Chapter Three - Union

by Dane C Ortlund

Make it stand out

Union

This is a good one. It is one that I feel more conviction and realness to Jesus than ever before.

---

Access

If I repent and have faith I am united to Jesus. Joined to him - one with him.

This is what it means to be a Christian. It is referenced over 200x

His grace is not a transaction. His graces comes to us through union.

God in Me

4 ways that we understand growth. 3 are from the church, the fourth is what the Bible gives us.

• God then me

  • God does everything to save me, open my eyes, regenerate me, grants me a new life.

  • I need to serve him to show my gratefullness

  • Faith gets me in, effort is what moves me closer

  • This doesn’t account for the sin in my life as a believer

• God not me

  • Opposite of the first, it’s the “let go and let God” mindset.

  • Neglects human responsibility

• God plus me

  • Collaborative effort, partners. 1/2 and 1/2

• God in me

  • God saves me, and send his Holy Spirit to unite me with Jesus.

  • Wholly passive and active.

  • Holds both human responsibility and divine sovereignty in how we grow.

The Biblical Evidence

• 1 Corinthians 15:10

• Phillippians 2:12-13

• Colossians 1:29

Your Christian growth is a matter of divine grace. You cannot crowbar yourself into growth. You must be lifted into growth. But the diving grace that brings about change is a divine grace that fuels and fills our own efforts. For we are in the Son.

Safe and Secure

We are always united in Christ. At the core.

Think of an onion’s layers.

• peripheral - clothes, cars, things that don’t matter

  • Family, personality profile, blood type

    • relationships, wife, friends

      • beliefs of the world, who God is

        • sins, secrets no one else knows

          • Core - Union with Jesus

God called me! Not because of my works but because of his purpose and grace.

But what does the union mean?

Two ways to describe it.

1. The Macro Dimension

   1. He is my leader. As he goes I go.

2. The Micro Dimension

   1. A intimate unity. So close to Jesus that what we do we cause him to do.

   2. Scougal wrote, “a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature.”

   3. The more united I become the more I exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

The Umbrella Doctrine

Our union is the umbrella in which all other benefits of salvation reside under. It’s all or nothing.

• Justification

• Sanctification

• Adoption

• Reconciliation

• Washing

• Redemption

• Purchase

• Liberation

• New birth

• Illumination

• Resurrection

Taking it Deep

The point of understanding the truths of the Bible is so my comfort and joy increase as I melt into the assuredness of who God is and who I am.

He feels what I feel. Amid storms of my small existence - my sins, my failures, my wandering - he is going to walk with me and in me.

He is bigger than…

• my lethargy

• habitual sin

• resentment

• defeat

I need to live with the mindfulness of my union with Jesus!

---