Chapter ElevenLIFEThere are many elements in the Christian life, but the one essential element is life. I am not speaking about a way of life, or a way of living, but in knowing and experiencing the life of the risen Son of God (Col. 3:4; I John 5:11). Just as our physical life begins with our physical birth, the Christian life begins with the new birth (Titus 3:5; John 3:1-18). If a person is alive, there will be some evidences of life. The absence of life is death. If a professing Christian does not have some evidence of life, it means he is dead in trespasses and sins. We receive life by receiving Christ. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12,13). But you may ask, "How do I receive Christ?" By inviting Him to come into your heart. Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20). The Lord Jesus knocks at our hearts door and wants to come in. Your part is to open the door and invite Him in. He has said that if you will do this, He will come in. You will be saved when you invite the living Christ, the Son of God, to come into your heart. Have you ever done this? If you say, "I do not know," then the wise thing is to do this right now. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). It is utterly impossible for anyone to be a Christian without having Christ. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it? We may do all sorts of things, obey ordinances, observe rules, try to live in a certain way, stop all of our bad habits, join churches or other religious societies, but none of these things, nor all of them together, will give us life. We may seek to follow the example of Christ, we may study the Bible every day, we may pray for hours, we may be actively engaged in Christian service, but all of this will not give us life. Life is in Christ (John 1:4; I John 5:12; Col. 3:4). Therefore, if you do not have Him, you do not have life. If you do not have Him, bow your head and heart, right where you are, and invite Him to come in, for He is as good and as great as His Word. Do not depend on your feelings. He will begin to manifest Himself to you as you begin to grow in grace by feeding on His Word the Bible. Now that you have invited Christ to come into your heart, what does He want to do there? There are multiplied thousands of Christian who know that Christ is in their heart, but very few of them know what He wants to do there. The answer is simple: He wants to live there. He wants to live His life in and through you. This is the Christian life. This is the only way that any of us can live the Christian life. The Apostle Paul prayed for the saints at Ephesus, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph. 3:17). That these people were already Christians is evidenced by the fact that Paul called them saints (Eph. 1:1). They could not be Christians without having Christ in their heart. Why then did Paul pray that Christ might dwell in their hearts? The secret is in the word "dwell." The Amplified New Testament translates in this way: "May Christ through your faith (actually) dwell - - settle down, abide, make His permanent home - - in your hearts!" Too many of us who have received Christ as our Saviour have Him shut up in the guest room. We have heard of the terrors of Hell, and we do not wish to go there. We have heard of the glories of Heaven, and we do want to go there, so we come to Christ to get our sins forgiven, and to have our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We join the church, we are baptized, and we try to live right, and we think that this is the Christian life, but this is ten thousand miles from life in Christ as it is revealed in the Bible. Jesus Christ not only wants to be our Saviour, He also wants to be our Lord. He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). He rebukes us as He did the disciples by saying, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). If Jesus Christ is our Lord, He will control every area of our life. He will prove Himself sufficient for every circumstance, He will demonstrate His power in every crisis. How can we get Him to do this? The answer is simple. Let Him. Surrender every area of your life completely to Him, and then get out of His way so as not to hinder His activity. Christ cannot help us until we are brought to the end of our own resources. If you are to rescue a drowning man, you will either have to knock him out or wait until he is utterly exhausted before you can help him, if you do not do this, he will likely pull you under as he goes down. Faith is activated by praise. Praise the Lord for His sufficiency in every situation. Praise Him for the solution to every problem that you face. Undertake nothing on your own initiative. Be led by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14), and do only the things that He directs you to do. We have been talking about how to get the Christian life, and about how the Bible teaches us to live that life. These truths are stated many ways in the Bible. We are justified by faith, and we are to live by faith. This is the only way we can be justified, and this is the only way we can live the Christian life. We are saved by an act of faith; we are to live in an attitude of faith. What about Christian service? If our service is to please God, it, too, must be by faith, for the Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6). Christian service can be summed up in the word "availability." This truth is best illustrated by the human body. I do not expect my arms to be waving all of the time, nor do I expect my feet to bejumping all of the time. If they do, I will soon be exhausted. That is why many Christians suffer from nervous exhaustion. They are like a squirrel in a cage, and in their effort to serve God, they burn out "their bearings." God does not want us to do anything for Him. He wants to do the work through us! "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12,13). The Apostle Paul said, "To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily" (Col. 1:29). As long as the members of my body are controlled by my head, I get along wonderfully well, but when any member ceases to function as it should, I become sick. Today the Church of Jesus Christ is sick because the members are not controlled by Christ (Col. 2:18,19). I do not expect my hand to be waving all of the time, but I do expect it to obey me when I send a message from my brain telling it to pick up a pencil or a fork. We dishonor the Lord when we race about in fleshly activity. He wants us to be controlled by Him in the same way that the members of our body are controlled by our head. When we learn to serve Him in this way, we enter into the rest that is promised by the Spirit of God (Heb. 4:9-11). This truth is the essence of the Christian life as it is revealed by the Spirit of God in the Word of God. This is God's plan and purpose for our lives. This is the way in which He wants us to live and walk. The decision is ours. God never coerces, because to do so would violate the freedom of our will. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live" (Deut. 30:19). You can be saved by inviting the Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart in simple child-like faith (John 1:12; Rev.3:20). If you have been saved as a result of reading this message, or if you have questions in your mind, we would like to hear from you. Your letters will be confidential, and they will receive my personal attention. |