.
The New Creation–Christ in the Believer
When the Holy Spirit begat in the believer a new nature He opened the door to a living, organic union between the Christian and Christ [1 Cor. 6:17]. Christ and the Christian are then eternally one. So what is it to be a Christian? It is to have the glorified Christ in us in actual presence and power.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20, R.V.).
Christ Lives in Me
Can you say it? Paul could. But note the order of his words. First, “I have been crucified with Christ,” then “CHRIST lives in me.” The dethronement of self precedes and makes way for the enthronement of Christ.
To be a Christian is to have Christ the Life of our life in such a way and to such a degree that we can say with Paul, “To me to live is Christ” [Phil. 1:21]. This means that Christ lives now in you [if you live…] in Hong Kong as truly as He ever lived in Capernaum or Cana. Does He do it?
To be a Christian means to have the divine seed which was planted in our innermost spirit at the new birth blossom out into growing conformity to His perfect life. It is to be daily “transformed into his image from glory to glory” [2 Cor. 3:18]. Are you being so transformed?
To be a Christian is to have Christ the Life of our minds, hearts and wills so that it is He who thinks through our minds, loves through our hearts and wills through our wills. It is to have Christ filling our life in ever-increasing measure until we have no life apart from Him. Does He so fill you?
But I can hear some modern Nicodemus say “How can these things be? How can I live such a life in my home where I receive no help or sympathy but rather ridicule, and where I have so long lived a defeated life? How can I live a consistent life in my social circle which is pervaded with worldliness and wickedness and where Christ is never mentioned or even thought of? How can I live a spiritual life in a place of business where all around me are living wholly in the flesh? How can I even live on the highest plane in my church when it is worldly and modernistic, and I am unfed and untaught?”
Well you cannot live this life, but Christ can. Christ in us can live this life anywhere and everywhere. He did live it on earth in a home where He was misunderstood and maligned; among people who ridiculed, scoffed, opposed and finally crucified Him. The whole point of this message is to show that we do not have to live this life, but that Christ is willing and able to live it in us.
This is the truth that Christ taught in germ in His last conversation with His disciples. He had told them that He was going away from them and they were wondering how they would ever live without Him. But He assured them that He would be with them in a spiritual presence far more vital and real than the relationship they had formerly had with Him [John 14:20]. The life of the Vine was to become the life of the branches.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
After He taught this to them He prayed it in. It was the burden of His High Priestly prayer.
“I have declared unto them Your name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith You have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:26).
Have you ever pondered the last three words of this prayer? “I in them.” These simple but significant words breathe forth the deepest desire of Christ’s heart in relationship to His own. It is His consuming desire to reincarnate Himself in the Christian.
Paul laid hold upon this glorious truth and it laid hold upon him. It is woven into the warp and woof of his experience, preaching and missionary service.
“Christ lives in me” and “to me to live is Christ” was the acme of his personal experience. There was nothing beyond this for Paul. To him this was life on the highest plane.
“Christ in you” was the heart of his message to the churches. It rang out with clarion clearness in all Paul’s preaching and teaching,
“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” (Col. 1:27).
“Christ in you” was the passion of all Paul’s missionary service. Paul had but one aim and goal in every form of work done–that Christ might be formed in every convert.
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal.4:19).
Christ is the Christian’s center; Christ is the Christian’s circumference; Christ is all in between. As Paul put it, “Christ is all and in all” [Eph. 1:23] Christ is the Life of our life.
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). Is He this to you?
A Perfect Oneness
The spiritual history of every Christian could be written in two phrases, “You in me” and “I in you.” In God’s reckoning Christ and the Christian become one in such a way that Christ is both in the heavenlies and upon earth and the Christian is both on earth and in the heavenlies [Eph. 2:4-7]. Christ in the heavenlies is the invisible part of the Christian. The Christian on earth is the visible part of Christ. This is a staggering thought. Its plain import is that you and I are to bring Christ down from heaven to earth that men may see who He is and what He can do in a human life. It is to have Christ’s life lived out in us in such fullness that seeing Him in us men are drawn to Him in faith and love.
But I can hear a doubting Thomas say, “Except I see some one living this Christ life I will not believe.” Well, I believe because I have seen.
For several weeks I lived in a boarding house kept by a little woman who weighed only eighty-five pounds. She was kept from falling into a heap by a brace worn at her back. She had lived on the third floor for two years with no outlook but the blue sky above and a patch of green grass a few feet square below. But her eyes shone like stars, upon her face was a smile that the affliction and adversity she suffered could not remove, and mirrored in her countenance was a radiance that one never sees on land or sea except where the Light of the world dwells in undimmed brightness. Christ was the Life of her life.
A Christian business man lay dying of cancer. Friends called to comfort him and they left feeling that they had been taken to the very door of heaven and had seen the King in His beauty. Christ was the Life of his life in sickness as He had been in health.
A young Chinese man who had been converted from a very godless, wicked life, and had been a Christian less than two years, came to call on me one day. After he left a gentleman who saw him for only a brief moment said, “Who was that young man? I never met any one who so instantly compelled me to think of Christ as did he.” Christ had become the Life of his life.
Is He the Life of your life? Can you truly say “Christ lives in me”; to me live is Christ”?
“There’s a Man in the Glory
Whose Life is for me,
He’s pure and He’s holy,
Triumphant and free.
He’s wise and He’s loving,
Tender is He;
And His Life in the Glory
My life must be.
“There’s a Man in the Glory
Whose Life is for me,
He overcame Satan;
From bondage He’s free.
In life He is reigning,
Kingly is He;
And His Life in the Glory
My life must be.
“There’s a Man in the Glory
Whose Life is for me,
In Him is no sickness:
No weakness has He
He’s strong and in vigor,
Buoyant is He;
And His Life in the Glory
My life may be.
“There’s a Man in the Glory
Whose Life is for me.
His peace is abiding;
Patient is He.
He’s joyful and radiant,
Expecting to see
His Life in the Glory
Lived out in me.”
Part 2 of 2
Ruth Paxon, Rivers of Living Water, (Moody Press, 1930) chapter 5. Her more complete volume is Life on The Highest Plane.
Bracketed Scripture references added and old English updated – JBW
“Ruth Paxson lived from 1889-1949. Ruth Paxson was Bible teacher, missionary, and author whose writings are classics today. Born in Manchester, Iowa, she dedicated her life to Christ while she was young. After graduating from the State University of Iowa, she attended Moody Bible Institute. Several years later, she served as YWCA secretary and college secretary for her home state and later traveled as secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement. She sailed for the mission field in China in 1911, sponsored by the YWCA. Before long she left for health reasons and began to teach Bible in Europe and the United States and continued to do so, with writing, until her death. Her detail and concern for accuracy during her years as secretary gave her the carefulness she needed in her writing and teaching. Life on the Highest Plane is the book that has received the most acclaim.” – http://www.sarahsministry.org
Honorable Mention
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