I love to read Tullian Tchividjian’s blog http://www.crpc.org/blog/.  He is the new pastor of Coral Ridge where D James Kennedy was pastor.  Last week he quoted from Jerry Bridges’ book Transforming Grace.

My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we’ve performed well–whatever “well” is on our opinion–then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the “sweat” of our own performance.

The realization that my daily relationship with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of my own performance is a very freeing and joyous experience.

Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to “try harder.” We seem to believe success in the Christian life (however we define success) is basically up to us: our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way. We give lip service to the attitude of the Apostle Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10), but our unspoken motto is, “God helps those who help themselves.”

I want to challenge you to leave the sweat of  your own performance at the cross and learn to live in His grace!

Let’s finish our discussion on this great verse.  The last half of Galatians 2:20 says, “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.”  It is interesting to see how we are supposed to live our lives in the flesh—we are to live it by faith or even more literally, “I live in faith in the Son of God.”   Paul lived in the realm of faith—he was saved by grace through faith and he still lives by grace through faith.  The word “Live” is in the perfect tense which, as we saw earlier means something happened in the past that has a continuing impact today. 

Faith in Jesus Christ isn’t a onetime thing—you are saved the moment you possess faith, but that faith continues throughout your life.  To live by faith is to live totally dependent upon the Son of God.  “It is no longer I who live…”  It is to come to the place that you realize you cannot do it and that if you are going to live in a way that brings glory to God you will have to let him live it through you.  Not just the church stuff, but your family life, your business life, your recreational life—your relationships, your emotions, your thinking, everything must come under Him and in Him. 

While we are here on this earth, the Christian life takes place in the flesh, but it is lived in faith.  Faith is a living dynamic reality whose object is Jesus.  You see, every moment of your life can be lived in one of two places—it can be lived in the power of self which is performance driven and works based.  Or it can be lived in the power of the Spirit which is faith driven and grace based. 

Paul’s former life was lived with a total trust in his own ability to keep the law, but now he lives totally dependent upon Christ living in Him.  His focus isn’t the law or works that he can do—he is now driven by one thing. “I have 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.”  The life Paul used to live in the flesh was works based and performance driven, but now his life is lived with an eye to an event—an event that was the most radical event known to man.

When Paul said, “Who loved me and gave Himself for me”  he speaks about two things.  First, Paul is talking about a specific event—the Cross.  The greatest demonstration of love known to man was that “while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Paul never got over the love that was displayed to Him.  Have you gotten over it?  If you have you never got under it—you’ve never been crucified with Him. 

Second, Paul is talking about a personal event.  “Who loved me.”  We can talk about “For God so loved the world…” and that is certainly true, but you can also take the word world out of that passage in just insert your name.   For God so loved John…  His love isn’t just generic—it is specific and personal.  That was Paul’s motivation—God so loved me that He gave Himself for me—what more can I add to that?

As long as you are out there trying to do better for God you will never live the Christian life.  The Christian life isn’t a “self-improvement program.  It isn’t reformation project.  It is resurrection!  It is new life!  And it is expressed in terms of total exchange of identity.  Jesus Christ indentified Himself with us in our death in order that we might be indentified with Him in His resurrection.  We give Christ all that we were—spiritually dead, guilty sinners—and Christ gives us all that He is—resurrected life, forgiveness, righteousness, acceptance.”  (Timothy George) 

The only thing left for you to do is to believe that God’s word is true and to allow Him to live through you.  Just abide in Him like a branch hanging on to the vine and let Him produce fruit though you. 

1.  Realize the old you is dead—“I have been crucified with Christ.”
2. Realize there is a new you—“It is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
3. Trust in Jesus for everything—your salvation, your soul, your family, your work, your day-to-day decisions… “The live I now live, I live by faith…”
4. Set your eyes on Jesus—“Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  When you see His beauty everything that you struggle with in terms of temptation pales in comparison.

“I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  WE will cover the rest of the verse a little later, but here we find the GREAT EXCHANGE—our old life for His death and resurrection.  Our sin for His righteousness.  Our limited power for His omnipotence.  Our flesh for His Spirit.  We bring the sin and He brings everything else. He brings the means of dealing with the sin—crucifixion.  He brings the means of life—resurrection. 

Christ is all we need.  He is all we need for salvation—so place your faith in Him and in Him alone.  He is all we need for the Christian life—so live in Him and in Him alone.  He is all we need and He is within us—so let Him live though you.

So far we have said, “I have been crucified with Christ.”  Through faith Jesus’ death becomes our death.  God looks at us as having died with Jesus.  “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  Jesus is the essence of life—the old I is replaced with a new I—the old nature is replaced with the new nature.  God not only allows us to identify with His death, but He gives us the benefits of His resurrection.  Jesus now lives inside of us and through us.

        That leads us to the next phrase which is the key to the verse.  “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”  Walk through it with me—“And the life I now live”—God is concerned with your present life.  Far too many people accept Jesus and trust Him to save them for their eternity, but eternity for them is something in the sweet by and by, but we are in the midst of eternity.  Paul said, “And the life I now live.”  He is talking about your life right here right now.

The life you live in the here and now can be lived in one of two places—(1) you can live it in the Spirit and in doing so not gratify the desires of the flesh, but live with the Fruit of the Spirit, or (2) you can live it in the body of sin.  Romans 6:6 tells us we were crucified with Christ in order that the “body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”  As a child of God you do not have to live in the body of sin, you do not have to walk in defeat—you can walk in victory over sin by living in the Spirit.

With that said we have to notice what else he says about your life right now—it is a life lived in the flesh.  The word flesh can refer to one of two things—(1) the body and (2) the old sinful life.  In this passage, Paul is speaking of the life we live in the body—the body of flesh and bones.  Religion deals with things on the outside—it leads you to clean the outside of the cup and to do things that make you look good to others, but grace cleans the inside for us.  It starts with the inside and naturally flows to the outside.  Christianity isn’t a pie in the sky religion—it deals with the nitty gritty, everyday life, of the here and now.  It isn’t some mystic secret that you have to discover—it is lived in right here in the midst of our flesh and bones, but how do we live it?  We will close with that thought tomorrow.

Yesterday we started navigating through Galatians 2:20.  This verse is the cynosure of Galatians and quite possibly of the New Testament.  Paul said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”  Romans 5 tells us that we were born into Adam, but through God’s grace we can be born again into Christ.  Our struggle with believing that we have been crucified with Christ is we still sin.  If we died to sin—why do we still struggle with it? Why don’t we see more of the Christ living in me?  We tend to forget that crucifixion is a lingering death—the flesh doesn’t just go away, we have to learn to live in Jesus.

Romans 6:6 says, “We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.  For the one who has died has been set free from sin.”  One translation says the body of sin might be destroyed, but that can’t be what is pictured here—if it was destroyed we wouldn’t sin anymore.  The word literally means to render inoperative or invalid—the idea is the body of sin is shifted into neutral when we are crucified with Christ. 

We have been set free from the hold sin had on us—we are now free to walk in the Spirit.  If we walk in Christ we live in victory, but if we get up and shift the sin nature back in gear we walk in the flesh and in defeat.  How do we die to the law?  How do we die to sin?  Romans 7:4 says, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”  Through faith in the Work of Christ, you now have the capability to live in the spiritual realm—as a child of God crucified with Christ you can live “in the new life of the Spirit.” (R 7:6)

This is what Paul is saying—I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  That is the essence of the Christian life.  Paul said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  In Colossians 3:3-4 he said, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”  The Christian life is not about what you do for God—it is about what God does through you.  That was the battle Paul was fighting—there were those who said, the Christian life begins at faith, but now you must work to keep it.  Unfortunately, there are many of you bound by that same lie.  You are killing yourself trying to earn God’s favor when you already have it.

If the One who fulfilled the law now lives in you—why are you trying so hard to add to what He has already accomplished?  What more has to be done?  When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it.  It is a sin to add works to His grace?  You see—Jesus is the only one who has ever lived the Christian life and if you are going to live it you will have to let Him live it in you.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Galatians 2:20.  Let’s break it down word by word because it is loaded with truth and it will teach us how to live the Christian life.  “I have been crucified with Christ.”  This is a proclamation that is written in the perfect passive tense.  The perfect tense says something happened over here that puts me where I am today—in other words it speaks of a past event that has continuing results.  But it is also passive which means someone else did something to me.  “I have been crucified…”  Let me state the obvious—you cannot crucify yourself—someone else must do it and Paul is saying God did it.  The moment we place faith in Christ we are so intimately joined with Him that His death becomes our death.    When He was crucified—through faith—I was crucified with Him.

It is a proclamation, but it is also personal—“I have been…”  Can you say that?  Have you personally come to Christ?  You must if you are ever going to live.  When Jesus satisfied the law through a perfect sacrifice—that sacrifice becomes my sacrifice—

His obedience becomes my obedience. 

        Our personalities are now intertwined,

                       His nature takes over my nature,

        His life is now my life. 

I am joined in Him as the branch is joined to the vine. 

Paul literally says, “I have been co-crucified with Christ.”  In God’s eyes we died with Jesus and if we died with Jesus that means we live in Him!  “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (R 6:5)

Yesterday we looked at Galatians 2:17–let’s look at verse 18 today,   “For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.”  The word tore down means to cut free from something—he wasn’t going back to it because to go back under the law is to leave faith.  Now, there is a degree to which we could understand Peter going back—he grew up under the law and it would be hard to get away from those customs, but what was the appeal to the Gentiles?  Why were they tempted to go under the law of the false teachers? 

Our flesh loves the law because we get to do stuff—legalism places emphasis on doing over being and doing does a lot more to inflate our egos.  To be able to earn our own way makes us feel good about ourselves, but that is not the way of the Gospel.   Justification is by grace alone through faith alone and not by works.

Paul said, “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”  When did he die to the law? He died to the law the moment he was crucified with Christ.  Jesus fulfilled the demands of the law and since we are identified with Him we are no longer under the law.  The law demanded blood for sin—Jesus shed His blood for our sin and we are free.   Do you remember what Jesus he said at Paul’s conversion?  Jesus appeared to Him and said, “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting me?”  He said, “Who are you Lord?”  And when Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” Acts 22 tells us Saul said, “What shall I do, Lord?”  He did not say, what shall I do law—he said Lord.  From that moment on Paul’s goal was to do what Jesus said.  He turned his back on the law as a means of salvation because he knew better than anyone that it could not save—it was never set up to save—it was given to point us to the cross and on the cross Jesus fulfilled the law.  Paul left his performance mentality in the dirt on the road to Damascus and left with a heart transformed by Grace.  He went to Damascus banking on what he could do for God and left changed by what God did for Him.  He was never the same and he is saying, “Peter, I am not going back to that old way of life—I am going to live for God and I don’t care what anyone else says.”

What about you?  Have you left your performance mentality in the dirt?  Have you experienced a heart that has been transformed by grace?  Are you walking on the narrow road or are you still trying to manage the broad road and the narrow road at the same time?

I have been re-reading the Disciplines of a Godly Man by R Kent Hughes with a group of men in our church. Today I was reading the chapter “Discipline of Church.” Hughes said,
“Church attendance is infected with a malaise of conditional loyalty which has produced an army of ecclesiastical hitchhikers. The hitchhiker’s thumb says, ‘You buy the car, pay for repairs and upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas—and I’ll ride with you. But if have an accident, you are on your own! And I’ll probably sue.”

Sorry about the delay in getting the blog up today…went to bed early last night and we had a few meltdowns trying to get the girls to school today.  A few weeks ago we devoted the week to studying the doctrine of justification.  I want to build on that discussion by going to one of the most familiar passages in the New Testament—Galatians 2:17-20.

Paul builds on the doctrine of justification by faith alone by saying, “But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin?  Certainly not!”  Paul used the term “sinners” in verse 15 when he said, “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners…”  The Jews of Paul’s day broke mankind down into two categories—Jews and sinners.  Because Paul wasn’t keeping the law he was considered a “sinner” by false teachers, but he is telling Peter—if you are going to go back and claim we have to keep the law to be saved you are making Christ to be the agent of sin.  It was Jesus who said “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”  (Mark 7:15) Paul admits that he is a ‘sinner’ in their eyes because he isn’t seeking justification through the works of the law, but he absolutely denies that Christ is the agent of sin because it is not sin to stop depending on works and to start depending upon Christ alone.  Jesus isn’t the agent of sin—He is the agent of freedom—freedom that Peter was enjoying until the others showed up.

One of the biggest fights you and I will have is to try to be all things to all people.  Paul understood who he wasn in Christ and he was content with that.  Are you content with who you are in Christ?  We will look at the rest of this passage over the next few days, but I want to encourage you to think about what it means to be free in Christ and to learn to live in that freedom!

One of my favorite preaches is Art Azurdia.  I first came across him when I read his book Spirit Empowered Preaching.  I want to share this portion of one of his sermons to encourage you and to urge you to invite someone to come to church with you tomorrow and to come to church with you Thursday night when Junior Hill will be preaching.  See you tomorrow!

I read quite a few blogs throughout the week and I came across one the other day that reprinted the dialogue below between John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407) and the empress Eudoxia when Chrysostom was brought before her and threatened with banishment if he insisted on his Christian independence as a preacher.

“You cannot banish me, for this world is my Father’s house.”

“But I will kill you,” said the empress.

“No, you cannot, for my life is hid with Christ in God,” said John.

“I will take away your treasures.”

“No, you cannot, for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there.”

“But I will drive you away from your friends and you will have no one left.”

“No, you cannot, for I have a Friend in heaven from whom you cannot separate me. I defy you, for there is nothing you can do to harm me.”

Chrysostom knew the utter freedom of knowing and believing that Christ plus nothing equals everything!

Do you know that freedom?  So many Christians are chained by the world’s view of success.  You can’t give like you want to give because you have too many bills.  You can’t go on mission because you can’t afford to take time off from work because you have so much debt.  You can’t…because… I challenge you to come to know the depth of the riches that are yours in Christ and to live in the freedom of that wealth!