YOU Can't Live the Christian Life!

Did the following scene ever take place?

   “My Son, we have lived together in realms of the eternals, in perfect fellowship. But now you are going to earth. Earth is fallen, its inhabitants are sinful. The true Christian life can be lived only in the pure realm of the spirituals, in a perfect spirit. You can no longer live by my life on planet earth. When you go through that door into that other fallen realm, all will change! Down there you will no longer live in the fellowship of the Godhead. No, you must learn another way to live. It is not as high as the way you have known with me here. No, the way you live on earth is called the lower way to live the Christian life! From now on you must study your Bible every day, you must pray every day, witness, fast, tithe, speak in tongues (?), and go to church. These are the means by which one lives the Christian life on planet earth.”

   Do you think such a conversation ever took place? Certainly not. When the Lord Jesus came to earth, he did pray, he did fast, and he did witness. But these things were the outward expressions – the overflow of an internal experience.

   The question we must now face is, “Did Jesus Christ change the way he lived the Christian life once he got to earth?” Was there a radical change in the ground rules, or did the way remain unchanged, passing from the spiritual realm to the physical realm?

   Take a closer look at Jesus the Christian. It was from WITHIN that the Lord Jesus grew in spiritual awareness. He began sensing an indwelling Lord…his Father! God the Father was living in Jesus’ spirit. The spiritual realm was inside the man named Jesus Christ. He lived on this earth, but the supply of living the Christian life came from his spirit.

   His way of living the Christian life was (1) to go to his Father’s life, located in his spirit, (2) to draw upon that life, and (3) to allow that life to express itself in this realm, through his soul and body. The engine had not changed. The means of living the Christian life had not changed. The engine of the Christian life was still his Father’s life…in Christ.

   At the beginning we saw only three Christians – the Trinity in the eternals before creation! Then one member of the Godhead came to earth exhibiting the outliving of the Christian life for us here on earth. The fellowship of the Godhead entered into a kind of “stage two.” And nothing changed from stage one to stage two, except the backdrop!

Did the following scene ever take place?

   The Lord Jesus calls Simon Peter aside to talk to him privately. “Peter, I am about to return to the other realm. There are some things we need to get straight before I leave. When I lived in my Father before I came here, he and I had a unique relationship together. Then I came to earth. Nothing changed; the Father and I simply continued living out the same relationship we had experienced in eternity. My Father continued supplying me with all of his life source. I lived by his life. While here on earth, he lived in me. We fellowshiped together each day by means of his indwelling. Peter, you understand all of that was for ME. This is MY secret  to living the Christian life. But, Peter, I want you to get this clear! All that was for me and is not for you! You are fallen. You, Peter, must live the Christian life by other means than I do. Do you understand this? None of this living by my Father’s life. None of this indwelling Lord. Certainly never think, that you will be invited to join in the fellowship between my Father and me.

   “The secret to the Christian life for you, Peter? Well, you have to live the Christian life by you own efforts. First of all (and above everything else), you have to live a good life. Watch out how you behave and how you dress. Do good. Be nice. Next, stop sinning. That is the heart of all I came to accomplish, to stop people from sinning so much! When tempted, bow your neck and determine not to sin. Next, you have to pray. Pray hard and long…every day. The Christian life for you is grunt, grit, and gumption. Read your Bible. Spend lots and lots of time in the Bible. Memorize some verses.”

   (Uh, excuse me Lord, I have a problem here. I cannot read. And what is a verse?”)

   Is this what the Lord Jesus said to Peter? If it is, then we are all stuck with a second-class way to live the Christian life. True, every element in that formula has merit, but that formula has never, and never will, contain the primary ingredients of the secret to the Christian life. This second-class way to live the Christian life for us peasants calls for a great deal of human exertion and outward performance. The outward things become all important. Pleasing God, or trying to by outward displays!

   Take you choice. Each of us must choose what will be our central concentration: an indwelling Lord or an objective, outward performance; fellowshipping with him or trying to make him happy by being good and doing lots of nice things. We really do not have nay other options. Speaking personally, I have tried both, and there is no comparison.

   His closest followers chose the way of an indwelling Lord and fellowship with that Lord. For them it was no choice at all because they had never even heard of the other way. And no wonder. “Pray and read your Bible” as being the Christian life had not even been invented yet.

   Do you think the following conversation ever took place?

   Peter is speaking. “Now listen up, you three thousand. I am only going to say this once. There are two kinds of Christians: those of us who live the Christian life by the same means Jesus Christ lived the Christian life – and then there is YOU! We apostles are in on this first way. But you are second-class Christians. You do not get the same equipment the Lord Jesus had, or that we have. You are peasants. You are to struggle. Did you hear me? Grunt! Grit! Strain! Use your will, your best effort!

   “We apostles got to see firsthand how Jesus lived the Christian life. But you did not. Remember that. That puts you in a lower class. We lived with him. He dwells within us just like the Father dwelt within him. There is no way to pass on to you what we have. So, here is your way to live the Christian life. Work hard at doing things to please God. Read your Bible. (We promise to get it written as soon as possible. You might even have a chance to own a copy by about 300AD if you’re still alive and have lots of money.) Fast, go to church, tithe, and a few other things I will tell you about later.”

   Was the above formula imparted to the three thousand as the secret to the Christian life? And is this what is expected of all the rest of us Christians who will come after them?  Are you cut off from the fellowship of the Godhead? Do we get an intimate touch with a divine Lord only at the moment of salvation?

   Basically what these formulas are saying is: Become saved – that is a truly spiritual, other-realm profound internal experience. BUT after that the Christian life is all grit, groan, and grunt. This kind of Christian life is on about the same level as “how to live the Muslim life,” or “how to live the Hebrew life.” Where is that which is truly unique to the Christian? A living, indwelling Christ is the “something” we have that no other religion on earth can offer. In fact, other religions never dreamed of offering such a wonder.

   Take any other starting point than an indwelling Lord and you will end up with something terribly off course, incredibly short of the mark, indescribably shallow, totally unworkable, and probably just a hair away from humanism. What you are apt to find s not much more than a bootstrap religion.

   The greatest day you will ever live is the day that God, by revelation, shows you that you CANNOT live the Christian life. Human beings are the wrong species for living the Christian life. Furthermore, if you become the right species by faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, you are still the wrong person. The Christian life is – always has been – and always will be, the exclusive territory of the living God. He ALONE lives the Christian life! And if this is really a fact, then there really is a lot of unlearning and relearning to be done.

   I have solidified the fact that only Christ in you can live your Christian life. Now what are the practical aspects of getting to know Christ in you personally so that you can trust him to live the Christian life for you?

   Your mind wanders. You feel a sense of guilt when you get personal with Jesus in you. You also get sleepy. You don’t know what to talk to the Lord about. You get distracted. These are the present hindrances that you face in your prayer life. Is there a solution?

   There are only two things that exist in our material realm that belong to and are native to the spiritual realm. One is the Scripture, which is God-breathed. The other is your spirit. Your spirit belongs to and is now part of the other realm – the spirit realm. Join these two elements together (your spirit and Scripture) and you have a key for dealing with these age old hindrances.

   What I shall present to you is not the only way to enter into a meaningful fellowship with Christ within. It is simply A way. But we all need somewhere to begin, a starting point do we not?

   You are about to enter into an ancient and greatly revered practice of the saints of all the centuries past, a heritage that has been passed down through two millennia of the Christian faith. You are about to turn Scripture into prayer.

  

Assignment One

 

   Get alone. Get quiet. Calm your mind. Bask in the presence of Jesus within you for a time. Next, open your Bible to Psalm 23. Speak out loud, and TALK Psalm 23 to your Lord. Paraphrase or adapt something like this:

Lord Jesus, you are my Shepherd. You take care of me. You always have taken care of me. You are taking care of me now. You will take care of me in the future. I am a lamb. I was made for a shepherd. You are that Shepherd. And it is true, I have never wanted, and right now I have no real needs.

   Take time to let this sink in. Then turn to Galatians 2:20 and adapt:

   Jesus, I was crucified and died with you on the cross but now I live again with you living in me. And my life in the world is meant to be you living it for me and through me.

   Take more time to let this sink in.

   Maybe this is all your prayer life should consist of for many days. Do not read assignment two until you are very secure in assignment one.

 

Assignment Two

 

   Assignment two is very similar to assignment one. There is one major difference, and that one difference makes all the difference in the world.

   In assignment one, YOU were the entire center of everything that was prayed (see all the me’s and I’s). This is pretty typical of the vantage point of most of our praying, is it not?

   Now you are about to go to a new approach, one you might never have taken before. You are going to step completely out of the prayer! Not once while proceeding on will you make a personal reference to yourself. This time you will be WATCHING the fellowship of the Father and the Son.

   Your prayer from Psalm 23 might come out something like this:

   Father, when Jesus was here on this earth, you were his Shepherd. He never had any needs. You met all his needs. You are all that Jesus has ever needed. Lord Jesus, while you lived here on earth, your Father was your rest. You rested in him. He replenished your soul. Your Father was your drink. He was your food. He was your full supply. Father, you are the righteousness of Jesus. You are his path. Jesus lived and moved in your righteousness. He followed you, and he glorified your name.

   Notice that you are not part of the prayer. You just changed perspectives. Take time to let this new perspective sink in. Then continue with Galatians 2:20:

   Jesus, you died on the cross by the will of the Father. The Father was in you before your death and the Father was in you again after your resurrection. The life that you led on this earth was always by the life of the Father within you. You lived by faith in the Father to direct his ways through you.

   Again, nothing about you, only about Christ and the Father. Take time again to really acknowledge this new perspective in your relationship with Christ within you.

 

Assignment Three

 

   You are going to reintroduce yourself back into the picture but only as a living union between you and Jesus. You are united with him. You can never be separated from him. The relationship is unique from anything known on this earth. But it is real and enduring – Christ/Bob; Christ/Mary; Christ/Joe; Christ/Jane.

   Psalm 23 will probably come across something like this:

   Father, you are the Shepherd of Christ/Bob – you take care of us in our union. We were made for a Shepherd. Father, by living your life in our union, we have never truly wanted and never will. Christ/Bob rests in you. You replenish the soul. You are our full supply. You are our path of righteousness. We, as a living union, will always glorify your name.

   For as long as it takes, get settled in this concept of union with Jesus Christ. Think about you/him, you/him, in all that comes to your mind.

   Galatians 2:20 becomes something like this:

   Father, I know that Christ/Bob died on the cross but that this unique spiritual entity lives again – today, right now in the twenty-first century. And everything that we as a unit do in this world is done through the power of you, the Father, who continues to live his “Christian” life through us.

  

Assignment Four

 

   Grow in this understanding. And what will you have gained in all this? You will have joined into the fellowship of the Godhead. You will be learning to differentiate between your spirit where Christ dwells in union, and your soulish emotions and will. You will have learned to love in this union of your spirit and the Spirit of Christ – to listen, to respond, to fellowship with him. And, hopefully, you will have learned (on more and more occasions) to absent yourself and simply enjoy the miracle of the Father’s “Christian life” living out from this union of Christ in you, as you, and through you.

  

 

Eternal Security Parables

[Excerpt from Charles Stanley's book, "Eternal Security"]

 

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day did not hold to the doctrine of eternal security. They believed righteousness was gained and maintained through keeping the Mosaic law. According to their theology, if a man abandoned the law, God abandoned him. That belief deeply affected their attitude and behavior toward persons who were not keeping the law in the manner the leaders thought they should. As religious leaders and shepherds of the people, they took it upon themselves to visibly model God’s disdain for those who did not keep the law. Consequently, they would have nothing to do with certain classes of people.

For that reason it was not uncommon to hear a Pharisee praying the way Jesus described:

And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax–gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax–gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ ” (Luke 18:9–12)

The Pharisee looked down on those who were not as “committed” or “disciplined” as he was. In his way of thinking, he was simply mirroring God’s attitude. That distorted view of God’s attitude compelled Christ on several occasions to focus His teaching on the subject.

Despite His clear teaching, some people are still confused. This confusion has driven some away from believing in eternal security. Like the Pharisees of old, some Christians believe their eternal security rests not on the finished work of Christ at Calvary but on the consistency of their good works. To put it another way, they have been adopted into the family of God by grace; but whether or not they remain in the family hinges on their willingness to act like family members. They live with the threat of being unadopted.

In Luke chapter 15, Jesus gave three parables. Some different reasons have been given on why He taught these parables. But I believe that the major point Jesus was making in these stories is to show “once saved, always saved”. Let’s go into some depth with each of the parables.

Jesus was being swamped by tax gatherers and sinners. And His interaction with them really got under the skin of the religious leaders. They could not figure out how a Teacher who claimed to be from God could fellowship with those whom they believed God disdained. They began to complain to one another, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” -Luke 15:2. Sharing a meal in that culture was a sign of acceptance and genuine fellowship.

Jesus knew their thoughts and took the opportunity to draw their attention to the error of their thinking through a series of parables. In each parable something precious was lost. And in each parable the owner put aside everything else and focused attention on finding it.

In the first parable a man lost a sheep (see Luke 15:4–6). When he realized it was gone, he left the rest of the flock and searched until he found the one lost sheep. Jesus applied the parable by saying,

I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over the one sinner who repents, than over the ninety–nine righteous persons who need no repentance. —Luke 15:7

The point of the parable was clear. And it flew right in the face of the Pharisees’ twisted theology. God (the shepherd) was concerned about the sinner more than He was the righteous man! But how could that be? Why would He have such concern over sinners when they, the Pharisees, had so faithfully sought to abide by even the most detailed portions of the law? Didn’t their righteousness merit God’s attention over the unrighteousness of sinners? It didn’t make any sense to them at all.

Before they had time to sort it all out, Jesus presented a second scenario. A woman lost a valuable coin, and she put aside all her other household chores until she found it (see Luke 15:8–10). Even at the risk of appearing irresponsible, she searched until she discovered her prize. Again Christ applied the parable to God the Father’s attitude toward sinners. In spite of what the religious leaders thought and taught, God’s concern at that time was not the righteous but the unrighteous. The source of His joy was not the righteous deeds of the godly but the restoration of the sinner.

The Pharisees would have ended the parables differently. The shepherd wouldn’t have gone out of his way to find the missing sheep. Instead he would have written the sheep off as lost for good, no longer a part of the flock. Their attitude would have been, “That sheep knows where to find us. If it wants to rejoin the flock, fine. But it will have to come to us. Besides, it should have known better than to wander off.”

In the same vein, the woman who lost her coin would have been content with the coins she hadn’t lost. She certainly wouldn’t be pictured diligently searching for it. After all, it was just one coin.

Think About It

The authors of the New Testament left us with detailed explanations of how one becomes a child of God; if that process could be reversed, doesn’t it make sense that at least one of them would have gone into equal detail explaining that as well?

The Pharisees had no comprehension of God’s true view of sinners. They were so caught up in their own pseudorighteousness that they had come to believe their good works were actually

the grounds for their acceptability before God. To put it in more modern terms, they believed their salvation was maintained by their good works.

The Lost Son

To drive His point home even further, Christ gave one more vivid illustration:

A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” —Luke 15:11–12

With those words Jesus had His audience’s undivided attention. From what we understand of first–century Jewish culture, no son with any respect at all for his father would dare demand his share of the inheritance. It was customary for the father to choose the time for the division of the inheritance. To make things worse, the younger son was making the request. What he did was unthinkable!

Jesus continued,

And he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. —Luke 15:12–13

Not only did he demand his share of the inheritance, the younger son left town with it. Apparently, he had no concern for his father’s welfare. He was concerned about only himself. So he took the money, went to a distant country, and partied it all away.

No doubt Jesus’ listeners were all rehearsing in their minds what they thought the disrespectful brat deserved. How dare he take such a large portion of his father’s hard–earned estate and throw it away! According to the law, a son who cursed his father or was rebellious and stubborn was to be put to death (see Lev. 20:9; Deut. 21:18–21). The death penalty was the most likely verdict reached by many who listened that day.

But then the story took a surprising turn:

Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need. And he went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he was longing to fill his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. —Luke 15:14–16

The crowd must have become almost nauseous as Jesus described the condition in which the boy found himself. The Pharisees would not even go near swine, much less feed them. By their definition, the young man was hopelessly ceremonially unclean. That is, he would probably never get clean enough to enter the temple and offer sacrifices. And to think he would even consider eating with the pigs. To them, he had gone over the edge, but then, he deserved it.

At the same time, however, many who stood there that day could relate to the story of the prodigal son. They had abandoned their heavenly Father. Like the lad in the story, they were in situations that caused them to be alienated from the religious community. By the practiced standard of the day, they were unacceptable to God. They listened carefully as Jesus went on,

But when he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’ ” And he got up and came to his father. —Luke 15:17–20

I imagine everyone who heard Jesus that day had an opinion about what the father should say or do when the boy began his speech. At the same time, I doubt any of them would have ended the parable the way Jesus did:

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him. —Luke 15:20

The Pharisees must have cringed at the thought of embracing someone who had spent time feeding swine. Jesus then added,

And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.” —Luke 15:21–24

A Worst Case Scenario

Culturally speaking, what Jesus described in the parable was a worst case scenario. The boy could not have been more disrespectful. He could not have been any more insensitive. And he certainly could not have been a greater embarrassment to the family.

No one would have blamed the father if he had refused to allow the boy to join up as one of his hired men. The son didn’t deserve a second chance, and he knew it. He recognized how foolish it would be to return with the notion of being allowed back into the family. That was not even a consideration. In his mind, he had forfeited all rights to sonship. He was of the conviction that by abandoning his father and wasting his inheritance, he had relinquished his position in the family.

Once a Son, Always a Son

His father, however, did not see things that way at all. In his mind, once a son, always a son. The father’s first emotion as he saw the son returning wasn’t anger. It wasn’t even disappointment. He felt compassion for him. Why? Because the young man was his son!

The father said: “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again” (Luke 15:24). He did not say, “This was my son, and now he is my son again.” On the contrary, there is no hint that the relationship was ever broken, only the fellowship. By “dead” Jesus meant “separated.” That was clearly a figure of speech since the son did not physically die in the parable.

Christ’s next words have been used by some to argue that salvation can be lost. He went on to say, “He was lost, and has been found” (v. 24). To say that “lost” and “found” refer to eternal

salvation is to assume that they are being used figuratively. But there is no evidence for such a use from the immediate context. The son was literally lost. That is, the father did not know where he was. When the son returned, he was found.

A Missed Opportunity

Since the point of the three parables was to illustrate God’s attitude toward sinners, Christ had the perfect opportunity to explain how one could lose his or her place in the family of God—if such were possible. That is especially true when we think about the characters in the third parable. The parallels are too obvious to miss. The father is the heavenly Father, and the son represents sinners of all kinds.

If ever there was a son who deserved to be disowned, it was the son in the parable. If ever there was a set of circumstances within a family that called for extreme action, that was it. Yet there was no hint of rejection on the part of the Heavenly Father. The father in the story was not portrayed as one battling in his heart over what to do with his sorry son.

Jesus did not depict the heavenly Father as One waiting to be asked for permission to reenter the family. Instead He was described as One who felt compassion for the returning sinner, One who at no time viewed the son as anything less than that—a son. He was pictured as One who took immediate action to restore His wandering child to a place of honor and dignity. He demanded no explanation; no apology; nothing. There was no probationary period, just acceptance and joy.

What Is the Connection?

To those who believe salvation is maintained by good works, I would ask, What good works maintained the relationship between the father and the son in the parable? It is clear that he left as a son; otherwise he would have received no inheritance. It is equally clear that he returned as a son. Without a word between them, the father ran to him, embraced him, and restored to him the visible signs of sonship.

What maintained the son’s relationship with the father? He certainly wasn’t acting like a son. He didn’t manifest any signs of sonship. He didn’t perform good works. If anything, his life–style was characterized by the very opposite! Yet his relationship with the father never changed. Why? Because the father’s love and acceptance of the son were not contingent on the son’s works. The father’s love was unconditional. He loved the son because he was a son, because they were related.

That was Jesus’ point exactly. The shepherd didn’t kick the wandering sheep out of the flock. The woman didn’t just forget about her lost coin and turn her attention to ones she still possessed. And the prodigal’s father didn’t disown his rebellious son. In every case, the opposite was true.

God is not looking for people He can throw out of His family. He is looking for people who are willing to be included. And once they are included by faith, He continually looks after them through all their ups and downs. He is the Good Shepherd, the compassionate Father. He is love.

If you have placed your trust in Christ’s death on the cross as the payment for your sin, you are an eternal member of the family of God. Acting like God’s child didn’t get you in. Not acting like one won’t get you tossed out. God’s unconditional love is eternal.