By Lorraine Taylor
Those who profess Jesus of Nazareth as Lord and choose to follow His way of being are celebrating his death, burial and resurrection in what is called Holy Week.
While celebrating memorial events is vital —- remembering what Jesus had done and all He has accomplished in our past history is a reason to celebrate daily!
In scriptures, it is written that Jesus was born in a lowly manger, raised as a human, and was both man and God (Matthew 1:18-25).
These truths are basic tenets that have become foundation beliefs of the Christian faith that believers worldwide hold.
As a believer, I, too, celebrate this same Jesus who was born both human and God.
Jesus was born, not as a royal King that the Jewish people anticipated, but his birth came in the lowliest of ways and He was born in a dirty, smelly-manager where where he lay among the dung of the earth.
Does this not show humility and servant-hood as the essential traits Jesus displayed in his ministry that included all people, all races, all socioeconomic groups in His radical message that turned the world upside-down.
Jesus modeled the way of the Cross as humble service carried out and motivated with sincere, genuine, and the most authentic of holy love.
The radical life-altering message He came to live is not about position or title but instead is all about a lifestyle that displays and manifests His Father in all His splendor and glory!
In his earthly ministry, Jesus opposed the religious form, the religious garb, scripted prayers, and the outward puffed up and the boastful way persons of His time and culture worshiped God.
In today’s church culture Jesus opposes and confronts all self-made religion exchanging legalistic law for grace-liberty and abundant- life!
Jesus came to meet our greatest human need in that we are spiritually impoverished and lack understanding, insight, and power to live as He modeled and to love as He loved.
Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection resulted in the release of the Holy Spirit wherein man no longer worshiped God in the form of religion.
As believers we now worship this true God who dwells in us and among us as spirit-being whose love empowers and gifts to us His life.
Our lifestyle as believers is that this very divinity of the Life of Jesus is passing through our humanness as our life.
His life becomes in us the Jesus-way, the Jesus-truth, and the Jesus-life.
People no longer have to make long pilgrimages or the necessity of going to a temple or a building called ‘church’ to be with God or to praise, worship, and spend alone time with Him.
“In him (that is Christ) you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” Ephesians 1:13
“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” 1 Peter 1:23
In believing in Jesus, we have received this gift of His Holy Spirit whose life is imperishable and nothing, and no one can extinguish His life nor separate us from His love-spirit-being.
Those who believe and have received this life are born into a new way of being and deposited with the fully supplied life of Christ to live in this radical lifestyle that displays and manifests God’s greatest gift — love.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his glory and goodness.” 2 Peter 1:3
Each individual who believes in Jesus no longer follows the religion called Christianity. Instead, believers live as spirit-being cultivating a lifestyle that depicts this life of Christ as the source who empowers us to live in His fullness as life.
The Cross bears witnesses of humility – no boasting at the Cross – Phil 2:3-8
The Cross bears witness of identification — no detachment at the Cross – Phil 2:7
The Cross bears witness of sacrifice – no self-preservation at the Cross – Phil 2:8
The Cross bears witness of exaltation – the gifts of perspective and authority – Phil 2:9
We bear witness of the Cross of Christ as our holy and consecrated being. Wedo not use our faith in self-interests, but we use our self as Christ in self-expenditure.
The expending of His life in the sacrificial act of love on the Cross was for the greater good that all might be reconciled and brought into a personal relationship with this Triune spirit whose name is God.
“Our confidence and security as believers are in our expression of this Christ as our realization He is our living Hope, and His spirit-being flourishes as life” Psalm 33:18-2.
Our confidence and security is in an All-knowing God – Psalm 33:13-15, 18
Our trust and safety is in an All-sufficient God – Psalm 33:16-17, 19-20
Our joyful confidence and our empowered Hope is Passion for what is possible because of who is with us and whose life has promised never to leave or forsake us – Psalm 33:20-22
We receive the witness of joy (Phil 2:9-11), a holy gladness rooted in the unseen things of God (Heb 12:2), and we have received the witness of God’s perspective (2 Cor 4:16-18).
We have received the full and manifested revelation for those He loves (John 14:21), and in receiving the witness of Authority (John 10:18), we have a sufficient source of life that is not used for any evil (1 John 5:18).
The way of the Cross is the way of life that bears witness to a lifestyle passionately expressive of His life that manifests God’s desired goodness, truth and mercy.
His holy life is tightly bound in ours and His fullness is conveyed as majestic, magnificent, astounding, lavish, and luxurious love towards each person He has created for this holy union of communion endeared-fellowship.
The truth of the gospel is a God-centered (Ga 1:12, 15, 16), a Grace-empowered (Ga 1:6, 12, 15) lifestyle that results in Liberty (Ga 5:3) in an experiential origination in Christ Himself (Gal 1:11-2). God reveals this gospel (Ga 1:12) where we as believers have fully and freely received, contain and express His life as our life (1 John 5:11,12).
I, as a believer in Christ, no longer live by religion, rituals, rules, traditions, or my self-made professions —- but instead, I live by faith in the life of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).
The celebration of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is bearing witness to this gospel of forgiveness, mercy, light, truth, and grace-life.
God reveals this gospel (Ga 1:12), where we as believers have fully and freely received, contain and express His life as life (1 John 5:11,12).
I, as a believer in Christ, no longer live by religion, rituals, rules, traditions, or my self-made professions —- but instead, I live by faith in the life of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20).
This spirit-way of being in Jesus, whose life is intricately bound in ours, is a love-person who fosters and nourishes His holy fruits in human frailty.
As believers we daily celebrate living from the risen and resurrected life of Jesus as living gospels in manifesting the fullness of God’s expression as life!
