Part One
But God forbid that
I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom
the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world. For in Christ
neither circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything
but
a new creation.
Galatians
6:14
For
in Christ Jesus neither
circumcision nor un-circumcision avails anything, but
faith working through love.
Galatians
5:6
In essence, these two
scriptures are saying that one’s salvation from sin is not based on
works of law but on grace through faith resulting in
“a new
creation” and “faith working
through love” for those who
are “in Christ
Jesus.” Another way of saying
this is, "That I might be be
found "in Him," not having a righteousness of my own which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith." Philippians 3:9
For
the
professing Christian
believer it is
through
receiving the knowledge of the truth, resulting in faith in the
accomplished sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross,
that
the “the
world,” “the
flesh” (sin nature), and
the “old
man” have been executed with
Christ, resulting in his justification
(innocence) from sin.
The
power of heart belief and mouth
confession:
‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’-- that is,
the word of faith which we are preaching, because if you
shall
confess
(profess)
with your mouth Jesus
as Lord, and shall
believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved:
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession
(profession)
is made unto salvation. Romans
10:8-10 (Also see Hebrews 10:23)
Respectively, the
professing, practicing Christian believer
(which obviously we are all called to be) has been crucified and is
dead and buried to the behavior of the
world, the dictates of
flesh, and the practices of
the old man, and is thereby, a new
creation "in Christ," if he chooses to remain "in Christ." This
will result in his sanctification
by
the righteousness
that comes
from God through faith. In other words, sanctification requires the
Christian believer’s continuous and consistent infilling and
yielding to the promptings of the indwelling Holy Spirit and
obedience to the doctrine of Christ. This is how the Christian
believer chooses to remain "in Christ" and become a disciple of
Christ.
Jesus said, "I am the true vine,
and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not
bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He
prunes, that it may bear more friut. You are already clean because
of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. As
the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless in remains in the
vine, neither can you, unless you remain in Me.
I am the
true vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me bears much
fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain
in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather
them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you
remain in Me, and My words remain in you, you will ask what you
desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
John 15:1-8
The
power of consecrated Christian disciplines motivated by Christ’s
love for us and our faithful appreciation of, and heartfelt love
for Him:
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one
died for all, and therefore all died.
And he died for all so that those who live should no longer
live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised
again. So
from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though
we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore
if any man be "in
Christ,"
he is a
new creature:
old things are passed away;
"behold, all things are become new." 2
Corinthians 5:14-17
Again,
whosoever
believes in and
professes their faith in Christ
has had “the world,” “the
flesh,” and “the old man” that
resided within them executed and condemned by God with Christ on
His cross, i.e. --- “I have been
crucified to the world.” This has resulted in
their justification.
Whosoever
believes in,
professes, and
practices their faith in Christ
has had “the behavior of world,” “the dictates of flesh,” and “the
practices of the old man” condemned and executed by God with Christ
on His cross, and respectively has chosen to take up his own cross
and follow Christ. i.e. --- “the world has been
crucified to me.” (Paraphrased Galatians
6:14) This choice will result in the believers sanctification.
We must understand that when we become a believer and professor of
Christ we are justified by
faith, but if we choose to be
a disciple of Christ by remaining in Him and allowing his words to
remain in us, as professing, practicing Christian believers, we
will bear much fruit and our God and Father will be glorified! By
the way, we are all called to be disciples of Christ, but the
choice is ours. If we will choose to remain in Him and not in sin,
He will choose us to be a part of the first out
resurrection,(Revelation 20:6) but remember, "many are called
but few are chosen." (Matthew 22:14)
Now, with this in mind, the word “believes”
that the
Apostle John used in his gospel is used in the present continuious
tense, and it means,
“Whosoever believes
and keeps on believing.” (John 3:16) The
word “disciple”
comes from
the word discipline,
and it
means “a disciplined
follower of Christ.” The word
“saint”
comes from
the word “sanctification.”
The
word sanctified
means
“separated unto
God,” and the word
saint
means
“one,
who by the mercies of God, presents his body a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable unto God, which is his reasonable service. And
is not conformed to the world, but transformed through the renewing
of his mind, that he may prove what is the good, and acceptable,
and perfect will of God.” (Paraphrased Romans
12:1-2)
Let’s take a look at a believer,
a
disciple,
and
a saint
whose life
was dramatically changed by an encounter with the risen Lord on the
road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19) This fellow’s experience of meeting
the glorified Jesus so affected his character that it didn’t just
change the course of his life, but his name was changed also, from
Saul to Paul! (Acts 13:9) In Hebrew the name Paul means
“small.”
All
who
have an encounter with the Lord
and
continue in Him as Paul did (Galatians
1:17-26 & 2:1) remain small in their own eyes; as a matter of
fact, Christ becomes so large in them that there is little, or no
room for their “old
man,” which is the carnal
element within human nature given to self-centeredness,
self-seeking, self-pity, selfish ambition, angry resentment, and
prideful boasting etc. Such a person’s ego becomes so small through
this divine displacement and replacement that he becomes an ever
increasingly difficult target for Satan to see, much less hit with
his “fiery
darts.” This was the case with
John the Baptist (the forerunner and friend of the Bridegroom) in
relation to Jesus Christ when speaking about himself and the soon
summation of his ministry and life on this earth.
“He must increase; I
must decrease.” John 3:30 --- This
concept of Christ increasing in the believer’s life as he decreases
is the normal pattern of all sincere Christian believers who
are “growing in the
grace of God” (2 Peter 3:18) and
not “receiving God’s
grace in vain.” (2 Corinthians
6:1-2)
Also, it is important to understand that a saint of God is a
stealth weapon in the arsenal of the Lord, pulling down satanic
strongholds and destroying the works of the devil. Jesus said to
His disciples when preparing for the cross, which would prove to be
the spiritual, mental, and physical sacrifice of His life,
“I will
no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is
coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30 --- The
Apostle John declared, “We know that
anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was
begotten of God keeps him safe and the evil one cannot touch
him.” 1 John 5:18 --- Jesus
spoke of His cross as His sanctification,
resulting in the Christian believer’s sanctification.
This is accomplished through Christ’s blood, God’s word, and the
blessed Holy Spirit. So we see that the sanctifying cross of
Christ, and the cross that the Christian believer chooses to take
up through yielding to the Holy Spirit in obedience to Christ’s
words results in his “putting off the
old man,” and leads him to
“putting on the new
man who is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
This is how
the Christian believer experiences the sanctification
that Christ
died on the cross to provide for him. (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)
This sanctification
is also the
means to his protection from “the evil
one.”
After
Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the
time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify
you. My
prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you
protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as
I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As
you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For
them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly
sanctified. John
17:1,15-20
Now
it is important to realize that the Apostle Paul was not just
a professing
Christian
believer, but he was both a professing and
practicing Christian believer
(meaning that he was both justified
and
sanctified
or, if you
will, a professing
believer in and a
practicing
disciple of Christ), and he
spent a great deal of his life and ministry exhorting others
to believe
and
behave
as he did.
The reason that Paul could say of himself, “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” is because
“the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ” was in operation in his
life. In other words, Paul had been granted “the
spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God”
which meant
he had come to know that he was dead to “the
world,” and “the
world” was dead to him.
Because of Christ’s cross Paul’s sin nature had been crucified with
Jesus and now, because of Christ’s resurrection, ascension, and the
shedding of His Holy Spirit abroad into his heart, he had a
revelation that Christ was now alive in him and increasing to the
degree that he could say, “If any man be in
Christ Jesus, he is a new creation; old things have passed away,
behold, all things have become new!” This was both a
profession
of
Paul's faith
based on
Christ’s accomplished work on the cross, and a practical reality
based on his new life "in Christ" that was being continuously
filled with, and led by the Holy Spirit as a practicing
believer!
Can you, dear reader, realistically say this about yourself, not
only as a profession of faith, but also in your practical
experience? If not, there is still some “working
out” to do, but take
courage, you are not alone in your efforts, because
“God
is working in
you both to will and do
of His own good pleasure!” (Philippians 2:12)
Nevertheless, this was Paul’s reality. It meant that he had come to
“live in the
Spirit,” by faith in Christ’s
atoning cross, resulting in his justification
as a
professing
Christian
believer. It also meant that he had learned to “walk in the
Spirit,” by yielding to, and
following the leading of the Holy Spirit, resulting in an
experience of consecrated sanctification
as a
practicing
Christian
believer. Was he perfected
(glorified)? No, but he was pressing
towards the perfection associated with, and anticipated by those
awaiting the first out resurrection from the dead, through both
living and walking in the Spirit.
It is through living
and
walking
in the
Spirit and by remaining
continuously filled with the
Spirit, through
praying
and singing in the Spirit, as we
mortify
the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit
and
worship
God in Spirit and in truth, that we
sow to
the Spirit, and “from the Spirit
reap life everlasting!” This is also how we
bear and cultivate “the
fruit
of the Spirit, which is
'love,
joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness,
and self-control.” It is also how
“the
gifts of the Spirit” are in operation in our
lives, which are “words of wisdom,
words of knowledge, discerning of spirits, the gift of faith, gifts
of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, tongues, and the
interpretation of tongues.” And last but not least,
it is how we avoid sowing to the flesh, thereby producing
“the
works of the flesh which are, sexual immorality, impurity and
debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy,
fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy;
drunkenness, orgies, and the
like.”
Now, this same
spiritual revelation and these same transforming, or if you will,
sanctifying experiences that were in Paul’s life and ministry are
available to every born again, Spirit-baptized Christian believer.
It is through both this “life in the
Spirit” and this
“walk
in the Spirit” that
“faith
works through love” in our lives,
and “the righteous
requirement of God’s law, which is to
love
God with our entire beings (spirit, soul, and
body) and to love our
neighbors as ourselves, is fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit!” This happens when
Christ is revealed to us, in us, and through us by the power and
influence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. When this takes place, we
are enabled to love and serve God and humankind as Paul and his
fellow apostles loved and served. Why? Because we know that God
loves us with the same love that he loved them. “God is no
respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34)
The problem
is that most of us don’t know what Paul and the other apostles
knew, but we can! How? By the exact same, “spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him!” This very thing will
lead us to a life of justification,
sanctification, and glorification
in
Christ. In other words, it
will lead an unbeliever to become a Christian believer, a Christian
believer to become a disciple of Christ, and a disciple of Christ
to become a saint of God! Now, it is also important to know that
this path, if we choose to take it, will lead to both agony and
ecstasy, to suffering for righteousness sake and to glory. In other
words, this road will lead to a cross, a grave, a powerful
resurrection, and a glorious ascension. I would like to add my
prayer of faith with the Apostle Paul’s prayer on your behalf, dear
reader, that God will give you “the
spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
Amen!
Part Two
Experiencing
the
ecstasy, the glory, and the resurrection.
I would like to start part two of my teaching by quoting two
ecstatic prayers offered to God by Paul on behalf of the church at
Ephesus. In essence, Paul was praying that the believers in Ephesus
would come to know God the way he knew God, and that they would
have the same results in their lives and ministries that he was
having in his.
Therefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all
the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of
you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give to you
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him, the eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope
of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power
toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality and every power and might and dominion, and every name
that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to
come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head
over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-22
For this reason I
bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the
whole family of heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you,
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith; that you being rooted and grounded in love,
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and
length and depth and height ---
to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may
be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the
church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
Amen. Ephesians
3:14-20.
Experiencing
the agony, the suffering for righteousness sake, and the
grave.
Jesus testified,
“No
greater love does any man have than this, that he would lay down
his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) We know
that Jesus Christ our Chief Apostle was the first to love God the
Father and His fellow man like this through enduring the cross, and
that the Apostle Paul, and all other "sent
ones" are simply making
feeble attempts to follow in Christ’s foot steps. After all, in
Christ's suffering for our sins on the cross, He actually
experienced Hell, bearing the consequences of our sin's so that we
wouldn't have to! But let's see where faithfully following Christ
lead the apostles?
For I think that
God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to
death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to
angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise
in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished,
but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and
thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we
labor, working with our hands. Being reviled, we bless; being
persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made
as the filth of the world, the off scouring of all things until
now.
1 Corinthians 4:9-13
Let’s take a look at an itemized list of what the Apostle Paul
suffered personally as a minister of
Christ.
Are they ministers
of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more: in labors more abundant,
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths
often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times
I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in
journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in
perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils
in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in
perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in
sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, fasting often, in cold
and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily:
my deep concern for all the churches. 2 Corinthians 11:
23-38
Both the agony and
ecstasy of “sent
ones” is well expressed in
the following two scriptures:
Truly the signs of
an apostle were accomplished among you with
all perseverance,
in signs, and
wonders, and
mighty deeds.
2
Corinthians 12:12
Yet indeed I also
count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed
to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection
from the dead. Not that I have
already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I
may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of
me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal
for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore
let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything
you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Philippians
3:8-15
So we see that Paul, and the other apostles were special messengers
sent by God, with signs and wonders following. And that suffering
and glory walk hand in hand with the apostolic
calling.
Now,
not everyone is called into the office of apostle, and the twelve
original New Covenant Apostles of Christ (minus Judas Iscariot)
have a special status in God’s kingdom. Having said that, there are
presently many apostles on the earth today, and there have been
many anointed apostles other than the original twelve apostles of
Christ throughout the history of the church. Whereas not everyone
is called in the office of an apostle, as professing and practicing
Christian believers who desire to come after Christ, we are all
called by Him to do as He did, to walk as He walked, and follow in
His footsteps as Paul and all other faithful apostles did and do.
Remember the words of Paul to the Philippians, regarding
“pressing for the
goal of the prize,” resulting in their
attaining to the first out resurrection of the dead, and as Peter
put it, attaining to “an abundant
entrance into the kingdom of God,” (2 Peter 1:9)
“Therefore let us,
as many as are mature, have this mind.” (Philippians
3:15)
And consider the words
of Jesus:
Then He said to
them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man
if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For
whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will
be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and
of the holy angels. Luke
9:23-27
So we see that all Christian believers are called by Christ to
follow His lead, and if we are faithful to do so, it will take us
to an agonizing cross, a humbling grave, a powerful resurrection,
and a glorious ascension.
Now, as individual Christian believers we each have our own cross
to bear. It will not be the same cross for each of us, but it will
be a cross that requires denying of self. This is played out in the
daily activities of our lives as we follow the leading of the Holy
Spirit in obedience to the words of Christ. For one the cross may
mean sacrificing himself/herself by working diligently in the
market place to provide the basic necessities for his/her loved
ones and family. To another it may mean pastoring a church, and
feeding Christ's flock with the word of God. For another it may
require visiting and caring for a person in a nursing home. For
another it may mean visiting those in prisons and hospitals. For
another it may mean loving unconditionally a child, a parent, or a
spouse who has hurt them. For another it may mean caring for a
special needs child or adult. To another it may mean forgiving a
co-worker who has offended them. For another it may mean
sacrificing certain personal needs to provide financially for
widows and orphans. To another it may mean starting and operating
an orphanage. To another it may mean leaving homes and family and
lands to minister in a developing country and live in another
culture to which one is unaccustomed. To another it my mean leaving
their job and family to evangelize in their own nation. To another
it may mean embracing martyrdom in their service to Christ. One
thing is certain for all of us, it will mean "keeping ourselves
unspotted by the world," because
"without holiness,
no one will see the Lord!"
The list of acts of self-denial goes on and on, and plays out in a
myriad of personal situations and circumstances throughout one’s
life. The essence of bearing one’s cross means following the
leading of the Holy Spirit at all times, especially during times of
temptations, tests and trials --- and doing so through the grace
that Christ provides.
Why would anyone want to go through an agonizing cross and a
humbling grave? Because, without the cross and the grave, there is
no resurrection or ascension! Are you ready to take up your cross
and follow Christ? I hope so!
Again, you might ask, why would you hope this for me! I will try to
answer you with one simple sentence that sums up my meaning and
message quite well.
Because, “To be a follower of Christ will cost you everything; not
to be a follower of Christ will cost you a whole lot more!”
Selah.