Christ Is All: Union With Christ — J. Glyn Owen

Union With Christ in Colossians 2–3

Would you kindly turn in your Bibles to the epistle to the Colossians, and we return today to the tremendously enriching theme of this letter of St. Paul's, taking up the thread with verse 20 in chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 20.

We are going to read the passage that goes from verse 20 in chapter 2 to verse 4 in chapter 3, and I'll read it now from the New International Version. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules?

Do not handle, do not test, do not touch. These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom in his resurrection, in his ascension, and ultimately when he comes again in his glory.

Eternal Life as Union With Christ

Our subject this morning, then, is our union with Christ. Let me put it like this, without going any further into it at this point. A Christian is not simply a person who has received the gift of everlasting life, neatly packed up in a package that you hold and cling to until you get to heaven.

Eternal life is not a gift that God gives which is separate from himself. Eternal life is the gift that God gives by linking us with himself in Christ. So that every Christian is not just a person who has received the gift from Christ.

Christ is his life. He is in Christ. She is in Christ. And that is our subject this morning. Two main things I would like us to concentrate upon. There's much more in this passage, but we must confine ourselves to these two main thrusts.

We look first of all at the scope of our union with Christ, and then its significance, in some measure at any rate. The scope of our union with Christ. Now, in order to stress this, I want you to look with me at these words which describe that union of ours with our Lord.

And I would like you to take special note of these words. In verse 20 of chapter 2, you, and he's addressing all the believers, all the genuine Christians in Colossae, and I would say on the basis of that every Christian here in Knox this morning, you may be mature, you may be very immature.

You may have been walking with the Savior for many years, you may only recently have become a Christian. Now, this is what Paul addresses, this is how he addresses every Christian. You died with Christ.

Now, you may not understand what it means, but it's true of you, says Paul. You died with Christ. That's in verse 20. Look at the first verse of chapter 3. You have been raised with Christ. Now, this may puzzle you as much as the first, and you may not fully understand and appreciate its significance.

Whether you do or not, it matters not. It is true of the Christian. You were raised in his resurrection, not raised after him, nor certainly not before him, but you are raised, says Paul, along with him, in him.

Come to verse 3 of chapter 3. Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Christian, again, whether you fully understand what it means or whether I fully understand what it means is beside the point. The Apostle wants us to get it.

It is true of every Christian. In a sense, our life is hidden with Christ in God. And then lastly, last but not least, in verse 4, you will appear with him in glory. You will appear with him. There is a day coming when he will be glorified.

The glory of the incarnate, risen, ascended Son of God will be manifested to the world. You will be with him, in him, sharing with him in the glory that is then to be revealed. Now those four phrases give us the kind of boundary line describing the scope of that which is referred to here as our union with Christ.

Substitution, Representation, and Union With Christ

Let's spend a moment with a concept itself. It may be familiar to some of us. It may be strange to others. It may be quite new indeed. To say that Jesus Christ died instead of us on Calvary's cross is true and of the very essence of the gospel.

Now over recent months we've been really going out of our way to stress that. The other side of Good Friday, the other side of Easter, in our studies in the prophet Isaiah, for example, this has been coming out over and over and over again, how the promised deliverer, the servant of the Lord, the Messiah, was coming to bear the sins of others instead of them.

He was wounded, says the prophet, for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities. There's a transposition of places here. He takes our place. When we come to the New Testament, the same theme is brought forward, showing that he takes our place in order that we may take his place, that we may have the righteousness of God which is in him.

Christ died instead of us. That is true. If there is someone here this morning who doesn't know the peace that comes from trusting him as such, trusting his finished work, let me at this very stage in our morning worship urge you with all the power at my disposal, do not let this day come to a close.

Don't let this service come to a close. Therefore, you say to him, Jesus, I trust you. I believe you took my sin on Calvary's cross and took my place, and I trust you and you only as my Savior. True as that is, however, it's not the whole truth, and part of the truth is not to be equated with the whole truth.

Jesus Christ, who died instead of us, also died as our representative, and this is a slightly different thought. Related, different. Jesus died in such a way that it can be legitimately said that we who own him as Savior and Lord died with him and actually died in him.

Now this kind of togetherness, this kind of union of anybody with Jesus Christ, is difficult to teach. Difficult perhaps because we are not sufficiently learned in biblical terminology and in biblical images.

If we were the better educated in scripture, it would be easier to teach. So what I want to do this morning is to confine myself at this point to two biblical passages, two biblical pictures, which help us understand what this means.

Adam and Christ as Representative Heads

The first is the picture of Adam, as portrayed by the Apostle Paul, for example, in the second half of Romans chapter 5 and in 1 Corinthians 15. As far as the Bible is concerned, there are two men who stand apart from all other men.

Adam, the first man, the first Adam, and Jesus of Nazareth, the last Adam. And all other men, says one of the old Puritans, are dangling onto their loins. Everybody is either under and in the first Adam, and in Adam all died.

Or you are in the last Adam, and in the last Adam all will be made alive. And this is the great divide as far as scripture is concerned. It's not your social status, it's not the kind of school you went to, it's not the kind of accent that you have or try to hide, it's none of these things.

It's not the kind of clothes you wear, it is this. Are you in Adam? Or have you been brought out of the Adamic stem, so that you are henceforth a man or a woman in Christ? But you see the point. Adam was not an ordinary man.

He was in a limited sense, but he was extraordinary in this. The whole human race was originally in him. He was a representative of the race, so that when he sinned, all sinned. When he died, all died.

When he was condemned, all were condemned. In Adam, all died. He was the federal head of the race. He was a representative. In the same sense, Jesus is not simply an ordinary individual. He's the federal head of a new race.

He's a new and a last Adam for mankind. And you may be transferred from the one Adamic stock, you may be extricated by the grace of God, and you may be infused into the stock of the new Israel, the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, his redeemed, his Ecclesia, and you may be a member of the Bride of Christ.

And he is the head of his church. He is the king of his kingdom. This world is divided in that way. Now this is a lot to say to us. If you're a Christian man and woman, don't take much notice of other distinctions, because they're very insignificant at best.

The suit I wear, the way I speak, and other idiosyncrasies that belong to all of us, you know, let's see them in their perspective. The one thing that we ought to be looking for is this, is he, is she a man or a woman in Christ?

If not, let's seek to bring him, bring her from Adam into Christ. You can only do that by preaching the gospel and praying. Now that is one picture of what it means to be in Christ, represented by him in everything that he did and does and will do.

The High Priest as a Picture of Representation

The other picture in the Old Testament is even more compelling and even more helpful. When on the day of atonement in ancient Israel, for example, the high priest had gone through the previous aspects of the cultus and came to the point where he was going to make atonement for the sins of the nation.

You remember, he was dressed in a certain garb and across his chest on the ephod he had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, across his chest. Also on his shoulders here, the same twelve tribes. And then he takes the blood of the sacrifice of atonement and he moves within the veil and he comes to the holy of the holies and he sprinkles the mercy seat and everything that he does, every act that he does, he does on behalf of a countless number of people, the twelve tribes, whose names are on his shoulder, over his heart, and upon his his mind.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ has his name, has the names of his people written on his heart. He represents his Israel. He is the head of a new race. And he represented his people when he died upon the cross, when he rose on the morning of the third day, when he ascended into heaven, into the mysterious inner sanctuary of the divine presence.

He represents the whole of his people there. And when he will come again in glory, all his people will be caught up to be with him and they will share in the great apocalypse, the great unveiling of the great declaration of his glory.

Four Consequences of Union With Christ

Now that's what it is in principle, some of the consequences. Now let me just spell out in a little more detail what Paul tells the Colossians here. He tells them that four things follow from our union with Christ.

I'm deliberately repeating some of the things I've just said because I would like us to get this picture very clearly. Some of us need comfort. There are some of us who are young Christians and we don't have real assurance in our hearts.

There are some of us who crave for the kind of assurance that is not dependent upon outward circumstances. And we find that we're all right when we're in certain company, but when we're in another kind of company we don't know where we are.

I suggest to you that this great doctrine of our union with Christ is part of the divine answer to your need. So let's get it. One, those in Christ have died with Christ to the basic principles of this world.

Now that's verse 20. I'm quoting from verse 20, NIV. Those who are in Christ have actually died with him to the basic principles of this world. So now you see we've got we've got a second ingredient coming in here.

Christ died instead of us. But we died with him and we died with him to a third ingredient to something. We died to something. So that whatever it is does not have its normal effect upon us. Here it is this.

We died with Christ to the basic principles of this world. Now this is one of those point places of difficulty in preaching honestly because there is a word here and frankly no one knows exactly what flavor it has.

It can have one or two flavors. In some of your Bibles, for example, the translation is in the RSV, died to the elemental spirits of the universe. In the King James, the rudiments of this world. In the NIV, the basic principles of this world.

The word staikaia is a simple word and it can mean either. One thing is quite clear. Later on in the history of the New Testament, it certainly did come to stand for spirit forms, spirit beings. Some people believed that there were spirits inhabiting the the stars and so forth and they used this word to describe those spirits.

But apparently at this stage, at this stage in history, the name had not been thus used. And it is significant that when Paul speaks of Satan or when he speaks of principalities and powers, he never uses this word.

I therefore take it in its much simpler sense, meaning this. The elemental things or the elementary things, the ABC if you like. Well then what does it come to mean? It comes to mean this. Those that have died with Christ have died to the ABC of this world.

Well you say, what does that mean? It means this. If you've died with Christ, you've died to the basic principles of worldliness and of life in this world without reference to God and his Son. You see, there is a philosophy that is worldly.

It is this worldly. And whether you're a Canadian or a Turk or whatever or an Irishman or a Welshman for all that, just because you're not born again to death, these basic principles dominate your life.

You're in Adam, you see, where whatever your nationality, whatever your background, and as a man or a woman in Adam, there are certain basic principles. Things that you can touch with a hand are the real things to you.

And the things of this present world, they come into the center of life and they give meaning to you and so forth. This is the elementary principle upon which life in this world is lived by men who know not the second birth.

But now, if you've died in Christ, you have died to the world's point of view, to the world's way of thinking, to the world's approach, to the world's absence of principles rather than presence. And I suggest to you that here is a very real challenge for us this morning as we examine our allegedly Christian profession.

Have you died to the way the world looks at things? Is the spirit of the world, is the mouse of the world, is the mind of the world the ruling factor in your life and mine? Or have I so died with Christ that my attitude is rather his than that of the world?

Raised With Christ to Seek Things Above

Secondly, those in Christ have not only died with him, but chapter 3 verse 1, have been raised with Christ to an interest in things above and beyond this present earthly scene. Now, you see, this is the counterpart.

If you're in Christ, you died with him to the basic principles of their life, the life of unregenerate men in this world. Okay. But that's not the end of it. Your life is not a negation. If you're a Christian, your life is a positive factor.

You have been raised again. You've come to life again. You've been regenerate. You're born again. And you're born again into an awareness of a different sphere altogether. And you are aware of the existence of an altogether new dimension that even the most cultured, philosophically minded, unregenerate man knows nothing at all about.

And it is purely because you have been raised from the dead in Christ. The outflow, the impact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ upon you has been to raise you from the dead. God has become real to you.

Prayer has become real to you. Worship has become real to you. I trust even the ministry of angels have become real to you. The things of God, the things of eternity, have now assumed meaning. I must hurry.

Hidden With Christ and Awaiting Glory

Thirdly, those in Christ are now hidden with Christ in God. What Paul means to say here is that those who are in Christ have ascended with him into the mystery of heaven, into the presence of God, where we cannot understand everything.

However much our Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us, our capacity to receive what he has revealed is limited because of our humanity. So that at best we can only now see through a glass darkly. Then only shall we see face-to-face when he comes again.

And so Paul puts it like this. We are hidden with Christ in God. I can't tell you any more about it because you wouldn't understand it even if I talked about it. But here is a new area, a new life, a new vantage point.

And in Christ we have ascended already. And then lastly, those who are in Christ will appear with him in glory when he returns and his glory is exhibited. Here are two things then that are absolutely vital for you and for me to know this morning.

One, that Jesus Christ died, rose, and ascended and is seated at God's right hand. And if you say you're interested in knowing the truth, you cannot afford to leave the days go by without sincerely seeking to know from the legitimate sources and the authorized sources of such knowledge whether this be so.

Is he risen who was crucified on the tree? Is he ascended to the right hand of the Father? Have we any reason to believe that? That's the first question. But the first, the second is this. Am I in him?

Has the fact of his death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb and ascension to the right hand and his honor and authority there, has this had such an impact upon me that I no longer live according to the principles of this world but I can be commanded, as we will be now as we shall see, to set my heart and set my mind upon things above.

The Significance of Union With Christ

Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. We have a mission to do in the world, the New Testament makes that clear, but we are to exercise it as men and women whose hearts are set not on this world but elsewhere.

Where Christ is. Now that brings me to the second, and I promise you I'm not going to be as long this morning. Can I just point you to the second main theme here? The significance of our union with Christ.

It's far-reaching. Here there are two things only, two main things that one can mention. One, those in Christ have died with him to the basic principles of this world and on the light of that, on the basis of that fact, Paul utters certain commands.

One, those in Christ have died with him to the basic principles of this world and on the light of that, on the basis of that fact, Paul utters certain commands. Let's look at them. Now look at verse 20.

Paul's basic supposition in writing to the Colossians is this, if you died with Christ to the basic principles of the world. Now we've referred to that. I don't need to say any more about it, but this is the basic supposition.

If you really are in Christ, if you really are a Christian, you died to the world's way of thinking, right? That's the basic supposition. Next thing is this, Paul's challenging question. Verses 20 and 21, the second half of verse 20 through 21.

Why then, asks Paul, as though you still belonged to it, to the world, do you submit to its rules? What rules? Well he answers, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. What's he getting at? Some of the Colossians were influenced by the false teaching that was being preached there and seemed to have fallen prey to the notion that the way of salvation necessitated a kind of asceticism.

These preachers came into Colossae and they said to the young Christians, yes it's all right to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's all right to go on with the kind of things you've started, but now there's always something better, there's always something bigger, don't miss this something bigger.

This is what it is. You must live the ascetic life, and of course you will realize this generally, this generally has its most potent appeal to those who are set on doing the best and living the highest kind of life, but perhaps without adequate knowledge.

Well now, the way to live this high life is this, just don't touch, just don't eat, just don't drink, don't taste, don't handle, and so forth. So the serious thing that they're saying to Christians is this, you must be so separated from the world that you don't handle.

Sanctification Without Isolation

Now our Lord Jesus Christ of course taught the doctrine of separation, but his doctrine of separation is quite a different one. Take for example just an illustration when he said you are the salt of the earth.

Now the salt has got to be different from the society which is putrefying or it does no good, but the salt does no good either unless it's in contact with what it is meant to give savor to, or to stop from putrefying.

There must be a connection, you must rub the salt into the meat. You see, there's a wonderful balance in the doctrine of sanctification in the New Testament. It is not complete ostracization, it's not running out of the world and turning your backs upon the crowds.

Jesus wept over the multitudes as he wept over individuals and he went after them. We cannot say in the name of Jesus that we've been sent to live apart, but these folk, this was their cliche. Don't touch, don't handle, don't eat, don't drink, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.

Now Paul has already had a lot to say about worldly philosophy and worldly teaching and that's exactly what he's getting at here. He would lump this kind of teaching in, you see, with a philosophy of, and underline these two words, this world.

Whether it comes from the philosopher, qua philosopher, or whether it comes from the theologian, it makes no difference. It's something of this world, it's the teaching of this world. No, no, says Paul, it's no good.

That will not save you, neither will it sanctify the saved. This is not God's way. There may be things that we should keep away from, but that is not a basic principle in life. We do not live by a negative, but by a positive.

Will-Worship and Humanly Invented Religion

And then you have Paul's acid condemnation of the kind of things that were said and taught by these people. If there were ceremonial features of the divine revelation in the Old Testament that had to pass away with the coming of Christ, as of course there were, the washing of hands and of pots, and the various ceremonial offerings, they came to an end with Christ.

Now they were divine in origin. God ordained them, but he ordained them only for a period. The period had come in Christ when even these should pass away. How much more, then, he's telling the Colossians, how much more should you not listen to the dictates of men?

It may sound all right. And he goes on to say, the wisdom of the new teaching was apparently evident. But he adds, such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, but only an appearance. The worship demanded by the new teachers was merely will-worship.

This is something that I've often wanted to preach on and have not found courage. Will-worship. And if I did find courage to do so, I would want to say that a very large percentage of our worship in the 20th century is nothing other than will-worship.

By that I mean this. By that Paul means this. We are not concerned simply to worship God as he requires to be worshipped according to his word and by his spirit, but we are keen to be moving according to the trends of the times.

What are they doing in the United States? Or what are they doing in this place or that? What do the leaders in this college or that college? What do the leaders in ecclesiology tell us? What do the specialists say?

And every little church is dancing to the tune of specialists. Listen, my friend, there is nothing which is more tragic than evangelically minded men will-worshipping an almighty God, offering the kind of worship that they determine they should give, rather than that he determines he will have.

Will-worship. Of course it's very old. It's a matter of taste. You have it in the Old Testament. You remember, you remember that day when Moses went up the mountain and the children of Israel turned to Aaron and said, come on, Aaron, make us a calf, a golden calf.

An image of the God of our father is that we can worship it. And dear old Aaron didn't have enough back bone in him to say no. And they got their golden calf by majority vote. This is why you see democracy in a church of fallen sinners is not the principle of the Bible.

There are always more people in a congregation that are immature than are mature. And the Church of God should always be guided by men who are seen to be mature enough to give it leadership and to encourage others to follow because something is biblical.

You go back into the Old Testament, you find this in many, many places. Cain started it, perhaps. Nabod and Abihu and King Saul, they had a lot to do with it. They had their own brand of will-worship.

Worshipping God in a way we think He'd like to be worshipped or in a way we would like to worship Him. That's not the way. Paul says, look, he says they have their ideas how to worship God. It's all will-worship.

It's not been revealed. And what is not according to the book, let it be anathemas, says Paul. That's the implication. The apparent humility of these agents of heresy was only knee-deep, or skin-deep, I should say, because Paul castigates it as a false humility.

It wasn't real. And he has much more to say about them. Let me come to the last thing that I can say this morning. Those in Christ have been crucified with Him to the basic principles of this world, even as it relates to religion.

Seeking and Setting the Mind on Things Above

Perhaps especially as it relates to religion. But those in Christ have been risen with Him to the privileges and prospects of another world, a new world, and an eternal world. Chapter 3 verses 1 to 4.

Now Paul's point of departure here is again very similar to what it was in the other passage. Since then you have been raised with Christ. He's taking this for granted. You're really a man or a woman in Christ, all right.

Then you're raised with Him. Men and women around you have seen the evidence of the new life in you. You've come out from the dead. You live, you're alive to God through His Son, all right. Now the pathway of duty.

The Apostle in these four verses addresses every quickened sinner in Colossae with two commands, two main commands, and there are many things dangling to them and follow from them. Here they are. First of all, seek those things which are above.

Or, that's the King James Version, the NIV, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Now let's get it. The Greek says seek. That's the main word. The NIV translates it set your heart upon.

Why? For this reason. Because right in the heart of the Word there is the notion of seeking it, not carelessly or haphazardly, but seeking it with all my heart in it, you see. There's a seeking and a seeking.

And what Paul is saying to the Colossians and to us is this, if you're risen with Christ there are certain things that you should be after with all your heart. Set your heart on it. A Christian is not primarily a person who lives a negative life, but a positive life.

He aims at a positive achievement. He's seeking, seriously seeking, consistently seeking, the things that are above, rather than the things that belong to this world. The second Pauline command is in verse 2, set your minds on things above, not on things on earth or earthly things.

Now important as it is to seek these things that are above, seek them with our heart, says Paul, oh how what a remarkable teacher he was. It's not enough just simply to be involved in the activity of searching after these things, running after them as it were, pursuing them.

Look, he says, set your minds upon them, think of them. What occupies your mind? As a man thinketh in his mind, in his heart, so he is. How long can you contemplate God and his Son and his glory and his throne and his heaven and his people and his mercy and his providence?

Now I know there are many people who claim to be Christian, but they cannot take more than a thimbleful of religion. It must be given in such small doses, once a week, and that for only a little while.

They can't bear more of it. And as far as they're concerned, it's all a closed shop until the week has gone and they come back for a thimbleful more. God have mercy upon us. Set your heart upon it, says Paul.

If you're risen from the dead, if you're crucified with Christ and you're a new man and you're in Christ, then the Christ life in you is a life which will delight in the things of the Father, in the things that are above, in the will of God, in the worship of God, in the work of God.

This is your focus, you see, if you claim any real fellowship with Jesus Christ. We use the word, but if we are really sharing his life, our hearts should be set on things above so that we can think about them.

I have noticed since Mr. Mooney has been staying with us this week, he has a sister in hospital. He's been thinking about her, and whenever we've been meeting for prayer, he's made reference to her each time he's prayed.

Why does he do that? Well, I can answer the question. He loves her. They belong together. And because they belong and love one another, he thinks of her. Of course he does. My friend, do you belong to Christ?

Do you belong to him? Really belong? Are you in touch? Do you know this life union is the Spirit of Jesus in you? Set your affection on things above, not things beneath. Let your heart and your mind be settled upon him, and out of that area of settlement in him, let him show you the world in its need.

Heavenly-Minded Christian Service

I know if there is someone here this morning who loves the social gospel, at this point you would love to stand up and say to me, my man, you're really out of touch with things. The thing to do today is to get right out of our churches, go down the streets, and look for people that have need of this and need of that, and just get our hands dirty.

Yes, there is a place for that. Of course there is. And some of us will have to get our hands dirty and feel responsibility for men and women that have need. But I'll tell you where we're going to have the command and the grace and the vision to carry out the enterprise.

When our hearts and our minds are set on things above, and we see the earth from the vantage point of fellowship with God upon his throne. There are multitudes of men and women, they only see the world from standing level.

To see the world as God sees it is a prerequisite of doing for the world what God wants done for the world, and that is Christian service. I conclude then, you and I are faced with a somewhat similar alternative today as these Colossians of old.

Standing on Divine Revelation Against Religious Innovation

There is always some new religion on the loom, some new book coming out of the press, some new emphasis as to the way we should preach, as to the way we should teach, as to the way we should run our churches.

Every facet of the Christian life and Christian service is being challenged. Add this notion to it, introduce this aspect to it. Some of them are good and some are certainly better than others, but let us be quite clear where we are to stand.

We are to stand in the light of the revelation that God has given, that we may give back to him not what we think he wants of us, but what he has asked of us. That we offer him not what we think in our folly, or call it our wisdom, he ought to have, but what he in his word has said, I will have of my people.

Guarding the Soul Against Worldly Temptation

I wasn't primarily speaking to the children about Sinbad this morning. Children will forgive me, I'm sure. Perhaps you won't. I think you will. I want you to see Sinbad going down in his boat towards that rock, that magnetic rock, and suddenly the power of that magnet works.

Even though it's all imaginary, everything that kept the boat together was sucked out. Every screw, every clamp, every nail, everything that a magnet would draw. I tell you this world is a magnet of that order that will suck out of your soul everything you learn in the Word of God and in the house of God unless you guard your souls consciously and deliberately by the disciplines which Scripture requires.

Should it happen, my friend, that you and I are not careful not only to hear the word, but to heed the word that we have heard and to obey it, what will happen is this. We shall go out into the storm and we shall run into a storm of sexual temptation or a storm of another kind of temptation that perhaps wouldn't touch others, wouldn't touch those who are subject to sexual temptation, and this magnetic rock will cause all the things that hold our boat together to be sucked out and we just fall to pieces.