An Experience of the Life of Christ

 

(2 Corinthians 4:7-12)

We are all saved people. There's no doubt that the triune God resides within us and that we have God's life (John 5:24). Most Christians are aware of these facts. However, our daily lives show little experience of the triune God and His life. We lack a deep inner awareness of Christ, and even less of a recognition of the need to deny ourselves through the cross. It is rare to find someone who says they are walking the way of the cross and feeling the life of Christ throughout their daily life.

Christ and the cross are at the heart of our salvation. Paul boasted and testified of these two things alone (Galatians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5). Do we feel Christ as a living presence within us, and are we living according to that life? (John 10:10, 14:6, 1 John 5:12, 2 Corinthians 13:5). How can we experience the life of Christ? This happens through the cross. Where the cross is, there is the work of God's life. The life of God in Christ has already been given to us through the power (principle) of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:1-2). Therefore, all saved people have the life of Christ within them. But how can we feel the power of that life and live in its abundance? (John 10:10).

 

1. Christ is the Life, the Cross is the Method

 

(1 John 5:12, Luke 9:23)

Christ is the life (zoe) (John 1:4, 10:10, 11:25, 1 John 5:12), and the cross is the method (Luke 9:23). For the life of Christ to be felt and to work within us, we must follow the way of the cross. The cross is the very essence of Christianity. So, what is the cross? Many Christians understand the cross only as suffering or hardship. Yet, while the cross is certainly painful, that's not its ultimate meaning. The true meaning of the cross is death. Before Jesus Christ carried the cross, the crowd's cry was, "Away with Him! Away with Him!" (John 19:15). The cross gave Jesus pain, but it also brought death. Death is the end of a person. The cross is death (Luke 9:23). The cross is what ends a person's connection to sin. Without being united with Christ in death, we cannot be freed from the penalty of sin (Romans 6:18, 22, 8:1). Only a dead person can be released from sin and the world (Galatians 6:14). Therefore, for the sinner, the cross is the method of liberation from the penalty of sin through death. It is the end of a person.

Christianity isn't about educating people to improve, reaching a higher state through asceticism, or simply changing behavior. It's about putting an end to the sinner. The Christian faith isn't based on a dogmatic ideology but on a personal, life-giving relationship with Christ through the cross. From God's perspective, you have already been crucified and died with Christ, and only Christ lives in you (Galatians 2:20). We must know this fact (Romans 6:9), consider ourselves as such (Romans 6:11), and now offer ourselves to Christ as instruments of righteousness, not of sin (Romans 6:13).

 

2. Experiencing the Life of Christ Through the Cross

​

(2 Corinthians 4:10-12)

Paul tells the Corinthians that we must always carry the death of Jesus in our bodies so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our bodies (2 Corinthians 4:10). Here, the Greek verb for "carrying" (peripherontes) is 'periphero,' which means "to carry around." It means we must always carry the death of Jesus in our bodies. Paul also said, "For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our mortal body" (2 Corinthians 4:11). The verb for "being given over" (paradidomai) is 'paradidomi,' which means "to hand over, to transmit, to pass on." This means we must hand over ourselves to death through Jesus so that His life can be revealed in our mortal bodies. The word for "revealed" (phaneroo) means "to make known, to show." When we are united with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection, we can reveal Christ through our character and our lives. People won't see us; they will see Christ. Therefore, when death is at work within us, it can bring life to others (2 Corinthians 4:12).

Someone might say, "I know that the life of Christ is in me. I know I was crucified with Christ, so from God's perspective, I am a dead person on the cross." However, this message might just be a doctrine to you, having no real impact on your life. It's a fact that we may know these things but not experience them in a vivid way in our daily lives. Your spiritual intellect may know it, but your life does not know the cross. You may talk about the cross with your mind and mouth, but in your daily life, you don't really know it. All your thoughts about the cross come from yourself. You see things from your own perspective, handle matters based on your own judgment, and at best, you can only distinguish between good and evil. You simply desire good things and reject bad ones. You accept what is right and reject what is wrong. This shows that you aren't under the light of the cross. What comes out of your life comes from yourself, not from the life of Christ. It comes from your own thoughts and perspective, not from Christ (Romans 8:5-9). If you had seen the light of the cross through the Holy Spirit, you would feel the life within you. That feeling is the very dynamism of life. You'll know from your own feeling whether your daily actions and moment-to-moment thoughts come from yourself or from Christ. The life of a disciple of Christ is to carry the cross and follow the Lord daily (Luke 9:23). Self-denial is carrying the cross. Without carrying the cross, you cannot be a disciple who follows the Lord. This is a practical and concrete action. Therefore, Christianity is not about being conditioned by an ideology, but it is a practical and concrete activity of life.

 

3. Experiencing the Cross Through Suffering and the Holy Spirit

 

(2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 1 Corinthians 2:10-16)

We have a treasure in jars of clay; we hold the power (life) of Christ in our frail bodies. But we often live as if we are the source of that power (2 Corinthians 4:7). We live as if we are the master, not the indwelling Christ. When this happens, the Lord allows us to face unbearable hardships so we can know that the exceeding greatness of the power belongs to God (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). We are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. But through these sufferings, we aren't crushed, despairing, abandoned, or destroyed. The Lord uses this suffering to show us our sinfulness, weakness, incompetence, ignorance, and limitations, so that we turn to rely on the Holy Spirit.

The main ministry of the Holy Spirit is to testify about Christ (John 2:10-16, 15:26, 16:13). The Holy Spirit also makes Christ and His cross present and embodied in us right now. He shows us our true existence and our sins (John 16:8-9). Therefore, the light of the Spirit makes us see and feel Christ, His cross, and our own sins. At the same time, the Holy Spirit unites us, who are sinners, with Christ, causing us to die on the cross and be resurrected. I hope you experience the Holy Spirit opening your eyes and dealing with you as one who has been crucified and died. The Holy Spirit works like a light. The Holy Spirit helps you to see and feel the cross, Christ, and yourself. The Holy Spirit makes you see and feel the corruption of your natural (fallen) character. If you plant a grain of wheat in the soil, does it all end there? No. That seed must die for a new life to emerge. The grain of wheat produces new life through death (John 12:24). The cross is death. However, you can never carry the cross and die by your own strength, wisdom, will, or emotions. It is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have the light of the Holy Spirit, you will immediately feel your own death and the life of Christ. The light of the Holy Spirit helps you distinguish between yourself and Christ. "Everything that comes from me is an enemy of God, so unless I am eliminated (death), the life of Christ will not find an exit within me." When the Holy Spirit shines on you, you cannot express your own thoughts, ideas, or opinions. This is an experience of the cross through the Holy Spirit. If you stop your own thoughts and emotions, the Holy Spirit will make you keenly feel the life of Christ. Unless everything that belongs to the human being is rejected and broken, the life of Christ cannot be expressed through a person's body. If you don't end, die, and are not broken, and you ask for the Lord's help, He will never respond. But if the light of the Holy Spirit is shining on you, you will feel conviction, and you will be broken. This conviction will prevent you from living as your fallen old self. If you stop all your own activity, the Holy Spirit will immediately move you and enable you to live by the life of Christ. When the cross works to put things to death in the Holy Spirit, resurrection comes. Resurrection happens where there is death. Where the cross is, Christ is. When you hand yourself over to the cross (death) through the Holy Spirit, the resurrected Christ is revealed through you. Then, what comes out of you will all be God Himself and Christ. When you contact the cross in the light of the Holy Spirit, Christ will pass through you. Every time Christ passes through, His life will be stimulated and become abundant within you. Therefore, the cross allows Christ to gain a position of authority and kingship within you, and He comes and goes through that person (2 Corinthians 4:10-12).