One of the barriers that holds many people back from knowing, and being controlled by, the love of Christ is the idea that true happiness can only be found if we are free to live for ourselves.

Living for self is the default life of every person. So, unless something happens to bring about a change, we will end up living for ourselves. The Bible says this quite clearly: “All seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 2:21). What does it mean to live for yourself?

If you live for yourself, you make yourself both the boss and the servant. The demands you set are the demands you must meet. If you live for yourself, you will often find yourself in the strange position of beating yourself up because you’re unhappy.

You look in the mirror and ‘self the boss’ is not happy because she wants to have a better image, so she beats up on ‘self the servant’ for not being pretty enough. Or ‘self the boss’ tells you that you should have accomplished more, and ‘self the servant’ gets beaten for not measuring up.

Then suppose you say to yourself, This is no good, I’m living for myself but I’m not happy. I’m being too hard on myself. I need to lighten up, give myself a break. But then, when you lighten up as the servant, you end up being short-changed as the boss. You can’t win. And all around us is a culture that’s telling us, “Live for yourself!”

But if you live for yourself, who will reward you, embrace you, and rejoice with you when your work is done? Live for yourself and one day you will find that you’re all alone, because the one for whom all your work has been done is yourself.

Do you identify more with the unhappy boss or the unrewarded servant today?

The book of Hebrews was written to people who believed in and trusted Jesus Christ. It tells us what is true of us when we are in Christ. In chapter 12, the writer recalls the scene from Exodus 19, the giving of the Ten Commandments, and he says:

You have not come to... a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them... So terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” (12:18–21)

He is telling us that the terror of entering the presence of God without a sacrifice is not our position. What is our position then if we are in Jesus Christ?

You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (12:22–24)

The contrast is not between heaven and hell, it is between standing before God without a mediator and standing before God with Jesus and His shed blood applied to our lives. With Christ, death will be entering into celebration: “One has died for all, therefore all have died” (2 Cor. 5:14). Jesus entered the death that you would have died, so that when death comes for you it will not be a passing into condemnation but an entrance into celebration.

In your own words, how would you describe the difference between these two positions?

Now Paul is going to give us one conclusion, and when your mind believes this, the love of Christ will control your heart. Here it is: “One has died for all, therefore all have died” (5:14).

To understand this, it is important to remember that death can be one of two things: a passing into condemnation, or an entrance into celebration.

Passing into condemnation is pictured for us in the story of how God came down to Mount Sinai to give the Ten Commandments: “The Lord will come down on Mount Sinai... You shall set limits for the people all around, saying ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death’” (Ex. 19:11-12).

Imagine a million people gathered at the foot of the mountain, “There were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled” (19:16). No one said, “I’m not impressed!” or “I don’t believe.”

Then we are told: “Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly... The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain” (19:18, 20). Mount Sinai is about 7,500 feet tall. That means God came 7,500 feet away from them. That’s more than six times the height of The Shard in London and nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis. And the people were trembling.

This is what the presence of a holy God will be like for sinners without Christ—sheer terror. When you die, you do not want to find yourself at the bottom of Mount Sinai.

Have you ever imagined how amazing it would be to be in the presence of a holy God?

Would you like to experience more of Jesus’ love? Here are some common Christian approaches: If I want to have a deeper experience of Jesus’ love...

• I need to rededicate my life to Christ.
• I need to be more disciplined in my Bible reading.
• I need to get more serious about prayer.

These are all good things, but notice Paul is not telling us to do anything. He is telling us where a deeper experience of Jesus’ love is found: “the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded...” (5:14). Then Paul tells us two settled conclusions about the death of Christ.

But before we get to these conclusions, notice Paul is telling us something very important about the connection between what we think and what we feel. Christians sometimes say, “I believe that God loves me (in my head), but I don’t feel it in my heart.” And when the love of Christ is missing from a person’s heart, and you probe further, you will often find that the settled convictions that Paul talks about here are usually missing in the mind.

Whatever grips your mind controls your heart. That’s why Paul says, “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). That’s where it starts. Your heart is a follower more than a leader. Heart follows mind. That’s why on the road to Emmaus Jesus first opened up the Scriptures and taught the disciples, and afterward their hearts burned within them (Luke 24:32).

Imagine a woman saying, “I used to think like this: When I have a husband, I’ll feel loved. When I have kids, I’ll feel needed. When I have a job, I’ll feel important. Then I got them—the husband, the kids, and the job—and I still wasn’t happy.”

Do you see what she’s saying? “My heart was set on a husband, kids, and job, because I thought [there’s the settled conviction that is driving the heart] this would bring me more worth.”

Do you see how your thinking drives your feelings?

What does the apostle Paul mean when he says that Christians are controlled by the love of Christ? Here are some words (in order) that describe how we might experience the love of Christ. Each one is deeper, richer, and fuller than the ones before it.

1. Hear: Many of us have heard about the love of Jesus. Maybe you’ve heard that Christ loves you since you were very young.

2. Believe: Do you believe that Jesus loves you? Maybe you can even remember when you first came to believe this.

3. Receive: Is the love of Christ more than something out there for you, more than something you chose to believe in? Has this love been poured into your heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5)? Maybe you are not sure, and you sometimes wonder, Is this true of me?

4. Fill: Paul prays that we would have strength to know the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ (Eph. 3:18). Then he prays for us to be filled (3:19). How marvellous would that be? To relate to the love of Christ in such a way that your empty tank is filled with the love of Christ. But the next word Paul uses–control–goes beyond even being filled.

5. Control: To be controlled by the love of Christ means to be energised, moved into action, and directed by this love. To be filled with the love of Christ would mean that you enjoy this love. But to be controlled by the love of Christ means that others are touched by this love through you.

Reflect on your experience of Christ’s love considering each of these five words.

We will glorify Christ forever in heaven, and our great purpose in life is to get started now. Here are ten things you can only do during your short time in this life:

1. All the praying you will ever do is the praying you do now.
2. All the believing you will ever do is the believing you do now. You won’t need it when faith has been turned to sight.
3. All the courage you will ever show is the courage you show in this world. There are no dangers in the presence of Jesus.
4. All the resisting of sin you will ever do is in this life. There are no temptations for you to fight in the presence of Jesus.
5. The only opportunities you have to trust God are here in this world. In the presence of Jesus, all that was hidden will be revealed.
6. The only places you can shine are the dark places in this world where God puts you. There are no dark places in the presence of Jesus.
7. The only patience you will ever need is the patience you exercise while in the body.
8. The only bearing witness to Jesus that you will ever do is in this world. There are no lost people in heaven.
9. The only comfort you will ever give to the suffering and the only compassion you will have for the poor is in this world.
10. The only sacrifice, giving, and labour you will ever do for Christ is in this life. In heaven, you won’t need to get out of your comfort zone; you will rest from your labours.

What two or three opportunities are you not taking full advantage of?

Jesus said these words three times—in reference to our giving, our prayers, and our fasting. He spoke very clearly about the rewards of faithful service.

In the parable of the talents, Jesus told a story about a man who entrusted his property to servants. To the servants who were faithful, he said, “You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much” (Mat. 25:21, 23).

Imagine a construction site with houses going up, and the builders using different materials. Gold and silver are placed in the decor. Precious stones are set into the walls. But some holes are covered with wood, hay, or stubble. Then one day there’s a fire. The wood, hay, and stubble go up in smoke, but the gold, silver, and precious stones remain:

Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved. (1 Cor. 3:13–15)

Paul may have had these words in mind when he said: “We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10). The word translated ‘evil’ can also be translated ‘worthless.’ Like the wood, hay, and stubble—it proved to be of no lasting value.

Are you living your Christian life with the rewards Jesus spoke about in mind?

Imagine a university student named John, eating in the cafeteria. He hears about a new course that all first years are required to take: “It sounds like a lot of work!”

“Don’t worry,” says Bill, a second year student, “It’s one of those non-examinable courses. It doesn’t count toward your degree. Just sign in occasionally to show you were there.”

So, John goes to class the first day and begins taking notes, but something inside him says, Why bother? It doesn’t really count. So, the rest of the week John shows up late and only hears the second half of each lecture. After that he doesn’t show up at all; he sleeps in instead.

On the last day of class, the teacher announces: “Please submit all the notes you’ve taken for this class. They will be placed in your file as samples of the quality of your work, along with your reference, for the consideration of future employers.”

John browsed his notes for the ten-week course: Only one full page of notes and four half pages. He realises that his shoddy work will be the first thing seen by a potential employer, so John rushes to the teacher, “This isn’t fair! If I knew it mattered, I would have done better work.”

“This course doesn’t count toward your degree,” said the teacher, “but your mistake was to conclude that it doesn’t count for anything.”

Have you flirted with the idea that since your Christian life doesn’t count toward your salvation that it doesn’t count for anything at all?