Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

by Rankin Wilbourne, John Ortberg (Foreword by)

Overview

Winner of the 2017 Christian Book Award for New Author
Named one of the top books of 2016 by John Piper's Desiring God ministry

To experience why the gospel is good news and answer life’s most foundational questions about identity, destiny, and purpose, we must understand what it means to be united to Christ.

If you are a Christian, the Bible says that Christ has united his life to yours, that you are now in Christ and Christ is in you. This almost unfathomable truth is the central theme of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Yet few Christians today experience or enjoy this reality. Union with Christ reveals the transformational power of this ancient doctrine while addressing the basic questions of the human heart:

• Who Am I?
• Why Am I Here?
• Where Am I Headed?
• How Will I Get There?

Nothing is more practical for living the Christian life than union with Christ. The recovery of this reality provides the anchor and engine for your life with God—for your destiny is not only to see Christ, but to actually become like him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830772070
Publisher:	David C Cook
Publication date:	09/01/2018
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Rankin Wilbourne (M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary) is the pastor of Pacific Crossroads Church in Los Angeles. A former commercial banker, Rankin understands the “gap” between the gospel preached on Sunday and the world people face on Monday. Leading a thriving church in a city driven by imagination, he’s concerned with practical theology—drawing connections between what we believe and how we live. Rankin and his wife, Morgen, reside in Los Angeles with their three children.

Table of Contents

Foreword 13

Introduction 17

Part I Union With Christ What Is It and Why Do We Need It?

Chapter 1 Living in the Gap 27

Chapter 2 Union with Christ: What Is It? 41

Chapter 3 Why We Need It: Two Songs Playing in Our Heads 59

Part II Union with Christ Where Did it Come From? Where Did It Go?

Chapter 4 Union with Christ in the Bible 81

Chapter 5 Union with Christ in the Historic Tradition 95

Chapter 6 Whatever Happened to Union with Christ? 115

Part III Union With Christ What Problems Does it Solve?

Chapter 7 A New Identity: Who Am I? 133

Chapter 8 A New Horizon: Where Am I Headed? 151

Chapter 9 A New Purpose: What Am I Here For? 171

Chapter 10 A New Hope: What Can I Hope For? 191

Part IV Union With Christ Day By Day

Chapter 11 The Art of Abiding 211

Chapter 12 The Means of Abiding 227

Chapter 13 The Secret of Abiding 245

Chapter 14 The Necessary Path of Abiding: Suffering 249

Chapter 15 Every Day - Union with the Cosmic Christ 263

Final Word A Prayer for Union with Christ 281

Acknowledgments 287

Notes 289

Editorial Reviews

"Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God has a tone of urgency-it is important, important content-but is reasonable and lucid. It is helpful, trustworthy, interesting, and insightful, and I am glad to have found it. It deserves to be well known."

Byron Borger

"I'm trying to remember the last time I was more excited about a new book or a new author. Rankin Wilbourne brings a remarkable flair for writing, and a great breadth and depth of learning, and a passionate heart, to the most important subject in the world: What is the true and sufficient destiny for human life? … Rankin does a masterful job of articulating what union with Christ consists of, how central it was to the writers of Scripture and to great thinkers through the centuries, why it has been lost in our day, and most importantly how to pursue it as a concrete reality in daily life for ordinary people. So that's why I'm excited for you to meet Rankin and enter a new world."

John Ortberg

"Everyone seems to agree that union with Christ is a biblical teaching crucial to understanding and communicating the gospel, but preachers today do not give it the same emphasis that the New Testament does. One reason is that, unlike the new birth, justification, and adoption, it requires multiple metaphors to draw out its rich meaning. Rankin does so clearly and compellingly. This is simply the best book for laypeople on this subject. It is grounded in exegesis and theology and yet is lucid and supremely practical. While not unaware of the recent controversies about union and justification, which are briefly sketched in the endnotes, Rankin's whole concern is to make the biblical teaching accessible and applicable to the reader. He does this with excellence."

Tim Keller

"This is the most accessible, helpful, best illustrated book on union with Christ I've ever read."

Scotty Smith