behind in death – making it possible for us to be restored back to God.
Any gospel that does not tell the Truth about the lost condition of man,
and his need to be saved from it, is a false gospel.
Any gospel that denies the sin nature denies the need for the Cross.
John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
Truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8)
The Truth will expose our lost condition.
God exposes the Truth about us so that we might see the Truth about HIM
– that He is our only Savior. God
is redemptive God and all that He does is towards that end.
Yet it is possible for people to refuse the Truth.
John writes:
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3:19-20)
The basis for condemnation is the refusal of light – a refusal to see
and confess the Truth about myself – about my evil nature, and thus, my need
for Christ. Refuse to confess the
Truth about your need, and you will NOT value the Truth about the Savior.
Today confession of sin and repentance are considered to be deterrents to
our self-esteem. In God’s mind, they are an embracing of the Truth about
ourselves, and about the One who saved us from sin. You cannot begin with God unless you begin in Truth.
Confession is the result of standing in the light and Truth of Jesus
Christ.
God never tells us to win any victory.
He tells us to hold fast, and stand in, by faith, the finished victory of
Jesus Christ. This Truth is not
only fundamental to faith, but is the basis for all spiritual warfare.
It is because it is finished, and God gives it all freely in His Son,
that we need not fight to win. Rather,
we must fight to stand.
Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord…that ye may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil…that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all, to stand. Stand
therefore…(Eph 6:10-14)
What this tells us is that overcoming is not a matter of doing the right thing, or of finding the right answer. No. Overcoming is a matter of faith in the right Person.
There are practical outworkings of a stand by faith:
I must lose my life to Jesus Christ to find true life.
In doing so, I am losing the life that was finished at the Cross -- but
finding the life that began at the resurrection.
Never think that victory is possible while holding onto our own lives.
No. That is actually a guarantee for defeat.
Victorious life is His life, and He is my life only if I first relinquish
myself to Him.
Repent
and Believe
“Repent and believe,” were the first three words of the gospel,
coming from John the Baptist, and then Jesus.
(see Mark 1:15) Indeed, they capture that which is necessary to be saved.
Ask: Repent of what?
Repent of primarily of the sin of unbelief – of the sin of not
believing. Since Jesus already died
for all of my sin, then the one sin that can keep me from Him is the sin of
refusing to come to Him. Thus, the
one sin we must repent of in order to come to Jesus is this same sin of
neglecting to come to Jesus. This
is the sin of unbelief. And if we
do repent of unbelief, then we will – BELIEVE.
Likewise, if we believe, we are doing so only because we have repented of
unbelief. Repent of unbelief and
come to Christ and all of your other sins find resolution in Him.
Repentance is a change of moral mind and heart towards God.
I repent of the sin of standing aloof of Christ, and in doing so, turn to
Him by faith. I am then in touch
with the One who died for all of my other sins.
One of the greatest errors among Christian people is the notion that
sanctification is the result of God acting upon us to make us, “look like
Jesus” -- or that sanctifiction is the result of US building in ourselves a
Christ-likeness. No.
Both are error.
WE will never, “look like Jesus.” Rather, WE are to come under the work of the Cross so that the Christ who dwells in us might be made manifest through us. Note the distinction – this is not US looking like Jesus. It is Jesus manifested through us.
Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I -- but Christ.” (Gal. 2:20) He also said, “Always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that the life also of the Lord Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal bodies.” (II Cor. 4:10) It is never that saints are to be molded to look like Christ. It is always Christ Himself being seen in the saint.
Paul said, “But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
That, according as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the
Lord.“ (1 Cor 1:29-31) What is
sanctification? Sanctification is
NOT us being made to look like Christ. Rather,
sanctification is Christ – being seen in and through a saint.
The Treasure in an earthen vessel never makes the earthen vessel to be a
treasure. No. The Treasure remains the Treasure and the earthen vessel
remains the earthen vessel. But the
earthen vessel is privileged to be broken so that the Treasure might be seen:
“He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
Paul said, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until
Christ be formed in you.“ (Gal
4:19) The word translated,
“formed,” means, “to inwardly realize or express.”
In short, Paul desired for saints to inwardly realize and express the
Christ who dwells in them.
Paul TRAVAILED that Christ might be formed in the saints.
This reflected God’s mind in His inspired Word.
Thus, we might ask: Is this
our travail? The travail of the
churches? To the contrary, most
saints today are completely blind to the reality of Christ in us.
Paul also said, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to
be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren.” (Rom 8:29) The
Greek for, “conformed,” ought to read, “formed together.”
Thus, we are not made into a copy of Christ. But rather, as Christ is formed in us, we are more and more
formed together with Him -- changed so that can we live in our oneness with Him.
If saints would grasp these few Truths – that Christianity is Christ in
us, and that God’s purpose through Christ is to bring into an inward
realization of Him, so that He can form us together with Him -- then our entire
concept of Christianity would change. No
longer would it be about us, or about us doing things for God.
It would be about Christ, and us growing to know Him.
Thus, in turn, would change everything about our lives.
Scripture tells us that Christ must be formed in us.
This means God wants us to inwardly realize and know Christ.
But it is vital to also grasp what it does NOT mean.
To have Christ formed in me is not SELF-realization.
The goal of God is not to bolster self-esteem, help me find the, “real
me,” or to enhance my focus on MYSELF. Actually,
the more Christ is formed in me, the more I will be set free from my obsession
with myself. I will leave myself
alone. Why?
Because I will see HIM. He
is just that great.
Christianity is not self-knowledge.
It is Christ-knowledge. Neither
is Christianity a matter of God making us to look LIKE Jesus – so that we can
take pride in ourselves, or finally be at ease with ourselves.
No. Christianity is Christ
IN US, manifesting Himself through us. In
a word, it is exactly what Paul said, “Yet NOT I, but CHRIST.”
(Gal. 2:20) But what I am
describing is utterly contrary to our natural make-up.
We barely even have a frame of reference for this Truth.
Yet all of it is accomplished, not by fixing what what ails us so that we
look like Jesus. It is accomplished
if we DIE, and if we are raised – then then come to realize HIM. Once we begin to know the Truth, we will be set free from our
continual fussing with ourselves. We
can walk with HIM.
For in him dwells all the fullness of Diety bodily. And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Col 2:9-10)
The epistle to the Colossians is about Christ as the fullness of God for
the saint. Read the first two
chapters. Again and again we read,
“In Him; through Him; by Him, etc.” Indeed,
in chapter 2 we are warned against believing that there is anything, or anyone,
that God has given in addition to His Son.
We are warned against being drawn to another source.
We are later told, “Christ, who is our LIFE.”
(Col. 3:4) If Christ is our
life, then in Him is ALL for the saint.
Paul writes, “In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge.” (Col. 2:3)
As Christ is formed and unfolded to the believer, the wisdom and
knowledge, indeed, all that is in Him, is likewise unfolded.
These are all HIDDEN in Him – He must first be realized and known and
experienced.
God has wrapped up all that He has for man in Christ.
This is why Paul says, “You are complete IN HIM – and in Him the
fullness of God dwells.” (Col.
2:8-9) Note that: In
Christ is ALL THE FULLNESS of God, and Christ is IN US.
Does that sound like there is something in addition to Christ that God
has for man? No.
In fact, much of Colossians 2 is a warning against the error that God has
added something to Christ.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. (Heb 1:1-2)
How does God speak today? Through signs and wonders? By the means of voices in our head? By leading us around to do this or do that? According to the Bible, God today is primarily speaking to us by His Son. Look up the Greek and you will see that it really reads, “God is speaking to us Son-wise.”
We are being told that God is revealing to us Himself and His will by
revealing to us Christ. Primarily, this is not a matter of messages and information
sent from heaven. Rather, it is a
matter of forming Christ in us – of us coming to realize the Person of Christ.
Realize Christ and know Him and you are going to know His will.
That is the way God usually works.
Imagine what a shallow Christianity it would be if God simply gave us
directions and information -- but we were completely blind to the Person of His
Son – who dwells in us. No.
God wants us to KNOW HIM. He
is today primarily speaking to us, “Son-wise,” that is, revealing all things
to us through the inward realization of His Son IN US.
When we are in great difficulty and suffering, it is natural for us to
appeal to God for information – what we ought to do, or not do, in order to
get out of the suffering. We would
at least like to know the reason for our suffering.
But almost all of the time when we make this appeal to God He is silent
about these matters.
The purpose of God is not to give us information – not even information
ABOUT Christ. Rather, God wants to give us a revelation OF Christ.
Even more, according to scripture, the purpose of God is to reveal Christ
IN US.
Paul said, “God revealed His Son IN ME.”
(Gal. 1:16) His prayer for
the saints was that God, “may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Eph
1:17-18)
This was the purpose for which Job suffered.
He says it outright at the conclusion of his ordeal:
Then Job answered the LORD, and said, “I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withheld from You…therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not….I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye sees You. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6)
Job never saw the answers he wanted.
But He saw God. His suffering was the means by which God built the faith in
him so that he was able to see God Himself.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom 8:14)
Paul is not here talking about LEADINGS.
He is not saying that if you are a child of God that God is going to
continually feed you information and directions.
It isn’t that God never speaks to us, but this isn’t what Paul is
talking about. The translation should be, “For as many as are GOVERNED by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
To be governed by the Spirit of God is to be governed by the life and
knowledge of Jesus Christ – for that is what Jesus said the Spirit would do:
Testify, glorify, and lead us into the Truth of Christ.
If I am governed by the Christ through His Spirit, I will know His will,
and will know what is the Truth and what is error.
It would be a shallow Christianity if we merely got directions from God but did not know God Himself. And yet a focus on leadings often leaves us shallow. God may lead us. But His real purpose is that we know Jesus and live FROM Him as our very life.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 1:1-3)
The gospel is a proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.
Included in the proclamation of Christ must be Christ crucified, Christ
raised, and Christ as Lord. Omit
any of these and it is not the true gospel.
In addition, the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ IN US, the hope
of glory. In short, the
gospel is the whole Truth of Christ.
This might seem too simplistic to mention.
But there have always been subtle substitutes for the true gospel.
For example, there are those who teach that our faith must be in the
Cross – that it must be in the historical act of redemption that Christ
finished on the Cross. But this is
not the Truth. Our faith is to be
in the Person of Christ – in the One who actually died on that Cross, and who
dwells in us NOW.
Faith in the living Christ NOW does not omit or diminish what He has done.
But it is faith, not merely in the work He did, but faith in the One who
did that work – and who today is the embodiment of all that it means. Jesus Christ IS Christ crucified. Jesus Christ IS Christ raised.
Faith in Christ that is according to the Truth includes faith in what He
has done. But it is faith in HIM.
Our faith is to be in the living Christ who dwells in us NOW.
He IS our resurrection and life. He
contains the fullness of these realities – and He dwells in us. You cannot separate the Person of Christ from what He has
done.
True ministry is not things we do for God, or things we do in the name of Jesus. Rather, true ministry is the result of the forming of Christ in us, and thus, of the life of Christ being manifested through us. Much ministry today is natural man performing religious works. That is why there is no real spiritual power, but only soul power.
Paul said, “We have this ministry…..always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our body. For we which live are
always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So
then death works in us, but life in you. (2 Cor. 4:1,10-12)
“Death works in us, but life in you.”
That is ministry. It is not merely study or training or the giving of sermons.
Rather, it is a person who is under the work of the Cross, through which
Christ is being formed in them. The
result is that there is life in them – the life of Christ that ministers to
others.
Jesus Christ has already won every victory there is to win.
Consequently, when the Bible speaks of the necessity for a saint to
overcome, it is not talking about overcoming that which Christ has already
defeated. Christ defeated Satan,
and bore every sin ever committed by every human being.
But if this is the case, then what must a believer overcome?
It should be obvious to any believer that despite the finished and full
victory of Jesus Christ that we do not seem to be able to live in much of that
victory. If Christ has won all
victory, and has freely given us all, then why aren’t we automatically living
in that victory? Well, herein is the need to overcome. We are called to overcome – not the forces that Jesus
already defeated – but we are called to overcome the UNBELIEF that would keep
us from standing in His finished victory. And
there is only one way to overcome unbelief:
By believing. That is
why John is able to say, “For whoever is born of God overcomes the world: and
this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. “(1 John 5:4)
“The world,” includes all that is of the earthly realm – which is
the ground of Satan, and the realm to which belongs the old man in Adam.
We are to overcome, not by turning and fighting Satan and sin, but we are
to overcome by relying and relinquishing our entire selves to the One in whom
there is all victory.
Death is swallowed up in victory….thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 15:54-57)
Victory is not handed to us merely BECAUSE of Christ – as a THING.
No. Rather, all victory is
IN the Person of Jesus Christ. In
short, God doesn’t give us a victory – He gives us Christ – whose very
presence in us is the victory.
The only real victory in all of God’s creation is that of the
resurrection life of Jesus Christ. And
the victory of that life is total. The
good news is that if I am a believer, Jesus Christ dwells in me.
His resurrection life is my life.
It is a fact that when we are saved, we are fully in His victory.
But how do we come to live in it? Well,
if His life is victory, then He must become our life, or to put it another way,
we must, by faith live FROM OUT OF Christ as our life.
We must lose our lives in order to find HIM as our life – and if we do,
we are finding that victorious resurrection life.
Victory is a not a matter of finding the right, “how to,” or the
right religious principles. It is a matter of faith – losing ourselves in order to find
Christ as our life.
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim 2:5)
A, “mediator,” is a proxy; one who connects two parties. Jesus Christ is the sole Mediator between the believer and God. If Christ is in us, then by His very presence in us, we are joined to both Him and the Father.
Now, notice what this means: It
means that there must NEVER be introduced anyone or anything into our
relationship with God who acts as ANOTHER mediator.
There are no mediators in addition to Christ – there is no one
who can enhance our personal access and relationship with God.
In short, our access to God is NOT dependent upon our relationship with
another. We do not have to,
“submit,” to another in order to maintain access to God.
We do not have to belong to the right group, or the right church, or be
under the supposed authority of the right leader, to be right with God.
Anyone who teaches otherwise is a false teacher.
This is basic Truth.
Christianity is CHRIST IN YOU. Get
that: Christ IN YOU.
Thus, the very definition and meaning of Christianity – the very
definition of Christianity reveals that you are already personally and
individually ONE with God through Christ. Your
access is personal and complete – through the very presence of our one
Mediator in us.
These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:26-27)
John is not against ministry, but is here speaking AS a minister.
All true ministry will get people into business with Jesus Christ for
themselves. This will not foster
division and independence, but will result in true unity.
True unity is the result of EACH believer abiding in the Vine in a
personal way. Then, as the result
of that, they can abide in each other according to Christ.
This Truth is so vital that John says he is writing it, “concerning
them that seduce you.” Indeed, if we look down through Christian history, one of the
oft-repeated errors is the notion that we cannot keep right with God unless we
belong to, or submit to, someone who claims to be our authority under God.
No. All of the branches are
to abide in the same Vine – individually.
Then, because EACH of the branches are all abiding in the same Vine,
there will be unity. And real
ministry will teach believers how to abide in Christ in a personal, living way
– thus edifying the entire Body IN HIM.
I am the Vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Christianity, at the basis, is Christ in us. This begins with the individual. The individual has a personal and one-on-one relationship with Christ – Christ dwells first in the individual. All unity, and all the functioning of the Body of Christ, is dependent upon the relationship of Christ with the individual.
There have always been those who would corrupt this Truth by saying that
the believer’s personal relationship with Christ is dependent upon whether
they are first right with the Body – i.e., abiding in the other branches --
submitted, etc. The word, “interdependent,” is sometimes used.
This is a lie and the stuff of which cults are made.
We see the Truth in these simple words of Jesus.
He is the ONE VINE. We are
the MANY BRANCHES. He does not
address the branches as a body at this point.
No. The individual is a
branch – and the branches are not to first abide, i.e., live in, the other
branches. No.
Rather, each branch is to live in a personal, one-on-one relationship
with the one Vine. This is the only
way in which the braches will have a relationship with each other that is
according to Christ.
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (Eph 4:11-12)
To EDIFY in Christ is to BUILD UP in Christ.
This speaks of ministry that serves as spiritual food for the forming of
Christ in us. It is folly to think
that this can somehow happen only on a group level.
It cannot even begin to bring greater life on a corporate level unless it
is first happening on an individual level.
Christ is first in the individual. If
Christ is formed in the individual first, then this will increase the spiritual
health of the entire Body of Christ.
Ministry is not a matter of studying books and passing on the
information. To be edified in
Christ is not a matter of absorbing that information and increasing in
theological knowledge. Rather,
ministry is a matter of a person giving themselves personally over to Christ so
that His life might be made manifest. This
can then take the shape of teaching, etc., but the spiritual fabric will be much
different than mere information – it will carry the very life of the One of
whom it speaks.
Edification in Christ is a matter of being built up IN CHRIST – through
the personal inward revelation of Himself to me.
All ministry that is of God is unto this end.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. (Heb 8:10-11)
What constitutes the New Covenant? The
New Covenant is essentially CHRIST IN US – it is Jesus Christ in the
individual. He is the
personification of God’s law; the righteousness of God in a Person.
Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant.
(Heb. 12:24) This speaks of
much more than a work He accomplished. Rather,
it speaks of His very life and presence in us.
In short, if Christ is in us, we are in the New Covenant. If we are joined to Him through His Spirit, we are joined to
God.
The New Covenant is not merely a covenant of grace – although
certainly, grace is a fundamental characteristic.
Rather, the New Covenant is the covenant of new life in Jesus Christ;
that of a new creation in Him. Through
Christ, God has not given us a new or different religion.
He has given us new life in His Son.
How would you define, “legalism?”
The Bible uses the term, “under the law.”
It speaks of trying to maintain my righteousness before God through
law-keeping, or really, on the basis of anything about myself.
The essential of, “righteousness,” is all through the NT.
But don’t think of the Truth about it as merely a theological tenet.
No. Righteousness is
essential for relationship with God. It
must be addressed and resolved. Legalism
falsely resolves the need for righteousness by finding the solution in man –
there is something found in man that is presented as that basis of righteousness
– my works, my theological beliefs, the church I belong to, my sincerity, my
character, my serving, etc. But the
Bible calls all of this ANOTHER GOSPEL. (Gal.
1:6-7)
Note that. Legalism is not merely, “Christianity with a little too
much law.” It is not Christianity
– but with a little false teaching. No.
Rather, legalism is a false Christianity.
It is ANOTHER GOSPEL – in other words, a FALSE gospel.
Believers need to take these things seriously.
Paul said, “Christ is of
no effect for those who are under the law.”
(Gal. 5:4) He said, “If
righteousness comes by law-keeping, Christ died in vain.”
(Gal. 2:21) Have we realized
that legalism – this false gospel – is actually a subtle religious denial of
Jesus Christ?
No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (2 Pet 1:20)
This verse has been made to mean by Roman Catholics that the church has
the right of interpretation for the individual.
But that is not the meaning. Peter
is simply saying that I cannot adjust the Truth
to fit myself personally. Rather,
I must be adjusted to fit the Truth. And
the fact is, we are ultimately going to do one or the other.
All of us have fallen into the trap of accepting whatever feeds us – if
something feeds me, then this must be the Truth.
No. Error feeds the flesh. The
Truth will often be an offense to our flesh.
Thus, only God can convict a person of the Truth.
There are many examples of cults and false movements that are built upon
the violation of this one verse: Emanuel
Swedenborg (1688-1772), Joseph Smith (The Mormons), Charles Taze Russell
(Jehovah’s Witnesses), and many others.
All of them said that
God has revealed the Truth through only THEM.
No. Anyone who makes such
claims is a heretic. Some of them
claimed special visitations from angels, or even Jesus Himself. Yet despite the fact that each of these people claim special
revelation from God, what they teach is from out of themselves, or the evil one.
They are deceived by the their own unbelief and have deceived others.
The doctrines that emerge from these deluded men are differ as to error.
But each of them in some way deny the identity of Jesus Christ as God
Incarnate, the only Savior of the world. They
have taken the Truth and adjusted it to fit themselves.
There is no end to the possibilities of spiritual disaster once we do
this.
Truth cannot come from out of man. Truth
comes through revelation from God. But
I have no right to interpret scripture according to myself.
I must allow God to adjust and change ME according to the Truth.”
Why? Because the Truth is a
Person. Adjust Him according to
myself and I have created a Christ in my own image.
A
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow…but as soon as she is delivered of
the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into
the world. (John 16:21)
When we are suffering, our attention is upon the suffering.
But Jesus is reminding us that something is being birthed that will, in
that day of birth, change our perspective.
He is talking about a new revelation of Himself through suffering. “You cannot see the Truth now.
But you will. Hold fast by
faith until that day.” In one
sense of the word, the fullness of what suffering will birth will never be
evident here. But in the eternal
ages it will be released into the fullness that God intended.
Faith
Comes by Hearing
So
then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
(Rom 10:17)
Paul says, “Faith comes….” Note
the implication: Faith must COME
– faith must come to be IN ME. That
means that it is not in me to begin with. Faith
is not of ourselves – there is nothing in a human being, by nature, that can
engender faith, as God defines faith.
This ought to tell us that it is futile to try to muster up faith from
out of ourselves. Many of us do
this to try to please God. But we
cannot do it – true faith must come to be in me.
Faith must COME.
How does true faith come to be in me?
By hearing the Word of God. “The
Word of God,” is any revelation God gives us of Jesus Christ – all of which
will, of course, agree with scripture. God
today is primarily, “speaking to us in His Son.”
Once we recognize that God is speaking to us, and we then, “hear
Him,” that is, embrace and surrender to what He is speaking, this will give
birth to faith. That is how faith
comes, and it is the only way it comes to be in a person.
The ramifications of this Truth are immense. If the Truth God speaks to me is that which gives birth to
faith, then the faith that is engendered can be only for the Truth that engendered
it. In short, I cannot have true
faith for anything other than the Truth. Faith
in error, or faith that is of myself, is not true faith.
It is deception.
It is a great comfort to know that it is not up to us to gender faith.
Rather, it is up to us to HEAR. Thus,
rather than ask God for more faith, we ought to ask Him for more of the Truth in
Christ Jesus. Hear that, and faith
will come.
It is possible to believe God for certain things – if He has promised
them -- but primarily, all faith comes back to a reliance upon God Himself –
that He is faithful. That one Truth
– that God is faithful to us personally – is going to be tried and proven
over and over again. (see I Pet.
1:7) What is called, “a trial of
your faith,” is also a proving of the Truth upon which faith is built.
If the Truth upon which my faith is based is proven to BE TRUE, then my
faith will be strengthened.
God is a redemptive God. All
that He does is unto that end. The
trial of faith is never to trip us up – although Satan may try to use it for
that purpose. No. God’s intention in any trial of faith is to build faith by
proving the Truth upon which it is based. And
the primary Truth of all is that of the faithfulness of God through Jesus
Christ. If that is proven, the
building of our faith will follow.
Jesus Christ promised that when the Holy Spirit was given that a primary
purpose would be to guide believers into all the Truth.
(John 16:13) But we must not limit this to merely an understanding of
Bible verses, or the ability to develop a correct theology.
No. Jesus Christ is the
Truth. In short, being guided into
all Truth means that we will be guided into a knowledge of Jesus Christ that
will set us free from all error.
To be guided into all Truth will eventually result in BEING MADE TRUE
UNTO GOD. I will know the Truth and
that Truth will alter me so that I can walk in the Light as He is in the Light.
This is THE true relationship. It
sounds funny, but the Truth makes it possible for us to walk with the Truth in
the one True relationship.
But again – this is not a matter of being fed true information.
Indeed, if I am to be guided into all Truth, it will be necessary to have
all of the untruth about me exposed. Do
you want to be made true unto God? Then
expect that all that is untrue about you – false faith, attitudes, motives,
and beliefs – must be exposed for what they are.
All God wants to do is tell the Truth about us so that we can, in turn,
say the same Truth back to Him – which is the meaning of confession.
This will make us true unto Him – not because of anything about us –
because we will have then been adjusted to, and set free by, the Truth Himself.