This Christmas season we’ve been reflecting on the meaning of two tiny letters. Two tiny letters that make up one of the smallest words in the English yet upon which the Bible hangs its richest theology and grandest mysteries. Those two tiny letters are the preposition “in.” What does it mean to say we are “In Christ?”
We started out talking about God’s eternal PLAN and PROMISE to offer salvation in Christ, a plan set in stone, scripted to occur on a cross, by God the Father before laying the foundations of the world. Get your mind around that! We talked about discovering God’s ultimate PURPOSE for our life in Christ. You were not an unlikely accident of nature! You were created to live a life of supernatural meaning, purpose, and significance! All things were created “by” Christ and “for” Christ.
We talked about God’s PRESENCE in Christ Jesus. In Christ, was life and that life was the light of men. Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being. Jesus is Emmanuel, God “with” us. Jesus is the Word who became flesh and dwelt or camped among us… who moved into neighborhood!
We unpacked how God demonstrated his POWER in Christ. Jesus spoke every word he heard from God. He did the very work he saw the Father doing. Most profoundly, we explored how Jesus is the Power of God for the salvation of all who believe. He demonstrated God’s power to forgive sin and conquer death by his resurrection from the grave.
On Christmas Eve, and Christmas we talked about how God offers us his very PEACE in Christ. This week I was reminded of C.S. Lewis famous quote that “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” The Bible speaks so clearly on this subject—that Christ Himself IS our peace.
There were more ideas I wanted to unpack such as the PRE-EMINENCE of God in Christ. That God is establishing his rule, his reign, and authority in Christ. That one day every knee will bow and confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of Christ! I also wanted to talk about the coming PAROUSIA of God in Christ. Parousia is the Greek word for advent, for appearing. Christ is coming again to raise the living and the dead. One day soon we will all stand before the Lord of the Universe to give an account for the deeds done while in the body. It’s going to be a really sad day as people pour out all their pathetic justifications for the evil they did while in their body. But it’s going to be a really victorious day when the blood of Christ forever secures our justification before God.
We will never exhaust all it means to be in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” And then Paul says we we’re chosen in Christ, predestined in Christ, adopted as sons or daughters in Christ, we’re lavished with God’s love in Christ, redeemed in Christ (in his blood), given all wisdom and understanding in Christ, given the mystery to all life in Christ, reconciled to God in Christ along with all things, given an eternal inheritance in Christ, given God’s Holy Spirit in Christ (as a down payment of all that is to come). We know God’s power in Christ—through resurrection. On and on Paul goes. In Christ. In Christ. In Christ.
The absolute worst place you can be in all the Universe is OUTSIDE Christ. You are either abiding in Christ or standing outside Christ, you can’t have one foot in the door and the other out. God knows your exact standing IN or OUT of Christ. Ephesians 1:13 says, “In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.” 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Galatians 3:27, “For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.”
Go to www.Biblegateway.Com sometime this week and search for the phrase “IN CHRIST.” You will be overwhelmed. Chills will fill your body. Some of you have neither believed on Jesus, confessed Jesus, nor been clothed with Christ in baptism. It’s time to take steps—[PATHWAY CLASS]
So, this is the NEW YEAR, and I’ve got something amazing for you to contemplate. Just as the greatest wonders of God hang on this phrase “IN CHRIST”… equally profound wonders hang on the phrase “CHRIST IN…” Notice how merely flipping the word order from “In Christ” to “Christ In” opens a whole new universe of exciting new hopes, dreams, and possibilities for your life.
Think of it this way: Ephesians 1:3 speaks of how, “YOU are blessed with every spiritual blessing IN CHIST.” “In Christ” speaks of our salvation. But buckle your seat belts because passages like Colossians 1:24-28 speak of how we literally become God’s “instruments”… “his conduits”… “his ambassadors and ministers.” It’s not just that YOU take up position in Christ…. It’s that Christ takes up position in you. It’s not just that you abide and dwell in Christ, it’s that Christ now abides and dwells in you. Just as the Father dwelt in Christ, not Christ dwells in you.
Colossians 1:24-28 Paul says, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, that is, the church. 25 I have become its servant, according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that works powerfully in me.”
Whatever does it mean that not only are you in Christ, but Christ is in you? Later in Colossians 3:1-3 Paul admonishes, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Friends. It’s not just that we’ve given our lives to Jesus. It’s far more profound than that. We’re dead and Christ Jesus is now living his life out through us. This is profoundly mystical and it is profoundly true. As believers, Christ IS our life. We are his body, his hands, and his feet. We have the mind of Christ. We have the spirit, power, and strength of Christ striving and working powerfully within us and through us. We are full participants in God’s Divine Nature as Peter says (2 Peter 1). 1 Peter 4:11, “If anyone speaks, let it be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, let it be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.”
Philippians 2:12-13, “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.” You get into salvation (in Christ) by trusting Christ’s work. But you work out your salvation letting Christ takeover “in you.” Let him shine through out, through you.
I leave you with one final passage: Ephesians 4:4-16, “4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
“7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. 9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.”
Now if I’m reading this correctly—and I surely am. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, Elvis didn’t exactly leave the building. Instead, Jesus ascended to “fill all things” … that’s fill all things with his presence in in an exciting new way!
“11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.”
Jesus body hasn’t left the earth in this sense… the church as the life-giving body of Christ remains! Christ isn’t just “with us” he is now “within us” by his Spirit. He has given us gifts, capacities, abilities, talents, and means not just to “be blessed” (salvation) but “to bless” (ministry)! We’re IN Christ, but now CHRIST IS ALSO IN US!