“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

When you read this verse in the context of chapter 2 you really get the sense that Paul is absolutely dumbfounded. For the life of him he can’t figure out why his Galatian friends have reverted back to trying to find favor with God by following a bunch of rules. He is flabbergasted how quickly they have forgotten that it was faith in the crucified/resurrected Christ that brought about reconciliation between the God who saves and the man who sins. And yet…

And yet, don’t we do the same. We walk through this life as believers with a “got to” attitude rather than a “get to” attitude. And as a result, instead of experiencing the liberating joy of the gospel we feel bound up by the incarcerating rules of legalism.

Do a mental checklist by answering these questions:
Do you ever feel like if you want God to bless you and be pleased with you that you’ve…

• got to go to church
• got to read your Bible
• got to pray
• got to tithe your money

The bad news is this: If you feel that way then you are for all practical purposes what Jesus called a Pharisee and you might want to check out what He said about them (Matthew 23 for example). You probably have little or no joy in being a Christian and little or no motivation to serve him and His Church. The good news is this: You don’t have to do any of that stuff to find favor with God. If you did then you would not need Jesus. And He would have experienced an excruciating death for nothing. But because of what He did on the cross and not because of ANYTHING you have done, you have favor with God. Your relationship is restored and your relationship is secure. You don’t have to worry that if you mess up that He will abandon you – because your relationship is not based on what you do but on what He did. Talk about liberating! This is why Paul went on to say later in his letter to the Galatians these words:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

So you don’t “got to” do any of that stuff. Instead you “get to”. You have the marvelous invitation to get into His Word and to pray and to experience relationship with your Heavenly Father. You have the opportunity to join with other believers to regularly worship together and enjoy the nurture and fellowship of the redeemed. You have the privilege to demonstrate your gratitude to God in a practical way by giving to His Church so that the advance of the gospel can take place.

You and I “get to” do all this stuff because we can dare to say these audacious words:“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Here are the questions that this verse provokes me to keep asking and why this verse is so ponderable:

• Has my old sinful nature indeed been put to death (crucified)?
• Is it evident that Christ is alive in me?
• In what ways does my life (and my lifestyle) demonstrate that I am living by faith?
• Do I daily treasure the fact that Christ loved me so much that He gave Himself for me?
• How do I display my gratitude to Him for rescuing me?

Not I but Christ! May those words spur me onward each day to live a crucified life, a faith-filled life, and a life that reflects my gratitude to the One “who loved me and gave himself for me.”

(this post first appeared in March 2011 – I recycled it because I enjoyed re-reading what I had pondered 5+ years ago)

Peter’s story in Acts 12 about his escape from prison has always been a favorite of mine. It comes under the categories of “you can’t make this stuff up” and “Wait, what?”

Evidently Herod considered Peter to be a very real threat to his kingdom. He had him thrown in prison and posted  16 soldiers to make sure that he didn’t escape. Peter was bound with 2 chains, he had guards on both sides of him, and sentries on lookout at the prison entrance to make sure that no one busted him out.

And no one did. He just walked out – following an angel.

I believe in angels. Not the kind of angels that are generally depicted on TV – the kind that look like people and are just nicer versions of humanity. I have never seen an angel – at least not that I am aware of. But lots of others have. There are actually quite a few angel sightings in the Scriptures. Here are a few examples…

Daniel … while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. (Daniel 9:21, NIV)

John  ⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”¹⁰ At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.” (Revelation 19:9-10)

Philip ²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (Acts 8:26)

Ezekiel  ¹⁸ Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. ¹⁹ While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. ²⁰ These were the living creatures I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Kebar River, and I realized that they were cherubim. (Ezekiel 10:18-20)

But I digress. The thing that I have always like about this story in Acts 12 is what is said about prayer.

1. It would seem that the angel rescued Peter because the people of God had been praying diligently and desperately. (12:5) – It is not often that I see this kind of prayer reflected in my own life or in the life of the church. Perhaps if we as a community of believers learned to pray diligently and desperately then we would also see God working through his angel army.
2. It would seem that those who were praying were as surprised as anyone that God actually answered their prayers. (12:12-15). I kind of see a picture of a group of people praying diligently and desperately – but not really expecting that anything will come of their prayers. Even when they were told that Peter was at their house they found it hard to believe – choosing to believe instead that it “must be his angel” (12:15) – whatever that means.

To conclude – I would really like to have an angel experience. At least I think that I would. But I’m pretty sure that I will not until I learn to pray diligently and desperately. So first things first and then perhaps we shall see.

Stephen was obviously a man that the early church had a lot of respect for. He evidently had a heart for God and a heart for people. This is why he was chosen as one of the first servant leaders in the Jerusalem church. I think I would have enjoyed hanging around him and letting some of what was in him overflow to me. I use the word overflow because of what Acts 6 says about him.

• He was full of the Spirit (v.3)
• He was full of wisdom (v.3)
• He was full of faith (v.5)
• He was full of God’s grace (v.8)
• He was full of power (v.8)

No need for me to say anything about each of those as they speak for themselves. What I will say is that this would not be the way that other people would describe me. For that matter, I can count on one hand the number of people that I might even think about describing that way.

I have always been intrigued by a verse in Ephesians 3 where Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus and concludes by saying “that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (v.19) Acts 6 gives a picture of a man for whom this is true. Stephen lived a full life – not in the sense that we tend to think of it today – but in the sense that he was full of God. And those who are full live lives that overflow to others. Their influence is a result of the “spill effect” as they bump up against other people. Note what Acts 6:7 says about Stephen and the others who were chosen…

“So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

It would seem that the “secret” to church growth has nothing to do with great buildings or well-designed programs or even powerfully delivered sermons but with men who live full lives in the way that Stephen did.