Discipleship - faith

“I have 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

The early preaching disciples always stressed the power of the Risen Lord. They never regarded themselves as sources of power, but only as channels of power. They were well aware of the limitations of what they could do. They were also aware that there was no limitation to what the Risen Christ could do through them and with them. Therein lies the secret of the Christian life. The Christian knows that so long as he thinks of what I can do and what I can be there can be nothing but failure and frustration and fear; but when he thinks of ‘not I but Christ in me’ there can be nothing but peace and power.’ 

I recall a hymn that had the words;

Channels only, blessed Master,

But with all Thy wondrous pow’r

Flowing through us, Thou canst use us

Every day and every hour.

It was C S Lewis who said “Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self…”

John MacArthur tells this awesome story: There once was an old church in England. A sign on the front of the building read, ''We preach Christ crucified.'' After a time, ivy grew up and obscured the last word and it read, 'We preach Christ.''

The ivy grew some more, and the motto read, "We preach.'' Finally, ivy covered the entire sign, and the church died.

Such is the fate of any church that fails to carry out its mission in the world.

Loving God, you have given us your Son Jesus

To be our Teacher, our Friend and our Saviour

And you have asked us to follow him every day of our lives. 

Accept this, our offering of money

And with it our offering of ourselves

To share the Good News of Jesus with people everywhere, 

We ask this in his Name, Amen.