God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [72]
No, I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about the steps we take after being saved. It’s all too easy to forget where the “music” is coming from. We slip back into old ways of getting guidance on how to live: the Ten Commandments, so-called “Christian principles,” our family values and traditions, or even just those around us. In doing so, we stop dancing in time to the music. We turn into imitators modeling ourselves after externals rather than new creations listening intently to the music that God’s Spirit is playing in our hearts.
The Teacher Within
Every religion of the world has a founder, a teacher, and therefore some teachings. If we think of Jesus as a man, or even the God-man, who lived and died and taught some wonderful things, we will proceed with our Christianity as if it were a religion. We will look back on the founder, the teacher, and the teachings and will seek to imitate and obey. We commit ourselves to a teacher from the past.
The resurrection means that the spiritual life we carry within us is the Teacher himself, the risen Christ who is seated at God’s right hand. Because we are in him and he is in us, we too are seated at God’s right hand. We’re not part of a religion that requires us to look back and imitate a historical figure. Instead, we look within our own hearts, where Jesus literally resides today, and allow him to express himself in and through us, right here, right now.
Yes, it’s the same Jesus Christ from two thousand years ago. But through the resurrection we have been admitted not just into heaven but also into a life that changes the substance of our being. We’re now married to Jesus Christ, spiritually joined to him forever:
Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. (Rom. 7:4 NASB)
Christ as Life
But how do we think of it? Is it all of Christ and none of me? Is it “let go and let God”? Do I get out of the way so that he can act apart from me?
No, the gospel is greater than all of that. The new covenant message is inclusive. God is not seeking to replace us (he already has!) but instead to embrace us, since we are now new creations compatible with his nature. He desires to work through the uniqueness of our soul, not stomp it out or have it step aside.
This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to God’s acceptance. Do I believe that God so fully embraces every aspect of my being that he can work through my hobbies, interests, personality, and sense of humor? Do I see my entire self as being righteous, clean, and acceptable? Or do I merely believe those things to be some “spiritual” part of me that is far off and irrelevant, not really me? If the latter, then my gospel is no good to me in the practical moments of every day.
For the gospel to act powerfully in my life, I must believe that what Christ has done in making me new pertains to the real me who wakes up every day and lives a normal life. Then I’ve begun to understand my personal union with Jesus Christ. Jesus lived thirty-three years in authentic human flesh to show that his divinity is compatible with our humanity. And his divinity is entirely compatible with your humanity.
Christ is now my “life” (Col. 3:4), and for me, “to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). This is very different from Christ being a part of my life or saying that I’m going to make Christ a priority. Saying “Christ is my life” insinuates that he permeates my