Yielding to the Life of Christ

Faith in Christ is not merely mental acquiescence to some proposition about him. More than that, it is personal engagement with Christ, entrusting ourselves to him, yielding ourselves into his hands. That is the substance of repentance, abandoning false mindsets and perceptions that are at odds with God and the truth of our being, and giving ourselves over to God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The false mindset we have long suffered under is that we are separated from God. The reality is that we have never been separated from God, for all have been created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ — indeed, all of creation holds together and continues to have its being in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17). So, it is impossible that we could ever have been separated from Christ, or else we would have simply ceased to be. 

Even more, by the Incarnation, Christ has united himself to us, divinity with humanity, God with humankind, becoming not just one of us but one with us. Christ became not merely an individual instance of human being, he became Human Being itself, of which we all partake.

But the mind darkened by demonic deceit, by death and the fear of death, and so, by the enslaving power of sin, rejects the reality of our being, the truth that we have always been in Christ. And so we have lived as though we are fundamentally apart from God. Yet the only apartness there has ever been between us and God has been in our own compartmentalized minds. St. Paul says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace ” (Romans 8:7), and, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21). 

We were at enmity with God, but God has never been at enmity with us. Rather, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Notice the directionality of that: God was not reconciling himself to the world — he had never turned away — but has reconciled the world to himself. And Christ has broken the power of all that darkened our minds and held us in bondage:“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

This is the truth of the gospel, and those who have come to know Christ, have the privilege of making him known to others. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It is the joyful anticipation, the positive expectation of participation in the divine glory, for in Jesus Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Christ in you! This is true of all, not by our own faith but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ — in the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Cross. But it is by faith that we yield ourselves to Christ in us, and confess with Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NET).

What is Faith?
It is Yielding to the
Life of Christ in You.

 

Dying Your Best Death Now

We are not here to live our best life but to die our best death, to deny ourselves in self-giving, other-centered, cross-shaped love. So shall we find our life. For this is the life of Christ, and our life is in him. Lord Jesus said, 

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? (Mark 8:34-37) 

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 8:45)

And St. Paul answered, 

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NET)

This is for all of us, the way of life for everyday saints and everyday living. It is the way of True Being, for it is the Way of Christ, in whom we have our being. 

It is the way of marriage and family and home. For though it may seem funny, it is nevertheless true that marriage is a martyrdom: we lay down our lives for the other. Parenthood, also, is a martyrdom: we lay down our lives for our children. 

Dying our best death is the only way of truly living our best life — dying and living with Christ for the sake of others. And so we discover the love of God, the life of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit at work within.

God’s Eternal Purpose Fulfilled

In Ephesians 1, St. Paul lays out the “Big Picture,” God’s eternal purpose in Christ, from beginning to end. It begins with God choosing us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. This is the Incarnation, by which Christ united divinity with humanity, God with humankind — but also eternity with time. Time itself is transfigured in Christ, such that the Incarnation is not merely temporal but eternal.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his good pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

Thus chosen in Christ from the beginning, we have also been predestined for sonship through him. This is God’s eternally good pleasure, plan and purpose, God’s will and delight. It is the glory of God’s grace and is most praiseworthy in every way.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-10) 

God’s divine grace has been showered upon us beyond all bounds. Here again is the “good pleasure” and purpose (Greek, eudokia) of his will, revealed by the wisdom of Christ and understanding by the Holy Spirit, making known the eternal mystery, purposed in Christ from the beginning, and now revealed — unveiled — to us through the message of the gospel. From eternity, God purposed in Christ to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity, with Christ as the head and summation of all. It is the recapitulation (Greek, anakephalaiosasthai), the “recap” of all Creation — of everyone and everything.

Then Paul offers a pastoral prayer that God would give us wisdom and understanding by the Holy Spirit, that we may see what God has done in Christ, and what that means for us. That we may know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe.”

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:19-23)

Here is the consummation of all things, the eternal purpose of God in its fulfillment. It is Christ raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, far above all rulers and powers and dominions. In Ephesians 2:5-6, Paul tells us the God has raised us up as well, together with Christ, and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms — this is present reality, not future promise. Further, God has placed all things under his feet and has given him as head (Greek, kephale) over the Church, which is his body.

What is this body? Paul says it is the fullness of him who fills All in All (Greek, panta en pasin). Put another way, Christ is the One who completely fulfills everything in every way — and the Church is that Fullness! Seen from this endpoint, then, all of Creation becomes the Church, the Body of Christ.

Christian Universalism is the belief that this is indeed so, that God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ will be completely fulfilled, and so will God be All in All.

The Final Word is the First Word Fulfilled

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God said, “Let us make humankind in our image and according to our likeness.” And so God did.

St. John the Evangelist puts it this way: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was (and is) God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and without him nothing was made that has been made. The True Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world: “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.” Here we see the creation of human being and the divine glory, and the union of the two in one Person.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, by whom, through whom, for whom, and in whom all in heaven and on earth have been created. He is the Image of the Invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form. And so have God chosen us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. This is the Incarnation, by which Christ the Word who became flesh has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind. In him we are made complete, and in him we become “partakers of the divine nature,” and so, conformed to the Image of the Son.

St. John, in pondering the depths of the Gospel, draws us back to the Creation account in Genesis. Christ is the Creator, who by the Incarnation has also become the Created. At the trial of Jesus near the end of the book, Pontius Pilate forever directs our attention to him: “Behold the Man!” This is human being created in the image of God. And from the Cross, just before he bowed his head and handed over the Spirit, our Lord Jesus declared, “It is finished.” And so we see what it means to be human being in the image of God.

Scriptures referred to above include: Genesis 1:26; John 1:1-3,9,14; 19:5,30; Romans 5:29; Colossians 1:15-18; 2:9-10; Ephesians 1:4; 2 Peter 1:4. I am indebted to Fr. John Behr for these insights into John’s gospelling.

Your True Identity is Not in a Political Party

Do not look for your identity
in a political party or candidate.
You will not find it there,
but only a false self.
Your true identity
is in Jesus Christ,
who by the Incarnation has
united divinity with humanity,
God with humankind.

The Final Word on Everything

Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen is the Word Who Is With God from Eternity — and indeed is God. He is the Creator of All, the Redeemer of All, and the Judge of All, Who Puts Everything Right. He is the Word Who Draws All to Himself. The Word Who Comes at the End of the Age. The Word Who Brings Unity to All in Heaven and on Earth. The Word Who Fills All Things in Every Way — and His Body, the Church, is That Fullness. The Word Who Restores All Things. The Word Who Makes All Things New. Jesus Christ, Crucified, Risen and Ascended, is God’s Final Word on Everything.

Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to myself. (John 12:31-32)

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:8-10)

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all things in every way. (Ephesians 1:22-23) 

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making all things new!” (Revelation 21:5)

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you — even Jesus. Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19-21)

Christ is the Meaning of All Creation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3) 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos of God. Which is to say that he is the Reason, the Purpose, the Plan, the Blueprint, the Way, the Meaning of God. Indeed, he is God, of one being with the Father, eternally begotten of Him. 

All things were made through the Christ, the Word, and so reveals him as the logos, reason, purpose, blueprint and meaning of every created thing. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). He became human, not merely one of us but one with us, not merely an instance of human being but Human Being itself. He is what it means to be human. His very being defines it.

Paul puts it beautifully in Colossians 1:15-18: All things in heaven and on earth have been created in Christ, through Christ and for Christ — all holding together in Christ. In Ephesians 1: 9-10, we discover that the express and eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth together into unity, all summed up in Christ. From beginning to end, Christ is the meaning of all creation.

In the Humility of Jesus Christ

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the humility of God, and so, the glory of God revealed. For humility is not merely something God does; it is not something he endured in some passing way. God is not merely humble. God is humility itself. 

Humility is self-giving, other-centered and cross-shaped — which is exactly what Divine Love is. Humility is but another way to speak of Love, and so, of God, for God is Love. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” says the Evangelist (John 15:13), and God in Christ is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for us.

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep ... I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:11, 14-15)

In his letter to the Philippians, Apostle Paul hymns the depth and height of this great love and humility. It is, all of it, the glory of God unveiled. The humility of Christ is not the means to divine glory but is the fullness of the divine glory made manifest. Humility is what the glory of God looks like. And so Paul exhorts us:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

In the humility of Jesus Christ is our freedom, and Lord Jesus invites us to follow him in this humility, so to discover our peace and rest:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)