Scripture Matthew 23:25-28
Psalm 139:13-16 The Message
Oh yes, you shaped me first inside,
then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re
breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration—what
a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You
know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into
something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all
the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all
prepared before I’d even lived one day.
Matthew 23:25-28
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but
inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then
the outside also will be clean.”
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful
on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything
unclean. 28 In the same way, on the
outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness.”
CHRIST Lives In Me
Galatians 2:20
How
do you identify a Christian? People in other parts of the world believe that
Canadians and Americans are Christian because they perceive our country to be a
Christian country, but is that an adequate way to identify a Christian? Does
keeping a certain code of conduct identify you as a Christian? Does attending a
church identify you as a Christian? Do the friendships you have identify you as
a Christian? Does your family background identify you as a Christian? How do we
identify a Christian so that there is no confusion?
Galatians 2:20 helps us think clearly about this. There we read, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no
longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
This verse acknowledges that a Christian is one who is still living on this
earth. A Christian has not gone to heaven or isolated him or herself from the
world. A Christian life is referred to as “the
life I live in the body.” As Christians, we are human, we live in this
world and we live in a physical body.
However, this also says, “I have been
crucified with Christ” “I no longer
live” and “Christ lives in me.”
To be identified as a Christian has absolutely nothing to do with who your
parents are or what they believe. There is only one thing about which there is
no confusion, which identifies you as a Christian and that is that Jesus Christ
lives in you.
John
Piper says, “A Christian is not a person who
believes in his head the teachings of the Bible. Satan believes in his head the
teachings of the Bible! A Christian is a person who has died with Christ, whose
stiff neck has been broken, whose brazen forehead has been shattered, whose
stony heart has been crushed, whose pride has been slain, and whose life is now
mastered by Jesus Christ.”
Being
“Christian”
equals “Christ
lives in me” If Christ lives in us, how is that life lived?
I.
Living with Direction
A
life lived in Christ is a life lived in a very particular direction. When
Christ lives in a person, their heart is changed so that they do what Christ
would do.
Romans
6:4-6 says, “We were therefore buried
with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If
we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be
united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was
crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin...”
Galatians
5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
II. Living with Power
Romans
is very clear that we cannot live the Christian life in the power that comes
from our own determination. Romans 8:3-4 “For
what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous
requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to
the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”
Being in Christ must be about living in the power of the Spirit. Christ came in
order to make the way for us to have our sins forgiven. In doing so, He made
our lives a holy receptacle for God to live in. We do not live in our own
power, but in the power of the Spirit of God.
III. Living with a Message
The
Bible teaches us that to be in Christ means that we have a message to proclaim.
II Corinthians 4:11 says, “For we who
are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his
life may be revealed in our mortal body.” The purpose of our living, of our
being in Christ is so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal
body. Colossians 1:27 “...God has chosen
to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
One
person was reflecting on what would happen if a medical researcher discovered a
cure for cancer and decided that he would not share the cure with others. We
would think such a person to be very selfish, perhaps even evil. So many people
are dying of cancer that to withhold the knowledge of the cure of cancer from
them would be a terrible thing. They went on to say that we as Christians know
of the cure of a disease far worse than cancer. The disease of sin does not
just afflict a certain percentage of the population, as cancer does. It
afflicts every single person living on this earth. A person ravaged by sin can
be totally healthy physically, but in terrible spiritual anguish. When a person
dies, cancer is finally not a problem to them. The consequences of sin,
however, do not stop when a person dies. The consequences of sin afflict a
person for all eternity. As Christians, we know the cure for this disease and
if Christ is in us how can we not be involved in communicating the good news of
the cure for sin to all those we come in contact with.
II Corinthians 5:14
says, “the love of Christ compels us.” To proclaim the good news!
IV. Living in a Presence
Galatians 3:27 “…all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.” The imagery of clothing implies a
close identity. It implies a constant relationship with Christ. 1 Thessalonians
5:10 where we read, “He died for us so
that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.”
Wherever we go, whatever we do, whoever we meet, we are always functioning in a
relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus
in us means outwardly we live with Direction – Power – Message – the Presence
of Christ! “ARE YOU JESUS?” Does that
question haunt you?
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