In light of the basic foundational principles of Christianity and Kingdom of God that we have discussed so far in the previous chapters, we shall see what exactly Christian life is in this chapter. We will be basically explaining how the concept of ‘slaves of Jesus the Christ’ incorporates into our practical life and how these principles translate into a process that God takes us through in order to be a Christian. In other words, once we recognize Jesus as our King and dedicate our hearts to be in His Kingdom as His slaves through His blood, then there is a process that every Christian undergoes that is initiated and perfected by God which becomes the ‘Christian life’. This is the enduring process of salvation that works till the end. The entire life of a Christian is ensconced by Paul in Romans 6th chapter verses 14 to 16.
Romans 6:14-16 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
We will start by studying verse 14 in this chapter:
To begin with, we need to understand certain key words in this verse in order to realize what God means by this statement. The key words here are, ‘sin’, ‘law’ and ‘grace’.
SIN
The first word we would like to meditate is ‘sin’. Most of us have created a checklist of ‘dont’s’ that we have learnt from society, parents and religion and consider that as long as we avoid this checklist, we are holy. For e.g. we think that if we tell a lie to escape a situation or have little trust in God and as long as we do not murder, commit adultery (the deadly sins) etc. we are doing well. We are comfortable in many ‘insignificant sins’. But read the following verse:
Revelation 21:8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
We never consider cowardice, lack of faith or lying as abominable and worthy of eternal fire like adultery or murder. What has gone wrong is our definition of sin. Because the country law punishes murder, it is considered a ‘deadly sin’ whereas lying or borrowing money is just ignored because it has become the accepted way of life and is not legally punishable. Our soul is dead and it cannot realize that all these are equally sinful. We are biased by the system of this world and have set it as our spiritual standard. This is an indication that our souls have adapted to the system of the world dominated by Satan and not to God’s righteousness. So the origin of sin is in the soul. We cannot avoid sin by ‘do’s’ and ‘dont’s’. Unless the soul is sensitive to God’s righteousness, our deeds are forever going to be sinful. So what exactly is sin?
Romans 14:23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.
Sin is our lack of trust in Jesus as our King. Every time we are acting in our own wisdom and ways without trusting Jesus, we sin. It need not always be the deadly things as mentioned above. It could be our routine daily activities that are not rooted in the trust of Jesus the Christ. For e.g. it could be us putting our trust in money, prosperity, benefit of education, an influential person who can make things possible, superstition, traditions, cultural beliefs, pastors, priests, prophets, temples, ourselves and our capabilities, talents and even misinterpreting the Bible to suit our personal agendas etc. Sin is best explained from the original Greek text. There is no direct word used as ‘sin’. Wherever the translation uses the word ‘sin’ the actual Greek text is ‘hamartia’. Hamartia means ‘missing’ or ‘absence’. It is explained as ‘missing the target/ focus’. Our focus and target is Jesus the Christ and to be His slave in His Kingdom. As long as we miss our commitment to this focus and do anything else, it becomes sin; simply meaning, that as long as our souls are not cleansed by His blood and does not have His eternal life, whatever we do will be sinful. So if we want to avoid sin, then the only way is to surrender our souls into His hands for healing and restoration.
LAW
First let us see what law is as mentioned in Romans 6:14.
Now, law is a command; a command given by God which is meant to be obeyed without any question. For e.g. let us take idol worship. As per the law, we are sure that none of us are blind enough to have any idol in our houses. We usually take extra care and precaution to cast away every idol from our premises that could appear in any form (on a polythene bag, on a gift card etc.). If you look at this theoretically and by the book, yes, we do not worship idols. This in other words is following Christianity as a religion and not as a principle or in the heart. Why? Because an idol is actually defined as:(1)
‘A greatly admired or loved person’
‘An object of extreme devotion’
‘A hero’
In simple terms, anything that is kept in equal position to Jesus the Christ is an idol. Now if we look at it from this point of view, we are sure that there are many things that occupy even a higher position than our Lord Jesus in our lives. For example it could be our parents, spouse, children, job, money/wealth, self-esteem, traditions etc. So, physically we may be casting out idols to the best of our knowledge but in our hearts we are still idolaters.
Jesus talks about law explicitly and expresses the whole crux of the matter in just one verse:
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.”
He also says “I came to fulfill the law.”
Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
So here what looks like, are two contradicting statements by Jesus if you take the above two verses into account.
In the second mentioned verse, Jesus says that He came to fulfill the law and not to destroy it but in the first one He rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees for giving much importance to the law but introduces the crux of law. So what is He trying to say? What point is He trying to make? He simply says that law is important, but if we follow the law through deeds alone as a set of rules to abide by, then we are like the Scribes and Pharisees and we are condemned. He uses three key words – ‘justice’, ‘mercy’ and ‘faith’. He clearly says that though law is important, these three core substances of the law are ‘weightier’ and are of much more importance than the practicing of law. So, if we try to observe the law by ignoring justice, mercy and faith, then we are under a deception of false holiness. On the other hand, if our only hope is the blood of Jesus then He, through His justice, mercy and faith, will make us righteous. The law can never give us this. Jesus says that He came to fulfill the law, because only in Him we can find the ‘weightier matters of the law’. So, instead of keeping our focus on the law like the Scribes and Pharisees, if we shift our focus to Jesus then He will make us followers/ doers of His law even without our own knowledge. He had to fulfill the law because we missed justice, mercy and faith and only in Him we will find them. The basic work of the devil is to subtly steal the three fundamentals of the law and keep man constantly in the race by running in circles to observe the law with no finish line. So Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil and restore the three keys of the law to man. If we see it in the perspective of Old Testament versus New Testament, we can understand this better. In the Old Testament, God’s covenant always demands us to fulfill a requirement from our part in order for him to operate from his end. For any sin a man commits, he needs to pay a penance, an offering or sacrifice and there is always a consequence for every action. But in the New Testament, He paid the penance and in return He only requires submission and total surrender of ourselves for Him to operate from His end. He only focuses on us turning to Him rather than having to do anything by our efforts so that He can make everything possible. We hope, now you understand the difference between following the law as it is and following it through Jesus the Christ.
Paul says, “You are not under the law.” We know that law is not evil and neither is obedience. Then why does he say we are not under the law? He simply implies that law, is not action or deed oriented. It is about the three vital substances of the law and the spirit behind it. Both Jesus and Paul are not encouraging law because if we focus and try to be a slave to the law, then Jesus leaves us and we lose His presence. This is clear in the following verse:
Galatians 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
How much more powerfully can this be expressed? Note the word ‘attempt’ used by Paul. Therefore, to summarize, if we think we can keep or obey a commandment by our strength or will power, e.g. to not lie or to have more faith and we try to achieve it by ourselves then we forsake Jesus and defeat and lay waste the very purpose of the cross. But if we submit our desire to not lie or to have more faith or to be free from lust etc. into the hands of Jesus, then He with His justice, mercy and faith will make it possible.
1 Corinthians 2:6,7 However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory.
Do you think that this mysterious wisdom of God that Paul writes about can be perceived and realized by us through the physical practicing of the law? No, only Jesus through His justice, mercy and faith can reveal it to us and make us righteous.
Now what are justice, mercy and faith?
We will discuss justice and faith first as they are inter-connected followed by mercy.
1. Justice
Justice simply means righteousness. Being just or righteous means, being freed from guilt or sin and living a life that conforms with the truth. So how can we be righteous? Do you think by following a set of moral values and rules/ laws we are righteous? Not at all. We hope all of you understand this because not one among us is without failure in this attempt which has led to guilt, self-accusation and frustration. As long as we try following the law, we are self-righteous which is the spirit of a Pharisee and one which Jesus hates the most. If we allow ourselves to be controlled by God and submit to His righteousness, which comes only through Jesus the Christ and not through self-efforts, only then will we be made righteous. This is exactly what Jesus mentions in:
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Note the word ‘His righteousness’ which is what we never bother to understand and hence completely ignore. So, what is God’s righteousness? As we have seen in the previous two chapters, the blood and life of Jesus Himself is our only righteousness. We will not explain this again as we have discussed this in detail already but it is noteworthy to mention this exemplary verse by Paul again.
Colossians 3:3,4 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
If we think that by our good conduct, moral values, Bible reading, prayer, church going, tithe offering etc. we become righteous, how worse has the spirit of deception blinded us? Here we would like to stress on the fact that we are not disregarding or are contemptuous of Bible reading, fasting, praying, tithing etc. All these are very important and essential for the growth of a Christian but what we would like to underline is the importance of the intention behind these deeds. If they arise as a result of love and to strengthen our relationship with Jesus, they will be acceptable in His sight. The relationship as such is not formed through our self-efforts but is built by His blood and life. The foundation or cornerstone is Jesus Himself. The common mistake we make is that we use the above mentioned activities in a legalistic manner, believing that they are necessary for us to be righteous or are signs of our holiness. We consider them as mandatory duties of a Christian and make them a ritual which is what we are mentioning as religion. We use them often as tools to accomplish a duty that is required of us so that we can see blessings, avoid adverse circumstances or inherit heaven. Handling these with such intention instead of perceiving them as necessary elements to strengthen the relationship, renders all of them as useless and empty. They are not duties to fulfill, instead should be born out of love and thirst for this relationship with Jesus. The intention and focus behind anything we do should be His love and relationship as there is nothing supreme than this for His children. His life in us should induce our prayers, Bible reading, tithing, church going, fasting, offering to the needy or whatever else it may be.
2. Mercy
Mercy and grace of God are two steps in the process of God’s salvation for us. They are not separate entities but inter-related.
Habakkuk 3:2 O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
When we live outside the Kingdom of God, not choosing the redemption through the blood of Jesus, then the wrath of God is upon us. We often live in complete blissful ignorance of this truth because we have a conscience that is dead. A dead conscience cannot understand or first of all realize when it sins. The blood of Jesus is the one that has the capacity to revive and bring this conscience to life. In other words, God’s mercy is one that will arise and awaken us to the reality that we are under His wrath and worthy of destruction. It gives us the realization that we are under the yoke of sin and instills in us the desire to be yoked with Jesus and to be His slaves. To understand better, we can meditate the incident of the ten lepers who came to Jesus to be cleansed. Observe their prayer very carefully below.
Luke 17:12,13 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
The ten men were lepers, unclean, living a terrible life of shame, seclusion, desolation and social stigma. But they did not ask Jesus for healing. They first address Jesus as their master. They realized that Jesus is the Lord, owner and King and they begged for His mercy. Why were they able to make this prayer? It was because they understood why they were lepers and what was needed to be free off the curse. In the Old Testament, we come across Gehazi, Elisha’s servant who eventually was supposed to be His successor and a mighty prophet just like Elisha was after Elijah. But once he developed a love for the perishable things of the world more than the love for the creator Himself, he was struck with leprosy. We also become lepers in our lives (ridden with debt, shame, guilt etc.) though not necessarily with a literal physical manifestation, because we forsook the Kingdom of God. Here the ten men clearly understood that they were lepers because they were far from the Kingdom of God and so they begged Jesus for mercy. Mercy is basically God bringing us to the acceptance of our true state of unworthiness as sinners to even eat from the breadcrumbs that fall from His table. Our nature, character, mind and personality live in a ditch and garbage like a swine, far from God and only through His mercy can we realize this and commit our lives to His redemption through His blood. Unless God is merciful to us we never enter into this realization. Mercy is the opportunity given to us by God to be in His Kingdom as His slaves and children through His blood. Unless our dead conscience is revived through the blood of Jesus the Christ, we can never be in a position to accept His grace. God’s mercy, i.e., His undeserving compassion, forbearance, favor and pity, is the one that opens the opportunity for this repentance. We hope now you understand why instead of praying for healing the lepers prayed for mercy. They understood the valuable truth that physical healing is perishable and useless to the soul, rather God’s mercy was the one that was going to save their souls into eternal life. Therefore, our cry for His mercy is the first step into His righteousness.
3. Faith
The Bible gives much importance to faith because we can never be righteous without faith and as a consequence we can never please God. Often we do not know how to have this faith or what it is.
Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Hebrews 11:16 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
It is very clear here that unless we have faith, we will never be righteous. So, what is faith? From our own past personal experience, we have understood faith as having to convince ourselves that God exists without any evidence. It is an effort we have to put into channeling our minds to accept and convince ourselves without any question. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is exhausting because the human mind needs evidence to believe. Because of this wavering mind, we often run in search of miracles and visual evidences to prove that God exists and is powerful. Yes, God also answers through miracles initially, but sadly most of us stop there and do not move ahead. As a result, when at a certain point the impression the miracles left on us, our motivations and enthusiasm seem to have vanished, we lose all hopes and the little belief we have. We are not successful often in the struggle to maintain our motivation at a constant level to believe God. And this is true by a common definition of faith itself: “strong belief in doctrines of a religion based on a conviction rather than proof.” So, then why do we have the struggle? To answer this, we would like to draw your attention to the original Greek text. Wherever in the New Testament we find the word ‘faith’ in English, the original Greek word used is ‘pistis’. ‘Pistis’ means “trust in others, faith, persuasion of a thing, confidence, and assurance.”(2) So ‘pistis’, the original written word which is now translated as ‘faith’, does not mean a ‘strong belief ’. It means Trust! Likewise in the New Testament, we find the verb ‘to believe’ in many places synonymous to faith. The original Greek word used in these places is ‘pisteou.’ Again, ‘pisteou’ means “to trust, put faith in, rely on a person.”7 Therefore, wherever the words ‘believe’ or ‘faith’ is used, the original word used and the meaning implied is ‘trust’. So, what is ‘trust’? It is the confidence in God deriving from reliance on Him as a consequence of His qualities. To believe or to have faith according to our past deep-rooted understanding is a function of the mind which involves us having to think and convince ourselves of His existence, goodness, power etc. It is based on our thoughts, feelings and emotions. It is a human intellectual or emotional effort based on our strengths. Whereas, trust is a function of the spirit where we confide in and rely on Him without any self-effort. It is our abandonment based on God’s Kingship and authority. It is an abandonment of our souls into His hands so that He can act according to His will. It is to realize that without Him we can do nothing and to start giving up our ways and trusting His ways. It begins with Him and is basically a change of focus from us to Him.
In order to know what is the kind of faith we need to have, let us see the various forms of faith described in the scripture as below:
A. Faith of demons
Do you know that demons have faith in Jesus?
If we think faith is all about believing that God exists and is great, that Jesus is the Son of God who is capable of doing great miracles and we need to tremble before Him, then we need to think again.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble!
Mark 3:11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.”
How many of us worship the same way as the demons and assume that we have faith or that we are Christians? Likewise, many of us think that because we read the Bible and have memorized verses, we are Christians. But Satan knows the Bible as well by heart.
Matthew 4:5,6 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”
B. Faith of the lawless and unrighteous
We do not become Christians because we go to church and Christian meetings, sing songs, praise God etc. The Pharisees and the Scribes were the strictest and best attendees of the gospel meetings of Jesus Himself! But eventually, the Romans who were pagans did not condemn to crucify Jesus but the very Pharisees. Judas was a part of the ‘church’ of Jesus but ended up betraying Him as well.
Fasting, incessant prayer and regular tithing do not make us Christians either.
Luke 18:9 -14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men – extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
We are not Christians or believers if we cast out demons, prophesy or perform miracles.
Matthew 7:22,23 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
C. Faith of the disciples of Jesus
‘Common believers’ like us, often have faith similar to the faith that the disciples had. The disciples agreed to follow Jesus blindly even before they could see any evidence of the worth of following Him. They followed Him wholeheartedly and were often passionate to be a part of His work. There was a tremendous amount of sincerity, affection and desire in their hearts for Jesus and His truth. They had a close relationship and communion with Jesus. At this juncture, when Jesus revealed to them that their faith was not sufficient to sustain them in a crisis, they just could not comprehend it because emotionally they were strongly attached to Him and they couldn’t imagine ever abandoning or denying Him.
Matthew 26:33-35 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.
But when they indeed faced reality, one denied Him, one betrayed Him and the rest apart from one, fled the scene of crisis and left Him abandoned. Why did their confession of faith falter in the crisis? We often are sailing in the same boat as well. We vow to follow Jesus no matter what may come and are sure that our faith is unshakeable. We believe that we love God wholeheartedly and we will never let go of Him. It does arise from a pure and loving heart and out of genuine intentions towards Jesus and following Him. However, when we face some crisis, we falter, question and behave in an opposite manner to our confession. Why does this happen? It is because we have founded our faith on our knowledge, strength, convictions and emotions. We create our faith and try to sustain it, convinced that this is required of us by God. Little do we realize that this will lead to a complete collapse of the faith that we are building and preserving.
So, what does Jesus consider as faith or a Christian life? What is the kind of faith that we need to have? He says that our righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisees and most of us just like the Pharisees have placed Christianity into a strict regimen as seen above. We practice and preach Christianity as a religion. Jesus did not come to this world and take all the pain for just merely creating a religion. Christianity is a relationship, a personal and intimate one with Him that is based on us abandoning our souls to Him as a slave to a King. The truth is, we are not able to trust Him and comprehend Him as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We are not able to surrender our souls to Him. We still rely on our kingdoms, knowledge and capacity. Our inability is never a problem with Jesus because that is our nature inherited from Adam. The problem is that we do not want to admit it to ourselves. Jesus knows all our weaknesses; it is we who do not want to acknowledge it. We continuously try to convince ourselves that we trust Him and when we face reality and life as a practicality, we dramatically fail. Consider Abraham from the following verse. The first time God made Him a promise about Isaac, he could not believe his ears but he did not convince himself or God of something that he could not do. He fell down and laughed in front of God and openly asked Him to bless Ishmael instead, as he did not believe that he would ever have a son through Sarai. He frankly expressed his unbelief.
Genesis 17:15-18 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
Many of us blame this attitude as irreverence or arrogance shown by us towards God. Rather, it is simply being honest and transparent with God that we are not able to trust Him as our King and that we need His help rather than lying to ourselves and Him. By now we realize that though we know we need to trust Him, we are unable to and that is the fact.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
So what is the solution?
D. Faith of Jesus the Christ
Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Considering the Pharisees, Judas, the lawless and even the disciples, where had they failed? What was missing? The demons believe Jesus and His power. But they never will trust Him a