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.