The Blessing of Being in Christ – Week 35 / August 27th

by admin

“For though He was crucified in weakness,
yet He lives by the power of God. For we
also are weak in Him, but we shall live
with Him by the power of God toward you.”
2Corinthians 13:4

Being in Christ is a wonderful thing and it can be said that it is the dominant theme of Paul’s letters in the New Testament. In his letter to the Ephesians for instance he tells us that being in Christ has introduced us to all the wonderful spiritual blessings of God. We are redeemed and reconciled to God, our Father, by being in Christ and we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:3-14) Our relationship with Jesus anchors us in truth and fills us with peace and assurance of salvation. These are just a few of the wonderful blessings we enjoy by being in Christ. I am sure that we could fill pages if we really wanted to name them all. Indeed happy is the man or woman who is in Christ.

The little passage before us caught my attention recently as it highlights some important facts.

These are:

1.    Jesus our Leader
In life Jesus looked just like any other man. It was thus not evident, except for the episode of the transfiguration, that He was in fact very powerful. Isaiah the Prophet made comment of this fact in his great messianic prophecy found in chapter fifty-three of His book. Jesus had “no comeliness; and when we see Him there is no beauty”. Even the Gospels record that Jesus’ closest disciples were not altogether sure of who He was and of His mission. To make matters worse Jesus died in a way that outwardly appeared to reduce Him to weakness. Rome did to Him what it had done to thousands before Him. This weakness caused many to stumble and the disciples “for fear of the Jews” locked themselves away in an upper room. Reports about Jesus’ resurrection were discounted as bizarre. (John 20:19; Luke 24:10-11)

The fact is Jesus was made very powerful by His perfect sinless life and though He appeared to be weak and broken on the cross He was in fact unleashing the power of God upon a lost world! In the Spirit He was incredible and broke the chains of hell from over our lives.

2.    We, Jesus’ Followers
According to Paul we too look weak and just like all men; but we are not because we are in Christ. The Corinthians were at times quite disdainful of Paul since he did not appear to be anything unusual. (2Corinthians 10:10-11) He was weak in appearance like his Leader and yet Paul lived by the power of God that came from being in Christ. (2Corinthians 10:7-9) He thus lovingly warns the believers at Corinth that when he comes to visit them this outward veneer of weakness would give way to the power of God. He would therefore exercise a powerful authority that would be backed up by the very life and presence of God Almighty! This is awesome to say the least. We should therefore understand that in Christ we are different even though we look just the same as everybody else. Our apparent weakness is overshadowed by Christ’s presence and thus we are strong. In fact the weaker we appear because of trials and difficulties so the stronger and more useful we become to Jesus. (Note 2Corinthians 12:8-10) Don’t ever discount who you are because you are in Christ!

3.    Jesus’ People
Our calling as Christians is to first “do good to the household of faith.” Paul recognizes that being in Christ means that God’s life shinning through his weakness will be a blessing to God’s people; hence the refrain “toward you.” He wanted to be a blessing to God’s people and this meant that the power that was his by being in Christ would unleash an authority that would edify and build them up. (Note 13:10) We must examine our hearts and ask ourselves is this our desire or are we immobilized by the consideration of our apparent weakness.

Malcolm Hedding

©Malcolm Hedding Ministries

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