“Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Colossian 3:2,3
It was Charles Wesley who wrote in one of his great hymns the following: “Let nothing now my heart divide, Since with Thee I am crucified, And live to God in Thee. Dead to the world and all its toys, Its idle pomp and fading joys, Jesus my glory be.” What is Wesley seeking to communicate to us through this hymn? It is first and foremost his desire and will to reveal that all true, present-day experience of the Christian is found in heaven, in Christ, communicated to us by the Spirit of God. How then does Wesley partake of that which is in heaven, and in essence, “bring it down” to earth? It is first by a knowledge of the truth, as God has declared it in Christ. Notice that his hymn, or prayer, begins with the God-given desire in his heart ,”Let nothing now my heart divide.” How can he pray such a thing, and expect a powerful result? It is because the desire, and prayer, is based upon the finished work of Christ, not only by the past work of Christ on the cross, but by the present position of union with Christ in heaven at the right hand of the Father. Because of the crucifixiion of Christ, and the believer’s union with Christ in that crucifixion, Paul can write: “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.” He can also declare that the beleiver is to reckon himself dead unto sin, because IN CHRIST the believer died to sin. This is the perspective of God, and one of the great truths of the gospel.
Wesley takes us to heaven, after he has claimed the efficatious effects of the cross. Again, how can he do so? And again, it is because of the finished work of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension, and now at present, His position in heaven, having sat down victoriously at the right hand of the Father. It is because of the believer’s union with the present life of Christ, by the Spirit, that Wesley can pray with assurance that God has given, and will give, grace to “live to God,” with Jesus being His glory. The cross of Christ has deal with the “world” with its toys, “pomp and fading joys.” The Spirit of God strengthens the soul to look heavenward to one’s union with Christ in order to live by faith in Another’s life and power. That Life is made real and experiential in the life, as believing prayer is made on the basis of Christ’s work and life, and the believer’s union with Him.
The Lord Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, spoke of the Father’s perfection, and the believer’s responsibility to BE PERFECT, “…even as your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt 5:48) But how can this be? How can the believer in his mortal flesh, with all his limitations, flaws, and even sin, be perfect as the Father is perfect? Again, we are brought back to the cross where Christ died, and we died in him. Who, and what, died in Him? Scripture tells us that all that is of the old life, that unconverted life “in Adam,” and even every manifiestation of that life after conversion, has been put to death in the sight of God by Christ dying on the cross, and the sinner dying with Him. It is in the measure that the believer comes to grip with this truth, trusting the Spirit of God to apply it, that he begins to cease living from the flesh, and the mentality and methods of Adam, to live by Christ. With regard to perfection, only the life of Christ is perfect. Again, it is in the measure that the believer sees and grasps his union with Christ, Christ being his life, that he can appropriate this perfect life more and more, being conformed to the image of Christ by faith.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to live by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.