6to7Life

The Biblical Truth:
We are to live in Christ and live Life abundantly!

A verse to point us to that truth:
John 10:10 The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

How can we look like Christ, show Christ to others, do things that please Him and still keep messing up in our everyday life? And how do we do those things without feeling like we are back on the treadmill of work and guilt?

We are taught from God’s Word that there are things that can happen and things that cannot happen:

We cannot

• Be separated from God’s love – Romans 8:35-39
• Be lost or perish – John 10:28 and John 3:16
• Be taken out of my Father’s hand – John 10:29
• Be charged or accused – Romans 8:33
• Be condemned – 1 Corinthians 11:32

We can

• Do all things through I – Philippians 4:13
• Find mercy and grace to help – Hebrews 4:16
• Come boldly to the throne of grace – Hebrews 4:16
• Quench all the fiery darts – Ephesians 6:16
• Declare liberty to captives – Isaiah 61:1
• Pray always and everywhere – Luke 21:36
• Defeat and overcome the enemy – Revelation 12:11

In spite of these things that can and cannot happen, every one of us still has obligations and responsibilities – these are completely separate from having to follow ‘laws’ or ‘rules’.

Think of it this way: as an employer, an employee, a parent, or a student, there are things we must do even if we do not like it or do not want to do it. These are our obligations and responsibilities. Employers must pay their employees, pay taxes, and provide health insurance. Employees must work, show up on time, and follow the work’s rules to keep the job. Parents must protect their children, provide for them, teach them what they need to know for life, and show them that they are loved. Students must do their homework, study, respect their teachers and leaders in the school, and respect the other students.

No one has a problem with these and other obligations and responsibilities that are enacted on them, but as soon as a Church leader begins to lay out obligations or responsibilities for members of God’s local Church, they are called out to be ‘legalists’. This is not what legalism is. This is simply teaching how to walk in Christ and how that will show out to the world. Legalism is demanding you to do things for salvation or so you can receive blessings or favors from God or from the Pastor or the local Church.

There are natural rewards and natural consequences to those who choose not to fulfill their responsibilities and to those who fulfill their responsibilities.

The New Testament writings are designed to show us how to solve conflict with others, how to solve conflict with ourselves, and how to solve conflict with God. The solution to all of these is Christ! The New Testament also lays out for us what our life will look like when we allow Christ to live in and through us.

Philippians 1:20-21 Accordingly, it is my earnest expectation and my hope that Christ shall be ashamed in nothing, but that with all boldness as always, so now also, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. 21 For to me, to continue living is Christ, and to die is gain.

Romans 6:6-14 knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we should no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For the one who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death has no further dominion over Him. 10 For the death He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise, you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

This is the portrait that God paints for us. Not a portrait of how to behave, but how our life will look when we allow Christ to reign and live in our lives. God never intended for us to live alone or to be perfect. At salvation, He put His Spirit within us and came and dwelled in us to give us Supernatural Life – Himself!

He desires for us to be victorious over the circumstances we face, but many times we make the mistake of asking God to help us through the circumstances rather than yielding to His Spirit that lives in us so that He can live in and through us in the middle of that circumstance. God tells us that we can and should expect to have Christ as our Life and to also have His mind, His strength, His provisions, His peace and His joy.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, and self-control; against such there is no law.

When Christ came to live in you, He created a new creature in you. A ‘being’ that has a new spirit and that is alive and in union with Him always!

Colossians 3:1-4 If you then were raised with Christ, desire those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on earth. 3 For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life shall appear, then you also shall appear with Him in glory.

We are to do the opposite from doing works in our own strength. God says that good works will be a result of us walking (seeking and setting) in Christ because Christ will be living through us.

Romans 8:9-13 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit that lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if through the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, 9 not of works, so that no one should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we should walk in them.

Both us being in Christ and Him being in us, happened at the time of our salvation. It is an instantaneous process; however, we may not understand it and try to live Christ’s life for Him. The reality is, Christ’s Life is to be expressed through us by Him.

Have you ever said “I just can’t get victory over this problem!”, “Just keep praying and victory will come.”, “Victory comes only after much hard work.”, or “I lost the victory.”? These are very common – but incorrect – statements about victory.

God’s Word has many true promises about victory, but victory is not achieving, winning, being on top of it, or something we have to do. Why are these not Victory? Because they direct us away from The One who is our Victory. We often work for victory instead of from Victory!

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Walking in defeat is not that we do not have victory – we have been set free and Christ’s Life is victorious in us – but that we choose (consciously or subconsciously) not to claim our victory, and we continue to live as though we are still in bondage. This condition of our lives is called “walking after the flesh” instead of “walking in the Spirit”

Romans 6:11-14 Likewise, you also consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your bodies to God as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

Galatians 5:16-17 I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

Every day wake up and know you are alive in Christ, and allow your flesh – the old habits – to yield to Him as He leads. As you ask God to walk and live in you, He will show you how to live through His Word, through preaching and teaching, through feeling peace as you live when all these line up.

We used to believe God said we were bad because we did bad things and we thought our behavior made us distant from Him. Then, when we studied the Bible and learned that God tells us that we WERE dead and needed His Life. We thought that we were distant from God because we did bad things and we thought we could just change our behavior and be in close fellowship with Him. But God solved our ‘distance’ problem by making us close to Himself by the death and resurrection of Christ … not our good works!

Remember, not everyone’s life will look the same, not everyone will be working on the same things, and not everyone has issues with the same things. Each person will be living their life as Christ is leading them, and you will be living your life as Christ is leading you. Ü When your life is not showing Christ – allowing Christ to show out – the answer is not ‘do more – try harder – be better’. The answer is Christ – know Him more, trust him more, and immerse yourself in Him. The result will be: your life will show the character of Christ.