The Christian has Two Address’s. Where they physically live and their spiritual address, “In Christ.”
When Paul wrote to the believers at Philippi, he wrote,”Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi -{Phil 1:1}.
When he wrote to the believers at Ephesus he wrote,”Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:“-{Ephesians 1:1}.
When he wrote to the believers at Colossae he wrote,”To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.”- {Col 1:2}.
Note the above verses they have a physical location, be it Philippi, Ephesus, Colossae, they also have a spiritual sphere, location, “In Christ.” So though their physical address’s differ they all have the one spiritual address, location, “In Christ!” “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. “-{Phil 3:20 NLT}
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “IN CHRIST?”
1. It Means you are a child of God!
“In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”-{Galatians 3:26-28}
2. It Means Free from Condemnation
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.“-{Romans 8;1}. Just as Noah and his family were safe in the Ark from the Judgment of God, the person who places their faith entirely and exclusively in the LORD Jesus are safe from the wrath of God, and the penalty of sin. His payment for our sin is placed toward the believers account and because He was condemned for our sin once and for all we will never be condemned by God when He is “…dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”-{2 Thess 1;8}.
3. It Means Possessor Of Every Spiritual Blessing We Need
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
When God “bless’s” us it means He has DONE good for us. When we”Bless,” God it means we ‘praise, speak well of Him.” A good study for you is to read Ephesians 1:3-13 and underline the phrases “In Christ…In Whom…In Him,” and list all the blessings you have in your possession as a result. And for each blessing the proper response is to “Bless…Praise…Speak Well Of Him.”
4. It Means Christ’s Righteousness Our Righteousness.
“For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.“-{2 Cor 5:21}.
5. It Means A New Relationship With God.
“But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. “-{Ephesians 2:13}.
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. “-{2 Cor 5:17}
When we surrender to Him and take His Gift of salvation we exchange our sins for His Righteousness and we become new creature in Christ. A New beginning, a New relationship with God, A New heart that desires the things He desires.
6. It Means Fully Forgiven Of All Our Sins
“For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And I will remember their sins no more. “-{Hebrews 8:12}.
This does not mean God has “amnesia,” where He cannot remember our sins, but it means HE no longer holds them against us, for He has held them against His Son once and for all that He should take the full punishment for them and He was raised again from the dead as proof the Father had accepted His perfect sinless sacrifice on our behalf as complete and fully accepted. We are debtors to God for His mercy and grace towards us!
” having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. “- {Col 2:12-14}.
“Canceled” the word means “erased.” Literally means, “to completely wipe off.” It was used to obliterate writing off any material. In those times a poor scribe would have one piece of parchment to write on and the ink would have no acid, so the writing on the parchment was not permanent and with a damp cloth could wipe clean the ink that lay on top of the parchment. It could be wiped off as if it never had existed!
Jesus OBLITERATED all of your sin and the charges against you for your sin and this He did on the cross!
The way it is written is God has obliterated all of your sins once and for all, as though they never had existed. The sin debt we had has been obliterated!! Think on that and Thank Him! So when the evil one brings up your past sin to your mind, remember these two promises. God does not hold it against you because GOD has banished, obliterated, removed all of them, never to be held against you by Him who is the Highest Authority in the Universe!
Jesus bore ALL of our sin on the cross. He stood in our place to accept ALL of our punishment for our sin, that we not only not die in our sin, but have His righteousness applied to us. We stand before God not in condemnation but in ALL the righteousness that has been given to us, by Christ and we are now through repentance towards God and faith that is entire and exclusively placed in Christ, and we are now in right standing before God forever, and Forever forgiven of ALL of our sins!
HOME WARD BOUND
When the Christian leaves their physical home here, no matter what part of the world their physical address is, upon death… they go to their eternal home because they are “in Christ.” So if someone asks “where do you live?” You can respond with “which address?, I have Two!” And this can be a good entrance to share concerning Him!
IN THE MEANTIME
While living here in your physical address remember you are an Ambassador of Christ representing Him in a foreign land. Let me personalize it to encourage you, instead of saying “we” which is true for all of us “In Christ,” let me use the “I” at the head of each heading below to encourage you as you read.
I have a New Message.
” We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. “-{2 Cor 5:20}
I Have a New Ambition For Living.
“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. “-{2 Cor 5;6-10}
I Am To Cultivate A New Mindset.
“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.“- {Col 3;1-3}
I Have A New Power To Live This New Life.
“seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.“-{2 Peter 1:3}
I Have Precious And Magnificent Promises To Aid Me.
” For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. “-{2 Peter 1;4}.
I Have A New Purpose In My Life.
” …that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. “-{Phil 1:20}
WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
You have your physical address and you have an eternal address,”In Christ!” And you live on earth as His Ambassador, about His Business, living by faith In Him, Empowered by Him and giving Promises to enlighten, empower and assist you and setting your mind and affections on things above so as to be of use to Him here below! While living here physically, our mind, heart is at home with Him and we seek by His enabling to be about His business in a hostile environment towards His Name, Word, Will, “But God…” loves sinners and we co laborer with Him for the souls of the spiritually blind, and bound, that they too may be set free and He receive the worship He rightly deserve.
May it be said of us as of David, “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay; “-{Acts 13:36}.
The next time someone asks you,”Where do you live?” Tell them you have Two address a physical and a second one… Tell them how you came about having an eternal address, “IN CHRIST…” and how they can too, If They don’t know Him! If they know Him encourage and remind them of The TWO ADDRESS’S they have… and celebrate Jesus Christ!
PS- {To see more of who you are”In Christ” go to the topic,”IDENTITY IN CHRIST,” and under the heading “IN CHRIST” there are more verses of who and what you are “In Christ,” More reasons to “praise Him.”}