I Am Crucified

What is the best method to get to the top? To be the best in your profession? How can you become the most successful in your family? In your town? How can you become famous? What is the path to being very important?

Well, it is not the path that most think it is. It is not by getting all you can. It is not by putting others down. It is not about how much money you make. It is not about getting on the TV news every night.

So, how does it work?

What is the best path?

It is found in the Bible, in Galatians 2:20, which we will read and consider in just a moment. So, if you got a Bible, go get it while I talk to the others.

If you don’t have a Bible, here is what you should do first. Call this number. Or Text this number. Tell us you want that free bible offer. Then give us your first and last name, and your complete mailing address including city, state, and zip. We will get one coming your way, right away, thanks to the generosity of members of the Church of Christ.

The way to the top and great prominence is a 3-part process. And like most processes, unless you do all 3, it won’t work. It will not turn out very well.

The 3 parts are found in Gal 2:20. Let’s just read what God recorded for us.

Galatians 2:20  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.

The first part is for you to die. Not physically, but from everything about yourself.

You need to be able to say, “I am Crucified.”

Romans 6:6  We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

You need to think about self-abandonment. Your hopes and aspirations are no longer. No longer about being the BEST in a profession. Not about being popular. It is by considering yourself as good as dead.

This is easier to do when you realize how great a self-emptying, self-sacrificing being Jesus was when he came from heaven to here.

Philippians 2:5-8  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  (6)  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  (7)  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  (8)  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Jesus allowed himself to be crucified.

You can say, “I am crucified”, but only if You set aside your ambitions for success. No longer aiming to be the boss. Not expecting a fine new car yearly. Not having a large home. You put your pride away and act like the lowest person in the company, in your home, at your congregation. You make serving others more important than rewarding yourself.

The 1st part is to die to yourself.

The 2nd part is to say, “I am not me.”

No longer is living about ME.

Jesus said in Luke 14:26  “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

Jesus is saying that if you are not at the bottom of the pile, completely humble, you are not capable of being his disciple.

Philippians 2:3  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

This is a big idea. You see other people in the company, your home, at church, everywhere, all of them, as more important than you are.

So life is no longer about ME. Now, it is about everyone but me.

I love and serve my spouse. I teach and train my children about Jesus every day. When they wake up, when they are eating their breakfast, when they head off to school, when they get home from school, when they are watching TV or videos, when they lie down at night.

I work faithfully for my boss or superior.

Colossians 3:22-23  Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.  (23)  Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the lord and not for men,

So when I go to church, I go to serve others. It is not about what is in it for me. Not about what I can get, but what I can give

In the congregation, I will help follow-saints grow, mature, strengthen each other, laugh, and cry. Whatever it takes for them to succeed.

Life itself is not about me.

I am saying, “I am not me.”

So, who is this person? Who am I, now?

This is the 3rd part. This is the most important part of this 3-step process.

You must first die to yourself.

2nd, you must develop the humility of saying, “I am not me.”

Then, and only, will you be able to do part 3.

You must be capable of saying what is said in Gal 2:20.  “Christ is in me.”

It should be Christ operating from my body along with me.

Whatever he wants is what he and I do.

If a friend is hungry, I will find a way to feed him.

If travelers are coming through town, I will provide a place for them to stay.

If someone is out of clothes, I will not put them in my old rags. I will buy them new clothes.

I will take food to the sick or sit with the dying.

If a friend or neighbor is incarcerated, I will go see him or send him letters. I will stay in touch.

Read with me what Jesus said in Matthew 25:34-  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  (35)  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  (36)  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  (37)  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  (38)  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  (39)  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’  (40)  And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

The 3 parts are:

1. Crucifying self
2. Saying and living like “I am not me.”
3. Being an exact duplicate of Jesus.

What did James tell  us in James 4:6? “But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”??

And then again in James 4:10  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

And finally, 1 Peter 5:6  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

That is when you will be at your greatest, the most successful in your family, in your town, in your congregation.

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