Churchwork
06-16-2006, 09:05 PM
Christ Has Preeminence in the Life of A Christian
SCRIPTURES TO BE READ:
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. (2 Cor. 5.14,15)
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. (Gal. 2.20)
The life of a Christian is Christ (Col. 3.4). There is a distinction between Christ as our life and Christ as our power. How do we overcome? How can we be holy?
(1) Many people think that if they can deal with their temper and are able to be freed from sundry sins they have the victory and are holy.
(2) Some imagine that if they are patient, humble and gentle they are victorious and holy.
(3) Some believe that by reading the Bible and praying more, by being careful in continuing in the Lord and thus being strengthened, they will have the victory and such conduct will result in holiness.
(4) Some conceive the idea of putting self and the flesh to death as the means to victory and holiness.
(5) Some people, recognizing that power is in Christ and that our flesh has been crucified, therefore believe that they must by faith draw on His power to overcome and to be holy.
All these five assumptions are wrong. The fifth may seem to be right, yet it is also wrong. For (6) Christ is our life. This alone is victory! This way alone is holiness! Victorious life, holy life, perfect life is Christ himself! From start to finish, it is Christ. Outside of Him, we have nothing at all. Christ must have the preeminence in all things! The victorious life which God has given us is not a thing, neither is it patience or gentleness, but it is the living Christ. Christ never comes to supplement our deficiency. What we lack is not patience, but a living Person. God will never, as it were, take a piece of cloth from Christ to mend our rent. The lack of patience speaks of the lack of Christ. Instead, God intends to let Christ have the preeminence in all things. Putting self to death is not holiness. Holiness is Christ. Christ himself must have the first place in all things!
Should God give us power it will only make us powerful persons instead of Christ having the preeminence in our lives. But with Christ as our power He has the first place in us. The reason why we do not have power is because we are not weak enough. For the power of Christ "is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12.9). It is not Christ making me powerful; it is Christ being power unto me!
Hudson Taylor saw the truth of the matter in the phrase, "ye are the branches" (John 15.5). The writer of the booklet The Life That Wins (Charles Trumbull) discovered that Christ is the victory. Not drawing on the power of Christ to help me live, but letting Christ himself live in me! Not Christ giving me power to be patient, but letting Christ be "patient" out from me! "Lord, I allow You to love out through me!" Not overcome by the help of Christ, but let Christ himself overcome! Not I overcome by Him, rather He overcomes through me. With faith I commit myself to the Lord and let Him live out His own self through me. Not I live by the help of Christ, but "Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2.20). I live by the life of Christ, and I also live by "the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. 2.20 Darby). When we believe and receive the Son of God, not only His life but His faith too enters into us. Hence we may live by His faith.
Christ is victory! Christ is patience! What we need is not patience or gentleness or love, only Christ. He must have the preeminence in all things. Christ lives out patience, gentleness and love through us. What do we deserve but death. We are not fit for anything but death. When God created Adam He gave the latter a command to keep. Yet God does not re-create us in the same fashion. He instead puts us in the place of death while He himself lives out His will in us. We should not only see that there is a Savior who died in our stead on Calvary, but even more so realize that this same One lives in us and for us now. He is made by God to be "our wisdom": to be both our "righteousness" for the past that we might be saved, our "sanctification" for the present that we might live a holy life, and our "redemption" for the future that our body might be redeemed (1 Cor. 1.30 mg.). Thus He indeed has the preeminence in all things!
How We Enter into This Victorious Life
We must:
(1) Be fully despaired of ourselves. We need to know ourselves so thoroughly that we see ourselves as fit for nothing but death. We must come to the end of any life in ourselves. For our extremity is God’s opportunity. As long as we still have life in ourselves we are not able to accept the victory of Christ. Christ is already dwelling in us, except that He is not given the place to rule in us.
(2) Be completely consecrated. There needs to be definite and specific consecration. Unless we see the utter weakness of ourselves we will not accept the cross and completely surrender all our managing powers to the Lord.
(3) Believe. Having consecrated ourselves, we must believe that Christ has already taken up government over us and is now living through us.
As Christ lived in the flesh which Mary gave to Him, so He is to live through our flesh. He is living today on earth by our flesh exactly as He once lived on earth in His own flesh. He is to live in our lives. Our victory is based on letting Christ have the preeminence in all things—in allowing Him to be the Lord of all to our lives.
The Old Testament tells us how the chosen people of God lived on earth. At first the tabernacle served as the center of the twelve tribes; later it was the temple which became their center. The center of the temple was the ark. The tabernacle, the temple and the ark are all types of Christ. As long as the children of Israel maintained their proper relationship with the tabernacle or the temple they were victorious, and no nation could overcome them. Even though their enemies learned how to fight while they themselves were not familiar with fighting, the children of Israel overcame all their enemies nonetheless. But the moment they had problems with the tabernacle or the temple, they were taken into captivity. Nothing else—whether they had powerful kings or great wisdom in themselves—mattered at all; the only concern which mattered was whether or not they had offended the ark of the tabernacle or temple. If the Lord had the preeminence, then theirs was the victory. So, too, with us today. In minding the victory of Christ, we also have the victory. But whenever the hair of separation is shorn, the victory is gone (cf. Judges 16.17). Except we give Christ the highest place we are not able to overcome. Unless Christ has the preeminence in our heart we cannot overcome.
SCRIPTURES TO BE READ:
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again. (2 Cor. 5.14,15)
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. (Gal. 2.20)
The life of a Christian is Christ (Col. 3.4). There is a distinction between Christ as our life and Christ as our power. How do we overcome? How can we be holy?
(1) Many people think that if they can deal with their temper and are able to be freed from sundry sins they have the victory and are holy.
(2) Some imagine that if they are patient, humble and gentle they are victorious and holy.
(3) Some believe that by reading the Bible and praying more, by being careful in continuing in the Lord and thus being strengthened, they will have the victory and such conduct will result in holiness.
(4) Some conceive the idea of putting self and the flesh to death as the means to victory and holiness.
(5) Some people, recognizing that power is in Christ and that our flesh has been crucified, therefore believe that they must by faith draw on His power to overcome and to be holy.
All these five assumptions are wrong. The fifth may seem to be right, yet it is also wrong. For (6) Christ is our life. This alone is victory! This way alone is holiness! Victorious life, holy life, perfect life is Christ himself! From start to finish, it is Christ. Outside of Him, we have nothing at all. Christ must have the preeminence in all things! The victorious life which God has given us is not a thing, neither is it patience or gentleness, but it is the living Christ. Christ never comes to supplement our deficiency. What we lack is not patience, but a living Person. God will never, as it were, take a piece of cloth from Christ to mend our rent. The lack of patience speaks of the lack of Christ. Instead, God intends to let Christ have the preeminence in all things. Putting self to death is not holiness. Holiness is Christ. Christ himself must have the first place in all things!
Should God give us power it will only make us powerful persons instead of Christ having the preeminence in our lives. But with Christ as our power He has the first place in us. The reason why we do not have power is because we are not weak enough. For the power of Christ "is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12.9). It is not Christ making me powerful; it is Christ being power unto me!
Hudson Taylor saw the truth of the matter in the phrase, "ye are the branches" (John 15.5). The writer of the booklet The Life That Wins (Charles Trumbull) discovered that Christ is the victory. Not drawing on the power of Christ to help me live, but letting Christ himself live in me! Not Christ giving me power to be patient, but letting Christ be "patient" out from me! "Lord, I allow You to love out through me!" Not overcome by the help of Christ, but let Christ himself overcome! Not I overcome by Him, rather He overcomes through me. With faith I commit myself to the Lord and let Him live out His own self through me. Not I live by the help of Christ, but "Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2.20). I live by the life of Christ, and I also live by "the faith of the Son of God" (Gal. 2.20 Darby). When we believe and receive the Son of God, not only His life but His faith too enters into us. Hence we may live by His faith.
Christ is victory! Christ is patience! What we need is not patience or gentleness or love, only Christ. He must have the preeminence in all things. Christ lives out patience, gentleness and love through us. What do we deserve but death. We are not fit for anything but death. When God created Adam He gave the latter a command to keep. Yet God does not re-create us in the same fashion. He instead puts us in the place of death while He himself lives out His will in us. We should not only see that there is a Savior who died in our stead on Calvary, but even more so realize that this same One lives in us and for us now. He is made by God to be "our wisdom": to be both our "righteousness" for the past that we might be saved, our "sanctification" for the present that we might live a holy life, and our "redemption" for the future that our body might be redeemed (1 Cor. 1.30 mg.). Thus He indeed has the preeminence in all things!
How We Enter into This Victorious Life
We must:
(1) Be fully despaired of ourselves. We need to know ourselves so thoroughly that we see ourselves as fit for nothing but death. We must come to the end of any life in ourselves. For our extremity is God’s opportunity. As long as we still have life in ourselves we are not able to accept the victory of Christ. Christ is already dwelling in us, except that He is not given the place to rule in us.
(2) Be completely consecrated. There needs to be definite and specific consecration. Unless we see the utter weakness of ourselves we will not accept the cross and completely surrender all our managing powers to the Lord.
(3) Believe. Having consecrated ourselves, we must believe that Christ has already taken up government over us and is now living through us.
As Christ lived in the flesh which Mary gave to Him, so He is to live through our flesh. He is living today on earth by our flesh exactly as He once lived on earth in His own flesh. He is to live in our lives. Our victory is based on letting Christ have the preeminence in all things—in allowing Him to be the Lord of all to our lives.
The Old Testament tells us how the chosen people of God lived on earth. At first the tabernacle served as the center of the twelve tribes; later it was the temple which became their center. The center of the temple was the ark. The tabernacle, the temple and the ark are all types of Christ. As long as the children of Israel maintained their proper relationship with the tabernacle or the temple they were victorious, and no nation could overcome them. Even though their enemies learned how to fight while they themselves were not familiar with fighting, the children of Israel overcame all their enemies nonetheless. But the moment they had problems with the tabernacle or the temple, they were taken into captivity. Nothing else—whether they had powerful kings or great wisdom in themselves—mattered at all; the only concern which mattered was whether or not they had offended the ark of the tabernacle or temple. If the Lord had the preeminence, then theirs was the victory. So, too, with us today. In minding the victory of Christ, we also have the victory. But whenever the hair of separation is shorn, the victory is gone (cf. Judges 16.17). Except we give Christ the highest place we are not able to overcome. Unless Christ has the preeminence in our heart we cannot overcome.