Archives for October 2014

10 AM Worship

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3 PM Worship

10 AM Worship

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3 PM Worship

Philip Ryken writes:

Union with Christ is one of the central theological principles of the Christian faith. Its pervasive presence in the New Testament typically is indicated by the word in, a simple preposition with profound implications.

Believers often are said to be in Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Sometimes this phrase passes by so rapidly that we may hardly notice, as in Paul’s opening address to “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” (Phil. 1:1). But even such passing expressions are grounded in the deep spiritual truth of our faith-union with Jesus Christ. The reason we are called “saints in Christ” is because our true and ultimate identity is found in Him: “you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

On other occasions, the Bible teaches the reciprocal principle that Jesus Christ is in the believer: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Similarly, Paul wrote of the gospel mystery that has been “hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (Col. 1:26). What is this glorious mystery? “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

Christ is in us and we are in Christ. The two sides of this mutual relationship sometimes appear together in Scripture. For example, in teaching His disciples about the vine and the branches—a metaphor for union with Christ—Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4). Similarly, the apostle John described union with Christ as a double habitation by the Holy Spirit: “We know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

By virtue of this mutual relationship of spiritual indwelling—our union with Christ—we receive all the saving blessings of God. In being united to Christ, we receive not only Christ Himself, but also His benefits. What is His becomes ours, for God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Thus we see, said Calvin, that “our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.” Indeed, union with Christ is the heart of the gospel…

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10 AM Worship

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3 PM Worship

The world exists in its present stable state by the will and power of God, its Maker. This is God’s world. And since it’s God’s world, we are not its owners, free to do anything we want with it. No, we are its stewards; we answer to God for the way we handle its resources.

Moreover, since it’s God’s world, we must not belittle it. Much religion has built on the notion that the material order—reality as experienced through the body, as well as the body that experiences that reality—is evil, and accordingly, it’s to be snubbed and overlooked as far as possible.

This view dehumanizes its adherents. Sometimes it calls itself “Christian”, but actually it’s as un-Christian as can be. Why? Because matter, being created by God, was and is good in his eyes—“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). And that is exactly how we should regard it—“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4).

We truly serve God by embracing, enjoying, and using temporal things with thanksgiving, with a sense of their value to him their Maker, and with a grateful sense of his generosity in giving them to us.

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD” (Ps. 92:1). But it is an ungodly, inhuman, and bogus “spirituality” that seeks to serve the Creator by scorning any part of his creation.