What’s actually left of “me”, after receiving Christ? Hopefully nothing.

That is, nothing that has not been killed and re-birthed, and infused with the life of Christ.

Because whatever is not of Christ is of Satan, just as whatever is not of the light is darkness, and whatever is not of the truth is a lie. The very life you and I came out of the womb with was a life purposed by Satan and for Satan, our having been sold by our forefather in the Garden of Eden, as Paul says, into bondage to sin (Rom. 7:14), into a life of rebellion, selfishness, arrogance, and self-righteousness, taught to think and act by Satan’s minions according to the course of this world. (Eph. 2:1-3)

That life stood legally condemned from birth, headed directly for hell. That didn’t at all mean that God gave up on us. On the contrary, He graciously, and at great cost, offered amnesty through Jesus, and the natural life of whomever accepts that amnesty offer is immediately killed, and the spirit of the person is then reborn with the supernatural life of God Himself:

For you have been buried with Christ through baptism into His death…[and] if we have been united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Rom. 6:4-5

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:1-4)

As a result of the sin-powered life in each believer being condemned in the flesh (killed), as stated above, the believer is resurrected with Christ and reborn with a Christ-powered life, and then completely refocused:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

This re-focusing follows quite logically from our having been completely re-positioned in the heavenly realm, in the Kingdom of God, having been transferred out of the domain of darkness (Col. 1:13):

[the Father] raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Eph. 1:20-21)… And you are seated with Christ. (Eph. 2:6)

 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Col. 3:3

Re-generated,  re-purposed, re-focused…and re-positioned. Did you catch that last bit from Colossians 3:3 above? That re-positioning is the crux of a truth so sublime and powerful, and therefore so transformative, that to miss it is to miss out on the promised joy, peace, and rest which is at the very heart of the Good News. For that re-positioning actually entails our going from the bottom of the totem pole as slaves in the domain of darkness, to the top of the heap in the Kingdom of God, at the right hand of the Father, joined as one Spirit with Christ (1 Cor. 6:17), where our life is now hid with Christ in God!

Clearly, that is a very big deal!

***

When you were joined to Christ in His death (and, if you were, you will remain joined to Him forever in life – 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 6:4) the animating life force which caused you to emerge from the womb, and live out your days up to that point of conversion, also died, literally. Dead, dead and gone, no longer even regarded by God, forgotten completely, scattered to the four winds.

Why? Because that animating life force was sin, rebellion, and darkness. It could not be salvaged. it had to be killed and replaced, this time with a life force that was true, honest, and pleasing to God – the life of God Himself in the form of the Spirit of Jesus.

Your brain and body do not now live by natural chemical functions or physical processes, as animated by sin, but your brain and body now live by the power of an indestructible life – the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God Himself, your Father and mine:

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Rom. 8:10-11

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20

As physical beings with physical life in physical bodies,  we were powered by dark forces, indeed [we] were darkness (Eph. 5:8), being bound to Satan, our slave master, spiritually dead to God and blind to spiritual truths. (1 Cor. 2:14) But, having died and been reborn in Christ, now [we] are light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8) as  spiritual persons, and therefore able to appraise spiritual things. (1 Cor. 2:15)

There is a new life force within us to impel us, as evidenced by the reality of a new mind to govern us, for now we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:16) The old life force of sin compelled us to sin, but the new life force of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus, compels us to righteousness. (Rom. 6:1-23)

The old thought patterns are still there, but now we can take a stand outside of them and judge them from a new perspective, from the mind of Christ. (Ph. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16) Now that we are able to comprehend spiritual truths and to live out the Word of God in a life consistent with the holy character of God, shouldn’t we take advantage of this new mind and think differently than we did before, and move away from darkness into light, away from lies about ourselves and our God, and into truth?

Because maybe then all of the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can actually be realized in our daily life – the promised peace,  rest, and joy being constantly on display! And one of the greatest, least-talked about truths of our becoming a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) is the benefit brought about by our being re-positioned, with our life now hid with Christ in God.

***

For unlike the old life which was powered by sin, this new re-positioned life is now untouchable by Satan, invincible, and utterly secure now and forever.

It does not sin. It overcomes its enemies. It does not fear, it is not dismayed or anxious, and it is not defensive or needy. It is perfect. The scripture is clear:

As for this life not sinning: No one who abides in Him sins…and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 1 John 3:6-9

As for being untouchable: We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 1 John 5:18

As for being righteous: But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. 1 Cor. 1:38

As for overcoming its enemies, which Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 are the dark denizens of the spiritual realm (recall that Jesus called Satan ‘the Ruler of this World.’): For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. [Note: the angels, fallen and unfallen, were not ‘born of God’, but created by God.] 1 John 5:4 As Jesus said: ‘I give you authority over all demons and diseases.’ Mat. 10:1

As for not being fearful: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear. (1 Jhn 4:12) When we are able to comprehend His love, how can fear not flee from us? (Jhn 14:1, 27)

As for being at peace: You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Is. 26:3) And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Ph. 4:7) For we who have believed enter His rest… (Hbr. 4:3)

As for being perfect: For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hbr. 10:14)

As for being utterly secure:  Lord, you are my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock in whom I take refuge; my shield, the horn of my salvation and my stronghold. I cry out to you, Lord, for you are worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. Ps. 18:1-3 This promise, and the myriad others like it in the Psalms especially, which stress over and over that the man is blessed who takes refuge in the Lord, where the Lord is described as our stronghold and fortress, make absolutely perfect sense if  you have died and your life is hid with Christ in God. Col. 3:3

***

So now you say: “OK, yes, I can see that’s what the Scripture says, but then why do I still sin, and feel unrighteous, Satanically attacked in many aspects of my life, weak, fearful, and insecure?”

And I would respond: “This is why – because every area where you or I sin, or struggle emotionally, or are attacked, is an area of our life that we have never fully surrendered to Christ, to be reckoned as dead, then to be re-birthed in Christ. That area of our life, by our own choosing, is NOT hid with Christ in God.”

To state it another way,

• to the extent you have not fully surrendered your mind, but allow yourself periodically to indulge thoughts contrary to the the truth of the Word of God, you open yourself to sin, and to Enemy oppression and torment in respect of the subject of those thoughts;
• to the extent you still believe that you have not died, and therefore are not fully a new creation ‘in Christ’, but you believe you are the same person who came out of the womb, you will still think about yourself in those terms – a natural, fleshly person, a creature of the world, vulnerable, unprotected, needy, and essentially alone, and definitely not hid with Christ in God; and
• to the extent you still believe that you must control and manipulate any aspect of your life, whether your finances, your kids, or your reputation, that aspect of your life is not hid with Christ in God. On the contrary, you’ve been deceived by the Enemy into retaining control over that part of your life, and trying to do God’s job for Him, because you do not believe God can be trusted with it. Unfortunately, the fact is that you have effectually stripped away that area of your life from God’s protection. It’s now totally exposed to the world and the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4). Have you ever seen the baby wildebeest on TV wander away from from the protection of its mother into the tall grass, only to be totally devoured by the waiting carnivores? We can learn from that example…

***

Clearly, for you and for me, it’s time to surrender all and to believe all, that we may be benefit from our being so dramatically re-positioned in the Kingdom, and thus protected from him whom the Lord intends to keep us from. As Jesus prayed to His Father:

“I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the Evil One.“ (Jhn. 17:15)

He is faithful to do so as we abide in Him. And to abide in Him means to believe that we are forever ‘hid with Christ in God’, and to refuse to be moved from that position, regardless of every contrary word we hear or read or other input from our senses. We are to take every thought captive to the truth of the Word of God, and to exalt it as fully authoritative for our thinking and hence our lives.

Let us ensure that we do no miss out on this…

THE END

 

 

Copyright Mark B. Meyers 2022