Christ As Living Outlaw – You As Living Protagonist
It’s weird what can live inside of us.
Galatians 2 says: If, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
On our skin lives more creatures than we could name in ten minutes. In our intestinal track lives organisms that help with digestion but still creep us out just thinking about living things inside of us. And don’t even think of the tapeworm.
One of my teachers in high school, who I believe was prone to exaggeration, or sensationalism, told us a story in class one time about a person he was told had a bee fly up his nose while he was sleeping and didn’t know it. Over the course of a couple of weeks he started getting migraines and didn’t know why, so he went to the doctor. They ran some tests and found out that he had a beehive in his sinuses. I have a hard time believing that one, but he never said the story was made up.
It’s weird what can live inside of us. I have this theory: people just don’t think about what’s living inside of them. And that includes God. We just don’t. Except on those occasions that a word or an act really haunts us, or we feel the power of God moving us. Many people are too busy and too consumed to think about God living inside of them. I’m just as guilty as the next person of being busy and not taking the time I need to focus on God and how He wants to move me to great things and be better. I miss those times when I’m busy cleaning and something distracts me and I get frustrated that I didn’t accomplish all that I wanted. I miss it when my To-Do List for the day doesn’t get satisfied at the end of the work day and I leave feeling empty because of it. I miss it when I do my sermon prep and I fall into the comparison trap of other, big name preachers who never seem to preach a bad sermon. I miss it all the time.
My simple thought, as I think how much the Lord moved us in our worship services this past Easter Sunday, is Christ lives in us to be the continual outlaw. Christ lives in us to be the continual criminal. Christ lives in us to be the continual scapegoat. We will always be transgressors as long as sin has a hold on how we use our bodies and everything that God has given us. But Christ lives to remove the mantle of transgressor from us and transfer it to Himself. I think that’s partly what Galatians here is saying: Christ lives in us to be the one who sin clings to with the message of the cross, but He also lives in us to make sure that we remember that as Christ lives to remove that outlaw status from us, we are then freed to let faith stand for itself in us. When those moments of distraction pass us by with no thought on living for Christ, we have faith as the backbone of remembrance. It recalls the outlaw, criminal, and transgressor in all of us, and then sends a signal to our heart to transfer all of that to the One who never leaves, will never die again, and who continually takes all of that bad stuff to Himself.
Through the crucifixion, we feel God’s pain so that we can see how He lives. The implication is this: for every outlaw regret, there is the opportunity to do something excessively extravagant. When faith takes that leap in us, where it is not just the foundation but much more, we can look at the cares we cast on Christ and we can do something faith-filled that makes that sin and weakness pale in comparison. Because we have been freed, we have that grace to act with possibility. And God looks for the ones who seek possibilities. It is within those who look at the crucifixion as having meaning that God has endless opportunities to move His Kingdom forward. Those who are not moved by the penalty of death will never be moved by the grace of new life.
So, Galatians call us to embrace what’s living inside of us. Understand it. Know the fullness of it. Move as the power of Christ moves you. Amen.
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