Christ in You

Calvin is often quoted as saying that if Christ remains outside of us, His person and work can be of no benefit to us. Our redemption is something that is accomplished outside us in the death and resurrection of Christ. The righteousness that we receive in justification is a righteousness, in Paul’s words, “not our own.” But so long as Christ and his benefits remain outside of us we are left are untouched by them, unchanged by them. This morning, though, we’ve learned that the mystery of the gospel is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That Christ comes to dwell within those who embrace the proclamation of His death and resurrection. And this indwelling is perpetual, on-going. Yet, here at His Table, in the eating and drinking of bread and wine, he likewise dwells in us. As you eat and drink by faith in Christ, you receive Christ in you. Christ told his disciples that his body was true food and his blood true drink. And that the one who eats and drinks his body and blood would abide in him and he in them. In this way the Lord’s Table proclaims and enacts the mystery of the Gospel. And it also becomes a primary means, along with the Word, of attaining the maturity for which Paul labored and strived. For as we feed upon Christ by faith we find that our faith is renewed and strengthened and Christ and his benefits are confirmed to us. We are reassured of his saving interest in us as the Father remembers his body broken for us and his blood shed for us. And through this process Calvin says, “Christ in a manner grows in us and we in Him.” That is because as Christ dwells in us, he transforms us and remakes us after his image. So come to the Table and find both the mystery and maturity of the gospel!