For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Hebrews 3:14
One of the most amazing conversions in history was that of Saul of Tarsus. Struck prostrate and blind on the Damascus road by a light that he described as brighter than the noonday sun, Saul was instantly transformed from a fanatical persecutor of Christians into a humble worshiper of Christ. Tragically, many Christians are reading from Bibles that have deleted one of the most important elements of this incredible story. Before his conversion, Saul knew what to do: persecute and kill the followers of Someone Who claimed to be the Son of God. Now that he is faced with the reality of Jesus as the Son of God, and with his crime of persecuting Him, Saul knows he has new marching orders. And he asks for them: ‘And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?’ (Acts 9:6) That question is missing from most modern-language versions of the Bible, deleted by those who corrupted the texts on which those Bibles are based. The question is supposed to be there. In fact, it is included when Paul gave his testimony before the multitude in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 22. Why did Saul ask this great question? And why is it important? Because he wanted to be a partaker of the Christ Who had just saved him.
Please note that our text does not refer to us as being partakers in Christ, although we are surely that too. We are partakers in Christ; that is our position, granted to us eternally because of our salvation. Nothing can ever change that. It does not depend on our holding onto anything. But to be partakers of Christ, that is a different story. That refers not to our position but to our condition. And it does depend on our holding onto the confidence that we had, like Saul of Tarsus, when we were first saved. When Saul asked his question, he accepted the answer and devoted his life to obeying it. When we were first saved, we were as determined as Saul was to be everything that our Lord wanted us to be. How has that worked out for us? I remember at the time when I was saved, an 11 year old girl named Katherine told us she was determined to be a missionary. I have often wondered if Katherine reached the mission field; I hope she did. We all have the same opportunity to be what the Lord wants us to be. And if we do, we will be partakers of Christ.
A partaker is someone who shares in something. A partaker of Christ is someone who shares the will of Christ and the work of Christ. The will of Christ is to do the will of His Father, as His life displayed while He was in this world. Everything that He did was to obey and please the One Who had sent Him. And it was His delight to do so. To share in the will of Christ is to seek to obey and please our Father in Heaven, and to take delight in doing so. Norman Crawford is quoted as saying that the three steps to a victorious Christian life are learning God’s will, living God’s will, and loving God’s will. To share in the work of Christ is to do His bidding, even as He did His father’s bidding. It includes living as a good testimony for the Lord. It includes preaching the Gospel and/or supporting those who preach it. It includes speaking gracious words, doing kind deeds, performing honest business, and living in the good of the soon return of our Lord. That is being a partaker of Christ. -Jim MacIntosh