Union With Christ, #4

The point: Be immunized against errors concerning the nature of union with Christ.

Peter's words about the ignorant and unstable twisting Paul's writings are used to illustrate how vital truths, like union with Christ, are stretched out of shape and misused, becoming grotesque.

The first thing I want to say has to relate to one of the unpleasant aspects of church history. And it is this, that there is no truth given by the Spirit of God and deposited in the Scriptures that is immune from the manipulation of the ignorant and the unstable. The Apostle Peter could say that there were words of a contemporary apostle, namely, the Apostle Paul, which the ignorant and the unstable rested, and that word in the original literally means to stretch out of shape, to put upon a torture rack. The ignorant and the unerring, they take the form of biblical words. They maintain the se...

2:32 - 3:56 Read in full sermon

The point: Think and act aright with respect to this great doctrine of union with Christ.

The imagery from John 15 is used to show the intimate shared life between Christ and believers, while maintaining their distinct identities, refuting pantheistic absorption.

Never in such a way as to blur that line between the one who is God and those who are the creatures. And it's interesting that when we read the richest Union with Christ passages, this distinction is always boldly etched on the very face of the words describing that union. For instance, John 15. I am the vine.

9:27 - 9:57 Read in full sermon

The point: Never conceive of the nature of our union with Christ as in any way related to pantheism.

The historical figures of de Molinos, Fenelon, and Madame Guion are cited as proponents of quietism, a system advocating complete passivity and neutering of human personality in spiritual attainment.

Now quietism as a formal system of thought has its roots in the thinking and the teaching of a man named de Molinos or de Molinot. Aspects of this teaching are found in some of the French mystics, Fenelon, Madame Guion. Quietism as a full-blown system of thought teaches that the height of spiritual attainment is that of complete passivity. The attainment of perfect rest in God.

13:23 - 13:58 Read in full sermon

The point: Never conceive of the nature of our union with Christ as in any way related to pantheism.

Martin recounts sitting through lessons by Major Ian Thomas and reading his book, critiquing his 'Christ living his life through you' teaching as an example of quietism that negates struggle and conscious effort.

When you shift into neutral and just give yourself up to some power that will carry you along. But though there is little full-blown quietism in our day and though there are elements of it in radical charismatic circles, the leaven of this teaching pervades almost every form of so-called deeper life, higher life, abundant life, victorious life teaching. It is shopped through with the leaven of quietism. The ideas express something like this in these circles. Since we are united to Christ, and I do not speak from second-hand experience, I've heard this taught and I tried to live by it until I a...

15:09 - 16:34 Read in full sermon

The point: Ponder the glory of your union with Christ, rather than being attached to the church by programs, success, activism, or external norms.

A seminary student's observation about a pendulum moving swiftest through the center and being stationary at extremes is used to illustrate the human tendency to overreact to errors, moving from one extreme to another in theological understanding.

He said, you know, pastor, I've been thinking. The pendulum moves swiftest through the center of its arc and is stationary at both extremes. Isn't that exactly what happens with the pendulum? The point of the middle of the arc is where it moves swiftest, and then there comes the point where it is arrested and it is stationary at both extremes.

26:52 - 27:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Ponder the glory of your union with Christ, rather than being attached to the church by programs, success, activism, or external norms.

The relationship between the Red Guard and Mao is used as an example of a merely external union (sympathy of political theory), which some would wrongly equate to the union with Christ, denying its vital, supernatural nature.

And we went on to discuss that tendency of the human heart to move swiftest through the center of the arc. That is where we are holding in proper biblical tension the whole of God's revelation. Now what has happened is people have seen this extreme of the doctrine of union with Christ, quietism, mysticism, and they've set a plague on the mystic's house. We want nothing to do with that kind of ephemeral, that kind of woozy, undefinable union with Christ. And they would lead us to believe that all of the terminology of the Bible in Christ, Christ in us, Christ living in us, that that is just str...

27:18 - 28:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Ponder the glory of your union with Christ, rather than being attached to the church by programs, success, activism, or external norms.

The Roman Catholic view of grace as a commodity channeled through sacraments (baptism, Eucharist) is presented as an example of a crassly materialistic concept of union with Christ, which Martin refutes as 'cannibalism'.

And I must touch upon this because though you may not be aware of it, the rank and file of you, it is something that concerns you. This teaching would be found, for the most part, in the church of Rome. And to simplify it, it goes something like this. Grace is a commodity that God can deposit in his church.

31:22 - 31:45 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ. And where the Spirit of Christ is found, Christ himself is present.

Martin recounts hearing a man build an entire doctrine system on the different designations 'Spirit of God' and 'Spirit of Christ' in Romans 8, highlighting a misinterpretation that misses the indivisibility of the Godhead.

If so be, now notice the designation, the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Now is that a different Spirit? And believe it or not, I actually heard a man who built a whole system of doctrine on the different designation in this passage.

36:57 - 37:22 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Christ. And where the Spirit of Christ is found, Christ himself is present.

The truth of union with Christ is compared to a diamond with many facets, illustrating that it is one subsistence but can be viewed from different angles, revealing different highlights.

Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? For the twain said he shall become one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. How is our union with Christ effected? It is effected by our participating in the one spirit, the spirit of Christ, the indwelling spirit in the heart, in the redeemed humanity of the believing child of God. Or we might take 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13 for a little shift of emphasis. You see, these things are so big that we can't lock them up to one dimension. They are like a diamond with many facets. The diamond is

40:23 - 41:11 Read in full sermon