I heard a Christian song recently in which was sung “I will live my life for You.” It is this idea I want to investigate and preach on. Do we live our life for God? Almost all believers will say yes of course we do! Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5…
2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
2Co 5:15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
It certainly seems that we are to repay God for His wonderful grace by doing all we can to live for Him now. Yet such an idea belongs to the immature years of our walk.
What Paul is saying above is a statement of fact not a command for us to try to obey. He is stating the reality of our new life now that we are born anew in Jesus.
We used to live for ourselves when we were dead in trespasses and sins. We used to live for ourselves when we were one spirit with the spirit of the air who was working in us when we were unbelievers. That was our identity and condition. We were a self only for self. We were turned inward upon our selves being blinded to the gospel.
But since God drew us to Jesus and granted us repentance unto life and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ we have become a new creation. This new man that we are IS CHRIST JESUS AND US AS ONE PERSON. Thus whatever Jesus is we are.
Do you think that Jesus is selfish? Of course not. He is always laying down His life for His enemies.
This same Jesus is our only life and nature. We are always laying down our lives as well…for our life is not a separate life from Jesus, but the ONLY LIFE THAT WE ARE!!
Paul is saying in 2 Cor 5:15 that we who live in Jesus are always living for God. It cannot be that we live for ourselves anymore because that self died on the cross. We have exchanged that old self for the new self- WHO is Jesus. It is not something we must try to do…but something that is the reality of who we are.
This is the faith of the son of God that we live by.
Gal_2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
The faith of the son of God is this new life that we have, and are in union with. We do not try to live for God as if we have our own little life separate from Him. God is living His life in us! God is living His way in us. God is living His truth in us…just the way we are. God is laying down His life in us and as us through all the things we go through in this world.
You being yourself—is Jesus being yourself.
Ohh I know this is hard to see when we are so filled with the Christianity of tradition.
I have fled from that Christianity–it is dead religion like all other religions.
The just shall live by his faith. Whose faith?
Hab_2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
As Galatians 2:20 says…we live by the faith of Jesus. It is so important to see that we DO NOT LIVE BY FAITH IN JESUS…but by THE faith of Jesus. If you think that you must live by a faith that you must maintain yourself…then you will find out that your puny little efforts cannot stand the test of life. It is Jesus’ faith. It is His life in you, joined to you. It is His knowledge of the Father. It is His relationship with the Father. You and I have been brought into this union of people. We live by and through the faith of Jesus—not by trying to hang in there.
The day must come when we give up trying to believe in Jesus. The day must come for all Christians when they cease their own works and rest in Him fully.
Rom_1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Apostle Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. The salvation he speaks of has NOTHING TO DO WITH DYING AND GOING TO HEAVEN!
The Gospel is the power of God–It is the means through which God transforms you into the very same image as Jesus Christ. This is salvation. Salvation is to be made like the Son of God. Right here in this life with Jesus as our only nature–we are being transformed into His image as we believe. This faith that is His,now ours, is the power of God to make us sons of God.
The righteousness of God is full union. Jesus in Father in you…and you in Jesus, in Father
The righteousness of God is revealed through the gospel–from faith to faith. That phrase- the righteousness of God is not about us doing good things and not doing bad things so that we are righteous and holy. The righteousness of God is always used by Paul in opposition to self righteousness. God’s righteousness is a living faith relationship of perfect union.
This union of persons –Father-Jesus-you is the righteousness of God. It is revealed from faith to faith as we grow in understanding and revelation. It is the reality of you. It is Jesus in you in Father, carrying you all the way into God.
Gal_3:11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”Gal_3:12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.“
The just shall live by faith….not any faith that he has has of himself, but the faith of the son of God Himself. Jesus’ faith inside you, carrying you, sustaining you, joining you to Father, keeping you in Father, blessing you in Father. It is His faith–and now yours. Paul uses the phrase “The just shall live by faith” first found in Habakuk 2:4 where it tells us it is his faith. We live by his faith–as Galatians 2:20 also says. Then Paul contrasts this phrase with living by doing the works of the Law. Then he drops a bombshell….
…the law is not of faith…Gal 3:12
Doing good and not doing bad is not of faith. The man who does the law lives outside of faith, for the law is not of faith. The just are those who believe in Jesus. Justified by faith and made holy by faith.
Heb_10:38 NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; BUT IF ANYONE DRAWS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”
If anyone draws back from resting in Jesus as their only righteousness Father has no pleasure in that. The moment we try to be a good Christian by doing and not doing…we set aside the grace of God which is ours in Jesus.
We are perfected already through the one sacrifice for sins which Jesus made. We are called to rest inside of our perfect saviour Jesus, allowing His faith to carry us.
