1 Corinthians 15:31
Oh, how arduous this truth can be. Most often this truth of dying to self and living for Christ manifest itself in the reality of “isn’t happening often enough.” Now I definitely realize that If we are in Christ we are justified and cannot add any thing to the finished work of Christ. We have experienced the gift of repentance and faith. We have experienced the imputation of His righteousness. We have experienced the expiation and forgiveness of our sin. I realize it isn’t faith + works, it is faith that does work. I understand the exegetical meaning of the text of
1 Corinthians 15:31, the problem is do we “LIVE” it eisegetically or exegetically (kinda borrowed that phrase from a Francis Chan book I read, oh well I like it so there)?
I remember a commercial that use to run a few years back, I think it was advertising for the United Negro College Fund, but not sure, any way it‘s slogan was "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."
There lays the problem, maybe yours as well. What we read and are taught from sermons, books and scripture is not brought forward to the realm of reality. So, in essence it stays wasted in our minds. We look at certain texts of scripture, that we no to be true and we just imagine in our minds what our lives would look like if we were to apply it. All we do is just read words. It’s as if we have forgotten that we live this Christian life empowered by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 4:20, Paul knows that the Christian life does not consist of impressive words and knowledge but the power of that life enabled by the Holy Spirit. It’s like trying to hit a baseball while sitting in a chair. Sure, often enough you will and can make contact with the pitch. You won’t have much on the ball, no power, as you send it out in the field, and of course running is impossible. It’s like we read scripture and the chair is our mind. We just sit and dwell. Yeah we can receive the word and even send back a few good thoughts here and there. But the fact is can you run after you take a swing? Are you just a word reader? Do these words of Christ stay “wasted away again in my mind ville”. I wish I could say that never happens to me. I really understand that reformed theology appeals to the intellect, and rightly so, but often times it just stays in our intellect.
I have the awesome privilege of taking my daughter through 1 John . She claims to know Christ, so we’re gonna see if her walk can match her talk. Am I expecting her to give perfect answers? Well, I have to admit at first I was. I was expecting perfect answers, and much to my surprise she did just that. She has up to this point given perfect biblical answers. I wonder how much of this truth is just stuck in her mind, if she truly has been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit? How I hope to stress to her that this Christian life is not only about words on a page. As I explain this to her and my other children, am I guilty of swinging at pitches while sitting in a chair? Can they see their father get up and run? Or has it only become just words? If they don’t see it in me, will I not be guilty of teaching them by example?
The bottom line is this Christian life is a life of action. Repenting and turning from sin at the beginning, and then we are to hit the floor walking and then as we mature we can then pick up the pace. It is as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "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.
So, may we live exegetical lives and “live to Die”
Oh, how arduous this truth can be. Most often this truth of dying to self and living for Christ manifest itself in the reality of “isn’t happening often enough.” Now I definitely realize that If we are in Christ we are justified and cannot add any thing to the finished work of Christ. We have experienced the gift of repentance and faith. We have experienced the imputation of His righteousness. We have experienced the expiation and forgiveness of our sin. I realize it isn’t faith + works, it is faith that does work. I understand the exegetical meaning of the text of
1 Corinthians 15:31, the problem is do we “LIVE” it eisegetically or exegetically (kinda borrowed that phrase from a Francis Chan book I read, oh well I like it so there)?
I remember a commercial that use to run a few years back, I think it was advertising for the United Negro College Fund, but not sure, any way it‘s slogan was "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."
There lays the problem, maybe yours as well. What we read and are taught from sermons, books and scripture is not brought forward to the realm of reality. So, in essence it stays wasted in our minds. We look at certain texts of scripture, that we no to be true and we just imagine in our minds what our lives would look like if we were to apply it. All we do is just read words. It’s as if we have forgotten that we live this Christian life empowered by the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 4:20, Paul knows that the Christian life does not consist of impressive words and knowledge but the power of that life enabled by the Holy Spirit. It’s like trying to hit a baseball while sitting in a chair. Sure, often enough you will and can make contact with the pitch. You won’t have much on the ball, no power, as you send it out in the field, and of course running is impossible. It’s like we read scripture and the chair is our mind. We just sit and dwell. Yeah we can receive the word and even send back a few good thoughts here and there. But the fact is can you run after you take a swing? Are you just a word reader? Do these words of Christ stay “wasted away again in my mind ville”. I wish I could say that never happens to me. I really understand that reformed theology appeals to the intellect, and rightly so, but often times it just stays in our intellect.
I have the awesome privilege of taking my daughter through 1 John . She claims to know Christ, so we’re gonna see if her walk can match her talk. Am I expecting her to give perfect answers? Well, I have to admit at first I was. I was expecting perfect answers, and much to my surprise she did just that. She has up to this point given perfect biblical answers. I wonder how much of this truth is just stuck in her mind, if she truly has been regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit? How I hope to stress to her that this Christian life is not only about words on a page. As I explain this to her and my other children, am I guilty of swinging at pitches while sitting in a chair? Can they see their father get up and run? Or has it only become just words? If they don’t see it in me, will I not be guilty of teaching them by example?
The bottom line is this Christian life is a life of action. Repenting and turning from sin at the beginning, and then we are to hit the floor walking and then as we mature we can then pick up the pace. It is as Paul says in Galatians 2:20, "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.
So, may we live exegetical lives and “live to Die”
Very well said....how many times we have talked something to death and still are not "doing" what we talked about!
ReplyDelete