Are You A Sunday Christian?

By Tammy Lacock

“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19)

This week, Warren Litzman helps us grasp the heart of the Apostle Paul’s gospel of grace. In Galatians 4:19, Paul says as long as we, as believers, keep the Christ that lives in us from forming in us into all areas of our lives, he will feel great sorrow. As the only person that was raised up by Christ Himself to bring to humanity a new gospel, Paul knew the road ahead would be one full of arrows. Yet he wanted nothing more than to know the Christ that lived in him and to share Him with the world. He wanted us to fully understand that by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we as believers, are brand-new creations, no longer bound by law, sin, and death. By God’s amazing grace, we are freed from the curse of Satan through Adam, and we are no longer bound by our own sins. As long as we confess in our hearts, God will forgive. He now sees Christ as our new life, the very life within us and by Him we are perfect in God’s eyes. This is Paul’s gospel of grace.

However, church Christianity has been comingling law and grace causing confusion.

Christians are living their new life in Christ on Sundays but have become okay not bringing Christ into other areas of our lives, making decisions without including Him. We are holding on to law so we feel good about ourselves and our actions. With the help of the Holy Spirit renewing our minds to this new life in Christ, we can start to let Him form in us in these other areas. We no longer need to live by laws as they’ve been abolished by Christ. We need to start living our new life in Christ and allowing His grace to come through us, knowing He is our peace.

“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” (Ephesians 2:15)

Paul tells us to follow him as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1) and bring Christ into every area of our lives, making Him our first love. Paul never claims anything as his own. Christ gave him everything he shares with us, and he repeats this so we might understand his gospel. Paul’s gospel is directed toward believers and his mission is that Christ be formed in each of us, in every area of our lives so Christ, the seed in us, will bring forth much fruit through us. We don’t form ourselves in Christ. He forms in us. Christ is joined to us in our spirits, making us one with His Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). This is our new birth. We are brand-new creations by the planting of the incorruptible Seed of Christ in our spirits. And now, with the help of the Holy Spirit renewing our minds to this new life within us, Christ can start to form in the other parts of us, our minds and hearts. Here is where we begin the love affair with the Christ that now lives in us. Here is where we start to reciprocate His love.

Christ is God’s gift to us, and now it’s time to fully receive Him by getting to know Him and allowing Him to come through us in all areas of our lives.