ATTN: A man named Josh McDowell said something very helpful for parents, teachers, pastors, or anyone else who works with people. “Rules without relationships lead to rebellion.” Simply telling people to follow rules will often cause them to rebel. But when we build a relationship with them, when they know that we love and care for them, they are far more likely to follow our rules willingly because they know that those rules are for their own good. Think about a boss who simply barks commands at you and you don’t know anything about him vs. a boss who expects you to work hard but he asks you about your family, he listens to your hardships and even willing you help you in your personal matters. Wouldn’t you want to work hard for a boss like that?

That is the way Jesus approached us. He became one of us, and even put himself below us as a servant, knowing all of our secret sins and failures but forgiving all of them… Therefore, when He demands something of us, we know that it is for our good. “He who did not spare His own but gave him up for us, how will He not also with him graciously give us all things?” We willingly, and gladly obey Him.

And that is the way Christians follow and obey Christ. It is not out of fear – that he will punish us if we don’t do what He says – we obey Him. It is not trying to earn our acceptance that we obey Him. It’s out of our love and gratitude for what He has already done for us, that we willingly and gladly obey and follow Him. And one way to describe that is “walking in step with the truth of the gospel.” The gospel – the good news that Jesus saved us even though we were sinners – leads and guides us to live in step with it.

Last week, we looked at some examples of NOT walking in step with the truth of the gospel. St. Peter has done the honors and taught us what not to do! And they were: 1) Fearing men, 2) Segregation, and 3) Legalism. These are not in steps with the truth of the gospel. Then, what is in step with the truth of the gospel? Here’s what I got out of Apostle Paul’s one of the most famous passages: Walking in step with the truth of the gospel is Living to God by faith in Christ. We will break up each phrase and examine. So, what is living in step with the truth of the gospel? They are 1) Living to God, 2) By Faith, 3) In Christ.

1. Living to God (v. 19) (purpose? Where are we going?)

This gives us the direction and purpose of our lives. And that is to live “to God.” To make much of God or to use the Christianese, glorify, God. It is living for God. “19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.” I died to the law, which means, I died to the old way of living for the self-glory. Why would my old way of living be for self-glory? Because if I can live according to the law by my own effort and self-discipline, I get the credit for my own good works. The world should look at me at how moral and how disciplined I am and praise me for my hard work or my upbringing. So, the opposite of living to God is to live to me, for my own glory and honor. But how much glory and honor do we get for living for our ourselves?

How happy does it make us when we are at the center of attention? All you have to do is look at the rich and the famous. Why are so many strung up on drugs? Why so many scandals and break ups? Why so many suicides and just plain old weirdness? Branjelina is now Brad and Angelina again after a bitter break up. Why? Just a few years ago, it was a match made in heaven! They are thirsty. Living for fame, money, self-glory simply isn’t satisfying. As long as they try to find happiness within themselves, they are eating their own flesh. Even the joy they may have will be limited because they are limited human beings.

True joy comes from praising the one who is worthy of praise. Have you realized this? We think we will be the happiest when we are praised, but that’s simply not true. We are the happiest when we are praising that which is truly worthy. For example, we like to watch sports where the athletes are better athletes than we are because when they do things that we can only dream of doing, like Russell Wilson, rolling to the left, jumping in the air throwing a perfect strike to Jimmy Graham as he goes out of bounds… We go nuts in praise! It’s the same reason we like to watch movies where the actors are better looking than we are. We find joy in praising that which is better than us.  It is when we give praise to the one truly worthy, that our joy is complete. And who is more beautiful and worthy than God?

ILL: Last Wednesday, I was taking my daughter to school extra early because she started band. And I saw Mount Rainier covered in snow, and hues of blue and pink encircling the mountain because the sun was about to rise. And I spontaneously exclaimed, “Look, Sennah, how beautiful the mountain is! God made it so beautiful, didn’t He?” And my daughter’s voice from the backseat, “Yeah….” And then when I dropped her off, she says, “I love you daddy,” and I see her enveloped by the school entrance and I still feel like the first day of her kindergarten when I had that lump in my throat the whole day… And driving back, I said to God, “God, this is how much you love me. That’s why you let me have little girls…” I was praising God. And my heart was full.

It is better to live for God than to live for us. There is more joy in it.

2. Living by faith (v. 20). (Method? How do we get there?)

The next component of walking in step with the truth of the gospel is living by faith. V. “20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith…”

If “living to God” is our purpose, then “by faith” is our method. It is HOW we live to our God’s glory. “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.” (Heb 11:6) If we are to live to God and thus get our maximum joy, then we must live by faith. Well, how do we live by faith? What does it mean?

If we are to know what it means to live by faith, we have to know what faith is. What is faith? Simply, faith is believing in the future promise. Hebrews 11:1-2, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Faith is believing or having confidence in the future that will be glorious. So, it really is believing in the promise about the future because God said it will be awesome! But it is not just a wishful thinking – a pie in the sky – that we will all end up in nirvana, called by different religions by different names – but our confidence is based upon something solid. Let me ask you, how do you get to trust someone’s promise? God made the promise of eternal life for all those who put their faith in Him, but how do we know that it’s true? What is the evidence for our faith? It is the past deed of Jesus on my behalf.

Listen, you don’t trust a stranger who says to you, “Just come follow me and I will make you rich!” But you will trust a person who has a history with you, whose track record you know. God does not tell us simply to believe. Faith is not blind. Faith is not believing whatever we wish to believe. No! Faith is based solidly upon the past evidence, trusting God for the future. Christianity is based upon the incontrovertible figure that is called Jesus of Nazareth. It bothers me when Christians are asked, “How do you know the Bible is true?” And they answer, “Because I have faith.” Well, millions of muslims have faith that Quoran is true. Does that make the quoran true? Just because we believe something doesn’t make it true. Faith must be based on something. That is one reason why I believe the Bible is so thick! And it painstakingly describes times, eras, places, kings, topography, even street names so that we can get on a plane and go to the physical land called Israel and know that these things are not made up. God is laying out the evidence that is historically verifiable so that we would have something solid to base our faith on!

So, I’m striving to live by faith, which means I’m trusting in the future promise that God made because He has proven Himself in the past. Now, I live knowing that my inheritance is in heaven and everything will be mine.

APP: So, it’s alright if you did not get that promotion. Your reward is coming that is better than being the CEO of the company you work for. It’s alright if you are having a hard time finding a job. Living by faith means that God has your back and He will provide for you, perhaps not the way you want but the way that is best by Him. It’s alright if your children are rebellious and breaking your heart. Ultimately, Jesus is your reward and not the success of your children. It’s alright if you are in your mid-thirties and single and you wonder if you are ever going to get married. This life is short and when you invest it, you will have a divine husband in Jesus forever as your reward.

Invest your life in heavenly things. “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Make your life count. Take risks for the kingdom.

3. Living in christ (v. 20b)

So, living in step with the truth of the gospel is living to God, by faith. But there is a third component. And that is IN CHRIST. We live in Christ. This gives the motivation for our living. TO GOD is where we are going – our destination. BY FAITH is how we get there – our method. IN CHRIST is why we want to get there in the first place. It’s our motivation.

“[20] I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

So, I live in the son of God. This is both our motivation and reward. Why I do anything. And what kind of God is this Son? He loved me and gave himself for me. So, my main motivation for wanting to be in Christ is not because He is powerful and can overpower me – in other words, fear. My main motivation is not because He was perfect and I want to be perfect – in other words, example. My main motivation comes from the fact that He loved me and gave himself for me – in other words, love. The reason why I want to walk in step with the truth of the gospel is because I love Christ. I’m the happiest when I am in Christ.

Now, if at this point you ask me, what is the point of loving Christ, what do you get when you love Christ, I have no answer. I do not love Christ in order to get anything else. Loving Christ is the end goal. It is the ultimate motivation. Everything else serves this purpose. ILL: If you asked me why I married Janet, and I said to you, “Because she’s a school teacher and they get many benefits…” Then, you should question my motive for marrying her. I only married her to use her for my own good. But if I said, “I married her because I love her,” then you would approve because we understand that love is the proper motive for marrying someone. If we are following Jesus for anything other than because we love Him, we are simply using Him for our own good. Loving Jesus is the end goal. We do not love Jesus so that He would make our lives better. We do not love Jesus so that we will have health. We do not love Jesus so that our family will be safe. We do not love Jesus so that we will get a good score on the SATs and go to a good college. No, because if that’s true, then I cannot love Jesus when my life is falling apart. And the passage like 2 Cor. 8:2 could never happen, “for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” What? Two words that don’t go together are mentioned in the same sentence. Joy and poverty. How can they have joy and even be generous when they are in extreme poverty and affliction? It’s because what they wanted was Christ Himself. That’s why they could rejoice in their extreme poverty because then they were seeing Christ more clearly who was also poor and desire Him more greatly.

I really think one of the best things that can happen to our country is affliction and poverty so that we wouldn’t be so smug in our 1st world privileges… Perhaps having to choose between Clinton and Trump is a beginning of the judgement from God which might ultimately be good for us. If in the end, we lost everything but gained Christ, we gained everything.

CONC: “I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” There is a God that loves you. All the love you have ever felt for another person, combine all of that, add that to all the love anyone has ever felt for anyone else in the world, all of that loves does not compare to the love that Jesus has for you and me because He is infinite and His love is infinite. In Christ, your sins are forgiven. You are no longer condemned. But more than that, you are accepted. He invites you in to live with Him, eat with Him, talk with Him, laugh with Him, cry with Him. He is a good God. Would you open the door and let Him in, Christians?