Teaching - Union with Christ
Galatians 2:20 in the English Standard Version
[This is the 23rd lesson of this series]
There are several themes in the bible that tells us how as believers, we have been united with Christ. It might take some time to look them all up.
And we who are united in Christ are all joined together as brothers and sisters in Christ through the blood of Christ (regardless of our ABCDES; age, backgound, class, differences, ethnicity or status or sect). The whole Body of Christ is made up of all us combined.
Christ was born in human flesh so He can have communion with us in the physical. Our heavenly Father sent us His Spirit so we can have communion with the Holy Spirit (in the spiritual, for God is spirit). And so we are united with Him in both the physical and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen.
We are united in one mind, one heart and one spirit. There is a concordance.
Older preachers will know how it was back in the pre internet days when concordances sit side by side with the different bibles and all the other books as one studies to unite Scriptural text together.
[This is also the same way biblical marriage makes husband and wife, joined together, one flesh. Two become one. This is why the Body of Christ is also called the Bride of Christ.]
Internet Age
Today in our ultra fast, I want it now world, everything is available right here, right now, in an instant.
But that is not always the case, especially with God. (And in a marriage).
Regenerated
We were instantly changed, reborn, renewed when we first believed. But that union can be a fragile one. Our old self may be dead but its ghost, its old habits and old ways of thinking and doing things still lingers on. Even the regrets, the insecurities and the worries.
We are still human and we still have a connection to this world where our mortal bodies are still standing and walking on. We still feel pain, hurt, emotional lows, hunger, thirst and uncertainties like everybody else.
Convicted
We feel both refreshed and remorse, knowing that Jesus went through the same things we went through while He was in a human body. Refreshed, because we know we have a Savior, a High Priest who sympathizes and empathizes with us because He feels what we feel. He was in a physical mortal body.
Yet remorseful (convicted yet not condemned) because though tempted as we are, Christ didn't commit a sin. While we from time to time trip, succumb, stumble, waver or fall. Tradition tells us that on the way to Calvary, Jesus fell a few times as He was carrying the cross. Obviously He got back up each time.
We do too, we stand back up and repent, learn from our mistakes, our faux pas and walk more closely with the Spirit of Christ, holding on more tightly.
That bond, that union we have with Christ lovingly makes our will coincide with His. Just as Christ's will as a human did with the will of Our Father's.
This is the reason how before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He was able to tell His closest followers to ask whatever they wish, and it will be done for them.
When our will is united with Our Father in heaven, nothing is impossible. When we ask the Father, whatever we ask of Him in the Name of Jesus, He will give it to us. Now that is union with Christ. Not instant. No not instant coffee. But more like brewed. Our life as a believer isn't instant, we are being brewed to perfection.
As teachers we teach not just with words but with the life we live. We can, and will hurt others but let us not wound them. Remember, we are all being brewed in our own personal way, like coffee grounds with different temperatures of hot water being poured in, in different durations. Or steeped, if we prefer tea.
We feel both refreshed and remorse, knowing that Jesus went through the same things we went through while He was in a human body. Refreshed, because we know we have a Savior, a High Priest who sympathizes and empathizes with us because He feels what we feel. He was in a physical mortal body.
Yet remorseful (convicted yet not condemned) because though tempted as we are, Christ didn't commit a sin. While we from time to time trip, succumb, stumble, waver or fall. Tradition tells us that on the way to Calvary, Jesus fell a few times as He was carrying the cross. Obviously He got back up each time.
We do too, we stand back up and repent, learn from our mistakes, our faux pas and walk more closely with the Spirit of Christ, holding on more tightly.
That bond, that union we have with Christ lovingly makes our will coincide with His. Just as Christ's will as a human did with the will of Our Father's.
This is the reason how before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He was able to tell His closest followers to ask whatever they wish, and it will be done for them.
When our will is united with Our Father in heaven, nothing is impossible. When we ask the Father, whatever we ask of Him in the Name of Jesus, He will give it to us. Now that is union with Christ. Not instant. No not instant coffee. But more like brewed. Our life as a believer isn't instant, we are being brewed to perfection.
As teachers we teach not just with words but with the life we live. We can, and will hurt others but let us not wound them. Remember, we are all being brewed in our own personal way, like coffee grounds with different temperatures of hot water being poured in, in different durations. Or steeped, if we prefer tea.
Comments
Post a Comment