Alive Unto Christ...
2 Corinthians 5:14&15- "For
the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one
died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they
which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him
which died for them, and rose again."
We must
remember what a destructive and frightening man the Apostle Paul had
been before Christ apprehended him on the Road to Damascus in order to
really appreciate what he is saying here. We can see of his devotion to
his Savior, Jesus Christ, just from reading his epistles, but previous
to that, he had been zealously and aggressively persecuting the Church,
consenting to the stoning of Stephen, the Church's first martyr, looking
for Christians high and low to imprison for their faith- the man was
certainly on a mission! He was also very educated in the scriptures,
having studied under the scholar Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee. He knew
the Old Covenant Law. He lived it.
Why then, did he seek
to destroy the Church? Well, he believed that he was doing God's will.
He was zealous for the Law of God, no doubt..... After his very dramatic
conversion though, we see a man who, by the time he began ministering
to the Body of Christ, was so steeped in the love of his Lord that he
devoted the rest of his earthly days to Him. He had learned the enormous
difference between Law and Grace. He knew from personal experience that
Christ was not a philosophy, not just a great teacher, but that He was
literally LIFE in a world of death, and that He offered, and continually
offers that LIFE- He Himself- to those lost in sin and death, to the
end that the very apex of His creation- man- would come to know Him and
the forgiveness of sins, and Life Everlasting. Paul knew HIM, not just
ABOUT Him.
"For to me to live IS Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21)."
Now, Paul was referring to physical death here, but he was fully aware
that to be alive in Christ necessarily meant that he was now dead to
self. Remember, beloved- it is the grace of our God- not the Law- that
allows us to die to self.
The Law could never bring about
death to our selfish bent, it only made it pop its ugly head up at the
worst possible times- simply because the Law could never really change a
heart. The Israelites wanted to obey the Law of God, and after Moses
read God's commands to them, they all said, "We will do all that you
command us!" That lasted for about a minute, because the Law could not
give life (remember, man lost that in the Garden of Eden), but Christ's
resurrection did!
We all speak of the Cross of Christ- and
rightly so, for that act of Love is what took our sins away. But let's
never forget that His resurrection from the dead is what guarantees our
own resurrection to eternal life! How blessed! Resurrection follows
crucifixion- they go together. God made sure that nothing was left
undone in our redemption. No greater news could be given to fallen mankind,
could it?.....
Back to our scripture, "the love of Christ
constraineth us"...It may have been his devotion to the LAW of God that
constrained Paul to persecute the Church prior to his own conversion,
but what was the result of that- even in his own heart?
Let's look at just a quick clip of Acts 9:1 "And Saul (AKA Paul), yet
breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the
Lord..." Do you see what's in Paul's heart here? He was dedicated to the
Law of God all right, but what was the fruit of that dedication? Where
is God's love in Paul at that time? Now compare that to the same man's
heart after Christ becomes his Beloved Lord- "The love of Christ
constraineth us..." See the difference? Same individual, but oh- such a
changed man, yes? Paul's heart is now filled with a divine love for the
bretheren.
This is precisely what the love of our Savior
does- it constrains us ( the NIV translates the word 'controls', Beck's
translation says 'compels', Amplified adds 'urges')- You can bank on it-
Paul's passion for the Law never brought him to this! Paul offered that
it is the LOVE of Christ which brings us to the end of the love of our
own selfish way of life- for His sake, that we should not henceforth
live unto ourselves, but unto Him Who died for us, and rose again! Is
that not absolutely magnificent?
En Agape, Jim Ewing
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