[0:00] Well, please turn back to the chapter that we read in Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 1. And I want us to focus really very much on the words we find in the very first verse.
[0:12] Philippians chapter 1, verse 1. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.
[0:28] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now these words are very similar to the words that we have in the other letters that Paul sends, whereby he begins his letters by conveying a greeting to his recipients and by identifying that he is the sender and by revealing who the recipient of this letter is.
[0:52] And this verse is no different. We see that the letter is from Paul and from Timothy, that it's addressed to those who are in Philippi. And in verse 2 he extends this greeting that is very familiar to us.
[1:06] Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the normal way that Paul would begin a letter. And of course when something is quite normal and familiar like that, it's very easy to rush through it.
[1:19] And it's almost easy to read through a chapter like Philippians and to fly through the first couple of verses and almost think, well, that's just the introduction. That's just the welcome.
[1:30] That's just the greeting. The real content is from further on. But we must remember the complete and total inspiration of Scripture.
[1:44] And even words of introduction like this are of immense importance. And indeed if we miss them out, if we rush through them, we can skip over things that are very, very important.
[1:56] And I actually want us to spend a wee bit of time today focusing on what is probably the smallest word in that first verse.
[2:07] There are very many important words. Paul was incredibly important. Likewise, Timothy speaks of Christ. It speaks of Philippi. It speaks of overseers. It speaks of deacons. But I want us to focus on the smallest word of all.
[2:20] The word in. Now, in order to do that, we have to make a wee comment to begin with in regard to the translation of this verse. Because as we read it in the ESV and in many other translations, it says, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.
[2:40] But if you were to go back to the original language, and this is brought out in the New King James Version and also in the New American Standard Version, it reads ever so slightly differently.
[2:51] And listen carefully to what it says. The ESV says, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi. But the original Greek, and as the New King James would say, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.
[3:07] Literally it says, In Christ Jesus, In Philippi. In English we don't like to repeat the same words. That's why the ESV very appropriately says, In Christ and at Philippi.
[3:20] But the important point to note is that the word in appears twice. Because the Christians in Philippi were in two places.
[3:32] They were in Christ Jesus. And they were in Philippi. And that's what I want us to think about today. And although the word in is tiny, it's actually going to take us all day to think about it.
[3:44] Because this morning we're going to think about being in Christ Jesus. And God willing tonight, we're going to think about being in Philippi. These Christians were in two places.
[3:58] In Christ. In Philippi. So, we're going to begin by asking and studying the question as to what it means to be in Christ.
[4:10] Paul here is making a reference to our status as a believer. These Philippians, and we likewise, if we are trusting in Jesus, we are in Christ. And if you read through the New Testament, especially the writings of Paul, you will hear this phrase coming up again and again and again and again.
[4:29] Paul constantly refers to Christians as those who are in Christ. You can see that at the start of many of his letters. 1 Corinthians. To the church of God that is in Corinth.
[4:41] To those sanctified in Christ Jesus. Colossians. To the saints and faithful brothers. In Christ at Colossae. Ephesians 1.3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
[5:00] The Corinthians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians, they are all described by Paul as those who are in Christ.
[5:11] And it can seem so insignificant. It's such a simple phrase. And yet these two words, and really that preposition, that word in, is reminding us of a fundamentally important biblical doctrine.
[5:27] The fact that the Christian is united to Christ. We are in Christ. We describe that as being the doctrine of union with Christ.
[5:40] Every single believer is in Christ. And in many ways that should be the way that we think of ourselves as Christians.
[5:51] If you look at Paul, that seems to be his world view. If he thinks about Christians, if he describes them, he talks about them as being in Christ. Union with Christ, union with Christ to Paul and to us as it should be, is an absolutely fundamental, vital, central truth in terms of a relationship with God.
[6:14] A Christian is united to Christ. But what does that mean? What are we talking about? Well, a key passage is in Romans chapter 6.
[6:28] That's an excellent passage for revealing more about what union with Christ means. And I'm going to read just a few verses from that chapter. Verses 5 to 11. You can turn over to it if you want to follow it.
[6:39] Or just you can listen as I read it out. Romans 6 from verse 5. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
[6:53] 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.
[7:04] 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.
[7:15] 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.
[7:30] And the key point that that passage is making, and the key truth that lies at the heart of Christianity, is that we are united to Christ in his death and in his resurrection.
[7:41] When Christ died, he died on our behalf. He died carrying our sin. He died taking our place. He died with us, with him.
[7:54] And Paul doesn't hold back at all when he describes it, because he speaks about how we have been crucified with him. Our old self was crucified with him. The language could not be more explicit.
[8:07] When Christ died, we, of his people, who are trusting in him, are united with him. But not only that, Paul says we are united to him in his death, but we are also united to him in his resurrection.
[8:20] So just as Christ takes all that is wrong with our lives onto him in his death, so too we are united to everything that is right about Christ, and as is demonstrated by his resurrection in power from the grave.
[8:38] We benefit from everything that he has achieved. And that's really what Christianity is all about. The fact that Christ has come to act on behalf of his people.
[8:53] And that's really the whole story of the Bible. Because if you go back to the very beginning, Adam acted on our behalf. He was our covenant head.
[9:04] He was our representative. And therefore when he fell, we fell along with him. And Christ has come to put that right. Christ has come as the second Adam.
[9:15] Christ has come as Adam in reverse, if you like. He has come to undo everything that went wrong. And in order to do that, Christ has united himself to us.
[9:26] He's united himself to us by becoming one of us. By taking our flesh. By being the same as us, so that he can therefore act on our behalf. He unites himself to us in his death, whereby he dies not for his sin, but for our sin.
[9:42] Where he takes what we have done wrong. Where we have gone wrong. Where he takes responsibility for our actions. And where he guarantees that all that is needed to put things right are to be undertaken.
[9:56] And that is why Christianity revolves around faith. Because faith is simply leaning on what Christ has done. And placing our dependence and our trust in him.
[10:07] And it is by faith that we are united to Christ. Paul sums it up brilliantly for us in Romans 5.18. Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men.
[10:20] So one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners.
[10:31] So by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Faith unites us to Christ. So that the death that he dies becomes our death.
[10:44] And the penalty that he pays is paying our penalty. And the new life that he has through the resurrection becomes our new life. And that's why Paul can describe it so much better in Galatians 2.20 where he says, I've been crucified with Christ.
[10:59] It's no longer I who live. But Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. Who loved me and gave himself for me.
[11:13] That verse is a verse that's all about union with Christ. In his death and in his resurrection. Christ lives in us.
[11:24] We live through him. And that's how we're saved. That's how Christianity works. By our connection with Christ. And when you look through things in more detail.
[11:38] You see just how amazing this union with Christ is. Because I don't know about you. But I find it sometimes so easy to think of God as out of reach. And you think of Christ almost as out of reach.
[11:51] Because you think. You look at God and you see his perfection. And you see his holiness. And you see everything about him that you wish you were. And yet you know you aren't. And God can seem so far away.
[12:03] He can just seem out of reach. And Christ is the same. You look at Christ. You look at his example. Everywhere where we go wrong, Christ didn't go wrong. Every mistake that we make, Christ didn't make. Every temptation we fall into, he faced but he didn't fall.
[12:17] Christ can seem out of reach to us. We can so easily feel that we are just so far from what we should be. But union with Christ tells us that we are not out of reach.
[12:31] Christ is not out of reach from us. In fact, we are bound up with him as close as we can possibly be. And when you look through the New Testament, the language that it uses in terms of our union with Christ is incredible.
[12:45] Because rather than Christ being this perfect Savior that is just totally out of reach to us, we are actually united to him. In fact, we can go, I think, so far as to say that Christ has come so that we can become all that he is.
[13:10] And that's a big statement. But that is where the New Testament is pointing us. Because if you think about Jesus, Christ was righteous. And you look at his life and you see a perfect conformity to the standards of God.
[13:26] You see a perfect display of righteousness throughout his entire being. Christ is this outstanding embodiment of the righteousness of God.
[13:37] Everything that God is, Christ has reflected. You stand before Christ and you think, he is so righteous. And yet he came to make you and me exactly the same.
[13:52] Because that is what justification means. To be made righteous. That's what we just read in Romans 5.19. By the one man's obedience, by Christ's obedience, the many will be made righteous.
[14:04] And if you are a Christian, you are in that many. That's what Christ has done. To give us his righteousness. To make us like him.
[14:15] Likewise, Christ is the perfect representation of God. You read the beginning of Hebrews. It talks about how Christ is the exact imprint of his nature. And you see that how man has failed in his role whereby he is meant to bear the image of God.
[14:32] Yes, we were made in the image of God at the very beginning. Supposed to represent God and to act on God's behalf in the created realm. And yet Adam fell and that image was broken and that role was compromised.
[14:45] And we were no longer able to fulfill that duty. Christ, though, has come. And he is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of his nature.
[14:56] Everything that you see in Christ is telling you what God is like. In God there is no un-Christ likeness at all. As is said by many theologians over the years.
[15:08] Everything that God is, is revealed through Christ. He is the perfect representation of God. And yet he has come to make you and me exactly the same.
[15:25] Because that is the ultimate goal that Christ has. When you go to Romans chapter 8, it's talking all about what the ultimate goal of salvation is.
[15:37] What the ultimate consummation will bring in terms of glorification. And it tells us in verse 29 of that chapter that those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
[15:51] Christ has come to make you like him. And so we see that Christ is not as far away as we think.
[16:06] We are united to him. He has come to make us everything that he is. And the language of the New Testament goes even further. Because the language of the New Testament tells us that Christ is the Son of God.
[16:18] And we know that that's true. Christ is the only begotten Son of God. The one who has that unique, incredible relationship with the Father.
[16:31] Whereby from all eternity, Christ is the precious, beloved Son of God by nature. And you imagine the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.
[16:43] And it's just the most precious and most beautiful and most wonderful relationship that you can imagine. And Christ has this incredible status whereby he is the Son of God.
[16:54] And do you know that he has come to make you exactly the same? He has come to make you a son or a daughter of God as well.
[17:11] Now you are not a son of God by nature and neither am I. That's why we are adopted. Brought into the family of God.
[17:23] Yes, our natural status is not as a child of God. But he is willing and longing to adopt us into his family. That's why John starts his gospel by saying to all who did receive him, who believed in his name.
[17:37] He gave the right to become children of God. So when you look at Christ, don't think of him as unreachable and untouchable. So think of that as what everything that God wants to make you.
[17:53] Because union with Christ means union with Christ. That you are united to him. To everything that he is.
[18:05] And that is the absolute foundation of Christianity. That we are united to Christ. And this is an incredibly important point. Because a lot of people think about God without putting Christ into the equation.
[18:24] You see that all over the world. You see people who follow various beliefs. Whereby they are devout and genuine and 100% sincere in their desire to know God.
[18:35] But yet they have no thought for Christ. And no recognition of him. And we can actually even see that in our own communities.
[18:46] Because sometimes people can be like that. They talk about God and they think about God. And yet they don't really bring Christ into the equation. Maybe you even know people who do that.
[18:57] Maybe even you do that yourself. And the fundamental point is that we cannot do that. Because everything in our relationship with God is dependent on being in Christ.
[19:15] It is only through Christ that we can come to God. And the whole purpose of Christianity is that we are brought to God through his son.
[19:25] God's great goal is to make you a child of God. And he does that by uniting you to the one who is already a child of God. The son of God himself. That's why it says in Timothy 2.
[19:37] First Timothy 2. There's one God and one mediator. Between God and man. The man Jesus Christ. You cannot have any connection with God.
[19:49] Unless it is through Christ. And it is through faith that we are united to him. And we are bound up in a wonderful union with our saviour.
[20:00] And the Bible gives us various images that help us understand that. We have the wonderful imagery of the vine and the branches. I am the vine and you are the branches. Jesus says. Whoever abides in me and I in him.
[20:12] He it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. You've got the image of the head and body. Colossians chapter 1. He is before all things in him.
[20:22] All things hold together. He is the head of the body. The church. He is the beginning. The first born from the dead. That in everything he might be preeminent. We have the vine and the branches. The head and the body.
[20:33] The building and the cornerstone. You are no longer strangers and aliens. Ephesians 2 says. But you are fellow citizens and saints and members of the household of God. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
[20:43] Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In whom the whole structure being joined together. Grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
[20:53] These images are wonderful. Teaching us of the fact that we are united to Christ. And perhaps the most powerful of them all is the imagery of a husband and a wife. In Ephesians 5. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife.
[21:07] And the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound. And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. You as believers are his body.
[21:20] His bride. His building. His branches. His friend. His brother. His sister. You are in Christ. And that little word in is so wonderful.
[21:33] Because it reinforces and reminds us of the depth and the wonder of this relationship that we have with our saviour. And I want us just to think a wee bit more about the word in.
[21:45] The word in is a preposition. So it's basically describing where we are in relationship to something. Now if you take for example this glass. There's lots of prepositions that you could apply to this glass.
[22:01] You could be near the glass. You could be on the glass. You could be beside the glass. You could be under the glass. You could be touching the glass. But to be in the glass is different from them all.
[22:14] You can be all sorts of other things. But to be in something is to be utterly connected with it. To be utterly bound up with it. To be in Christ is not to be near or to be close or to be beside or to be with.
[22:29] Even those would be wonderful enough. But if you are in something, it is conveying the deepest level of connection. If you are trusting in Jesus Christ, you are in Christ.
[22:43] And that means you cannot, cannot get closer to him than that. Now I want to emphasize the fact that that is a biblical theological reality.
[22:56] It's not a feeling. Because sometimes you don't feel like it. But it is a theological truth. And that is the wonder of accurate biblical theology.
[23:10] Because it tells us not how we feel, but how we really are. If you are in Christ, then you are as close to him as you can be. And the other wonderful thing about that preposition in.
[23:24] If you imagine coming into this building. We are in this hall today. Now you could be near the hall. You could be beside the hall. You could be on the hall. Maybe even you could be under it, I suppose. But being in is different.
[23:38] Because if you are in this hall, it doesn't matter which way you turn. It doesn't matter which way you look. That hall is there. And it's the same in Christ.
[23:48] If you are in Christ, you can't turn away from him. You can't take your eyes off him. You can't be lost. You can't be disorientated. Because whatever you turn, whatever your circumstances.
[24:00] If you are lifting your head in joy and wonder. Or if you are bowing your head in sorrow and in fear and in worry. Christ is there. And you are still in him.
[24:12] And not only does the preposition in remind us of the fact that we are bound up in Christ. It also is teaching us something in regard to position. As we said, it's a preposition and it's to do with position.
[24:26] And it's telling you two things. It's telling you where you are. And it is telling you where you aren't. Now that's true of us here today.
[24:36] We are here in this hall and we aren't at home. We aren't in the car. We aren't in the car park. We are in a specific location. Inherent in the fact that you are in something means that you are not in another.
[24:50] And our status of being in Christ reminds us of the wonderful truth that we are now in a new place. We are in him and we are part of his body.
[25:02] And it reminds us where we are not. We are not in the realm of sin. We are no longer strangers. We are no longer enemies. And that's why Paul can say that the old self is crucified.
[25:14] The old self is dead. Because you are not there anymore. You are in Christ. And that is such a comfort for us.
[25:27] When we face the struggles and the battles with sin. We are reminded that we have been delivered, rescued, removed from that evil realm.
[25:37] And brought into a new place as part of the body of Christ. So union with Christ is an absolutely essential, fundamental truth of the Christian faith.
[25:50] Now I've been told to finish at half past. Which anybody who goes or knows people in Carlyway will know that that's an immense challenge for me. But we will do our best. And we're making progress. So union with Christ.
[26:02] That must be a foundational understanding that you have in terms of your Christian faith. Because it is at the heart of the gospel. If Paul was to say, sum up the Christian faith in three words, he would say, union with Christ.
[26:17] Because that is what it is all about. You are united to Christ if you are a believer. And I just want to spend the last few minutes asking the question, what are the implications of that?
[26:32] What are the implications of being in Christ? As we said, you are no longer where you were and you are now somewhere else. What are the implications of that?
[26:43] Well the implications of being in Christ are summed up by another very important word in this verse. And that is the word, saints. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.
[27:03] Now I'm sure you are all very familiar with the word, saint. And it's a word that we use very often. But we have to notice that we don't use it in the way that Paul uses it.
[27:13] Or at least very often, we don't use it in the way that Paul uses it. Nowadays we associate the word saint with a great Christian. We'll even say Saint Paul.
[27:25] Or one of the other Christians from the Bible or perhaps from church history. We use the word saint as those who have achieved a particular status in terms of their Christian faith.
[27:40] But Paul doesn't use the word like that at all. Have a look at what Paul says. He says, Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi.
[27:57] According to Paul, the saints are the people in Philippi who he is writing to. And not only that, the big names, Paul, Timothy, the ones who we hold in high regard and who we would describe as Saint Paul, Saint Timothy.
[28:15] Paul does not describe them as saints. He describes them as slaves or as servants. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.
[28:31] And this reminds us of something incredibly important. In the kingdom of God, every believer is a saint. But if you want to be really great, then you must become a servant.
[28:47] That's what Jesus spoke about when he called the twelve to him and said to them, If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.
[28:59] And so that's the way in which Paul uses the word saint. It's something that applies to every believer. If you're a Christian, you are a saint. But what exactly does that mean?
[29:12] Well, the word saint comes from the word, it means the same thing as the word holy. The word saint comes from the Latin word sanctus, which is where we get the word sanctification. Now, sanctification is the process whereby we become more holy.
[29:25] It would perhaps be easier if we describe sanctification as holinessification, because that's exactly what it is doing. The word saint means holy one.
[29:35] A saint is a holy one. And the word holy basically means to be set apart. A saint has been set apart.
[29:45] And that's why the Bible uses the word holy as a key attribute of God. Because God in himself is utterly set apart. He is unique. He is the one who has a status all of his own.
[29:59] He is holy. He is set apart. And God's holiness reminds us that he is unique.
[30:15] He is different. And that he is altogether incompatible with the realm of sin and of evil. God is holy, perfect and pure. And sin is everything that God isn't.
[30:27] And therefore there is a complete incompatibility between the two. God is holy and sin is every want of conformity and transgression of God's holy law.
[30:42] And so we have these two realms that run throughout the whole of scripture and run throughout the whole of history. The holy, perfect, pure kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness that is characterized by sin and evil and that is headed up by the devil himself.
[30:58] And when we are saved, we are transferred from one to the other. We leave the unholy realm of sin and we are brought into the holy and wonderful kingdom of God.
[31:10] And the transfer is a massive transfer. That's why the Bible describes it in terms of opposites whereby you go from death to life, from blindness to sight, from darkness to light.
[31:24] A complete transfer has taken place. As Christians, we are saints, holy ones, set apart ones because we've been taken out of here, the kingdom of evil, and we've been placed here in the kingdom of God.
[31:39] Set apart, placed in a new realm. We are in a new situation. Where are we? We are in Christ.
[31:49] And so the word saint tells you that you have been set apart and the phrase in Christ tells you where you have been set apart to. We are saints in a new place.
[32:03] We are in Christ. And there are many implications of that, some of which we'll consider tonight. But I want us just to think for a moment or two about how this word, the fact that we are saints in Christ, highlights for us all the immense blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus.
[32:27] And as we think about these, if you are a Christian, these are everything that you have. And if you are not a Christian, these are everything that you can have.
[32:37] And that God wants to give you. We are in Christ and that brings us immense blessings. And I'm going to highlight three headings, very short headings that will highlight this.
[32:52] First of all, this reminds us, reminds you, how precious you are to Christ. We use the language, when we were talking about union with Christ, we use the language of, the Bible uses the language of a husband and a wife.
[33:12] Now, when it comes to describing the question, the connection between a husband and a wife or between a parent and a child, the only way that you can really describe it is to say that they are part of you.
[33:25] That's why when people lose their spouse or their parents or their children, part of them is missing and will never be there again. And it's very difficult to describe, but every one of you will know exactly what I mean if you are married or if you have children.
[33:42] These people who are closest to you, they are part of you. They are one in the sense that the Bible uses it. And the immensely wonderful truth of this tiny word, in, is that that is how Jesus views you.
[34:02] If you are trusting in Him. That is how Jesus views you. You think of the person that means more to you than anyone else.
[34:13] You think of how much you love them. That is how Jesus views you. And the incredible truth is that supposing Jesus could lose you, which we thank God He cannot, but supposing He could, something essential would be missing.
[34:33] Something that matters to Him. Something that is part of who He is would be missing. And the language of the New Testament is putting your value in Christ's eyes at the highest, highest level.
[34:48] And I hope that you can grasp that. That your preciousness to Christ is absolutely immense. That's why on the road to Damascus, when the Lord appeared to Saul, to question him regarding his persecution of the church, He says, Why are you persecuting me?
[35:08] Because every finger, every time Paul laid a finger on a Christian, it was affecting Christ. It was touching and hurting and persecuting Him.
[35:23] Your preciousness to Christ is at the highest, highest level. And again, that is a theological truth, not a feeling. It is what the Bible is telling us.
[35:36] And the Bible is true. So you are precious to Christ. But it also reminds you of the protection that you have through faith in Jesus Christ.
[35:48] If you are in Christ, that means that if the devil wants to get at you, he has to go through Jesus Christ. And he has got no chance.
[36:01] That is utterly impossible. You are protected from every angle. Forward, backward, behind, before, all around, above, below. No matter how low you might go in your life, Christ can go lower to hold you.
[36:16] No matter how high you may achieve, Christ will go before you in every step. If the devil wants to touch you, he has to get through Jesus. And the resurrection tells you that the power of death and the power of sin and the power of the devil cannot hold Christ.
[36:34] And you are in Him. And as we said, if you are a saint in Christ, you are set apart, taken out of the realm of sin, placed in the realm of the kingdom of God, which means that we are now in a battleground as we live through our lives.
[36:50] We exist as God's kingdom in enemy territory in a world that is still affected by sin. But we are reminded that we are in Christ, protected by Him, safe with Him.
[37:03] And every time we suffer, every time you suffer, every time you struggle, you do so with Christ holding you, with Christ protecting you, and He has experienced every ounce of suffering that we too experience.
[37:20] We have this amazing, amazing protection because we are in Christ. But last of all, I want us to think of the privileges that this gives you.
[37:34] It tells you you're precious, it tells you you're protected, but it also reminds you of the privileges that you have. Because if you are united to Christ, everything that is His is yours.
[37:48] Is that true? Is that really true? Everything that is Christ's, Christ exalted at the right hand of the Father, Christ who rules over the whole realm of creation, Christ who is the one to inherit all the glory and splendor and wonder of God the Father Himself.
[38:06] Everything that is His is yours. Is that really true? Well, the Bible says that you are a joint heir with Christ. So it is true. And that's what union with Christ means.
[38:19] That everything that is His is yours. We share His kingdom. We share His glory. We share His love. We share His family. We share His righteousness, His peace. All of these things. So that means when you read a passage about Christ in the Bible, you are sharing in it.
[38:34] For example, I'm going to read in Philippians 2, verse 8. A wonderful passage. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him, bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
[38:59] You imagine Jesus in His coming in glory, where everybody bows down and worships Him and acknowledges Him. You see the splendor and majesty that belongs to Christ alone, and then you remember that you are united to Him.
[39:15] And at that moment He will take you to stand by His side and to share in all of this. Christ's glory, Christ's majesty, Christ's wonder, we will share in that.
[39:34] And I hope that that makes our view of heaven get a lot bigger. And our view of what we have in Christ a lot bigger. Because we will share in Him.
[39:45] And this is vitally important for us in our daily walk as Christians. I told you I would never finish at half eleven, but never mind. I'm nearly there. This is vitally important because we can look at ourselves.
[39:58] And I'm sure that you do this every day. You look at yourselves and you are instantly discouraged. That happens to me, it happens to you. We see everything in our lives that we wish wasn't there.
[40:09] And we are a massive source of frustration, of disappointment and of discouragement to ourselves. But every time we look at ourselves, we are making a mistake.
[40:21] Because our identity is not about me and you and who you are and what you have done. Your identity is found in Jesus Christ. So if you want to know who you really are as a Christian, do not look in the mirror.
[40:36] Look at Jesus Christ. Because that is where you are. You are united to Him. You often hear Christians say the phrase, I'm not in a good place.
[40:52] People are maybe struggling. People are maybe finding things difficult. People are maybe feeling that they are a bit low and a bit weak in their faith. And they say, I'm not in a good place. Sometimes people say, I'm not going to go to the communion this weekend because I'm not in a good place.
[41:06] Maybe you have said that yourself. Maybe you have felt it. Often you hear this phrase, I am not in a good place. And we can understand why people say that. But it is not and it is never true.
[41:22] If you are a Christian, it is never, ever, ever true if you say, I am in a bad place. It is never true because the reality is that you have just forgotten where you actually are.
[41:40] The Christian is in Christ. And we must always, always remember that. Yes, we will face struggles.
[41:52] Yes, we will face difficulties. And yes, we will make many, many mistakes. But the best solution to tackling these things is to remember where we are. That through faith, we are in Christ.