Introduction: Making sense of the varied events of our lives.
I. What is Paul’s narrative – the storyline within which he places the events of his life?
II. What is the main idea –the “web” –that ties together all of Paul’s thought in this passage?
“I was much more accustomed to thinking of Christ as a savior outside of me than as one who dwells withinand had united his life to mine. Yes, I had heard the popular refrain ‘Jesus in your heart,’ but my primary understanding of the gospel was that Jesus had accomplished something for me, once, long ago” (Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ, p.27).
“First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us. Therefore…he had to become ours and to dwell within us” (John Calvin, quoted by Wilbourne, p.27).
How are we to understand the phrase, “IN CHRIST”?
- Mystery & metaphor
- “For my own part, I am overwhelmed by the depth of this mystery, and am not ashamed to join Paul in acknowledging at once my ignorance and my admiration…whatever is supernatural is clearly beyond our own comprehension. Let us therefore labor more to feel Christ living in us, than to discover the nature of that intercourse” (Calvin, quoted by Wilbourne, p.33).
- “When we become Christians, we do not merely receive a ‘benefits package’ from Christ –containing forgiveness, new life, new hope and so on. Much more than that is involved; we receive Christ himself” (Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Ephesians,8).
- “The greatest treasure of the gospel, greater than any benefit the gospel brings, is the gift of God himself. Is it any wonder, then, that twentieth-century writer John Murray concluded, ‘Nothing is more central or more basic than union with Christ…it is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation’” (Wilbourne, p.28).
- A simple definition: “Union with Christ” means that you are in Christ and Christ is in you.
- Colossians 1:26-27; 2:9-10; 3:3-4; John 15:1-7.
III. What is your narrative–the storyline by which you interpret all the events in your life?
IV. From Eternity Past to Eternity Future:
“Every spiritual blessing that God gives us, he has given us ‘in Christ.’ Christ is the fountain, and our union with him is the fountainhead from which all blessings flow. Come thou fount of every blessing!” (Wilbourne, p.77).
“Why, then, would you look for God’s blessing anywhere else than in Christ?” (Ferguson, p.8).