These notes are to accompany Grace Rules, by Steve McVey, published by Harvest House Publishers, 1998

Notes for "Living for Jesus"

Introduction:

The main question addressed by this chapter is, "What is the purpose of the Christian life?" Does God need us to serve Him? The answers to those two questions will have a significant impact on how we view what it means to be "born again." During the past couple of years, I’ve probably read close to twenty books on grace and I’m amazed at how differently people see the same subject…I’m grateful that a perfectly clear understanding is not required to enjoy the benefits!

I’ve discovered two basic views of living the Christian life: 1) When I receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, He, through the Holy Spirit, comes to indwell me and provides both the desire and power to make changes in my life so that I will be transformed into the image of Christ and I will be able to live my life for Him; and 2) When I receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, He, through the Holy Spirit comes to indwell me, my sinful nature dies, and He exchanges my life for His life which He lives now through my body…I don’t have a changed life, but an exchanged life…I don’t live for Him, He lives through me.

The main difference between the two is the focus. In the first scenario, my focus will invariably be on me…egocentric. In the second, my focus is on Jesus. My concern with the first scenario is my EGO…Edging God Out! My personal experience, and I’ve seen it with many others, is that an egocentric view always leaves me either feeling arrogant and superior because I think that, as compared to others, I’m doing quite well. Or, and this is more frequent, I realize how rotten I am in the flesh and began to feel hopeless and discouraged. The scenario that keeps me looking "unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,"(Heb 12:2) seems to work better for me.

 

What is your opinion of the idea that God doesn’t need us to serve Him?

Contrast these verses:

Acts 17:25 This God is the One who gives life, breath, and everything else to people. He does not need any help from them; he has everything he needs. VS: Romans 12:9-13 Your love must be real. Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good. Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honor than you want for yourselves. Do not be lazy but work hard, serving the Lord with all your heart. Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times. Share with God’s people who need help. Bring strangers in need into your homes.

Matthew 20:26-28 But it should not be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you must serve the rest of you like a servant. Whoever wants to become first among you must serve the rest of you like a slave. In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people. VS: Colossians 3:23-24 In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were doing it for the Lord, not for people. Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord, which he promised to his people. You are serving the Lord Christ.

The answer lies in "source" of the service…

1Thessalonians 5:24 You can trust the One who calls you to do that for you. (The Message: May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!) and Romans 7:6 In the past, the law held us like prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way with the Spirit, and not in the old way with written rules.

These two verses help to clarify "Who" does it.

What difference will it make in a person’s experience if he believes that God needs him as opposed to the idea that God wants him?

Need conveys duty and responsibility

Want conveys opportunity and privilege

The key is "in Christ" and/or "Christ in me"…it’s the unexplainable union of personalities! (More on that in Chapter 3…Sweet Tea)

Galatians 2:20 I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore—it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.

Here’s the way Eugene Peterson describes Paul’s experience in The Message: What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

The "kenosis" theory suggests that Jesus emptied Himself of divine prerogatives (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence). Explain the importance of this theory in view of John 5:19:

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."

What difference would it make if the lifestyle of Jesus had been sustained by His divine nature?

If Jesus had lived by His own power, it would be hard for us to have confidence that He could understand being human and that would make it more difficult for us to have a friendship with Him. He wanted to encourage us so that we could trust that He knows what we’re going through and that there is nothing too insignificant for His concern. He wanted to show us how important it is to live in total dependence upon God.

List five differences between living for Christ and living in Christ:

                Duty vs. Desire

                Commitment vs. Confidence

                Responsibility vs. Privilege

                Work vs. Rest

                Hard vs. Easy

                Trying vs. Trusting

                Defeat vs. Victory

What is the difference between compliance and obedience?

Christianity is not a call to live by principles or to live for Jesus. To build our lives around biblical principles sounds admirable, but it is a subtle form of legalism.

Comply: to be ceremoniously courteous; to appear to conform.

Obey: to be controlled by or ruled; submissive to the will of another.

Compliance is a human response, it’s our best efforts to obey. Obedience is a Divine response and only takes place when we trust Jesus within us to fulfill the desires of His Father through us.

Define mercy and grace. What is the difference between the two?

Mercy: not receiving what I deserve.

Grace: receiving something I don’t deserve.

What is the result of experiencing God’s mercy?

I don’t have to pay the penalty for my sins, Jesus already did that when He died for me at Calvary. I have been saved from my sins!

What is the result of experiencing God’s grace?

Jesus comes to live inside of me. He exchanges my old self that was spiritually dead and gives me His nature, which is eternal life. I am being saved from myself!

Why does the Holy Spirit come into a person when he trusts Christ for salvation?

John 14:16-17 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you.

Jesus comes to live inside us so that we can experience and express His life. John 10:10 says that He came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. The Christian life is Him!

How can trying to live for Jesus out of our own strength cause problems in life?

When we seem to be doing well, as compared to others, feelings of superiority and pride will dominate us; when we seem to be failing and falling short, feelings of hopelessness and despair will dominate us. Neither of these lifestyles brings glory to God.

The foundational truth of Christianity is that God, in Christ, took away the penalty for the sins of the world at Calvary and this was a necessary prerequisite for God’s primary goal: That we receive the resurrected life of Christ inside us so that He can express His life through us to those around us. That’s what it means to be a Christian…He lives the Christ-life through you.

Any attempt to "live for Jesus" apart from His living through you, will result in failure and a misrepresentation of God! As we will see in the next chapter, in the Kingdom of God, our natural abilities are not assets, they are liabilities!

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