Knowing Christ #2 (Focus)
Romans 8:6
CHCC: December 6, 2009
INTRODUCTION:
Sometimes I think back to church camp and the kids who went forward every year to rededicate over and over again.
If we were to graph our spiritual journey, it would probably look something like a roller coaster. We go to a seminar, conference, or retreat and come home rejuvenated, feeling “close to Christ.” Then we hit the pavement of daily reality and slowly we start sinking. We fall back into old habits. We feel like our prayers aren’t getting past the ceiling. We repent and rededicate ourselves and rev up our will power again … or we go to another conference or something … only to have the same cycle repeat over and over again.
Is that the way it’s supposed to be? A lot of Christians have a tendency to think that --- even though it was God’s Grace and Mercy that saved us --- now that we are saved, it’s all up to us to get on with the business of struggling to “live the Christian life” on our own power. We rev up our own dedication, will power, grit, and determination.
Endless UPS and DOWNS are the inevitable result of something within ourselves. They are the natural result of Christians living a SELF-FOCUSED life.
Which reminds me of the old movie from the 80’s – Karate Kid. The famous line is when Mr. Miyagi is training the young Daniel in Karate by having him paint fences and wax cars (wax on wax off) and he says, Focus, Daniel-san. Focus. That’s what we need to do when our Christian life gets off track – Focus Daniel-san, Focus.
But we DON’T need to focus on ourselves and our own will power. We don’t need to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We don’t need to follow that old saying, “God he’ps them who he’ps themselves.” By the way, that’s NOT from the Bible (Poor Richard’s Almanac).
In fact, the Bible gives the opposite advice --- Look at what the Apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 3: I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Galatians 3:2-3
It sounds like people back then were a whole lot like us, right? So what is the answer?
It has everything to do with what we FOCUS our minds on. The secret is this: Don’t keep trying to “whip yourself into shape” --- just stop and adjust your FOCUS. Take the focus off yourself and what YOU can do to live right. Instead, put ALL your FOCUS on Christ and what HE can do IN you.
1. Focus on Christ in you
A couple of weeks ago, I preached about KNOWING CHRIST as the LAMB that takes away the sins of the world --- as our LORD --- and as our LIFE. When we know Jesus as the LAMB, we understand that his death on the cross paid the price for our sins. Because of Jesus, we can be part of God’s family and look forward to eternity with Him in Heaven.
We understand that Jesus is the LORD of our lives. We want to obey Him and live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God. But if we don’t come to know Jesus as our LIFE, we’re going to find the Christian life full of frustration and defeat.
Galatians 2:20 says this: 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.
We were saved by faith. There was nothing WE could do on our own effort to MAKE ourselves good enough to meet God’s standards. JESUS did it ALL when he died for our sins. OUR part was simply to choose him … to FOCUS our faith completely on him and accept the GIFT of salvation.
But that’s not the end of the story … it’s just the beginning. At the moment of salvation something supernatural changes inside you. Christ actually comes to live in you. His Spirit enlivens your spirit … which was DEAD in sin … and gives you a NEW life.
From that point on, you have a NEW option that was never available to you before. Instead of trying to do it all yourself, you can let Christ LIVE in you. That’s what it means to know Christ as your LIFE. In the same way that you made that initial CHOICE to put all your trust in Jesus, you can now make a daily choice to FOCUS on the life of Christ IN you.
Romans 8:6 puts it like this: To set the mind on the flesh means death, but to set the mind on the Spirit means life and peace.
Too often we FOCUS all our efforts on trying to make ourselves OBEY God’s commands on our own power. We mess up and then we make a resolution: I’ve GOT to control my temper --- I won’t ever tell a lie again --- I’ll never eat another brownie~ The problem is that Focusing on the LAW just arouses more desire to BREAK the law.
Back when our first grandchild was about a year old, we hadn’t yet bought a gate for the bottom of the stairs. We put everything we could find in front of those stairs. (Show picture of 1 year old morgan climbing stairs) You can’t see it in the picture, but there’s a baby buggy in front of those 2 chairs, and a card table behind them.
Naturally, Morgan spent the whole day climbing around on that barrier, trying to find a way over it. If the LAW was, "Thou shalt not climb the stairs", she HAD to find a way to break it. (And of course she succeeded and we spent the rest of the day chasing her up the steps.)
The more we focus on the law, the worse it gets. Instead, we can focus on Christ --- in His life IN us --- and on our life IN Him.
2. Focus on You in Christ
Look at Ephesians 2:4-6, But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Not only is Christ in us … living where we are --- but God has also placed us with Christ in the heavenly places. So what does that mean for us? One thing it means is that our eternal lies have already begun. We don’t have to wonder where we will end up after we die because our spirits are already seated with Christ in heaven.
And if we FOCUS our mind on this spiritual reality, it will also give us a much broader perspective … an ETERNAL perspective … on the experiences we go through here on earth. Tis is our REAL life --- much more real than the temporary things of this world.
Now, think of the implications of that spiritual reality. The fact that God has already placed us in Christ, in the heavenly realms tells us something wonderful about the way God sees us right now. Because Jesus has covered our sins, God already sees us as perfected. God has already given us complete and total acceptance --- not because we deserve it --- but because we are in Christ … clothed with his righteousness.
Back to the cycle that describes a lot of Christian’s lives --- when we are in the down cycle, we take our FOCUS off Christ and put the focus on our SELVES … mainly our weakness and failings. We figure, I’ll NEVER get it right! I try and try, but I always fall back into my old sinful patterns. We CONDEMN ourselves --- and we feel like God must be CONDEMNING us, too.
If you are caught up in that cycle, remember this verse: Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Sin is not a reason to condemn ourselves as hopeless failures. Instead we can see sin as a WARNING that we have stopped FOCUSING our mind and heart on Christ --- therefore He is not able to BE our life. It’s a signal to re-FOCUS.
A Christian can’t be comfortable living a life of sin --- sinning goes against our New Nature. Maybe sin used to feel natural, but once the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, sin feels very Unnatural to us. When we disobey Christ, it saps all our peace and joy. But when we know Christ as our LIFE, we will start experiencing the abundant, joy-filled, victorious Christian life that Jesus promised.
You’ve probably all heard the popular saying, What Would Jesus Do? – People wear WWJD bracelets and have WWJD bumper stickers. When you experience Jesus as your LIFE, you can have a new way of looking at WWJD. Instead of What Would Jesus Do, you can think of it as, "Watch What Jesus Does."
3. Watch What Jesus Does
In John 14:15 Jesus told his disciples: "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I’d always looked at that as Jesus saying, If you really love me … then prove it by obeying my commandments.
But now I realize that’s not what Jesus was saying. I think the real meaning is this: Anyone who really loves me will find themselves naturally obeying my commandments.
It’s not a matter of TRYING, it’s a matter of RESTING. You don’t have to try harder, just learn how to REST in Christ --- and He will live His life through you! Maybe that sounds too good to be true. But it is exactly what God has promised us. Try living this way, and you’ll be amazed at what God does in your life.
Galatians 5:16 says, If you live by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
This summer Susan and I discovered a reality show called CLEAN HOUSE. Have some of you seen it? It’s a show where a team of people come in help people with a hopelessly messy house by cleaning it out. The host is a comedian named Niecy Nash. When she first enters the messy house, she’ll often say, “Now, show me your mayhem and foolishness!” Then her team goes to work getting rid of the mess and redecorating the home. And the interesting thing is, while they are re-making the home, they get the family out of the way by sending them to a hotel for a nice, relaxing retreat.
That show is a picture of what Jesus does for you and me when he takes up residence in our lives. All of us are full of a bunch of mayhem and foolishness! And there’s no way we can clean it up ourselves. But if we can learn to REST in Christ … then we’ll get out of the way and let Jesus do the work. While we REST in Him, Jesus will clear out our mayhem and foolishness.
And when Jesus cleans house, He doesn’t just clear out the cobwebs, He has killed the spider!
CONCLUSION:
II Peter 1:3-4 says, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
That time of year is coming when we tend to make New Years’ Resolutions. This year, I’d like for all of us to make this ONE resolution – Resolve to FOCUS your mind on Christ every day. Resolve to come to know Christ as your LIFE.
Let’s take the FOCUS off ourselves. Instead of focusing on our own Performance – let’s focus on the PERSON of Jesus Christ.
