“God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:9
In Paul’s first letter to the believers in Corinth, he states this: “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1:30) There is in this declaration a truth of monumental importance, which is the basis for all else in the Christian’s life and walk with God. It is the God-given, God-provision, and God-confirmation, of the believer’s union with Christ, in His work and also in His person, by the Spirit. The perfect and complete work of Christ, although accomplished for all men, becomes literally applied and operative in the life of the individual when that person is born of the Spirit. It is at that very moment that the believer is placed into Jesus Christ, into an inseparable union with Him, to no longer live as he had before, according to the dictates, and influences of this world, but by the Spirit of Christ, deriving all from Christ who is now his life. Union with Christ is the central and most fundamental truth with regard to the intended purpose of redemption, to provide for and to bring the believer into a communion with Christ, where Christ is known and loved, “seen and heard” in the life. It is as one abides in Christ, living for Him, by Him, that the very life of Christ is revealed in and through him. True Christianity is walking with Christ, living from and for Christ, believing Christ to reveal Himself by the fruits and power of His indwelling life. This, in part, is the witness of the true and living God. How then is this experience to be practically known, and lived? It begins with, of all things, “forgetting.” How is this so?
It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” What did he mean by this, and why does the Lord Jesus lay down as a condition of following, and knowing Him, the denial of oneself, and taking up of one’s cross? It is in directing the soul to do these things that He works to bring the soul to the place of realizing two things, the first of which, is one’s total incapacity to do them. There is no commandment in the Bible, especially coming from the Lord Jesus’ lips, that is possible without His intervention and power. Thus, Christ brings the seeking heart to the place of seeing that he is lost, without God and hope in this world. The second thing is to reveal to the soul that, in order to follow and know Christ, it will not occur by the principles of this world, self-reliance, or any method or means, which has its origin in this world. Jesus, before Pilate told him very frankly, “My kingdom is not of this world.” He also said, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (Jn. 6:63) Here the Lord is making the very clear distinction between that which is of heaven, and God, as opposed to that which is of this fallen world, and sinful man. David wrote that man is born in sin. Paul wrote many years later, that men “…were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1) Jesus will not use old cloth upon which to sew the newness of that which is of Heaven, that which is Divine. He does not need old wineskins into which He will pour His new wine. He does not need the sinful flesh to accomplish His purposes and His will. The new birth that He gives is by the power of the Spirit alone. The placing of the believer into perpetual union with Jesus Christ by the Father, is the sovereign work of God, and Him alone. This why all the glory belongs to Him.
If one is to know Christ, he must forget the “old” to embrace wholeheartedly the “new,” by faith.
Dear Father, Give to us abounding grace all day today, to live in consistent communion with Christ. Jesus’ name, Amen.