4.5.31b 6.25.2024 In Christ=In the Church Ephesians 1.3-6 B

Start:

Entice:

I often hear this

one question.

“Do I need to be “in the Church” to be in Christ?”

Yes I do. Yes you do.

Absolutely, unequivocally that is the message of the New Testament. The New Testament consistently teaches that God is saving a community and you need to be a part of the community to be saved.

Expand:

If you want to be in Christ, you need good information and unfortunately there is a lot of misunderstanding about what it means to be “in Christ.” Much of the problem is misinformation; whether innocent or malicious, it doesn’t really matter and I don’t care. I know too many people who have been misled who have a distorted understanding of what it means to be in Christ.

Here’s a little late night ciphering for you,. Now, I did this in English but the statistics are still stark. The Phrase “in Christ” occurs 88x in the ESV of the Bible. Out of those 88 uses only 7 are singular or individual in context and intent. Some of those are what a grammar geek might call circumstantially partitive, others are abstract, and two are in Philemon which is the most “personal” of the letters in the NT.

Paul really develops this idea of being “in Christ” in Ephesians. Listen to what he said relatively early in the Epistle.

Ephesians 1:3–6 (ESV)

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Explore: If you want to be in Christ you need to get used to being among His people.

Explain: Consider these four gifts… God

Blessed US in Christ!

Chose US in Christ!

Adopted US through Christ!

Graced US in the Beloved!

Shut Down: What can you do this week and after you go home to strengthen and deepen your relationship to Christ through His Church?

Be Invested in Camp

Be Involved in Church

Be Included in Christ… if you’re not, this would be a good week to take care of that.