With / In - Part 4
November 12th 2023,
We’re in Part 3 tonight of a series we’re calling With / In.
We’re looking into the differences & compliments of what it means to be “with Christ” vs. “in Christ”.
Our KEY VERSE is Galatians 2:20 (NASB) let’s read together.
Galatians 2:20 (NASB) - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Now, even though we’re using Galatians 2:20 as our key verse, we’ve actually found ourselves studying a lot from Romans 5 & 6 as the PROOF of the With / In idea. Galatians 2:20 state’s the two sides clearly: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” and the book of Romans has tons to say about HOW we can and cannot understand what it means and how we can LIVE “in Christ”.
We’ve defined WITH as being “unified, unity, along side, having the same experience…” We’ve defined IN as meaning “position, instrumentation, rights & facts that we have/own”
The truth is, when we’re honest with ourselves, we may know in our head-knowledge or kind-of mentally comprehend that we have been crucified “WITH” Christ and that now we life “IN” Him, but the PRACTICAL side of that idea is much harder to come to grips with. Because if Christ lives IN us,
- Some things should be EVIDENT in our lives (fruit of the Spirit active in our life) - Some things should be ABSENT (“now the works of the flesh are…”
So we find that “yes we’re saved…but how do we LIVE IN salvation?” :: “Yes I’m a believer but how do I DO what I believe?” :: We even learned a new word last week for some of us: the word “Sanctification” that means we’re becoming LIKE Christ…becoming “Sanctified”... this means set apart from the things of the World & set apart TO the things of Christ… and we find that “yes, I’m being SANCTIFIED (set apart) but how do I SUCCEED in this?”
And last week we read through Romans 6 quite a bit and found FOUR PRACTICAL WAYS to LIVE IN Christ… KNOWING (v6), BELIEVING (v8), COUNTING (v11), OFFERING (v13)
● KNOWING (v6), “6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with”
○ You can’t LIVE IN what you don’t KNOW to be true
○ This comes by REVELATION… not studying, or striving
● BELIEVING (v8), “8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ”
○ What good does it do to KNOW something if you don’t BELIEVE that it’s true?! ○ We DO what we BELIEVE…
○ Isaiah 43:10 (NASB) … So that you may know & believe Me / And understand that I am [God]
● COUNTING (v11) “... count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
○ λογίζομαι logizomai, v. [40] [√ 3306]. to credit, count, reckon; regard, think, consider, realize… “reckon” meaning, come to grips with the fact…
○ This shows us that as we COME TO GRIPS with the FACT that we KNOW & BELIEVE… we recognize that it doesn’t make sense to pray for what we already have. (“I have thumbs.”)
○ Because you were unified WITH Christ in His crucifixion, you now live IN Him giving you the POSITION of the same resurrected life.
● OFFERING (v13) “... offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ”
○ This proves the “instrumentation” part of “IN CHRIST”...
Tonight we’re going to spend a little more time on this last one, “OFFERING ourselves…” and see what else we can learn about how to LIVE IN CHRIST because we’ve been crucified WITH HIM.
Let’s start there in Romans 6:12-14 and then we’ll keep going:
Romans 6:12-14 :: 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”
Look closely at the way Paul writes these words: “... offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ”
This one scripture POINTS BACK to all of the other three: KNOWING, BELIEVING & COUNTING. “as those who have been brought from death to life” … it’s LITERALLY a “therefore” statement (v12) … SINCE you KNOW you’re dead, and you BELIEVE you’re made alive again and you’ve COME TO GRIPS/COUNTED/RECKONED yourself dead & alive…THEREFORE (v12) … OFFER YOURSELF.
What does it mean to OFFER ourselves? (other versions say PRESENT)
ILLUSTRATION: LION KING : Remember when Rafiki the monkey lifted up Baby Simba on Pride Rock in front of the animal kingdom? All the other animals bowed down, not just because of respect but it’s a symbol of PRESENTING themselves to the new king… They’re essentially saying, we belong to you.
This is what it means to OFFER yourself to God as an instrument.
παρίστημι paristēmi, v. to put at disposal;
And what’s interesting: if your translation uses the word PRESENT, then the word appears FIVE TIMES in this chapter: 2x - v13, 1x-v15, 2x-v19.
v13-DO NOT offer… But OFFER yourselves
v15-WHEN you offer…
v19- You USED TO offer…so NOW offer
The implication is the same each time… YOU have to OFFER/PRESENT/PUT YOURSELF AT God’s disposal… for Him to use you the way He sees fit (an “instrument”)
It’s a statement of TIMING saying, from THIS MOMENT on, I consider my whole life belonging to you, for you to use as you please. In our passage, remember, it’s a “therefore” statement… so it’s a matter of timing: once I KNOW, and BELIEVE and RECKON/COUNT myself dead to sin & alive… now that I’m alive again, I am to put myself at God’s disposal
Let’s do a bit of a WORD STUDY: “paristēmi”
Luke 2:22 (NASB) :: 22 And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
Acts 1:3 (NASB):: 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Romans 12:1 (NASB) :: Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2 Tim 2:15 (NASB) :: 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
2 Cor 4:14 (NASB) :: 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.
2 Cor 11:2 (NASB) :: 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
When we OFFER ourselves… Put ourselves at Christ’s disposal… to do with what He will, we are learning the SUBMISSION that it takes to LIVE IN CHRIST. This is about SUBMITTING your life to Christ, just the way HE submitted to the Father “not my will but yours be done”.
Look at all that we’ve learned thus far:
When we TRULY KNOW, BELIEVE that we are “Crucified with Him”... we can COUNT/CONSIDER/COME TO GRIPS WITH the fact that we are “DEAD” to sin.
When we TRULY KNOW/BELIVE that we are “raised with Him from the dead”... we can COUNT/CONSIDER/COME TO GRIPS with the fact that we’re now “ALIVE unto God in Christ Jesus.”
What’s left is for US to KNOW and BELIEVE that when we OFFER OURSELVES to Christ… he will OFFER/PRESENT us to God.
Col 1:22 (NASB) :: 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—
It seems to me… that the conclusion of this portion of learning HOW to Live in Christ is that there is LESS to DO and more to simply ‘come to grips with’ and then ‘bow’ (offer/submit/present ourselves) before God.
We make it SO HARD in our lives like we have to wrestle with our flesh (how dumb/weird does it look for someone to be wrestling with a corpse?!?) and what Romans is teaching us is that we simply have to KNOW it, BELIEVE it, COME TO GRIPS WITH IT (COUNT/RECKON), and then “OFFER or PRESENT” ourselves to Him so He can Present us to God.
In conclusion, let’s read one more scripture
Jude 1:17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.