Living the Crucified Life

11 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. 12 Here’s the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That’s how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that’s been pushing the old system of circumcision. 13 Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.

The key is to this is trying to not go back.

How do we keep from going back to our old way of living?

Sometimes we will find ourselves having a good day, but then something happens and we swing back out of the Tree of Life to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

ILL of someone getting you in traffic… Used to when someone would cut me off, I would be unhappy… Kathy always said, it might be a church attender you want to give the ugly face too.

Galatians 2:16 The Message

16 We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it—and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

Galatians 2:19 The Message

19 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man.

This is what we are going to talk about tonight. The tension between living in the Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.

There is a tension because we are always tempted to swing back to the wrong tree.

Tonight is deep… not because it’s confusing but because it’s incredibley impactful. It will change your life.

Look,

Galatians 2:20 NIV84

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is living the crucified life.

This is a principle in scripture where we let God live in us.

Matthew 16:21–25 NIV84

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

He introduces the concept that the people who life life to the full, something has to die. That’s hard.

v 25 - Whoever loses their life for me… will find it.

Living the Crucified Life

Now listen, if we will learn how to put to death some things in our life, there is nothing we will encounter that will cause us to swing back to the old ways.

Most of us want God to change our situations, but what He wants to do is change us.

Romans 6:6–7 NIV84

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

We have to put to death some things so that we are not slaves to it. We don’t want to be living in the wrong tree.

We need to learn to die well.

Peter got caught swinging from tree to tree. When he was hanging out with his Gentil friends, he pulled back when James’s friends showed up.

What to do we need to crucify?

1. Crucify self

Romans 6:6–7 NIV84

We have to learn to crucify ourselves.

1 Corinthians 15:31 NIV84

31 I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul knew he had to die every day. We have to choose every day to live in the tree of Life…

Pray… today, I give you my attitude. Replace my bad attitude with fruit of the Spirit. We have to put away some stuff… bad thoughts… immorality… anger…

You pray that every day because if you don’t you will grab that vine and swing back to the other tree.

John 3:30 NLT

30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Humble yourself before the Lord. We need to daily take this step…

Action Step: Humility

2. Crucify my flesh

Galatians 5:24 NIV84

24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Culture tells you to trust your passions and nature. You are what you are...

Daddy was a drunk… I guess I am a drunk...

Daddy was angry, I guess I’ll just be angry…

We can’t live by our feelings, we have to live by God’s Word.

People - we have to go with how we were made… First of all, that’s a lie that you were made that way. Live by the WOG. Live by convictions based on God’s Word.

This may sound hard, but there is freedom in it.

Joshua 24:15 NIV84

15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Action Step: choices

Make good choices. Make the next right choice.

When the devil tempts you, you get to make a choice.

3. Crucify the World

Galatians 6:14 NLT

14 As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.

You need to crucify that part of you that wants to be part of the world. Crucify the World…

You will not live in freedom if you let this culture tell you how to live. You have the Holy Spirit and the bible and when you live based on the Word of God, you will be free.

Testimony of changing friends and activities …

Paul says we need to crucify the world in us.

Back when I got saved, it was a radical time. People would burn their secular albums… etc. We wanted to break with the world.

You need to break with the culture of today. You don’t need to know all the sin going on in the world to know there is too much sin in our world.

I don’t know where the line is for you, but there better be a line. It may be different for each of us, but there better be a line.

Look…

2 Corinthians 6:17–18 NLT

17 Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. 18 And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

Action Step: seperation

Humility … Choices… Separation

Prayer - HS what are you saying to me? What are you trying to tell me? Imagine how much better your life will be if you live according to GW… how much better it would be if you broke with the culture?

Raise your hand if you want to go all in with God.

Jesus forgive me, I have been living my life my way. Forgive me. I give you my life.