{"id":1698,"date":"2011-05-08T18:54:55","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T23:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2011-10-31T18:44:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T23:44:24","slug":"twrac-033-5811-dying-into-new-life-crucified-with-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/applications\/twrac-033-5811-dying-into-new-life-crucified-with-christ","title":{"rendered":"TWRAC 033 (5\/8\/11): Dying into New Life—Crucified with Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Week’s Recovery Application Challenge<\/h2>\n

Please click on TWIRL 033<\/span><\/a> for this week’s lesson before continuing with this application challenge. <\/span><\/h5>\n

Dying into New Life—Crucified with Christ<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

To be crucified with Christ is not to hang on a cross. You will not die in the sin of all mankind. To take up your cross daily does not necessarily mean that you will be beaten to within an inch of your life (although there are many in the world that have been and will continue to be beaten and martyred for their faith in Jesus) and expected to carry on our ripped open flesh a 125 pound chunk of lumber. You are not buried with Christ, nor are you condemned with Christ. So what does it mean to be crucified with Christ and to take up your cross daily?<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Fran Leeman speaks of living a \u201c<\/span>cross-shaped life<\/span><\/a>\u201c. This means that we are to deny our selfish desires and intentions, willingly dying to what we have known to be the remedy of our discontent, to live a separated life\u2014separated into the life committed fully to the will of God. He has commented on the gesture seen in Catholic mass and private prayer. (In general, the gesture of touching one\u2019s forehead, then the chest, then the left shoulder, followed by the right shoulder, symbolizes in the religious sense Christ\u2019s journey from heaven to earth, then his descent to hell following his death, and finally being exalted to the right hand of the Father. It also represents the triune God of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.) Pastor Leeman stated that in the early century church, the demonstrative gesture of the cross represented a commitment to Christ\u2019s command to take up one\u2019s cross in commitment to a lifestyle conformed to living the way Jesus lived, humbly and willing to deny oneself sacrificially to the point of possibly dying for the sake of the ultimate prize: resurrection.<\/span><\/p>\n

To be crucified with Christ is to willingly surrender as Jesus did. Jesus did not want to experience the struggle and pain of crucifixion and condemnation. He prayed desperately that He not have to endure that. Yet, even while in a position of strength (remember His captors were pinned to the ground), Jesus willingly denied Himself, surrendering to the plan and purpose of God for His life, and for all life. The cross that Jesus carried possessed the weight of all of your sin, which knocked Him to the ground. The cross you carry contains the weight of your selfishness in your old nature. Your cross contains your desires of the flesh. The miracle is that you are no longer bound by them. In fact, Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden light. He is your Simon of Cyrene with one important difference. Jesus Christ is God and in reality bears the weight of your cross if and when\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026. you let Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

As you\u00a0admit<\/strong><\/em> the obvious: you are not in control , that you have made a mess of things, and you cannot fix yourself; having\u00a0believe<\/strong><\/em>d that God is in control and that you are crucified with Christ in loving relationship with Him and under His merciful plan of grace; surrendered, you\u00a0now<\/em> deny yourself in your selfishness, empowered by Jesus Christ to carry the cross of your selfish intentions, and\u00a0commit <\/strong><\/em>to the new life you have inherited in your experience of resurrection. When you experience the miracle of being crucified with Christ through your willingness to surrender yourself into the hands of the miracle maker we die into new life\u00a0(<\/span>Romans 12:1-2<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

The truth of the crucifixion of Jesus, along with the eternal reality that you and I have been crucified with Him, unfortunately does not mean that we will never again make selfish mistakes (called sin), because we most certainly will. The miracle is that we have been absolutely forgiven of our sin (1 John 1:9<\/span><\/a>), and our broken lives have been resurrected into new lives. The tragedy is for those who reject this truth and choose to align themselves eternally with their sin. Jesus, in His death on the cross, condemned our sin to the belly of the earth. To align oneself with sin outside of relationship with Christ is to choose an eternity of condemnation with that sin. To confess the sin and experience forgiveness in relationship with Christ is to be crucified with Christ, resurrected into eternity with Him. Hallelujah! Praise God for this! <\/span><\/p>\n

14<\/sup> So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.\u00a015<\/sup> This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.\u00a016<\/sup> So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.<\/strong> Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

Please, take the time to meditate on this truth. If you have not already, take the time to read the scriptures linked throughout this writing. Please take the time to talk to the Sympathetic Savior who has blessed you with this wonderful opportunity to live a cross-shaped life. Finally, pray to get to know Jesus Christ in the fullness of who He is so that you may realize by experience the fullness of who you are in relationship with Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walk, not according to the old system of expectations that keeps you stuck and holds you down, but live in the Spirit of the truth of what you have realized today.<\/span><\/p>\n