To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 12:17:34 -0500
Subject: [HF] Bible Study HF082 - The Jesus Life
Hebraics,
It is time to move. In our next study I want to share why it is
impossible to live a Christian life without Christ. But we also want
to find out how every believer can learn the walk of victory.
This is Bible Study HF082 - The Jesus Life.
Thomas said, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do
we know the way?” Jesus responded, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’ Then the Lord
said, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also;
from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." (John
14:6,7)
These two statements are crucial to understanding the Christian
life. When Jesus said that He was 'the way,' this tied in with
something that Moses said to the children of Israel just before he
departed the scene. Moses called heaven and earth to bear witness
that the people were told about choosing life or choosing death. Here
Jesus affirms that to choose life is to choose Him.
How does this tie in with what Moses said? Moses was a prophet,
and he spoke of God's way, but that God's way would reveal itself
fully in someone to come. This someone was called 'the Prophet.'
Over time many of the people came to realize that 'the Prophet' was
Messiah.
Hence Moses said, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall
listen to him. ... It shall come about that whoever will not listen to
My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it
of him." (Deu
18:15,19)
The second statement Jesus made to Thomas is equally important.
In saying that when they saw Him, they had seen the Father, Jesus
was identifying Himself with the Lord God of Israel. John later wrote,
"Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who
confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1
John 2:23)
But there is a key in all this. John also wrote about the life. He
said, "He who has the Son has the life.” He was not simply saying
that a believer comes alive in Christ, but that true believers are made
alive with the very life of Jesus. This life was not something that
they had before they were believers.
The term ‘the life’ or ‘the life of God’ has special meaning in
Scripture. It speaks of life that is unique to God alone. It links to
another expression, that is, the 'Divine nature.’ All creatures are
given a nature that suits their creature-hood. Angels have their own
nature. Men have their nature. Animals have their nature. But God
is the only one who can be said to be Divine by nature.
What does this have to do with Jesus saying that He is the life? He
is speaking of something that Adam and Eve lost. In the creation of
Adam, it says, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God
He created him; male and female He created them.”
The Genesis story further tells us that when Adam was created, he
was the only creature allowed to share the divine nature. It says,
"The
Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils [face] the breath of life, and man became living being.”
(Gen
2:7)
Certainly we have to use caution here and not get into godhood
teachings. You don't create a god. But we do have something here
that isn't often understood. Adam and Eve became God's 'divine
representatives' in all of creation. They were His children. They
shared His nature. This means they also reflected His glory.
It is difficult for us to grasp the very idea of sharing God's nature
and His glory. But David wrote about this. He said, "What is man
that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for
him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God [Elohim], and You
crown him with glory and majesty." (Psa
8:4,5)
The Hebrew term 'Elohim' is sort of a generic term. It is often
applied to the true God, but sometimes it speaks of angels, and
even of magistrates. When applied to the true God is will identify
itself with a singular pronoun or a specific article. But in other
usages it simply speaks of a divine representatives.
This is the case with Adam and Eve. However, there was a distinct
difference between Adam and Eve, and the angels. Our first
parents were not given the nature of angels. They shared in the divine
nature. Understand this and you will have a better grasp on what the fall
of
Adam entails. You will also know something of the heart of God.
The fall of Adam resulted in a loss of both the divine nature and the
glory that had been given him. Adam lost his crown and his
majesty. He had become earthy. Thus Paul said, "The first man is from
the
earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also
are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those
who are heavenly." (1
Cor 15:47,48)
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The apostle explains what
happened to man in the fall. Paul says that the fallen race was
"excluded from the life of God." (Cf.
Eph 4:18) And it is this
exclusion from the life of God that gives birth to religion. The
deepest cry of the human heart is for a restoration to the lost glory.
It reveals itself as a faint memory in the breast of all humanity. And
so we have many strange religions in the world. All of them are
vying for the place of being 'the true religion.'
But we already know that no religion is the true religion. Jesus did
not come to give us a religion. He came to give us life.
The wise man explained it this way; "He [God] has made
everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their
heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has
done from the beginning even to the end." (Eccl
3:11)
This 'eternity in the heart' reveals itself in a God hunger. The key
is in the statement, 'Yet so that man will not find out the work which
God has done from the beginning even to the end." It isn't that the
Lord doesn't want man to know divine things. This means that God
has planned it so that man cannot know the things of God aside from
God Himself.
This is where the gospel story comes in. In all the nations the Lord
did not leave Himself without a witness. The witness was in the
very heart of man. But the strongest witness would be in His prophets of
old. They kept directing man to God's program of redemption. The
Messiah was coming. The Life was coming. The Glory was coming.
The Divine Nature was coming.
And so --- What was it that attracted the people to Jesus? Was it
His miracles? Sure. But it was much more than that. While we must
always keep in mind who Jesus really was and is, in that He is the Lord
God revealed in a human body, we must also never lose sight that
Jesus was also fully a Man. And Jesus was the first man since the fall of
Adam in which the life of God was fully manifest.
Jesus is called 'the last Adam.' He walked the earth and the Life
that Adam had lost, was manifested. It was this 'Life' that men and
women and children were attracted to. It was the Life in Him that stirred
the passions of those around Him. No one ever spoke like Him. No
one ever loved like Him. No one ever walked like Him. He was in full
communion with heaven and earth.
John said, "In Him was the life, and the life was the Light of
men."
The apostle later wrote, "What we have heard, what we have seen
with our eyes, what we have look at and touched with our hands,
concerning the Word of life --- and the life was manifested..."
(Cf. 1 John 1:1-4)
Now that we know Jesus was the Life fully manifested, what do we
know about the reason He came into our world? It says that He came to
seek and save that which was lost. In another place it says that He came
that we might have life and have it abundantly."
The apostolic writer later wrote, "For it was fitting for Him, for
whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing
many sons to glory." And again, "For both He who sanctifies and
those
who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason He is not
ashamed to call them brethren." And again, "Behold, I and the
children whom God has given Me." (Cf.
Heb 2:9-14)
Some folk read the gospels but miss what the gospels are designed
to teach. The gospels are about a life that was lived by a Man from
heaven. And because this Man suffered in our place, we now have
the right to become heaven-men and heaven-women. Everyone who is
born again is not only born from above, but is given to share in the
divine nature that Adam lost.
This is why the apostle said, "The one who believes in the Son of
God has the testimony in himself." And then, "The testimony is
this, that
God has given is eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has
the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have the life." (Cf.
1 John 5:9-12)
Did you catch it? Every child of God has a divine witness in their
heart that God is their Father, and Jesus Christ is their Lord and
Savior. This is where religion has to take a back seat. No religion
can give this witness. This is also why when a person is born from
above, they will know it. No one can have the divine nature
implanted and not know it. It is not an emotional witness. It is God's
Spirit
testifying to our spirit that we are children of God.
This brings us to the most important aspect of this study. The
question is, 'Why is it impossible to live a Christian life without
Christ." I think we've answered that one well enough. Being a
Christian means you have the life of Christ in you. But we still need
to go a step further. How can we live the Jesus kind of life? Here
we find the paradox of Biblical Christianity. Are you ready?
The great paradox of the Christian faith is that no one can live a
Christian life. It was never designed for you to live it. You are a
participant in it, but you cannot simply live it. This Christian life
is Jesus living His life in you. Only He can live the Christian life.
If you learn this, you will know the true secret of Christian victory.
What makes a Christian a Christian is the indwelling life of Christ.
What make a Christian a victorious Christians is learning to live
from the life that indwells. This is why Paul said, "Christ in you,
the
hope of glory."
Let me paint a picture --- Have you ever had a difficult moment,
when you had done all you knew to do, and all you have left is total
discouragement? You want to give up and hide. Then
something mysterious takes place. For some unknown reason you find your
strength being renewed. Suddenly you began to feel alive. Why is that? It
is
the Jesus life taking over. It was only when you reached the end of
'yourself' that in your weakness, God's life could come forth. Your
weakness is the key to His strength in you.
Paul explained it best when he said, "I have been crucified with
Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Gal
2:20)
Are you getting the picture? The only way to truly know the life flow
of the Jesus life is to come to the end of yourself. The best way to
experience the strength of Jesus, is to say, "Lord, I give up. I
can't
do it. But you can. I ask you to take over in my life." This was the
great lesson that Paul learned, and why he said, "Most gladly,
therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the
power of Christ may dwell in me." (2
Cor 12:9)
Every child of God, and I mean from the fleshliest to the one who
seems like an oak tree, the principle will always be the same. True
maturity is learning to let Jesus live His life in you. This is the
life flow. This is what Jesus meant in saying, "He who believes in
Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of
living water.'" Living water is a Biblical term that speaks of life.
There is no such thing as a believer not having the life.
And so I must leave this with you. The Jesus life has other names.
John calls it 'the anointing.' The apostle wrote, "As for you, the
anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you
have no need for anyone ['tis' speaks of a guru-type person] to teach you;
but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not
a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him" (1
John 2:27)
The anointing is Christ Himself flowing forth in your life. Do you see
why some of the simplest of believers seem to have the strongest
faith walks? Its called 'dying to self.' Sometimes we have too much
brainpower at work. With the simple, they know they are simple.
They know they are weak. But they also know how to live.
How about you?
The study is open. Feel free to respond with questions or
observations.
The Lord bless you,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.christianchallenge.org/
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)