In Him (PART I)

By Winston Ko

Introduction

During the past few weeks, Pastor Lee spoke on the topic of Stewardship because it is the topic of emphasis this year in our church. Three weeks ago, he spoke on Be Good Stewards in Building Up the Body of Christ. Among others he used Ephesians 4:12-13 in his sermon. It spells out our ultimate goal in promoting stewardship -- the body of Christ, the church, may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. I also based my message during the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of DCCC on these verses.

How do we attain maturity and the whole measure of the fullness of Christ? It might seem to be a deep and abstract subject. Yet, the secret might only be in a little phrase that many of us like to use in signing our letters (or these days, emails) - In Him. When we sign In Him, what do we mean?

T. Austin-Sparks has said, "In the whole New Testament, there is no other term used so often as the term in Christ, in Him, in Jesus Christ, through Christ and with Christ".

Today we will focus on Colossians 1:9-19 and 2:8-10a, in which the term in Him is used many times. Paul wrote the Book of Colossians to counter the Colossian heresy, which I'll explain later. In doing so, Paul stated the Christian gospel in its entire splendor. We will see that this is not just a theological discussion, it was actually meant to be practical since Paul started by saying in verses 9-11:

"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."

This was also our prayer during last Tuesday's church-wide prayer meeting. Why we are confident this prayer will be answered? Let us look at verses 12 and 13: "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves."

Notice the change of relationship here. In verse 9, the request was made to God, but here the thanksgiving is made to the Father! This is because we have been brought into the kingdom of the Son. And we are in the kingdom of the Son he loves! How wonderful is this change of position? In Christ we can call God our Father. In Christ we are qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints. By God's grace we have been adopted into the family. By grace, our position has been fundamentally changed when we are In Him.

Stephan Kaung in his book with Lance Lambert, In Christ and Christ in Us, considered Canaan a type of Christ. Canaan is Israeli's inheritance in the Old Testament. Christ is our inheritance. Canaan is the land flowing with milk and honey. Milk is something necessary for our living and growth. Honey gives us the sweetness of life. Jesus Christ is not only the bread of our lives. He is also our joy, our strength, and our help at any time. This is the rich inheritance promised to us.

We must take ownership of this inheritance in our growth and in our works of service. Why ownership? Surely we cannot buy the kingdom of the Son. I am talking about ownership in a broader, more sophisticated sense. After I immigrated to this country and become its citizen, I call the United States my country. Surely I did not buy United States. It is a statement of belonging. It is the recognition of the privilege and responsibility of belonging. This is the ownership I am talking about. God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Now we belong to the kingdom of the Son and can call God our Father. We also recognize the privilege and responsibility of the inheritance In Him. The following are details of this.

1. In Him we have redemption

Verse 14: "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Redemption is on part of Jesus; forgiveness of sin is the result we get. We can claim ownership of this forever. Assurance of salvation is indeed the greatest blessing to us. Ephesians 1:7: " In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace," and Ephesians 3:12: " In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."

Realizing ownership of redemption -- the eternal redemption -- gives us wonderful confidence. Then in Hebrews 4:16: "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." We can approach the throng "openly" (Chinese translation) and feeling secure that all our sins can be forgiven. For the seekers among us, I want to tell you that this is indeed a tremendous blessing. Only believe, by grace you can own this blessing.

When we write In Him, we mean: "In His grace -- saved by his grace."

2. In Him we have the perfect image of God

Verses 15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Jesus is the perfect manifestation and revelation of God. William Barclay wrote in The All-Sufficient Christ: "And what a revelation, to see God in the one who healed the sick, and fed the hungry, and comfort the sorrowing, and chose the ordinary men to be his right-hand men, and was the friend of those whom the conventional and orthodox and pious regarded with contempt and supercilious disgust."

The connection of Christ with creation is not simply a cosmological dogma or speculation. It is an affirmation of faith that love that was operating in redemption is the same love that is operative in creation, and, therefore, the principle of the universe is love -- the principle of cohesion in the universe.

People keep pictures of their loved ones with them so that they can frequently look at them or show off their ownership to friends. We have the ownership of this perfect image of the loving God. We keep the image of Christ with us so as to frequently gaze at Him and witness to friends. Surely I am not talking about an artists' rendering of Jesus. I am talking about how the Bible describes Him - His loving image. We can be reminded and tell others - this is my Jesus. This is ownership with privilege and responsibility. Collectively saying "this is our Jesus" becomes the basis for cohesion and unity.

When we write In Him, we mean: "In sight of His loving image. In Him we unite."

3. In Him we are part of the church

Verse 18: "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."

We are all one in Christ. In the world, there are many differences separating us, for example, language and background. But in Christ, we are all one, because there is only one Christ. Only He can hold the church together. We serve under His headship. The church exists to carry on the life and work of Jesus Christ - and clearly it can never do that unless its connection with Christ is as close and living and vital and essential as the connection of the body with the head. The church exists that through it men may be reconciled to God in Christ, and that in it men may be reconciled to one another in Christ.

Ephesians 2:21-22: "In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." In Him, there is unity and harmony among different parts. Unity does not equal uniformity. We know that singing in unison is not the highest form of singing. If we form into parts singing our own lines but with the same tune, following the same Spirit, there is a beautiful harmony. However, if we all sing our own tunes -- different tunes, the result would be discord and cacophony. Our efforts would just cancel each other. It is the harmony that we must be striving for. We must do so in Him under the guidance of the Spirit.

1 Peter 4: 10: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." This is the theme verse of this Stewardship Year. (In Chinese Bible "faithfully administering" is "being good steward of".) We can understand stewardship in the church better in the example of the older brother of the Prodigal Son.

Luke 15: 28-32 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

What is the problem of the older brother? His father points out that he must take ownership of his position as the heir. Not just slave away because it is his duty, but care about the household's well being. The well being had been hindered by the absence of his brother but it was restored today. Similarly, we need to take ownership in the church. To be sure, Christ is the head of the body. Our ownership is to recognize that we are part of the body in serving Him. We need to always keep an eye on the well being of the whole body - whole church not just one's own ministry. Start from the smallest point: if we see a napkin on the floor, do we pick it up at home? We ought to do the same in church. There is a severe shortage of high school / junior high teachers. These are among the most important age groups. Teaching Sunday School is not merely a chore. Children are the "heritage from the Lord". Take ownership and pay attention to the well being of DCCC and see what God wants you to contribute. Don't just take up ownership of your fellowship group; take ownership of the whole church.

Brothers and sisters who have a heart to take ownership in serving in this church should join the Coworker's Team. May I encourage everyone to attend the (quarterly) Coworker's meeting Saturday after next? We have a definite goal to empower Coworkers more during this Stewardship Year. Let us exercise our privilege and responsibility in the body of Christ.

So when we write In Him, we mean: "Serving Him in the body of Christ."

4. In His Fullness

Verse 19: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him," and 2:8-10: "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ."

If all God's fullness dwell in Him, then there is no fullness outside of Him. The lacking of spiritual fullness, be for individual believer or the church, stems from the disconnection with him. All the will of God is in Christ. For individuals, the meaning of life we seek is in Christ. Everything else is vanity of vanities. For the church, our plan must be in Christ. Otherwise the work is in vain.

In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. Word became flesh; we may carry out the fullness of God. His whole life shows us the riches of God, the glory of God, the love of God, the grace of God, the compassion of God, the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, and the light of God. And through the cross, we are given this fullness.

Jesus needs no supplement. In Jesus there came to men the full, final and perfect revelation of God, and we need nothing more. This complete revelation was made perfect in the incarnation.

Stephen Kaung wrote in the book I cited: Oftentimes in our understanding, our Christ is small. We know that He shed His blood for us, so that our sins are forgiven. We thank and praise our Savior. But we should not stop there. When God gave us his Son, He gave all things to us in His Son. We pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened in order that we may see our great Christ, the glorious Christ, the abundant Christ, and the immeasurable Christ. Today is our Christ such a Christ? Why do we still look for other things outside of Christ, as if our Christ cannot supply our needs?

The church in Colosse believed in the Lord and they wanted to grow. But they tried to grow outside of Christ. They fell into so-called Colossian heresy. What was the Colossian heresy? They sought perfection as if Christ was not enough. They went to worldly philosophy to look for perfection. They went to rituals to look for perfection. Could they grow these ways? No. These were dead-ends! The church of Galatia had the similar problem. They entered the gate through the Spirit but they wanted to achieve perfection through the Law. Then they fell from grace. Brother and sisters, we do not need to look to other things. We can simply look to our Lord to see the riches in Christ! Colossian heresy unfortunately permeates today's churches. Legalism and human values are all mixed into church teachings. This is a big subject and in time we need to deal with it in our church as well. Meanwhile take ownership of the riches in Him and resist temptations to look for any supplements.

Then in writing In Him, we mean: "In His riches that we share".

Conclusion

I hope today's message helped us all to understand stewardship better. We share in the inheritance in Christ. It is the land flowing with milk and honey. We can find in it what is necessary for our living and growth. It also gives us the sweetness of life. We can take ownership of it, with all the associated privilege and responsibility. We can take ownership of the redemption in Christ, bringing our sin to God with the assurance that He will forgive us. We can take ownership of the perfect image of God, frequently gazing at Him and witnessing to others. We can take ownership of this church, His church, by caring about the well being of the whole church. We can take ownership of the riches in Him, which is all sufficient. The body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith, in the knowledge of the Son of God, becoming mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, simply because this is the inheritance given to us who are already in Him.

Title: In Him (PART I)
By: Winston Ko
Series: Stewardship
Date: 10/20/02