With Him | Part 2

If you would, for a moment, think back with me

to the conversion of Saul in the book of Acts,

what we call his Damascus Road experience. You

might recall the story. Saul is headed towards

that city with authorization in his hand from

the high priest in Jerusalem to arrest anybody

he finds along the way who is a part of this

group they called at that time The Way, followers

of Jesus. And suddenly a light from heaven flashed

all around him, it says in Acts 9. And Saul fell

to the ground and he heard a voice say to him,

Saul, why are you persecuting me? Look at that

last word. Stunned and blinded by what had just

happened, Saul looks up toward the heavens knowing

that something supernatural had just happened

to him. Whatever caused that flash of light from

above, whoever's voice he was hearing, he knew

there was some kind of powerful presence all

around him. And he says, who are you, Lord? And

the voice comes back, I am Jesus, whom you are

persecuting. Now, many of us have heard that

story. You've read it for yourself. You've heard

it taught on. But have you ever stopped to consider

the implications? of what Jesus said to Paul

that day about himself and his followers. Remember,

Saul was not literally persecuting Jesus, was

he? By this time, Jesus had been crucified, buried,

raised to life, ascended into heaven. Jesus was

out of the reach of Saul's hostile intent, but

Saul was persecuting Christ's followers. And

so in this story, we learn that Jesus is so closely

united to those who trust in him, he feels such

solidarity with us that it's as if he himself

is being persecuted. Think about that. We are

members of his body. And when we say we are members

of his body, that is not just religious verbiage.

It is deeply and profoundly true of us. And so

to attack his body is to attack Christ himself

because of the deep and inseparable connection

that we have with him. One of the many things

that Christ followers today seem to either not

understand or miss altogether is that the true

church And there's only one true church. It's

all of the elect who are found in Christ by grace

through faith. The church is not just an organization.

It is not just a group of individuals who get

together on Sundays to worship. Together we are

a living organism. We are an extension of the

presence of Jesus on earth. We are his spiritual

body on display for the world to see. And that

means we share in his life. What's true of him

is true of us. And this is the language of a

very essential theological commitment that we

call our union with Christ. And when we begin

to grasp what that term means in all of its fullness,

friends, this will deepen your love for the Savior,

our union with him. Now the concept of union

has two sides of it. By birth and by nature,

we all as human beings were once in union with

someone else, weren't we? We were in union with

Adam. And we were in union with him in all the

wrong things, in original sin, in corruption

of the flesh, and most importantly and sadly,

we were united with Adam in spiritual death.

But God, who is rich in mercy by his grace, he's

redeeming a people for himself, drawing us out

of the world. And when the Lord rescues a man

or woman from the domain of darkness and transfers

him or her into the kingdom of his son, From

that point forward and forevermore, our headship

changes. No longer are we united in Adam. We

are now said to be in Christ. We are said to

be united to the eternal son of David, united

to the savior of the world, united to God's Messiah,

his one and only son. If you know Jesus this

evening, that's happened in your life. You had

a head in Adam and now you have a new head in

Christ. We're united with him. As I shared in

last Sunday's message, if we haven't trusted

in that version of Jesus, his true identity as

revealed to us in the scriptures, then we can't

be in him. And we can't be with him. And we won't

be covered by his garment of righteousness. By

the way, we just heard in the text that Grant

read evidence from Matthew's gospel of exactly

who he is. And ironically, it came from the lips

of his most powerful accuser from Caiaphas, the

high priest of Israel. The high priest said to

him, I adjure you by the living God. And that's

a serious statement for a high priest to make.

By the living God, you tell me the truth, he

said. Are you the Messiah, the son of God? What

a blunt question. Straight to the point, right?

And in front of the entire Sanhedrin, the chief

priests, the elders, the scribes, everybody involved

in that sham trial, Jesus said, you, Caiaphas,

have said it yourself. You, Caiaphas, have declared

what is true about me, Jesus says. I am the Messiah,

the Christ, and the Son of God. And then Jesus

wasn't done stating his case, but I tell you

from now on, Caiaphas, You will see the Son of

Man seated at the right hand of power and coming

on the clouds of heavens. Friends, you have to

understand where that citation comes from and

what it means, what it said to everybody in the

room that night. He's talking about a royal courtroom

scene prophesied by Daniel in the Old Testament.

where we have this divine figure known as the

Son of Man riding on the clouds, and only God

rides on the clouds, but he comes on the clouds,

and he is presented before Yahweh, the God of

Israel, who's referred to in Daniel 7 as the

Ancient of Days. And Yahweh, get this now, gives

the Son of Man glory. He gives him dominion.

He gives him a kingdom that will never pass away.

That's what Jesus is talking about. And of course,

Caiaphas understood that prophecy. He knew exactly

what Jesus was claiming in that moment. That's

why he reacts as he does. After all, who's able

to stand in the presence of God Almighty? But

God. To whom does Yahweh give glory and dominion?

Who but God himself is capable of ruling over

a kingdom that lasts forever? Who but God? We

know that Caiaphas understood it because he says,

He is utter blasphemy, and he tears his robes,

and he says he deserves death. And that's what

Jesus received, a death sentence and Roman crucifixion.

And when we get to the cross, this is where our

union with him becomes so important. Listen to

the theological truth that Paul brings out in

Romans 6. He says our old self was crucified

with him. For the believer, that old self was

the person who was once united to Adam. By virtue

of our union with Christ, that person is now

dead. We're to consider that old man dead because

it died on the cross. Do you understand the massive

implications of that in your life? How often

do we lose sight of that truth? The old man is

gone. Paul goes on in Romans 6, not just dead,

but he says we've been buried. We've been buried

with him. And I know you say, well, look, we

weren't around 2 ,000 years ago. How is that

possible? Because we're united to our Savior

in every way as members of his body. Spiritually,

we don't only share his life, but we share his

death. We share his burial as well. And that

truth produces the best news any man or woman

could ever hear in their entire life, that our

whole body of sin Our whole body of sin, past,

present, future, was nailed to that cross and

now we are free. The whole body of sin nailed

to the cross. That's what Romans 6 confirms.

Our old self was crucified with him in order

that our body of sin might be done away with

so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for

he who has died is freed from sin. So get the

two -fold thing here. The ransom price for our

sin was paid on that cross, and then more, Paul

says that we were buried with him so that we

might walk in newness of life as new creatures.

Peter says the same thing, 1 Peter 2. He bore

our sins in his body on the cross so that, purpose

statement, so that we might die to sin and live

to righteousness, for by his wounds you were

healed. This is the good news of the gospel,

friends. For those who've been rescued by God,

our union with Christ has completely turned our

lives upside down, reversed everything. Our fallenness,

our sin, our slavery to sin, it all died on that

cross and was buried with Jesus all because of

our union with him. Friends, on Good Friday,

we rightly grieve over the fact that our Savior,

who had done no wrong, was unfairly and unjustly

treated as a criminal. We agonize with him in

the garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood.

We shudder when we think about the torture he

endured, the scourging. It pains us to think

of Jesus hanging on that cross, being nailed

there as a substitute for us, having to bear

that shame because of our sin. And yet we also

rejoice tonight. We rejoice because of the truths

we just saw. The glory of the cross. The glory

of the cross. Because as Peter says, by his wounds,

we have been healed. Isaiah prophesied that God's

Messiah would be a man of sorrows acquainted

with grief. And as we read the gospel accounts,

we find out that is exactly how Jesus lived his

life. rejected by his own people, misunderstood,

maltreated, scorned, mocked, and eventually murdered.

But we know this too, his sufferings were not

without purpose. As we've already seen this evening,

our life, our salvation is rooted in the sufferings

that he endured for us. But there's even more

that we need to understand. Jesus lived a life

of suffering in order to show us what we should

expect in union with him. Let me say that again.

Jesus lived a life of suffering in order to show

us what we can expect to live in union with him.

That is why one of the core teachings was cross

-bearing. If anyone would come after me, Jesus

said, let him deny himself and take up his cross

daily and follow me. So whether we like it or

not, that is the template of the Christian life.

Now remember, all the promises of God are ours.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God

in Christ, and our hope is certain, but before

we're resurrected to life and glory, we suffer

down here below. That's the promise we've been

given. Our union with Christ explains why this

life is so hard. Have you ever thought about

it? Why is this life so hard? For someone who

loves God, who seeks to serve him, why is it

so hard? Our union with Christ explains it. Above

all the people on the earth, we see how broken

this world is. And it's so difficult for us to

know the truth, to know how beautifully God originally

designed this world, yet to have to watch it

unravel so thoroughly. And of course, God's children

are not exempt from the pain that sin has brought

into the world. Tragedy happens. The loved ones

die. Children disobey. Life goals don't pan out.

Nothing is right. Everything feels broken. And

so the pattern, first for Jesus, and now for

us as his followers, is first suffering and then

glory. First suffering and then glory. We don't

despair, friends. We saw earlier on the Damascus

Road that as we go through the travels of this

life, as we suffer, Jesus is never distant from

our suffering because we're part of his body.

And so we always keep in mind this union that

we have with him. Because he suffered, we're

called, we're actually called to participate

in those sufferings. In fact, this was a privilege

that drove the Apostle Paul in his ministry.

He wrote to the Philippian church that he wanted

to know the fellowship of Jesus' sufferings being

conformed to his death. And to the Colossian

church, he added, I now rejoice in my sufferings

for you for the sake of his body, which is the

church. Now, does that mean that Paul enjoyed

the pain of life? Does that mean he sought out

the pain and affliction? Of course not. But for

Paul, the source of his joy and trials was found

in the meaning behind it, the meaning of why

he had to suffer in this life. It meant that

he could identify ever so slightly with his Savior

to share in the fellowship of the sufferings

of his Lord. It meant that he could feel in a

very strong way the contrast between this fallen

world and the glory to come in eternity. It meant

that he could serve as Jesus did, to become a

bondservant for the benefit of the church, for

his fellow saints and servants. And we know that

the church as well, not just us as individuals,

but the church as well, exists in union with

Christ. Christ is our head as the church. We

are the bride. And so as a collective body, all

believers, we follow him toward Jerusalem. We

follow him into the garden of Gethsemane. We

follow him to that trial. We follow him along

the rocky path to Golgotha and the cross. We

follow our Lord unto death. But here's the joy.

The gospel tells us that we also follow him through

the gates of heaven. And that's our hope here

tonight. Because we suffer with him, we shall

be raised with him. He was humiliated. We will

be exalted. That's what the scriptures tell us.

Because of our union with Christ, our suffering

in this life always has a purpose. It always

has a purpose. And once we come to terms with

the essential role that suffering plays in our

union with Jesus, then all the frustrations of

this life become endurable because we see the

purpose. We see why. We see the fellowship of

his sufferings. But friends, know this. This

is a non -negotiable aspect of our discipleship.

Because of our union with him, cross -bearing

is part of cross -following. And the pathway

to a mature, lasting faith is paved with the

rough stones of this life. But we can know this.

There is nothing, there is no power that can

separate us from the love of God in Christ. What's

the worst thing the world can do to us? They

can kill us, but then we're blessed, Scripture

says, because we've been persecuted. Because

of Jesus. And then even if that were to happen

in that very moment, we'd go to be with them

anyway. So really, what can the world do to us?

What can they really threaten us with? In union

with Jesus, we suffer down here on the earth,

but a day is coming when it will all end. Can

you imagine this? A day when there will be no

more sin, no more suffering, no more disease.

All limitations passed away. And in that day,

we will be united with God the Father who has

faithfully cared for us through all of life's

trials. And we will see God the Son face to face.

And when we see Jesus, after all these years

of wrestling and struggling and sharing in the

fellowship of his sufferings, it will hit us

finally that the years that we suffered here

on the earth are a vapor compared to the vast

endless joy we will have with him forever and

ever. That's Good Friday. That's what it means,

our union with Christ, union with him in his

life, union with him in his death and his burial,

and we'll see Sunday that something else is coming.

Amen.