TRUE EVANGELISM: CHRIST IN & THRU US INTO OTHERS
A Vision of 2 Peter 1:3,8, John 15, 2 Cor 2:14-16
“Seeing that His (Our Father’s) divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him (Jesus Christ)”. We enter the School of Faith when are challenged to trust Him for food, shelter and clothing, etc (all things related to sustaining and nurturing physical life, “bio-life). But, when we graduate we enter the Life of Faith, trusting Him for godliness (all things related to “spirit-life; love, peace, joy, honesty, morality, faithfulness, etc).
“For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
To experience life by Your Grace through faith and know the reality of the resurrected, indwelling Christ as our life, our source, our resource for everything, makes us bear fruit, 30, 60 and even 100 fold for Your glory; producing fruit, in the form of people saved through our testimony and believers matured in their faith through our teaching and discipling them to know Christ as their Life and walk with us in the Spirit.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:4-5)
“My Father is the Vinedresser… Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it might bear more fruit.”(Jn 15: 1-2)
“For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in (and through) our mortal flesh.” (2 Cor 4:11)
“So (by God our Father), death (our death with Christ) works in us, so that life (His Life in us) may work in others!”(2 Cor. 4:12) The fruit of the Spirit, filling and characterizing our personalities, attracts others to Christ (fruit) and through our walk in the Spirit, Christians are discipled into total availability (holiness) by surrendering to Christ as their Life.
Yes, as God triumphs over our will and brings into submission to Christ, as a vanquished foe chained to His chariot (enslaved to Christ), “He, God, manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him (Christ) in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma of death unto death, to the other an aroma of life unto life. And who is adequate for these things?”
Answer: No one! “Christ in Us”, as surrendered slaves, is the only way!
Lord, give us opportunity, open doors and open hearts, to share the enlightenment You have given us regarding Your ways with the lost and especially those of Your children who are teachable, hungry-hearted disciples. Speak through us to those hungry for growth and maturity in their walk with You; those who are tired of the “wilderness” experience and the frustration described in Romans 7; yes, those longing to enter into the “promised land” and experience the victory described in Romans 8!
Grant us the privilege, Lord, to make a valuable contribution to the growth and maturity of other hungry believers; an impact that will enhance the opportunity for Jesus Christ to increasingly dwell in their conscious minds by faith and increasingly experience ALL You have prepared for them in this life and the life to come. For, sometimes, it’s this life that they have a harder time believing You for than the next. As David said, “I would have despaired had I not believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”(Ps 27:13).