Copyright
© 1991
Warren Litzman.
Adapted from the book "Free At Last".
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Our Sphere Of Daily Livingby Warren Litzman
"At that day [the Day of Pentecost] ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20).
Every child of God is vitally united to Christ. The message of our union with Christ has been a message which has been unsettled in the minds of Bible scholars throughout the entire Reformation Church era. As a result, a very fuzzy and often misunderstood interpretation of the Scriptures has brought about an equally faulty everyday living on the part of believers. Now, by the grace of God, a marvelous move of the Spirit is taking place over all the face of the earth, and the Holy Spirit is declaring the message which God had in His mind from the very beginning of time. That message is simply summed up in the words of this text: ye in me and I in you. There could not be, in the English language, any purer or clearer form of declaration as to what God's ultimate intention is than these words.
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What these words literally suggest to us is that, as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit, all believers have been baptized into one body, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, and that they have all been made to drink into one spirit (I Corinthians 12:13). This is the one passage in the Word of God which reveals the precise meaning and objective of God from the very beginning. Since its meaning is clear, there is no excuse for the many prevalent errors connected with this truth The last line of this verse says that all have been baptized into one body.
This means that at the time any believer believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he was, by the Holy Spirit, placed or baptized into Christ, and as a result has been made to drink into one spirit. This little line simply suggests that it is God's intention that believers not only be like Christ but be as Christ. There was a time when the individual was not in Christ, which is the present state of all who are unsaved. Then there follows a time when God births in the believer His dear Son. By this birthing, Christ becomes the total sphere of the believer's being.
Paul announced this very positively on Mars Hill when he declared, even to these unbelievers, that in Christ we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). This is a truth which, until seen by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, will cause the believer to be woefully lacking and to cling to the laws of man in his frustration to know God. This is the basic truth God has given to the Holy Spirit to explain; as Jesus says in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John at least seven different times, the work of the Holy Spirit will be to teach the believer who Christ is within him.
Thus our mission in the Christ-life ministry is to make all men everywhere aware that the work of the Holy Spirit is not to take the place of Christ but to make Christ the total everything of the believer. This simply means that a Christian is one who has another life within him and that the entire sphere of living for that believer can and will be Christ as the Holy Spirit has the liberty to teach this.
A sphere is that which surrounds an object on every side, and may even permeate that object. To be within a sphere is to partake of all that it is and all that it imparts; thus the bird is in the air and the air is in the bird; the fish is in the water and the water is in the fish; the iron is in the fire and the fire is in the iron; the sock is in the water and the water is in the sock. Likewise, in the spiritual realm, Christ is the total sphere of the believer's position. He encompasses, surrounds, encloses, and indwells the believer. The believer is in Christ and Christ is in the believer.
By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Christian becomes as much an organic part of Christ as the branch is a part of the vine or the member is a part of the body. When the believer is joined to Christ, the Father sees the saved one only in Christ or as a living part of His own Son and loves him as He loves His Son (Ephesians 1:6; John 17:23). As a result of this vital union in Christ, certain facets of relationship are created which are the believer's new position in Christ and are the consequence of the work of God in grace.
To fully present all the new positions into which the Christian is brought by the Christ-life would necessitate an analysis of all the great doctrinal positions to be found in the New Testament. By way of illustration, a brief selection of these positions follows. Of the believer who has entered into the Christ-life, it is said that:
- He is the elect and called of God (I Thessalonians 1:4; 5:24);
- He is redeemed by God through the blood of His Son (Colossians 1:14);
- He is reconciled to God by the death of His Son (II Corinthians 5:19);
- He is sheltered by God under the propitiation made in the blood of Christ
(I John 2:2);
- He is forgiven of all trespasses -- past, present, and future (Colossians
2:13);
- He is forever condemned no more (Romans 8:1);
- He is justified freely by His grace (Romans 3:24);
- He is sanctified or set apart unto God in Christ (I Corinthians 1:30);
- He is perfected forever (Hebrews 10:14);
- He is translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son (Colossians 1:13);
- He is circumcised in Christ (Colossians 2:11);
- He is possessed with the first fruits of the Spirit, born (John 3:6),
baptized (I Corinthians 12:13), indwelt (I Corinthians 6:19), and sealed
(Ephesians 4:30);
- Finally, He is glorified (Romans 8:30) and complete in Him (Colossians
2:10).
This listing includes only a few of the tremendous positions that the believer holds through his union with Christ. Ephesians 1:3 lets us know that the believer possesses every spiritual blessing. Paul was able to declare that he came behind in no spiritual blessing. Thus, the issue is not just that Jesus did something for us at Calvary or is doing something for us today. It goes much deeper than that; the believer who comes to know who he is in Christ will see that his entire sphere of living and operation in mortal life is in and by Christ, because Christ Who is his all now operates out of the believer in that allness.
This sphere of operation of the Christ-life believer is manifested and taught by the Scriptures in the following ways.
1. Invisible. The believer's position in Christ, like all things related to the Spirit, is invisible. However, as is true of spiritual things, they are more real and abiding than visible things; the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal (II Corinthians 4:18). The Scripture goes on to elaborate upon the invisibility of our position in Christ by saying, "whom having not seen, ye love" (I Peter 1:8; 1 Timothy 1:17), and Paul is quick to say, in I Corinthians 2:9, that the eye has not seen. Thus, the believer's position in Christ will always be invisible to the world, and perhaps even to the believer himself.
We see throughout the Scriptures that all the graces and ministries of Christ, while stated plainly in the Scriptures, remain operations invisible in and to the believer. For instance, the nine gifts of the Spirit, which are spoken of in I Corinthians 12, are invisible operations of the Spirit and should come spontaneously from every believer. As his mind is fixed on knowing that the Christ within him is his total life, so will that Christ within him operate His ministry -- even though the believer is unaware.
The apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists spoken of in Ephesians 4 are not in positions ordained by men. Instead, these are ministries of Christ even as the gifts of the Spirit are ministries of Christ. These are invisible ministries operating out of every believer as the Spirit so directs. They were never intended to be visible ministries whereby one would say to another, "I have this gift" or "I am an apostle." What we know as Christians is that the Christ in us is the possessor of all things, that He is our life, and that these ministries flow out of us in an invisible form; though they are invisible, however, they are more real than those things which are seen.
2. Inexperienced. Our position in Christ is never brought about by human experience. Our human experiences produce no sensation by which they may be identified. All of our relationship to Christ in us is taken by faith -- His faith -- and joyous appreciation comes as a result of our trusting Him to be our all. The believer does not go from experience to experience and thereby come to know the Lord, for experiences most often are judged and controlled by the believer. It is knowing that Christ is in the believer and that He spontaneously becomes the mind, the body, and the all of the believer in action, word, and deed, which leads the believer to Christ.
3. Apprehended by faith. Now, faith -- His faith -- operating through the believer is the effectual faculty of spiritual life. By Christ's faith operating within the believer, he is able to accept the Word of God as perfectly true and to operate that Word as such. Thus, in the Christ-life, our trust in the Jesus in us produces the faith by which we live. As Galatians 2:20 says, "The life we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God."
4. Contested. The Scripture reveals that there is a warfare going on between Satan and the Father in the heavenlies. There is abundant assurance, however, that Satan's power can never spoil any aspect of the Christ life believer's actual position in Christ. But Satan is able to fire his fiery darts at targets outside the believer and cause the believer's attention to be diverted from the Christ within him to a self-desire to defeat Satan.
Even though the Christ-life believer is contested daily by Satan, he can turn his mind from the outer attacks of Satan to the Christ in him. Turning inward, he realizes that the only one who has ever defeated Satan is Christ and that the life he now lives is Christ; therefore, he will not and cannot be defeated. There is nothing that can hinder the life of blessing which flows from the believer's vital union with Christ If the mind is held on Satan and his works, then the mind is given to the flesh and outer things and defeat and frustration will set in. But if the mind is given to the Christ within, there can only be victory, for Christ has overcome death, hell, and the grave. The life the believer now lives is a life of victory in Christ.
5. Unmerited. Human merit, as in all operations of grace, is excluded from the divine reckoning concerning the Christ-life. All of our relationship with Christ rests on His perfect merit This is the very heart of our new standing before God. Ephesians 2:13 says, "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." There is no human merit which can eclipse or even shadow the glory of the unmerited relationship the Christ-life believer has.
6. Unchangeable. The believer's sphere in the Christ-life is unchangeable and cannot be increased or decreased. Our new nature is perfect and cannot become any more than it already was at the moment of conception. When we were born again, the Father placed His incorruptible seed in us and that seed is the perfect Son in Whom we live and move and have our being. Therefore, there is no more of God, no more of the Son, and no more of the Christ-life that any believer can receive than he has already received by the birthing. As a believer, he grows in the knowledge and the understanding of that birthing. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." This not only means that by His miraculous work He is the same but also that by His person in us He is unchangeable.
7. Eternal. Finally, since the sphere of living in Christ relates to and depends only on Christ, it means that the believer now has eternal life dwelling in him. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost [without end] that come unto God by him..." I John 5:11 says, "...God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." When the believer's mind becomes reconciled to this sphere of Christ-life truth, he will begin to enjoy the blessings God intended we have from the foundation of the world. Those blessings mean that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, and we shall have peace and happiness all the days of our lives.
Each of these seven great positions and relationships that the believer has as a result of his union with Christ is the result of the unrestrained outflow of the exceeding grace of God. As Jesus alluded to in John 7:38, "Out of our innermost being shall flow rivers of living water." As the Christ already in the believer by a birthing begins to flow out of the mind and body of the believer, there come immeasurable signs, wonders, and miracles to that believer and even to all who come into contact with him.
These positions cannot be gained by law, by works, or by any human merit. None of these positions which Paul gives us in the new creation race gospel appears in any teaching of the Law of Moses, nor do any of these teachings appear in the so-called earthly kingdom message. Correspondingly, the manner of life which our sphere of living in Christ proposes cannot be lived according to the law in the energy of the flesh. The whole system of the Christ-life is both inter-related and complete within itself and cannot yield to the principles of humanism at any point whatsoever.
Copyright © 1991 Warren Litzman. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/
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