How to Love Christ by Living for Him
Galatians 2:20
November 26, 2005
If I were to take a poll of everyone in here, I wonder how many would say that they think everyone in the room should agree with them about a particular topic.
Whether it’s about politics, war, TV shows, or whatever.
We generally all have strong opinions about stuff, and we wonder how in the world anyone could not agree with us, especially in the face of the passion and dazzling logic we bring to the discussion.
And if we’re not careful, we can focus more on winning the argument instead of winning the person.
Well, I’m as guilty of that as anybody here in this room.
I look at some issues that I think are as clear as crystal in Scripture and just sit back in wonder why other people don’t get it.
And I find myself focusing on winning the argument instead of the person.
This issue of loving Jesus by living for Jesus is one of those areas.
I’m very passionate about helping people not only find Christ for forgiveness of sins and a home in heaven, but also helping them see that there’s so much more that Jesus expects of us than just getting our eternal fire insurance.
So I’m going to talk about that today, and I hope you hear the passion in my heart as I speak with my mouth.
But I want to also assure that my purpose today isn’t to win the argument. My purpose is to give you something to chew on so you can come to the point where you desire to be all that Christ wants you to be.
Why is this so important to me?
Because I know that the vast majority of Christians are missing out on the joy that comes with living for Jesus instead of ourselves.
And it has nothing to do with economic or social status. It has nothing to do with your education level or your career.
It’s available to every single person who decides to take Jesus up on His offer of a full and abundant life that He makes to those who follow Him with their lives and not just their lips.
I think that many of us in this room have wondered, “Is this really all there is to this ‘Christianity’ thing?
I go to church and I pray, and even read my Bible from time to time. But I don’t seem to have any real meaning and significance in my life. My life is just like the people in the office and down the street, and they don’t even claim to be Christians.
“So what’s the big deal?”
Or maybe you’re feeling what I mentioned before as a “holy discontent” with the status quo of your spiritual life, and you want more.
You’re sure there’s more, but you’re not sure what it takes to experience all of God that He wants us to experience.
For some of you, it might a “take it or leave it” type of thing. Maybe you will take a serious look at living for Jesus or maybe you won’t.
And the other option is that you couldn’t care less about what it means to live for Jesus, and quite honestly, any thought about giving more of yourself to Jesus puts you on the defensive.
My hope is that no one in here fits that category. And since I’m a generally positive kinda guy, I’m just going to figure that everyone in hear is at least ambivalent about living for Jesus!
How’s THAT for optimism?
Later in the message I’m going to give you some ideas on just how a person can go about taking some concrete steps to becoming a person who loves Jesus by living for Him.
Because remember, that’s what Jesus wants. Jesus isn’t interested in “lip-service” Christians. He says that to love Him it to live for Him, 24/7.
But right now I want to just lay down the foundation of what I’m talking about, and it’s found in the Scripture passage in your note-taking guide, Galatians 2:20.
I would like you to read this aloud with me, please.
Galatians 2:20 –
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
There are three things from this verse that I want to mention very quickly before we get into the abc-123 stuff, okay?
First, notice the first sentence - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.
Paul is saying that he has died to himself. Last week we looked at Luke 9:23 and Jesus’ words that if anyone wants to claim to be a follower of Jesus, they need to deny themselves daily and pick up their cross and follow Him.
Folks, if we can’t die to ourselves, we can’t live for Jesus.
But just how do we go about doing that? We simply say that to God, “You win today – I’m going to put myself aside and live for You, no matter what that means for me.
You crucify your desires and your agenda for the sake of Jesus.
Second, notice that Paul says next, but Christ lives in me.
The word “but” is rather significant here, just as it is in other parts of the Scripture.
Paul says that he no longer lives, but Christ now lives. He has exchanged his life for the life of Christ in Him.
And then he says in the rest of the verse that his life from that point on is determined by his relationship with Christ – his faith in Christ now defines who he who he is and what he does with his life.
Now why would anyone want to have a life like that?
The answer is in the last part of the verse:
…the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
A person should want the kind of life that is defined by Christ, because Christ loved us and gave Himself for undeserving people.
I’m of the opinion that He deserves our whole-hearted devotion. He would have deserved it without His sacrifice on the cross. But He deserves it all the more because of it, wouldn’t you agree?
So what can you do to open the door to God’s transforming love and power to make you a person who, like Paul, lives your life defined and determined by a vibrant love for Jesus that’s lived out in everyday living?
I want to give you three main actions that person needs to take if they want to be characterized as someone who loves Jesus by living for Him, rather than as someone who merely gives lip-service to Jesus.
But I need to emphasize something here because I’m afraid that if I don’t, this stuff I’m about to give you is going to come across like just another yoke of unrealistic burdens like the Pharisees laid on the people of Jesus’ time.
The issue of this whole issue isn’t doing. It’s being.
I’m going to give you some specific abc-123 things that you can do. But the idea is that these are meant to open you up to the Holy Spirit molding you to be the follower of Jesus that God can really bless and use. Make sense?
So here’s the first of the three actions:
1. Give the keys to Jesus.
Letting anyone drive our vehicle is tough. I admit that at times I’m not the best passenger, especially when it’s my vehicle. Just ask my wife.
And just for the record, I think my wife’s a great driver. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t let her take my kids around!
My dad’s a great driver. I have absolutely no problem trusting my dad when he’s behind the wheel.
The vehicle could be on fire and I’d still be able to ride knowing that if anyone could get us through that scrape, it would be my dad.
Do you “hit the brakes” on the passenger side when you think the driver’s going to fast?
I think that just about everyone who’s been driving a while secretly thinks they are the best driver around, especially when it comes to how they operate their own vehicle.
They know how the car reacts to certain situations, how hard you need to crank the steering wheel at a corner, the feel of the brakes, the location of all the controls, etc.
And they think that they can control that car better than anyone else.
So when they hand the keys to someone else, they’re thinking things like, “Don’t jam the brakes down. Slow down before you get too close to the corner. Don’t touch the radio!”
What’s the bottom-line issue about letting someone else drive your car? Let’s assume that the driver has lots of experience and has never been in an accident or received a ticket.
So what’s the problem? The problem with letting someone else drive is that we have no control. And that’s scary.
It’s my car, and I want control over it.
It’s not a perfect analogy but it’s exactly why people won’t let Jesus take the wheel of their lives. They’re afraid to give up control.
Am I right? I know I am. I was the same way – still am, at times.
But let me tell you that when I finally said to Jesus, “Look – I’m tired of struggling on my own power to do this ‘Christian’ thing – I’m tired of falling on my face trying to live for you on my own – I’m tired of trying to make my own decisions about life – You take over,” my life went in a whole new direction.
And I found out that the Creator knew how to control the car of my life better than me – since He created it in the first place, for His purposes.
This giving the keys to Jesus does not happen by default. It takes an intentional, determined act of the will.
You have to say to tell Jesus that He’s in control. It’s not easy, and to be perfectly frank, there will be times when you wonder if it was the best thing to do.
But I know that I speak for a number of people in this room who will tell you that it’s the best thing they ever did in terms of getting past the lip-service Christianity that most people live with.
Give the keys to Jesus. The second action you need to take to become a person who loves Jesus by living for Him is to…
2. Get a grip on the Bible.
You will notice that in your bulletin is an outline of a hand. It’s my hand, because I didn’t have time to make an appointment with everyone here to trace their hands and then make sure I got the right hand with the right person…
Anyway, this diagram of a hand has six parts to it – five fingers and a palm. Each of these stand for ways to get a grip on the Bible.
Why is it so important to get a grip on the Bible?
Because the mind of God is revealed in the Scriptures – at least as much as our puny human brains can take.
The Bible is the foundation of everything we Christians hold dear. It’s the “owner’s manual” of our lives.
For some of you, that just discounted the Bible for you, because reading the owner’s manual for anything is like asking for directions, and there’s NO WAY that’s going to happen, right?
But don’t let that get in the way. Please.
Folks, we simply cannot be fruitful disciples of Christ with lives filled with significance and meaning if we disregard God’s Word.
This is where we find out just what it means to live for Christ. You cannot afford to just set the Bible aside.
Let’s look at this diagram, and I promise not to spend a whole lot of time on this, but I want to make sure you understand the concept very clearly.
(Explain hand illustration from The Navigators/modified by Rick Warren - let me know if you need it explained and I’ll be glad to do that for you!)
Before we move on to the third action we can take to be a person who loves Jesus by living for Him, let me give you a very sobering thought:
The vast majority of Christians will never get past the pinkie. Don’t be a pinkie person!
Get a whole-handed grip on the Bible, and watch what God does in your life as you become a person of godly wisdom.
Here’s the third action you need to take if you want to be a person who loves Jesus by living for Him, and this might be the toughest of the three:
3. Obey what’s clear.
No one likes to be told what to do, even if it’s God telling them to do it.
But once we understand that God only commands things that are for our benefit and His glory, then it becomes easier.
The Bible says that God’s commands are not burdensome – that is, for those who are sold out to Him.
Because as I mentioned last week, it’s easier to listen to someone you know loves you. And if God doesn’t qualify, then no one does.
But what I’m trying to address here is the mindset that says, “I don’t understand the Bible, so until I do, I’m not going to submit to it.”
But I contend that you will never understand the Scriptures to any real degree until you obey what you do understand.
The famous evangelist Billy Sunday said:
“The Bible will always be full of things you can not understand as long as you will not live according to the things you do understand." (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Dennis Clark)
Don’t worry about what you can’t figure out.
If you obey what you DO know, then you’ll gain insight on what you aren’t sure of yet.
But don’t let not knowing about some things get in the way of doing what you do know you’re supposed to do.
I hope you that all of you can see the value in what I’ve shared with you today.
But the sad fact of the matter is that the average Christian won’t do this stuff. The average Christian will look at this and say, “That’s nice – but I’m more concerned with living for myself instead of Jesus.”
(crinkle up note-taking guide and throw it behind you)
You know who does this kind of thing? A person who’s not content with the status quo of their spiritual life and not content to just live for themselves.
A person who understands there’s more to being a Christian than just being saved from the penalty of their sin.
And that’s my heart’s desire for everyone here today. Because not only will it change your life in ways you can’t even imagine right now, it will make you the kind of person God can use to change the world for Him.
This is the kind of thing that moves a person from being just a “Christian” to being a “disciple.”
Can you just imagine with me what it would look like to be a church that’s made up of disciples who are serious about living for Jesus 24/7?
Can you imagine with me what would happen in worship as we come together as brothers and sisters who are serious about worshiping Jesus during our services because we’re serious about worshiping Jesus with our lives during the week?
Can you imagine with me what God can do in the lives of individuals who come together to love and encourage one another in the bonds of real fellowship centered around who we are in Christ?
Can you imagine with me what can happen when committed disciples of Jesus are active in coming alongside the broken and hurting to minister to them in the name of Jesus?
And can you imagine with me what God can do in the lives of those who outside of Christ as they see people who take their relationship with Christ so seriously that it affects how they do their work and how treat their neighbors and even how they talk about other people?
Folks, these aren’t pipe dreams. They’re the reality for any church willing to sell out to Jesus completely. But for that to happen, it needs to be filled with individuals willing to sell out to Jesus completely.
Is that you? I can’t answer for you. Only you can decide if you want more or if you’re willing to settle for the “average” Christian life.
But know that average isn’t what Jesus wanted or intended when He died for you.
If the Holy Spirit’s been prompting you today you want to move on to a new level of commitment for Christ, I say, “hallelujah.”
And I suggest you start by simply giving Jesus a little time:
> A little time in the Bible.
> A little time in prayer.
A little time intentionally can and will make all the difference in the world.
You know what I enjoy just about more than anything else?
Meeting with people who are serious about living for Jesus just like I’ve talked about today. Getting together over a meal or a cup of coffee and looking at the Scriptures together, praying together, encouraging each other to grow in Christ.
If that interests you, just give me a holler and we’ll set something up right away to help you get started.
But in the meantime, do yourselves a favor and get together with God sometime this week to really hash this out with Him.
You’ll be glad you did.
Let’s pray.
