In
Christ, in Christ, in Christ. That little prepositional phrase opens the gate
of heaven – it opens up a universe in Jesus Christ that is never-ending, it
opens up a life that invites us into the fellowship of the Trinity. We are in
Christ, we are in Christ as individuals and we are in Christ as a people – and
the power of that prepositional reality has escaped most of the church –
because rather than having Christ as our biosphere, we live in religion – and
religion has at its heart a continual emphasis on “doing this or doing that” so
that we’ll measure up – while the Gospel invites us home…into our Father’s
house, to sit in His lap and to get off the ladder of performance and to enjoy
life on His loveseat.
Religion is a ladder, relationship
is a loveseat.
Who is this letter written to? To
saints! And who are saints? We are! You are!
Look at one another and say, “He is
about to say something radical. Even if we’ve heard it before, it will still be
radical.”
Here we go. Nowhere in the New
Testament, nowhere, are Christians addressed as sinners. Nowhere. Nowhere. Not by
Paul, not by Peter, not by John, not by James, not by Jude and not by Jesus;
not once are Christians addressed as sinners. Yes, Paul does describe himself
as the “chief sinner,” but the context is that he is making a point about his
past and his dramatic conversion…but he never ever ever calls the people he is
ministering to sinners.
If we are new creations then we are
not old creations – a fact that seems to have escaped most of the church.
What is the difference between a
parent calling a child a “loser” and a pastor calling the people of a local
church sinners? What is the difference between a boss talking down to employees
and a pastor beating up his or her people by telling them every week how rotten
and nasty they are – of course usually religious words are used to convey this
message, but the message is there nonetheless.
Of course the boss wants to control the
employees and not set them free to fully function in a healthy work
environment, and the pastor wants to control the people so that they remain
dependent upon him and the organization. It can also be the case, and nearly
always is, that the pastor hasn’t figured out who he is in Christ either…so he
doesn’t know any better…
No wonder there is such a dramatic
difference between the early church and the North American church today – they
knew who they were – and we have an identity crisis – for you see – if the
enemy can’t stop us from coming to Christ, he will do his best to steal an
awareness of our true identity.
There are at least two ways the
enemy tries to steal our identity. One is by getting us to think we’re low-down
sinners…the other is that I’m okay and you’re okay…you’re so cute and
special…let’s have a group hug…the whole self-esteem thing…without the prepositional
phrase of the New Testament… “in
Christ.” The one is as bad as the other in terms of a bottom-line. There are
churches and best-selling books that are all about self-esteem but which
conveniently leave out Jesus Christ – I’m sorry, no Jesus then no true
identity, I don’t care how good it feels and I don’t care how warm the hug
is…no Jesus…then no way am I buying into it.
But oh…in Jesus…in Christ…we have an
ID card written in this book, the Bible, and written in our hearts and minds
and spirits that root us in Christ…and my self-awareness is translated into a
Christ-awareness and my self-esteem (whether it’s low or high) is transposed
into a Christ-esteem – and I am no longer dependent upon what anyone says about
me…including the accuser of the brothers and sisters…and I’m not even dependant
upon what I think or feel about me…because I am in Christ and I know, I
proclaim, I confess that in Him I am accepted…accepted in the Beloved…and as
good as that is…it gets better…
For I can look at you and say,
“You…Laura…you Stephen…you Mona…are accepted in the beloved.” And manipulation,
intimidation, the games of guilt…they are vanquished in the new heavens and the
new earth that we are called to experience today in Jesus Christ.
It does not take a rocket scientist
to figure out that affirming little Bobby is better than putting little Bobby
down – but it does take the Gospel to unveil the reality of who we are without
Christ and who we are in Christ – it does take the Gospel to get at the heart
of the matter, and the heart of the matter is that we need changed hearts in
Christ and that once our hearts are changed that we are given new identity
cards, even new passports, for as Paul writes in Philippians…our citizenship is
now in the heavens.
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