Christ who lives in me

"For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."--Galatians 2:19-20

In my first few years of ministry, I've given a lot of thought to this phenomenon Paul speaks of in Galatians 2. I was talking with a friend in ministry about this same thing yesterday--the "thing" being the question regarding rather someone is really born-again or not. As we talked I spoke of how I've struggled over the years with WHEN it was I really became a Christian. I believe a Christian is someone who a) is "reborn of the Spirit and water" (John 3:5-6), b) lives in obedience to Jesus' commands (John 14:23-24), c) has a broken and contrite spirit before God (Psalm 51:17, Luke 18:9-14), and d) considers their past life as loss for the sake of just KNOWING Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:8-11).
When I look at my life honestly, I'm not sure when exactly it was that each of these "checkpoints" took place, but as we spoke I was reminded the important thing is that they've happened, and here I am NOW. Nevertheless, it is a concern of mine being one who does the ministry of preaching, counseling, and shepherding. I suppose the reason for the concern is because if someone brings any sort of conundrum or problem before me, whether or not they REALLY have Jesus living inside of them and have TRULY trusted in Him matters because it'll change that which my advice will be.

Of course, all of life's problems stem from the same 2 roots: 1) idolatry of the heart which leads our rebelling from our Creator to give glory and worship to things that aren't Him, and 2) pride that makes it impossible for this problem to be faced HONESTLY. In that sense, the advice could be the same: if it's a non-believer, I'd say, "give glory to God"; if it's a believer, I'd say, "give glory to God". But if we're being honest, the statement "give glory to God" assumes something, doesn't it? It assumes that the person I'm talking to truly believes that God is even there in the first place. Many don't. So when I say it to them, many might look at me and say, "What are you talking about? I don't believe in God." At that point, the conversation is arrested because there's not much more in the way of advice that could be said. At that point, the conversation (if it continues) has to take a turn towards a "reasoning for faith" dialogue, because I would see that the REAL issue is their having strayed from acknowledgment of Him who is their source, and we would continue talking so that I may show them a) He IS their source, and b) He is their Redeemer as well, if they turn to Him.

You may read that and think, "That's a stupid scenario, because if YOU (a pastor) are talking to them, they're probably a believer, so of course you'd never run into unbelief."

I would disagree, and here's why: Like I said earlier, I'm not sure when it was I truly trusted in Christ, but I know it's been a process and I'm here now. The times when I've been molded and shaped the most have been the times when my sin was "ever before me" and I've been reprimanded by God's holiness, in light of my UNholiness. Those have been the times when I've been drawn closest to God's presence and the Holy Spirit has changed me the most. What I've learned from this is that believers should never assume they're "saved" just because they believe in God. Salvation is marked by those four things I mentioned earlier, and when you have them, you know. For much of my life, I believed, but i hadn't been reborn.

Interestingly, in Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector (mentioned earlier, found in Luke 18), the ONLY way to be justified before God is to, like the tax collector, beat your breast and pray to Him "have mercy on me, a sinner!" This also assumes a few things: 1) God is Holy and Sovereign and alone can grant mercy, 2) I'm subject to Him, 3) I've sinned against Him somehow, and 4) I need to fall down before Him and pray for mercy so that I can be justified.

The problem with Jesus' definition of "justification" is that for so long I didn't think there was really much of a problem in and of myself that warrants me NEEDING to be justified. In other words, I'm good. Why does the Bible claim so clearly and unabashedly that the problem with the world is sin and that the problem with MY world is MY sin, and no one else's? Why doesn't Jesus give any thought in this indictment to how people have wronged me or hurt me or the kind of crap I have to put up with in my everyday life?

The answer is that the Bible is not written from man's perspective--it's written from God's perspective. The problem with most modern Bible-teaching and preaching is that too many preachers and teachers speak of and from the Bible as though it's penned BY us to get us to "enlightenment" or "better lives". They've forgotten (or maybe never knew) that the Bible was written by God to disclose Himself to us inasmuch as our time-space-imprisoned bodies can handle it, by way of truth and revelation. The difference between these two starting-points may seem minimal, but it couldn't be understated HOW different they really are: One looks from our perspective at God as utilitarian (meaning that God exists FOR us and He's meant to give us what we need for this life), and the other looks from God's perspective at us for who we (logically) really are: created for God's glory and His glory alone, and submissive to whatever it is He who is sovereign deems necessary for us. The second is the EMPHATIC teaching of the Bible, and I couldn't make my face blue enough screaming long enough that we're created for God's glory, instead of Him for our glory. Practically, one breeds people of pride mixed with arrogance, because people will see something in the Bible they don't like or agree with, and they'll turn away from it completely, never to speak of it again (many denominations have done this with Biblical doctrines that make them uneasy). The other breeds people who stay submissive to whatever doctrine it is that's preached if it comes from Scripture, and if it doesn't, the people will humbly hold the preacher accountable and correct him with the truth that they've been continually transformed by. Theology/doctrine/Biblical interpretation is just one example I use for the sake of brevity. The first group of people assume God exists for their glory, and the second understands they're created for God's.

The Pharisee in Jesus' parable assumed that God was created for His glory. He prayed, yes, but in his prayer, in noticing his righteousness (which was apparent as he stood next to a tax collector), notice he doesn't thank God for doing this work in Him; there is a subtlety in the original Greek language that gets missed in some translations now, but what it actually says in v 11 is, "...standing, prayed to himself". Then he proceeds to go through his list of good accomplishments and good works. He's in the Temple praying, but he's only there because the LAW tells him to be. So he does it so no one else will judge him as unrighteous--God is his utilitarian god of self-service. But when he prays, he's not even really praying--he's talking TO HIMSELF! When you find your righteousness in that which you consciously do and decide daily to give your time to, you are the Pharisee.

But the tax-collector, as sinful as he is, stands far off, beats his breast and cries out "have mercy on me, a sinner". Major difference in not just posture, but in demeanor. But let's just be honest: One believes in God and one doesn't. You may say, "Well the Pharisee is in the Temple, praying, so he believes in God, just not the right way." I'd disagree--he doesn't believe in God. He believes HE'S God, and God is, at best, an angry boss in the sky, or at worst, a conjured-up concept created by man to cope with the hardness of life. Thus when he "prays", he thanks HIMSELF that he doesn't DEAL with hard stuff in his life because he's attained a level of righteousness that shields him from "that life" or "those people." The God he believes in is not the God of the Bible.
The God the tax-collector believes in IS the God of the Bible, because the Bible calls this God eternally holy, eternally sovereign, eternally eternal, etc. And the tax collector knows that all of those characteristics (holiness, sovereignty, infinitude) are traits that he himself DOESN'T have. So the only possible response to this God is to pray honestly for mercy in light of the fact that you obviously NEED mercy. Furthermore, if God is God, then shouldn't He be the all-encompassing King of every thought in our minds, every second? Of course He should be. But He's not, is he? Thus, we MUST need mercy. We MUST need forgiveness. We MUST need saving.

Which brings us back to the original passage from Galatians 2. Paul says, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." To Paul, the problem with the world is himself, and (if you read the rest of Galatians and ALL of Romans) the only thing God's Law given in the Old Testament did was show Paul how sinful he really is before God. Thus, what's the solution? Christ's finished work on the Cross. That's it, and that's ALL that's needed. How does it work?

I liken it to a boss who has many employees and in order to keep order, he lays down a lot of rules to follow. Over time, the workers develop a bitterness to the boss because they feel like he gives them too many rules to follow, because man's heart is naturally rebellious and doesn't like rules. But they try to keep them, ONLY because they want to appease him and keep him happy. Still their whole careers are miserable because it's their will versus the boss's will, and the boss always wins because he's the boss.
It would seem that the solution would be as simple as going back to each of the worker's childhood and implanting in them the idea of respect for authority. Simple! Let's do that! If we did that, they would know that the work environment in any organization is SO much better and easier to deal with if the employees just respect and honor the rules of the boss, out of simply respecting and honoring the boss. Better yet, it's better if they understand that their job isn't JUST to produce that which the company produces, but their job also includes being obedient to and observing the boss's...uh...boss-hood(?).

I know this is a very imperfect illustration, with imperfect theology. My point is that Paul would say that whereas everyone has a sense of God's authority in their lives, and everyone has strayed to different points because of their disbelief in authority, whether it be not believing in Him AT ALL (atheism or agnosticism), believing in Him SOME (nominal Creasters--those that go to church on Christmas and Easter), or believing in Him much (going to church, observing the laws, etc.), the root problem of all of this is the idea that God is up there, I'm down here, and He doesn't have the right to tell me what to do, so I'm not going to listen. Atheists and self-righteous religious people are equally non-believers, because they both believe lies about God's character and they both think that they can escape his sovereignty, the former by way of just telling themselves He's not there, the latter by way of working hard enough that God CAN'T not bless me.

Paul is saying in the Galatians passage that Christ has broken this cycle completely, in that He has obediently and willingly went to the Cross to take responsibility for the sins of every person who has found themselves in the three classes of the previous paragraph (and everyone is in ONE of those). How it works is this: Christ is obedient, and anyone who would just simply accept that He is who He said He is, receives the Holy Spirit of God which causes them to WANT to live under the authority of God, like Jesus did. He takes our sin and disobedience on Himself, obediently, and we take His holiness and obedience on ourselves, subsequently, all by an act of God's grace on us sinners.

In the boss/employee illustration (again I know it's an imperfect one), this would be the same as all of the employees all of a sudden having their hearts changed to WANT to obey the boss's rules, because they know that the rules are good and the workplace is so much better if the employees just obey and respect the rules. Now they WANT to obey and respect them. Now they don't see rule-following as a means to an end (me keeping a safe distance from the boss), but rather they see it as the ends ITSELF (me being a good employee who knows my role and keeps it).

I'm convinced that many of the problems in the Church today are not because of the sinful world "out there" (outside the walls). The reason the Church, the invisible Church which is made up of people who live in TRUE repentance and TRUE obedience to their God, isn't growing has nothing to do with the non-Christians outside the Church. It has everything to do with the non-Christians inside the Church who are so influenced by the world outside, that they really think they're Christians. I'm not trying to be ugly or crass or anything of that nature--I'm trying to speak truth. Is Galatians 2:19-20 your testimony? Have you been crucified with Christ, meaning that you are constantly at odds with the things of this world and have to constantly pray for God to give you eyes to see things the way they really are, instead of seeing things through the lies this natural world makes you want to believe? Is it Christ who lives in you now, and not yourself, meaning that the difference between you NOW and you before you received Christ is markedly different? Or are you pretty much the same; it's just that now you have your Sunday mornings booked? Could you echo Paul when he says, "The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me"?

If this is your testimony, you don't feel uncomfortable--you're praising God because you recognize and understand the bankruptcy of the world and all of it's offers, and you recognize the easiness in your heart to be tossed about by every wind of culture, and this draws you into praising God because of the work He's done in your life through His Son's work on the cross, and you praise Him for the work He continues to do in your life.
If this isn't your testimony, you do feel uncomfortable, because you're struggling with a simple question: Do I really trust in Christ or do I trust in Him only given that He gives me what I think I need? Maybe it could be better stated: "Do I still live as a law to myself and expect others to match up to it, or do I let God define what my and their reality is?"
Regardless of where we are, praise be to God, He's not any farther away than simply crying out, "Have mercy on me, a sinner!" Jesus promised that this justifies us before the Father; and I'd say that this is a worthy cry at all times. But at least be honest about if it's your cry already or not. That's what the Church of Jesus Christ sings as long as it has breath on earth in this present age: "Have mercy on us sinners!" And it's always meant with the reply, "I WILL have mercy, because of what Jesus has done." And our natural response is with the angels in Isaiah and Revelation, "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty!"
To God alone the be the glory--He is good.