Here's what we have learned so far in this series of what it means to
be in Christ.
1. We have learned that when we trust Christ as Savior, we are placed
into Christ by the Holy Spirit. Our body and spirit are then part of
Christ. He is in us; we are in Him.
2.
He has become our Federal
Head
which means He represents us. Just as assuredly as Adam made us
sinners, Jesus makes us righteous. His perfect obedience is counted
as our obedience.
3. We died with Him to the law. The law no longer has jurisdiction
over us because its demands have been met both by the death of Christ
to pay the required death penalty and by the life of Christ that He
lived on our behalf.
Today we want to consider the fact that when we died with Christ, we
died to the world and its system. Some passages of Scripture you
might consider as you read this are: Galatians 6:14; Colossians
2:18-23; Colossians 3:2-3; 1 John 2:15-17
In Galatians 6:14 Paul says that the world has been crucified to him
and he to the world. There are two aspects of this world system that
we want to consider. The first is the world's religious system of
self-improvement and the second is the world's system of desire and
temptation.
First then the world's system of religious self-improvement. In
Colossians 2:20, Paul tells his readers that they have died to the
basic principles of the world. What does he mean by this? Well, the
first thing he wonders is why they are still subjecting themselves to
religious regulations. By this he means regulations that stem from
human design. Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5:19. he said
that we should not teach the commandments of men as though they were
God's instruction.
Why do we create our own regulations for religious purposes? I think
there are a couple of reasons. One is so that we are capable of
keeping them. The commandments of God are difficult. He goes way deep
into the inner man and asks for not only outward obedience but for
proper internal motivations. He says that hatred is murder and
lusting is adultery. Who can keep those kind of commandments and
still stand? So we create our own because we think God certainly
could not require such difficult things of us. We lower the standards
to our level, to a series of behaviors and habits that are pretty
easy to accomplish if one puts ones mind to it.
The second reason we create our own religious observances is because
we believe that making it to heaven is a product of our behavior.
Instead of accepting the free gift of eternal life based on the merit
of Christ, we try to make check lists so that hopefully God will see
how well we have done and let us into his kingdom. The problem is
that the checklists are ours and not his.
Paul tells the Colossians in 2:23 that these things all have the
appearance of wisdom. But the problem is that they do nothing to
solve the real problems. They do nothing to put restraint on our old
human nature. They are part of a self-imposed religion, not the God
ordained religion.
The point is that we are to consider ourselves to have died with
Christ and that makes us dead to all of the competing systems of
religious performance that would attempt to make us look good before
one another in pride or to make us look good before God. We should
reject any attempt to put ourselves under such man-made systems.
Rather, we need to come to God His way. He tells us that the debt has
been paid and salvation is being offered as a gift. To those who
accept his offer, God provides complete forgiveness, the crediting of
righteousness to our record and an eternal position as an heir of God
and joint-heir of Christ.
Next time we'll consider the other aspect of the world system to
which we have died and that is the system of temptation and lusts.
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