Wait. There is a world of articles, books, and information out there when it comes to Christianity, but we are mostly stuck with rhetoric and double talk when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, our new identity as believers, and the security and finality of the work of Christ. Are you getting everything you need spiritually from your church? Or do you find yourself feeling hungry for more? Join Lenny as he unpacks what Scripture really taught about our Lord Jesus Christ in context and why this matters to you. Wake up, wake up, wake up to grace.

Paul's letter to the Galatians contains what may be the most important statement in the Bible. In very few words, Paul describes the Christian life. He lays out a doctrine in this passage alone that defies all religion. There's no belief system in the world that could ever make such claims because no man has ever defeated death but one who is our Lord, Jesus Christ. After the cross and resurrection, Paul proclaims, Christ lives in me. If we understand the depth and meaning of what the apostle writes in Galatians 2.20, we unlock the freedom of the Christian and no longer need meaningless religion. In Galatians 2.20, Paul writes, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me, gave himself for me. Today I'm going to explore the Christian view that Christ lives in me. We'll be looking into what it means for Jesus to be alive within us and why it is critical that we understand this. I'd like to start with a short story about one of the Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century, a man named Martin Luther. Apparently Luther was a generally cheerful man, but was known to have struggled with fits of depression. During a particularly bad spell, Luther arrived home to find his wife Kate in a black dress. Luther noticed it and asked, Are you going to a funeral? No, Kate replied, but since you act like God is dead, I want to join you in your mourning. Luther's wife's wisdom brought him out of his funk and even made him laugh. We see from this story that Martin Luther needed a wake up call. His wife cleverly reminded him of what Paul taught the people of Galatia. Martin's wife Kate could just as well have said exactly what Paul proclaimed. It's no longer you who lives, it's Christ who lives in you. Why do you act like Jesus is dead? We're all guilty of behaving like God is dead at times. We know that our Lord is not dead, but what makes him alive within us? Hypothetically, if God were to die today, would our churches even notice? Would our lives change at all? Do our lives and our worship reflect the spirit of a true living God? Or could it all be chalked up to human effort? In Christianity today, do we see an attitude that says Christ lives in me, or one that says, I work for God? Have you ever been lured into a multi-level marketing business? I was brought into one of these groups by a Christian friend of mine years ago, and I received a shocking revelation there. The Christians in the group were struggling to display their faith in any meaningful way. Some would make a point of saying things like, I'm blessed, to let people know where their success came from. But the attempt to credit God was weak at best. These multilevel marketing businesses pumped you up with adrenaline at their weekly meetings. The training encouraged you to think more positively, persevere through difficulties, help others, and love and respect those in the community. Welcoming others into the community also helped them as it helped you. Such involvement brought spiritual and financial prosperity to all who joined. Smiles and excitement filled the weekly meetings. We knew the people at the top made most of the money, but everyone enjoyed the community benefits. Through this process we developed self-control that we never imagined. Is it just me or does this group sound exactly like going to church? Balancing the business of marketing with going to church every week blurred the lines of a Christian walk. How can there be so many parallels between a secular organization and a Christian church? The owner of the business must be a Christian, I thought. Well, as much as this may have been a compliment to the marketing business community, it's not a compliment to the church establishment. Through faith in the views of our churches, I fear that most have lost the ability to discern the Christian life from a pious secular life. When we see humanitarian efforts, we see Christ. We think that well behaved people who serve their communities are godly and must be Christian, or else they're just so close that they definitely will be soon. We literally make God dead to ourselves and others with these watered down views. We make Christ of no value in our lives, running a race alongside the unfaithful world as if we're obligated to compete against it. Just like in church, the secular world has counselors and success coaches. Ambitious people can apply for positions and move up the corporate ladder. And just like in church, you have the ambitious people and those who cannot compete at their level. Most of the audience, unable to compete, quietly sit in the pews week after week, hoping to hear a message that will elevate them to the level of success their leaders enjoy, while many remain content with simply being ordinary. Is your church truly expressing the life of Christ? Are you truly expressing the life of Christ? In order to recognize this, we must assert that Christ lives in me. When Paul taught this principle in his writing, the goal was that the Galatians would understand what he wrote, become conscious of this great fact. It wasn't as if Christ would begin dwelling in them if they did, rather they would stop resisting it and begin embracing it, welcoming the love of Jesus into their lives. There's something that our Lord said in the Psalms that I think serves as an excellent reminder. In Psalm forty six ten we read, Be still and know that I am God. The statement concerns the sovereignty of our Lord. It reminds us of who is in control, the one who has the real power. All of us have been in situations where we find ourselves helpless, hopeless, and powerless. Whether from our own doing or the ways of the world, these moments of hopelessness come to everyone from time to time with no way out. When anxiety rises, it's as if we have noise all around us, and our minds just refuse to be quiet. Often we ruminate over the details of our situation, seeking a solution within ourselves. This is where we go wrong. At these times we treat God as if he were dead. Remember, Christ lives in me. When we find ourselves running in circles, the faster we go, the sooner we get right back to where we started. In times like this we must remind ourselves to be still and know that God is in control. Just be still and know. Jesus came to earth as a man to prove that he is strong enough to endure all suffering, to lead us by example. What do we tell God when we behave like our problems are too big for him? Do we not say to God, You can't help me with this? You're up there and I'm way down here. You can't help me from that distance. Jesus never accepted that view of the Father for Himself. He didn't simply depend on God for life after his body was killed. He depended on the Father in every step he took. He trusted that the Lord would give him strength to endure anything that came his way. Jesus didn't have to practice behavior like the success coaches of our day. He practiced being still and knowing that his Father was God. In John fourteen, eight, we read, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it's enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say show us the Father? Do you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. And then in John five thirty, Jesus says, I can do nothing on my own. As I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me. In these passages, Jesus describes the incredible union that he had with the Father. The Father was in him, and he was in the Father. They were two entities operating as one. God the Father operated in and through Jesus his Son, who is also in him. The disciples did not yet understand the supernatural relationship when Jesus made these statements. The new covenant indwelling of the Holy Spirit had not yet occurred while Jesus walked the earth, but he promised it. In John fourteen, verse sixteen, Jesus says, And I will ask the Father, he will give you another helper, to be with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. We learn a couple of key points from our Lord's words here. The Spirit dwelt with the disciples, while Jesus was physically with them, but soon it would dwell in them. If we miss this point, our understanding of the new covenant becomes very hazy. The same Holy Spirit was with the faithful of old, but it did not dwell in them. In Scripture we find that the Holy Spirit with a person is not even remotely comparable to being in a person. Reconciliation came through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All the faithful, even those before the cross and resurrection, needed to receive this reconciliation for life, and Christ would be the deliverer. This type of union with the Lord had not been experienced by any man prior to the resurrection of Christ Jesus. Anyone who had not received the indwelling Holy Spirit was not yet reconciled. Even after Pentecost, some, such as Simon the Sorcerer, had believed but had not yet received the Holy Spirit. They were not yet aware that there was a spirit of life to be received. I guess their internet speeds weren't as fast as ours today. If this sounds very simple, that's good, because you'll need this simple fact as you learn to understand Scripture. Misunderstanding this basic principle of the new covenant has brought more error into today's churches than you could ever imagine if your eyes had not been opened. The indwelling spirit of God changed everything for the children of God. This placed the faithful into a perfect fellowship with Yahweh that they had never experienced before. People had only hoped for it up until then. In this great spiritual union, just as Christ was in the Father, the believer would be in Christ. This is true of the faithful today. In 1 Corinthians 1 thirty, Paul writes, And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So just as Christ was in the Father, we are in Christ. And just as the Father was in Christ, he also dwells in us through his life giving spirit. John fourteen twenty three, Jesus answered him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of this future event among the faithful in these words and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you. The prophet describes the spiritual regeneration that occurs within us when we trust Christ as our Lord and Savior. God cleans house, gives us a new inner self and a new spirit. This totally changes our attitude from what we had before. He removes our old spiritually dead self and replaces it with one that is alive in spirit. Once he completes this work, his eternal Holy Spirit has a place to reside. Paul the Apostle describes it in this way Corinthians six thirteen. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Our spirit is now joined with the Spirit of the Lord. The two have become one. Now we are alive to God. Just as the Father expressed himself in the person of Christ Jesus, he will also express himself through us. While we keep our own unique personalities and traits, our lives express Christ Himself. He continues to live his life through ours. With confidence we can now say exactly what Paul said Christ lives in me. God is certainly not dead. His love is alive and well in every believer. In the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul writes And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You might say, but I don't see genuine love among Christians today. Most I know are very superficial. How do you explain that? And how does Christ live in me while I still struggle with sin? The answer to both of these questions is actually quite simple. It's not a matter of whether the Holy Spirit resides in you or any other Christian who struggles with sin. It's a matter of who we're turning to for guidance. Are you or someone you know trying super hard to live the Christian life but seemingly getting nowhere? Consider the source of spiritual energy that is being drawn from. John fifteen five, Jesus says I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, he can do nothing. There's only one way that a Christian can find themselves doing nothing. It's apart from Christ. To do nothing is to depend on your effort. It's to depend on yourself rather than on Christ. We must be humble enough to admit that we can do nothing without him. Not even a little, nothing at all. We can certainly look like something when we do nothing in this way, can't we? This should change the way you perceive the deeds of a true Christian. It has nothing to do with the behavior of the deed itself that displays Christ. Someone's truly proud of themselves and their behavior. We have to question their motives. False humility is not the work of Christ. The Apostle Paul lays out grace living so very eloquently, very few words in his letter to Galatia. I've 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 in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This passage squashes all legalism and is certainly among the most powerful passages in our scripture. If we learn to truly understand the depth of what Paul says here, we understand grace. We're not strong in and of ourselves. Apart from Christ we're powerless, hopeless, lifeless. We owe everything to him who is our life, our hope, our strength. On our own, we're fragile jars of clay, and inside we have the power of God. In Second Corinthians four, Paul writes, But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not us. When we feel like a broken jar of clay, we have to be still and know that God is sovereign. If we set our minds on His will, we find peace. In Peter's second epistle, chapter one he writes, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. We see all throughout the Apostolic writings in the New Testament a steady reminder of our identity in Christ, that new self that Peter describes as a divine nature. We also find teaching on the corruption that sin causes in the world and even in our own Christian lives. But what is the primary issue that drives us into sinful habits? Is that we don't try hard enough? A few verses later, Peter seems to answer this question for us, describing what causes us not to escape but to fall into the corruption of the world. In Second Peter 1 9 we read, For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. In this statement, Peter echoes Yahweh's command to Israel throughout the scriptures. Yahweh consistently called Israel to remember their redemption. If they could have simply remained thankful for their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, they might have remained faithful. Lack of faith is what caused Israel to fall time and again. They just stopped trusting the Lord. We can do the same in our Christian walk when we forget to be still and know that Yahweh is Lord. It seems joyful and excited as it's encouraged to keep walking. But when something catches the child's attention and gets a funny look on its face, suddenly looks away, and falls to the ground. It lost its focus for just a short while, and that was it. The moment was over instantly. It was time to get up and regain that focus. This certainly describes our walk in Christ, doesn't it? Let's learn from old covenant Israel and remember our redemption. For as Peter says, remember our cleansing. We have everything we need in Christ. We're lacking in nothing. This is important. Religion tells you there's more work to do. We ought to proclaim Christ lives in me. We don't serve to get right with God. We serve the Lord for his glory and for his honor. We serve freely because we no longer belong to the bondage and corruption of sin. We have the Lord as our strength, and we're thankful for our redemption. That's what I got for this week, guys. I look forward to talking to you next week. Grace and peace. The content of this message can be found on my blog post at waking up to grace.com. My writings include linked references and visual aids, which will give even more valuable insight, and it's always free of charge. The comment section below each message is a place where we can share mutual encouragement and insight with one another outside of the social media.