THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE

“For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:19-20 HCSB)

Sometimes the title of a book speaks volumes: for instance, the great Chinese Bible teacher, Watchman Nee, wrote a book called, “The Normal Christian Life.”  Why would you write a book about that?  Doesn’t everyone know what a normal Christian is? 

Actually, I’m not sure a lot of people do.  The late Vance Havner said, “We’ve been subnormal so long, that if we ever got normal, most folks would think we were abnormal.” 

I suppose that most in our world today would identify Christianity with religion and think of it as a set of rules and regulations.  They associate it with being a member of a church.  But Christianity isn’t about a religion, it is about a relationship. The Christian life isn’t about joining a church, but joining with Christ.  Christianity is Christ in you—His life becoming your life and your life wrapped up in His life. 

That is the thrust of what Paul describes here as the normal Christian life.

The normal Christian life involves A PERSONAL DECISION. 

Did you notice the personal pronouns used in these verses?  The author stresses the personal nature of his commitment to Christ.

Paul came to the decision to follow Jesus on the Damascus Road.  Remember that story?  Called Saul at that time, he was bent on eradicating the virus of Christianity from the earth.  But, Christ intercepted him, and the man’s life was changed forever.

He describes the result of that decision in Philippians 3:4-9.

“although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.  More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ--the righteousness from God based on faith.”

The letter to the Galatians rebukes some in the church for their error in thinking that we can be righteous before God in our own efforts.  Paul wrote, “know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.” (Gal.2:16)

Listen, if you think you can get to heaven on your own goodness and by some religion then you have no hope!  How many unconverted church members populate the pews today—who are deceived by the Devil—trusting themselves rather than Jesus?

“You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified?”  (Gal.3:1)  We can be mesmerized by false teaching that muddles the simplicity of the Gospel.

Have you personally decided to follow Jesus? 

I did not ask if you were raised in a Christian home.  That is a blessed privilege, but does not insure salvation.  God has children—but not grandchildren.  Dad and Mom can point us to Christ, but they cannot make the decision to follow Him for us.

I did not ask if you believe in the existence of God.  Now, we must believe in God, but we can’t stop there.  The Devil believes in God and is no better for it.  He will still spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.

I did not ask if you were baptized and joined the church.  We should—after we are saved.  Unless we are saved it is meaningless.

The normal Christian life involves a personal decision, and also A POSITIONAL DEATH.  “I have been crucified with Christ.”

To follow Christ is to walk the Calvary Road.  It is a summons to come and die.  It is joining Him in taking up His cross.  What does this mean?

It means we are DEAD TO THE LAW.  ““For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God.”(Gal.2:19) 

Centuries of Hebrew history demonstrated the impossibility of fallen man to keep God’s perfect law.  The conclusion is that, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom.3:23) Only One lived a perfect life—Jesus.  He satisfied all the righteous demands of a Holy God.  Therefore He died on Calvary as our substitute, paying the price we deserved.

“For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law is cursed.  Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.   But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them.   Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written: Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed.   The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Gal.3:10-14)

We are united with Him in His death.  So, we are dead to the law and DEAD TO OUR SIN.  “For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin…” (Rom.6:6). 

Our problem isn’t just the laws we break, but the lawbreaker we are.  We are condemned not just for our sins, but because we are sinners.  It was necessary then, that Christ would not only deal with the penalty for our sins, but deal with the person who sins.  So, Jesus not only paid the price for our sins, but in union with Him we died to sin.  As God views us, He views us as dead to sin.  That is our position.  The normal Christian life is all about the cross.

Then we are also DEAD TO OUR DESIRES, “Then He said to [them] all, ‘If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”

 (Luke 9:23) 

We die to our will and live to His.  We surrender our plans and seek His purposes.  We abandon our desires in favor of His designs.  There is a once and for all commitment that is sustained through day to day choices.  There is scarcely a more practical dimension in normal Christianity than this.  It underlies every aspect of following Christ. 

This brings us to our next element of this truth—we are DEAD TO THE WORLD, “But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world.  (Gal.6:14) 

Remember the rich young ruler?  This very moral man comes to Jesus and wants to know what is required to have eternal life.  Jesus begins by confronting him with the Holy Law and the young man boasts that he has done those things since childhood.  Jesus then springs the trap because He knows the man is an idolater—that he loves the material aspect of life more than the spiritual.  So, Jesus tells him that all he needs to do is sell all he has and come follow Him.  That was too big a price for the fellow who has so much, and he walks away—foolishly.  "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose His soul?"

Jesus said we have to choose between Mammon and God (Matt.6:24); we cannot serve two masters.  John echoed this when he said that you cannot love God and love the world. (see 1 John 2:15-17).

In the Spring 2012 edition of Leadership Journal, I read this:

Asian Access (or A2), a Christian missions agency in South Asia, listed a series of questions that church planters must ask new believers who are considering baptism. (Due to safety concerns, Asian Access does not mention the country's name.) The country is predominantly Hindu, but over the past few decades Christianity has grown in popularity—especially among poor and tribal peoples. These are the seven questions asked to help determine a new convert's readiness to follow Christ:

1. Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
2. Are you willing to lose your job?
3. Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
4. Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
5. Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
6. Are you willing to go to prison?
7. Are you willing to die for Jesus?

If the new convert answers yes to all of these questions, then A2 leaders invite that person to sign on the bottom of the paper that of their own free will they have decided to follow Jesus. But here's the risk: if a new convert signs the paper and is caught by the government, he or she will spend three years behind bars. The one who did the evangelizing faces six years in prison.

How many of us would profess faith in Christ, if this were the price we had to pay?  It is in many places around the world.  It has been throughout church history.  It may soon come to America.

In 2010, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago outlined the degree to which he believed religious freedoms (in the United States and other Western societies) were endangered. After the passage of legislation that enabled Civil Unions in Illinois, his eminence stated:

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

I wonder if it will take that long to bring us to that point.

The normal Christian life involves A POWERFUL DELIVERANCE .  "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

This is real life!  We often speak of salvation as being a changed life—but it is more accurate to perceive it as an exchanged life—I have given Jesus my life and he has given me His!  That's a wonderful swap!  Yet this isn’t some mystical mumbo-jumbo. 

Eternal life isn’t just something we get in the sweet bye and bye, but that works in the nasty now and now--it is "The life I now live in the body."  This is immensely practical.  Our life is transformed from the inside out.  We have been delivered from the bondage of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the blessedness of the Kingdom of Light!  The key that taps into the power of God is faith: “I live by faith in the Son of God.”  He loves you so—and has given you every resource in Himself for all you need.  He is, "the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."  This is the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10b).

This is normal Christianity.  This isn’t something reserved for some select group of elite saints—it is Christianity.  Have you made the personal decision to follow Jesus, by denying yourself and taking up your cross?  Then you may know life--life as God meant it to be--the normal Christian life!