The Secret of the Christian Life
The secret to the Christian life is not a formula or a list, but rather giving God the freeway to live out His life in us.
Gene Edwards challenges the common beliefs about living the Christian life, emphasizing that it is impossible for humans to live it on their own. He points out the flaw in the idea that we can achieve it through actions like praying, reading the Bible, going to church, or tithing, as they all revolve around 'you-centeredness.' Instead, Gene highlights that God the Father is the Christian life itself, and it is His life alone that can live out the Christian life in us. He encourages letting go of the burden of trying to live the Christian life and allowing God to work through us effortlessly.
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What have you been told is the secret to the Christian life? Pray and read your Bible? Go to church? Witness? Speak in tongues? Tithe?
Let me go on record. I do not believe anything on that list even comes close to the issue of how to live the Christian life. All have one inherent flaw. The fatal flaw? Every item on the aforementioned list assumes that it is possible to live the Christian life. Can you live the Christian life? The answer is no, a resounding NO! You cannot live the Christian life.
That list takes for granted you can live the Christian life. Also note that you are the center of every item on that list. Call it "you-centeredness." You out there living the Christian life. You cannot live the Christian life. Jesus Christ could not live the Christian life. None of us can live the Christian life! If Jesus Christ cannot live the Christian life, what makes you think that you can? You can give up trying to live the Christian life! We can all testify what a colossal failure we have been at trying to live the Christian life.
God the Father lives the Christian life. "How does God the Father live the Christian life?" He doesn't. He is the Christian life. He is the highest life. God the Father is the wellspring, the source, the first motion, and the fountainhead of the Christian life.
The Father indwelt His Son here on this earth for thirty-three years. The Father lived the Christian life inside Jesus Christ. It was the Father's life, and the Father's life alone, which lived the Christian life inside your Lord. It is the Father's life, and the Father's life alone, that ever lives the Christian life. It is the Father's life, and Father's life alone, which will live the Christian life in you. Embrace a formula or a list in order to "live the Christian life," and you are doomed to frustration.
But on the day you quit trying to live the Christian life ...then you will finally give Him the freeway to live out in you what is so easy and so simple and so organic for Him to do. Hopefully, you just got set free from a long list of do's and don'ts (the "do's" you can't do, and the "don'ts" you always do). Why look so shocked; stop and think about it. You never were any good at living the Christian life. Admit it.
Sermon Outline
- The Problem of Trying to Live the Christian Life
- The Reality of God the Father's Life
- The Solution to Living the Christian Life
- Quit trying to live the Christian life
- Give God the freeway to live out His life in us
Key Quotes
“You can give up trying to live the Christian life!” — Gene Edwards
“God the Father is the wellspring, the source, the first motion, and the fountainhead of the Christian life.” — Gene Edwards
“It is the Father's life, and the Father's life alone, which will live the Christian life in you.” — Gene Edwards
Application Points
- Quit trying to live the Christian life and give God the freeway to live out His life in you.
- Admit that you are not good at living the Christian life and ask God to take over.
- Stop following formulas and lists and start following God's lead.