Colossians 3:1-4 “If
then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are
above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your
mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you
died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him
in glory.”
If you do not know Christ,
you have no chance of getting back into the presence of our just and holy God. If
you do not have Christ in you, then you have no chance to be what the Lord
desires you to be. Grace is most often defined as the unmerited favor of God.
Practically, grace is receiving from God something that we do not deserve. Ephesians
2:4-5 tells us,
God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ (by grace you have been saved). Essentially, grace is God at work doing what we cannot do. On
the cross, Jesus Christ did do what we could not do, when He gave His life as a
payment for our sins; making peace with God, so that we be called “sons and
daughters of God” forever. Christ did that by His choosing and by His power, by
His grace.
When we repented of our sin
and accepted the gift of Salvation, God also gave to us the very person of
Jesus Christ to live in us, so that we could be what we could never be on our
own. So, when we die, we know that we are going to heaven, but also, as long as
we are living on this side of eternity, we can have confidence that we have the
risen Lord Jesus Christ taking up residence, indwelling, abiding and living
inside us; to be in us, to live through us, to do inside us what we cannot do
by ourself. The reason why they call it “the Christian life” is because He is
the only one who can make it possible and make it happen. By the power of God
and by the gift of grace, Christ lives in us. How do we pull off living the
Christian life? Colossians 3:4 is the hinge. It’s not when Christ our Savior
appears; It’s not when Christ, our payment for sin appears; but, when your life
is hidden with Christ who is our life because of Christ living inside of you, then,
we will appear with Him in glory.
Colossians 1:24-29 “I now
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is
lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is
the church, of which I became a minister according
to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill
the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from
generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God
willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles: which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every
man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man
perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving
according to His working which works in me mightily.”
It is Christ in you that
changes everything. He is the difference-maker in the whole equation of living
the Christian life. For the kingdom of heaven to advance, for the grace of God
to be heard, for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be given to everyone on earth,
to have churches that worship the risen Savior and Lord planted in every
community, present the Word of God in it’s fullness, so that nobody gets only
half of the gospels. Those redeemed in Christ are saints by grace, Christ in
you, the hope if glory. It’s not Christ and you, the hope of glory, like some
powerful “you a little and Christ a little” combination that can conquer the
world thinking prevalent today. The Lord Jesus is in you and you surrender your
life to Him, so He does great works through you. This is a huge shift of truth.
But, don’t just sit back in your big “grace” easy chair recliner. We joyfully labor, we
are the body of Christ in action and in motion, in church and in the community
working with high energy and godly sweat, presenting Jesus to the whole world, in His
power which works in us as we live for Him.
Let's continue this amazing message of grace by Christ in us on the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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