We Have Received the Necessity of a New Living (1)

Introduction

We must realize that it is possible for us to be born again and yet lose the reality of being born again. We have all received a new life, yet we may not have a new living.

A New Living of Enjoying Christ

What is the new living that we must have, after being born again? It is primarily a living of enjoyment. We were born again so that we would enjoy Christ in our daily living.

The Spirit of Reality Will Bring Us into the Enjoyment of Christ

The Bible reveals that there is a way for us to enjoy Christ. That way is the Spirit. John 16:13 tells us, "But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality, for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming." This means that the Spirit will constantly unveil to us all the riches of Christ. The Spirit of reality will declare these things to us.

Using Our Human Spirit to Worship God, Who Is Spirit

How do we enter into the enjoyment of Christ, which is in the Spirit of reality? We need to look at another verse. John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." God is not in the physical realm. Neither is God in the theoretical realm. God is not a material, nor is He a theory. Then who, or what, is God? According to the Lord Jesus, God is Spirit!

"First, God is Spirit. Second, we are God-created human beings, who also have a spirit."

First, God is Spirit. Second, we are God-created human beings, who also have a spirit. It is in our human spirit that we were born again. John 3:6 tells us, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." We were born again in spirit, and now we must worship God in spirit.

Enjoying Christ as a Living Person

The new living we must have after being born again is one in which we enjoy Christ as a living person. This is what it means to worship God. The enjoyment of Christ takes place in our human spirit.

The riches of Christ include hundreds of items. We will begin by looking at six items from the Gospel of John.

1. Enjoying Christ as the Lamb of God

First, Christ is the Lamb of God. "The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). How do we enjoy Christ as the Lamb? We enjoy Him by realizing that all our sins are taken away. All our sins are not merely forgiven and covered, but they are even taken away. This is true not only of the sins we committed yesterday, but even of the sins that we will commit twenty years from now.

2. Enjoying Christ as Our Friend

The second way to enjoy Christ is as a Friend. In John 15:14 the Lord tells us, "You are My friends if you do what I command you." Who is Christ? He is our Friend. What does that mean? It means that we can be frank with Him. When we come to the Lord, we can be so honest and sincere about our true situation.

3. Enjoying Christ as Our Older Brother

When Christ was resurrected He became the firstborn Son of God, and we became His many brothers (Rom. 8:29). To say that the Lord is our older Brother means that He is the pioneering one. He has perfected a certain kind of humanity, and we should follow Him. The way He lived, we should also live. This designation of Christ as our older Brother also means that we will become the same as He is.

"This designation of Christ as our older Brother also means that we will become the same as He is."

4. Enjoying Christ as the Good Shepherd

Fourthly, we should enjoy Christ as the good Shepherd. John 10:14 says, "I am the good Shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me." When He was on the earth, the Lord's shepherding even reached the point of forsaking His life for us on the cross. Now He is the good Shepherd in the heavenly places. He shepherds us outwardly by sovereignly arranging our lives. He shepherds us inwardly by ministering Himself to us in the midst of our situations.

5. Enjoying Christ as the Builder of the Body

The fifth way we should enjoy Christ is as the Builder. "Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). Christ was resurrected with a physical body. Then in resurrection, the Lord as the Spirit was dispensed into us. Now all of us are His Body, the mystical Body of Christ. We are now the building materials for the Lord to build us up together.

6. Enjoying Christ as the Bridegroom

Finally, we should enjoy Christ as the Bridegroom. John 3:29 quotes John the Baptist, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full." As we are being built up as the Body, we are also being prepared as His Bride. We are going to marry Him. The more we enjoy the living person of Christ, the more we should have the sense that we are being betrothed to Him.

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