God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [36]
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:1–3)
Did God mean for us to read about truths like these but only experience them when we hit heaven? Apparently, we’ve already hit heaven. Did you catch that? We’re already there spiritually, raised and seated with the King. So heaven is a place we’re going, but heaven is a place we’re already seated. Ever gone anywhere that you’re already seated? Hmmm, we’ll need to think on that one some more. But that’s exactly what God would have us do—think on it:
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col. 3:2–3)
Being Ourselves
Too often, we Christians presume that we’re “sinners” at the core just like everyone else. In doing so, we ignore one of the greatest aspects of the cross—the killing off of our old self. When we take on the “I’m a dirty worm” theology and then seek to “be like Jesus,” we’ll find it to be a losing effort. Christianity then becomes an exercise in futility and falsehood. We’re essentially trying to act like someone that we don’t believe we are.
It then becomes religion.
We died. We’ve been raised and seated. And we’re clean and close to God. What more can we ask for? But here’s how we find ourselves praying: “Lord, I want to be closer to you.” Yes, we’re growing in our knowledge of God and his love, but here’s an important truth: we are already as close to God as we’ll ever get. Yes, that’s right. If you’re in Christ, then you’re spiritually united with Jesus (Rom. 6:5) and seated right next to the Father (Eph. 2:6). But there’s more—your human spirit is literally and actually fused with God’s Spirit:
But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Cor. 6:17 NASB)
One spirit with him? Now, that’s close. Jesus made us new at the core, fusing his own Spirit to our new human spirit. We are to recognize this closeness, count on it as true (because it is true!), and live from it! This is different from the popular religion of trying to get close and stay close to God. And as we begin to grasp the beauty of our union in Christ, every motive we have will begin to change. We’ll begin to see that living the Christian life is really just being ourselves.
16
In the film Weekend at Bernie’s, Richard and Larry are best friends trying to get ahead in their corporation. Along the way, they discover that someone has been embezzling money from the company. When they inform their company president, Bernie Lomax, he pretends to be pleased with their discovery. So Bernie invites the young men to his beach house as a way of thanking them.
When they arrive at the beach home, they discover Bernie dead, apparently killed by the mafia. The young men soon learn that Bernie himself was the embezzler and the mafia was his partner in crime!
Then events take a turn toward the bizarre. Instead of calling the cops, Richard and Larry concoct a scheme to pretend Bernie is still alive. Dragging the corpse alongside them wherever they go, they try to somehow continue with the beach weekend of their dreams. But things get even crazier when the mafia thinks Bernie is still alive and they try to kill him all over again.
Although this makes for an entertaining film, it