Bill Faith: Knowing that He was to be crucified, Jesus went to his Father in prayer the night before his crucifixion - recorded in John 17. In that prayer he asked the Father that both the disciples and those who would come to God through their work might be one, as he and the Father are.
The passage reads as follows, "... Holy Father, keep through you name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are... I do not pray for these alone; but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us..." (vv. 11, 20-21).
How much was Jesus and the Father at one? To find the answer to that question we only need to read John 14:8-10 where we are told, "Philip said to Him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.' Jesus said to him, '...He who has seen me has seen the Father,... Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?'"
Not that Jesus and the Father are the same person, but rather that they were so much alike in their thoughts, beliefs and way of life. They were so much alike that Jesus was able to say that if you saw Him, you saw the Father.
When someone sees us, do they see Christ? That may sound a little self righteous at first. Yet, Jesus' prayer was that we would be one in him as he is with the Father. Are our thoughts, beliefs and way of life patterned after Christ's to the extant that we closely represent him? If not, perhaps it's time to evaluate ourselves.
Jesus asked Philip whether he believed that the Father was in Him and that He was in the Father. What about us? Are we in Christ and He in us? Certainly, otherwise we are reprobate. For Paul wrote that, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Rom. 8:9).
In another place, we are asked to examine ourselves to see whether or not we are in the faith: "Prove yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you are disqualified" (II Corinthians 13:5).
It was God's intent from the beginning that we should walk in His way of life. "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). If Christ indeed is in us, then we will pattern our life after Christ and walk in his footsteps. Because John wrote that, "He who says he abides in him (Christ) ought himself also to walk just as he walked" (I John 2:6).
If we do not walk as Christ walked, then we are deceiving ourselves - because the word "Christian" itself denotes a follower of Christ.
John also wrote, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declared to you that God is light [i.e., God is holy and pure] and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness [i.e., not being holy and pure], we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another [with God], and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (I John 1:5-7).
No U-turns
But what happens if we turn back to living a life of sin after accepting Jesus as our Savior? That question is answered in Hebrews 10:26-29. "...If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins...Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?"
It is plain from these verses that as long as we live our life practicing righteousness our life will be hid in Christ. Paul also confirms this in Romans 8:1 where he wrote, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit".
Hopefully, our life is a reflection of Christ's. If we love God with all our heart, soul and mind which is the first and great command, then we will be seeking God's truth and His way of life. And His truth and way of life will become in integral part of our life. Then truly, we can let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Then if someone looks at us, perhaps they may get a glimpse of Christ who dwells in us.
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For PDF or mailed copy, see CGOM. Excerpt from New Horizons Issue 33, May/June 2002. Edited by James McBride of the Churches of God, United Kingdom.
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