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Renewing Your Mind
Sharing in His Death and Resurrection
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God appoints even our suffering and dying with a purpose: to transform us into the likeness of our crucified and risen Savior. Today, Sinclair Ferguson explains the fruit of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Request Union with...
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When we embrace Christ, crucified and risen, then that leaves by the Spirit and in God's providence, an imprint on our lives creates a kind of rhythm of death and resurrection that leads to fruitfulness in our lives.
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Welcome to the Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham Sinclair Ferguson has been our featured teacher this week, and he's been leading us in a study of our union with Christ. That bond is not just the centerpiece of our lives as Christians, it's the entirety of it. Although today's message is the final one you'll hear this week, the full series is actually 12 messages. You can watch or listen to this entire series and gain access to its study guide when you give a donation in support of renewing your mind@renewingyourmind.org in addition, we'll send you Dr. Ferguson's brand new book, Union with the Blessings of Being in him. Respond today@renewingyourmind.org as this offer ends at midnight. Well, wrapping up our time in this series today, we're going to focus on an often neglected aspect of our union with Christ, our connection to Christ in His death and resurrection. Here's Dr. Ferguson.
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Now. We have come to our last study session on this great theme of union with Christ, and I don't know if you feel the same. I do often when I come to the end of a series of messages on a book of the Bible or on a theme. I feel, I think we've warmed up sufficiently now to begin this series. And I want to go back and start all over again and think maybe now that we're ready, we'll really be able to take it in. But we made something of a journey in these studies together from thinking first of all about how important union with Christ is in the New Testament, especially in Paul. There are somewhere over 160 occasions when he uses the expression in Christ or in the Lord or in Him. So it's hugely significant. And I think my own hope is that at least as we come to an end, we will never forget that and those in Christ will simply come out of the page to us. And that more and more, as we think about what it means to be a Christian, we'll realize the privileges that are ours, that Christ is a great savior and that he has united himself to us. And as I've said several times now with the Christian church in the past, we understand that he considers himself to be incomplete without us. It's an amazing privilege, isn't it, that Jesus would consider himself to be incomplete without me, without us as brothers and sisters and the saints in every age. And as we saw in a previous study, what Jesus Christ has done by his work on the cross is to bring together into one family the family branch in heaven and the family branch on earth, so that we are united not only with believers in the church today, believers in the church yesterday, those who become believers in the future, but we are united in the same family as that other branch of the family. Angels are called sons in the Old Testament Scriptures, so that other branch of the family, the angels who did not fall, the cherubim, the seraphim, those creatures that surround the throne, heaven, will be a long game of happy family. And all of this because we are united under the one head, Jesus Christ. Last session we were thinking about the way in which Jesus taught us about union with Christ, and not least that notion that he prunes us, that there is an element in the Christian life that is sore for us. And I want to close out our series by thinking about the way in which union with Christ has a double dimension to it. By and large, we think about that union as an inner spiritual reality. And so because we're united to Christ, we put off sin, we put and we grow in Christlike graces. But we are not simply spiritual beings. We are physical beings. Indeed, Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 6 that whoever is united to the Lord joins his body with the Lord because the Spirit comes to indwell us, our bodies, our temples of the Holy Spirit. And so I want us in this final session to think about the external dimensions of what it means for us to be united to Christ. We're united to Christ in his death and resurrection. That works out inwardly and spiritually in the mortification of sin and the vivification of. Of life. John Calvin, who emphasized this again and again, also emphasized that there is a double mortification, what he called a mortificatio duplex. And there is a double vivification, a vivificatio duplex. There is an internal mortification and vivification, but there is also in the Christian life and external mortification and vivification. In this world. We will share in all kinds of different ways in the outworking of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. And I want us to think about this in different ways. Old Testament saints were united to Christ, yes, in promise, but they were united in that promise to the Christ who would die and rise. And therefore they, as we look at them in the Old Testament, Scriptures, they put away sin, and with the help of the Spirit, they put on graces that we recognize as Christlike graces. But they also share in that in their life story. Joseph is a very obvious illustration of that, isn't he? By faith united in the promise to Jesus Christ. What is the shape of Joseph's life? The shape of Joseph's life is that he shares in the suffering of Christ. He shares in the death of Christ. He shares in the humiliation of Christ. Indeed, so much about Joseph's life is like a backward echo of Jesus life. He is falsely accused, he is despised, and then in the providence of God, he is raised up and exalted and brings what Genesis calls salvation, physical salvation, to the whole Mediterranean area. He shares externally in the dying and rising of the Lord Jesus. You see the same thing in King David and many of the other Old Testament saints, and you see it in the lives of believers in the pages of the New Testament. The most obvious illustration is the one with which we began. In whom is it first of all, most clear that the way of Christian fruitfulness is sharing a union with the Lord Jesus Christ? And that finds an expression in the whole of our lives? Answer Stephen. Stephen trusts into, believes into union with Jesus Christ. He puts sin away. He puts on the graces of Christ. He becomes Christlike. He. But that's not just something internal, that's something external. Stephen becomes fruitful sharing in Christ's death. Stephen becomes fruitful sharing in the fruit of Christ's resurrection in a young man called Saul of Tarsus, and then in a multitude, ultimately, that no man can number. And I rather think that as Saul of Tarsus transitions into the apostle Paul and reflects on the inner significance of his meeting with Christ on the Damascus road and the connection between what Jesus said to him and what he saw in Stephen and that seed idea that Jesus and Stephen were united to one another, so that to persecute Stephen was to persecute the Lord Jesus. I think it was out of that womb that much of Paul's own understanding of his own life and ministry emerged. And he began to see that there is this pattern, not just internally, but in the whole of our Christian lives, where we see those Christian lives through lenses that have been crafted to the prescription of union with Christ in his death and resurrection, union with Christ in his sorrow and joy, union with Christ in his pain and in his fruitfulness. I want us to look at a few verses where Paul brings this out. One of them, of course, is what he says in Colossians, chapter one. I wonder if you are familiar with these words There. As he's speaking about his own ministry, he makes a rather astonishing statement that some have found difficult to interpret. He says, I rejoice in my sufferings, verse 24 of chapter one. I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. Now that's an interesting statement, isn't it? Paul doesn't see himself as suffering for his own sake. We usually see ourselves as suffering for our own sakes. Nobody else is suffering. We are the ones who are suffering. But Paul sees all of his suffering as being part of his ministry for the Church. I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, the Church. Now what can he mean by this? I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the Church. Perhaps it will be helpful if I change the word order for the sake of the Church, says Paul. I am filling up what is lacking of the sufferings of Christ in me. He is not saying there is anything lacking in the suffering of Christ, is he? He couldn't possibly say that if there is something lacking in the sufferings of Christ, Christ has not yet done what needs to be done to save us. There is nothing lacking in the sufferings of Christ. So what is Paul talking about? He's talking about the fact that in union with Christ, the outworking of that has not come to its completion in him. There is more in him is being filled up what he is yet to experience of sharing in the sufferings of Christ in order that in Christ he may be fruitful in the Church. Actually we saw that in another passage that we looked at but didn't mention this. In Philippians 3, you remember, he says, I want to know Christ and I want to share in the fellowship of his sufferings and be like him in his death so that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Isn't that an interesting thing to say? I want to share. I want to have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. Now why does he say that? Not because he's a masochist. He doesn't enjoy pain. Actually, what he Enjoys is having Dr. Luke with him. He tells Timothy, don't go on with this stomach pain you're having, Timothy. Take a little wine for your stomach's sake. He doesn't enjoy suffering and pain, but he does see that that suffering he goes through is something God uses, makes him productive through because it's the outworking of his union and communion with a crucified Savior. Perhaps I can put it this way. You can't live face to face with the Lord Jesus. You can't live in union and communion with the Lord Jesus without being made like the Lord Jesus. And you can't have just a resurrected Christ. You've got to have the whole Christ. And so when we embrace Christ crucified and risen, then that leaves by the Spirit and in God's providence, an imprint on our lives, creates a kind of rhythm of death and resurrection that leads to fruitfulness in our lives. Now, of course, it's important for us to see this is entirely in the Lord's hands. We are not in the business of choosing the amount of this that we're going to experience. We don't need to go out of our way to find it. This is entirely in the sovereign providence of God. But I think Paul is saying that if we're united to Christ, this will be our lot in all different kinds of ways. And we all experience this, don't we? But the point of knowing it is, ah, we go through tough days, we do suffer, we experience affliction in all kinds of ways. But because we're united to Jesus Christ, the Lord means to employ all that to make us useful and fruitful in his kingdom. And that can be everything from the losses that create sorrow in our lives to the troubles we have because people we work with persecute us or demean us as Christians. Paul doesn't set a kind of narrow limit on what he's talking about here, but he does want us to see that if we're united to Christ, we will share in his sufferings. But as we share in his sufferings, we will also share in the glorious fruitfulness of. Of his resurrection power. And it's there in Colossians, and it's there in Philippians, and it's also there in Corinthians. And I want us to turn there to the second letter to the Corinthians so that we can see together how powerfully Paul presents this. And if I may do something rather unusual, I'd like to read Corinthians backwards. So three places in Corinthians I want us to look at. First of all, right at the very end, in 2 Corinthians, chapter 13 and verses 3 and 4, Paul says, since you are seeking proof that Christ is speaking in me, I want to say this to you. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness and lives by the power of God. Now, it's the next sentence I want you to focus on and really to take in what he's saying. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you, we will live with him by the power of God. You ever seen that optical illusion, Paris in the. The spring? And how people can read that and yet not read it? There is a kind of optical illusion in this verse. My guess is that large numbers of Christians, when they read what Paul is saying here, actually read, we are weak in ourselves, but in dealing with you, we will be powerful. And of course, Paul says to the Philippians, I am weak in myself, but I can do everything in Christ. But I want you to notice what he is saying here. He is saying, in Christ we are weak. Or put it the other way around, we are weak in Christ. You see what he is saying? He is saying this weakness. Remember how he comes to the Corinthians. He says, I came in weakness and fear and much trembling. And people might say, you silly man, you poor man. But you see what he is saying here? He is saying, that weakness that I experienced was the fruit of my union with a Christ who was weakened in crucifixion. It's radically different from our ordinary intuition. We need to be in Christ. We need to be strong. And Paul is saying, actually, if you're in Christ, you're going to experience great weakness. Great weakness. Because it's out of great weakness in Christ that you will experience great fruitfulness in Christ. Turn back a few chapters to 2 Corinthians 4. In 2 Corinthians 4, and especially verses 10, 11, 12, he's speaking about the sufferings he goes through. We're persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed. And then think about this description of him and this description of you. We are always carrying in the body, literally, the dying of Jesus. He doesn't use the word death. He used the words dying. We're always carrying around in our body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. Where did he get that from? He got that from Stephen, didn't he? Stephen, in his death, is Christlike, carrying in his body his union and communion with the crucified Savior, always carrying in the body the dying of Jesus. And the result, the life of Jesus being manifested in his body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So Here is the explanation. Death in union with Christ, my sufferings, the persecution I experience, the afflictions I go through. Death is at work in us in order that life may be at work in you. He had learned that through Stephen, hadn't he? And it was the characteristic feature of the whole of his Christian life. Now, friends, this could be a very discouraging word to us. Do you mean that's what I'm going to experience in the Christian life? Don't you have something more cheerful to say to me? Well, I have something really cheerful to say to you. As you carry around in your mortal body the dying of Jesus, the life of Jesus will be manifested in you. Now, why does God do it this way? Because this is the way he did it in Jesus. Isn't was through his suffering and dying that he bore fruit. And he's transforming us into his likeness to bear fruit. And so he's going to use the same pattern. He doesn't have a better pattern. If I put it this way, that's the pattern that works to transform us into the likeness of Christ. God uses the pattern that he used with Christ. And so we embrace Him. And as we embrace him, it is as though some of his blood will come upon our clothing and the power of the resurrection will be seen in our lives. And these are lenses. When we view the whole of our Christian lives through these lenses, we will see that pattern working out. Sometimes in very small ways, very minute ways, we will need well crafted lenses to see that pattern. We may not understand fully where and when and why, but if we are united to Christ, this will begin to work out in our lives. And then continuing to read backwards to the beginning of 2 Corinthians, it's these two passages that help us to understand what he says in chapter one. In chapter one, verse five, he says, well, let's go back to verse four or even verse three. He's praising God who comforts him in all his affliction so that he may comfort others. Without the comfort of God experienced in his affliction, he doesn't have any comfort to comfort others. But you see, he has tasted something in his affliction that he did not taste in his comfort. And then he puts it this as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, comfort which you will experience. It's a very powerful portrayal of how comprehensive our union with Christ is. It's not just that. It's something that we experience inwardly and privately and spiritually. It's the reality that we are caught up into by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it creates this rhythm in our lives that as we share in Christ's death, we also share in his resurrection. And as we share in his sufferings, we will also share in his fruitfulness. And the reason because ultimately he wants to make us like Jesus. And that's the center point of our union. Jesus Christ.
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That was Sinclair Ferguson from his series Union with Christ. Thanks for being with us on this Friday edition of Renewing youg Mind, this series on such a rich and often neglected area of theology. Our Union with Christ now has a companion book to mark the occasion of this brand new book's release. We'll send you a hardcover copy when you give a donation before midnight tonight when you call us at 800-435-4343 or online at renewingyourmind.org make union with Christ an area of your Christian study this fall as you read the book and listen to or watch the series. Because in addition to this new book, we'll unlock the 12 message series and its study guide in the free Ligonier app so you can take this material with you on the go for the final day. Use the link in the podcast show notes or visit renewingyourmind.org to make your donation in order to fuel and expand the reach of Renewing your mind. And this new book, along with access to the complete series and study guide, will be yours as our way of saying thank you. And if you live outside of the US And Canada or would prefer a digital only version of this resource offer, please show your support and make your gift@renewingyourmind.org Global thank you Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity that will be R.C. sproul's focus next week beginning Monday here on Renewing youg Mind.
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