Foundations of the Faith

Lesson 7 – Christian Living

Introduction

• Colossians 2:6-7

– As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Walking in Faith

• The word "walk" refers to daily conduct--the sum total of our daily activities, attitudes, and relationships. Before we received Christ our walk was in conformity to the surrounding culture and our own fleshly desires (Ephesians 2:2-3). We walked:

1) in darkness (John 8:12)

2) in the flesh (Romans 8:4)

3) in sin (Colossians 3:5-7)

4) in ignorance and futility (Ephesians 4:17-18)

Walking in Faith

• The Christian walk stands in sharp contrast to all the old ways of walking. We are to walk "in Christ."

• We to walk “in Christ” the same way we received him. (Ephesians 2:8)

• Our walk in Christ is to be by faith. We are to continue in Him the same way we received Him. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." We look not to our circumstances but to the One who controls all circumstances.

Faith is Evidenced by Obedience

• The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked (I John 2:6)

• Jesus always did what pleased God. (John 8:29)

• He spoke His Father's words. (John 12:49-50)

• His life was characterized by humble obedience. (Philippians 2:8)

• Jesus' life was the perfect example of obedience, completely yielded and submitted to His Heavenly Father.

– He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)

• The walk of faith is, therefore, characterized by a submission to God's commands, which is manifested in all our activities, attitudes, and relationships.

Faith in God Produces Obedience

• "…your faith and hope are in God. Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart" (I Peter 1:21b-22).

• Works of obedience are one of the results of, not the cause of, our salvation. We are saved by faith, not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).

• The reason James said, "Faith, if it has no works, is dead" (James 2:17), is because true salvation will lead to obedience. Therefore, even though we are justified on the basis of faith (Romans 5:1), the faith that results in justification is an active, obedient faith.

Love for God Produces Obedience

• If you love Me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)

• "If anyone loves me, he will obey my words." (John 14:23)

• "But so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me." (John 14:31)

Source of Strength to Walk in Faith

• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

• Paul prayed for the Christians at Ephesus that they might "be strengthened with power through His Spirit; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Ephesians 3:16-17)

Christ in You

• Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. We see again the emphasis on faith. A heart of faith is characterized by a dependence on God. We have already seen how Jesus was the perfect example of a life totally submitted to God. However, Jesus is not just our example of how to live a life pleasing to God, He dwells in our hearts and empowers us to live our lives in the same way.

• In Romans 8:8, we find that "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So we begin to see that we cannot walk the Christian walk in our own strength, but Christ Himself who lives in us.

• As Paul has written, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet it is no longer I who live, but Christ; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20

We Have the Christ Life

• We can have victory over sin because we share in the resurrected life of Christ.

– "…we have been buried with Him through baptism unto death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:4)

• We can have victory over sin because we share in the resurrected life of Christ.

– "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." (Romans 6:8)

– "…but the life that He (Christ) lives, He lives to God." (Romans 6:10)

– Therefore, we are to consider ourselves "…to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11.

To Live is Christ

• Paul felt it so important to constantly underscore the teaching "for to me, to live is Christ." (Philippians 1:21) He did not say "for me to live is to be Christ like," or "for me to live is to follow Christ," although we should most definitely pursue those worthy goals.

• Paul was trying to communicate to us the all important concept of our lives being completely immersed in Jesus Christ, yielding to Him in such a way that He lives through us. We can see why Paul wrote to believers, wanting them to know that they were the ones: "to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in You." Colossians 1:27

Experiencing the Christ Life

• We should purpose to submit, present, and yield ourselves to God and His word. John the Baptist stated this concept of submitting in humility so well, when speaking of Jesus, he said, "He must increase, I must decrease." (John 3:30)

– James 4:7 says, "Submit therefore to God", and we read in Romans 6:13, "…present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

• We are to "consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." (Romans 6:11)

• We should "consider," "reckon," and "count it as fact" that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. These are all conscious attitudes of the mind.

"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living an holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)

Renewing Our Minds

• "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you" (Colossians 3:16a)

• We should be "…taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5)

• We see much in the Bible that deals specifically with the mind. The Lord knows where our battles are and has instructed us how to deal with them.

• Philippians 2:5, we are told to "have this attitude (mind, KJV) in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.

• Verses 6-8 further describe what attitude (mind) Christ had: one of humility and ultimate obedience.

• How is this attitude attained? By submission to God.

• Philippians 4:4-7 says that if we rejoice always (continually giving glory to God), forbear, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto God; the peace of God shall guard our hearts and "minds" in Christ Jesus.

• Verse 8 tells us to let our "minds" dwell on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute.

• Romans 8:5-6 tells us that to be spiritually "minded" is "life and peace."

Abide in Christ

• In John 15, Jesus teaches us the importance and relationship of our abiding in Him and His abiding in us.

– Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)

• Jesus is the vine. The life is in the vine. Our responsibility as "branches" is to simply abide in the "vine" (Christ).

• He reminds us that apart from Him, we can do nothing.

• We are to bear fruit, but in one sense, that is not our responsibility. Jesus (the Holy Spirit) will bear the fruit through us. We are simply to abide in Him and let His words abide in us (verse 7).

• The wonder of the relationship is that if we abide in Christ, He will abide in us, we will bear fruit (through His life) and the Father will be glorified (verse 8).

Summary Passage

• "If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." (Colossians 3:1-3)

Conclusion

It has been aptly said that godliness is not our capacity to imitate God, but the direct and exclusive consequence of God's activity in man. This is accomplished by the actual life of the Lord Jesus Christ that each of us who is a Christian experiences. Jesus is literally "eternal life" (I John 1:2), and the eternal life we experience is His life.