What Does It Mean to Be in Christ?
Robert Walker
II Corinthians 5:17
Change is what we carry in our pockets to have ready at the toll booth or to drop in the slot of a soda machine. Change is what we do after working under the car, and before we go to church or out to eat in a nice restaurant. Change is what we do to the oil in the car or the light bulb over the kitchen sink.
However, while we don't mind changing a dollar bill, our clothing, the oil or the light bulb, when it has to do with us personally, change seems to be much less desirable - when we begin to talk about change, the only thing we want to change is the subject.
When you read the scripture you will see that one of the most important concepts is the concept "in Christ." What does it really mean to be in Christ?
Well let's look at II Corinthians 5:15 and there are several things I want us to zero in on.
I. IN CHRIST MEANS RE-CREATION
If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Paul says," The old has gone and the new has come. We used to operate from the standpoint of the flesh, but now our perspective is the cross.
The old is gone.
The new has come.
Where once we wandered, we now have been set on the right path.
And it is worth telling about! Our lives have been transformed. Christ's presence has transformed our lives.
2 Cor. 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. [18] Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. [20] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
We have been changed. With the first verb "passed away," the tense i ...
Robert Walker
II Corinthians 5:17
Change is what we carry in our pockets to have ready at the toll booth or to drop in the slot of a soda machine. Change is what we do after working under the car, and before we go to church or out to eat in a nice restaurant. Change is what we do to the oil in the car or the light bulb over the kitchen sink.
However, while we don't mind changing a dollar bill, our clothing, the oil or the light bulb, when it has to do with us personally, change seems to be much less desirable - when we begin to talk about change, the only thing we want to change is the subject.
When you read the scripture you will see that one of the most important concepts is the concept "in Christ." What does it really mean to be in Christ?
Well let's look at II Corinthians 5:15 and there are several things I want us to zero in on.
I. IN CHRIST MEANS RE-CREATION
If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Paul says," The old has gone and the new has come. We used to operate from the standpoint of the flesh, but now our perspective is the cross.
The old is gone.
The new has come.
Where once we wandered, we now have been set on the right path.
And it is worth telling about! Our lives have been transformed. Christ's presence has transformed our lives.
2 Cor. 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. [18] Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, [19] that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. [20] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
We have been changed. With the first verb "passed away," the tense i ...
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