This is an important question to answer, especially in a
culture here in America that seems to be distancing itself from Jesus at an ever-increasing
rate. I recently heard David Platt, pastor at McLean Bible Church in the
Washington, DC, area, address this topic, and the verse he chose I find answers
this question well. In Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul writes, “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 verse is packed with significance.
Christians are people who no longer live, but Christ lives
in them. This starkly contrasts with the culture of the current moment and its
individualistic focus. As Christians, we look at ourselves and see all that is
wrong with us. On occasion we do good, but so often we do wrong. We fall short
of where we know we should be and what we should be doing. We feel the weight
of our sin. I would venture to guess that many non-Christians feel the same. The
difference though is that Christians look to the Son of God, hanging on a cross,
and receive his death as their death. They stop trying to atone for their
transgressions on their own and surrender to Christ. That moment is a glorious
moment. In that moment, we pass from living life on our own strength to Christ
living in us and being carried day by day by him. “Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”
(2 Corinthians 5:17). With our old selves dead and Christ living in us we can
live life boldly in faith in him remembering how much Christ loved us by giving
himself up for us as is expressed in the second half of Galatians 2:20. The
implications of all of this are huge. It means we have infinite worth and
intrinsic value, relationship, no pressure, purpose and meaning, and so much
more.
We are loved by Jesus
and he laid down his life that we might live. In addition, we are told in
Genesis 1:27 that all people are made in the image of God – “So God created
mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female
he created them.” These two truths mean we have infinite worth and intrinsic
value. We don’t need to earn our worth by doing good, having successful
careers, by finding a man or woman that loves us, or by any other means for
that matter. We are freed from these chains.
In Jesus, we have relationship. Christ lives in us. He is
with us. We have a personal relationship with him. As pastor Tim Keller notes,
we are utterly alone in the world if we do not have a personal relationship
with God. This is because, at any moment, any human with which we have a close
relationship could die. Perhaps less obvious though is the fact that no other
human can perfectly love, know, and understand us. Not our parents, not our
friends, not our spouses, only God. And when we die, we go alone unless Jesus
is with us. But if we are in Jesus, not only do we have relationship with him
in an abstract sense, we have it in very concrete ways. We can talk with him
though prayer. We can read his words in the Bible.
In Jesus, the pressure is off. We don’t need to do good to
make up for all the bad we have done. Jesus already lived the perfect life and
died the perfect death for us. We have rest. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said this,
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” When
we do good, it is no longer a self-focused way of measuring up, it is Christ’s
love freely pouring through us. We can forgive those who have wronged us
because we know how much Christ has forgiven us. We can give our money freely
because we no longer need it for status or for security and we know that we
can’t take is with us when we die. As the writer of Hebrews states in 10:34, we
know that we have “better and lasting possessions” in heaven. We can do good to
all people because we know how important they are – they are made in the image
of God and Christ died for them. I love what Oswald Chambers said in regard to
the pressure being off in his devotional My Utmost for His Highest: “A
Christian is one who trusts the wits and the wisdom of God, and not his own
wits. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the
leisureliness which ought to characterize the children of God.” It’s not that
we relax and do nothing. It’s that we don’t need to be frantic in finding
purpose and figuring out what to do – God sets the course.
In Jesus, we have purpose and meaning. God indeed sets the
course. I find that this course is laid out nicely by Jesus in a few places. First,
in Matthew 22:37-40, he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Our lives should
first and foremost be an outpouring of love unto God. This goes back to having
a relationship with him. We can only truly love someone if we have a
relationship with them. God wants to know us. He wants to hear the desires of
our heart. He wants to hear about and comfort us in our troubles. He desires
relationship with us. Not only that, when a person loves someone they praise
them and thank them, which is what we should do in times of prayer. Further,
when we are in close relationship with someone (or really anyone for that
matter) and we do wrong towards that person, and any sin is a wrong towards
God, we need to apologize and ask for forgiveness. In prayer we get to turn to
God and ask for his forgiveness and trust him to give us the power to move
forward and to avoid that sin. If we love God, everything we do should be to
glorify him. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the
glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). This love relationship with God that is
backed by the foundation of Jesus’ death and resurrection then frees us and empowers
us to live out the second commandment. We are to love others as ourselves.
Second, in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Basically, we
are to tell everyone about Jesus and teach them about living in relationship
with him. In doing this though, we must remember that it is Jesus that saves,
not us. It is his power at work. All of this gives great meaning to our lives.
We are living for the glory of God and he is working through us to do good in
the world and draw more and more people to him. That is transcendent meaning!
With all this being said though, we must remember that
Christians too are sinners. While we live on the earth we will fall short of
all I have listed above. But that is precisely why we need Jesus and his
atoning death and resurrection. We look to him to perfect us. We look to him to
work in us. We look to him to make us more and more into the beautiful piece of
living art God intended us to be. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christ
died for all of us. Not because we were good, but because he loves us. Do you
want immeasurable worth and intrinsic value that is not based on your
performance? Do you want a relationship that transcends even death and lasts
forever? Do you want a life where the pressure on you is off? Do you want a
life filled with purpose and meaning? Then stop trying and surrender to Jesus.
Look to the cross and say, “That was for me.”
