By Art
Licursi built upon some thoughts taken from Watchman Nee’s writing
John
5:39-40
Search the scriptures; for in them
ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40And
ye will not come to me, that ye
might have life.
Col.
1:27 To whom God would make
known what is the riches
of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Religion
is man “doing to find, serve and please God”. God’s plan consists of
what He has done for man in the Person of Jesus Christ the Lord. God's
eternal plan is not a religion; it centers on a wonderful, all-sufficient,
unlimited, immeasurable, unsearchable, and all-inclusive Person, Christ
Jesus Himself. Christ is the subjective, personal, individual life of each
believing member of the Church, which is His body (Eph 1:22). Jesus Christ
is the full embodiment of God (Col 2:9-10) and the content of the church.
This Christ is to be our life and our person (Gal 2:20) individually, and
thereby He is the life of the Church. Our serving and pleasing God is only
possible as we live in the Person of His Son, by His life. It is not about
us, but wholly about the Son of God, who is
“all and in all” (Col 3:11).
We thank God for His most precious Bible, which He has provided us as a
most detailed roadmap for us to find and know Christ who is the living
“Word” (John 1:1), now in us. We recognize that the Bible is the
written revelation of the living Person of Christ.
Two thousand
years ago, the incarnate Jesus of Nazareth was the Word, as He was the
express image of the Father (Heb 1:3). Jesus of Nazareth expressed and
declared the Father (John 6:46, 14:9) who no man had seen. Today, this
same Jesus is now both the resurrected Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus
(2Cor 3:17, Rom 8:2) and Lord (Acts 2:36); and He dwells within our human
spirit (2Tim 4:22).
Yes, sadly, many
Christians seem to ignore their Bible and yet, sadly also, many Christians
pay more attention to the Bible than to the indwelling Christ (John 5:39).
John 5:39-40 indicate that even the Bible can be utilized to distract
people from Christ Himself.
Surely, we
believe, respect, and honor the Bible to the uttermost. We have Biblical
examples of a Scripture focused people missing the focus of Scripture; the
religious people of Jesus of Nazareth’s day had the scripture to tell
them so much concerning the Messiah, including where he would be born, yet
they did not receive Him when He appeared to them.
Paul says
he is the “Apostle to the
Gentiles” (Gal 2:2) for this day of “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Eph 3:2). If we do not
pay particular attention to the Christ revealed the Pauline Scripture
within the Bible, leading us to know the Christ now revealed in
us (Gal 1:16a) by the Spirit (John 15:26), then we ignore the main
function of the Bible, which is to reveal this very mystery that Paul
declared, “Christ
in you … whom we preach”. We need to come to experientially
know Christ Himself, in us, as
our life (Philip 3:10).
We need to not merely know of the objective Christ seated in the heaven
above all heavens, but to also subjectively know Christ in our spirit
(2Tim 4:22, 1Cor 6:17, 1John 4:13). This subjective One is seeking to
spread Himself as life into our soul’s heart (Rom 5:10, 2Cor 3:15-16).
Not only is Christ our Savior objectively, but He also is our life and our
person subjectively; come to dwell in us. We need to focus ourselves upon
such a subjective Christ.
Paul could
say, Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me. Here Paul did not speak of the life work and power of Jesus of
Nazareth; he spoke of Christ Himself living in him. As Christians, the Person of Christ is
living in us today. <END>
