We are In Christ Jesus.

A call to worship.

Themes

Christ in us • United with Christ • Being in Christ

We have been united personally to the incarnate, crucified, resurrected, living Jesus — actually joined to Him. Not metaphorically. Not symbolically. Not conceptually. Not poetically. Actually.

God has not merely transacted for us a set of depersonalized benefits called grace, or justification, or eternal life. We have not received a gift of abstract things that Christ went and acquired for us.

---

Scripture reading

Colossians 1:27
Galatians 2:20
Romans 6:3
Romans 6:5
Ephesians 2:6
Romans 8:1
2 Corinthians 5:17
Galatians 3:26
Ephesians 2:10

---

This call to worship¹ is assembled from across Paul’s letters. The scripture selections have been edited so as to have been written directly to you.

To you, 
God has chosen to make known 
the glorious riches of this mystery, 
which is — 
and here is the mystery — 
Christ in you.

You have been crucified with Christ. 
It is no longer you who live, 
but Christ who lives in you.

Do you not know 
that you have been baptized 
into Christ Jesus — 
that you were baptized 
into His death?

So, if you have been 
united with Him —
glued together with Him —
in a death like His, 
you shall certainly be 
united with Him 
in a resurrection like His.

In fact, 
God has raised you up with Him 
and seated you with Him 
in the heavenly places 
in Christ Jesus.

There is now no condemnation 
for those who are 
in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, if you are in Christ, 
you are a new creation.

In Christ Jesus, 
you are a son of God.

You are His workmanship, 
created in Christ Jesus 
for good works. 

---

Prayer

Father in heaven, thank you 
for joining us 
to Jesus Christ —
a joining that can only be described 
as “Christ in us” 
and “us in Christ.” 

Thank you 
for uniting us personally 
to the incarnate, 
crucified, 
resurrected, 
living Jesus —
actually joining us to Him.

Not metaphorically joining us.
Not symbolically.
Not conceptually.
Not poetically.

For if we have been saved by Christ, 
then, Your word tells us,
that we are now 
in Christ. 
This is what our salvation truly is. 

We admit, Father, 
that phrases like “in Christ” 
and “Christ in us” 
sound mystical.
And our preference 
may be for something 
more logical and rational —
something that’s more simply… 
maybe something that’s 
just transactional. 

But you have not merely transacted 
for us a set of depersonalized benefits 
called grace, 
or justification, 
or eternal life. 
We have not received
a gift of abstract things 
that Christ went and acquired for us. 
Instead, 
we have received 
the living Christ. 
We have apprehended 
the very person of Christ, 
who is Himself the grace of God, 
who is Himself our justification, 
who is Himself our eternal life.

You have not given to us 
an impersonal savior 
who is outside of us, 
somewhere out there, 
completing transactions on our behalf 
and then gifting to us the outcomes. 
Instead, we possess 
an intensely relational 
and personal salvation: 
our salvation is 
the personal indwelling 
of Christ Himself.

Only in possessing Christ, 
do we possess the benefits of Christ. 
Father, thank you 
for every one of these benefits: 
His assumption of our flesh; 
His sinless life; 
His propitiatory, 
self-sacrificial, 
sin-expiating crucifixion;
His life-giving, 
justifying resurrection; 
and His prophetic, 
priestly, 
and royal provisions.

Christ has become ours, 
and You have ingrafted us 
into His body. 
You’ve not given to us 
a savior outside of us, 
but instead, a savior who dwells within.
We are joined to the one 
who is… salvation

Christ in us —
a union with Christ Himself

You have cemented us to Him. 
You have coupled us in such a way 
that we now have a oneness 
with Christ 
that is more intimate 
than what exists 
between husbands and wives.
We are as one person 
which cannot be separated, 
and we remain attached to Him
forever.

Your precious Son 
is more than a provider of blessings — 
blessings like eternal life, 
and truth, 
and living bread, 
and living water, 
and resurrection life. 
He is in Himself
these blessings. 

And so, Father, 
we enjoy a salvation that is, 
in its most basic sense, 
a participation 
in Your Son’s relationship with You. 
Through the power of Your Holy Spirit, 
we get to share 
in the relationship and love 
that exists between You and Your Son 
and in all the manifold blessings
that result. 

And for this, 
we are and will be eternally thankful. 

In the name of Jesus, 
through whom we enjoy the beauty, 
the wonder, 
and the mystery of salvation, 
Amen

---

1. This call to worship was given to the small assembly of Christians that gathered in Pathway Church, Beaverdam, Michigan, on Sunday, April 10, 2022.