What Are You Living For and What is the Evidence?
Notes
Transcript
There’s an old song from the 80’s: Everybody’s workin for the weekend. You can tell that they are working for the weekend based on what they’re talking about, what they spend their money on, and what they spend their time doing.
A person’s purpose in living is generally guided by what or who they are living for. You can tell how a person spends their time and money to determine what exactly
Not long ago, I heard a question posed that has stuck in my mind ever since then. “What are you living for?” Such a question points to a person’s priorities. But the follow-up question is almost just as important. “What is the evidence of what you’re living for?”
As I pondered this question I couldn’t help but think about Galatians 2:20. Let’s stand together this morning as I read this verse.
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you live for him
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you live for him
For those who have been saved, as Paul was, to be crucified with Christ carries several things with it.
We share in the benefits of the crucifixion. Our sins have been atoned for. The free gift of salvation has been granted because of our belief.
We share in the fellowship of those who have also believed.
We die to the world. We will cover this a bit more shortly.
The overwhelming point that needs to be made here is that we live for the Lord because He saved us. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event in all of human history. It is because God the Son died for our sins that we live for Him.
So then, what sort of evidence is there in our lives that we are living for the Lord. The remaining four points recognize that we are living for Him and show the world that fact.
Next,
Because you have been crucified with Christ, He lives in you
Because you have been crucified with Christ, He lives in you
This mainly highlights the sort of life that we are called to live as people who look like Christ.
In Colossians 1:22, because we have been reconciled, we are called to live holy lives.
he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
Matthew 22:37-40 reminds us that we should love God first and then love our neighbors as ourselves.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
The indwelling of the Holy Spirit means that we will possess the fruit of that same spirit found in Galatians 5:22-24.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
These are just a few examples of the evidence of Christ now living within us and guiding our actions.
The crucifixion is the vital piece to this puzzle. As John Calvin put it “As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us.”
The effect on our lives is the evidence but that sacrifice on the cross has no effect on us if we don’t first commit to live for him.
But will we live in a perfect way? Of course not but it is important to remember.
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you no longer live according to your flesh
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you no longer live according to your flesh
Not only will we live with Christ in us, there will be a discernable difference in the way that we live in comparison to how we previously lived. The fleshly desires we once had will be put at bay. There will still be difficulty, no doubt. While we still live in the flesh, that is our bodies which are prone to sin, we want to do what is better.
Paul expresses this tension in Romans 7:15.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
The comparison and self-control that we now live with is evidence of the change that has taken place in our lives. Because we live, crucified with him, the evidence of the effect of the crucifixion is seen by all who look on.
We need to look more closely then at how a person can live according to the Lord. Next,
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you now live by faith
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you now live by faith
Habakkuk 2:4 is referenced in the New Testament twice because of the emphasis on living by faith. It is the righteous, who live by faith in the Lord, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This point is simple. Do you live your life with a conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord over all, most notably your life? The evidence should be that you firmly hold the belief that Christ died for your sins, and as we sang this morning, you owe Him your everything!
Finally,
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you now live as a person loved by a good and just God
Because you have been crucified with Christ, you now live as a person loved by a good and just God
Because we are loved by the Lord, this means two things.
First, that we will obey His commandments and follow His will. Our devotion will be seen by many, both those who believe and admire, as well as those who don’t believe and scoff at what seems to them to be foolishness.
Second, we will love the world and the lost and desire to share with them what the Lord can do for their own lives.
As we respond this morning, I simply want to as
“What are you living for?” and
“Is your live evidenced by your living for the Lord?”
