What is your life?
Col. 3:1-4
How would you define your life? If you were to define your life what would it be?
Tired, retired, confused, lonely, depressed, overworked, scared, angry, bitter, apathetic, excited, joyful, happy, peaceful, relaxed, wonderful?
Do you define your life by the job you have? The clothes you wear? The house you live in? The car you drive? The amount of money you make?
For the Christian, our life can be defined with one word – Christ.
Every breathe we take, every move we make, every thought we think, every word we speak is for Christ.
Read text. Underscore “Christ, who is our life”
Christ is our life. The Christian life is the Christ life. The Christian life is Christ living his life in and through the believer.
Christ doesn’t want you to live your life for him, he wants to live his life through you.
One of two people will live your life. You or Christ. In order for Christ to live his life through us we must die to ourselves.
This is what Jesus means when he says, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Mt 16:24
To deny yourself means to die to self. To take up your cross and follow Christ means to die to yourself. A cross is a symbol of death. We must take up our cross. We must die to self.
Col. 1:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”
You are dead. You say wait a minute, I’m not dead, I’m alive. You are dead and alive. You are dead to yourself, but alive in Christ.
In Gal 2:20 Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ [to be crucified means you’re dead]: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”
Paul says, I’m dead, yet I’m alive, I’m not living my life, Christ is.
The Christian life is the life where the follower of Christ has said, not my will but thine be done.
What does this mean that Christ is our life?
I. He is the Source of our life.
He is the source of our life in two ways:
First, he is the source of our life in that he is our Creator.
The God who the Bible says in Gen. 1:1 created the heavens and the earth is Jesus Christ.
Turn back to Col 1:16-17. Speaking of Christ says….
V16 says, “by him were all things created”. ALL things. Not some things. ALL things, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
V 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
The one who is before all things, created all things.
In that he created all things means he created us.
He is the God who Gen 1:26 “said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Because he is our creator, because he is the one who gave us our physical life we should allow him to live his life through us.
The breath you breathe is his breath. Gen 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
We should honor him with our work and wealth. 1 Chron 29:12 says, “Both riches and honor come [from God}. God rules over all; and in his hand is power and might; and in his hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”
Honor God. Give him his rightful place in your life. He is your creator. He is the source of your life.
Christ who is our life not only gave us physical life.
Second, he is the source of our life in that he is our Savior.
As our creator He gave us physical life. As our Savior He gave us spiritual life.
The Bible says “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph 2:1
Sin kills and since we are all born in sin we are born spiritually dead. Dead to God. As a result we need to be born again, born of the spirit.
How does a person receive spiritual life? “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” Eph 2:4-5
When a person comes to Christ they receive spiritual life. How? By grace. For by grace are you saved by faith. Faith in Christ.
Christ who is our life is the source of our life in creation, he created us, he gave us physical ife, and in salvation, he gives us spiritual life.
II. Christ is the substance of our life
Christ not only gives us life he is the substance of our life. It is by his life that we live.
He is the vine, we are the branches and apart from him we can do nothing. The flip side of this is we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Christ is in us. Christ in you the hope of glory. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?
If any man be in Christ he is a new creature.
…we, being many, are one body in Christ, Paul tells us in Rom 12:5
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Christ who is our life is our substance. He is our life.
III. Christ is the sustenance of our life.
It is Christ that we feed upon that sustains our life.
Just as we eat physical food to sustain and strengthen our physical body it is Christ that we feed upon that sustains our spiritual life.
Jesus said… I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. John 6:35
Jesus is the living water and the living bread for the soul of man.
We are to feed upon him daily to strengthen us and sustain us.
How do we feed upon Christ? “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. “ John 5:39
We feed upon Christ by feeding upon his word.
The result of living the Christ life? V4
Where Christ is we will be also. Where is this? Heaven.
Christ is coming for those who live the Christ life.
What is your life? For the Christian it is Christ.
He is the source of our life. He is the substance of our life. He is the sustenance of our life. Christ is our life.
