Implications of Understanding Union

The point: Think hard, think long, pray, meditate, and concentrate on the significance of being quickened, raised, and seated with Christ.

Martin compares himself to a tour guide in an underground cavern, where he has pointed out many sites (Ephesians 2:4-10). He has now found a 'vein of precious metal' (the concept of union with Christ) and feels compelled to pause and dig deeper, rather than just moving on to the next part of the tour (verse 7).

to what we're going to be doing in the next couple of weeks. Imagine a man who is committed to be a tour guide in an underground cavern in which there is to be found many and diverse, or there are to be found many and diverse sites to dazzle the eyes of all who go on this tour into this underground cavern. Now the guide knows that at certain points along the way, it is not unusual to see coming right out to the wall of the cavern little evidences of preciousness. Perhaps as he goes through with his lantern pointing out the different sites, it will catch that which glistens like gold or silver ...

11:52 - 13:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Pursue a clear, loving, trustful understanding of what it means to be vitally united to Christ, having experienced its virtue.

A father returns from a trip with thoughtfully chosen gifts for his children. If the children leave the gifts unopened, the father is grieved because it despises his love and effort. This illustrates how God is dishonored when believers ignore or treat lightly the gifts (truths) He has conferred upon them, specifically the truth of union with Christ.

Now, if these things are true of every Christian, then every Christian ought to seek to grasp the significance of these things, because if he fails to do so, number one, God is dishonored in his ignorance. That is the ignorance of the Christian. God is dishonored if we ignore or treat lightly the gifts which he has conferred upon us. Imagine a father away on a trip. His children are in his mind continually.

16:16 - 16:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Pursue a clear, loving, trustful understanding of what it means to be vitally united to Christ, having experienced its virtue.

Extending the previous illustration, if one of the father's gifts was a book to help a child with a school discipline, and the child never opened it, the child would be impoverished. This illustrates how believers are impoverished if they do not utilize the truths God has provided for their well-being, such as the doctrine of union with Christ.

Let's go back to the father and his gifts. Suppose two of the three gifts he purchased for each of the children had a very practical and useful function in their lives. He knew that one of the children was having a terrible time with a certain discipline at school, with a certain academic discipline, and he had purchased a book which was geared to help children with that kind of problem. Not only is the father insulted, the child does not open the gift to examine its context.

19:07 - 19:35 Read in full sermon

The point: Pursue a clear, loving, trustful understanding of what it means to be vitally united to Christ, having experienced its virtue.

The performance of a car's wheels (practical obedience) depends on the engine (faith, hope, love), which in turn depends on the gas tank (believing apprehension of what we are and have in Christ). This illustrates that a lack of understanding of union with Christ hinders spiritual growth and obedience.

Think of the car. You'll get no more out of the wheels in terms of performance than is coming from the engine, and the engine gets no more than what's going in at the gas tank. If the wheels of the Christian life are our practical obedience, the engine that drives the drivetrain in the wheels are those graces of faith, hope, and love. We live by faith.

20:57 - 21:23 Read in full sermon