“Do you not realize…!” (Week 5:3)

Topic: Week 5- Christ in us
Theme for 6 Weeks- Who is Jesus and what difference does it make?

Read 2 Corinthians 13:5; Galatians 2:20

“Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?!” In the midst of this letter Paul writes to the Corinthian believers asking them to examine themselves, he asks this question. We could ask that same question, perhaps rhetorically.

It’s pretty startling if we step back from it and ponder the question. It reiterates what is said in Galatians 2:20 about Christ living in those who acknowledge him as Lord.

When we ask, “Who is Jesus?,” this is part of the answer: Jesus Christ is in us.

This can get a bit confusing: who, actually, is living within? Christ? The Holy Spirit? The Spirit of Christ? The Spirit of God? (see Romans 8:9-11) We can only allude to it here and it embraces an understanding of the triune God- this mystery and truth, and the oneness of God and the various ways God is manifest.

I believe it’s worth noting a lengthier quote from Lewis Smedes, the late theologian/ethicist who taught at Fuller Seminary, in his book Union with Christ, “The Christ within is the Lord Jesus…History moves on in redemption. The specific person of Calvary becomes the specific Lord of heaven and earth. And his modus operandi changes, not to fit the changing epoch, but to create the new epoch. He is now the Lord who operates effectively through the Spirit. This is not merely a change in title; it is not only an elevation in status. It is a shift in the kind of work He does and in the manner in which He does it. Being the Lord Jesus within us, He is at work within us in the freedom of His lordly power.” (p. 134)

Jesus is Lord, operating “effectively through the Spirit,” living within. We, in our bodies individually and collectively (next week’s topic), are the temples-the locus, of where the Spirit dwells.

Amazing.

Question: What might transpire if you listened to (and prayed) this question over and over again this morning (evening or whatever): “Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have promised to never leave me. Do I realize that you, operating ‘effectively through the Spirit,’ live in me? I want to live in your kingdom way this day, this week, living in that revolutionary kingdom by your presence within me. Amen.