United With Christ

If you’re a home owner, you know one of the chores that must be done is pulling weeds that grow in your yard. I don’t know about you, but I do not like pulling weeds. It’s so tedious. The worst ones are the really long vines that seem to stretch the whole length of the house. How do they get so long?

There is a lesson though as Jesus says He is the “true vine” (John 15:1ff). In verse 5, He says that His disciples are the branches of that vine. So, if we want to bear good fruit, we are to be in that vine, united with Him.

Just as a vine is all one, His body is all one as well. Jesus is described as the “head” of His body (Colossians 1:18). Much like our physical bodies, it’s configured of many moving parts, but they all need to work together in order for it to function properly. But, that only works if Jesus is the head of the body you’re in.

This is what it means to be united in Him. Are we all united in Christ? Sadly, no. The Bible tells us that only certain people are united with Christ. Who are these people though? It’s those in His body. Look back at that verse in Colossians I just cited. Paul says that His body is also His church. These two terms are used synonymously. The ekklesia, or church, are the ones called out by God. It’s the assembly of believers who have acknowledged Christ as the Lord.

So, how do we get into this one body? How can we become a part of this one church? Well, we have to be in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says that every spiritual blessing is in Christ. The same author says in 1 Timothy 2:10 that salvation is also in Christ. That means when we’re in Christ, we are saved. Right, now how can we get into Christ? By being baptized.

Once we realize that Jesus is who He says He is, the next step is to be united with Him and become His disciple. How we do that is immersing ourselves into the waters of baptism. Galatians 3:26-27 says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We must put on Christ in order to be one with Him. 1 Corinthians 12:13a also says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…”. Whose body? Christ’s body; the church. It’s the door that leads us to salvation and receiving the forgiveness of sins.

There are a few other parallels we can look at also. First, Christ’s church is also known as His bride (cf. Revelation 21:9). They share the same unity as a husband and wife would once they become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:8). They are united together, loving and serving one another as any marriage should be.

Lastly, there’s Romans 6:3-4 which reads, “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Not only does baptism unite us into Christ and His body, it also unites us in His death. Baptism symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. We die to our former self, are buried in the water, and raised to walk in a new life with Him. What a great way to start this new life unified with Christ!