March
24, 2004
Reading
“But now in Christ Jesus” (13)
This tremendous passage of scripture informs the Ephesian Christians of their standing in Christ Jesus. Just as the writer to the Jewish Christians sought to show them that Jesus is their Christ, their Messiah (the Book to the Hebrews), so Paul shows the gentiles that they have been made one with the Jewish people in Christ Jesus. God has created “one new man” (15) by uniting both Jew and Gentile in their common faith in Christ Jesus.
Mankind stands in one of three relationships to Christ, two of which are stated here in Ephesians 2.
First there are those who are “without Christ” (12);
Second there are those who are “in Christ” (13);
Third there are those who are “with Christ” (Phil
The common thread in all three standings is the “anointed One,” Christ, the Messiah. No other considerations are offered. It matters not what our relationship is to the church, the sacraments and creeds, it is of no consequence whether or not we are fully involved in helping our fellow man—it is our relationship with Christ that matters.
Those without Christ are described in scripture as being dead (Eph 2:5), in darkness (Eph 5:8), and as being deceived (Titus 3:3). Many who are without Christ do not consider themselves as such. Some are happy, successful in business, enjoy a family who loves them, and have an abundance of material possessions—they are the envy of many who know them. But God’s standard does not take these things into consideration, in His eyes we are either without Christ, in Christ or with Christ. Sadly there is a lot of churchianity in the world and far less Christianity. Billy Sunday, the great American evangelist in the early twentieth century said, “When you go into a garage, you don’t expect to come out an automobile.” Going to church, even to the point of involvement, does not make a Christian.
Those who confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised Him from the dead, will be saved (Rom 10:9). In other words, they are placed “in Christ,” their status has changed and a new relationship with Christ has been established. “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them” Isa 42:16. In Christ we have fellowship with God and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3). In Christ we have life, not death; light, not darkness, and truth, not deception.
Man never dies; we were created to
live forever. Death does not occur when breath leaves our body,
rather our soul lives on in its eternal state. Those “in Christ” in this life
are transferred to be “with Christ”
in eternity. Those who are “without Christ” in this life continue to be without
Christ in eternity. The definition of “without Christ” continues into
eternity—dead, darkness, deception. The definition of hell is “without Christ.”
That which men mock in this life suddenly becomes reality. Eternal darkness and
separation from Christ is nothing to be laughed at or dismissed as science
fiction. The tragic thing is—it is eternal. Today the opportunity is here to
enter into a new relationship with Christ, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved” Acts