Totally Radical and Totally Necessary
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3
“But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him…that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:20-24
The above verses are part of chapters that speak to the heart of a Christian’s spiritual walk; a process of becoming less of “us” and more of Jesus Christ. At the core of this progressiveness is a heart that has totally submitted its life to Christ. In a very real sense, to follow Christ means you die to yourself (Col. 3:3). To paraphrase the prolific pastor and author, A.W. Tozer, if Christ is not everything to you, He likely is not anything to you. To experience the grace of Christ is to be radically changed by Christ; it is a necessary, not optional event if one is in Christ. This translates into a walk of faith where you literally lose yourself as you “put on” the righteousness of Christ within every area of your life—totally radical and totally necessary.
What is the starting point of our radically changed life in Christ? It begins at that place of transformation where our lives, in fact, were made new by the blood-saturated grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, the only way to walk with Christ is to be IN CHIRST. Jesus Himself said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24) To know Jesus Christ as Savior is to know Him as THE SAVIOR of your life—apart from clinging to the cross of Christ there is no salvation. It is both an act of repentance and an act of submission in which your life orientation is now centered on the person and teaching of Jesus Christ— totally radical and totally necessary. Have you taken this step of faith?
If you are in Christ, you are told to walk by faith in Him: “I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.” (Galatians 2:20) The important thing to remember here is that it is the same life-transforming grace that provides your salvation that enables your sanctification (i.e. being conformed into the image of Christ). This is why it is critical that we always cling to the cross of Jesus Christ. Like Paul, we must see ourselves joined with Christ on the cross to the extent that our lives become consumed by Him. You cannot crucify yourself with Christ unless you are nailed on the cross with Him. Have you allowed God to drive the nails of redemption into your own life?
Now sharing a cross-vantage point, you will be compelled to take off your old self and put on the righteousness of Christ. This is where God grows His fruit in you. It is a God-driven task that He initiates and perfects: “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Yet, within His sovereign process, He demands that we choose to set our minds (and hearts) on Him. Our life-purpose is no longer entangled in the affairs of this world; rather, the primary passion of our lives must be entirely entrenched within the goal of pleasing our Father; to choose anything less is to choose something else. We cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). To truly honor God with your lives, we must let go of the things of this world. We must stop setting our minds on earthly things: the need for power, control, wealth, importance, self-gratification, etc... We can only be in Christ when we have counted everything loss before Christ (Phil. 3:8). There is no other way; to deny self is totally radical and totally necessary if we want to follow Christ.
Within this process, truth (God’s Word) becomes the hammer and chisel that God uses to shape us (“Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth” John 17:17). This is where obedience and commitment become the defining traits of our faith; apart from them, we cannot know God. To know God in Christ is to love God through Christ. To love Christ is to be committed to Christ. To be committed to Christ is to be obedient to His word (John 14:21) and the only way to be obedient to His word is to know it.
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might now sin against You”
Psalm 119:11
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
If we call Christ Lord, knowing His word must become an essential part of our daily lives. If we willingly choose not to make God’s word a priority, we cannot truly call Christ our Lord. Can we? Are you currently spending some type of daily time in God’s word? Whether it be a Bible study, devotional or Scripture memorization, it is necessary that we seek to daily feed our minds and hearts on the word of God (Matthew 4:4). We will only become more like Christ as we allow the Holy Spirit to take hold of the “hammer and chisel” and do some serious shaping of our hearts. As our hearts become marred with the His chisel marks, our lives will become radically and necessarily changed. Be real. Are you feeling God’s chisel strike your heart? Is there evidence in your life?
While each one of my sons is uniquely designed by God, there is, without question, a familiar likeness that they all share. Interestingly enough, the more time I spend with them, the greater this likeness becomes. Each one of them resembles their dad not only in looks, but in walk and talk. Similar, but different, the more time I spend with my wife the deeper our relationship becomes. As I listen to my wife’s words, I am afforded an opportunity to see into the depths of her heart. Our intimacy is achieved when we become lost within the need of each other’s souls. While we all love our children and our wives, we are called to love God more.
Our love for God necessitates a radical commitment where we give ourselves completely over to The One who gave Himself for us. This is the love that God demands and deserves. Anything less than our everything means nothing. It is a heart that says, “I have given self and I am Yours.” Yet, it is in our surrendering of self that God secures Himself to us. It is a divine process that He directs, sustains, and perfects - totally radical and totally necessary.