The Ego-Me Died With Christ
Series: The True Image Restored
Sun am 5 February 2012 – Kobus Swart
(Gen.1:26-27)(Daniel 12:4); Daniel 11:32-33; 2 Cor. 5: 19; 1 Cor.12:12;
Gal.2:20; Col. 1:27; 1 John1:7; 2 Cor. 3:15 -18
The corporate body will function so much better if every individual is fully unwrapped. The “authentic you” is actually talking about the original (genuine) you. God originally created man in His image and in His likeness (Gen.1: 26-27). That’s our origin; our genesis. Everything that has been laid on us over the years, centuries and millennia, which is not of God, has to come off in order to find the true you or to find the “I am”. Authenticity is not what other people think about you; it is who God knows you are.
Jesus was the exact representation of the Father and He is the first born, the eldest brother, which means He is the first of many to follow. Jesus (the individual) came to bring many sons, (the corporate) to glory. The world is chasing after knowledge and information. Never has there been a busier generation than the one we are in. We are on information overload. …many will run to and fro and knowledge will increase (Dan 12:4) but the people who know their God will display strength and take action (Dan 11:32). As much as it is good to have knowledge, it is not the ultimate. It is about knowing God. We are talking about becoming quiet – you alone having quiet times, waiting on God, meditating, connecting afresh with God. These things are getting lost in the pace of living in the modern world.
Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God. With the fall that Image was marred. Man in his “spirit-man” died (Gen. 2:17). Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we have been recreated in Him. The Last Adam became a life giving spirit.
This truth is going to be challenged in a growing manner and the only people who will have the answer to a cynical world are the people that know their God and know who they are and they can manifest His name and demonstrate His wisdom. What we must understand is that when we talk about “I am” it is not talking about our carnal ego. Our carnal ego died with Christ; we have been crucified with Christ. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them (2 Cor. 5:19). When I now say “I am”, I am talking about a whole new creation because I have been recreated in Christ. He is the first born of a whole new humanity.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me (Gal 2:20 – NAS).
Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20 – The Message). It’s a paradox, I died with Him, yet I live, but it’s not me, it’s Him.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ (1 Cor. 12:12). It is more than knowledge about the resurrection; it has to be a demonstration and experience that we carry that will speak louder than words. We need to demonstrate the resurrected Christ in our lives. The resurrection must be our experience.
We need to live in a repentant mindset that is ready to think differently about what happened two thousand years ago. I live but it is no longer the ego-me, it is the Christ-ego that lives in me. If I miss the mark every now and then, does it make me a sinner? No. I am a new creation and the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse me from all sin. but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). If you deliberately continue to sin, you are crucifying the Son of God again. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Col. 3:2). Feed your mind with heavenly manna and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind.
But to this day whenever Moses (the law) is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror (the Word) the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:15-18). What do you see in the mirror? That mirror is the Word of His truth. What do you find when you read the Word? You find Him and you find your true identity.
We have been predestined before the foundations of the world to be sons of God conformed to the image of the Son (Rom 8:29). He is not ashamed to be in us and to manifest Himself in fullness.
Gert: Satan has tried to block the truth about the resurrection from the beginning. Watchmen at the tomb where Jesus was buried saw the angels roll away the stone and saw Jesus come out and walk away. They were the first witnesses of the risen Christ. The Scribes and Pharisees gave them money to give a false witness and say that the disciples came and stole His body. That lie is still affects not only the atheist but also many Christians who do not experience the risen Christ in themselves. The risen Christ is living in us; we are the risen corporate Christ in the earth. If we walk in the power of this conviction it will be the power to create that life in almost everything we speak, it will be a demonstration of the power of God (Matt. 28).