1) THE PROBLEM

The Christian life, as experience by many, is a constant struggle of trying to live up to the holiness of God while battling back the flesh, the carnal self. It is akin to the old Native American story of two wolves that constantly battle inside of us, a black one and a white one. The black wolf is filled with fear, anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. While the white wolf is filled with peace, love, hope, courage, humility, compassion, and faith. The one that we feed the most wins. Because of this inner struggle, these feeling arises when we come to God:

1. Guilt: the feeling of not measuring up to the standard put forth by God. This guilty feeling can mask itself as fear, anxiety, shame, worthlessness, defeat.

• Fear: living on pins and needles, constantly being afraid that you will slip up. Whenever something bad happened, you wonder if it was because you did something wrong.

• Dis-satisfaction: You are never satisfied with yourself because you have not done enough, there are much more room for improvements.

Contributing to the problem: The wrong model of Christian living. The church has been teaching a model for Christian living that contributes to the cause of the problem. It is a logical model base on our feeling and base on a form of Christianity that is “self” centric.

The Model: After the salvation experience, “I” now need to put Christ on the throne, the driver seat, the center of my life. If “I” fail at this, “I” have not lived up to the standard that God wanted me to live: I am still on the throne of my life.

According to this model, there is a constant battle for the throne of your life.

The New Testament Model: Stages of Maturity in Your Christ Identity The New Testament teaches a different model of the Christian life. It begins with Christ’s identity being given to us at the point of regeneration and addresses us according to our stages of maturity which can be seen as the stages of life.

Ephesians 4:13-14 (ESV)

…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

To fully understand the New Testament model, we need to have a clear Biblical understanding of Salvation, Regeneration, and Sanctification.

Salvation: a love gift of God, based on the justification work of Jesus Christ, which we receive through faith and not by works.

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Romans 8:1-4

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Regeneration: a product of Salvation, where our old self has been rendered dead through the cross of Jesus Christ and a new, born again self, with Christ’s identity, is given to us. Through this regenerated process, a person is born into the lineage of God and becomes a citizen of God’s Kingdom. This process is not of us and therefore cannot be undone.

John 1:12-13

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

2 Cor. 5:17 (NKJV)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Romans 6:3-4

“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.