In the word of Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, Old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new". It is important that we understand the all things that have become new – the dimensions of it. What are the implications of things becoming new to you? Our text today will be taking from the book of Acts of the Apostles 17:22-28. It says:
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
These are the things I believe are the three sides of our experiences in Christ. In Christ we both live and move and then in Christ we have our being. So if you want to understand the implication of our new life in Christ Jesus, it is simply that we live in Him, we move in Him and we have our being in Him. Today, our focus would be on that verse 28, "…for in Him we live and move and have our being…"; and we know who the Him is talking about. Now, someone may be wondering if there is any difference between the three words? Obviously, anything that is moving is not stagnant. When you move, it means you leave an old point to a new point. There is a transition and some progress.
There is a putting on of some sort and there is a putting off as well. You used to have something but now you don't have any more, that tells you that you have moved. Or you used to be at point A, but now you have moved to point B, that tells you there was a progress. There was a place you were and person that used to be but you are no more. Moving in Him simply means there is a change, it does not take place outside of Him but in Him. As a matter of fact, Christ is so big that you are able to change as many times as possible in Him. Are you alive or dead, then if you are alive it means you are in Him. Jesus said sometimes ago that those who feed on me will live because of me.
Listen to Audio Podcast: The Three Dimensions of Experiencing Christ
Life is sustained by feeding on something. When the Bible says in Him we live it then means that Christ life is the one sustaining you. You cannot do great and serious things except you are living on something that is producing that goodness in you. There are some food that we eat that necessarily produce some life in us. Jesus said, those who feed on me, they will live because of me. That means they will live the kind of life that I produce in them. It is not their responsibility to cook up or fake an appearance, it is as a result of what they have taken in that is producing a new thing in them. It is as simple as that!
So if food is as powerful as to determine what a person does, then it means we can change the way we see people or people see us by the kind of food we feed our spirit with. It is what you feed on that determines the kind of life you live, and you must never forget that. The Bible in Him we live. So every time we are looking for a life that is good, admirable and honourable in ourselves, the only thing we need to do, instead of going to the supermarket to buy bread, is to just look for Jesus, to look for Christ. Take Him in, let Him take a hold of you. When you take Him in, He will manifest Himself in you.
Christ is able to manifest Himself to the world through you if only you are able to take Him in. To some people, the bible is just a book you take to church every Sunday, and to them Christian or Christ is just a name you call after church service. They do not take him in, they only meet Him occasionally in the church and so because they do not take Him in, they cannot fake it because if they do anything, it would amount to them faking what they are not. They cannot do anything otherwise. Why is it that you are not patience? It is because you have not taking in what can produce patience in you. So if you are now trying to be patience without taking in the right food, then it would amount to you faking it.
If you would become a man or a woman that people will see you that you are really like Christ, then it is going to be because you are really taking in Christ. In Him we live, in Him we move as well. If you are moving in Christ, then it means you are hoping that Christ continues. That is why we understand that the depth and width of our God is beyond comprehension. You cannot fathom how wide and deep our God is. He is so wide that if you choose to run at 100km/h, you cannot outrun or outpace Him. You cannot go beyond Him. When you move forward, He is there. When you wait or reverse, He is still behind you. And when you decide to move forward, you will still find Him there. In Him we move!
We cannot exhaust Him. your greatness does not come to Him by surprise, and He does not envy your progress. No matter who you will become tomorrow, it is still within Him. You cannot become suddenly so big and then bigger than Him. Your bigness and your size is still within Him. Your joy is still within Him, He does not get jealous. It is only wise that one brings himself fully in Christ. Is it not wise to submit one who will always, even when you are the greatest in the world, you are still the greatest in Him.
You know what brings jealousy and envy is when you are thinking that somebody will outperform you or go beyond you. But no matter what you do, you are still with Him. Every time we take Christ in, we behave. When men see that behaviour, they glorify our father in heaven. When you take in wrong things, you misbehave. If we must behave, then we must continually feed on Him. He must continually be the focus, the one that we are aiming to become or to know.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Another way we can put that of 'His fullness' is by saying and of His fullness of His being we are becoming what we are becoming. When people see you they see so much of the grace of God. It is of His fullness that you are now demonstrating that grace. We have our consistency in Him. If you smile a lot, probably you have been smiling for the past sixteen years, it is because Christ smiles. And because I am still in Him, I will still continue to smile, that should be our experience and demeanour. So if a man want to have a change to a wrong thing, he should be the one that should leave Christ.
The secret to consistency and excellent behaviour is to remain in Christ. So you were patience yesterday, you are patient today. So in Him we have our being, and of His fullness we have all received and as we receive from Him on a daily basis, we remain who we are. We are not changing. A song says "I won't go back to the way I used to live." Which means there is a way I used to live before, but I will not go back to that life anymore. And the reason for my durability in this life is because in Him I have my being. The ground upon which I have been standing is Christ, He is a solid rock, He does not move.
This is how to know that this thing is three sides. There is a side of you living, there is a side of you moving in Christ and there is a side of you being, in Christ. I have my stability in Christ. That stability will only be guarantee if you remain in Christ because it is only in Christ that you can be. From His fullness you have received grace, it is not of works. As He is so full of grace, He supplies grace to you and He helps you to remain the man and the woman He has made you to be. Please get this. There is a life that must progress, that is called moved being. And as you are progressing, you are progressing in Him. And it is because He is so true to Himself that is why you do not have a free fall. Because if the floor under you is removed, then your next movement will be a crashed one.
So you have not crashed simply because He has remained true to you, He has been faithful. Your progress, you stability and the manner of life that you live that people are wondering about are all in Him, and the secret to retaining that life is you feeding on Him. If you used to be gentle and you are no more, it is because you have left Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are only available in Christ. If your behaviours must be consistent with the ideals in the kingdom of God, then you must continue to feed on Christ. Things to sustain your body, the food and all of that, He has made them before He made you.
Things that will then sustain you are in Him. He made Himself your sustenance. So the secret to a continuous excellent living is a consistent feeding on Christ. And if you must progress, you must remain in Him. Marriages, Ministries and Nations that move outside Christ ends up in a crash. Because Christ does not keep you stagnant, you make progress in Him. When you get carried away by your progress and then you move outside of Him, you will crash. Because every other ground is a sinking sound, it cannot hold. Christ is the only solid ground. Progress and promotion outside of Christ is transition to crisis. There is movement in Christ, there is speed and there is progress in Him as well. There is a territory for speed, and it is Christ. A big fish that swims very fast in the ocean cannot do same on the ground. The same is applicable to a Boeing 747 aircraft that moves very fast in the air, it cannot try it on land as well.
Christ is the only one that can sustain your speed and you will not crash. That is why you must never get carried away by your own progress. Don't allow your popularity to enter into your own head. Don't get carried away by your joy and you move out of the source of your joy. Christ is the source of your joy and your movement. Remain in Him. The reason we say people have integrity is because they remain in their integrity. Christ Himself is integrity. The bible says the promises of God in Christ Jesus, they are yea and amen. No deceit! In that John that we read, the bible says He is full of grace and truth. No unrighteousness is in Him. if you don't want to become a man of deceit and manipulation, then you must be in Him.
That is why your integrity will not be short-lived, it will remain with you. Simply because the one who made you a man of integrity is still with you so He maintains and sustains your lot, as long as you remain in Him. That is the word that has been laid in my spirit for us this evening and I want us to meditate, pray and make confessions of faith to Christ. I remain in you, I choose to remain in you, every other ground are sinking sand. I choose to remain in you.
When others are looking for means elsewhere, I choose you. Other places might look lucrative, the plain of Sodom and Gomorrah looked attractive to Lot, he went there but left his wife there, came back with his two children who were not matured spiritually. Every other ground is a sinking sand, every opportunity, every contract outside of Christ would seek any man that goes into it. Don't get carried away by the speed and progress and testimonies of God on your life to the point that you get outside of Christ, it is only Him that can sustain that kind of record.
God bless you.
