(40) - "in Christ" thoughts

Several of my so-called friends have challenged me to continue this thread a little longer. And - since I have called it "ULTIMATE IMPORTANCE" - well, I can't argue against it. Just remember - JESUS is what is of ultimate importance. So - after an hour or so of thinking - I am ready to dig deeper. (Why do people get up at hours like 2 or 3 am to think anyway - sounds real suspicious to me.)

As I contemplate going back to our ROOTS of covenant thought, it seems cogent to actually make a case for PRIORITIES of thought. I admitted openly that I feel very loyal to the concept that Jesus gets ALL preeminence - since God chose to do that. However, once I do that - then there's no going back to situations less than Jesus getting all preeminence. So - from now on - I have to stay there and allow Jesus to be EVERYTHING. Well - not non-things like sin and rebellion (God certainly doesn't ignore any of those things either) - but the concept of our word TRUTH is not the original focus of Greek or Hebrew thought. Truth for them is much closer to our idea in the word REALITY. So - what I'm getting to is an idea of "reality" which focuses on Jesus as ULTIMATE reality and the source of reality. He did claim to be The Reality - along with being The Way and The Life. Those concepts are confrontational to me - in a good way seemingly - but very challenging. Our world would love for us to use "a way, a truth, concepts of life" - for Jesus - but to say "THE" - well, that's a horse of a different color (colour for my friends of Canadian and other European roots !) The concept of the word "THE" is just a challenging conceptual construct. "THE" means a focus on singular concepts. It gives Jesus a singular place in several areas of REALITY.

Then, when we quote the verse about what happened when Jesus came to our dimension, it becomes even more challenging. The phrase I have mentioned and now mention again for emphasis was "God was in Christ" 2 Corinthians 5. Wait just a minute - God was IN Christ - and now I am IN CHRIST ? That means we're TOGETHER !

Yes and no - is the answer to many questions for me - so let's have a go at that. "YES" - God was represented in Christ - and He was there to get us back ! He wanted us - He designed a way to GET us back - and it was a one time happening. It was an ONLY begotten son - the only time the spirit was involved directly in causing a pregnancy (well - it's sort of hard to say healing a womb or opening a womb was indirect - so pardon my failure for words in reference to these concepts.) First year Greek students learn the concept of a word happening only once in Greek or in the Bible - we call it a "hapox legominon" - a "one time said" word - one time used - therefore there are not any other contexts to help with the meaning. My contention is that God's dealing with US is a "hapox" concept - ONE TIME happening and therefore not a lot of contextual help from Philosophy or any other knowledge sources. Don't forget then - those other sources of knowledge cannot help us with MUCH of the Bible meanings and happenings. The idea of "in Christ" is known in human understanding in one aspect - we know we were in our ancestor thousands of years ago - so if something had happened to him, we'd never be born the way we are or even born at all. That concept helps - but there is so much more to it. Just the idea of us being in Christ when He was on the Cross - is challenging - but I think we sometimes get it by "spiritualizing" it to say - "Well, He represented me and all the human race in God's eyes" - and that is true. However - we must get farther into this - He took MY personal place on the cross - "He took the hit" for me in the cause of JUSTICE. He received and absorbed MY punishment for sin - on the cross - HE paid for it. Keep that very personal for each of us. It makes a difference then for us to read "God was in Christ" - and realize that God was taking the hit for our sin - and HE was so much FOR US !

OH MY - I am so in awe of God's great agape. Is there any way to grasp that ?

But - once I continue this "hapox" situation - I have to receive the reconciliation fact into my reality awareness. God did it - but I GET IT. I am NOW "hid with Christ in God" Colossians 3:3. And - it is not a "figure of speech" - it is a reality concept. How can we make it more of a reality on a day to day basis ? Problem - for our thinking - it is always a "hapox" situation - not available in our world for comparison - not available in our knowledge banks to access. Not only are we saved by faith (trusting what God DID) we understand life on that basis and we live on that understanding and commitment. The focus is not us, but HIM. But - isn't it amazing that when we focus on HIM we notice that HE is focused on us - so we get the blessing of ultimate reality ? By the way - I think that is a template for life - God didn't focus on Himself - but gave up all He had for us - and He then got the blessing of seeing us as sons of the Living God ! So - as we live we "might no longer live for ourselves for for Him who for our sakes died and was raised" (2 Corinthians 5:15) and we can give ourselves away and get the fulfillment in life of God's design where love gives unconditionally and that kind of love is not always accepted or appreciated, but it has an effect on some who then discover their ultimate reason for being alive. That is the faith life - the life of knowing we have plugged into an ultimate concept - THE reality - THE life - in Christ. In the end another concept is necessary to "see" - and maybe to some degree "understand" - "in Christ" means that HIS perfection is my hope - HIS performance is my identity now - but that awareness and reality causes me to know that even on Judgment Day itself - John writes that we have NO FEAR because - "as He is so are we in this world" - so as I stand on that day - I can know that His performance is mine by faith so God must receive me or reject what Jesus did - because that is my plea - what HE DID ! And - His performance, Paul said was authenticated by God in that "HE raised HIM from the dead" Acts 17:31.

"In Christ" is reality - and that reality is now my life - so resurrection is a heaven affirmed reality for me - and since I am in Christ - heaven is my guarantee, because Christ gets in and I am in Him.

I don't SNEAK in - I don't fool God - it was simply God's plan to give Christ all preeminence and I am IN HIM - so I get His performance and His inheritance - just like God planned. He planned to give Him ALL PREEMINENCE - and He will and does - I got in on that my trusting Jesus to be THE WAY, THE REALITY, THE LIFE - and by the way - when you add up those concepts, you get everything. We get it all - in Christ and God wouldn't have it any other way. That is the eternal plan from before the foundations of the world. (note Ephesians 1:3-10 gives a wonderful thumbnail sketch of the whole plan.) More to come