“Let a man examine himself,” Paul urged the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 11:28). He wrote down Jesus Christ’s personal instruction to him about proper Passover-keeping and sent it to them by letter (verses 23-34). Besides discussing the God-commanded requirement for baptized members to keep the Passover annually, the time of day to conduct Passover, and the order of the ceremony, he explained the reason for the service: “[Y]ou do shew the Lord’s death till he come” (verse 26). Paul taught that a Christian’s participation at the Passover service publicly announces that Christ died to pay the penalty for all human sin until He returns.
Keeping the Passover will have a new emphasis when Christ assumes David’s throne, “And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced,” Christ promised (Zechariah 12:10). In just a few short years, all human beings will be able to look at Jesus and see the suffering their sins brought on Him.
Examine Yourself
“Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord,” Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 11:27). Paul emphasized that before truly converted Christians eat and drink the symbols of Christ’s supreme sacrifice, they should faithfully and critically examine their attitude toward what Christ accomplished with His scourging and crucifixion—the events that led to His death. No one should enter into this service with a casual attitude. God the Father will declare us Christ’s murderers if we eat the bread and drink the wine with anything less than a sober and contrite manner.
“So let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup,” encouraged Paul to all those of a right attitude. “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body,” he warned (verse 29). A great penalty awaits us if we do not take of the Passover with the right attitude.
We must approach the Passover season with all seriousness. Our eternal lives are at stake.
How can we be certain that we take the Passover with a right attitude? It really is quite a simple matter.
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Paul reminded the Corinthians in a second letter (2 Corinthians 13:5). Our pre-Passover examination must include proving that Christ is living in us.
Paul places the emphasis here on examining our own selves—not our neighbor! We must seriously put ourselves to the test. If we do not, Paul says we are “reprobates,” which can mean unapproved, rejected or worthless. If Christ is not living in us, we are unapproved by God (Romans 8:9).
How can we know Christ is living in us? We will be living and acting as He did. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). If Christ is in us, then we will be living as He lived, because Christ will be acting the same today as He did over 1,900 years ago. Let us examine four main areas of Christ’s life to see how we measure up.
Declare the Father
With Jesus Christ living in us, God the Father will inhabit the central place in our minds and hearts. Our life revolves around Him.
“All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him,” explained Jesus Christ to His disciples (Luke 10:22). As the Eternal, Christ had known the Father for an eternity before He came to Earth. The existence of God the Father was hidden from the nation of Israel. Neither did it know Jesus Christ as the Son. However, the nation did know Jesus Christ as “the Word” (John 1:1-4). The fact that God and Christ were to share a family relationship was also kept a mystery. Coming to Earth as God’s only begotten Son—the physical declaration of God the Father—was amazing and incredible new revelation for the disciples. This knowledge is the central theme of the gospel.
Christ revealed this fantastic truth to His disciples, and they passed it on to us. For the most part, the world today still does not know the Father. However, we do, if we do as we should, and we need to be sure we deeply appreciate and are living by this knowledge.
Every one of us must be declaring the Father. He really is our Father. We really are His sons and daughters. He has done miraculous things for all of us. He wants to do the same for every human being.
Jesus Christ tried to impress upon His disciples the unique privilege of—and the responsibility associated with—knowing the Father. “And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them” (Luke 10:23-24). Do you fully recognize that there is likely more knowledge about the Father, the Son and the Family of God still to come? For the present time this knowledge has been given only to God’s true Church. Do you desire that the whole world come to know what you know?
Exalt the Father
While on Earth, Jesus Christ exalted His Father. Study through the New Testament, especially the Gospel according to John, and you will see how often Christ spoke of the Father. Jesus Christ taught people to worship the Father. He never placed the emphasis on Himself.
“Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him,” Christ told the woman of Samaria (John 4:21-23). Christ pointedly taught her that the way she was worshiping was wrong. She did not know whom she was worshiping. She believed she was worshiping God, but she was actually idolizing the devil. Like the whole world today, this woman needed teaching on how to worship the Father! There is a great lesson for all of us here. Our religion will not be correct unless we are exalting the Father!
Are we putting the Father first in our lives? This is how Christ lived. “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). If we truly love Christ, we will come to recognize the exalted importance of the Father’s role. “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father,” Jesus told the disciples at His last Passover with them (John 16:25). Christ planned to place the emphasis on revealing the Father even after He was glorified. He looked forward to the time He could reveal more about His wonderful Father to the Church.
When Christ is living in us, we will highly praise God the Father because He is so great in love, mercy, patience and righteousness.
Do the Father’s Will
Christ living in us causes us to do God’s will—not our will—God’s will! Jesus Christ set us a fantastic example in this regard. He exhibited a great passion for doing God’s will.
“Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done,” Christ asked His Father earnestly just before He was taken prisoner (Luke 22:42). He prayed diligently that He would not have to be scourged and crucified. He sweat blood, thinking about the excruciatingly painful torture He would suffer the next day (verse 44). As the Eternal, Jesus Christ was the direct Creator of all life—spiritual and physical. He was and still is the Lord of life (John 1:4). To die had to be repugnant for Him. Yet He fully and graciously submitted to the part He had to fulfill in the Father’s plan to redeem humanity from sin.
Jesus Christ lived His entire life—and gave that life in death—to please God the Father. “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him,” Christ taught a group of people in the treasury of the temple (John 8:29). He wanted to assure this group of doubters that they could rely on His teaching because He came from God. He was teaching only what God had taught Him. He did nothing to please Himself. Take a moment and think deeply about this scripture. Christ only did what pleased God. Wouldn’t we give just about anything to be able to say that about ourselves?
Can we come to know God’s will for our individual lives? Yes, we can. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service,” Paul admonished (Romans 12:1). It is only reasonable that as Christ sacrificed His life to God in death, we should give our life to God as a living sacrifice. God considers both Christ’s and our sacrifice as a sweet-smelling, whole burnt offering. Spiritual sacrifices greatly please God.
We must give our lives over to God if we truly want to know His will. We can never do this unless Christ is living in us. Of course giving your life as a living sacrifice requires faith—Christ’s faith (verse 3).
God is a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19). He will take care of all our needs. Therefore, we need not worry about the cost of giving our whole life over to Him. Incredible joy will surround us when we don’t hold back anything from God. “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full,” Christ said wholeheartedly to His somber disciples the night before His execution (John 15:11). What an example for us! Self-sacrifice is the path to true joy.
To know God’s will, we must let God renew, or change, our minds (Romans 12:2). God changes our minds through the power of His Holy Spirit. The world cannot understand Christ’s level of giving because people think so selfishly. We must learn to reject our thoughts and our will and seek God’s thoughts and will the way our Savior did. We can only become a living sacrifice through prayer, study, meditation and fasting. The Bible is full of the knowledge of God’s will for our lives. He will reveal it to us, if we prayerfully seek it.
Be Compassionate
Having Christ living in us should make us compassionate toward all human beings. Jesus Christ lived His life doing good for other people. This is how Luke summed up Jesus’s human life: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy [Spirit] and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38). As our life’s activities permit, we should also be ready to do good to others. We must develop a great love for people.
Christ had great compassion on the crowds of people that followed Him. “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But, when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38). Jesus Christ taught the disciples to have compassion on the multitudes and pray that God would send more laborers to help harvest humanity. Are we doing this?
Christ had great sympathy for the people of His time because Satan had deceived them. He did not ridicule them: He did what He could to help them.
“And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things” (Mark 6:34). Do you desire to teach the whole world as you have been taught? God the Father taught Jesus Christ personally. Christ taught those same things to the crowds that followed Him. How much do you want to give what you know to others? This is the essence of our calling. We are not in God’s Church to save ourselves. We are here to learn to teach others.
In the coming months and years, we are going to witness the fulfillment of many tragic prophetic events. We are already seeing the lives of many people ruined nearly every evening on the news. War, unusually violent weather, sickness, bloody terrorism and violence are all around us. These are only the beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:8). Prophecy shows us that things are going to get worse. Thankfully, God is going to protect His very elect.
Still, we need to develop great compassion for the vast majority of people who will not have God’s protection. Like Jesus Christ, we must be willing to teach them the solutions to their problems. This means getting fully behind God’s message in our prayers, fasting, tithes and offerings. It is our individual responsibility to help publish God’s message. The people who are going to suffer life-threatening calamity need God’s truth—not a handout.
Let us honestly reflect on these four points prior to the spring holy days. Express your faith in Christ’s death on your behalf. In addition, renew your commitment to let Christ live His life in you! Have a truly meaningful and joyous spring holy day season.