We are Roused Together with Christ
All that we have is from Christ's life, not from our life of performing acts
Here is one of the great mistakes of religion and why many people cannot understand the apostle Paul’s message. The mistake is that religion believes the human needs to attain to the life of Christ, however, the truth is that Jesus IS our life.
Now, I know that Jesus commanded His disciples to follow Him, while the saints during the last seven years will be assessed by their acts. However, the earthly life of Jesus was to confirm the patriarchal promises of Israel.
8 For I am saying that Christ has become the Servant of the Circumcision, for the sake of the truth of God, to confirm the patriarchal promises.
9 Yet the nations are to glorify God for His mercy, according as it is written, "Therefore I shall be acclaiming Thee among the nations," "And to Thy name shall I be playing music." -Romans 15: 8-9
Jesus Christ, while on earth, came to fulfill the law that Israel could not. Yet, the nations are to glorify God for His mercy (Romans 15:9). In fact, Jesus Himself said “I was not commissioned except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24-25).
This does not mean that Jesus only came to save Israel. But, it does mean that His earthly ministry was focused on Israel. You see, its not until the glorified Christ appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus that the plan for the nations was revealed.
The glorified Christ, in a series of revelations, explained to Paul the full meaning of the cross and what it meant for the nations. Paul, our apostle to the nations, goes far beyond Israel and the 1000 year kingdom to a time when the cross reconciles all creation to God (Colossians 1:20), when God will be All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28), and when all that die in Adam will be made alive in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
This revelation of Paul from the glorified Christ Jesus has nothing to do with our behavior and our acts. It has everything to do with Christ Jesus giving us His life.
So now to the verses I wanted to discuss:
1 If, then, you were roused together with Christ, be seeking that which is above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Be disposed to that which is above, not to that on the earth,
3 for you died, and your life is hid together with Christ in God.
4 Whenever Christ, our Life, should be manifested, then you also shall be manifested together with Him in glory. -Colossians 3: 1-4
There is so much to unpack here, but for time sake I’ll keep it short. First, Paul says ‘you were roused together with Christ.’ This speaks to a previous verse in Colossians 2:13 where Paul says that Jesus vivifies (makes immortal) us together JOINTLY with Him.
You see, we die with Christ and we were roused together with Christ, not separate from Him. Religion teaches that we must save ourselves apart from Christ in order to get to Christ. Christianity teaches that a person must accept Christ or do good works by their own ‘human free will.’ These teachings go against the truth of scripture.
Again, we are roused jointly, together with Christ. This is truth. This is the opposite of being roused by our own acceptance or free will acts. If we believe that our decision or our acts are separate from God, then those choices and acts are not jointly, together with Christ, but they are separate from Him. Therefore, we must conclude that we are only raised WITH CHRIST if we save ourselves apart from Christ.
However, this is not true. Let me illustrate:
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 15: 22 that says ‘For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified.’
We all die in Adam as the above verse says. In fact, Romans 5:12-13 says that DEATH passed through into ALL MANKIND. We get death jointly with Adam and through his sinful act. In truth, we are all born into death because of Adam’s act. We didn’t do anything apart from Adam by our free will or any other means to earn death. We simply inherited it from Adam, jointly, together with him.
Therefore, as Romans 5: 12-14 explains, our sin is a result of the death operating in us. The death we received from Adam, jointly, together with him. So, in Adam, we are dying. Now, in Christ, will all be vivified. Vivified means to be made immortal and roused with Christ, jointly, together.
So, in the same way that we get death together with Adam, we get immortality together with Christ. Notice in I Corinthians 15:22, the same all that are dying in Adam (everyone) is the exact same all vivified by Christ (everyone). The exact same way we get death from Adam, we get life from Christ…jointly…together with Him.
Ephesians 2:6 says that God vivifies us together in Christ (in grace are you saved) and rouses us together and seats us among the celestials. The key is TOGETHER…TOGETHER…TOGETHER! Together with Christ and together in Christ. As if we could be seated among the celestials apart from Christ.
Paul says that whenever Christ, OUR LIFE, should be manifested, then you also shall be manifested together with Him in glory (Colossians 3:4). Notice that Paul didn’t say that whenever Christ’s life is manifested, then our lives will be manifested if we have believed or done certain things. No, there is no separation. Christ is our life! Everything that He is and everything He has done is given to us.
WE take HIS life. The temporary successes and failures of our lives on earth are traded for the life of Christ. Now, of course God gives belief to the chosen beforehand to have a special salvation and this is the group to whom Paul was speaking. But, this salvation is eventually for all humanity (Colossians 1: 15-20, 1 Timothy 4:10, I Corinthians 15:21-28, Romans 5: 18-19).
Grace and peace to you all!
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Thank you, Scott - you speak the truth as I know it. The essence of your sermon for me is to understand that His Will supersedes my ego - everything in my life is in God's time not mine and it has been proven to me over my lifetime according to Psalm 91.
You are a very thoughtful teacher!