Bible Devotion - 10/3/2021

October 3rd, 2021

HOW DO YOU LIVE THE CHRISTIAN LIFE? (PART 2)

Last week we left off in Galatians 2:20 trying to answer the question “How am I supposed to live the Christian life?” The concept that Paul teaches is a simple one but it is extremely difficult to accomplish. In fact last week we said that it was an impossibility. Throughout Paul’s writings he talks about three types of death. (1)Death to Sin, (2) Death to Self, & (3) Death to Safety. This verse, in my opinion, is talking about all three.

So where does “living the Christian life begin”? It begins with a funeral – YOURS. You must die to self!

Then when that is achieved Paul says you need to….
2. LET THE SAVIOR LIVE IN YOU:

…yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:

The old you no longer lives. You have been crucified with Christ, but the new you has been raised with Christ. So now we are beginning to learn what it is to be a Christian. I’ll give it to you in one sentence. It is dying a crucified death so that you can live a resurrected life.

Now I know that is a strange paradox when I say to you that a Christian must die in order to live. But the fact is, if the new you is going to live, the old you must die.

That is why I say you can sum up the Christian life in four words: LIVE AND LET DIE. Jesus also said the way to get is to give. He said the way to be first is to be last. He said the way to be over is to be under.

A great Bible teacher named A.W. Tozer, put it this way:

"A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen; talks familiarly everyday to Someone he cannot see, expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order to be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, goes down in order to get up, is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and happiest when he feels the worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, gives away so he can keep, sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge."

You see, in a sense the Christian is both dead and alive at the same time! Every Christian has a poster on the door of heaven that says, "Wanted: Dead AND Alive." You cannot live until you die, but when you die you live.

You may be reading this today and saying, "I don't get it." Well, hopefully you are about to because there are four words in this text that really tell us what the Christian life is, and how to live it. I want you to underscore them: Look at verse 20.... CHRIST LIVETH IN ME.

You see the first discovery a Christian needs to make as soon as he becomes one is this: He cannot live the Christian life. It is "Christ living in me." You see the Christian life is not your responsibility; IT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO HIS ABILITY.

Just think about that word Christian. It is actually a combination of two words: Christ + "in", or Christian.

Now I hope you are beginning to see it. The Christian life is not you living for Jesus; it is Jesus living in you. Martin Luther once said, "When someone knocks at the door of my heart, I open it and they say, 'Who lives here?' I answer, 'Jesus Christ lives here.' Inevitably they will say, 'I thought Martin Luther lived here,' to which I say, 'Martin Luther used to live here, but he died. Jesus Christ lives here now.'"

That's it. That is what I want you to see. A Christian is not the old man trying to live his best for Jesus Christ. The Christian is someone who allows the old man to be crucified so that Jesus Christ can live through the new man.

That's why you must "live and let die." You let self die to you; you let the Savior live in you.

Then lastly in order to “live the Christian life”...
3. YOU LET THE SPIRIT WORK THROUGH YOU:

Paul finishes by saying "and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Now why bring in the Holy Spirit here since He isn't mentioned? Because the only way to die to the old you is through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says you and I are to live a crucified life, and if you think about it in a sense that is an impossibility.

Have you ever thought about the fact that though the self must be crucified, you cannot crucify yourself? Now you can shoot yourself, or hang yourself, or stab yourself, but you cannot crucify yourself; that's impossible.

Someone must crucify you for you, and only the Holy Spirit of God can do that. That is exactly the meaning of Romans 8:13 which says:

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Now Paul says two things about living here. He talks about the life he lives "in the flesh." Even Christians live in the flesh; that is, we have to live in this human body.

But the difference is the Christian does not live BY the flesh but sometimes he lives AFTER the flesh. The Christian lives by FAITH, which is the work of the Spirit of God.

You see the world not only lives IN the flesh, it lives AFTER the flesh. This is the world - LOOK OUT FOR NUMBER ONE; EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY; GRAB ALL THE GUSTO YOU CAN; IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT; I DID IT MY WAY.

On the other hand, the Christian lives by faith. As you think about it he has to because the entire Christian life is lived by faith. You were saved by faith, you stand by faith, you serve by faith, you see by faith.

But it is not just faith alone that makes a difference. The world exercises faith. Everybody who flies gets on an airplane by faith, believing the plane will safely get them to where they want to go.

Everybody who goes to the drugstore goes by faith believing they are getting the right medicine, and that the medicine will cure them.

This is not just faith in anyone. It is faith "in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." The Muslim cannot place his faith in a Mohammad who loved him and gave himself for him; the Buddhist cannot place his faith in a Buddha who loved him and gave himself for him; the Hindu cannot place his faith in a god who loved him and gave himself for him; but you and I "live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

The only reason I can become a Christian; the only reason I am a Christian; the only reason I can stay a Christian is because He loved me and gave Himself for me!

Someone put it this way: "The life that Jesus lived qualified Him for the death that He died, and the death that He died qualifies us for the life that He lived!"

So you can boil Christianity down to one single simple sentence - JESUS GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME - IN ORDER TO TAKE MY LIFE FROM ME - SO THAT HE COULD LIVE HIS LIFE IN ME.

I heard about a doctor one time who got a call one morning to do an emergency surgery. When he got home after the surgery his son asked his dad about the surgery. He said, "Dad, did you have to cut the man open to see what was inside of him?" The dad said, "Yes, son, I did." He said, "Dad, did you see his lungs and his stomach, and could you see his heart?" His dad said, "Yes, son, I could."

Well, at that moment his little four-year-old granddaughter who had been intently listening to the conversation, immediately looked up at her dad with big wide eyes of amazement, and said, "Dad, you did see his heart?" The dad said, "Yes, I did." She said, "Dad, did you see Jesus in his heart?"

Now that's kind of funny, but it expresses a great truth. That's what Christianity really is. When the old you dies, and Jesus comes into your heart, and everybody can see him living in you.

I pray this helps you to understand what the Christian life is all about. Remember it starts with your funeral every day!

Bro. Jeff