In Christ, Chapter Two

 

 

If you haven't read my articles on Imputation that I sent out July 15, 2012 thru Aug. 26, 2012, read them first as they will lay the proper foundation for what I am going to share with you now. If you don't have those just send me an e-mail and I will send them to you.

 

In the first chapter I showed you that you were baptized into Christ and began to show you some of the benefits of being in Christ. In this chapter I want to take a look at what it means to be in Christ. First we must make sure we are all on the same page by seeing what the New Testament teaches the word 'Christ' means.

 

Strong's Concordance gives this meaning. G5547-Χριστός = Christos  khris-tos'

From G5548; anointed, that is, the Messiah, an epithet of Jesus:—Christ.

 

John wrote in John 1:40-42, (NKJV)

 

"One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.   He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).   And he brought him to Jesus."

 

And in Matt. 16:15-17, Jesus asked the disciples,

 

"He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 

 

So when we say, "Jesus Christ", we are saying Jesus the anointed of God! Christ is not His last name!

 

 

Jesus said in Lk. 4:17-18,

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." 

 

 

John wrote in Jn. 3:34-36,

 

"For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gave the Spirit not by measure unto him. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him."

 

And Paul said in Col. 2:9-10,

 

"For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:"

 

And Peter said in Acts 10:38,

 

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

 

So from the preceding scriptures we learn that Jesus was truly the anointed of God, the promised Messiah. We also learned that the anointing of God with His Spirit is for a purpose. Jesus was anointed of His Father with His Father's Spirit for the purpose of preaching the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 

 

Last week I shared with you what Paul said in Gal. 3:26-29,

 

"For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.    For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.    There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.    And if you be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."

 

Having shown you this, I can now say to you that you have been baptized into the same anointing that Jesus had. God anointed Jesus with His Spirit and it is His Spirit that we have been baptized into because we are all children of God. As such, we are all in Christ and Jesus is the head of this body of Christ. The same anointing that Jesus was anointed with is the same anointing that we have been given. The only difference between us and Jesus is that He had the Spirit without measure and we have been given a measure of the anointing of God to guarantee what is to come. To prove this to you I will quote to you just two scriptures. First,

Paul said in Col. 1:18-22,

 

"And he (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him (Christ) should all fullness dwell;   And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.   And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled   In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:"

 

We see from what Paul said here that Jesus is the head of the spiritual body of Christ and that in this spiritual body of Christ all the fullness of God dwells. If you can understand this, then you will realize how very important it is for us to assemble ourselves together. It's so important because of this next verse of scripture I am going to share with you. Paul said in 2 Cor. 1:21-22,

 

"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,    set his seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

 

We have a deposit of the Spirit of God in our hearts and when we come together there is more of the fullness of God in our presence. Paul said in Eph. 1:22-23,

 

"And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all."

 

Today, the Church is the fullness of God who fills everything. Paul again said in Eph. 1:3,

 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:" 

 

In the body of Christ dwells all the spiritual blessings that God has to give to us. The Church is the container of all those spiritual blessing. Now, do you understand what Paul meant when he was talking about having communion in 1 Cor. 11:28-29,

 

"But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body."

 

For years, I never was taught the true meaning of what Paul was saying here. When  I began to meditate on what he was saying it dawned on me that he was talking about the Lord's spiritual body. We are the Lord's spiritual body and do we ever need to learn to discern who it is that makes up this body and quit arguing over which church is the only true church. When we cannot discern who is a brother and sister of ours, we are in deep trouble. We make so many issues over things that have nothing to do with salvation. Do we ever stop to realize that

we are all learning and some may not agree with us on everything. I dare say that if you took a poll of everyone in your church you would find that there are differences of understanding in a lot of areas.

 

Paul said in Heb. 10:24-25,

 

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:    Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching."

 

Jesus said in Matt. 18:18-20,

 

"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.   Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.   For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

 

Wow! What a statement! If two of us will agree here on earth as to touching anything that we shall ask for, His Father in heaven will do it for us. You would think that we could get two people to come together and have the faith to believe that what they say will come to pass. (Mark 11:22-26)

 

My purpose in sharing this with you is to make you aware of the power that is available to the Church today! That power is not controlled by any individual but  is controlled by the anointing that we have and that is the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. Let me show you something that you may not have seen before but even Jesus did not assume to use that power as He wanted to. He said in John 5:30,

 

"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."

 

And in John 5:19-20,

 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do: for what things so ever he does, these also do the Son likewise.    For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does: and he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel."

 

What we so often fail to understand is that Jesus did not come here as the Son of God but as the Son of Man and therefore was limited in every way that we are and was totally led and empowered by the Holy Spirit the same way we are to be today. Paul said in Rom. 8:14,

 

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." 

 

No man can of his own self do the works of God. Even the Apostles could not do whatever they wanted to do but had to submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Paul said in 1 Cor. 12:11 where he was talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit,

 

"But all these (gifts) worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will."

 

We are not greater than Jesus and if He refused to do anything other than what He saw His Father do, then who do we think we are that we can do whatever we want to do without submitting to our Father's will. It is only as the Father wills that any miracle can be worked through any of us. The Lord, alone, is in control of all things and He has a plan for the ages and is working that plan out according to His will. This world is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. (1 Cor. 10:26)

 

Jesus said in Matt. 7:22-24,

 

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?    And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.    Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man.."

 

That Greek Word for 'knew' means to have an intimate relationship with. Jesus said in Matt. 6:1-4,

 

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 
But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

 

Again, Paul said in Rom. 8:14,

 

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." 

 

Jesus is our perfect example of someone that is led by the Spirit of God. We can also be as Jesus was, totally led by the Spirit of God!