The Mystery of the Gospel, Part 7: The Purpose of Life

This is from the book The Mystery of the Gospel:

The Purpose of Life

"The great majority of believers only know the forgiveness of sins made possible by Jesus' death on the Cross in our stead. This is the important first stage of life in Christ, described in detail in Romans, chapters one through three.

"For this, we come to the Cross.

"Some of us move onto the second stage of life in Christ--we come through to know that when Jesus died, we died with Him. We see ourselves as a new creation, with the old man dead and buried. And we begin to experience freedom from condemnation and the victory of the resurrection life of Christ, as Paul depicted it in Romans chapters four through eight.

"For this, we see ourselves on the Cross.

"It seems that relatively few of us press on to the third stage--where we truly function in the faith dimension, the heavenly realm. This is a life which sees through external situations to the God who 'works all things after the counsel of His will,' such as Paul described in Romans chapters nine through sixteen.

"In this stage we take up the Cross.

"To the Cross, on the Cross, taking up the Cross--crucifixion, resurrection, ascension--are the three stages in the full recognition of the One who indwells us as a result of our new birth.

"John in his first epistle spoke of these stages in terms of children, young men, and fathers (1 John 2:12-14).

"Children are dependent. They need to be cared for. They need to be reassured and comforted. For Christians at this first stage, perhaps all they know is that they have been forgiven.

"Young men begin to lose their need for dependence on others. They have begun to flex their muscles and are ready for the fray of life. At this stage, they are keen to try their hand at overcoming.

"For fathers, the dependence of childhood and the wavering of youth has passed. They are fixed in the fact that Christ is their replaced life. They have matured to the point that they 'know' they are in union with God, and that they are experiencing a fully-formed Christ within.

"Paul's desire was that all might grow up 'to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.' He wanted all to press on to this point of maturity; and when he saw the Galatians had not yet become fixed, he wrote to them as 'My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you. . . .'

"This is the point at which we have attained to 'the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God'--that fixed consciousness of Him as our 'all,' from which we can no longer be swayed. Faith has become its own evidence, so that we pass beyond just believing into knowing. Now we know we are one with Him.

"Spiritual fathers are ready for interdependence. They are equipped to function as part of the whole body of Christ for the cause of the kingdom of God. They are prepared to be commissioned as intercessors--ambassadors for the kingdom. And like human fathers, they reproduce themselves.

"There seem to be two extremes in the Church. Either babies are born in mass-evangelism campaigns and left without the care of older brothers and sisters who could help them come into a living experience of their new life; or they are born in groups which believe in shepherding and discipling, but who maintain them as babies for years, never bringing them to the point where they also are fathers who can move from the family and begin their own families.

"Babies need help--they are dependent. But from the time they are born, the goal of their parents should be for them to become fathers no longer dependent upon other people. Similarly, in most cases, it is necessary for the newly born-again person to be 'discipled' by others who are more mature in the Lord.

"Shepherding (or discipling) should never take the form of making decisions for others and fostering extended reliance upon another human being. It should always be aimed at acquainting a newly-born person with the One who is 'all' in him, so that as quickly as possible he can learn to function as a reproductive father in the kingdom of God.

"Fathers are free to be who they are--Christ in their unique forms. They are no longer unduly concerned about what other people think, but live in a fixed knowledge that they are free to live spontaneously because of their inner awareness of their oneness with Christ. This sets them free for the ascended life as intercessors--those who 'stand in the gap' on behalf of others.

"Now they take up the Cross to bring life to others. Tremendous work is accomplished. They are in a race as commissioned entrants, representing their heavenly country. They strive according to His mighty power which is striving within them. Yet it is all from a victory position, all from a state of rest, all His life being poured out through them as vessels.

"For many in religious circles intercession has been narrowed down to just mean intense prayer. But intercession is much more than prayer. We become prayer for other people. Just as Jesus did, we lay down our lives for them daily. And it costs us.

"Paul described his own intercession for us in 2 Corinthians Four. He saw himself as an earthen vessel through which the surpassing greatness of the power of God could be transmitted to the world. He was afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; continually 'carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.' He went on to say:

For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you . . . Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:11-16

"Paul actually described his many beatings, his shipwrecks, his being stoned and left for dead, his imprisonments, and the tremendous burdens he carried for others as 'momentary, light affliction'! He could say this because he experienced Christ as 'all fullness' in his inner man. He was doing what he wanted to do--what he enjoyed doing--because all of the 'works' that were flowing out from him were simply Christ urging him on. God was at work in him 'both to will and to work for His good pleasure.'

"An intercession, then, is not something we do grudgingly or against our will. It is not an 'ought to' that we feel we 'have to' do. It is something we simply cannot not do. We have to do it because it is a part of us! It is the expression of Christ through us.

"One of the more startling statements in Scripture is found in 1 John 4:17: '. . . as He is, so also are we in this world.' Imagine, because of our union with Christ, each of us is Christ to our world expressed through our unique human personality.

"The Bible uses various analogies to describe our life in union with Christ. Each analogy is of itself incomplete, showing only a part of the whole picture. Taken together, the different analogies give us a clearer understanding of who we are in Christ.

"Let's begin with the analogy of 'treasure in earthen vessels' (2 Cor. 4:7). It is important to see that we are just clay pots, but that we contain a priceless treasure. We recognize that without the treasure we are 'nothing.' It's the treasure in the vessel that's everything. And we know that it always remains that way. We don't become something better. We are just the vessel through which He pours out Himself. He remains the treasure, and we remain the vessel.

"At this stage, we have realized that 'it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me' (Gal. 2:20). That is the replaced life--'not I, but Christ.' This is the container, or pot, stage. And it is important that we recognize that Life comes only from the fact that Christ lives in us. But God doesn't intend that we stay in the 'pot stage'--He intends for us to move on, keeping that awareness in mind.

"Paul went on in Galatians 2:20 to say that the life which he now lived in the flesh, he lived by faith in the Son of God. It was not Christ alone doing the living, but Paul in union with Christ. Now that is something we hear very little of among believers. Even those of us who understand the replaced life--death and resurrection with Christ--do not always move on to this third stage to live the ascended life.

"The ascended life--the fatherhood stage--is a life lived creatively for others. It is illustrated by another analogy: the vine-branch illustration which Jesus gave in John Fifteen. The branches make up the vine. The vine manifests itself in branch forms.

"But where is the fruit? Do you find it on the roots? No, it's on the branches! In fact, the fruit began its life as sap; but you don't see the sap, you just see it expressed as fruit. The life of the vine isn't visible. All you see is bunches of grapes, green foliage and branches. But the whole is the vine expressed!

"This illustrates the 'I live' part of Paul's great statement. You get the grapes, and that's what you are after. You can't eat sap. You can't eat the vine. It is the grapes that give you the wine. And that's all the world ever sees of Christ--just the manifestation of the Vine through its fruitbearing branches.

"When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he used another analogy: despite all of their faults he described them as 'living letters' of Christ. They were the letters, not Christ! They were letters, written by the invisible pen of the Spirit within, for all to see and read.

"When we get a letter, we don't see the pen. We see the words. We catch the life--the meaning, the emotion, the warmth, the friendship--that is coming through the words. But we don't see the pen, and we don't see the one who wrote it.

"John's words, 'as He is, so also are we in this world,' take us back to the words of Jesus when He told the disciples, 'If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.' If the world sees us, it sees Christ expressed in this present-day material dimension. We are He in this world--His life manifest. And, for now, that is all the world sees of Him!

"At another place, Paul calls us 'the body of Christ.' This isn't just a nice thought. It is an analogy which reveals that we are Him in this time-space dimension. The invisible Christ who was incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth is now able to indwell millions of sons of God in a way that was not possible when He was just the human Jesus.

"The visible human being is a composite of spirit, soul and body. The spirit is invisible--the inner, essential person. It is at this level that the replacement occurs--the spirit of error is replaced by the Spirit of Truth. The container--the soul and body--doesn't change at the new birth. Although the inner man--the essential person of the spirit--has changed, the person who inherits red hair or a quick mind continues to exhibit these same traits, because they originate at the soul and body levels and not with spirit.

"So we retain our basic temperament and personality, but the use of them changes because they are now under the command of a new control center. They were formerly used as the instruments of Mr. Sin (expressing himself through ourselves), but they have now become the instruments of righteousness with Christ at the helm.

"We find then a paradox. We are clay pots, and yet we are chosen vessels. We ever know that we are nothing, and yet at the same instant we live with the inner awareness that we are in union with and one with the 'All'! The vessel remains just the same, but the One indwelling us is now He who is 'All, and in all.'

"So we recognize three different truths at the same time: that we are dead; that He now lives as us; but that the union is so complete that we can say we live. Paul illustrated this when he spoke of 'the life which I now live in the flesh,' because he knew the spontaneous flow of the life of Christ in him. Jesus, also, spoke of this Life when He said that He could of Himself do nothing and yet at the same instant described Himself as the Light of the world, the Life of men, and the Bread of life.

"As we live quite naturally in recognition of all three of these truths, we find that we are able to be ourselves--and all the while it is actually Christ manifest in our human vessel. This is the mystery of the gospel.

"So we find ourselves. We discover the person we were meant to be as a container for the life of Christ. We discover that we have found true freedom--the fulfillment we searched for all our lives--as His slaves, as containers that express Him!

"Now we live confidently, not forever questioning our motives or fussing about ourselves. We know that a replacement of spirit occurred at the time of our new birth, and that when we live spontaneously from our center it is He living as us. We don't have to keep checking our relationship, because we know that we are in union with Christ. We act boldly, in faith, trusting ourselves, because it isn't I acting as an independent self, but it is we--He and I--acting as one.

"The mystery of the gospel--Christ living in us as us--is really good news! It is not only a message about a forgiven past and a wonderful future for all eternity, it is a message of the fulfilled life now.

"We have passed from death to life, so that we are living eternal life at this very moment; because eternal life is to know Him--to be in union with Him, as the biblical word 'know' really means. And though there is yet to be the glorification of soul and body, the essential change has already taken place and we are already new creatures in spirit.

"Of course, in practice it takes time for us to become established in the knowledge of who we are. God takes us many varied routes, through many negative situations, to bring us to this positive realization. It rarely comes overnight. And in most cases this deeper recognition of the One who is in us is brought about through a series of crises in our lives, when we can no longer lean on our earthly crutches and are thrown upon our personal relationship with Jesus through the Christ within.

"But coming to this awareness is just the beginning. It is only then that we can really get in gear and become commissioned intercessors for the cause of the kingdom. And with each of us, the intercession will be different. God has a special, unique way of expressing Himself through every individual. So we never try to copy someone else. We just walk as that person He wants to be through us. And the mystery is that as we live, it is actually Christ living through us.

"This is abundant living. It is carefree living. It is the purpose for which we came into being--the very reason for which we were born."