Christ In Me

Christ in me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ with me, Christ above me, Christ beneath me, Christ on my right Christ on my left,

Christ when I sit, Christ when I rise, Christ when I stand. Christ in my marriage, Christ in my home, Christ in my work, Christ in my rest, Christ when I preach, Christ when I pray,

Christ over self, Christ under nothing. Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me, Christ in every mouth that speaks of me, Christ in every mind that thinks of me.

His strength in my arms, His service on my hands, His tears in my eyes, His touch on my mouth, His anointing on my head, His Word on my heart, His glory in my aim, His humility in my all. Christ in me.

This is a prayer, the words of this prayer is based on a prayer of a man named St. Patrick of England.

St. Patrick was a missionary to Celtic barbarians in Ireland.

And I believe this prayer represents the heart of what we’re gathered for.

What Does it Mean for God to Transform Us?

So what does it mean for God in Christ to affect, to transform, to infuse every single detail of our lives?

More specifically, how does the cross of Christ inform every single detail of your day, from the moment you set your feet on the floor out of bed in the morning to the moment you lie down and go to sleep?

That is the question we’re going to ask together and explore together over the next 6-8 weeks!

What’s the Point?

The goal here is to equip.

And that’s key.

The goal is not just for us to have a good Bible study.

If that’s our goal, then we’ve missed the whole point from the start.

The goal is for all of us to consider together how the cross of Christ affects everything we do, and then to leave this place that where we’re gathered, equipped with the Word of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, to apply the cross to every single detail of our lives, and to be able to proclaim the cross to every single person we encounter. So that’s the point.

How do I Obey the Radical Commands of Christ?

So this is the question before us: How do I obey the radical commands of Christ? So, Jesus has said to every single one of His disciples in 

Luke 9:23–24 ESV

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

, “And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.’” 

The gospel of Luke also says.

Luke 14:25–33 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

How do I not love my life even unto death? How do I do these things? So here’s the question. How do I obey the radical commands of Christ in the normal routine of everyday life?

A Gospel Foundation for Understanding Everyday Life.

We must lay A Gospel Foundation for Understanding Everyday Life.

The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian—the gospel is the whole building where all the classes take place! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel… [Nothing in the Christian life] can be rightly understood apart from God’s grace through Jesus’ death. They, and indeed all topics, should be studied through the lens of the gospel.”

The Purpose of Our Everyday Lives

Genesis 1:26–31 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

We Have Been Created to Enjoy God’s Grace

So from the start of Scripture, we see a two-fold purpose here for human life.

First, we have been created to enjoy God’s grace in a relationship with Him.

So, we can see in Genesis, God creates man and woman in His image, with a unique capacity to relate to Him, to walk with Him.

You have been created with the unique capacity and ability to know God.

And the first thing God did after He created man and woman is He blessed them.

This is the pure, unadulterated goodness of God being poured out upon His prize creation.

We Have Been Created to Exalt God’s Glory

And then He says, after He blessed them, “Now be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”

In other words, “Fill all creation with my image, with my blessing, with my goodness.”

So we have been created to enjoy God’s grace, our relationship with Him, and we’ve been created—

So this is the second part of the purpose, twofold here—

We’ve been created to exalt God’s glory to the ends of the earth.

We are to enjoy God’s grace in relationship with Him and exalt God’s glory to the ends of the earth.

These initial verses in Genesis set the stage for an entire book that is permeated by this purpose.

Don’t be pleased with what this world says satisfies you, when you’ve been created to enjoy God, for the glory of God.

It’s why John Piper said, “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

This is massive truth. And this is the purpose of your life.

So you, right where you’re sitting, here or wherever you are in the world—you have been created to enjoy God and to exalt God, and these go together.

The more you enjoy God the more you exalt God.

The more you exalt God the more you enjoy God.

Enjoyment by exaltation—this is the reason why you have breath right now, the purpose of our lives.

The Problem with Our Everyday Lives

But the problem in our everyday lives is that:

Romans 3:23 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Why is this an issue for God?

Let’s look at some descriptions of God.

God is glorious. He’s sovereign over all, a word that describes how God created all things.

God owns all things. So sovereignty means authority. God is the author of all things, which means He has authority over all things.

God is holy above all. He is holy above all. He’s unique, set apart, completely pure, completely true, completely other.

1 Samuel 2:2 ESV

2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

He’s righteous in all His ways, which means He’s right in all that He does. 

Genesis 18:25 ESV

25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Therefore, God is intolerant of sin. Holiness can’t co-exist with sin. God can’t tolerate it. 

Psalm 45:7 ESV

7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;

There is far too much shallowness and laziness among us when it comes to God’s glory and reverence to God.

You just look at our worship.

Where are the scenes of biblical worship?

They’re so radically different from contemporary worship.

Where’s Nehemiah, with the people bowing down on their faces, worshipping God?

Where’s Ezra, who cried out in worship, “O my God, I’m too ashamed and disgraced to even lift my face to you”?

In Ezra 10, people were weeping together before the Lord.

We don’t do these things today.

We clap our hands and we dance around, and it never occurs to us that God might send us away.

If you think about the seriousness of God’s holiness, His righteousness, and His wrath in Scripture, and you’ll see why they approach God with this kind of humility.

How the Cross Changed Everything

Thankfully the glory of God does not end with His wrath. For not only is He just in all His wrath, but God is loving toward all His creation.

Romans 3:23–26 ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.