A life with Christ

 Colossians 3:1-4

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

If you have risen with Christ, many of us have no understanding what took place when we, by faith asked Jesus Christ into our lives?  So let’s do what Jesus did; Father guide us into your truth, teach us through your Word and give us understanding, and we ask all of this in the authority of our Lord, Amen.

We must begin with our new life in Christ, and how one enters into that life, and we find the answer in Romans 10:9. “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Without that first step all that follows is of no value to you, so stop reading till you are without any doubt that you have entered into a relationship with the living Christ.

In the letter to the church at Galatia, the apostle Paul gives this insight to being raised with Christ, found in chapter 2, verse 20.  “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Now words mean things, and yet we know that many have put a spin on words to make them say what they desire.  So let’s define the word “Crucified” my version, someone died!  Now let’s examine, “the punishment of Roman crucifixion was chiefly inflicted on slaves and the worst kind of criminals. Crucifixion was considered a most shameful and disgraceful way to die and condemned Roman citizens were usually exempt from crucifixion. The manner and process of crucifixion were that the criminal after sentence had been pronounced carried his cross to the place of execution, which was outside the city. The practice of scourging appears to have formed a part of this, as with of other capital punishments among the Romans. The Romans used a whip for scourging called a flagrum, which consisted of small pieces of bone and metal attached to a number of leather strands. The skin of the back was ripped to the bone from scourging. The criminal was next stripped of his clothes and nailed or bound to the cross.”  Bill Gillham often would say this is key – “It is from the perspective of who you are “in Christ” that you understand your true identity and realize that Christ is your life.” 

If, and there has never been a bigger “If”; “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice