I GIVE YOU ME!
Gal. 2:20 (p824) Nov. 28, 2010
INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever had something you really didn't want to give up? I mean something you loved, were comfortable with…something that you knew you should get rid of, but you just kept holding onto it.
Maybe its something like smoking, chewing, drinking, eating fired chicken…you love it, its become a habit…you know its not good, but letting go of it isn't so easy.
I remember my son had this old pink shirt he use to wear…I called it his missionary shirt because it had these 2 pockets in the front on the bottom and some fancy stitching that went down the front. (It looked like shirts I use to see missionaries in all the time). It become tattered, torn and a mess, but he kept on wearing it…we'd throw it away and he'd find it and dig it out. Finally Kair cut it up into tiny pieces and put it en the bottom of a bag of dirty diapers...it was gone for good that time.
All of us are like that with parts of our lives…things we like a lot…things we've become comfortable with and just don't want to throw away. It would almost be a relief if someone else could step in, take those things away, cut them into little pieces and throw them out with the dirty diapers...occasionally we'd long for them, but they'd be history.
Galatians 2:20 says "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".
Each and every one of us have had lives that were like my son's old tattered and torn shirt…we had become comfortable in weary them…we liked the fit…letting them go wasn't going to be easy or "comfortable".
Putting on something brand new was going to feel weird and I was going to look very different.
For me to wear Christ for the world to see was going to be radically different than the "old Rick attire".
What would make me want to change out of the old tattered life that I was use to wearing and put on a new set of salvation clothes?
1.
It would require:
I A GOOD LOOK IN THE MIRROR.
When the Apostle Paul says "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live..
You have to ask…why? Why would you crucify yourself…why would you allow Saul to be nailed to a tree with Christ?
Saul wasn't a kid anymore. He was a grown man, studied and learned under Gamaliel…He was a person of influence and prestige "A Pharisee of Pharisees. He had access to the High Priest.. He knew important folks and had their ear.
Why would Saul want to give all that up. He'd probably worked his whole life to bring that about. He thought he looked remotely stunning in these "powerful, influential old duds.
He was comfortable in them…He wore them well.
As Stephen the first Christian Martyr died "Saul was there giving approval to his death…Holding their coats…nodding an agreement in Acts 8. And as Acts 9 begins "Saul is still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. Collecting warrants from the High Priests. So he can go out and do more the same.
In fact he's weary these clothes as he heads for Damascus so he can find any who follow the way of Jesus.
But folks he was going to take a good look in the mirror shortly.
ACTS 9:3 - 19 (p 777)
Before you can ever understand how tattered and torn your life is you have to come into the presence of Jesus…and even then it takes a godly messenger like Amanas to explaining how "you can see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit."
Only the Holy Spirit can remove the selfish seals from our eyes so we can see Jesus and ourselves in His presence. His perfect holiness and our tattered, sinful image are shown clearly in the mirror of the Holy Spirit's conversion.
Baptism isn't "the washing of dirt from the body…it goes much deeper…it’s the pledge of a good conscience before God…it's our salvation because of the resurrection of Jesus…He died for our sins…He lives for our salvation. (1 Peter 3:21)
Only by looking in this mirror can I make a decision that "I will be crucified with Christ and I no longer live…He now lives in me!".
There is no other catalyst that will make me see the truth…whether I'm on the road to Damascus, or the road to Hell.
2.
According to God's word we were asleep in our sin and someone needed to wake us up.
Romans 13: 11-14
Jesus plans are for us to wear a resurrection suit.
II CLOTHED WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
You will never become a Christian because you go through the motions of "getting wet" in baptism, because your parents expect you to---or you think it’s the right thing to do to join the church.
You have to die and be buried in Christ, so you can rise and live in the power of his resurrection.
If your not really dying to self so that Christ can live in your body…all your doing is taking off that tattered shirt for a moment…and then putting it right back on.
Paul said, "Christ lives in me…the life I live in the body I live by faith…
The hardest thing to give up in the world is "you"
"I give you me" is a beautiful song, but surrending all that I am or ever hope to be is no easy thing.
Why? Because I live in a body!
The King James Version says "flesh"….I like that better. It's more accurate.
Jeff Strite says…
ILLUS: Flesh is where I make contact with the world (one of 5 senses is touch). Flesh is where I sense pleasure and pain. Flesh contains my bodily organs, my life blood. When someone looks at me and recognizes me - it's my flesh they see. My flesh (for all intents and purposes) is ME. And I do things for my flesh. I lavish it with lotions, colognes, and soaps (aren't you glad). I take hot baths, enjoy a good backrub. Flesh is God's code word for our endeavors to serve our personal desires. AND SIN can be boiled down to that which helps us serve our "flesh" by either bringing it pleasure or avoiding pain.
Before Christ "the flesh" was my leading focus. I want pleasure for my 5 senses or I want to avoid pain…After my surrender to Christ I have a choice, aided by the Holy Spirit…live for self or live for God…whichever one I choose, I have to crucify the other (you can't serve two masters)
Romans 8 5-10 says something important about this
Romans 8: 5-10
When you and I made a decision to become a Christian, we choose to crucify "ourselves", the flesh, our bodies…we died…now if that's true…LIVE LIKE IT!
Dead men aren’t tempted by pornography…those eyes don't see it. Dead men aren’t gossips, their tongues are still….Dead men aren’t concerned with selfish
ambition…they're dead…the senses that are touched by this world, the flesh is past being is past being touched.
3.
But Rick I still live in a body…I can't throw it away like some old Spirit. Even though I'm a Christian…I still live in a body!!!
Your right…I can't deny that…neither can you…so what do I do…"Clothe that body with the Lord Jesus Christ."
"The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me."
Paul is saying "Now…In Christ my focus isn't on what pleases "Me" Its on Christ! Why, "Because He loved me and gave himself for me.
And that same spirit…His Spirit…which brought Him back from the dead now lives in me…"I've been bought with a price, His Spirit is the deposit for eternity…I will live in this body wearing resurrection suit.
"If the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through his Spirit who live in you" (Rom 8:11)
There's only room for 1 mind, 1 heart, 1 attitude, 1 spirit to be in control of each body…It's our choice whether it's ours or Christ's.
And who we wear will be plainly evident to all who critique this runway we call the world. I'll strut my stuff…or I'll wear the saviors' resurrection suit…by the way its cummerbund is a towel.
You see 'SIN" is an "I" problem…it's in the middle of the word and it's in the middle of the throne. For God to sit on the throne of our lives "I" have to be removed from it. It's a life long process the bible calls "Sanctification." It begins when I died…but because I still live in a body it continues until my death or Christ's return. As Paul said, "It requires me dying daily…and constantly seeking for Jesus to be in the center, and on the throne.
I think there are 4 levels of Christian growth:
1). A lot of me and little of you God---"appreciate me, recognize me!"
2). Some of me and some of you God…I'll do this for you God if you do this for me"
3). A little of me and a lot of you God" I've just got these few areas I don't want to surrender God" and
4). "None of me and all of you God" "I do everything as word and deed for Jesus"
I'm just not sure any of us get to stage 4 this side of heaven…at getting where you want that is a big part of growing in Christ and wearing that resurrection suit!
Luann emailed you the story of "The Rag Man" and it is goes right here.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…He was pierced for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities…the punishment that brought us peace was upon him…and by his wounds we are healed. The Ragman took my tattered life. and dressed me in garments made white as snow by His blood!"
