Have You Learned Christ?
By Tammy Lacock
“But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4:20-24 KJV)
In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman helps believers uncover the gospel of the Apostle Paul, a gospel that hasn’t been preached through the generations and yet is the only true gospel for us today.
Paul was the only one raised up by Christ, Himself, to present to us the gospel of grace. No longer are we subject to any other gospel, such as the law. In this dispensation of grace, any and all laws are removed. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:20-24 that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection conquered death along with our old nature and old way of living, which was under the law by the usurper, Satan. Christ’s death and resurrection ushered in grace, our new way of living. Our new life is Christ. Our sin-natures have been uprooted and replaced by the Seed of Christ. Christ now lives literally in every believer. No longer are we saved by anything we do or don’t do. We are saved by Him.
In fact, Paul tells us of our new life in Christ over 186 times in his epistles. We have been born again. We are now joined to Christ in spirit making us one Spirit in Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). We are brand new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17)!
What Paul noticed in his day of preaching this new gospel to believers is that they had no idea this change actually took place. He was given the enormous task of spreading this new gospel. They couldn’t grasp what he calls, the “mystery of the revelation of Jesus Christ” — that Christ now lives in us, and our new life now begins by being complete in Him. Just like today with us, their minds had a lot of catching up to do in their new life. We must have a constant mind renewal, Paul says, to understand and ultimately live our new life in Christ. And the only way is now through a personal relationship with Him. We must now have the mind change of no longer focusing on the outer things for our righteousness and focusing now on Christ within us, who IS our righteousness. God no longer sees anything we do or don’t do as pleasing to Him. He sees Christ in us as our righteousness. This is pure grace.
Once we can start to understand our new life in Christ as the ultimate gift from God, we can begin to understand His amazing grace and His unconditional love. Through this revelation, we can begin to grow in our personal relationship with Christ, focusing on Him more and more in everything we do and through any and all circumstances and situations. Through trials and tribulations, God really begins working in us so that we “may learn Christ.” In fact, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent to us to help us through these trials and tribulations as we begin our new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit, Paul says, works in our minds now, teaching us of the Christ within and directing us into relationship with Him, rather than focusing on the trials and tribulations. He says, knowing Christ is the only way we will get through them unscathed. We can see through Paul’s own trials of being shipwrecked three times, stoned to almost death and imprisoned until the end of his life, that he had to have a radical mind change if he were to come through these unmoved and bring him into deeper relationship with Christ. He knew that through his sufferings, he would learn Christ. And that’s all he wanted.
Ultimately, God desires for us to reciprocate His love, the love He showed us through the sacrifice of His own Son. The sacrifice which led to our new life, our eternal life in Him. However, He is a God of choice. He gave us free will to choose. And He wants us to choose Him. Paul tells us that our mind renewal, which leads to a more intimate relationship with Christ, will eventually lead us to choosing to Love God.
Love is a choice, not a feeling or an emotion. God keeps working on us to bring us to that choice. If life is a series of choices being lived out, as Warren puts it, then as our minds renew in Christ, the ultimate choice becomes clear. Yet, Paul says, the mind, where choices are made, is the battlefield. He says focus our minds on Christ and nothing else. Again, he says, we are not alone in this task. The Holy Spirit comforts us as we begin and endure this journey.
Now that we know, through Paul’s gospel of grace, that Christ lives in us, to never leave nor forsake us, may we focus on Him and learn Him. And may we choose to love Him more and more every day!
