Crucified Life

By Watchman Nee

You believe in the death of the Lord Jesus and you believe in the death of the thieves with Him. Now what about your own death? Your crucifixion is more intimate than theirs. They were crucified at the same time as the Lord but on different crosses, whereas you were crucified on the selfsame cross as He, for you were in Him when He died. How can you know? You can know for the one sufficient reason that God said so. It does not depend on your feelings. If you feel that Christ has died, He has died; and if you do not feel that He has died, He had died. If you feel that you have died, you have died; and if you do not feel that you have died, you have nevertheless just as surely died. These are divine facts. That Christ has died is a fact, that the two thieves have died is a fact, and that you have died is a fact also. Let me tell you, You have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross of Christ. And "he that is dead is freed from sin" (Romans 6:7 Amplified). This is the Gospel for Christians.

Our crucifixion can never be made effective by will or by effort, but only by accepting what the Lord Jesus did on the Cross. Our eyes must be opened to see the finished work of Calvary. Some of you, prior to your salvation, may have tried to save yourselves. You read the Bible, prayed, went to church, gave alms. Then one day your eyes were opened and you saw that a full salvation had already been provided for you on the Cross. You just accepted that and thanked God, and peace and joy flowed into your heart. And now the good news is that sanctification is made possible for you on exactly the same basis as that initial salvation. You are offered deliverance from sin as no less a gift of God's grace than was the forgiveness of sins.

For God's way of deliverance is altogether different from man's way. Man's way is to try to suppress sin by seeking to overcome it; God's way is to remove the sinner. Many Christians mourn over their weakness, thinking that if only they were stronger all would be well. . . If we are preoccupied with the power of sin and with our inability to meet it, then we naturally conclude that to gain the victory over sin we must have more power.

But this is altogether a fallacy; it is not Christianity. God's means of delivering us from sin is not by making us stronger and stronger, but by making us weaker and weaker. That is surely rather a peculiar way of victory, you say; but it is the divine way. God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything, but by removing him from the scene of action.

For years, maybe, you have tried fruitlessly to exercise control over yourself, and perhaps this is still your experience; but when once you see the truth you will recognize that you are indeed powerless to do anything, but that in setting you aside altogether God has done it all. Such discovery brings human striving and self-effort to an end (The Normal Christian Life, pp. 35-37).

The Standard

Written by Curt Klingerman

For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise (2 Corinthians 10:12).

If we live by our own standard and become dependant upon it, we will fail to depend upon grace, and lose sight of its purpose. As we consider The Standard, we will discover that it is impossible for us to live at that level by our own strength and abilities. Hence, the purpose of grace: the favor and ability to be who God destined us to be and to do what He asks of us. Consider this: living by our own standards is an act of the flesh, especially if we are trying to be that standard. This is also known as self-righteousness. Therefore, it does not honor God; it glorifies the flesh, and nullifies the Word of God (see Mark 7:9). With self-righteousness comes the tendency to compare others to ourselves, which is not a wise thing to do. This in turn leads to self-justification and ultimately self-deception. Face it; there is something about feeling “holier than thou.” If we are the ones setting the standard, then Jesus is not our Lord. He must increase and we must decrease!

Having mentors is a good thing; however, if we elevate them to a level they do not belong, they will become the standard by which we live, instead of the Lord. We are to be conformed to the image of Jesus; not mentors. While those who teach others should be examples of what it means to follow Jesus, the goal is to follow Jesus and be His disciple. It is easy to mimic mentors to the point of losing one’s own identity in Christ Jesus and miss having one’s own experiences with the Father. The danger lies in being so dependent on them that a person does not trust that the Holy Spirit himself can lead him. This is something that mentors must guard against by always pointing to Jesus.

We are to be disciples of Jesus Christ; therefore, the object of the game is to get disciples dependent on the Lord. He must be The Standard for their lives, so they can reach their full potential by His grace.

Working on behalf of the weak

All of us as humans in this world have certain motivations, drives, ambitions behind all the efforts we put into succeeding in our careers. Some people are driven by self-centered ambition to amass wealth, some by desire for worldly pleasure, or fame, and some by the desire to influence power over others.

However, a sincere study of the way of life and teachings of Jesus and the Apostles of the early church will always reveal a clear truth – It is impossible to follow Jesus without denying self. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me (Luke 9:23), and any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:33).”

This means in essence that the moment we decided to follow Jesus, we gave up our rights to do whatever we wish, to spend the money we have the way we like; we became His properties, our lives, everything we had or have or will ever have belongs to Him. And it also means that the motivation behind everything that we do from that point onwards as followers of Christ should no longer be about ourselves but Him, and consequently about others, because we can’t say we love Him, if we don’t love our neighbor (1 John 3:17). The motivation behind our daily work, the reason we wake up and go to work, shouldn’t be about selfish ambition anymore but about a godly ambition to serve our Lord and to seek the expansion of His Kingdom. The scriptures clearly indicate that SELFISH AMBITION IS A WORK OF THE SINFUL NATURE and those who continuously live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21). Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Philippian church, “DON'T DO ANYTHING FROM SELFISH AMBITION or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. And look out for one another's interests, not just for your own (Philippians 2:3-4).

In line with this, Paul spoke these last words to the Elders of the Ephesian church when he was about to depart from them: “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. In everything I've done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to WORK ON BEHALF OF THE WEAK and not exploit them. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE’” (Act 20:33-35). Instead of taking advantage of the feeble ones or trampling over them to get ahead, Paul labored diligently on their behalf, to support them and meet their needs. It is also important to note that he didn’t just give them a few leftovers that fell off his table; he actually worked on their behalf in selflessness.

So, wherever the Lord has placed you, whether as a banker, lawyer, teacher, doctor, engineer, businessman, politician, etc. do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ (Col 3:23-24).” And as the Lord blesses your work, remember you are not your own, and that your possessions belong to Him; you are a treasurer for God, receiving directives for the allocation of the resources He has entrusted in your hands, to provide for the need of your household and relatives (1 Tim. 5:8), to fund the work He is doing on the face of the earth such as missions, to support the weak, and provide for the poor. Let us therefore live with this godly ambition to be instruments in the hands of God and to be blessings to others.

THE KEY TO RIGHTEOUS LIVING

Written by Curt Klingerman

1 Peter 2:24 Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by Whose stripes ye were healed.

We have been told that we are to live righteously (see also Titus 2:11-13), but in the process of trying to live that out, a number of us struggle at it. Instead of walking in the freedom of faith, they walk in bondage to religious codes or give up altogether. It is not that they do not want to live righteously; the problem lies in the how-to. Meaning, how do we live righteously? What does that look like, exactly? Before going any farther, we have to grasp the concept that it is the righteousness of Jesus that we depend on, and not our own. 2Corinthians 5:21 For He hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. While we rest in Him, where do we go from there?

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end He may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Love is a major key to righteous living, and we would be incapable without it. It begins with God's love, since it was for love He sent Jesus (see John 3:16). Jesus laid His life down because He loves the Father and us. Righteousness requires faith, but faith works by love (see Romans 3:20-31; Galatians 5:6). Romans 13:8-10 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

When we love others, our only intention is to do good unto them while pleasing the Father. Love is pure with no hidden agendas attached. It is incapable of malice or greed, and is the polar opposite of self-centeredness (see 1Corinthisans 13:1-13). When we love others, it is our joy to bless them solely for their benefit. That means when we walk in love, we will not even consider doing anything that will hurt another. It makes living righteously a joy as well because it blesses and pleases the Lord. Love keeps our focus on righteousness and true holiness. By His very nature, God is righteous, and we know He is Love (1John 4:16). Since we are made in His image, our design is to be love as well. As we submit to the nature of God, we will live righteously for love's sake. "Like Father, like son or daughter."