 | Confession of Sin |
| The Filling of the Holy Spirit |
| Faith-Rest (Trust leading to Peace) |
| Orientation to Grace |
| Personal Love for God |
| Impersonal Love for Mankind |
| Joy - the happiness of God which does not depend on people,
circumstances, or things |
| A personal destiny shared with all in God's royal family |
| Occupation with Jesus Christ |
This article deals with the subject of Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ, under the following headings:
What is Occupation with Christ
Why a Christian Needs to be Occupied with Christ
The Bible Commands Regarding Occupation with Christ
Mechanics - How to be Occupied with Christ
The Results of Occupation with Christ
What is Occupation with Christ
Occupation with Christ is a mental attitude by which a Christian
believer views all things in life with the Lord Jesus Christ
in mind.
Occupation with Christ is love for the Son, the 2nd Person of
the Trinity, therefore it is the expression of love for God. The
Bible commands us to love God, with all our heart, soul and mind.
Being occupied with Christ is a great part of our love for God.
Therefore, this concept is one of the most important spiritual
functions in the Christian life.
Love for God, and Occupation with Christ, results from learning,
digesting, and applying Bible truth. The Bible describes the lifestyle
of wisdom and the path to spiritual maturity through the filling
of the Holy Spirit and growth in Christ.
But the Lord Jesus Christ is invisible to us because He is in
heaven, seated at the right hand of God. He will not become visible
to us until we see Him in eternity. So, loving Christ requires
a system of communications which is based on thought. The system
is the Word of God, God's thoughts and God's words, guarded in
the Scripture. There is no other accurate record of the mind of
Christ, divine viewpoint, apart from what is contained in the
Bible.
Therefore, we can only come to love Jesus Christ, to be occupied
with Christ, through learning the Word of God and making His thoughts
our thoughts.
1 Cor. 2:16, For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should
instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
This love for Jesus Christ can only come about through applied
Bible truth.
Eph. 3:19, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.
1 Pet. 1:8, and though you have not seen Him, you love Him [occupation
with Christ], and though you do not see Him now, but believe
in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of
glory,
Joy and occupation with Christ always go together, you can't have
one without the other. The glory with which you are filled is
Bible truth, and this emphasizes the fact that you have come to
know Christ through perception and application of the Word of
God.
Difference Between Indwelling of Christ and Occupation with
Christ
The Indwelling of Christ is not an experience. Every Christian,
whether a novice or advanced believer, is indwelt by Christ, has
been since the point of salvation, and always will be. You find
this teaching in John 14:20; Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 2:20;
Col. 1:27; and 1 John 2:24.
Christ indwells believers for a number of reasons: (1) as a sign
that a Christian is a member of God's royal family, (2) as a guarantee
of the blessings which we have for time and eternity, (3) as a
guarantee of eternal life and a life after death in the presence
of God, (4) as a motivation for us to stay in the plan of God,
especially when we experience suffering.
Occupation with Christ, though, is one of the processes
leading to Christian maturity, and not all believers experience
this. Occupation with Christ is the focus of all worship. When
you worship God "in spirit and in truth" you are occupied
with Christ.
Occupation with Christ is the main motivation in a Christian's
life. And it is the prime solution to all the problems of life.
Only positive believers who choose to follow the plan of God are
occupied with Christ.
The following are expressions of the process of being occupied
with Christ. Notice in each case how the Christian is involved
in a thought and decision process leading to occupation with Christ.
"Christ being formed in you..." (Gal. 4:19)
"Christ at home in your hearts..." (Eph. 3:17)
"Christ shall even now, as always, be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death" (Phil. 1:20).
Occupation with Christ makes an issue out of knowledge of the
Word of God, setting right priorities, being involved and active
in the plan of God, and glorifying God during a Christian's lifetime.
Characteristics of Occupation with Christ
The Need for Occupation with Christ
Psalm 118:9 tells us, "It is better to take refuge in the
Lord that to trust in princes." If you take refuge in the
Lord, you stop expecting things from people. Your fellowship with
God solves the problems that you have with people, and makes your
relationships with people far better.
A person is seldom treated the way he wants to be treated, or
loved the way he wants to be loved. Outside of God's plan, this
can cause frustration and instability.
This frustration becomes a major motivation in life and leads
people on a frantic search for fellowship with people, instead
of fellowship with God. Until a person becomes stabilized in his
thinking, by occupying himself with Christ, he will be very unstable.
People select their companions, their spouses, even their churches,
based on the desire to be loved and treated properly.
Most of the time, people don't find what they are looking for,
so they become bitter, and indulge themselves in jealousy, envy,
vindictiveness, hatred, and revenge, and are very disappointed
in all categories of life.
Occupation with Christ brings about a change in priorities in
a Christian's life. Proper focus on Christ takes care of the problems
of friendships, romance, marriage, business, or social life, and
the problems that are caused by constant friction with people
in all situations. Love for God and for Christ takes the place
of frustration and bitterness with people.
Impersonal love, which is the professional attitude of a mature
believer toward all people, provides a capacity for wonderful
relationships with people in Christian fellowship, friendship,
and marriage.
The Problems of Focusing on Self, People, Things
Jer. 17:5,6 Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts
in mankind And makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns
away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert,
and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony
wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.
Three great problems develop through failure to be occupied with
Christ. The first problem is to have a focus on self. This
is arrogance, or an overestimation of one's self. When you are
indignant, or offended, or angered by the way you are treated,
your eyes are on yourself. You are frustrated and bitter, and
you become vengeful. You make bad decisions from a position of
weakness.
The second problem of wrong focus is to have one's eyes
on people. We tend to put our trust in people in many different
relationships. We think people are causing our problems, and we
look to other people to solve our problems. We try to find people
who are compatible, but are always be disappointed in them.
There is nothing wrong with having relationships with people.
In fact, they are unavoidable. But we will always be disappointed
by people until we have a personal love for God, occupation with
Christ, and an impersonal love for all people. This spiritual
outlook is the source of pure joy and the enjoyment of a personal
sense of eternal accomplishment.
You can't change other people, even your spouse. When you try,
it only intensifies the problem. What you are doing is making
an issue out of yourself instead of Christ's teaching. The only
person you can change is yourself; and you cannot do that by executing
some sort of psychological program for your life. Personal change
comes only through growth in Christ and using the assets that
God has provided for solving the problems of life.
The third problem caused by failure to be occupied with
Christ is a focus on things. Since you're not being treated properly,
you decide to sublimate in some way by buying something, going
somewhere, seeking out recreation. If you can't get away, or you
can't afford your dream package, you spend your life filled with
fantasy or wanderlust.
Occupation with Christ provides a new focus on life, away from
self, people, and things. When you have spiritual self-esteem,
it doesn't matter how you are treated, whether you are loved or
not loved, or whether you get what you want. It is your fellowship
with Christ that counts!
God is perfect and can only treat you within the scope of His
perfection. Within God's plan, you will be treated in a manner
that is most beneficial to you, with the proper combination of
pleasure and suffering, joy and sorrow, social life and solitude,
a combination of blessing and testing to bring you to maturity.
So, how you are treated by people, or by life itself, is no longer
an issue. You are living a life of love for Christ as your motivational
solution. You have impersonal love for people as part of your
functional integrity. The Lord gives you victory over hurt, anger,
hatred, frustration, or antagonism toward people, even in the
midst of some of the greatest expressions of frustration.
You have yourself been changed through the Word of God. You can
pass all forms of testing without being destroyed. You are well
positioned to conduct a powerful personal ministry for Christ,
being free from the self-generated problems to which most people
are subject.
The Bible Commands Us to be Occupied with Christ
Occupation with Christ is commanded by God; it is not an option.
If you are going to live the Christian life according to God's
plan, you must come to the place where you are occupied with Christ.
Deut. 6:5 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
This verse shows that it is God's will that we be absorbed with
Him in our whole being: heart, soul, and might. This means the
Word of God must be our top priority. To love God - to love the
Lord Jesus Christ - we must know Him. We learn about Christ, the
Living Word, through the Bible, the written Word. The written
Word and the Living Word eventually become our main focus in life.
A Christian cannot enter spiritual adulthood (maturity) without
this dual priority in life.
Christians who are not occupied with Christ will always be novices,
spiritual immature, and dabblers in the faith.
Heb. 12:2, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.
Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of our faith (our doctrine).
Furthermore, the Bible is the "mind of Christ", the
actual thinking of Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 2:16)
The word "joy" in Heb. 12:2 refers to the happiness
of the Lord Jesus as he endured the suffering of the Cross, when
He was being judged for our sins. We don't usually think of happiness
associated with Christ's suffering, but this was the pure joy,
in Christ's case, of his being 100% occupied with the Father and
with His plan.
1 Pet. 3:15, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always
being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give
an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and
reverence;
This verse is a command to be occupied with Christ. The "heart"
is the place in the soul where wisdom and applied Bible knowledge
reside. We "sanctify" Christ in our hearts by having
maximum understanding and application of Bible truth. By consistent
learning of the Word, under conditions of spiritual fellowship
(control of the Holy Spirit), a believer sanctifies Christ as
Lord in the heart.
Mechanics - How To Be Occupied with Christ
You have probably already seen that occupation with Christ is
accomplished through having regular interaction with the Word
of God. The #1 priority is concentration on Bible truth, and organizing
one's life around that #1 priority. When you do that, you are
concentrating on Christ, you are occupied with Christ.
To concentrate on the Word, you must receive consistent accurate
teaching from a pastor-teacher. In Eph. 4:11-16, we see that the
method God the Father has chosen to bring us to maturity as individuals,
and to have a mature, productive church, is Bible teaching from
men who are prepared to minister (preach) the Word of God.
You must listen and learn many things from the Bible. Some of
them will seem to have no immediate application, but all Bible
knowledge is important in God's plan for your life. If you stay
with it, the pieces will begin to fit together and it will all
make sense.
If your top priority is Bible truth, your life will begin to change
almost without your knowing it. You will learn doctrine every
day, and you will begin to use the problem solving techniques
that the Bible offers. Your mental attitude will be determined
by the divine thinking that is coming into your soul.
When the Word of God is the main focus of your life, you come
to the point of personal love for God the Father. You will have
spiritual self-esteem. Once you begin to have love for God, and
to be occupied with Christ, you will no longer feel threatened
by things in life that once disturbed you. You have a relaxed
mental attitude and spiritual joy, which is happiness supplied
by God that you have regardless of circumstances, things, or the
people in your life. This process is demonstrated in 1 Peter 1:6-8.
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while,
if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
that the proof (genuineness) of your faith (doctrine), being more
precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by
fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at
the revelation of Jesus Christ;
and though you have not seen Him (Jesus Christ), you love Him
(occupation with Christ), and though you do not see Him now, but
believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and
full of glory,
In other words, you begin to function by using the Word of God
during times of testing, at the same time as you are occupied
with Christ. You are actually sharing the happiness of God as
you go through life.
The Results of Occupation with Christ
Occupation with Christ is the principal solution to all problems
that occur in life. God the Father has provided us with everything
necessary for us to have a capacity for joy and a prosperity that
is independent of people or circumstances. These provisions are
known as "all blessings in heavenly places in Christ"
(Eph. 1:3). Note that the place of blessing is in Christ.
All blessings, and all problem solutions begin with Occupation
with Christ.
Occupation with Christ glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Eph. 3:19-21)
Occupation with Christ is required in order to have complete
fellowship with God the Father. I John 1:6. Walking "in
darkness" is the opposite of occupation with Christ.
In 2 Cor. 13:14, the "practice of truth" is fellowship
with God the Father; and fellowship with God always leads to love
for God.
I Cor. 1:9 indicates that fellowship with Christ is concurrent
with, and necessary for, fellowship with God. Since you were "called
into fellowship with His Son," this should be your main priority
in life. But this means that you have to make the Word of God
your main interest in life.
Fellowship with God the Holy Spirit is also closely tied
in with occupation with Christ. Phil. 2:1,2 "Therefore, if
there be any encouragement in Christ, if there is any comfort
of love, if there is any fellowship with the Spirit, if there
is any affection mercies, complete my happiness by thinking the
same things."
God's happiness is completed as we have fellowship with Him, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Then we can have true fellowship with people, without putting
people before God. 2 Cor. 13:14 "The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love for God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with all of you." But without occupation with Christ,
interaction with other people is often bad.
Occupation with Christ, therefore, eliminates the superficiality
of human hero worship. Phil. 3:7,8 "...I count all things
but loss except for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord..."
As you become occupied with Christ, you have a stronger motivation
to have a relationship with the Lord, and you change gradually
from dependence on people to dependence on the Lord. You cannot
change people; it is God who causes people to change, to grow
up. And no one is fully grown up who is not making use of occupation
with Christ. The key to God's plan is that we no longer live for
ourselves but for Christ.
2 Cor. 5:14-17 For the love of Christ continues to motivate us,
in that One died for all; therefore, all have died. And He died
as a substitute for all, in order that those who live should no
longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and was resurrected...
Occupation with Christ brings spiritual self-esteem and self-confidence.
You have self-esteem when you stop competing with people and undermining
them. You stop slandering, gossiping, maligning, and judging other
people. You have impersonal (professional) love for other people,
because you are occupied with Christ. You live in grace, and you
are a conduit of grace to other people, because Christ has become
formed in your thinking and you love Him above everything else.
The result is 2 Cor. 5:14 "The Lord for Christ motivates..."
Occupation with Christ is the Basis for Production and Blessing
| It is the means by which mature believers contribute to national
blessing (blessing by association). Deut. 30:15-20. |
| It produces courage and victory in battle, Jer. 23:10,11. |
| It is the basis for strength during testing, Psalm 31:23,24. |
| It results in great blessings, Psalm 37:4,5. |
| It provides strength under pressure, Heb. 11:27. |
| It helps the Christian avoid fatigue in the soul, Heb. 12:3. |
Summary Remarks