Jesus Is Our Life

1 John 5:11-12

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Thomas Brooks "Christ is the Life of Believers"

http://www.puritansermons.com/sermons/brooks7.htm

Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

The apostle, in the verse before, tells them that their 'life is hid with Christ in God.' These saints might object: but when shall that hidden life be revealed? When shall that life of glory be manifested? He answers in the text: 'When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.' The words do speak out the time when the glorious life of believers shall be manifested, and that is, when Christ shall appear in glory. I have in some other place observed from these words this point—namely, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the life of believers.

'When Christ, who is our life, shall appear.' Life here is put for the author of life.

We have shewed that Jesus Christ, he is first the author of a believer's spiritual life. In the 14th of John, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' (ver. 6.)

Secondly, Jesus Christ, he is the matter of a believer's spiritual life in John 6:48, 'I am the bread of life.' The original hath it more elegantly, 'I am the bread of that life,' that is, of that spiritual life of which before the Lord Jesus Christ had spoken.

Thirdly, Jesus Christ is the exerciser and actor of the spiritual life of believers: John 15:5, 'Without me ye can do nothing.' The original is, ‘separate from me, or apart from me, ye can do nothing, &c.’

Fourthly, The Lord Jesus Christ, he is the strengthener and the cherisher of a believer's spiritual life, Psalm 138:3, 'In the day when I cried, thou didst answer me, and strengthen me with strength in my soul.'

Lastly, The Lord Jesus Christ, he is the completer, he is the finisher of the spiritual life of a saint, Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6. We have opened this point, and have made several uses of it. There were one or two things that we could not reach nor speak to when we treated upon this subject; I will only mention them, and so I pass to that special point that I intend to speak to at this time.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ a believer's life? To pass by what we have further spoken upon this point—this same, by way of use, doth serve to bespeak all believers not to repent of anything they have done, or suffered, or lost, for the Lord Jesus. Oh, is the Lord Jesus Christ a believer's life? Why, then, let no believer be disquieted, nor overwhelmed and dejected, for any loss or for any sorrow or suffering that he meets with for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake. What a base and unworthy spirit is it for a man to be troubled and disquieted in himself for anything that he shall do or suffer for his own natural life! Oh, Jesus Christ is thy life; do not say this mercy is too dear for Christ, nor that comfort is too great for Christ. Christ is the life of a believer: what wilt thou not do for thy life? The devil hit right when he said, 'Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life.' Oh, what should a man then do for Jesus Christ, who is his life! You noble hearts whose particular God hath come near in this sad loss, remember this, that Christ is a believer's life; Christ is that glorious champion's life. Therefore be not over-whelmed, for doubtless he is now triumphing in the love, in the light, in the goodness, and in the glory of him who is his life. Let the sense of this sad loss kindly affect you, but let it not discourage you.

But, secondly, If the Lord Jesus Christ be a believer's life, then this serves to bespeak all believers highly to prize the Lord Jesus. Oh, it is this Christ that is thy life; it is not thy husband, it is not thy child, it not this or that thing; neither is it this ordinance or that, that is a believer's life. No; it is the Lord Jesus Christ that is the author, that is the matter, that is the exerciser, that is the strengthener, that is the completer, of a believer's life. You prize great ones; the Lord Jesus Christ is great—he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. You prize others for their wisdom and knowledge: the Lord Jesus hath in himself all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, Colossians 2:3. You prize others for their beauty: the Lord Jesus Christ is the beautifullest of ten thousand, Cant. 5:10. You prize others for their usefulness: the Lord Jesus Christ is the right hand of a believer, without which he can do nothing. The believer may say of Christ as the philosopher .said of the heavens, Tolle coelum, nullus ero—Take away the heavens, and I shall be nobody; so take away Jesus Christ, and a believer is nobody—nobody to perform any action, nobody to bear any affliction, nobody to conquer corruption, nobody to withstand temptation, nobody to improve mercies, nor nobody to joy in others' grace. Oh, prize Jesus Christ!

Again, Consider the Lord Jesus Christ doth highly prize you; you are as the apple of his eye; he accounts you his fullness; you are his jewels; therefore prize him who sets such a high price on you. But I hasten to what I intend—

In the last place, Remember a Christ highly prized will be Christ gloriously obeyed. As men prize the Lord Jesus Christ, so they will obey him. The great reason why Jesus Christ is no more obeyed, is because he is no more prized. Men look upon him as a person of no worth, no dignity, no glory; they make slight of him, and that is the reason they are so poor in their obedience to him. Oh, if the sons of men did but more divinely prize Christ, they would more purely, and more fully, and more constantly obey him. Let this bespeak all your hearts highly to prize the Lord Jesus, who is your life.

C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening, August 10, AM "Christ Who Is Our Life"

Paul's marvelously rich expression indicates, that Christ is the source of our life. "You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins." That same voice which brought Lazarus out of the tomb (John 11:43) raised us to newness of life (Romans 6:4, 11). He is now the Substance of our spiritual life. It is by His life that we live; He is in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27), the spring of our actions, the central thought which moves every other thought. Christ is the Sustenance of our life. What can the Christian feed upon but Jesus' flesh and blood? "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." (John 6:50)

O way worn pilgrims (Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 2:11) in this wilderness of sin, you never get a morsel to satisfy the hunger of your spirits, except ye find it in Him! (Matthew 5:6) Christ is the Solace of our life. All our true joys come from Him; and in times of trouble, His presence is our consolation (Hebrews 13:5,6). There is nothing worth living for but Him; and His lovingkindness is better than life! (Psalm 63:3) Christ is the Object of our life. As speeds the ship towards the port, so hastes the believer towards the haven of his Saviour's bosom. As flies the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of his fellowship with Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:10,11). As the soldier fights for his captain, and is crowned in his captain's victory, so the believer contends for Christ, and gets his triumph out of the triumphs of his Master. "For him to live is Christ." (Philippians 1:21)

Christ is the Exemplar (one that serves as a model for another) of our life. Where there is the same life within, there will, there must be, to a great extent, the same developments without; and if we live in near fellowship with the Lord Jesus we shall grow like Him. We shall set Him before us as our Divine copy, and we shall seek to tread in His footsteps (1 Peter 2:21), until He shall become the crown of our life in glory. Oh! how safe, how honored, how happy is the Christian, since Christ is our life!

F.B. Meyer on Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

The philosopher, as he passes, carrying his scrolls of learning, says: "To me to live is knowledge"; the soldier, passing, looks with contempt on the man of letters, and says: "To me to live is fame"; the merchant in passing, says, with pride: "To me to live is riches"; the toiling masses pass by, saying: "To us to live is toil and trouble."

The Apostle says joyously: "To me to live is neither wealth, nor labour, nor fame, nor glory, but Christ." If you could ask him just what he meant, he would probably reply, as Tyndale brings out in his translation, that "Christ was the origin of his life."