Crucified with Christ
By Pastor Mitch
April 30, 2021
I have been reflecting on the example of the apostle Paul in being crucified with Christ. This was one of the morning messages that Pastor preached on recently. It is indeed wonderful to see Paul being specially identified with Christ.
I am crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.” Gal. 2:20
Paul was deeply connected with our Lord Jesus. It was the Lord Jesus who revealed the gospel to him. He was called by God through His grace to reveal His Son in him (Gal. 1:15). He was called to preach the Lord Jesus to the Gentiles. However, there were those who tried to pervert the Gospel (Gal. 1:7). They spoke of how salvation comes about through works of the law. Paul strongly stood against this. Paul saw himself as being fully identified together with Christ, no longer zealous for the traditions of his fathers.
- Practical approach – Christ living in us
The effect of this full identification with Christ continued in Paul’s life. His focus was on reflecting Christ in all that he did. His identification with Christ was so deep that he had sought to set aside all that was himself and his old ways. Paul wrote of how he was dead to the law and to the things of the world. He was alive to God and living by faith in all that is of Christ. He was dead and yet alive. This was indeed a paradox of faith. We too should reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:11).
- Power of God in enabling us
It is easy to live life in the flesh. We can allow ourselves to succumb to sins and to even hypocrisy. Paul sought to never return to his old Jewish and sinful ways. His challenge was to live his life solely by means of faith in the Son of God. When we live by faith, immediately, there is that possibility of the Lord’s power working in our life. There is the grace of God and the dynamic power of God that would be available to us in living our life for Christ. Our faith is meant to be placed fully in Christ who loved us and gave His life for us.
We all know that it is not easy to be crucified with Christ in its practical terms. I think we all struggle with our old self-centred ways and our sins. And yet the challenge is to struggle on and to learn to be dead to self and to let Christ live so much more in us. Let’s learn to exercise greater faith in the Lord Jesus that He may live in us.
