Christ Alone has really two parts: Christ is all I need and Christ is all I want.
"He is all I need" means He is sufficient for my salvation. "He is all I want" means He is the overwhelming desire in my life. If we understand and apply both of these aspects, we will live out Solus Christus.
Four sets of verses will help us explore these aspects.
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:4-5).
The Reformation challenged the Roman Catholic idea that we must make ourselves worthy of God’s grace by what we do. These verses also show that this is wrong.
Works do not make us right or more acceptable to God. In these verses, works do not coincide with grace because it turns it into a wage. Paul stresses that we are ungodly and cannot become more worthy but God declares us right in Christ, who took on our sin and gave us His righteousness. All this is appropriated by faith alone.
“Adding our works makes the need of Christ less and destroys grace in the process.”
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’
‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’ (Luke 10:38-42)
Martha and Mary illustrate that busyness can keep us from having Christ as our supreme desire.
Martha was busy in her dinner preparations and wanted help, but Mary was listening to the Lord. When Martha confronted Jesus, He said her priorities were incorrect.
Seeking the Lord first is the right path as He will guide on what to do when.
Martha put her own agenda first and was angry and anxious over it. If we put the Lord first in all we do, working to please Him, we can trust Him to guide us and it takes the pressure off of us. Our busyness makes us want something other than Christ - getting things done, which enslaves us to these things.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but now destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you (2 Corinthians 4:7-12).
Paul describes the pain in our lives in graphic terms: being afflicted, perplexed, struck down. We are brittle from the hurt and disappointments and unfairness of life. We have hope in these though because God has a purpose. He describes these things as “dying with Christ” so that the life of Christ might be shown in us.
“Pain in our lives makes us not trust ourselves or the situations but to trust our Lord to work. ”
Then He can work through us and empower us. Often we our pains are not lessened and that is a good thing. If we live to make our lives pain free, we are seeking this above seeking Christ’s life in us and miss out on His supernatural work in our lives.
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Revelation 3:14-22).
Laodicea was a rich church but in reality very poor and lukewarm. They adopted the world’s values and put Christ’s values aside. The Lord called them to turn and take on His values once again, even by inviting Him to have close fellowship with them as before.
Seeking the world puts us at odds with the Lord because we do not desire Him above all else.
Not only seeking finances but status, reputation, being thought well of, leisure, clothing, acceptance by others can all dampen our walk with the Lord. We should seek Him first and trust Him as our ultimate value in life.
Two indicators can help us determine if we are struggling with these aspects: anxiety and anger. Anxiety is a fear of something in the future not working out or being taken away. Anger is the reaction that something we value is taken away. Examining these emotions may point out our wrong priorities and areas that we need to come to the Lord for correction.
Another application would be to memorize Galatians 2:20, which is a life verse for Paul.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
We are crucified with Christ when we come to know Him and need to affirm this daily. We die to our own desires and live for Him instead who loved us and gave Himself for us. We can delight in the One who has our best interests and also the ability to bring them about.
