As Christ is in You, Are You ‘in Christ?’

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4

Is there a difference of what we might call ‘status’ among us Christians? Yes, but the word ‘status’ is the wrong term. Some have used the word ‘condition’ or even ‘position’ in an attempt to describe the obvious differences that are present among the community of believers. But we must be very careful in using terms of description because of the various levels of maturity within the Church. Aha. There it is ‘maturity’ and that is the word we ought to use because it often describes our journey of faith in Christ.

Observe what Jesus says in His Parable of the Sower…
“And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”
Luke 8:14.

Paul says these things about maturity;
“I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.” 1 Corinthians 2:3-6.

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” Philippians 3:13-16.

And to sort of put a semicolon on what I am content to say sums the thought of whether or not there is a difference of “Christ in you” and being “in Christ”, look at this:
“Now 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, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Colossians 1:24-28.

This, then, brings us to, at least, a partial conclusion. Christ is in me because He chose to enter my life when I asked Him to forgive me of my sin and to become my Savior and Lord, and I am ‘in Christ’, not because of the fact that He has chosen to allow us to be His chosen vessels of stone. “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5.

The Christian faith is a journey that does not end. Our journey is taken one step at a time and we must be careful so as not to believe that we are in a position or condition that might indicate that one person in Christ is somehow better than another or that we have a better status than another. For Christ has said, “ ‘when you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 14:7-11.

We have no ‘position’ or ‘condition’ that we can boast of for we are all one in Christ and He is in us, not our choice, but His. For by His grace we are who we are. But, we do have opportunity to grow in His grace, and this is by choice….

“Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.”
Hebrews 11-3.

“Therefore the Christian heart, since it has been thoroughly persuaded that all things happen by God's plan, and that nothing takes place by chance, will ever look to him as the principal causes of things, yet will give attention to the secondary causes in their proper place.” -- John Calvin