Union With Christ

I am part of a blog tour for Rankin Wilbourne's book, Union With Christ. I will post a book review on Sunday, October 16th.  Today, I am posting several quotes from the book.  If you are wondering what union with Christ is or looking for a good book on the subject, Wilbourne's book is for you.

Nothing is more basic or more central to the Christian life than union with Christ.

We may know what God has saved us from, but have we lost sight of what God has saved us for?

Our neglect of union with Christ explains the gaps between our faith and our lives. When the work of Christ for us becomes abstracted from the person of Christ within us, is it any wonder there is a chasm between our heads and our hearts or between our beliefs and our experiences?

faith means finding your identity in Christ.

Christ dwelling in us by His Spirit is a guarantee that we can and will change.

the faithfulness of God is not dependent on the strength of your faith...Our faith is indeed fickle and wavering, but God's love is constant and steadfast. When I base my Christian life on my Christian experience, I become locked in the labyrinth of my own performance.

The problem with either "just believe the gospel...more" or "just obey your Lord...more" is that alone, they leave us focusing on ourselves as the real agent of change...By double grace, John Calvin means that both justification and sanctification flow out of our union with Christ.

The Bible is the grand story of God restoring our communion with him.

Every benefit of the gospel comes to us through and only through our union with him.

You no longer work for approval; you work from approval.

Jesus is the center--we can't understand ourselves without understanding who he is and what he has done for us. And Jesus is the circumference--he sets the boundaries of what it means to be human.

You'll never want holiness until you are convince that it's not meant to be a burden...And the Bible insists that in Christ, our sanctification is finished...Christ is your holiness, your sanctification, already, full and complete...In this sense, holiness is not something we achieve; it is something we receive by faith in total...Jesus is the double cure. He not only declares us holy, but he also empowers us to be holy...Becoming holy is by faith alone. Christ is the root and only source of our holiness.

Some parts of the church have reminded us beautifully that because of Christ we can know that God is for us...A strong emphasis on the work of Christ is crucial. Other parts of the church have reminded us beautifully that because of Christ we can know that God is with us. And if Christ is with us, why would we ever need to fear? A strong emphasis on the indwelling presence of the person of Christ is also crucial. But what union with Christ holds together--and why it gives us unrivaled hope on the journey--is that it tells us the God is for you and with you. He is with you and he is for you.

In our walk with God, faith always comes first because unless you are sure that you are safe with God and certain that God is not disappointed in you, you will never seek his face.

These two steps of faith and repentance are the basic movement of the Christian life. They are not only how we begin life in Christ; they are also the mindset, the disposition, with which we live the entire Christian life. This is how you keep in step with God's Spirit: faith and repentance. Believe and obey.

That is, I must start every day with my union with Christ. I must breathe in faith--I am in Christ and Christ is in me. God is good, God is in charge, and God loves me.

God is the one who changes us. The means put us in the place where God can work within us.

Abiding in Christ doesn't come naturally for us. We have to learn how to do it.

Union is the secret to communion. Because only when you are absolutely sure and certain that you are loved by God, that you are safe in Christ, will you want to pursue the one who already loves you best.

The question is whether this pain will drive you further in to the heart of God or further away from the one who is "near to the brokenhearted"...And this what we too have in our suffering: God sees, God knows, and God is with us. If we are united to Christ, we have the real presence of Christ, the suffering servant, weeping with us and carrying us along. He understands, and he is near.

Union with Christ means we are part of a larger family, a broader mission, a longer story, a bigger world, and a deeper love.