Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: The Bible says that when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, that very moment we become new people.

Host (Male): Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University.

Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled All About Jesus. Let's listen as JP gives us part one of Identified In Christ.

JP Jones: If you have your Bibles, would you open to Colossians chapter 3? Colossians chapter 3, verses 1 to 4 says this: "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, when he appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

This passage is a great passage about our identity in Christ, because that's what this is all about: our union with Christ. We've discovered this and discussed this before among us, that the truest thing about us is what God says is true. This passage is saying that what is fundamentally true about us is that we have a new spiritual identity, a new spiritual standing. We have been united with Christ.

In the context of the book of Colossians, this passage serves as a bridge between two contexts. At the end of Colossians chapter 2, the apostle Paul is describing counterfeit Christianity. He's talking about those ideas and ideologies that can rob us of an authentic devotion to Christ. He talks about legalism and religion and secular philosophy, how we can add things to the simplicity of Christ and actually rob Christianity from its life-giving power by the stuff that we add to it.

In the passage that follows Colossians 3:1-4, Paul shifts to a very practical discussion of living out the life of following Jesus. It's a passage on discipleship and it's a series of commands. Some of them are negative, things that we need to avoid, and some of them are positive, things that we need to proactively do. We need to put off some things and put on other things.

Between passages that describe counterfeit Christianity and a very practical passage that describes living as a disciple following Jesus, we have the passage that we're looking at, Colossians 3:1-4, which describes our new identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ is the answer to false Christianity and our identity in Christ is the spiritual power base for living out authentic Christianity.

If you don't know who you are in Christ, you will be prone to believe one of the false counterfeit approaches of Christianity and you'll be prone to try to live out your Christian life in your own power rather than Christ's power. Colossians 3:1-4 is a great passage that roots us in the fundamental truth of who we are in Christ. The truest thing about us is what God says is true.

In this passage, Paul talks about the past, the present, and the future. He says that at salvation, we died and we were raised up with Christ. In the future, there is before us the hope of glory, heaven, being revealed and appearing with Christ in glory. Right now, Christ is our life. Christ is our life.

The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. I'm going to look at several passages of scripture today that help unpack the basic truths that are revealed in our passage in Colossians chapter 3. My first observation is this: we died and we've been raised up with Christ. That's what the text says. Verse 3 says, "For you have died," and verse 1 says, "Since you've been raised up with Christ."

These are past-tense verbs. The statement that you have died is a perfect tense in the Greek text. It describes something that happened in the past that is complete, and because it's complete, it continues to have results on into the present. What happened in the past at our salvation, we actually died with Christ. Our old life was crucified with Christ and that continues to affect the way we live our lives right now.

Also, it says in verse 1 of Colossians 3, we were raised up with Christ. When we trusted in Jesus Christ, we received a whole new spiritual identity. I was watching one of the shows that I regularly Tivo. Isn't Tivo great? It's one of the greatest inventions of modern man because you don't have to watch all the commercials. You just plow right through it, and you can watch the show that you want to watch whenever you want to watch it. It just plays right into our narcissism. It's great.

One of the shows that I Tivo is a show called The Unit. It's a show about this special army unit. They're like the Delta Force and they do all these high-risk missions. In this particular episode this past week that I watched, they were recruiting a new person to join the unit. The whole episode was about these different mock spy missions that they sent this guy on to see if he could pass the test to join the unit.

He passes the test and at the end of the episode, they show him receiving a brand new identity because this is a top-secret group that doesn't even exist under the army's chain of command. So he's standing at a computer and a guy is accessing the NSA files, everything about this guy: social security number, everything about his high school record, his college transcripts, everything about his military record. One push of the button, boom, it's erased.

He no longer exists as far as the government is concerned, and then he receives a whole new set of credentials that are part of the secret experience of being within the unit. Watching the episode, he looked the same. As he was talking with the other guys in the army unit, he was talking the same. I'm sure, playing true to form as the actor in that particular episode, he was actually feeling the same. But in terms of his standing with the government and his identity on this planet, totally different.

The Bible says that the moment we receive Jesus Christ into our lives—John 1:12 says to as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God—the moment we call on the Lord for salvation, Romans chapter 10 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. When we do that, that very moment we are fundamentally changed on the inside and we died and we're raised up with Christ.

So if you're a believer in Jesus this morning, you have resurrection life in you because you've been identified with Christ. If you're here as a guest, if you're here as a seeker, the promise before you is that when you cross the line and give your life to Jesus, you become a new person that very moment. That very moment.

Paul says we died and we've been raised up with Christ and it's not a new truth that he's introduced here. In fact, previously in Colossians chapter 2, he's talked about this very thing. In Colossians chapter 2, he uses the metaphor of circumcision and baptism to illustrate this spiritual truth of our new identity. He says that the sign of the old covenant in circumcision was a sign that represented a cutting off of the old nature. Baptism was a sign that represented dying with Christ and being raised up with Christ. That's our new spiritual identity.

In Romans chapter 6, he goes into great detail about this. This is what he says in Romans 6: "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin. How can we still live in it? Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."

"For if we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has any mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God."

We have been united with Christ's death and Christ's resurrection. Paul again uses baptism as a picture of this because in the early church, you read through the book of Acts, when someone accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and they responded to the invitation of the gospel, immediately they were baptized. So that baptism would forever mark their transition from the old life to the new life, and it would picture this great work of grace that God does to connect us to Christ and with his covenant people.

We died and we've been raised up with Christ. Paul says that's our new spiritual identity and it's not based upon a warm, fuzzy feeling necessarily, or even instant transformation. I drove to Visalia on Friday. I was invited by a church to speak at a community-wide men's outreach. I spoke at this church where a thousand men all over the community, most of them were unchurched people that they'd invited: guests, the mayor of the town, and the district attorney, and the head of the sheriff's department, and county supervisors, and all the coaches of the various high schools.

All these guys came out. The last five years they've started this event and it's really gotten some traction and become a full community event. There were a thousand men gathered together and they'd asked me, when they called me several months ago inviting me to speak, it was kind of humorous because they said, "Now, we don't want you to preach a sermon. What we would like you to be able to do is try to relate to men. Can you do that?" I said I think I can do that. "And we want you to be able to share the gospel. Can you just walk through the gospel with people and make that clear?" I said I think I can do that.

So I get up there and I meet these guys and it's just a great group of men. In the course of being able to share my story and who Jesus is and the power of the gospel, it came to the time where I gave an invitation and literally all over this auditorium, tons of guys made a commitment to receive Christ. Tons of men became followers of Jesus.

The angels are rejoicing in heaven and the church is excited, the community is excited. In the actual experience, though, I don't know these men and I don't know what's going on in the hearts and in the minds of people. I'm sure that for some of these guys, there was a tremendous sense of freedom, a sense of relief. Maybe they'd been struggling with addictions or struggling with guilt. Maybe shame was just occupying their life and this sense of being set free just washed over them.

But I'm sure for other guys, it was an objective decision that made sense. "I'm lost. Jesus is the answer. There's forgiveness. I'd be an idiot to turn that down. I can ask God to forgive me and he will, and Jesus will come into my life. Yeah, I want to do that." You see, the function of our response and experience is really more tied to our personality. Some of us are very emotive and extroverts, and some of us are more introverts and analytical. Our actual experience is very much tied to our personality.

The truth of what God's word says, though, is this: when we call on the Lord for salvation, that very moment, we die and we're raised up with Christ. Yesterday, in a moment, there were men who died and were raised up with Christ. Some of them had a real experience of that event and others maybe didn't feel any different at all and wondered if anything really happened.

I don't know what your experience is here. I mean, there's a lot of us here. Some of us come from church backgrounds, some of us come from no church background. Some of us are extroverts, some of us are introverts. Some of us are very analytical about what is happening and some of us are just free-flowing experientialists. But the Bible says that when we give our lives to Jesus Christ, that very moment we become new people.

2 Corinthians 5 says we become new creations. The old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. If you're a believer in Jesus, what is true about you is that you have died and that you've been raised up with Christ. Paul addresses this in Colossians chapter 3, and then he says that's what's true from the standpoint of our spiritual past, being rooted in our salvation.

What's true right now? Christ is our life. Because Paul says in Colossians 3:3, "You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, you'll be revealed with him in glory." He switches from the past tense to the present tense. In the present, Christ is our life.

Christianity is all about Christ. It's about Christ. It's not about this church. It's not about religion. It's not about sacrifice. It's not about spiritual disciplines. Christianity is all about Christ. Life certainly isn't about what this world says it's about. It's not about what zip code you live in. It's not about what neighborhood you live in. It's not about what kind of car you drive. It's not about how much money you make. It's not about what college your kids get accepted in. Life is about Christ. Christ who is our life.

Paul put it this way in Philippians chapter 1: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Paul wrote that letter in the context of that statement in Philippians chapter 1. He's talking about looking at his life, his present circumstances—he was in a jail. He was anticipating, "Well, I could die, which is a lot better, and go to heaven. If I live on, it means I'm living as a servant, and it's certainly going to benefit the people I serve because God's given me a message to give away, the gospel." But whether I die or whether I live, to live is Christ.

Is that true for you? If you're a follower of Jesus, have you come to that place where you've exchanged your life and that Christ isn't just a peripheral part of your life? Christ is your life. Christ is your life. In Galatians chapter 2, Paul put it this way: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me."

Paul says, "I've been crucified with Christ. I died with Christ. And it's Christ who lives in me. My life is Christ living in me. Christ thinking through my mind, Christ loving through my heart, Christ speaking through my mouth, Christ living his resurrection life in my body." It's Christ who lives in me and the life which I live, because I'm the person living it, but the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.

You can't escape it. All these scriptures, the apostle Paul—and this is Paul speaking from real experience. This isn't just Paul the theologian telling the rest of us from a classroom how to live life. It's Paul the guy who's really living life. Life is all about Christ. To live is Christ. Christ is our life.

I think Jesus put it in the most simplest terms in John chapter 15 where he compared the Christian life, living as a disciple, to a branch that has a connection with the vine. Jesus said this in John 15:1-11: "I'm the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You're already clean because of the word which I spoke to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For without me you can do nothing."

"If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they're burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you'll be my disciples. As the Father loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full."

Jesus is speaking here, and in the course of these 11 verses, 24 times Jesus uses I, me, or mine. 24 times! I, me, or mine. I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I can say, "Well, this is all about Jesus." Is your Christian life all about Jesus? Is your relationship with God all about Jesus?

We so easily can get sidetracked, and probably the subtlest way to get sidetracked is not by evil things, but by good things. It's been said that the good can become the enemy of the best. Many of us maybe have come to the place in our spiritual growth where we've come to recognize those things that are obviously destructive for our lives and we, by grace through faith, have disciplined ourselves and said no to those things. But the good is the enemy of the best.

Anything that we're allowing in our lives that disconnects us from Jesus, that robs us from really just trusting in Jesus, that prevents us from abiding in Jesus, well, that has taken a place in our life that's spiritually destructive. And it could be a good thing.

Jesus says I, me, or mine 24 times, and 10 times in this passage, he uses the term abide. It means to remain and to stay connected to. Remember the movie The Matrix? Neo finally discovers that the life he's living is an illusion and it's a matrix. Then when he takes the right pill and comes to an awareness of what's really going on, he wants to get back into the matrix so he can defeat the matrix.

But he has to plug in. Remember they put that thing, connected it right back here? He had to get plugged in to be able to be into the matrix. If you're not plugged into Christ, you're not living the Christian life. You're living something, but it's counterfeit Christianity.

Host (Male): What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars.

Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath.

Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com.

We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.