This episode contrasts mediocre Christian life with the abundant life that Christ promised us. The difference is the power-source that we most often rely upon. If we adopt the bogus assumption that dependence on resurrection power is mostly for crisis moments, not for routine everyday life, then we consign ourselves to living a substandard mediocre Christian life mostly governed by our fleshly power. Christ exploded this distinction, maintaining that the routine, even boring aspects of biotic life should be filled with zoe life, the spiritual life that He alluded to in John 10:10: "I would that you have life and that more abundantly." Christians should consequently bear their crosses, depending on resurrection power and not their own. Paul prayed that Ephesian believers would live out of this power, which was the same power that rose Christ from the dead. (Eph. 1:19-20) And Paul Himself linked this resurrection power to the crosses that all of us must inevitably bear: "I want to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings." (Phil. 3:10) Everyday reliance on resurrection power is then the only way to experience "abundant life" and rise above mediocrity.
Take Hold of the Narrative of your Life
This episode, based on last weeks' lessons, sets the stage for living the will of God this year. 1 Pet. 4:1-2 tells us that believers should no live for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. Yet the narrative of reacting to life too often describes our time year after year because we don't gain the clear divine perspective for our lives. When we "seek those things above where Christ is seated" (Col. 3:1), we stop reacting to life's circumstances based on a divine vision. This episode consequently emphasizes the prayerful pursuit of the will of God, with the end of establishing the narrative for our lives.
“Build, with God’s Power”
This episode builds on the first episode, emphasizing that all sanctification is fundamentally drawing on the power of Christ provided in the resurrection. We were born again through the resurrection of Christ (1 Pet. 1:3), and in sanctification, we progressively live out of the power that Christ has made available. "God's divine power has given to us everything pertaining to life and godliness..." (2 Pet. 1:3) The episode exhorts believers not to make the tempting mistake of the Galatians who sought "to be perfected by the flesh" instead of drawing on the divine power. (Gal. 3:2-3) New Years' resolutions often fail because they're based on fleshly resolve and power. The episode closes with the a summary of the numerous qualities that Christians are to walk in, based on abiding in Christ and His power. Even the Christian response is based on God's divine power. So, with respect to the constitutional metaphor, "separation of powers" doesn't refer to a Christian's response independent of God's power, but merely highlights human responsibility to ACT, in response to God's power.
Repentance and the Roadmap of Sanctification
This final episode presents the typical roadmap of sanctification in which believers typically prioritize "sin" issues in their walk, eventually leading to a crisis point in which they discover they can't live the Christian life in their own power. The options are then to double down on the power of the flesh to live the Christian life (the Galatian error), or abandon all hope in the flesh and completely depend on Christ's resurrection power to live the Christian life. Repentance from dead works should ultimately result in repentance from the old self itself.