All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Christ Lives in Us
Galatians 2:20-21: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
By the new birth, God brings us forth from death in sin into life and righteousness in Christ. It's an effective and real change, as we have seen. From hence, we begin an entirely new life. How do we live this new life?
According to the Gospel, living in Christ, after we are born again, is the essence of the Christian life. Jesus used the parable of the vine and its branches in John 15 to illustrate this truth very well. We read in John 15:4-5: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Thus, the true essence of Christianity is life in Christ – the life of Christ lived in us and nothing else – absolutely not our self-righteous efforts. Without Christ, except we are in Him, we cannot live the Christian life. It is a mystery, but one we welcome since in it is man’s only hope of rescue from the universal condition of spiritual death which the human race inherited from Adam and Eve after the Fall in the Garden of Eden.
It is interesting that the Tree of Life was in the Garden of Eden but did not attract man, nor did the devil suggest to man to eat of its fruit as a means to become like God. Instead, the devil deceived man into thinking he could become like God, if he chose a path that was independent from God and even contrary to the will of God by attaining the knowledge of self-righteousness by eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the outcome of man’s deception was spiritual death, not the life of godliness he expected.
Undoubtedly, the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was a type of Christ and the life He offers for our godly living. To this day it seems that man continues to face the same deception to reject Christ and the life of righteousness God offers by grace in Christ and choose instead a path to godliness on his own, independent from God and His grace, by pursuing the knowledge of the law, ethics, self-righteousness, philosophy, traditions, and so on.
Many professing Christians are being cheated and robbed of experiencing the fullness of the Christian life in Christ because they listen to all other voices except that of God in His word. The result is they pursue a godly life with frustrating failures because they are not pursuing it in Christ according to the word of God. Paul warns us in Colossians 2:8-10: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
True Christianity is not lived by trying to do the best we can in imitating the life of Christ but by Christ living His life in us. Anyone who is struggling in an effort to live the Christian life will find tremendous relief by coming to the realization of this truth. “You are complete in Him.” You need nothing else but Him. You need to do nothing else but abide in Him and let Him live in you.
There is no genuine Christianity without Christ. Man may succeed in developing and adopting a religious form of Christianity on his own self-righteous efforts. But it will lack the real power of godliness which can only be produced by the indwelling Christ-life.
This is all related to the main theme of our discussions that we need the grace of God to help us in our Christian walk from beginning to end. Many of us who in one way or the other have known the bitter frustrations of trying to live the Christian life by our own zeal and efforts know how we welcomed with relief this good news of the Gospel when it shed its light on us and brought us liberty and victory in Christ.
Christianity is a life, which we receive by grace when we are born again of the Spirit of God into God's offspring. It is not a way of life we learn to live by following religious traditions and laws. According to the Scriptures, not even the Law of Moses, the most venerable moral code in human cultures, can produce true righteousness in those who try to adhere to it. And that is the reason why Christ is central to Christianity. Civilization with all of its years of development has not made sinful man righteous. Instead, it has simply produced civilized ways of practicing even more atrociously the vilest of ancient vices.
The laws and commandments of religion and men do not enable us to overcome sin. But God by grace and in Christ has given us a better hope of deliverance from sin. “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:18-19).
Father, I thank you for your wisdom and love in designing so great a salvation. I accept it. Help me not to neglect it. And so, I declare with your word I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
By the new birth, God brings us forth from death in sin into life and righteousness in Christ. It's an effective and real change, as we have seen. From hence, we begin an entirely new life. How do we live this new life?
According to the Gospel, living in Christ, after we are born again, is the essence of the Christian life. Jesus used the parable of the vine and its branches in John 15 to illustrate this truth very well. We read in John 15:4-5: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Thus, the true essence of Christianity is life in Christ – the life of Christ lived in us and nothing else – absolutely not our self-righteous efforts. Without Christ, except we are in Him, we cannot live the Christian life. It is a mystery, but one we welcome since in it is man’s only hope of rescue from the universal condition of spiritual death which the human race inherited from Adam and Eve after the Fall in the Garden of Eden.
It is interesting that the Tree of Life was in the Garden of Eden but did not attract man, nor did the devil suggest to man to eat of its fruit as a means to become like God. Instead, the devil deceived man into thinking he could become like God, if he chose a path that was independent from God and even contrary to the will of God by attaining the knowledge of self-righteousness by eating the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And the outcome of man’s deception was spiritual death, not the life of godliness he expected.
Undoubtedly, the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden was a type of Christ and the life He offers for our godly living. To this day it seems that man continues to face the same deception to reject Christ and the life of righteousness God offers by grace in Christ and choose instead a path to godliness on his own, independent from God and His grace, by pursuing the knowledge of the law, ethics, self-righteousness, philosophy, traditions, and so on.
Many professing Christians are being cheated and robbed of experiencing the fullness of the Christian life in Christ because they listen to all other voices except that of God in His word. The result is they pursue a godly life with frustrating failures because they are not pursuing it in Christ according to the word of God. Paul warns us in Colossians 2:8-10: “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
True Christianity is not lived by trying to do the best we can in imitating the life of Christ but by Christ living His life in us. Anyone who is struggling in an effort to live the Christian life will find tremendous relief by coming to the realization of this truth. “You are complete in Him.” You need nothing else but Him. You need to do nothing else but abide in Him and let Him live in you.
There is no genuine Christianity without Christ. Man may succeed in developing and adopting a religious form of Christianity on his own self-righteous efforts. But it will lack the real power of godliness which can only be produced by the indwelling Christ-life.
This is all related to the main theme of our discussions that we need the grace of God to help us in our Christian walk from beginning to end. Many of us who in one way or the other have known the bitter frustrations of trying to live the Christian life by our own zeal and efforts know how we welcomed with relief this good news of the Gospel when it shed its light on us and brought us liberty and victory in Christ.
Christianity is a life, which we receive by grace when we are born again of the Spirit of God into God's offspring. It is not a way of life we learn to live by following religious traditions and laws. According to the Scriptures, not even the Law of Moses, the most venerable moral code in human cultures, can produce true righteousness in those who try to adhere to it. And that is the reason why Christ is central to Christianity. Civilization with all of its years of development has not made sinful man righteous. Instead, it has simply produced civilized ways of practicing even more atrociously the vilest of ancient vices.
The laws and commandments of religion and men do not enable us to overcome sin. But God by grace and in Christ has given us a better hope of deliverance from sin. “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God” (Hebrews 7:18-19).
Father, I thank you for your wisdom and love in designing so great a salvation. I accept it. Help me not to neglect it. And so, I declare with your word I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by PoiemaDei on
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Thanks, Charles, for your comments. The Scripture passage you quoted in Philippians has been a favourite of mine and an eye-opener to me of how much God is actually involved in enabling us in our Christian walk.
As I study and review these truths, my soul is filled with so much gratitude and worship to God that the Holy Spirit is removing the rubbles from the fundamentals of the Christian faith and presenting to us the pure and powerful basics of the faith as delivered in the Gospel. We now must take a stand and renew our faith in this great salvation plan.
James advises us in Jude 1:3-4: "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."
The basics of the faith which James pointed out were under attack in his time are under similar attacks today. They are the fundamental role of "the grace of our God" in our full salvation and the primary acknowledgement of "our Lord Jesus Christ" as the essence of the Christian life and the Author and Finisher of the Christian faith.
The Holy Spirit will continue to help us be rooted and grounded in the faith by the grace of God. -
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Permalink Reply by Margaret Wright on
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Praise the Lord!
It is true Bro.PoemaiDei there is a struggle to live the Christian life without the risen Christ inside of you! People have tried but find themselves frustrated and they fail and Christianity has now become just another religion of "do's and dont's" Real Christianity is Christ living His life through believers who know His forgiveness and follow Him!
Jesus Christ said, "except a man be born-again" he shall not see the kingdom of God," and He also said, "without Me you can do nothing."
A man is born again by the Grace of God when he repents of his lifestyle of sin and receives the forgiveness of Christ through His sacrifice for sin, and becomes a new creation. Christ comes into the heart that has been cleansed by His precious blood and lives His life through the individual as he follows the Lord. Faith in the Word of God becomes the pattern for this new life and struggle ceases! Now obedience is important because you love Him and you want to please Him. By faith in His Word the new man becomes a doer of the will of the Father and thereby glorifies God.
Jesus came to show us God and He came to show us the Way to do the Father's will so we will not be thrown out of His Kingdom. Mathew 7: 20-29
In a simple way I enjoy the peace of God (His rest) as I allow these two truths to govern me each day that He gives me -
God is in control all the time - I believe!
God is at work in me and through me, whether I understand or not - I trust Him!
I'm not perfect but as I learn to obey His Word, He is changing me from glory to glory and when I see Him I shall be like Him for I shall see Him as He is! Halleluyah!!
Jesus Christ is coming soon! Let Christ live in you and reign through you for the Father's glory!
Praying for you all
Margaret Wright -
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You are to the point, Margaret. "Christianity has now become just another religion of 'do's and dont's.'" Let me give you a bit of Church history - it may be sloppy and not like the text book stuff but it is real.
It seems to have always been the aim of the devil to sideline Christ - the way, the truth, and the life - in man's attempt at a godly life. Recall his deceitful promise to Eve about moral knowledge would make her like God? Also, the whole dispensation of the Law was to prove man to himself of the vanity of religion without Life.
Then after Christ, Constantine came and hijack the Christian religion making it an Imperial religion by decree - the birth of the nominal Christian Church .. No need to be born again, no need for the Cross and the Blood, no need for the Christ life within -- all one needed was citizenship in the Roman Empire to be a "Christian". To this day, this form of noble Christianity is prevailing.
Then now in modern times, it has gone beyond imperial to universal with the New Age movement. The idea now is to serve the "god" of your understanding whatever you perceive it or want it to be - 'love' everyone and everything, blessing and praying especially for the trees, the dogs, the cats, the elephants, and all sorts -- just leave out Jesus Christ.
So you see where the religious humanism and philosophy of modern 'Christianity' have their roots.
Nonetheless, the true Church, the living Body of Christ, has continued to prevail throughout these generations from its beginning in Christ. At some time it may consist of just a few remnant, sometimes more with some sort of revival or move of the Spirit. But the true Church has continued to steadily grow rooted and grounded in Christ. It's remnant on earth has merely been like the peak of the iceberg, the full Body consisting of the innumerable company of invisible saints who have gone on into the Presence of God.
Yes, indeed, the Church is alive in Christ and well. We just have to make sure we are in the real one in whom Christ lives and not the one at whose door He is standing not being allowed in while they boast of their righteous garments and wealth and cleverness and achievements. -
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Permalink Reply by Theresa on
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Amen PoemiaDei, I find myself standing in awe of God about how much He loves us like a father pity His children. I thank God for His Word and yes I find myself NOT I but CHRIST and the more I focus on His word and believe Him for myself and others, the more I forget about I and what I want and like and speak His words instead.
Thank you for posting your blog and always being kind to people, I appreciate the kindness of Christ that is showing through you my brother. -
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