How Jesus Will Live His Amazing Supernatural Life Through You!

Transcription

1 How Jesus Will Live His Amazing Supernatural Life Through You!

2 The Great Put On by Wes Neal Copyright by Wes Neal, All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America.

3 YOUR SUPERNATURAL LIFE The Lord Jesus Christ claims the use of your body, your whole being, your complete personality...so that every step you take, every word you speak, everything you do, everything you are, may be an expression of the Son of God living in you. Major Ian Thomas ( ) Christian evangelical writer, theological teacher and founder of the Torchbearers Bible Schools. This quote is from his book, THE INDWELLING LIFE OF CHRIST: ALL OF HIM IN ALL OF ME. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

4 A FANTASY INDWELLING Several years ago, along with my teammates on the Athletes in Action weightlifting team (a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ, now called Cru), I watched Paul Anderson, the world s strongest man, approach the squat rack in his home gym. A lifting bar resting on the rack in front of him, bowed in the middle with over 300 pounds loaded on each end for a total in excess of 600 pounds, the weight of an average sized grand piano. Anderson positioned himself under the imposing bar. Then, standing with the immense weight resting on his shoulders behind his neck, he took a couple of steps forward. And, in front of our widened eyes he ripped off ten seemingly easy repetitions in the squat, or deep knee bend, as the lift is also called.

5 Later, I wondered what it would be like if, somehow, the pound Paul Anderson could morph into my pound body. Imagine, the world s strongest man living in me. My life would be forever changed! A REAL INDWELLING Now, let s go from a fantasy indwelling that could never happen to a realistic, and far more amazing, indwelling that does happen. Living in every true Christ-Follower, or Christian, is the Spirit of Someone far more powerful than the world s strongest man. The apostle Paul wrote to Christ-Followers then, and today: You, however, are not in the flesh but in the [HOLY] SPIRIT, if in fact the SPIRIT OF GOD dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the SPIRIT OF CHRIST does not belong to him (Romans 8:9...bracketed word Holy is added for clarity). Here, Paul implies that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ are all in union with each other. However, the bottom line is that when we have the Holy Spirit in us, we have the Spirit of Christ in us. That s what Jesus also was telling His first disciples when He said, In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you (John 14:20). 5

6 A PURPOSEFUL DAILY TREASURE HUNT Paul also tells us one of the main reasons for the Spirit of Jesus living in us: For we are his workmanship, CREATED IN CHRIST JESUS for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). The phrase, created in Christ Jesus, describes our oneness in Jesus Him in us and us in Him (John 14:20). In addition, when Jesus compared His living in us to a grapevine living through its branches to produce grapes (John 15:1-7), He made it clear He wants to live through us, His followers, to produce the works of His Father. So, with Jesus living IN us, and using our body and mind to live THROUGH us, each day can be like a treasure hunt as we look for, and walk in, the good works that God has prepared beforehand. A DISCONNECT Sadly though, for many of us Christians, there is no adventure of daily treasure hunts. Why? Because there is a disconnect between the Spirit of Jesus living IN us, and our experiencing Him living THROUGH us. In fact, several national surveys tell us that, in today s world, there is

7 not a noticeable difference in the lifestyles of many born again and Spirit-filled Christians (regarding anger, verbal abuse, lying, pornography, etc.) and people who do not have faith in Jesus. Clearly, it is one thing to know that the Spirit of Christ is in us. Yet, it is another thing to tap into Him to experience Him living through us. I believe the problem many of us have is similar to the problem a Texas sheep rancher once had. THE PLIGHT OF IRA YATES In the 1920s, Ira Yates owned several thousand acres in west Texas on which he was trying to raise sheep. However, the ground was so parched he could barely grow weeds, let alone a covering of good grazing grass. To make matters worse, the rancher s financial resources were drying up. So, in an attempt to bring in money, Yates asked one of the top executives of an oil company to test drill for oil on his land. Although, at first, the executive was hesitant to drill, he finally consented and gave his drillers the go ahead. On the fourth attempt, the company struck a gusher that turned out to be the biggest

8 oil find in Texas history. One night, Ira Yates went to bed with little hope of paying all of his mounting bills. The next night he went to bed as a full-blown multi-millionaire. Now, here is what s sad. For all the time that Yates lived on his land in poverty, he had all the wealth he would need. He just didn t know it. Even more sad, Yates s dilemma describes many of us Christians today. Although we have the power and wealth of Jesus in us--his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)--for one reason or another, we live by our own self-effort, without fully tapping into the Jesus in us. A MISUNDERSTANDING For many years, as a sincere Christian, that was my problem. I loved teaching about Jesus, and encouraging coaches, athletes and business people to apply His principles to their lives on their journey with Him. I had even written books about Jesus. And, I frequently asked, What would Jesus do? Then, after asking that question, I would rely on the Holy Spirit to help me do what I thought Jesus would do. After all, it was Jesus who called the Holy Spirit our Helper: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever (John 14:16).

9 During those years, I was living what I thought was the normal Christian life. Try to do what Jesus would do, and rely on the Holy Spirit to help me. Yet, compared t0 Jesus fleshing out His life through me, in my complacency, I was like a car with engine trouble. I just didn t know it. Later, God taught me that I had misunderstood the role of the Helper in my life. I was wrong in assuming the Helper was in me to help me do what Jesus would do. Let me explain. OUR HELPER S SURPRISING ROLE In some translations of the Bible, instead of the word helper in Jesus promise, the word is comforter, or advocate. However, in all the translations, the Greek word from which these other words are translated is parakletos. So, what is a parakletos? According to the highly respected THAYER S GREEK LEXICON, in a legal system, the parakletos is a lawyer who comes to the aid of a person. But, here s the twist, and it was a life-changer for me. The parakletos comes to the aid of his client, not to give good advice so that his client can present his own case. The parakletos helps his client by taking the client s place, and presenting

10 the case himself. In other words, the parakletos helps by speaking and acting for his client. Of course, for this arrangement to work, the client must yield his will to the parakletos, and rely on him. Then, the parakletos does all the work. Now, here is where God turned on the light for me. Our parakletos, the Holy Spirit--the Spirit of Jesus--desires to TAKE OUR PLACE, moment by moment. To use our body and mind to live His life through us, and as us. Not to help us do what only Jesus can do. As we yield to the Spirit of Jesus in us, He will use our body and mind to think, speak, pray and act in doing the good works our Father has prepared for us beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). Now, with this light of understanding, you might be asking the same question I did when I came to understand the role of my Helper: How does Jesus Spirit actually live through me? A PUT ON OF REALITY Paul gives us the answer with these words: But PUT ON the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Romans 13:14). 10

11 In this passage, Paul contrasts our living by our lower, natural desires to Jesus living His higher supernatural life through us. To avoid the pitfalls of living the Christian life by our own desires and self-effort, Paul instructs us to Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Or, as the same phrase reads in other translations, Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ. Actually, the terms put on and clothe yourselves mean the same thing. The Greek word for both terms, enduo, means to put on, or slip into something, as we would slip into our clothing. AN ACTING TERM Adam Clarke, an 18th century English theologian, explained that enduo was an ancient Greek acting term. It described an actor putting on, or clothing himself with, his character s costume. The idea was that, in wearing the costume of his character, the actor would, mentally, be wearing his character. He would be in such a oneness with his character that he would even think of himself AS his character. In preparing for his role, the actor came to know his character so well that, on stage, he thought with his character s mind, saw with his character s eyes, heard with his character s ears, and felt with his character s emotions. 11

12 In his mind, the actor WAS his character. So, if an actor portraying Alexander the Great looked into a mirror, he would mentally see Alexander looking back at him. The actor s mindset was not me, but Alexander the Great. That s the mental picture Paul wanted us to have by using the phrase, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ In putting on Jesus, we have a new mindset. It is not me, but Jesus, which is just a shorter way of saying, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20) end of sample In the rest of this 26 page booklet, we learn how to PUT ON Jesus so that we can experience Him using our body and mind to flesh out His life through us. Also, a Suggestion For the Next Two Minutes is at the end of the booklet, along with seven discussion questions. For ordering information, please go to our website, And, you can direct any questions to Wes Neal at wesnealcoe@aol.com. 12