"What Does 'In Christ' Mean?" - by J. Dan Gill

I thought we might investigate a little bit this morning something I've been thinking about and and that's a phrase that is used a lot by Paul in particular but not just Paul Peter uses the same phrase but it's the phrase and we kind of I have tended to kind of maybe take it for granted but the word phrases in Christ and it turns out that this is a theme in the New Testament there's kind of prominent it's significant Paul uses it a great deal and we find that exact phrase I think about seventy seven times you can do your own counting and see what you think but around seventy seven times and by my account in cries so that's pretty significant phrase but I think in Christianity we've come to take that phrase perhaps for granted we don't think a lot about it and if we were to ask the the typical person going out of a church what do you think about in Christ the this oh yes I love that but what does that mean and then it gets a little foggy or doesn't it we're not sometimes so clear or sure what we're talking about when we're talking about that those words well we don't really care so much what we might think but the question would be what did they think in the scriptures when they were using that phrase what were they meaning what was the significance of that and so I think that it seems to me and I think we'll prove this out but it seems to me that what we're talking about when we say in Christ we're talking about relationship relationship with Christ and let's just study this out a minute and see if you agree but let's begin if you will in John 10:38 and we find this amazing statement here notice this but if I do them though you do not believe me somebody works this is Jesus speaking believe the works so that you may know and understand that the father is in me and I in the father but I'm in the father Wow so notice that phrase in the father okay and we are seeing these this coming from Jesus and he's saying the father's in me and I'm in the father but I think that the essential aspect of this it's not so much spatial so to speak in other words taking up space the father is in me though I think and surely he was by the Spirit of God but I think it most at its heart actually indicates relationship and relationship is it's through and by the Spirit of God we understand that but actually we're talking about Jesus was in special relationship with the father and the father was in special relationship with Jesus with his son and so now we're seeing this sense I'm in the father and the father is in me and he's doing the works and these wonderful things he talks about well let's follow if you will then in John 14 and 20 and we picked this up in that day Jesus is still speaking and that day you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I knew Wow so notice this this whole business in my father in me in you but notice how Jesus kind of lines this up for purposes of this thought he's saying look here's my father and here's me and I'm in the father and fathers in me but then when it comes to the people of Jesus Christ he's kind of putting it this way and I'm in you and you and me so it puts Jesus interestingly enough in a very positive wonderful way in between some God he has this special relationship as the Son of God with God God has the special relationship with him as it were but our relationship in all of this is really directly connected with associated with Jesus so our special relationship is first of all with him and he with us so to be in one okay I think we could explore that thought more but we're going to kind of stay with this thought about in Christ today but to be in one and for Jesus to be in the Father means he has this relationship with the father for us to be in Jesus means we have the special relationship with Jesus and then through him the father so this very well-known verse we could most of us hopefully could quote it but that's John 14 and verse 6 just backing up a little bit and Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through me so notice this again I think this was a powerful thought in the time that Jesus was speaking because much of this interest about Jesus and his relationship to the father and that unique relationship I think is for the benefit of those Jews if we can say that who were keenly interested in God they thought and okay but they didn't want Jesus they didn't want him as the Messiah they didn't want him is anything actually and so as a consequence they claimed God but denied Jesus as the Christ but what Jesus is teaching is and he knew this like I say it's not it's not a matter that he was some egotistical fellow or something it's just the truth he was a person of truth he knew what God was doing through him and by him so what Jesus is saying had great ramifications for the Jewish people of the day who would like to claim God but deny Jesus and what we're finding is Jesus saying I and my father are one not that's not a cosmic statement about you know essence or something it's a statement about you want God you get me and by the way if you want me you get the father you get my god and so you can't separate those things you can't divorce them one from another so Jesus is God's unique son is unique human son and God has worked a great work through him and now we see Jesus saying I'm the way the truth and the life a statement of fact and no one comes to the Father but through me this was a very power it's a powerful statement for all people of all time but it was certainly very pointed for the folks that they were among back there who as I say wanted to claim the father but deny his Christ his Messiah Jesus so I think that's very significant then well I said that we find that phrase in Christ some seventy-seven times at least there abouts in our New Testament but it's interesting that Paul is notable for that he uses the phrase many times and in Christ in Christ Jesus and it's sort of a pattern that he uses and a lot but so some I think have felt like well Paul is the one who brought this to bear but actually I don't think so I think we're beginning to see this whole business of Jesus being in the father the father being in Jesus and us being in Christ and him being in us that that is something that we're seeing in the scriptures before Paul came on the scene so I thought we want to take a look at this very important passage John 15 so we're still in that same general area of John and we have this amazing picture of of John conveying to us a very powerful parable about the vine and the branches are all for me with this but notice this key thought about it I am the true vine Jesus says and my father is the vine dresser that again implies relationship between the vine and the vine dresser ok a direct relationship between them ok verse 2 every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit so this is interesting that every branch noticed this phrase every branch in me Wow so again here's this concept of being in Christ and it now it's been brought to us not my Paul this is pre Paul and has it work but it's been brought to us by the Lord himself by Jesus and he's saying every branch in me so here's this concept of relationship every branch in me by the way I just was thinking I don't want to just to get biased but when we're talking about in Christ note that we're talking about in the Messiah in The Anointed One that is a human being right God doesn't get annoying he doesn't need to be he anoints others but he but God himself doesn't get annoying it when we're talking about Christ that is as brother Carey has been making such a good point up that has a meaning and it means one who has been anointed and Jesus was anointed of course so I think when we say we're in the anointed one that means we have relationship with the man Christ Jesus so there you are again then and first Timothy two and five of course we're not going to go there but that amazing statement for there is one God hey that's what we believe and we really believe it isn't that interesting we actually don't fudge on that we actually believe there is one God and one mediator between God and men they're human beings the man the human being really Christ Jesus so Wow so when we say we're in Christ we're saying by statement were in a human being who is the special Son of God we're in relationship with him and it's he that died and there's notice so well so many times God doesn't get dead God can't die so what do you think I think the one who did the dying was Jesus the Son of God and we our relationship as human beings is with him a human being but a very special special I the most special human being that ever lived God's work through him is amazing so every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit and so notice that he's talking about branches being taken away that are in him we're not we're not talking about hey you know some other vines some other branch something that this is Christ and it is he that is divine and these are branches that are already in him that can be taken away because they're not bearing fruit that's Jesus not my idea okay verse three you are already clean we might use the term prudent if you will you're already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you Wow verse four abide in me that means remain in me stay in me and I in you notice the relationship again you remain in me abide in me living me as it were and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine so neither can you unless you abide live remain in me Wow so how powerful is this verse 5 I am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit notice this next statement for apart from me you can do nothing now that's an interesting thing because we're a custom we were familiar with the scriptures in John 5 and statements Jesus makes about with that the son can do nothing by himself or of himself everything that he does is by cause of his relationship with his father and it's his father at work in him so Jesus then he abides in the father and now he says apart from me you can do nothing we think about Jesus not being able to do anything without the father but we need to be aware of this one too without Jesus we can do nothing Wow and we do know we've talked before about this business of the active Christ the Christ that appeared to in Paul on the road to Damascus anyway and it's the same Jesus that appeared to Paul and visions and dreams and other people it's the same one so working with them that's what it says at the end of the book of mark in the sixteenth chapter the it says the Lord Jesus ascended was taken up on high seated at the right hand of God they went everywhere preaching the message the Lord working with them so isn't that an amazing thing we touched on this at the conference we just had about we are coworkers actually with Christ that's an amazing thing but that we get that understanding from from Paul coworkers with Christ second Corinthians six and one ibly so I'm the vine you are the branches the person the individual who abides in me and I in him he bears much fruit apart from me you can do nothing if you are not in Christ or you're taken from Christ as it were by the vine dresser because you're bearing no fruit okay then you can do nothing I mean you may get up in the morning and brush your teeth or whatever we're not talking about that but spiritually speaking in the work that God would have us to do we can't accomplish anything without him and the minute we think we can then we're becoming very mmm high-minded should we say not in a good sense but and self-reliant that doesn't work that way okay verse 6 if anyone does not abide in me he's thrown away as a branch and dries up and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned so they're good for nothing they're burned up they're destroyed Wow so it doesn't say by the way they're cast into the fire where they will be tortured forever and ever it says they're cast into the fire and just consumed Wow but that gives us something you need to be in Christ by all means and once we're in Christ we must remain in him and recognize that he as our mediator our connector with God being in him men he in us is the key to all of our all of our work and all of our success I mentioned in the conference we just had that actually we're all involved here in the work of Christ it's not in the sense our work first it's his work and we are helpers together together and with him so that's that's tremendous verse 7 if you abide in me now notice this and my words abide in you ha ok so getting back to this thought then what does this mean to be in Christ what does it mean it signifies that you're walking around in him with him looking to the walk he walked and walking like he walked but notice that key to this for Jesus is that his words abide in us Wow Anthony said earlier that the the devil has primarily one key tactic and that is to separate Jesus from his words I think that is certainly one of the major plans that the enemy uses but here we find that if you want to abide in Jesus that has to do with abiding in his words and we cannot separate Jesus from his word as I've said before you know we have people artists love love love love Jesus but I don't care what he says well it doesn't work that way does it it doesn't make any sense so if if notice the conditional if you abide in me and my words about you ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you so Wow my words abide in you so this business about being Christ has to do with his words it has to do not just with saying oh I'm in Christ well that's great we can say that if we're in him but huh but actually it has to do with his words abiding in us we can't really say we're abiding in Christ and disregard his words on the other hand there's a great promise here a wonderful promise that says if we abide in his words if we his words abide in us then we can ask whatever we will and then it will be done for us disregard the words of Jesus you're disregarding Jesus you can't separate those two things if I say I love Dale Tuggy and he's wonderful and all of that I don't care about anything he says well that's that's tough isn't it there's a disconnect there that doesn't make any sense of course I'm gonna care about what he says and he says a lot of great things so I'm interested in the words of Jesus if I'm interested in Jesus and it's critical to remaining in him that his words remain in us Wow verse 8 my father is glorified by this that you bear much fruit much fruit and so prove to be my disciples verse 9 just as the father has loved me I have also loved you abide live in remain in my love so Wow notice again the the connections here the father's love me I love you and so I'm telling you right now this whole business of our our salvation and hope is all about a relationship with somebody that God loves God has loved his son he said so from heaven on more than one of Asian he actually spoke from heaven God doesn't do that so much but he did regarding Jesus on more than one occasion and said this is my son the son I love he's very pleased when Jesus was growing up we have that amazing passage of scripture that says you know and he grew in favor with God and man Wow so this son that he loved God was executing if you will fulfilling if you will his plan of the ages to bless and to help a people us by extension and he accomplished this through Christ that's the reason we can be as Paul says in Colossians 2:10 we're complete we are complete in him Wow so in Christ we've got it all but you can't say I'm going to go to God and forget Christ the whole New Testament testifies against that if you really want to be a Christian then I don't think we could say that you must say I'm gonna be a Christian that means I'm going to come to God through Christ I'm going to come to Christ and in relationship with him and I will do all that is good to God because of my relationship with Jesus Christ so my father has loved me I've loved you remain in my love verse 10 if another conditional if you my disciples keep my Commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's Commandments and abide in his love so wow isn't this pretty extraordinary think about this whole business about relationship this whole business about our being in Christ in the anointed one in the human being Christ Jesus the human being Christ Jesus if you will and this is so incredible but the promises in his love we're finding the love of God so I've said in a way I think the the perspective oh we're all ok I think everybody comes to God for themselves and we we bury our own responsibilities for our sins and so on and so forth I don't know about that because notice that it's not about me and God and Jesus over here it's about me and Jesus and God and that's a very critical issue so I think you know we have whether it's the Jews or or others so oh well now Jesus he's a good example and though you know but but it's really us and God no actually it isn't we are in Christ and because of that were acceptable with God and that is a relationship with Jesus Christ and it's a great relationship but notice all of this this is amazing so it's just me and God and Jesus is over here too and that's nice no it's you Jesus and God and that was God's plan from the beginning that was his work from the beginning so anyway let's just follow for a moment if you will in 1st John 2 and 6 so we've still got John here by the way Paul uses the phrase into Christ shift in prepositions there but when we talk about going into something that means arriving at it coming to it coming to be in something okay how do you come to be in Christ and Paul uses the phrase in Christ specifically three times and all three times he's referring to baptism he's saying baptized into Christ baptism would have been baptized into his cross we've been baptized into his death relationship again we're baptized into Christ were baptized into a relationship with his death so once we're in Christ that's another subject a bit anyway it's all connected of course John says the one who says he abides in him that isn't Christ ought himself that one who says it to walk in the same manner as he walked Wow so notice then if we're going to say I abide in Christ then it's essential very first thing he says you ought yourself to walk in the same way that he won't that's again may probably be why it's so crucial that his word about him does how do we know that we're walking the way he walked unless we follow the words of Jesus unless we follow that word and without it aren't we kind of just bungling out here in the dark Wow so we ought to indeed he abides in him ought it walk walk around as it were live your life in the same way that he did in the same way that he walked say well we're not ever knew that actually that's probably not true we can do that what we do it perfectly no probably not yeah so so but that still our goal and that's the objective and that's the directive here if you will and what we ought to do so let's take a step further then we we've said we're going to come to be in Christ how crucial that is without him we could do nothing okay this is an actual relationship not something theoretical it is actual relationship being in Christ okay crucial without him we can do nothing okay this is an act of Jesus Christ all right now we think about okay once we're in him how ought we to proceed in life and the answer is we ought to proceed as he proceeded and walk like he won't and his word abiding in us is crucial critical to all of this Wow so in first corinthians the well listen yeah let's go to the first corinthians if you will first Corinthians 15 Paul is saying in verse 18 then those also who have fallen asleep notice this phrase in Christ now what is he saying he's saying well he's talking about the resurrection and crucial how crucial that is and without that resurrection we have no hope and then he's carrying that forward by saying then those who have fallen asleep in Christ so when they fell asleep when they died as it were they were in Christ and they're still in Christ in the mind of God isn't that interesting but he says if with if there is no resurrection then he's saying they've all perished if there's no resurrection he doesn't say well they're okay they're all in heaven have a good time no he said wait a minute if there's no resurrection they perish so the resurrection is so critical in all these things verse 19 if we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men most to be pitied because they were having a rough life or thing he Paul was getting beat up every time you turn around because of the message and he says hey if I have hope in this life only then this is not a good deal please he said you know we're back to that that we were talking about recently about we should eat drink and be married or we're gonna die so just be on with it but no we have hope in the life to come and first Brendon's 15:20 notice this but now Christ has been raised from the dead the firstfruits of those who are asleep so those he being the first fruits the first of those who fall asleep he is now risen to die no more Romans 6 and 10 says and so Christ has preceded us if you will but happily those in Christ follow this as well what do you think we're going to follow him in life and we mentioned the scripture yesterday I think but in Romans 8:17 Paul talks about we're going to suffer with him but he says you know the sufferings that we experience they are with him or they're in him I like that remember that when Jesus appeared to Paul on the road that he said why are you persecuting me and I think Paul could Rock they've said who are you and that's exactly what he said what are you talking about but to persecute the people of Jesus the oneness if you will between them you're persecuting Jesus so we have to realize that just as we have to love the Word of God and love the word of Jesus in order to say I'm truly love Jesus and if I want to be in Christ his word is got to be in me that that's crucial here but also now we have to realize that it's us as people who are in Christ and sometimes we need to look around and see who was in Christ with us this is not a lone thing because Jesus counts his relationship with his people that close that much if you hit these you you attacked these you've attacked me that's the relationship Jesus has with his people now not just while he was alive on earth or something now he has that relationship Paul was persecuting Jesus then and Jesus was already and having been taken up into heaven so but now Christ has been raised from the dead the first roots of them who are asleep verse 21 for since by man came death ha that fellow that got us into all these problems Adam by a man also came the resurrection of the dead so the resurrection of Christ is extended to all who are in him it's not just something about him and then again oh god I'm a good guy and you'll raise me in the last day I'm sure no actually even Jesus is in the middle of that one remember in John 5 he it's it's said that as the father has life in himself so has he given to the son to have life in himself and to impart that life to whomever he will Wow how many want to be in that department I want to be in that do you think so the resurrection begins with him but includes all that are in him when they die when they fall asleep for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead verse 22 for as in Adam all die now notice that phrase in Adam and I think again the census relationship in other words we're in a relationship it's it's physical to us we're all here as a result of our original progenitors and we are in their likeness all the way down so in Adam however all died because of sin the sin of Adam to begin with okay and then our own sins also so also in Christ all will be made alive but I think there's one significant difference in Adam you don't have much choice about being in Adam or not you you turn up here and here we are and we're in that's our natural state this poll is looking at it here but you do have a choice whether you will be in Christ and that choice is a decision that we make based on faith in him and whether we desire to be in him so I think that's very significant but there it is that's that's the contract in Adam in relationship with Adam okay as his offspring all die every one of us so also in Christ in Christ all will be made alive will be made alive and so I think that's again a reference to the resurrection obviously that's Paul's whole picture here verse 23 but each in his own order in his own time Christ the firstfruits after that notice this those who are Christ's at his coming so this whole business of life hope resurrection it's all about being in Christ and if you're in Christ you belong to Christ Paul said in first Corinthians 3:23 he says you know all things are yours and then he says but and you are Christ's that is you belong to him and Christ is God's he belongs to God notice this Wow if we really want to understand true Christianity we need to get a grip on this because we belong to Christ and we belong to God through him and that's very crucial I think the greatest mistake people have made over time is to want to embrace Christianity really without Christ isn't that interesting because we're still going to do our me and God thing and Jesus over there oh yes we love him he's great guy well wait a minute it doesn't work that way it's not like that so it's a it's a picture of us in Jesus Jesus in us and Jesus and the father and the father in him does that make sense let's read one last passage before we quit but and you'll be very familiar with first Thessalonians the fourth chapter and I don't know let's drop down to verse yeah this is good Paul says for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus I think that's probably the same significance as in Christ so we're in Christ we're in Christ Jesus sometimes Paul uses that phrase so we're in Christ we're in Jesus and when we fall asleep in Jesus we're still counted as in Jesus and all that are in resurrection in God's mind they're not really dead yet though they really they are but they're sleeping there's a reason that that is the metaphor that's used because God's gonna wake the sleeping up but actually he's gonna have Jesus to do it that it's gonna be well we'll read it okay verse 15 for this we say to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep okay verse 16 for the Lord Himself will descend he will descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first in Christ those who have died in relationship with christ the relationship continues in death you're still in Christ and the dead in Christ shall rise first verse 17 then we who are alive and remain whoever those may be will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall always be with the Lord so Wow think about this we will remain with him from that point on we'll never be separated from him again and even now we're not truly separated from him as I say if I'm right that we have an active Messiah and active Christ he's aware of what's going on he's involved in what's going on we are his people and he is the head of the church not a theoretical head but a real head the real boss remember who we work for we work for Jesus and can we do things without him no without me you can do nothing and without the Father in Jesus Jesus can do nothing so you see how this is working so we'll always be with the Lord verse 18 I think aha therefore comfort one another with these words ha Wow so what do you think you can take up this this thought or maybe some of you've studied it out thoroughly before but if not I encourage you to take up this whole business about being in Christ take a look at that think about it look the Scriptures up get your concordant sout and work your way through the scriptures and see what you think

Channel: 21st Century Reformation

Views: 856

Rating: 4.5714288 out of 5

Keywords: Who is J. Dan Gill?, Who is Dan Gill?, What is Biblical Unitarianism?, What do Biblical Monotarians believe?

Id: 16EpthNieQQ

Length: 41min 27sec (2487 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 12 2019