Union and Communion with Christ

So we're reading from Romans chapter 6, beginning at the first verse.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

We too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like this, like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.

Death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.

But the life he lives, he lives to God.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body.

To make you obey its passions.

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness.

But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.

And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

For sin will have no dominion over you.

Since you are no longer under, not under law, but under grace.

Well, today is the last in a series of four sermons on key words in the Bible on salvation.

So let me recap just quickly.

And we've heard a lot about what we've been saved from.

So we've spent three weeks really talking about what we've been saved from.

We've been saved from our sins.

And we've been saved from our enslavement to sin.

There's a problem at the heart level that we just want to live for ourselves.

And then we've heard that we've been redeemed.

We've been set free from this captivity.

And that came at a great price.

The cost of Jesus' blood.

And then we've heard we've been saved from all the anger of God.

All the condemnation that we deserve for our sin and the way we've treated God and treated people made in his image.

We've been saved from all that.

We are declared righteous before God.

Not because of anything we have done.

Nothing in ourselves.

But as a gift.

All our sin is transferred to Christ.

All his righteousness transferred to us.

Heaven guaranteed.

All the things we've been saved from.

I want to ask then, what have we been saved for?

Because what we've been saved from is only half the story.

What have we, if you're a believer, what have you been saved for?

We need to understand this.

I'm not sure where your mind is going right now.

Is it we've been saved for relationship with God?

Praying, singing.

Reading his word.

So relating to God.

Is that what we've been saved for?

Have we been saved for a new life of obedience?

Or have we been saved for becoming the person God made us to be?

So change within us.

Have we been saved for belonging to a local church?

Have we been saved for witnessing for him?

Wanting the gospel to get out?

I'm going to suggest that if any of those were your answers, I think there's truth in them.

I think they're partly right.

But none of them go deep enough.

At worst, they could be confused for something you must do.

Something you must muster up.

Now that God has done so much for you, you better repay him in a sense.

It could be confused for that.

So what have we been saved for?

I just want to give two quick quotes from my reading in preparation for this week.

John Murray said,

Without this, and I'm going to leave it blank, although the sermon title gives it away,

our view of the Christian life would be gravely distorted.

Without this, which we're going to cover today,

your view of the Christian life would be gravely distorted.

Not just missing a bit.

Or Bruce Milne said,

All Christian experience can be focused in this one gift of God to us through his spirit.

I hope you want to know what this is.

What are we saved for?

We're saved for union with Christ.

Fellowship.

Communion.

Communion with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Not union in the sense of trade union.

Not in the sense of rugby union.

We don't use the term union a lot.

It's more like a marriage union.

Where two become one.

We're saved to become one with God.

Anyway, that's crazy.

We're going to...

Not crazy in that it's not untrue.

It's just mind-boggling that we're going to look into this today.

And really, we're going to scratch the surface only.

There's so much to what we've been saved for.

You'd be forgiven if you haven't heard of this term, union with Christ.

We don't seem to talk about it in churches as much as justification or election even.

So you'd be forgiven for that.

But while you won't find the phrase union with Christ explicitly, as we saw last term in Colossians,

once you see it in Scripture, you can't help but not see it.

It's just everywhere.

So we heard it in Colossians.

How does Paul describe what the message of Christianity is?

Christ in you.

The hope of glory.

What's Paul's goal in serving the church?

To present everyone mature in Christ.

And how does he go about this?

He works with all the power that's working in Paul.

His power.

Not Paul's, but Christ's power.

He even claims, I'm filling up the sufferings of Christ.

Paul uses the phrase, in Christ, in the Lord Jesus, with Christ over 160 times in his writings.

And it's all throughout the New Testament.

And the Old Testament prepares for this understanding as well.

Or think about when Paul got converted.

What was he confronted with when he met the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ,

came to him in a brilliant light.

What did the Lord say to him?

He said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

That must have been a profound moment for Paul in understanding what the Christian life was about.

He was attacking the church.

And the Lord is saying, why are you persecuting me?

The Lord sees himself so united to his people.

So to go deeper in this, in understanding this, we're going to look at four biblical pictures at the end of the sermon.

But first we're going to start in Romans 6, if you want to turn with me there, or otherwise just listen along.

Here in Romans, our question of what have we been saved for is answered in the negative.

So we are not saved to go on living in sin.

And you can understand why someone might object.

Okay, so if salvation is totally free, if all your sin is definitely dealt with, and you are definitely going to heaven all because of Jesus,

that just motivates you to do whatever you want, to just keep on living in sin.

That can't be right, Paul.

There's no fear of punishment.

The promise of reward is guaranteed.

That's just going to motivate people to do what they want.

What's stopping a person doing what they want, living in sin?

In fact, why not sin all the more?

Because that will show how great Jesus is.

He will forgive and conquer even more sin.

How would you answer that question?

Paul's instinctive, just gut response, he doesn't have to think.

He just goes, by no means.

Now, that's not a throwaway line.

The truth of the gospel has gotten into Paul so deep that his just instinctive response is,

no way would you keep on living in sin.

And then he goes on to explain why.

Why is that the case?

And surprisingly, he talks about baptism, which is fitting for today.

He uses the picture of baptism.

Don't you understand what your baptism symbolises?

Baptism isn't about your parents, what they did when you were a baby.

It's not essentially about what you did in making a decision to follow Christ.

Water baptism pictures the spiritual, internal baptism that the Holy Spirit has already done.

Verse 3,

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death?

In effect, he's saying, don't you understand your baptism?

Don't you understand what it means to be a Christian?

Baptism is a naming ceremony.

It's a declaration that your fundamental identity has changed.

You now belong to God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

You are a new person.

By the work of the Spirit in you, by your faith in Christ, you have now been inseparably joined to Jesus.

All that has happened to him is now true of you as well.

Because he died, we've seen these verses, because he died, pictured in going down in the water, he died, you died.

He was buried, you were buried.

Your sin-orientated rather than God-orientated old self, which all of us were born with,

that self was crucified with Christ.

You were in him.

You were buried.

The sin we were so enslaved by, that enslaved self is dead and buried.

And verse 4, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life.

Spiritually, if you're a believer in Christ, you have been raised to new life.

Totally new desires inside of you now.

As 2 Corinthians 5 says, anyone in Christ is a new creation.

Verse 5,

So verse 11, here's the implication of it all.

Christian, you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

What have I been saved for?

What have I been saved for?

Shall I do what I like because I'm justified as a free gift by faith?

Well, yes, I will do what I like now.

Because I'm so joined to Jesus that what I want to do, what I used to want to do is dead.

And now what I want to do, because God has made me alive in Christ, is I want to live for God.

Now, sin is still in our body.

Sin is still attacking this new nature the rest of our life until Christ returns.

But you are in Christ.

Christian, know who you are.

You are dead and now you're alive.

So the motivation for not sinning isn't fear of punishment or promise of reward.

It's know who you are.

And so be who you are.

That's the Christian motivation.

Know who you are and be who you are.

Here's an insight into how Paul viewed himself in Galatians 2.20.

You might have heard it before.

An example of how this way of thinking motivates us to pursue holiness is found in 1 Corinthians 3.20.

In 1 Corinthians 6.

Some of the Christians in that church in Corinthians, they thought it didn't matter what you did.

They were unashamedly sleeping with prostitutes.

Unashamedly.

And in 1 Corinthians 6, notice how Paul motivates the Christians.

He doesn't motivate them by saying you might lose your salvation.

He doesn't dismiss it as okay.

But he says in verse 15 of 1 Corinthians 6,

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

Do you see how thinking of yourself in Christ just,

It is motivation to live differently.

It's like saying to Jesus,

Come Jesus, sit next to me.

Let's watch pornography together.

Help me craft this text message in flirting with this man that isn't my husband.

Thinking that way just makes you,

It motivates you to pursue holiness if you know how joined you are to Christ.

Complete forgiveness.

Like sin is waging war.

Like we will still give in to the sinful nature time and again.

But complete forgiveness.

But knowing we abound in Christ,

That not only doesn't permit sin,

It is the very power to fight sin.

Knowing you are united to Christ.

I can do what I want now.

And what I want has totally changed.

Because I am in Christ,

And he is in me by his spirit.

Now if all this hasn't blown your mind yet,

And I hope it has.

If it hasn't, that could be my fault.

But it's already gobsmacking.

But I want to step back and look at all of salvation.

Because scripture says more than what I've said so far.

It says that all of salvation is received.

In Christ.

So,

Some of you will know Romans 8.30.

It's a wonderfully reassuring verse.

People call it the golden chain of salvation.

Those who God chose

To set his love upon in eternity past,

He also called to himself in real time.

Those he called,

He also justified,

Declared righteous.

And those he justified,

He glorified.

Those he chose,

Will make it to glory.

There is no broken link in the chain.

Because it's all of God.

It's a wonderful verse.

But if this is the only way we think of salvation,

There's something missing in that.

There's been no mention of the person,

Jesus Christ.

Now, of course,

Romans,

The context of Romans makes that clear.

But I'm talking about the way us as Christians think about the process of salvation.

So,

I think we are in danger of thinking of it mechanically.

We can know all the steps and the doctrines,

And yet,

Not see them all as being received in Christ,

In the person of Christ.

So, for instance,

When we think of our justification,

All our sin becomes Christ,

And all his righteousness,

His obedience,

Becomes ours.

Now,

That great exchange

Is a wonderful truth.

But if we picture it,

Separate from Christ,

It can almost seem like God is playing.

As if he's going,

Let's just imagine that all your sin is his,

And all his righteousness is yours.

It can seem like he's playing.

But if you see justification as united with Christ,

It's more like a prince,

Marrying a common woman who is burdened with debt.

Because of their marriage union,

All the debt,

Becomes his,

And he pays for it.

All his riches becomes hers,

Because of that union.

If you are in Christ,

All the blessings of salvation are yours.

Even our election in eternity past,

We're told in Ephesians 1.4,

The Father chose us in him.

He chose us in the Son,

Before the foundation of the world.

Now,

To just help us feel the pastoral implications of this,

I'm just going to read from an author and teacher,

Sinclair Ferguson.

Listen,

Our union with Christ,

Which we experience through faith,

Is not first of all grounded on my faith.

And this is a tremendous encouragement to us.

Our faith falters.

But that doesn't mean our union with Christ falters.

Because our union with Christ is grounded in God's eternal purpose,

To think that before the foundation of the world,

He set his heart upon me,

That whenever he,

The Father,

Saw the coming work of the Lord Jesus Christ,

In some way beyond my imagination,

He saw that I was united to Jesus Christ.

He would never think of Jesus Christ without thinking of me.

He would never think of me without thinking,

That one belongs to my Son, Jesus Christ.

All of salvation is received in Jesus Christ.

Isn't it wonderful to see little Geordie

Running around the church

And just talking so much,

Just to see her to go from strength to strength.

Now,

Sam and Beth can tell you themselves

Of the agony of the process of legally adopting Geordie.

But do you think that their goal is just a legal change?

Of course not.

That legal side

Is for the sake of the full relational change.

They want Geordie to know who she is now.

She is their little girl.

They want Geordie to call Beth mama,

Sam dadda,

And experience the full relationship.

It's awe-inspiring enough

That God would pardon our sins.

But

Words fail us to talk about

That God wants to adopt us,

We're told.

That's the goal.

The spirit given to us

Is Christ's spirit,

The son of God's spirit.

Who calls God father,

Abba,

Daddy.

That's whose spirit resides in us.

The same way the son can relate to the father,

So can you, Christian.

You are such a legitimate child

Because of your union with Christ

That scripture says you're an heir.

You will get the inheritance.

You are co-heir with Christ.

God wants you to know

You are in his son.

You are his

You are his little girl.

You are his

You are his boy.

He wants you to relate.

Abba,

Dada.

And a child who knows unconditional love,

They don't do what the father says

Because they're afraid.

They do it because they

They want to please their dad.

Jesus said himself in John 14,

If anyone loves me,

He will keep my word

And my father will love him

And we will come to him

And make our home with him.

Again, if that's not enough

To disfloor you,

Let's finish by looking at

Four pictures in scripture

Of how we're meant to live out this union.

We get four pictures.

We've got a husband and wife.

We've got the temple.

We've got the human body.

And we've got the vine

And its branches producing fruit.

Now I want us to notice three things

About all these pictures.

First, the individual believer

Is so connected

That the identity

Doesn't make sense

If you don't understand it

In connection

With the head, with the whole.

So you can't be a hand or a foot

In isolation.

That only makes sense

If you're part of the body

And connected to the head.

So notice that

Your very identity

Is in connection.

It's in union with Christ

And all who are with him.

But also notice

That this integration

Is not like the Buddhist

And Hindu idea

Where it's like

I think it's Hinduism

That talks as if

The human soul is like a spark

That returns to the great bonfire.

But then it's just lost.

It's absorbed into that great bonfire.

That's not Christianity.

You remain a distinguishable person.

It's just that

Who you are now

Is just part of something

So much bigger than yourself.

You can't even think of yourself

Without thinking of who you're connected to.

And the third thing

I want us to notice

Is that most important of all

While this mystery of being united to God

Is profound

So much so that the Apostle Peter can say

That we are partakers of the divine nature.

It's not symmetrical.

Christ is uniquely God

And the source of life.

You are a creature.

We are still a creature

Who rests entirely on God

Providing life.

The temple would collapse

Without the cornerstone.

A branch cannot produce fruit

On its own.

It needs the life of the vine

Flowing through it.

So

How are we to think and live in this union?

First

It's like a husband and wife.

A husband and wife.

Now I think

If I was to ask you

Where does it talk about marriage

In

The New Testament?

Everyone would think of Ephesians 5

That's the marriage bit.

But

Talking about

A husband and wife

Are so connected now

That they are one flesh.

One flesh.

You're not two anymore

But one.

And then

But Paul

Reaches the climax of his teaching

In verse 32 of Ephesians 5

Saying

This mystery is profound

This one flesh mystery

And I am saying

That it refers to Christ

And his church

It's not primarily

The marriage chapter

It's primarily

The union with Christ

Chapter

Where marriage is meant

To reflect that

I think we can think of this

As if

Relating as the church

To Jesus

We need to look at a married couple

And take our cues

From the married couple

But that's the wrong way around

Paul is saying

Married people

Look at how Christ

Relates to the church

And how the church

Relates to Christ

Marriage

I've heard it described

It's like

It's the analogy

Pointing forward

To the real thing

Which is our

Marriage with Christ

If I can just use that term

Christ knows nothing

Of a cold

Transactional

Arms length

Relationship

Marriage unites

Two people

At every level

He doesn't see himself

As independent

But he sees himself

With us

As one flesh

He is the faithful husband

Who cherishes

And nourishes

And protects

And never forsakes

Never divorce

Never abandon

His people

So we're to think of ourselves

As one flesh

With this

This loving husband

We take on his name

Our identity changes

We should be totally devoted

To our husband

Receiving his strong care

And joyfully following his lead

And we should forsake

All other men

We should think of

I'm going to use that

As a metaphor for idols

Everything else

That tries to capture our heart

We should forsake

So that's one picture

Of how we're to live out

Our union with Christ

But no one picture

Captures all of it

So we're given lots of pictures

Another picture is the temple

Our union with Christ

Is like a temple

And we see that

In Ephesians 2

And 1 Peter

But let me just talk

About Ephesians

If you are in Christ

All that is Christ

Is yours

Which includes

All the believers

In Christ

So verse 20

Of Ephesians 2

You are built

You are built on the foundation

Of the apostles

And prophets

Christ Jesus

Himself

Being the cornerstone

In whom the whole structure

Being joined together

Grows into a holy temple

In the Lord

In him

You also

Are being built together

Into a dwelling place

For God

By the Spirit

God has a grand

Building project

The goal is a home

A place for his name

His spirit to dwell

Not just live next door

But to live in

His people

His church

Is this great

Building project

Each of us

As believers

Are like a brick

Like a stone

In that building

Incorporated

Into it

Where Christ

Is the cornerstone

He underpins it all

If he was removed

It would

It would fall down

Fortunately he doesn't change

So it won't be removed

He is the cornerstone

And we also hear it

In whom the whole structure grows

So here

It's kind of

Mixing metaphors

But

In whom the whole building grows

So I think we talk a lot

About the body

Being the temple

As if it's got to be

The picture of health

Physically

That's

This is not talking about that

This is more talking about

Our relationships as Christians

Should be

The picture of health

The church should be so united

The context here is

Jew and Gentile

Who had such hatred for each other

Now in Christ

Are one

It should

Our relationships in the church

Should be the picture of health

And there's one foundation

The authority of Christ's word

Through the apostles and prophets

We don't have the freedom

To make some modern architectural

Monstrosity

We get our building of the church

Based on the pattern

Of the apostles' teaching

And this building

Is permanent

Because Christ is permanent

While the world cares about

Building the tallest tower

And the greatest organisations

The company apple

Will crumble one day

It will fall to the ground

The church is forever

He's building this great temple

To dwell in

The third picture is our union

Like a human body

We see this in a few places

But 1 Corinthians 12

Is a detailed one

For just as the body

One body

Is one

And has many members

Fingers, toes

I can't describe it all

Many members

And all the members of the body

Though many are one body

So it is with Christ

We are all filled with the same one spirit

Uniting us to Christ's body

He is the head

There's only one head

It's not you

It's not me

He is the head

All the members

Get their instruction

And their power

From the head

And verse 18 says

God arranged the members

In the body

Picture the local church

Each one of them

As he chose

You can't look at someone else

And go

Would be better off

If they weren't here

You

You can't do that

He

He assembled our body

This church

Every part of the body

Is needed

To be actively

Functioning

Healthily

We are totally

Interdependent

But taking our cues

From the head

Jesus considers

How we treat

Any and all

Of the members

Of this church

Is how we treat

Him

Because it's

His body

Like our head

We are to be patient

With each other's faults

And determine

Like the head

Of the body

To see us

Grow up

Into maturity

To be healthy

And when one

Suffers

We all suffer

When one is

Honoured

We all are honoured

This one spirit

The spirit of Christ

Animates

Should animate

This body

This local church

And the fourth picture

We've got

Is

Like the vineyard

A branch

Abiding in the vine

This is Christ

Speaking to his

Disciples

From verse 4

Of John

John 15 · chapter mention

Chapter 15

Abide in me

And I

In you

And we're told

In verse 7

How to abide

It's his

It's his word

It's his word

Abiding

And dwelling in us

He says

As the branch

Cannot bear fruit

By itself

Unless it abides

In the vine

Neither can you

Unless you abide

In me

I am the vine

You are the branches

Whoever abides

In me

And I in him

He it is

That bears much fruit

For apart from me

You can do nothing

I think so often

We can get caught up

With what we're doing

To serve Jesus

Whereas

Do you grasp

The point of this passage

Stop focusing on

What you're doing

For Jesus

Worry about

Abiding in him

He will produce

The fruit

In a sense

It's the vine's

Responsibility

To produce the fruit

Where to stay

Connected to the vine

Having his word

Richly dwelling in us

In this picture

The father

God the father

Is included in this

Picture

This analogy

He is so committed

To our fruitfulness

That he will prune us

And there's two reasons

To prune

One is to cut off

Anything that is

Dead and unhealthy

The other is

To make us

More fruitful

It actually

Stimulates more fruit

I heard

A good quote

That captures this

By Amy Carmichael

What prodigal waste

It appears to be

To see scattered

On the floor

The bright green leaves

And the bare stem

Bleeding in a hundred

Places

From the sharp knife

But with a tried

And trusted husbandman

There is not a random

Stroke in it all

Nothing cut away

Which it would not

Have been a loss

To keep

And gain to lose

It's the Christian

It's the local church

That remains focused

On abiding in Christ

Being filled with his word

And trusting the father

To cut us

And make us bleed

That

That

Is

Will produce

Much fruit

Much living

That honours

Honours God

So they're the four pictures

Of how we can

Live out this union

Now if you're hearing

This today

You might be realising

You are only

Very loosely

Associated

With this Jesus

Maybe through

This organisation

Called Grace Evangelical

Or maybe through

A family member

You've only got

A pretty loose

Association

With Jesus

You need a vital

Connection to Jesus

You need his life

Flowing in you

By his spirit

You need to be

Baptised

Into Christ

To be dead

And born anew

You need a vital

Connection

That's what God

Wants with you

He wants to make

A home

In your heart

By his spirit

And Christian

We are so

I think in our

Culture

We're so

Individually

Minded

I hope today

Somewhere

The spirit

Is

Is

Challenging

Cutting you

Where you

Are thinking

And acting

So individually

Let the spirit

Cut you

And take

Confidence

That Christ

Is fully

Committed

To you

Fully

Enjoying

This union

With him

And his people

He is so

Committed to it

We need to

Know who we

Are

We are

United to

Him

And so

We are united

To everyone

In him

Jesus

Is the one

Who will

Make sure

We will

Live out

This union

Just before

He died

On the cross

This is the

Purpose

For which

He died

Do you

Remember

What he

Prays

In John

17

What does

He pray

For

He prays

To the

Father

For all

Believers

That they

May all

Be one

Just as

You

Father

Are in

Me

And I

In you

That they

May be

In us

God

Wants

You

To be

In him

So that

The world

May believe

That you

Have sent

Me

The glory

That you

Have given

Me

I have

Given

Them

That they

May be

One

Even as

We

Are one

I

In them

And you

In me

That they

May become

Perfectly

One

So that

The world

May know

That you

Have sent

Me

And love

Them

Even as

You

Have loved

Me

I'm so

Shocked

By the

Phrase

That they

May be

One

Even as

We

Are one

That's

Pretty

One

And I

Just want

To finish

By asking

A question

I almost

Have no

Idea

How to

Answer

Why

Would the

Lord

Want

To be

So

United

To us

Forever

Considering

How

One

The

Father

Son

And

Holy

Spirit

Is

For all

Eternity

Fully

Sufficient

In themselves

Enjoying

That love

No need

Of anything

Else

What kind

Of God

Pursues

Sinners

That are

So

Determined

To reject

Him

What kind

Of a

God

Would

Redeem

Us

At the

Cost

Of his

Son

But what

Kind

Of a

God

Would

Satisfy

His

Justice

Totally

As a

Gift

And what

Kind

Of a

God

Would

Do

That

To

Unite

Himself

To

Us

Forever

Adopting

Us

So that

We

Can

Call

Him

Abba

What

Kind

Of a

God

Would

Do

That

I

Don't

Know

How

To

Answer

That

Why

Would

He

Want

That

It

Can't

Be

Because

We

Are

Lovely

It

Can't

It

Must

Be

Because

That's

The

Kind

Of

God

He

Is

And

He

Is

Worthy

Of

All

Our

Worship