[022117] Christ As Life by Andrew Farley (Take 2)


Note: I took notes on this before, and I thought I posted it... apparently not. I was lead to watch it again in the process of preparing for messages I will be sharing this coming weekend.. and I think It's true what they say about messages that minister to you... We ought to watch them again and again, like the meatloaf that we wish we had seconds of.. :)

The moment we understand that Christ is more than just Savior & Lord, but that Christ is our actual life, everything else falls in place. Again, we are saved by His life, and He is our Lord in the sense that our life is His... 

...and we also need to understand and commit to believing and integrating the Truth that His life is ours. We are one life with Christ. 

What does this mean? This means that He is part of everything our life is involved in. This means that He is not just a part of our life, but our entire life. We like to say He is first and we put Him first, but when we begin to believe that Christ is our actual life, He is in all things, and consequently, He is first in all things.

Before long, the world will not see Me anymore, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live - John 14:19

The length of Jesus' life is the length of your life. We have eternal life, but eternal life is not a 'thing' included in the Salvation package - no, eternal life is literally Jesus. Once we realize this, and once we realize it's Jesus' eternal life, without beginning and end, intergrated and infused with ours, then we are free from the anxiety related to thinking that we no longer have His life. 

It's not about our messed-up lives full of mistakes but about Christ's eternal life in us. It's not about our performance, but it's all about Christ's performance which guaranteed our eternal life and union with Christ. 

Paul tells the Philippians, 'For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.' Celebrities may fill in the place of Christ. Other people, and even other things may fill in Christ's place. But here we see Christ, going beyond any wise man and teacher ever birthed, and giving us more than teachings, but actual life, and we ought to realize that for us, to live is, indeed, Christ.

We have different roles, but we are all in common with regards to the identity we have - we are all alive in Christ. Some of us are mothers, some fathers, some sons, daughters, brothers, sisters... But we take on these roles, knowing that we strive according to Christ who is the power that lives within us.

Indeed, apart from Christ, we can't be perfect mothers. Apart from Christ, we can't be perfect fathers, workers, or photographers. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing of value.. but praise God, because as we have been saved by Christ's life, we are always in Christ, and we are able to perform in and with the presence of our loving Creator. 

In the face of our failures, we see the world would have us to do one of two things - to try working harder to feel better, or to give up and to wallow in depression. 

Praise God, because in Christ, there is a third way. We can continue to bounce between trying and giving up, trying and giving up, but we have the option of understanding simply that Christ is everything. What do we mean by this?

Let's go back to Galatians 2:20... 'I have been crucified with Christ..' Don't stop here! 

'..I no longer live' What happened to 'God so loved the world'? Here, we see that God starts our eternal relationship with a death.. But this death is coming out of love, because this spiritual death is followed by a resurrection and a complete newness of life! 

As followers of Christ, and believers of Christ, this is a truth that we ought to really understand. This would allow us to believe that Christ, indeed, lives in and through us, no longer us who loves and laughs and lives, but Christ who loves and laughs and lives through us!

Does this mean that we are channels, that we are mere containers for Christ? No, this is a life that isn't just Christ's, but our life together! This is Christ's life and our life in one life! 

Scientists have been inconclusive in determining whether light is a wave or a particle, because they have seen life behave as both. Consequently, we are not just in Christ, but Christ is in us. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us, at the same time in an amazing union. 

Eternal life is not a gift to have, but a Christ who is alive, not just in us, not just through us, but also with us! We can save so much time to know that eternal life is not just a facet or an item, but an intimate relationship with a Person, and that person is Christ. 

Everything else, therefore, in Paul's eyes, is rubbish and dung, meaningless compared to Christ who is alive in us. We can make so much mistakes, intentionally and unintentionally, but what really matters is the life we have with Christ.. 

Eventually, we go past believing everything is permissible, towards understanding that not everything is profitable, because of the wonderful life we have, who is Christ, whose life and ours is fused together. 

It's no longer just our frail lives, and Christ so far away that we could not even fathom beholding His face, much less claiming His life... But by Christ's love and His perfect and finished work, we will spend an eternity enjoying and appreciating how we have been born again, to live a life which Christ and I live as one life! 

God looks at us and is satisfied, because Christ has made us new creations, temples of the Holy Spirit, new wineskin with new wine! And that's the Truth! No, let's not fall into the trap of being set free of the law in order to be yoked by the laws of the standards of other people! 

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by His own glory and goodness. - 2 Peter 1:3

Church, let us proclaim the Truth of our personal union with Christ, and let us focus on that! Let us keep washing ourself in this truth instead of fearing the loss of a 'feeling' which doesn't define our confidence in God in the first place! Christ paid such a dear price so that He could be the closest He could ever be to us, which is our life and His made one! Do NOT allow anything or anyone to convince you otherwise! Operate from the Truth that Christ is your life, and be free of what other people think, be free of the chains of self-consciousness and insecurity!

So when we find ourselves in trouble, sometimes from our own doing, we can either try harder from our own efforts or give up...

...Or, we can go the life-giving way, which is to live as Christ would as He is our life. When we stumble, and when we try to figure things out, we have the option of speaking out to our Lord and Savior and Life, 'I wanna know you today; I made a mistake, and I've played my role poorly, if not totally wrong... Please be my life in the midst of this, I wanna know You, who You are in me, and who I am in You in this situation.' 

We have the tendency to be co-dependent with other people and consequently, sucking the life off of each other. To this, we can try harder to 'love' the other person to keep the relationship, or we can give up altogether and call it quits..

..but there's the way of Christ. Christ can be wife, husband, friend in a situation. 

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. - Colossians 2:9-10

We are complete in Christ. We are full in Christ. Christ is complete in us. Christ is full in us. Let us remember this when we feel inadequate. Let us remember this when we feel dissatisfied. 

People will be rating us. If not, we rate ourselves. Let us remember that Christ is our completeness and our fullness in all situations. It actually becomes such a big thing to us when we give in to the leading to believe this Truth. We no longer walk in our feelings, but in faith in Christ who is our life, our fullness, our completeness. 

It's Christ Himself, Brent. It's Christ Himself that is your fullness. It's not what you know about Scripture, and even about Christ Himself, but really, it's Christ HIMSELF that is life. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. He is Savior, He is Lord, and He is our Life, and we will know this more and more and more... Halleluyah!

'Jesus, I know you, I do know you and I will know you forever... But I want to know you in these situations that have been plaguing me.. Teach me to know who you are in this, be my life because You are my life, be my everything because You are my everything.'


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May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you His Shalom. - Numbers 6:24-26