Oneness With Christ

God’s purpose is to unite believers with Himself through Christ. True oneness with He is shown in living His will, character, and actions, not just in emotions. It requires surrender, obedience, and a Christ-like life, fully aligning with His purpose.

God's dealings with a believer's soul aim for oneness with Himself. This fulfills the Lord's Prayer: “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me"(John 17:21-23) God's glorious purpose for His people, before the world's foundation, was a soul-union. It was the mystery hid from ages and generations. It was accomplished in the incarnation of Christ. It has been made known b y the Scriptures. And it is realized as an actual experience by many of God’s dear children. But not by all. It is true of all. God has not hidden it. But, many have dim eyes and unbelieving hearts. They fail to grasp it. The Lord is stirring up believers everywhere. He wants them to abandon themselves to Him. It is to bring them to a personal realization of this. He wants to work in them all the good pleasure of His will.

All the previous steps in the Christian life lead up to this. The Lord has made us for it. Until we know it, and choose to embrace it, His soul's travail for us is unsatisfied. Our hearts have not found their final rest.

The usual course of Christian experience is pictured in the history of the disciples. First, they awoke to their condition and need. They then came to Christ and pledged their allegiance to Him. Then they followed Him, worked for Him, believed in Him, and yet, how unlike Him! They sought to be above each other. They ran from the cross. They misunderstood His mission and words. They forsook Him in danger. Yet, He sent them to preach. He recognized them as His disciples, with power to work for Him. They knew Christ only “after the flesh,” is outside of them, their Lord and Master, but not yet their Life.

Then came Pentecost. These disciples then knew Him as revealed within. They were one with Him, their very indwelling Life. Henceforth, He was to them Christ within. He worked in them to will and to do of His good pleasure.

He, by the law of the Spirit of His life, delivered them from the bondage to the law of sin and death, under which they had been held. No longer was it between themselves and Him, a war of wills and a clashing of interests. One will alone animated them, and that was His will. One interest alone was dear to them, and that was His. They were made ONE with Him.

Surely, all can recognize this picture. But the final stage may not be fully reached. You may have left much to follow Christ, dear reader. You may have believed in, worked for, and loved Him. Yet, you may not be like Him. Allegiance, you know, and confidence you know, but not yet union. There are two wills, two interests, two lives. You have not yet lost your own life that you may live only in His.

Once it was I and not Christ. Then it was I and Christ. Perhaps now it is even Christ and me. But has it come to be Christ only, and not I at all? Perhaps you do not understand what this oneness means. Some believe it is a great emotion or a feeling of oneness. They turn inward, examining their emotions. They hope to find, in these, their union with God. But nowhere is the mistake of trusting to feelings greater than here.

Oneness with Christ must, by nature, mean a Christ-like life and character. It is not what we feel, but what we are that settles the question. No matter how strong our feelings, there can be no oneness without a likeness of character with Christ. We must share a unity of aim, purpose, and thought. Our actions must be similar, too.

This is common sense, and it is Scriptural too. We say two people are one. We mean their purposes, actions, thoughts, and desires are alike. A friend may express great love and unity. But if their aims, actions, and views are the opposite of ours, we can't feel any real oneness. This is true despite our affection for each other. To be truly one with another, we must share everything. Our likes and dislikes, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears, must all be the same. As someone says, we must look through one another’s eyes, and think with one another’s bra ins. This is, as I said above, only plain common sense.

And oneness with Christ can be judged by no other rule. It is out of the question to be one with Him in any other way than in the way of nature, character, and life. Unless we are Christ-like in our thoughts and our ways, we are not one with Him, no matter how we feel. I have seen Christians with few Christ- like traits. They were so emotional and ecstatic in their love for Christ that they believed they were justified in claiming a close oneness with Him. I scarcely know a sadder sight. Surely our Lord meant to reach such cases when He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mathew 7:21.)

He w as not making here any arbitrary statement of God’s will, but a simple announcement of the nature of things. Of course it must be so. It is like saying, “No man can enter the ranks of astronomers who is not an astronomer.” Emotions will not make a man an a stronomer, but life and action. He must be one, not merely feel that he is one.

There is no escape from this inexorable nature of things, and especially here. We must be one with Christ in character, life, and action. If not, we cannot be one with Him in any other way. There is no other way. We must be "partakers of His nature" to share His life. His life and His nature are one.

But emotional souls do not always see this.

They feel so near to Christ and so united to Him that they think it must be real. They overlook the need for a Christ-like character and walk. So, they build their hopes on their delightful emotions and exalted feelings. They believe they must be one with Him to have such rich, holy experiences.

It is a fact that other causes can produce these emotions. They are not solely due to a divine influence.

The emotions depend largely on temperament and physical conditions. It is most dangerous, therefore, to make them a test of our spiritual union with Christ. It may result in just such a grievous self-deception as our Lord warns against in (Luke 6:46-49): “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, it immediately fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Our soul delights in calling Him, "Lord, Lord." But, are we doing what He said? He tells us this is the important point, after all.

If, led by our feelings, we claim to abide in Him in meetings, among friends, or in our hearts before the Lord, let us consider these words of the Holy Ghost: "He that says he abides in Him, ought himself so to walk, even as He walked." Unless we are walking as He did, we cannot be abiding in Him, no matter how much we may feel we are.

If you are one with Christ, you will be sweet to those who are cross with you. You will bear everything and make no complaints. When reviled, you will not revile again. You will consent to be trampled on, as Christ was, and feel only love in return. You will seek others' honor rather than your own. You will take the lowest place and serve all, as Christ did. You will truly love your enemies and do well to those who spitefully use you. In short, you will live a Christ-like life. You will show and feel, a Christ-like spirit and walk among men as He did. This, dear friends, is what it is to be one with Christ. If this is not your life, you are not one with Him. Your feelings, no matter how ecstatic, do not matter.

To be one with Christ is too wonderful and solemn a thing. It is too mighty an experience to be reached by mere feelings. He was holy, and those who are one with Him will be holy also. There is no escape from this simple and obvious Fact.

When our Lord tried to show His oneness with God, He said, “And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”(Joshua 8:29) “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Fat her. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5:19-23) The test of oneness, then, was the doing of the same works, and it is the test of oneness now. If our Lord could say that, so must His disciples. He said to believe in Him only if He did the works of His Father. He asked for no belief based on His claims.

It is forever true that "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseas ed tree bear good fruit” (Mathew 7:17 -18 ). It is not that they will not, but they cannot. A soul united with Christ will, for sure, bear a Christ-like life. A grapevine bears grapes, not thistles. I don't object to emotions, though. On the contrary, I believe they are very precious gifts when they are from God, and are to be greatly rejoiced in. I object to using them to test spiritual states, in ourselves or others. I don't want to base our faith on them. Let them come or let them go, just as God pleases, and make no account of them either way. But, we must have the vital marks of oneness with Christ. We must share a likeness in character, life, and walk. If we do, all will be well. For “ Whoever says 'I know him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1John 2:4 -6) It may be, my dear reader, that the grief of your life has been the fact that you have so few good feelings.

You try your hardest to get up the feelings that you hear others talking about, but they will not come.

You pray for them fervently and are often tempted to upbraid God because He does not grant them to you. You are filled with unbearable anguish. You think your lack of emotion means your soul is not united with Christ. You judge altogether by your feelings, and think there is no other way to judge.

Now my advice to you is to let your feelings go, and pay no regard to them whatever. They really have nothing to do with the matter. They do not reflect your spiritual state. They only show your temperament or current physical condition. People in very low states of grace often feel intense emotions. We all know this from the scenes we have heard of or witnessed at camp-meetings and revivals.

I once had a servant who was deeply involved in her church's revival meetings. Sometimes, she would become so overwhelmed by the experience that she fainted. However, at other times, she showed little evidence of spiritual commitment and did not live a moral life.

The Bible teaches, if nothing else, this: A Christ-like life must accompany any true experience of His spirit. It could not be otherwise in the very nature of things. But I fear some Christians have separated the two things so much that they now value their experiences over their walk. They care more about their feelings than their character. A certain colored congregation in one of the Southern States was a plague to the whole neighborhood. They openly disregarded even the ordinary rules of morality. They stole, lied, and cheated, without a single prick of conscience. And yet their nightly meetings were times of the gre atest emotion and “power.”

Someone finally spoke to the preacher about it. They begged him to preach a sermon on morality to make his people see their sins. "Ah, misses," he replied, "I know the day is bad. But, it always brings a coldness over the meetings when I preach about these things." You are helpless as to your emotions, but you can have character if you will. You can be so filled with Christ as to be Christ-like. If you are Christ-like, then you are one with Him in the only vital, essential way. Your feelings may say it's impossible, but they are wrong.

Now that we've defined oneness with Christ, we must find how to achieve it. We must first of all find out what the facts in the case are, and what our own relation to these facts is. If you read such passages as ( 1 Corinthians 3:16), “ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you ?” Then, look at the chapter's opening. It shows to whom these wonderful words are spoken. They are for babies in Christ, who were yet carnal and walked according to man. This soulunion, this glorious mystery of an indwelling God, is the possession of even the weakest and most failing believer in Christ.

So that it is not a new thing you are to ask for, but only to realize that which you already have. It is absolutely true for every believer in the Lord Jesus. His "body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in him, who is of God.”

It seems to me just in this way. It is as though Christ lived in a house, shut in a closet. The house's dwellers don't know or notice Him. He longs to be known to them, to share their daily lives and interests. But, He won't force Himself upon them. Only a voluntary companionship could satisfy His love. The days pass over that favored household. They remain unaware of their great privilege. They come and go about all their daily affairs with no thought of their wonderful Guest.

Their plans are laid without reference to Him. His wisdom to guide, and His strength to protect, are all lost to them. Lonely days and weeks are spent in sadness, which might have been full of the sweetness of His presence. But suddenly, the announcement is made, “The Lord is in the house!” How will its owner receive the intelligence?

Will he call out a thankful greeting and open every door for his glorious Guest? Or will he shrink, afraid of His presence, and seek a private corner to hide from His all-seeing eye?

Dear friend, I am glad to announce that the Lord is in your heart. Since your conversion, He has been there. But you have lived in ignorance of it. Every moment might have been spent in the sunshine of His sweet presence. Every step might have been taken under His advice. But because you did not know it, and have never looked for Him, your life has been lonely and full of failure. But now that I announce to you, how will you receive it? Are you glad to have Him? Will you throw wide open every door to welcome Him in? Will you joyfully and thankfully give up the governance of your life into His hands?

Will you consult Him about everything, and let Him decide each of your steps, and mark out every path? Will you invite Him to your innermost chambers, and make Him the sharer in your most hidden life? Will you say, YES to all His longing for union with you, and with a glad and eager abandonment, will you, then, hand yourself and all that concerns you over into His hands? If you will, then shall your soul begin to know something of the joy of union with Christ.

And yet, after all, this is but a faint picture of the blessed reality. For it is far more glorious than to have Christ in the heart or the house. It is to be united with Him as to be one with Him, one will, one purpose, one interest, and one life. Human words cannot express such glory as this.

And yet I want to express it. I want to make your souls so unutterably hungry to realize it, that day or night, you cannot rest without it. Do you understand the words, one with Christ? Do you catch the slightest glimpse of their marvellous meaning? Does not your whole soul begin to exult over such a wondrous destiny? For it is a reality. It means to have no life but His. To have no will but His. To have no interests but His. To share His riches. To enter into His joys. To partake of His sorrows. To manifest His life. To have His mind. To think, feel, act, and walk as He did. Oh, who could have dreamed that such a destiny could have been ours!

Will you have it, dear soul? Your Lord will not force it on you. He wants you as His friend. A forced union would ruin this. It must be yo ur choice. The bride must say a willing “Yes,” to her bridegroom, or the joy of their union is utterly wanting. Can’t you say a willing “Yes,” to your Lord? It is such a simple transaction, and yet so real! The steps are three. First, be sure that the Scriptures teach this glorious indwelling of your God. Then, surrender your whole being to Him to be possessed by Him.

Finally, believe that He has taken possession and is dwelling in you. Begin to reckon yourself dead, and to reckon Christ as your only life. Maintain this attitude of soul unwaveringly.

Repeat, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me," day and night.

Do this until it becomes your soul's breath. Put off thy self-life by faith and in fact continually, and put on practically the life of Christ. Let this act become, by its constant repetition, the attitude of your whole being. And, as surely as you do this daily, you will find your body continually bearing the dying of the Lord Jesus.

Then, the life of Jesus will be made manifest in your mortal flesh. You must learn what salvation means. You will see, with amazement, the Lord's secrets, of which you have hardly dreamed.

How have I made a mistake! God is my home. God Himself is here. Why have I looked so far for Him, who is nowhere but near? Yet, God is never so far off as even to be near; He is within, our spirit is the home He holds most dear. I thought myself Homeless, forlorn, and weary. I missed my joy. I walked the earth, a weary soul, in God's sanctuary.