Louie Giglio - Epicenter - Part 2
We talked last week about how a key of this whole proclamation of no condemnation is whether or not we are positionally in Christ. It is says, «There is therefore, now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus». So, not just that there’s no condemnation, the no condemnation is specifically the benefit and the gift of those people who are in Christ Jesus. So, we ended the gathering last week with such an important question, «Are you in Christ»? Not, are you in church? Not, are you a part of a denomination? Not, did you pray a prayer and raise your hand at the end of a gathering? Not, is your name on the roll of some church somewhere? Not, are you a good person? Are you trying hard? But are you in Christ? And in if you are in Christ, do you see yourself in Christ? Do you understand who you are in Christ?
And so, we bring back today the gospel according to Tupperware. An oldie but a goodie for my life. Been sharing this as long as I can remember. And this is a Tupperware, and some of you don’t even know what Tupperware is. But it’s, you get it. This is you. This is your person. And positionally, the goal of faith and the work of faith is to get you into Christ. So, it’s not just that you believed in Christ, but when you put your faith in Him. It says earlier in Romans 6 that we were united with Christ in baptism unto death, and that we were raised to walk in newness of life. And that all happened because we were united with Christ. And then, all through Paul’s writing he uses this phrase, «In Christ, in Christ, that we are in Christ. What is true of us because we’re in Christ».
And one of the main things is true is there’s no condemnation for us because we’re in Christ. And so, to see that kinda helps a little bit. So, that is obviously you, but this is Christ. And when we’re saved, we get a new position and a new identity. 'Cause a lot of us are thinking about all the things that are wrong with us. I mean, Paul said it a few verses earlier, he said, «What a wretched man I am. I do what I don’t wanna do, and I don’t do what I do wanna do». And then you just go on down from there. And a lot of us in this gathering today are pretty focused on this part. And all the stuff that we do like about it, all the things we don’t like about it. What we’re frustrated about, what we wish were true, what we wish was different. We’re stumbling over our own thinking about ourselves. But in the gospel, something has happened. We now, positionally, by faith, are in Christ.
So, the news is already pretty good. 'Cause I’m still me, and I’m still in there, and I still got flesh, but I’m in a new position now. And it’s not just, like, for a moment. This is me eternally, unseparably. This is how he’s gonna end this chapter 8. «That no one separate me from the love of God 'cause I’m in Christ». I can’t be condemned 'cause I’m in Christ. I’m not going to hell because I’m in Christ. But there’s something else true. It says in Colossians that the mystery of the gospel Paul writes in Colossians 1, is that it’s Christ in you the hope of glory. So, not only am I in Christ, but… You see it, right? But Christ is in me. It’s all the same thing but it’s nice to say it differently. I’m in Christ and Christ is in me.
That’s where I am right now, by faith. You may be sitting on row 17, but if you put your faith in Jesus, you’re in Christ and Christ is in you. That’s where you’re sitting right now. Where’s Christ sitting right now? At the right hand of the Father. So, where are you? I’m with Him. I was united with Him in His death, so I’m a part of that. I wasn’t physically there that day but spiritually I was, because I have been joined to Jesus. And I’m united with Him by baptism into His death and I have been raised with Him into brand new life. So, when He came out of that tomb, I came out of that tomb. When He came out of His grave, I came out of my grave because I have joined my life to the story of Jesus. And He is in me by faith.
So, I’m still in this equation. I’m getting less and less predominant to be hidden with Christ in God. Pretty powerful. I’ll show you what it looks like. «If God is for us, who could be against us»? That’s what Paul is writing at the end of this chapter. And some of us have been convinced by the enemy, even though Christ is in us, and we are in Christ, and we’re hidden with Christ in God, that we can’t. And God is wanting to ask two questions today. A, are you in Christ? 'Cause if you’re not in Christ, forget all that. If you’re not in Christ then… Just bear with me for a second 'cause I feel like something’s landing right now. If you’re not in Christ and Christ isn’t in you, then you’re just a free agent. You’re like, «Thank you. That’s what I wanna be. I don’t want anybody to tell me anything».
Great. That’s a choice. And you are free floating as a free agent, and you are 100% in charge of you. But when the end comes, and it’s surely coming, and a Holy God, a Holy, righteous, just, perfect God, obliterates sin in the world and everything connected to it, when that wave comes, you have nothing to mediate. It’s just you. But the gospel is a story of a God who loves you and who knows that on your own you can’t, but He knows that if Christ is in you, you surely can. And He knows that if you could be tucked away in connection with the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and then you could be hidden into God, in Him, that the enemy has gotten no way to convince you that you can’t. Because you are in a brand-new relationship with Him. He tells us in this passage we just read a few things that are true about us because we’re in Christ.
I wanna go to the end of it and I’m just gonna work in this big text that we’ve got that we started with. But I want you to see these really fast. And obviously, we’re all hopefully reading Romans 8 and you’re, you know, sitting in it, and meditating, and memorizing. But he tells us a few things. These are true of you if you’re in Christ. Is anybody in Christ? Let me just ask. Is anybody in Christ. Anybody at Cumberland in Christ today? Okay, if you’re in Christ these are a few things that are true of you. Go down to that last verse we read, verse 17. It says, «Now, if we are children,» here is gonna be two of them, «We are heirs. If we’re children, then we’re heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ».
So, first thing that’s true about you because you’re in Christ, you’re an heir of God. In other words, you’re in the will. And whatever Jesus has coming, you have coming, because you’re in Christ. So, when Christ comes back in glory, hello, this is a mind-boggling thought, we’re not gonna be standing on the sideline going, «Wow, that is so impressive». We’re gonna be with Him 'cause we’re in Him. You’re like, «Is that in the Bible»? Yes. That same passage Colossians 3. And when He comes, we will appear with Him in glory. Yes, we’ll be there. But, right now, Paul writes in another place that we’re seated with Him at the right hand of God. Where He is, we are. Whatever He has, we have. We are not Christ, but we are in Christ, and we’re co-heirs with Him. So, whatever future He has coming, we have coming, and we’re children.
Second thing it tells us, «You’re God’s children». Look a few verses up. It says, «The spirit,» let’s just look at verse 15, «That you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again, rather the spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship». You’re like, «Well, you mean, the daughtership and sonship». Well, Paul is not trying to distinguish between male and female in this moment, what he’s saying is, he’s using a legal term of a firstborn son’s right in adoption. Adopted to sonship to that firstborn son’s position in a family in the context of where Paul is writing. That that son had all of the power of the name of his father and everything that came with it. And he’s saying, «You got that when God adopted you». You’re like, «God adopted us»? Yes. We’re children of God.
Two different ways. One, Jesus said, because we’ve been born again spiritually. When we put our faith in God, our spirit came to life. Born not of flesh, not of the will of man. 1 John says, «But born of God». But secondly, we were chosen by God. So, we’re born by faith as children of God, chosen as children through the adoption that we have received in Christ Jesus. So, we’re both born children of God spiritually, but he also picked you. He chose you. My dad will bring me through that. My dad will provide. My father has it. I’m in Christ, I know who I am, and I know where I am. I have a brand-new position and a brand-new identity. So, don’t try to tell me I can’t 'cause, «I can do all things,» hello? «Through Christ who gives me strength». I got a brand-new position and I’m an heir, and I’m a child of God. I’m in Christ so I have the spirit. I, now, am connected to the Spirit of God.
Look at verse 11. It says, «And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His spirit who lives in you». I am an heir, I am a child, I have the spirit, And that makes this main point a reality. Because I’m in Christ, I know I have the potential to live free from the flesh and to follow the Spirit of God. I have the potential to live free from the flesh. «You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh». And that’s NIV that says this, «Realm of the flesh». Most translations just say, «You, however, are not in the flesh or not of the flesh… but are in the realm of the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness that you can live free».
Notice how he says it a little bit earlier. He says, «Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the spirit, have their mind set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace». So, how do we move into this reality, this potential, this possibility, that we can live free from the tyranny of the flesh in our lives? How do we get in on what Paul was saying, «Who will deliver me from this body of death? Old, wretched man that I am, who can help me not do the things I don’t wanna do and not do the things I do wanna do? Who can help me? Who can set me free? Who can change that narrative»? And then he says, «Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord».
And then, we’re right into Romans 8. And in chapter 8, Paul unpacks that reality. And the way he unpacks it is by telling us who we are, and telling us because of who we are that we don’t have to live under the tyranny of the flesh, in bondage to the flesh. But we have an option to live in obedience to the Spirit of God. And he tells us right here how to do it. «Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires, but those who live in accordance with the spirit, have their mind set on what the Spirit desires». What he’s saying is that the potential is there because you’re in Christ. But the way that you actualize that has everything to do with your mind set. The mind set on the flesh, death. The mind set on the spirit, life. It’s a mindset.
And I’m not talking about the power of positive thinking, except that I am talking about the power of thinking positively. Because he’s saying, «Where is your mind set»? Is your mind set on the flesh or is your mind set on the spiritual world, who you are, who Christ is, who God is, where you are, what He’s doing in you, what He’s made available to you, who you are because of Him? Or, are you stuck over the fleshly zone over here with your mind set on the flesh? And that’s gonna be the difference, he is saying, between whether or not you experience this freedom, this victory that is possible in your life. I’m kinda fast forwarding a little bit trying to find this other passage. But I want you to see the reality of what has happened to us.
It says in Romans, a few chapters forward, in Romans chapter 12:2, It says, «Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind». In other words, what is your mind set on? Because that’s gonna be where you find yourself. So, not living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit doesn’t start with something you do, it starts with something you think. And we’ve said this so many times in the last couple of years here, that God is giving you the power through Christ to take control of your thinking. Because the battle for your life of whether you’re gonna live according to the flesh or according to the spirit is not hinge on how strong you are. It hinges on how good your thinking is, how strong your thoughts are.
And Paul even in another place tells us through the power of God, «We’ve gotta take every thought that comes into our mind captive through Christ». We gotta make it obedient to Christ. We can’t let anything live rent free in our heads. And we certainly can’t harbor a lie in our minds, and dwell on it, and expect to live out the power, and the freedom, and the possibility, that is ours in Christ. We have to change the way we think. And this is what he’s saying right here that we’re transformed by the renewing of our minds. That’s how we don’t conform to the pattern of this world, i.e. live like the flesh wants us to. And he says, «And then, once you do that, you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is. His good, His pleasing, and His perfect will».
This will be the fruit that is coming in your life. And that’s what God is really wanting us to see, is this process. Don’t be conformed to the old. Don’t get in here and feel like, «This is me». Just because your flesh has still got the effects of fallen man and it, don’t get into this mindset that, «This is me. This is me, this is what I do, this is how I live. And you know what? I can beat it. I’ve tried. I’ve tried everything. I can’t control it. It gets the best of me a lot of days». He’s saying, «No. Don’t be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed». And I am going to renew my mind. I am going to think differently. I’m going to dwell, as Paul writes in another one of his letters, «On the things that are good, and the things that are lovely, and the things that are beautiful, and the things that are praiseworthy, and the things that are of good report».
I’m gonna set my mind on these things, the discounted things in our culture. I’m gonna count them as the most precious things. And I’m gonna set my mind on them. I am going to align my thoughts with God’s thoughts. And if God doesn’t think it about me, I’m not gonna think it about me. I’m gonna align my actions with God’s thoughts. I’m going to jettison all other thoughts with God’s thoughts. And I’m gonna renovate my mind. I’m gonna do what Doctor Caroline Leaf says. I’m gonna build a new highway in my mind. All of these neural scientists say it in some relatively close proximity that you can build a new thought and create a new habit somewhere around 30 to 90 days.
Doctor Caroline Leaf says 66 days you can create a new habit. And what you do is you’re constantly thinking the same thought, the positive thought, a true thought, a right thought about you or about a situation, or about somebody, and you consistently think that thought for 66 days. She said you actually build a neural highway in your brain, a new neural pathway in your brain. And that’s the way thoughts travel around in our mind, on these freeways that are built overtime. And think about it. Some of us have not been focusing on who we are in Christ. We’ve been focusing on who we are in our mindset and in our thinking and in somebody else’s opinion, and what circumstances said about us. And we’ve been thinking some negative thought about ourselves, some of us, for 20 years.
Imagine what kind of freeway you build in 20 years in your brain. That’s how the 16 and 18, the 16 wheelers that… those are scary too. But that’s how the 18 wheelers come down your brain hauling all the freight. 'Cause there’s a 20-year highway built in there, and you need a new highway. Amen. And that’s what God is giving you the power to do in here. So, yes, you’re an heir. But what difference is it gonna make if you don’t know who you are in Christ and you’re not thinking right? You’re gonna live like a pauper on earth and you’re gonna miss out on storing up treasure in Heaven even though you were a co-heir of Christ your whole life.
It’s amazing that you’re a child of God. But what difference is it gonna make if you don’t renew your mind to that and you live like you’re unwanted, you live like you’ve been forsaken, you live like you’re left behind, when you’re a child of God? And what difference is it gonna make if you have a Father who’s bigger than everything that you’re afraid of? If your mind isn’t renewed to Him, then you’re just gonna be afraid of everything. He says about us in Christ that we are loved. He chose you, He picked you, you are chosen. Before you saw Him, He saw you. And He said, «I want him. I want her. I wanna chose her. I wanna adopt her. I wanna bring her into my story. I wanna make her my daughter».
You are loved. You are chosen. You are justified. We talked about last week. How do you live differently when your mind is renewed that you’re justified? You belong. You are secure. You are amply supplied in Christ. You are accomplished in Christ. You are seated with Him at the right hand of God. So, yes, do good on earth, but you ain’t ever getting higher than where you already are. You’re not forsaken. You are not forsaken. You’re like, «I’m a… But you don’t know me. You don’t know my story». I don’t need to.
Are you in Christ? You are not forsaken. Yes, we’ve all had stuff go wrong, horrible stuff in our stories, but we’re not forsaken. We’re healed in Christ. Amen? We are whole. We are victorious, not victims. Renew my mind. I’m in Christ. Christ is risen. Christ is crowned. Christ is seated. Christ is reigning. Christ is ruling. Christ is sovereign. Christ is at the top. Christ has the name above every name. He has the title above every title. Christ is at the pinnacle of everything that’s ever existed in time, and space, and eternity. Christ is superior to everything, and I am in Christ. I am blessed.
If you’re in Christ, you are able. If you’re in Christ, you are purposed. you are royal, you are spiritual you are led, you are cared about, you are holy, you are a son, you are a daughter, you are destined, you are seated. You are somebody in Christ. You have a new position and a brand-new identity in Christ. Oh, come on, church. We are talking about a brand-new life, a brand new life. And that’s why this talk is called, «A New Mindset for a Brand-New Way of Life».