WANTED: Dead AND Alive! (Part 2)

Let me say right off that the “inspiration” for the first half of this post came from author, blogger, and speaker, Frank Viola and his message “The First Relationship.”  I have never met Frank and only started reading his books and listening to his podcasts a little over a year ago, but they have had a tremendous impact on my spiritual life and my growth as a believer.  His writings and messages take the believer into a “deeper journey” into the Lord.  I can only hope and pray that some of what I do for the Kingdom, can have even a fraction of the impact, on those in my sphere of influence that he has had on me and others.  Thanks Frank!

In Part 1 of this post I covered five things that God’s Word says the believer is “dead” to.  In Part 2, I want to cover five things God’s Word says we are “alive” to.  But before I can do that, I think we first have to understand the relationship between humanity and God and to grasp that relationship we need to understand the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.  This relationship goes back to eternity past and existed before anything was ever created.  Jesus “lived” because of God the Father (John 6:57).  God the Father and God the Son had a beautiful, pure and loving relationship.  Jesus said as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you and you should love one another.  The unity and magnificence of the Godhead defies explanation.

When we look at the Genesis account of creation, we see that God wanted to expand His relationship with His Son and move it to the earthly realm and to humanity so He created Adam and placed him in the garden with the idea that Adam would participate in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and share in this wonderful divine relationship that God the Father had with God the Son and now it included mankind.  God told Adam he could enjoy any of the fruit of the trees in the garden, with the exception of the fruit from the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil.”  Unfortunately for Adam and all of humanity, Adam chose the wrong tree.  Instead of partaking from the “tree of life” he ate from the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil” and was banished from the garden and the tree of life.

But thanks be to God, that in the fullness of time (Galatians 4:4-7) the tree of life reappeared in the person of Jesus Christ the Son of God.  Jesus declared that He was the vine and we are the branches (John 15:1, 5) and those who “feed on him” will have life!  We are declared alive through Christ and God’s Word specifically tells us we are alive to five things.

1. We Are Alive To God.  Because we have the life of God we are also “alive unto God through Jesus Christ” (Romans 6:11).  Our life and our existence with God comes through Christ.  Without Christ, humans do have an “earthly” existence and are “biologically” alive, but they aren’t alive spiritually until they come to Christ.  We are alive to God because He has put His Spirit and life in us.
2. We Are Alive To Christ.  “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive!” (1 Corinthians 15:22).  We are alive to Christ, because it is Christ that lives in us and gives us our life (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4).  We are alive with Christ because of the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 2:13).
3. We Are Alive To The Spirit.  Galatians 5:25 tells us “since we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”  We are alive to the Spirit because God’s Spirit lives and dwells in us.  Since we are living by the Spirit, we should follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.  Listen to God Spirit as He directs and leads you.  Because we are alive to the Spirit, we will produce the Fruit of the Spirit.  “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples.  This brings great glory to my Father.  I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.  Remain in my love.  But I will send you the Advocate — the Spirit of truth.  He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.” (John 15:8-9, 26).  God has sent His Holy Spirit.  He dwells and is alive in those who belong to God.  Do you want to bring God great glory?  Then allow His Spirit to bear fruit in your life.
4. We Are Alive To Righteousness.  Since we have died to sin, we should now live for righteousness (1 Peter 2:24).  This righteousness isn’t something you do, but it’s what God does through Christ.  This is the condition through which we are made right with God and it come through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:21).
5. We Are Alive To Faith.  Romans 1:17 says: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.  We are alive to faith in God and that is how we live.

Just as God the Son’s life came through God the Father, our life comes through God the Son.  “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through Him.”   You and I are able to live this Christ life, not because of our strength, not by obeying hundreds of laws and commands, not because of prayer, not by reading God’s Word, and not by attending church.  All of these are good “Christian disciplines” but do nothing to bring us the “Christ life.”  We can only do that because of the power of God.  “Although he was crucified in weakness he now lives by the power of God.  We too, are weak, just as Christ was, but when we deal with you we will be alive with him and will have God’s power.” (2 Corinthians 13:4 NLT).

Are you experiencing the “Christ life?”  Is Christ everything to you?  If you aren’t, or He isn’t, He can be!

— Keith

WANTED: Dead AND Alive! (Part 1)