I am sure that most Christians have heard it said that, "Christianity is not a religion, Christianity is a relationship with Christ." We tell people that they must have a "personal relationship" with Jesus, but what does that phrase mean? Most Christians I meet know very little about a relationship with Jesus let alone a meaningful intimacy with Him. They long for power in their lives, but they do not have a sense of His presence. The unfortunate result is a life of frustration lacking the abundance which Jesus promised. The answer to having power to live a victorious life is found in self denial and Holy Spirit empowerment. In our association we call the denial of our self life and the appropriation of Christ as our life by the name the exchanged life.
In John chapter five, verse 19, Jesus has given us the formula for what we call the exchanged life. Perhaps a better name for this life would be Christ's life. It is the very life of Christ manifest within the individual believer. Here is what Jesus Christ said of His earthly life:
"Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."
Jesus plainly taught that the life He lived was not His own but was an expression of the very life of God, His Father. Now, if Jesus, Himself, dared not live His own life (the Son can do nothing of Himself) by extension we know that we can do nothing of our own selves. The Christian life is in reality Christ living out His own life through the individual believer!
It has been said that only one out of five hundred persons on earth knows this precious truth. Most see Christianity as individuals attempting to live for Jesus instead of Jesus living in and through Christian people. This is why we have such a weak and indistinguishable form of Christianity today. See what Jesus said of Himself. In the next few verses He taught that if the Father worked through Him people would marvel and the "dead would be brought to life".
"For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these (the healing of a lame man in John 5:9), THAT YOU MAY MARVEL. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the SON GIVES LIFE TO WHOM HE WILL."(John 5:21)
The Laodicean church of this age thinks that it is rich and has need of nothing. Jesus declares this is not so! "..do you not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked?" (Rev. 3:17) And why is this so? Hear what Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3:20) We may be in the church but Jesus may be outside of our very lives. The result is that there is no resurrection power and nothing about which we should marvel in most of church life today. But, Jesus did not stop with this illustration of how to live the Exchanged Life, THE LIFE OF MARVELOUS RESURRECTION POWER.
His point in John 5:24 is that no one will be able to live at this level of faith if they doubt the permanence and freedom of this new life from Christ.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, BUT HAS PASSED FROM DEATH INTO LIFE."
Do you know this most assuredly, my friend? You cannot live in the realm of resurrection life if you are not sure that you have already passed over from the realm of sin and death to the realm of the perfect righteousness of Christ resulting in the life more abundant. Can you say with Jesus that you have already passed from death to life?
Our Lord's next point, in verse 26, is that His Father is the creator and the source of all life. By extension the Son, the second person of the eternal trinity, is the source of eternal life. In fact, by Him, the Son, every thing which is made, was made. (John 1:3)
"For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted for the Son to have life in Himself."
Jesus next makes a very painful statement in John 5:40 and it is from this statement that I have taken the subtitle to this article. YOU WON'T COME TO ME! You see Jesus is knocking at the door of human hearts desiring to come in and to have close fellowship with us. He wants us to enjoy the unity with Him that He experienced with His Father.
Jesus did nothing of Himself, only what the Father did in and through Him. In like manner Jesus desires that the believers do nothing in and of themselves, only what He does through them. However, this cannot happen with Christ shut outside of our lives. It only happens when we live dependent on Christ being intimately and completely united with us.
Most of us have seen the painting of Jesus knocking at a door and have been told that this represents Jesus seeking entrance into the heart of an unbeliever. Actually Revelation 3:20 does not picture the relationship between an unbeliever and Jesus. The picture of the knocking and external Christ is the picture of the Laodicean church of this age and so it pictures the individual believer's life lived in self-reliance. Jesus taught this same truth in His text about the vine and the branches. Remember that He said, "I am the vine and you are the branches, without Me you can do NOTHING" Now, back to John 5:39,40.
"You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you might have life."
Plainly then, the Scriptures are not the source of life, they simply point us to Jesus. Perhaps one of the reasons today's church believes it is rich when it is actually poor is that it boasts of great doctrine rather than a great Christ. Now I am not attempting to depreciate the Bible or great doctrine. I am attempting to elevate the person of Jesus to His rightful place above the Bible and theology. It is simply not enough to know the Bible of Jesus if we to not know the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus said it this way, these Scriptures speak of Me that you might come to Me for life.
Modern man seeks commodities such as life, peace and joy. Jesus says you cannot find life, peace, or joy. If, however, you receive Jesus and know Him intimately, then the very life of Chist in you will produce life, peace, and joy. It is the psychological necessity of every person to find provision, protection and power to conquer life. But frail and faulty humanity can never have perfect provision, protection or power. If, however, you receive Jesus and know Him intimately, then the very life of Chist in you will produce perfect provision, protection and power. So it is with eternal life. We are temporal creatures designed by our human birth to live for about 70 years and then to die. We cannot become eternal beings in and of ourselves. We can share eternal life when Christ becomes one with us. Through this union His eternal life becomes our eternal life. To have Jesus is to have life eternal!
Now, what would this look like in practice? John is careful to present this in the next chapter, chapter 6. The first illustration is that of PROVISION for our daily bread. Jesus had already taught His disciples to pray, "give us this day our daily bread." Now they are about to get an object lesson in God's provision through His Son.
This situation is that five thousand people have come to be near Jesus. What did they seek? They followed because they saw his miracles and the healing of the diseased. Clearly Jesus was outside of their lives, they were seeking Him for His blessings, not for Himself. Nevertheless, He was concerned for their needs and used the occasion to display resurrection power and cause them to marvel. Something very unimportant and useless had to die that day to produce the marvelous display of God's resurrection power. One small lad, whose mom had the foresight to send him to the meeting with a lunch, brought five barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus is about to offer five crackers and two sardines to five thousand people!
The lad had to, in essence, let his plans for lunch die, give it up to Jesus, in order that the resurrection of that sacrificed lunch might become a banquet. When the sack lunch was brought to Jesus it was only a snack. When Jesus was able to enter into that lunch it became all that five thousand people could eat. The very left-overs filled twelve baskets, one for each of the disciples! When Jesus, Himself, is our provision we have enough to feed hungry people and, as His followers, we can be well supplied from the left-overs!
What was the result? They did not seek Jesus for Himself, they wanted to make Him king so that they would have continued provision without any effort on their parts. Are they so different from ourselves? Do we seek Him for Himself or for His blessings?
LESSON ONE - Seek provisions from Jesus and He will surely depart from you. (John 6:15) No one wants to be used! SEEK JESUS FOR HIMSELF AND HE WILL SURELY PROVIDE FOR YOUR EVERY NEED.
Next, John shares a second lesson with us. The first relates to our provision and the second relates to our PROTECTION. You can count on it, there will be storms in your life! Occasionally you find yourself in the middle of the sea, in the midst of a terrible storm, and alone in the boat. Jesus does not seem to be present.
These experienced fishermen were in a life and death struggle with a raging sea. They were rowing furiously, and getting nowhere. Haven't you been there and done that? They were somewhat afraid of the storm, but they became terribly afraid of what they saw, Jesus walking toward them on the sea! We really are afraid of being in the presence of a water walker. After all, we are not supposed to be so casual about impossible situations are we? That would obviously take peace that passes all understanding! John tells us that they willingly received Him into the boat (John 6: 21) and immediately the boat was landed where they were going!
LESSON TWO - Invite Jesus into your boat in the midst of the storm and you will be brought safely through. JESUS, HIMSELF, IS OUR PROTECTION!
Matthew shares another insight with us about this same story. In addition to needing provision and protection we also need POWER. It is one thing to receive the water walker and it is quite another thing to become a water walker!
Matthew shared the story of Peter's experience in Matthew 14:28-31.
"And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. So He said 'Come'. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, HE WALKED ON THE WATER to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord save me!' And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith. Why did you doubt?'"
Most of us would rather relate to Peter's weakness in sinking due to unbelief rather than to congratulate Peter for taking the first few steps successfully. How about a spiritual "At-a-boy" for Peter? We may not walk perfectly on the water because we tend to look at the storm, but we were not called to our own perfection, only to His! Why not step out and experience the victory which comes when we obey His command to come and walk on the water?
LESSON THREE - Step out at His command and take charge of the storm in His name. JESUS, HIMSELF, IS OUR POWER.
All of this relates to the unfolding experience of Jesus as our Savior, Lord and Life. As our Savior He is our provision, as our Lord He is our protection, and as our Life He is our power! Perhaps it is time that we all stepped out of our boats and experienced His life as our life. Let's get out there and kick a few waves! "O you of little faith. Why do you doubt? You are not willing to come to Me that you might have life!"