As I look out at the crowd this morning, I wonder where you all have been.
I hope you had a happy holiday season. I know that some of our families were traveling both of those weekends, and of course the students who come are at home normally during those times.
So we're glad that you're back today. For some of you, this almost seems like another chapel service, I fear.
And we don't want it to be that. I hope you look around and notice that not everybody here is a student.
So this is not a chapel service, this is a worship service, and we're glad that you're here.
And I hope that you want to invite others to come. Now we have plenty of room to bring our guests, invite them to be here with us in our worship on Sunday morning.
We have not only the carousel open back here on my left, we have another one we can open on the right to provide another, I think, 100 seats or perhaps more than that.
And so, or maybe 200 seats, I believe it is. And so we're thrilled with what God has provided for us and what we're able to do here.
One thing that is not exactly to my liking, but there's not a whole lot we can do about it, is that there seems to be a great gulf fix between you and me.
I'm not sure which side you're on or which side I'm on in that great gulf, but one of these days maybe we'll get out there a little farther to be closer.
In the meantime, would you take your Bible please and turn with me to Colossians chapter 3 as we look at two verses which will point us to our theme for this morning.
I want to talk today about Christ, our life.
While you're turning there, may I encourage you, if you are interested in some of the basic doctrinal beliefs of our church, to join us next Sunday morning at 9.15 here in the auditorium.
We have a very fine group of 60 or 65 today as we studied what we believe about the Bible.
We cover a lot of territory in a hurry, but it's a good time, a good time of interaction and sharing.
If you'd like to be a part of that, you're welcome to next Sunday. It's an eight week series.
It's not our purpose at all to take away from the small churches.
Only if you are unfamiliar with some of the basic doctrines should you plan to come out of the small church to what we're doing here.
If you're new in the church, you may want to come to find out what we believe.
If you're visiting and want to know where we are as a church, doctrinally, that's a good place to find out.
Join us next Sunday morning at 9.15.
Colossians 3 verses 3 and 4 says,
For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Let's bow together in prayer.
It's been several weeks since we've used our prayer course.
Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see Jesus.
Would you sing that with me without accompaniment?
Let's ask the Lord Jesus to open our eyes that we might see him today in the Word.
Open our eyes, Lord.
We want to see Jesus.
To reach out and touch him.
And say that we love him.
Open our ears, Lord.
And help us to listen.
Open our eyes, Lord.
We want to see Jesus.
Father, that is our prayer. That is our desire.
We know that we can count upon you to answer that, for that is your will for us.
Thank you. Amen.
I was struck this morning in the reading that we began the service with
to notice these words. I desire that I may feel no sense of possessing anything outside of thee.
I want constantly to be aware of thy overshadowing presence and to hear thy voice.
I believe that we read those words meaning them.
But do you feel that those words describe where you are now spiritually?
Do you have a sense of possessing Jesus only?
Do you go through the day with an overwhelming sense of his blessed presence?
There are many who are discouraged with a Christian life.
And sometimes we hear statements like, well I tried Christianity and it didn't work for me.
Others say, I've attempted to live for God, but somehow I can't seem to pull off.
Others say, I sincerely want to live the Christian life, but somehow I can't quite find out how to do it.
There are some people who are greatly discouraged this morning in this matter of being a Christian.
I believe statements such as those that I have suggested reveal an essential misunderstanding
about the true nature of the Christian faith.
Because you see, Christianity is not just a way of life.
It is not merely an ethic.
It is not just another religion.
But biblical Christianity is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
And the Christian life then is not attempting to do something for God.
It is not trying to live up to a certain set of rules.
It is not trying to be like Jesus.
Rather the Christian life is developing a personal communion with the living God himself through his Son.
And then trusting him for the outflow of his life and his power day by day.
Major Ian Thomas in his book entitled The Saving Life of Christ said,
There is something which makes Christianity more than a religion, more than an ethic,
more than the idle dream of the sentimental idealist.
It is this something which makes it relevant to each one of us right now as a contemporary experience.
It is the fact that Christ himself is the very life content of the Christian faith.
It is he who makes it tick.
It is he himself who is the very dynamic of all he demands.
Dear people, I believe that so many Christians miss that point.
They see the demands, they see the standards of the Christian faith,
and they think that somehow now God expects me as a Christian to live up to that standard in my own power.
But that is not what God expects.
You see, Christianity is Christ living in us.
One of the concerns I have for the Evangelical Bible teaching church
is that we tend to become like seminaries,
training people to be theologians so that they will know about God.
But somehow we miss maturing people in their knowledge of God himself.
We are a Bible teaching church, and I believe that a true church is a Bible teaching church.
But my friend, a growing knowledge of the Bible is not an end in itself.
The reason that we grow in the knowledge of the Word of God is so that we can come to a deepening intimacy
with our personal Savior, Jesus Christ.
Somehow a lot of us have not yet put that together.
We read in Colossians that Jesus Christ is the life of his people.
I'm thinking of that truth in three respects.
In the first place, Jesus Christ is the source of life.
We see that in Colossians 3, verse 3, where it says,
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Jesus Christ is the very source of life itself.
In passing, I want to say he is the source of life in a physical sense.
We see that emphasized back in chapter 1 of Colossians, verse 15,
where it says in this marvelous Christological passage,
And he is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
That does not mean he was the first thing created.
The title firstborn is a technical title of preeminence.
It is the one who is above and before and ahead of all others.
He is the preeminent one of creation, is the thought there.
Then verse 16 says, For by him, Jesus Christ, all things were created,
both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,
all things have been created by him and for him.
He is the means by which God created everything that is.
He is the source of life.
We read back in Genesis chapter 1 that God created living creatures on the earth,
beginning with the fifth day.
On the sixth day, he came to the crowning of his creation with man.
And God breathed into that body he created, his own breath, and man became a living soul.
Life is not of spontaneous generation, but life is of special creation.
And Jesus Christ is the creator of it.
Our breath, our personhood comes from him, our creator.
Now the implications of this in our society are enormous.
It means that every person is eternally significant.
When we hear so much these days about the masses,
let us remember that the masses, the multitudes, are comprised of individuals
who are specially designed people by their creator.
It means that every life has worth and value and significance.
Even if there is deformity, even if there is handicap,
every life has value and worth before God because he is the giver and the creator of life.
I remember as a student in Chicago walking to my employment several times a week,
and on a number of occasions seeing a woman whose form broke my heart.
She was bent all the way over, unable to stand up straight,
dressed in normally very drab clothing, often black clothing.
Her graying, dirty hair dragged in the street as she walked along and was matted with the filth of the sidewalk.
When she came down the street, people took steps out of her way.
But I want you to know that that woman, whoever she was,
whatever caused her condition, had value and worth in the sight of God.
And I want to say to you that baby Jane Doe back in New York is not an accident either.
That little baby has worth and value in the sight of God.
It is not man's prerogative to take life.
That is why we are so opposed to abortion on demand.
That is why as we begin to study genetic engineering, we will see that that is beyond man's prerogative.
Our creator is the one who gives life.
He is the source of it in a physical sense.
But I want to go on to say that he is also the source of it in a spiritual sense.
For there is no spiritual reality or life apart from Jesus Christ.
In Colossians 2, verse 10, it says that in him, in Christ,
you have been made complete, and he is the head over all rule and authority.
And in him, it says, you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.
Verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism,
you were in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.
Verse 13, and when you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he made you alive together with him.
Verse 20, if you have died with Christ, chapter 3, verse 1,
if then you have been raised up with Christ,
and then in verses 3 and 4, hidden with Christ, revealed with him.
Do you see how inseparable spiritual reality and life are between Jesus Christ and the believer?
Life is in him. Reality is in him.
The reason that we have eternal life as children of God is because when we place our faith in Christ and receive him as Savior,
at that moment we are identified with him in his death, and we die with him.
We talked about this in Romans, chapter 6 and 7.
We died with him, and we were circumcised as it were.
The flesh, the old nature was cut away. What we were in Adam is no longer.
We died with Christ, identified with him in crucifixion.
What we were, we are no longer. We can be no longer.
Warren Worsby tells the story of two sisters who before their conversion loved to go to wild parties,
and dancing was their first love.
But then they both got saved on the same evening.
And after that event they were invited to such a party as they had enjoyed before.
And on the RSVP they sent these words,
We regret we cannot attend because we recently died.
That's the point. When we trust Jesus Christ we died what we were.
But at that very same instant we are raised with him.
We are identified with him in the power of his resurrection.
So that not only are we not what we were, but we are what we were not.
We are new creatures in Jesus Christ.
And he tells us in verse 3 that that new life that we have is hidden with Christ in God.
That's a great thought, hidden with Christ in God.
A couple of ideas woven together there I think.
One is the idea of secrecy, hidden with Christ in God.
You see the Christian's life has a source that is hidden from the world.
The world does not know it.
The world cannot understand it.
It cannot grasp it because it's hidden to them.
It is spiritual.
But there's a second idea here and that is the idea of security.
He says that our life is hidden with Christ.
Now can you think of a more secure place to be than to be with Christ?
Disciples were in that boat on the Sea of Galilee when the storm came up.
And were frightened, but they need not be.
Jesus rebuked them for their little faith.
Why? Because he was in the boat. They were secure. They were safe.
My friend, as a Christian, your life is hidden with Christ. He protects you.
It is his power that keeps you secure in himself.
But not only that, he says we are hidden with Christ in God.
You see there is a double security here.
A double lock, as it were, on the door.
He says we are with Christ in God.
The same idea is found in John chapter 10 where Jesus says regarding his sheep,
no one is able to snatch them out of my hand. We're in his hand.
And then he goes on to say no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.
The idea is that we are both, Jesus and myself, in the Father's hand.
A double security.
See the source of your spiritual life today?
You will not find life and reality anywhere else.
You may find religion in the church.
You may find a certain sense of self-satisfaction in ritual and sacraments.
You may feel good about baptism or about your self-denial.
You may even boast in your good works, but my friend, none of that,
none of it will bring you life.
None of it can cause you to be forgiven of sins and to die to it
and to be raised in eternal life with Jesus Christ.
Not the church, not ritual, not sacraments, not baptism, not good works, none of it.
It is only as we come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ
that life is imparted to us, so that Jesus himself begins to give us life as he lives in us.
Major Daniel Webster Whittle was a man used of God in the last century
to bring many people to Jesus Christ.
He fought in the Civil War on the side of the North,
was in Sherman's March to the Sea, when the close of the war came,
he was breveted a major and carried that title then to the rest of his life.
After the war, he went back to work as a part of the origin watch company in Chicago,
but in 1873, Evangelist D.L. Moody influenced him to enter full-time evangelistic work, and he did so.
The last major emphasis of his ministry was to work with the soldiers in the Spanish-American War,
and it was there ministering to those soldiers that Major D.W. Whittle wore himself out in the service of Jesus Christ.
But we know him better than as an evangelist, as a songwriter.
He wrote the words to moment by moment, the crowning day is coming, I know whom I have believed, showers of blessing.
Some of the songs he wrote he wrote under a pseudonym, a pen name, L. Nathan.
And one of those hymn texts was Christ liveth in me.
I think the words are so significant in relation to what we are talking about.
He says, Once far from God and dead in sin, no light my heart could see, but in God's word the light I found, now Christ liveth in me.
And the refrain goes, Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me.
Oh, what a salvation this, that Christ liveth in me.
My friend, that is the difference between biblical Christianity and its many counterfeits.
It is that Jesus Christ is its life source.
It is Jesus Christ living in the believer.
There is a second idea that we want to look at, found in our text in Colossians 3.
And that is the fact that not only is Jesus Christ the source of life, but he is the center of life.
He is not only the fount or the origin of life, but he is the focus of it, he is the heart of it.
As the hub is to the wheel, so is Christ to the life.
That is why the Apostle Paul testifies in Philippians 1.21, For to me to live is Christ.
In that text he did not just mean that he got eternal life from Christ,
but he is saying to me the very idea of life, the very living out of my life is Jesus Christ.
He gives it purpose, he gives it meaning.
In Galatians 2.20 he says it a little differently.
He says, For I have been crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
And the life which I now live by faith in the Son of God,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Do you know the thing that gripped Paul's heart?
It was that Jesus Christ so loved him that he had given his life for him at the cross.
Now Paul says every day, my life is his life.
I live my life in faith in him who loved me and gave himself for me.
He is eternally grateful and committed to the person of Jesus Christ.
And I say to you that very many of us understand the first point I talked about today,
but there are probably few of us who can enter into the truth of this second point,
that Jesus Christ is to be the center of life.
Is Christ the center of your life?
If so, may I ask you how much time you spent with him last week?
How often did you open up his book written to you and read these words and converse with him in prayer?
In the course of your average day there in the office or driving your truck or taking care of your children
or taking down dictations, typing letters, whatever you do,
in the course of your average day, how often do you consciously think of Jesus Christ?
Before making a decision, even little decisions, do you ask him what his will is?
Is he the focus of your life so that when you face some matter of decision,
your first thought is, Lord, what would you have me to do?
Lord, how should I face this situation?
Lord, what is the purpose in what I'm going through?
Lord, give me the faith to trust you today in this difficulty.
God, I don't understand this heartbreak that I accept from you.
Now, Lord, show me your hand in it.
Is that the way you live?
For so many of us it's not, is it?
Not that we wouldn't like to live that way.
Not that we don't know that that's the way it should be, but when we come right down to it,
Jesus Christ is not the center of our lives.
You see, the great enemy of the Christ-centered life is the self-centered life.
We live in an age that is absolutely wrapped up with itself.
It is a narcissistic age, an age that is ingrown, an age that talks about self-help,
self-realization, self-actualization, self-respect, self-assurance, self-fulfillment, self-love.
That's our age.
And that flows over into us, doesn't it?
Until while we talk about a Christian life and we say Jesus Christ is Lord, in truth, he is not.
We ask Jesus to help us.
We ask Jesus to bless us.
And yet, self-interests dictate what we do and how we live.
And we call that the Christian life, asking God to bless what we want.
It is no wonder there are so many of us discouraged with this thing called the Christian life.
The fact is we don't even know what the Christian life is.
The Apostle Paul says, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, what a statement.
Literally he says, Christ, the life of us.
But if many of us were honest today, we would have to say that rather than Christ truly being our life,
work is, or money is, or some relationship is.
And we are often facing temptation. Do you consider how that deed would affect Jesus Christ?
As you seek guidance in your life, is your first thought to look at the compass in Jesus Christ?
Or do you begin to think, well, now, how much money am I going to make in this?
Where will I have to live? And on and on it goes.
And then somewhere down the line they say, oh yeah, Lord, what do you think about it?
That's not the Christian life.
You see, if Jesus Christ is truly the center of our lives, it means that whatever comes to us
will immediately prompt in us our looking to him, Lord, what shall I do?
And when we talk about the center of the life, we're talking about where the power comes from too.
Because you see, the center of life is by nature the power source of it.
If myself is the center of my life, then myself will be the power source.
And how quickly that runs out.
Is Jesus Christ the power source of your life?
Are you trying to live the Christian life and saying, God, now bless me as I try to live the Christian life?
No, my friend, that doesn't make it.
Rather we ought to say, Lord, you are my life.
And I give myself to you, I yield myself to you, now live your life through me.
That's the Christian life.
That's where so many of us, including myself, have so much to learn.
The secret of it is abiding in the vine.
As Jesus said, I'm the vine, you're the branches.
But a marvelous illustration that is as to how we are to appropriate his life.
How his life is to flow through us to produce the fruit, the growth.
I don't know about you, but as I talk about this, I get to feeling uncomfortable inside.
And I realize how far short I am of a truly Christ-centered life.
We need to go back to the words that we read as we began the service.
And say them again in our hearts.
We need to pray as did someone, Lord, bend that proud and stiff-necked eye.
Help me to bow the head and die, beholding him on Calvary who bowed his head and died for me.
It is that proud and stiff-necked eye.
It is the interest of self that preclude the outflowing of the true Christian life.
My friend, he is the consummation of our lives as well.
When he appears, we're going to appear with him in glory.
The sufferings we go through now are not even worthy to be compared with what's coming at the consummation of it all.
Now we walk with him by faith, on that day it will be by sight.
Now we see through glass darkly then face to face.
And when that day comes, how glad we will be that while we were still in this world, in this life,
we made Jesus Christ truly the focus, the center of it.
Let's bow together in prayer.
None of us has arrived.
Even the Apostle Paul said, not that I've arrived, but I press on toward the mark.
My friend, there may be some of us today who are struggling so desperately with self.
And we are miserable and frustrated Christians.
And we say, somehow the Christian life isn't working for me.
You know why? Because it's not the Christian life you're experiencing.
It's the self-life.
What you need to do is to die.
To deny self that place of sovereignty that it demands.
And to give that place to Jesus Christ.
Vance Havner said, what we need to do is to stop carrying buckets of water and let the river carry us.
Some of us have been busy carrying buckets of water, trying to do the right thing.
Live the Christian life. Please God.
And it's all been in the flesh.
What we need today is to say, Lord, pick me up and carry me along in the river.
Father in heaven, I pray today that Jesus Christ will be the source of life to that one who's never trusted him.
That today there will be someone here who would for the first time believe what Jesus said.
When he said, he that believes on me shall have everlasting life.
Help someone here today, Father, to see Christ clearly as his Savior, to trust him for salvation.
But Father, across this auditorium, in the hearts of your children, in my heart,
I pray that you will do a work of cleansing us of the self-life, of self-centeredness, of selfishness.
And claim the throne of our lives for yourself.
You be the king. You be the sovereign.
Father, I pray that some frustrated, discouraged Christians here today will give it up to you.
And instead of trying to live for you, they will heal themselves up in rust, in faith,
and allow you to live your life through them.
And with our heads bowed, I wonder if there is a Christian here today who would honestly say,
Pastor Call, that's me. I am a self-centered Christian. I am miserable.
I don't want to be self-centered, but that is the way I've lived.
Today I want you to pray for me. Pray that God will help me to understand,
will give me enlightenment as to what the real Christian life is.
I want Jesus Christ to be on the throne of my life today. Pray for me.
Would you lift your hand and then put it down? I'm not going to point you out or embarrass you.
There are far too many of us for that. Of course. Would you lift your hand?
God bless you, many of you. Others?
Now Father, you've seen these hands. You know our hearts seal, I pray, this decision.
And move us along in our understanding of what it is to live,
depending upon the power source who lives in us, Jesus Christ.
And I pray this in His name, Amen.