Take Your Place
Introduction
God solved one of humanity’s greatest problems with the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This problem has challenged all fallen Adam’s children of all ages, climes, color, gender and learning! People have ceaselessly schemed, plotted, lied, supplanted, deceived, betrayed and killed each other because of this grave challenge. Many children often display this ugly tendency at the place of play; families have been ruined by it; communities have been decimated because of it; successful businesses have collapsed at their peak because of it; nations have suffered divisions, denigration, decimation and disappearance from the world map because of this problem; the church has also had its own fair share of this terrible malady in its fold! What then is this cankerworm? It is the struggle for placement and or supremacy.
Why has it been a challenge? It is mainly because of ignorance which makes us woefully try to do only what God Himself can do. Little wonder God laments that “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6. The matter of placement is God’s prerogative and he clearly revealed it at the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul aptly confirms the only God who is rich in mercy as the architect of this solution in Ephesians 2:4. Three phrases in Ephesians 2:5-6 reveal the details of God’s solution to the issue of positioning and placement thus… “made us alive together with Christ…vs. 5”; “raised us up together with Christ…vs.6”; and “made us sit together in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…” vs. 6 respectively.
The first phrase: “made us alive together with Christ” vs. 5 reveals what God did to our sinful state of death: He made us alive together with Jesus Christ. It means that as God was making Jesus Christ, the sin-bearer of the whole world alive from the dead at His resurrection, God was equally making all mortals alive from sin with Christ! It is now left for each mortal to connect to Jesus Christ by faith through repentance to fully participate in the new life divinely offered to all. Hence, John confirms that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only, begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. This divine connection to Jesus Christ graciously brings you into His worldview, mindset and lifestyle. Paul aptly describes it thus: “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Cor. 5:17.
As a believer, you now fully share the life of Christ, devoid of ungodly desires and struggles! Have you truly and personally made this connection to Jesus Christ? This is God’s first move to deal with our sin-generated inferiority and terrible lust for positions and supremacy.
The second phrase: “raised us up together with Christ.” Vs. 6 reveals God as the true source of all genuine and lasting promotions. It shows that we share in all the spiritual benefits and implications of the resurrection with Jesus Christ our Lord! We, believing mortals, have now been raised with Jesus far above Satan, worldliness, and death. Hence, “if then, you were raised with Christ; seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:1-2, 5.
The third phrase: “made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Vs. 6 is another beautiful and powerful fruit of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is so important that Paul prays that the Ephesian and contemporary believers might know “what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Ephesians 1:19-21.
This is exactly what we graciously share with Jesus Christ! Why then should we ever yield to the temptation of worshipping heavenly bodies, names, powers, principalities, evil spirits and spiritual forces of evil when we are already sitting together with Christ Jesus far above them all? Take your place in Christ today over them. Rom. 8:19f.