“I've been crucified with
Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I
live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for
me” (Galatians
2:20).
Shortly following the magnificent and awesome events
surrounding the establishment of our Lord’s kingdom in Acts
Chapter Two, we
find two of the apostles of Jesus actively working to increase the
numbers of
this great family. Despite Peter and John’s arrest, Luke
records for us, “…the
number of the men came to be about five thousand” (Acts 4:4).
These men were
about to stand before the same accusers and murderers of the Christ
Himself.
Though we would expect to see in them fear after being witness to such
a horrible
death of the Lords, they exhibit the exact opposite.
Peter, by the guidance of the promised Holy Spirit,
defended their healing of the lame man and preaching in Acts Three and
Four. In
his discourse, Peter accuses the men of rejecting Jesus as the
“chief
cornerstone” and pronounces their eternal demise by his
glorious declaration
that salvation was in none other, “…for there is
no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved”
(Acts 4:12). These rulers made an interesting observation
following this
convicting defense. They saw the boldness of the two men,
“…they marveled” and
“…realized they had been with Jesus”
(Acts 4:13).
What a powerful example Peter and John set for us as
Christians today. Simply by acting with such boldness, the Jewish
leaders
realized with whom these men had been associated: Jesus! How often
do we make
such an impression on those with whom we come in contact that they marvel at our portrayal of the spirit of
the Lord? It would probably be a safe venture to say such occurrences
are rare.
As infrequent as it may be in our day, it was the fundamental nature of
the
life carried by the apostles and those living in the first century.
Paul said,
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”
(Philippians 1:21). Notice
Paul did not say, “To live is to try to follow
Christ,” or, “To live is to be
like Christ,” but that living “is
Christ” (emp. added). If Paul was going to live on
earth, the very
essence and purpose of his life would be to the magnification of Jesus
the
Christ.
How many of us can say that everything we do in life is
motivated and under girded by our obedience, submission and devotion to
Jesus?
Are we living in such a way that the world can see Jesus in all that we
do, or
is it only on Sundays and Wednesdays we portray Him? Paul gave orders
to those
brethren at Corinth to be the kind of example that allowed men to see
Christ.
He wrote in 2 Corinthians
3:2-3,
“You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by
all men; clearly
you are an epistle of Christ…written…not on
tablets of stone but on tablets of
flesh, that is, of the heart.” He
makes it very clear that the way we conduct ourselves ought to speak to
the
world the message of the Messiah.
Oh, what great work could be done in the kingdom if all
Christians lived in such a way that, no matter the situation or
company, some
non-Christian could come in contact with Jesus. Let us make the vow
that Paul
made—“to live is Christ”—that
all those who come in contact with us, may also
come in contact with the Savior.
