Union with Christ
One of the many blessings of accepting Christ is our union with Him—but what does it truly mean to be one with Christ?
This week, Janet and Jocelyn take a closer look at what it means for a Christian to be united with Christ. Union with Christ is often overlooked or misunderstood because it can feel abstract or hard to grasp, yet it’s key to understanding the rich blessings we receive through salvation.
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Transcript:
Jocelyn: I don't just need to feel better. I need the truth. And ultimately that will make me better.
Janet: I just want to make it as totally simple as possible for ladies to see that the Bible is really applicable to their everyday life.
Jocelyn: When they understand theology, the application flows out of it quickly with joy.
Janet: It is a journey, but even the journey itself is joyful when I'm doing it, holding the hand of my savior and trusting him all along the way. This is the joyful journey podcast, a podcast to inspire and equip women to passionately pursue beautiful biblical truth on their journey as women of God. When you choose truth, you're choosing joy.
Janet: Welcome back listeners. This is Janet once again here with Jocelyn.
Jocelyn: Hey friends.
Janet: And we are gonna do an episode for Easter That I think is gonna be great. Jocelyn was just reminding me that last year at our Easter episode that she had been bummed that we didn't get to talk about our union with Christ more.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: So what are we doing this year?
Jocelyn: So this year let's talk about Union with Christ. So in our Easter episodes, we really love to focus on something called Soteriology or the theology of salvation. We think that everyone is a theologian and you need to know what you believe.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: And so at Easter, we especially remember this, and celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection is ultimately, it's the epicenter of Christian belief.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So it's what God planned before the creation of the world. And it's the reason why Christ entered into his creation as a tiny baby. And at Easter we remember that Jesus accomplished the plan he was sent from God the Father, to accomplish. Like, that's why on the cross he said it is finished.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: He did the job that he was sent for.
Janet: And when you said it's the epicenter of Christian belief, I mean you can't really overstate that. Paul said if Christ didn't rise from the dead, we are of all men most miserable.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: It's pointless. There is nothing about this that matters if Jesus rising from the dead didn't happen. So I love that we get to really focus on that this time of year.
Jocelyn: So, as you were saying earlier, last Easter, we talked about a couple things that were accomplished for us at the moment of salvation. And this Easter, we're gonna talk about one of those in greater detail. I kind of like brushed past it and it was like, oh, it's such a bummer that we can't talk more about this, but already like at our time limit. Last year we talked about regeneration, conversion and justification as well as sanctification. Those are,
Janet: I mean, that's a lot.
Jocelyn: It is a lot. And it was just a overview of them. Three of those are a one time event. So regeneration, conversion and justification. It happens instantly at the moment of your salvation.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: But the last one, sanctification is an ongoing result of salvation. it's revealed more and more over time. I had alluded to the fact that another one of those blessings we receive at Salvation is Union with Christ. So we're gonna break that down. And I remember learning about this in church when I first started coming to Faith many years ago in a really, like a symbolic, clear, easy to understand way because our pastor demonstrated, like he put a picture up on the screen of like parts from a hardware store, and he showed like, here's how a union takes place. Like you're bringing two separate things and you're putting them together forever. And so Union with Christ sounds like esoteric, mystical.
Janet: Yeah. What does that even mean?
Jocelyn: Yeah. What does that mean? It's very--.
Janet: How do I live out of my union with Christ?
Jocelyn: Right. It's super practical. And so that's one thing that I wanna make sure we really hit on today. But Union with Christ speaks of the most vital spiritual intimacy we could imagine between Christ and his people. It's easy to look at the Bible and see all sorts of relationships we do have with Christ. It's clearly explained in the Bible. He's the shepherd. I am the sheep.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: He is my Lord. I pay allegiance to him.
Janet: Yep.
Jocelyn: He's my master. I'm his servant. He's my savior, and I'm the rescued. He is my teacher. I'm the student. There's just so many beautiful word pictures that show some of the relationships that we have with Christ, but we have to remember that that's not all there is to being in a relationship with Christ, because I don't just worship Jesus or obey Jesus or pray to Jesus. All those things are true, but something even more true is true because of salvation and the doctrine of union with Christ. I am actually united with Christ. Christ is in us. We are in Christ. Colossians 3:3 tells us that our life is hidden with Christ in God. And Colossians 3:4 tells us that Christ himself is our life. And then Galatians 2:20 teaches us that Christ lives in us who have placed our faith in him.
Janet: It made me think as you were saying that, that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. It just made me think of his high priestly prayer.
Jocelyn: Oh yeah.
Janet: In John 17 where he says, may they all be one. As you father are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: So that the world will believe that you sent me. And I think Jesus is saying that that's what he died, so that that would be true.
Jocelyn: Yes. We're gonna,
Janet: I love that.
Jocelyn: We're gonna talk about that specific passage a little bit later on more deeply. But that's the whole, point of Christianity is not just that we get to worship Jesus aloof. Jesus is in us and we are in Christ. We're united to him.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So he is then both our representative and our substitute. And what Christ accomplished on behalf of his people, God reckons it's a math term, but God reckons to have counted it for them. So it's like they themselves did it. We ourselves did the death on the cross that Christ did. So because of our union with Christ, because of him and us, us and Him. Everything that's true of him is also true of us. That is why salvation,
Janet: That's mind blowing.
Jocelyn: It's, very, very big to understand. That's why Galatians 2:20 can say believers have been crucified with him, and Romans 6:8 says, we have died with him. Romans 6:3 says we were buried with him.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Ephesians 2:5-6 says. We were raised up with him, so we're even positionally enthroned in heaven with him right now, which I don't. How does that work?
Janet: I know I,
Jocelyn: because I'm literally right here
Janet: That's not how I feel.,
Jocelyn: but according to Ephesians 2:6, positionally. I am on the throne with Jesus right now. Doesn't that blow your mind?
Janet: I, I don't even know how to think about that.
Jocelyn: Yeah. it really, really like tempers our earthly reality and says like, there's way more to life than what we're seeing with our visible eyes right now.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Ephesians 1:3 tells us that because of our union with Christ, God the father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, in Christ.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: That's unbelievable.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: What's so unique about this is that there's no other religion in the whole world where the object of your worship becomes the life of the worshiper. So just think about some other religions. In other religions, you worship God, but he's really far off.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And you're always groveling toward him. Like, I hope I can make him happy. I hope he stays satisfied. So. Muslims are not in Allah.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: They worship Allah, but they don't get inducted into Allah.
Janet: No, they don't have that security or intimacy.
Jocelyn: They don't. Buddhists worship, Buddha, and Please Buddha, but they're not seated in Buddha.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: He's still separate from them. Muslims follow Allah's teaching, but they're not united to Allah. Allah is still distant from them. So only Christians are in Christ. We're united to him as our representative, as our substitute, and as our mediator.
Janet: I think that's one of the things that makes this so hard to understand. We have no other point of reference.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: You can't say, oh, that's like this.
Jocelyn: Yeah. It's unlike anything.
Janet: Yes. The closest thing I think we have is-- which is why I love seeing all the passages in scripture where God says he marries us. And then you look at the husband and wife relationship where they're physically in each other.
Jocelyn: Exactly. Yeah.
Janet: And then they are told, they become one.
Jocelyn: Absolutely.
Janet: And I look at, you know, after 31 years of marriage, it's not exactly the same as where my union with Christ, but I get glimpses and tastes of, if something happens to Brent, it happens to me.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: It's not like it happens to someone else that I care about. It's like, that's me. Yeah. And the closer we get, I'm like, oh my word. That's a taste of Christ is me.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: And I am in Christ and it blows my mind, but I love that in marriage we can at least begin to get. The taste or a shadow of what that means.
Jocelyn: And think about how much less blessed our life would be without having that picture. If God hadn't choose to do marriage the way that he did, we wouldn't understand it the same way.
Janet: Right. We would have even less ability
Jocelyn: less ability
Janet: to even comprehend that.
Jocelyn: Yeah. So I mean, that gives power to your marriage, like that's why you're willing to work hard to do it correctly.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Because it tells something really, really important about salvation. It's critical.
Janet: And I know there are women listening to this who are grieving as I say that.
Jocelyn: Oh, absolutely.
Janet: And they still can show the power and the beauty of Christ and lean into their oneness with Christ, even as they grieve the fact that they desire that with a spouse and don't have it. Even that desire shows us our desire for that oneness and that union.
Jocelyn: Yeah. And even unsaved marriages where both spouses are unsaved, they're, it's still telling a story.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: Like it's still telling the story God wanted it to tell to some degree.
Janet: That's right.
Jocelyn: So over and over in the scripture, we're gonna see this terminology about Christians and their relationship with Christ. They are in Christ. And I'm gonna say a lot of references. Because I want people to see this is pulled straight from scripture. So we are in Christ that's what 1 Corinthians 1:30 says. We are in the Lord that's what Romans 16:11 says. We're in Him 1 John 5:20. And similarly Christ is in his people romans 8:10. In fact, the Apostle Paul tells us the fact that Christ is in us and is the very hope of glory in Colossians 1:27. There are even texts where we're told we are in Christ and Christ is in us in the same passage, which is so cool. It emphasizes the very intimacy of the mutual indwelling of Christ and the believer, and you can find that in John 6:56. So just the importance of union with Christ. It really cannot be overstated. It's hard to understand. It's a little bit out there. But it really is, it's fundamental to understanding what it means to be saved.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Union with Christ is the reason that any other blessing of salvation is even possible. So it's not like a transaction like I believe in Christ. And so he puts this things onto my account. No. At salvation, I am one with Christ. Yeah. And everything that's true of Christ becomes instantly true of me. That's unreal.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So because we're united with Christ and everything he did is counted to our account, we also get to enjoy a bunch of other things. For example, because of my union with Christ, I get to have credited to me redemption. Being bought out of slavery and given a new life and a new purpose. Because of Union with Christ, I enjoy regeneration, which we talked about last Easter, but being given new life when I was dead in my trespasses and sins. Because of my union with Christ, I enjoy faith, being given the capacity to trust in Christ for salvation. And because of my union with Christ, I enjoy justification, having it counted to me as if I never sinned, and I've always been completely just, only my mama knows how much that is absolutely not, not there.
Janet: Brian's got an idea.
Jocelyn: He actually has a pretty good idea too. Ephesians 1:3 says that our union with Christ is the source of every single spiritual blessing. And theologian, John Murray has said that the Believer's Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. So this is, it's hard to understand maybe, but it's worth doing the work of really trying to, you know, chew it up, you know, gel on it, let it sink into our mind, and also then really see the applications. If that's true, then how does that affect our life?
Janet: What I think is also wonderful is that, as you're hearing this, if you're thinking. Oh my word. But if I don't understand Union of Christ, I don't understand the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation, to know it's still true.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: you are one with Christ. You do have union with Christ. Even if you don't understand it.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: You're still safe.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: It's still there. But wouldn't it be great to be grow and understanding that Yeah. And appreciating it and living out of
Jocelyn: I've been a follower of Jesus for decades now, and as I was researching for this episode, I learned new things.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: About what it means to be united with Christ. So it's so invigorating and it gives you vitality in your real walk.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Because you're like, you're not just separated from all the blessings. You're not separated from Christ. He is affected by everything that affects you, and you receive all the blessings that are his.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: We need to figure out what that looks like in application. So one amazing thing about Union with Christ is that we're united to Christ in his perfect life of obedience, which holy cow, how is that even allowed?
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: How does God even, okay that? Matthew 3:15 tells us that Christ fulfilled all righteousness, so also those who are united in him are clothed in his righteousness and whoa, whoa.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: That's so huge.
Janet: And we say those words like you didn't say anything that I think most of our listeners are going, I've never heard that. But we don't think about what that means.
Jocelyn: Yeah. It means that when God looks at me, he sees Jocelyn who lived as Jesus lived when he came to earth, always doing the right thing.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Like I haven't even always done the right thing today.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: But it's counted to my account as if I have, because of my union with Christ. So even though it's really unfair, I am credited with having obeyed God perfectly, even though in actuality I haven't. You haven'.t. Our listeners haven't.
Janet: I'm so thankful he's unfair.
Jocelyn: Yeah. Aren't you? I don't want a God who's fair he is. He's lavish.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Lavish. We have not obeyed God perfectly, but Christ has. And because of our union with Christ, God counts us as having obeyed perfectly. Like it's too sweet. It makes me wanna cry, to be honest.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: That is also why our sin could be imputed to Christ. The Father counts the elect to have lived Christ life because he counts Jesus to have lived my life and thus punished him accordingly.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Like that's the. pinnacle of unfairness.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: His life is our life. His punishment. Our punishment. His death. Our death. His resurrection. Our resurrection. His righteousness, our righteousness, his ascension and glorification. Our ascension and glorification. We are his body, united to him as our head. So whatever happened to him or because of him applies to us too, according to Ephesians five. And that's just
Janet: amazing.
Jocelyn: Man. It's like so delicious. It's like eating too much amazing cheesecake. It's so,
Janet: and not feeling sick, just feeling better.
Jocelyn: It's so delicious.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Our union with Christ is also the source of our growth, which I think is a really important application point. It's also a source of our holiness, so I am progressively sanctified and also able to persevere because it flows from him.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that we're able to bring forth the fruit of righteousness. When? According to John 15, only as we stay connected to him.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So if he's the vine and we are the branches as we are connected to him, his life is what gives us life.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: His obedience is what gives us the power to obey. We grow into maturity as we receive communication of life from our head, because we're joined to another who is raised from the dead so that we could walk in the newness of resurrection life and then bear fruit for God. So because he is our head and we are joined to him, any life that we have is life from him.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And any growth that we have is strength and power and ability from him. Ability to obey comes from our union with Christ. What makes that so really, really precious to us who are still here on Earth is that instances of personal sin don't break my union with Christ. They do have a negative impact on my communion with Christ.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: But they don't break my union with Christ. So when I sin, I do grieve the Holy Spirit.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: That's what Ephesians four tells us, and sometimes we incur discipline. That's what God uses to help us, us grow.
Janet: That's right. That's right.
Jocelyn: Revelations 3:19 tells us that Jesus said, those whom I love, I reprove in discipline . So be zealous and repent. And Hebrews 12:6 tells us that the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. So our sin doesn't break our union with Christ, but it does break our communion with Christ, our enjoyment of our relationship.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: Because like the gospel primer tells us so eloquently, like when I sin, it's because I've doubted his goodness for me or his good intentions for me, and I think something else has a better intention for me. So I voluntarily leave my tightness, my love relationship with Christ, and I forget that he's the best good.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: Not something different. Finally, because of our union with Christ, believers can look forward to being raised from the dead. So short of Jesus coming back and rescuing us through the rapture, we're going to, our physical body is gonna fall off of our soul, and we're gonna physically die.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: Our soul will go to heaven, but Romans 6:5 says. If I've been united with Christ in a death like his, I'm gonna certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. So he's the firstborn, the firstborn of all believers. He's the first fruit of the Deads.
Janet: Yep.
Jocelyn: He is the person who is already ascended and glorified, and he is what we look to. One day we will join him and when we see him, we will be made instantly like him.
Janet: Crazy.
Jocelyn: So cool. Before we believe in Christ for Salvation, the scripture says, we are separated from Christ. We're alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and we're strangers to the covenants of promise. We have no hope. And we are without God in the world.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Ephesians 2:13 says. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. When we believe in the gospel, we move from separated from Christ to United to Christ and our Easter plea this year is, if you have never trusted in Christ's death for your salvation, we urge you to believe in that today.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So that you can be brought near. Your separation from Christ can be taken care of. There are a couple of really interesting metaphors that Scripture uses to help us understand what it means to be united with Christ. And I personally love word pictures because it helps me to get it better.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And you've already referred to one of them in marriage.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: But Ephesians 2:19 through 22 says that the church is like a building. And its foundation is Jesus Christ and it's him that holds the whole thing together. So he is not only the foundation, he's the glue.
Janet: Right, right.
Jocelyn: Every entire stability and union of every component of the building depends on Christ. So he's our foundation. We are the building built on that foundation. And he is also the power that holds every molecule together. John 15, which I alluded to earlier, talks about the union between a vine and its branches. So you don't just look at a vine and be like, oh, look at that lovely vine. No, you want the branches, because that's where the fruit grows.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: That's where the grapes hang off of. So the branches depend on the vine for everything. For life, for strength, for sustenance. Like I'm a gardener. If you cut off a branch from the vine, nothing is growing on that branch.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: Apart from the vine, it can't bear fruit. It's entirely useless. And so our union with Christ, our union with a vine, allows us to fulfill the creation mandate of bearing fruit. 2 Corinthians 11:2 tells us that Christ and the church is like the union of the husband and his bride. There's this awesome deep intimacy in the marital union that we see through the physical and sexual, like literal union.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Between a husband and a wife, and it's a picture of Christ and the church. And then Romans 12:5 and Ephesians 5:23 tells us that Christ in the church is like a head and the body.
Janet: neither is any good without the other.
Jocelyn: No.
Janet: It's, you know, those are united
Jocelyn: Yes. Accomplishing stuff.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: You can't have a hand that's not, doesn't have a brain telling what's to do.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: So there's lots and lots and lots of applications. This could be a really philosophical conversation, so I wanna encourage you as you think about this, like think if everything that's true of Christ is now true of me, what does that mean that I haven't appropriated into my life?
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: If we look at the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidences of the Holy Trinity working inside of our life.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So if Christ is peace, how is my union with him causing my life to be more characterized by his peace?
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: If Christ is love, how is my union with him causing me to be able to love differently than I would naturally love?
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: I think about self-control all the time. Because I have none of it.
Janet: Good thing Christ has though.
Jocelyn: I know. So the fruit of the spirit is self-control. If Christ is self-control, that means that I can't say that I don't have self-control.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: I do have self-control. I just maybe don't use it the way that God wants me to. I don't appropriate it from Christ. I don't dig deep into who he is to help me to have greater self-control. So there's all sorts of ways that Union with Christ makes a huge difference in our real life. One of them that you talked about earlier is the concept of unity. So because Jesus the son is United to God the Father and God, the Holy Spirit. That means I am united with God the Father.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And the Holy Spirit. Like,
Janet: yes,
Jocelyn: I'm willing to consider being united with Christ, but when I was reading this and I was like, I am united to God, the Father. That is not okay. I am not. I am not worthy of that. He is so transcendent. He is so above my pettiness and my ridiculousness.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: Like it's huge. But the Bible tells me. I am united to Christ. He's united to God and the Holy Spirit, and that means I am united to the Trinity. And Jesus prayed for unity in the church.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: That would reflect the unity in the Trinity, in between the Father and the Spirit. So as much as it blows your mind that this is true, 2 Peter 1:4 tells us that we who are once separated, alienated, and without God are swept into the divine life of the triune God himself. That should shape how I think about people.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: How I talk about people. How I relate to other people in my church. Am I loving unity the way that Jesus loves unity? Am I celebrating my unity inside of the Trinity and saying that means I'm also united with everyone else who believes.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: And so I really have to have a high value of Christian unity, not unity with the world. That's not what I'm talking about.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: But Christian Unity, where I celebrate my unity with the Trinity by celebrating my unity with other believers. So that goes into the next point I was gonna make is that as if Unity with the Trinity isn't enough. Those who are one with Christ are also one with everyone else who is one with Christ.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So, there's a fundamental unity all believers in Christ. Is it actually possible for me to have an individual relationship with Jesus? Not technically, because I'm, as soon as I believe I am united to every other believer who also believes, and so we have this corporate relationship with Christ and all other believers.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So I don't get to be a lone ranger Christian.
Janet: Right.
Jocelyn: I don't get to do it by myself. I don't get to think of myself as separate. I am not separate. I am in Christ, along with everyone else who is in Christ, and my life is affecting them. Their life is affecting me. And that really, really influences how we live out our unity with other believers. It would cut down on infighting, it would cut down on gossiping and slander and, and just hurting people. If I am in Christ, then I have to think I am in Christ along with all other believers and we're corporately related to Christ.
Janet: And we, you know, some of this we know. But especially I think in America, everything is so individualized.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And I make a decision for Christ.
Jocelyn: Right.
Janet: And I have to do what I think pleases Christ, no matter what you think. And there's kernels of truth in that.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I need to do what's right no matter what you think.
Jocelyn: Right. You are personally responsible.
Janet: And yet we forget or don't even know that the unity of the believer is so highly talked about in scripture. Unity of all believers.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And you're absolutely right. But to think part of me pleasing God and living righteously is living in a loving unity with fellow brothers and sisters who are in Christ and who are positionally just like him, but who are practically not there yet.
Jocelyn: Yep. Yep. then the last thing I could think of for this episode is to reflect on the fact that it's only through our union with Christ that we receive every spiritual blessing. Like adoption.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Justification, sanctification, fruitfulness, even. Perseverance, which is so helpful for me to think about when life is hard.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Jesus is the reason that I keep on going. He's the reason that I don't deny my faith. He's the reason that I'm able to say I will work through this hard valley. As we share in Christ, we have a share in what is his: adoption, justification, sanctification, perseverance, resurrection, and ultimately in glory. The gifts that we receive are wrapped up in the giver, and that leads to just tremendous humility, tremendous thankfulness, and tremendous dependence.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: So when, you're walking through a hard valley, are you just like gritting your teeth and burying it, or are you holding onto Christ, who gives you perseverance as a part of your union with him? When you're feeling alienated and separated, are you thinking No, in fact, I am adopted.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: I'm a precious child brought near to God through my relationship with Christ. It's just so much practical application and, it's such an important theology that affects our actual daily life.
Janet: When I think about, so what are some of the practical implications? You've given several already. But the thing that keeps coming to my mind is if this is true. Okay. It is true. So since,
Jocelyn: It is. Since it's true.
Janet: This is true. Yeah. I can't be any safer than I already am.
Jocelyn: Yep.
Janet: And because that's true. I don't have to look other places for my safety. I don't have to be afraid of others hurting me. Not because they never will, but because I'm in Christ.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And Christ is in me. Now I can risk with my brothers and sisters. I am free. If I am in Christ and Christ is in me, how does that affect my ability to be seen as wicked as I am.
Jocelyn: Yep.
Janet: I don't have to cover anymore.
Jocelyn: I was going to say, you don't have to cover up, you don't have to hide it.
Janet: No, I can repent more freely than maybe I would if it's about me. But if Christ has already covered all of that, I'm able to say, so Jocelyn, I need to ask your forgiveness, because that was just wicked. I don't have to say, well, wasn't that bad, and I'm not usually this way, and I
Jocelyn: if only you hadn't provoked me.
Janet: Exactly. I don't have to do that anymore.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Because I'm covered in Christ.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: So there is freedom there. I think there is safety there. Most of the women I talk to and I relate me too, we want to be safe.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And if I don't realize, I already am, because if the union is as intimate as you say, okay. Again,
Jocelyn: since,
Janet: since the, is as intimate as you say.
Jocelyn: It's too good to be true, isn't it?
Janet: I know. So it's like, if this is right, but then I really could not be any safer. Nothing can happen to that. I'm in Christ. He's in me. He's not just holding my hand, though He is.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: And I love to picture that.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: But it's not like that's all it is. He's
Jocelyn: it's more
Janet: he's in me. I'm in him. He is completely surrounding and protecting me. And now that means I can be humble because it's his righteousness, not mine.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: I can be joyful. I can be confident. And I can be the first one to admit all the ways I need to grow.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: Like. Every area of my life on a practical level is able to be transparent, but humble and confident at the same moment because it's Christ.
Jocelyn: It's like it's paradoxical.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: I think a lot about the anxiety epidemic in the world right now.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And the loneliness epidemic. Like we're surrounded by people, especially with our phones and internet like,
Janet: and lonelier than ever.
Jocelyn: Lonelier than ever. And I think like, okay, since the union with Christ is real. This is a theological fact. How does that affect anxiety? Because what it means is Christ is in me and I am in Christ, and everything I need is available to me.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And anxiety is a lie that says you're in danger right now and you probably won't be able to handle it.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: That's what anxiety says. Something bad is about to happen to you.
Janet: And it's gonna be too much.
Jocelyn: It's gonna be too much. You won't be able to cope. And so anxiety and union with Christ means my union with Christ says when I begin to be anxious that I might not be able to handle it. I have immediate access to the person who can.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: And I have immediate access to the person who organized this difficult trial for me because he believed that this testing of my faith would produce trust.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: And so my anxiety takes this different shade. It's no longer crippling. It sends me a direction.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: It sends me to Christ who is in me, equipping me, enabling me, empowering me, strengthening me to handle this thing that he designed for me, that he believed is good for me.
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: It's like every good and perfect gift is from the person who lives inside of me.
Janet: One of the things I love about what you said is it was not, and therefore I'll never feel anxious.
Jocelyn: No. We will.
Janet: Because how guilty would I feel if it's like, I say I believe in union with Christ. How can I still get anxious? But what you said, I just love it, is it sends me to him.
Jocelyn: Yes.
Janet: Not I need to feel horribly guilty that I could feel anxious. Well, I'm just growing. And sometimes it's just a physical thing, you know?
Jocelyn: Yeah. I get it.
Janet: I almost goth hit by a car, and I've got the adreneline.
Jocelyn: Yeah. Cortizol is running through you. Yeah.
Janet: That's all fine. But sometimes it's a lack of perfect Jesus-ness.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: So when I feel that instead of being crippled by it and giving into it, instead of being in despair, that I can't believe I could feel that, it now sends me to the one who can help me with that. And know that I'm confident he's in me. I can do that.
Jocelyn: Yeah.
Janet: He's gonna help me. I love that. I love that.
Jocelyn: And the loneliness part of it is like, humanly speaking, there are times when we are alone or not with other people.
Janet: Yep.
Jocelyn: if I am in Christ, since I am in Christ as a believer, there's never ever a time that I am actually alone.
Janet: That's right.
Jocelyn: And that really affects my concept of loneliness. Because loneliness and aloneness are two different things. I think we've talked about it on previous episodes.
Janet: Yep.
Jocelyn: But my union with Christ says at all times every day, no matter what situation I am in, my very dearest friend is right with me.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: I don't have to face it alone. God does give us beautiful, human glimpses of relationship.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Like marriage or friendship. But my very, very best friend. Is never ever apart from me. And so I can handle a life that might feel at times lonely without ever actually being alone. There's just so many applications of this big theology in real life.
Janet: Yeah. And if we're gonna talk about lonely on an episode about Christ at Easter, we have to say, there was only one who truly was alone and that was Christ.
Jocelyn: And he, exactly.
Janet: When he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So to think that the thing that we're afraid of, which is being truly alone, he actually was
Jocelyn: He did it for us.
Janet: So that I would never be alone.
Jocelyn: Yeah. Unbelievable.
Janet: What a savior.
Jocelyn: Well, my union with Christ needs to be understood. I have to see myself as a person inside of Christ, and that will affect how my day goes.
Janet: Yep.
Jocelyn: It's me and Jesus doing things. I'm never alone. But also. If I'm united with everyone else who is also united with Christ, is there really a me or is it really that my experience of life includes and affects everyone around me who is also a Christian?
Janet: Yeah.
Jocelyn: So I need to let them into my human experience, so my life will just-- it will just be much more corporate than I want it to be.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: Or than it is.
Janet: Yes.
Jocelyn: What affects me will affect others, and as a result, I'm gonna process life way, way differently. So thankful for the savior that we have.
To keep from missing any future episodes, please sign up for our newsletter on our webpage faithlafayette.org/JJP From there you can also subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Google, or Spotify. You can also visit us on our Facebook page or Instagram at Joyful Journey Podcast. If you have questions or comments for us, you can email us at joyfuljourneyquestions@outlook.com. Joyful Journey Podcast is a ministry of Faith Bible Seminary. All proceeds go to offset costs of this podcast and toward scholarships for women to receive their MABC through Faith Bible Seminary.
Host Janet and her husband, Brent, also speak at a variety of conferences as a way to raise money for the seminary. If you want to look at what they offer or book them for a conference, go to their website.
