Mercy Me - I can Only Imagine

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God's Eternal Purpose - 6

   
 Eternal Purpose and Us 


There are times when one learns of God's eternal purpose, it seems very impractical and distant. The temptation to think of things in this way, nonetheless, is not consistent with who the Lord is.

As we started this series with, the Lord is all things of the Father at once. He is completely filled with all of who He is. 

Yet it is the wisdom of God to reveal these things to us progressively. If God were to simply put everything of who He was into us, as far as intellectual understanding goes, it would bear no fruit at all. All we would have would be the equivalent of a lot of data being downloaded into a computer. This would be not better than the Pharisees.

After all, the Pharisees had all the intellectual understanding that someone could handle, yet they crucified the very Lord they had thoughts about. 

God teaches through practical experience. 

Let's look back to the beginning again, in the book of Genesis. There we have a continuous unfolding of the invisible nature of God day after day. And even there it is a broad brushstroke that is revealed. 

When you get into chapter 2, it is there that the intimate details of what happened are begun to be revealed. 

For example, when God brought the animals to Adam to see what He would name them. There were a number of things that God, in that exercise concerning Adam, was beginning to gradually unfold. For instance, when He was done naming the animals, it is said that there was not found someone that was suitable for him.

One of the things that Adam learned as a result was that there was something not only that he was missing, but also that there was something that also was not there concerning God: the bride of the Lamb. God not only allowed Adam to begin exercising his dominion on the earth, but along with that naming of the animals, revealed that there was something still hidden that needed to be revealed: there was a woman hidden in Adam as well as there was is Christ. 


I am saying all of that to show forth this: while we completely receive all of Christ when we truly believe in Him, it will take a lifetime, plus all eternity to discover all that He is. And that discovery will be a continuous, endless process. 

So when you read the book of Genesis, which we will be getting into soon, you will begin to comprehend that everything that was entailed, and revealed in the last two chapters of the scriptures, was what was inside of God from before time. It was what He saw when the first words came out of His mouth and He said, "Let there be light."

Once that happened, it began an endless practical journey for those who truly want all of who God is. In these next several articles we will look more into the practical side of things, and how God's purpose relates practically to us all. 

One more thing I want to say here: we have barely touched upon all that the eternal purpose is in Christ. The point of this series is to start you hopefully on a journey of wonder and appreciation and revelation into the greatness that the purpose of the Father is in His son Jesus Christ.

God's Eternal Purpose - 5

No Need of sun or moon 

Revelation 21:23

And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

First I need to remind you that this city, this bride, coming down out of heaven has absolutely nothing to do with anything created or external, meaning that it is something eternal and spiritual, invisible in its essence. In other words it is revealing spiritual realities that are hidden within Christ from the Father. To not see that is to miss everything.

One way to help you understand what it is that is being revealed here is to go back to the book of Genesis and see the creation happening concerning the sun and the moon. 

So as far as the creation account we need to remember that there was the original light that are the first words we know of that are spoken by God. "Let there be light..." Later on, the sun and the moon, along with the stars are created.
Remind yourself that we are told that creation is revealing and unveiling the invisible attributes of God: his divine nature and power.

I just want to point out that the light created on the first day was different and separate from the sun, moon, and stars. These things were representations of something hidden in God. 

Of course, one of the reasons that we are told that there will on longer be a sun and a moon here, is because the natural is of no consequence in this city, this bride of the Lamb. That is what is being revealed here.

Another way to see this among God's people is to remember where we are told that "all should know Him, from the least to the greatest." This reference to light here, is concerned with this reality.

The sun and the moon represent one that has light contained within, and that light being reflected onto another body. 

Do you see this in the light of the goal of the eternal purpose? God wants to be all in all. He is not interested in so-called special believers having all of the light, and others simply reflecting the light from others. No, the Lord is the lamp: period. 

One of our purposes as a people is to help others to be holders of the light of our Lord, not to be those who encourage others to be dependent upon man.

This doesn't mean that we don't walk together in this, or don't think that we can't learn from one another. Rather, it means that everything we are, must move toward the purpose of God being all in all, not toward an endless dependency, or lightlessness within every one.

Do you see where this is going here? In the heart of God, we exist for Him and one another, so that all of us can know Him intimately, without some type of person that is a go-between. 

Rather we are to encourage and pray for one another that we would learn to walk in deep union with Him together. 

This goes back to Christ being the alpha and omega, the beginning and end. In reference to Him being the lamp of the city, His wife, this is not only the end, but also where we must begin. To start anywhere else, brings us straight out of the heart of God.

God's Eternal Purpose - 4

No Temple Here 

Revelation 21:22

And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb, are its temple.

In all of my research and studies I have found that this particular reference in the scriptures is one of the most neglected and misunderstood.

Many wish that it wasn't in there, others, that see many of the things that are talked about on this site, don't believe it has reference to today. 

The great strategy of most that don't understand the spiritual significance of New Jerusalem, is to simply dismiss this as another thing that will happen after all things on the earth have been completed. If there weren't other places in the scriptures that contradict that, there may be some ground to stand on there, but there are many places that blow way of thinking away.

For example when Stephen was about to be martyred, he reveals that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. Does anybody seriously think that he didn't know about this city of God? Did he just come up with an interesting saying? No! He was one of the very few that saw the end of all types and shadows and that the real was now here. 

Another place that speaks of this is when Jesus talks about He being in the Father, Him being in us, and us being in each other etc. This is spiritual temple language and insight. This is talking about dwelling in one another spiritually and in union with Christ, the Father, and each other.

Now having said all of this, let's look at some of the significance of this tremendous revelation of Jesus Christ. No temple! What a challenging statement. 
Not only in the days of the apostles and the early church, but just as much in our own day, this has been something not comprehended by many. 

Today we see something of this and look, for the most part at it from an outward point of view. 

In other words, we begin to see that there was no such things as special buildings that the early believers ever met in, or would even come into their way of thinking. Yet, for the most part the modern-day response is to move from these so-called "churches" to meeting in homes. 

While this is a good step, it misses a lot of the point altogether. Simply transferring where the people of God meet, doesn't begin to deal with what is eternally on the heart of God. Everything that is being done in the buildings, can simply be started again in another physical setting. I am talking about the practices here.

So what is it that God is saying in all of this? What is the mystery? It's really not that hard to understand at all. It goes back to Jesus describing what eternal life is: that we may know Christ and His Father. It goes back to spiritually comprehending the end of all things: that God may be all in all. This is temple-talk from God's point of view.

Now I am not saying that because this is dealing with spiritual realities that we shouldn't leave the religious system, but if we do it without seeing more than simply exchanging physical locations, we miss the point entirely.

We leave because we are looking for a city whose builder and maker is God Almighty Himself. We are looking for a city build from the reality of the person of Jesus Christ, not on systems and logic, or certain traditions.

This temple is not simply one individual either. It is the entire Godhead in communion with one another and us. So it is with us, it is a corporate dwelling that God is building. Again, He created all of mankind to dwell in and be all to - not just a few.

This doesn't mean that we aren't individually dwelling places of God. But together we are being built into a temple for Him. As we embrace and share Christ with one another, we grow into all that He is. That is the significance of there being no temple in the wife of the Lamb. He couldn't care less about bricks and mortar, He is after intimate union with His woman. His bride. There is nothing that He will allow to compete with that.

When we individually enter into union with Christ and one another, something greater than ourselves begins to happen. That is what this aspect of the great eternal purpose of God unveils. 

God's Eternal Purpose - 3

The Street, River, and Tree 



In considering the eternal purpose of God and the wife of the Lamb, let's look at three important things that are described as existing inside of her.

The Street

First we see that there is a street of gold that is transparent as glass. There is also a river, clear as crystal that flows down the middle of the street. Finally there is a tree that vines across the river and is thus on both sides of it.

Let's look at a couple of things concerning this street. First the street is gold. This always speaks of the nature of God. Then it is described as being like transparent glass. 

This street is showing forth the nature of God in all of its purity. The transparent glass showing that absolutely nothing is mixed in with it. Nothing hinders one from seeing through it clearly.

Keep in mind that a street is for traveling and that this was one street, not many.

The River

Now in considering the river, we are told that it is a living river, living waters. It is also revealed that this river flows down the middle of the gold street of the city. 

This river is clear as crystal, again signifying that it is completely free of mixture, clear, without impurities. 

The river of course refers to the Holy Spirit. Remember that we are told by Jesus that out of our innermost beings will flow rivers of living waters.

This is a river that is going somewhere. Since it is flowing down the street this is another insight into the reality that this is something coming down from God above: A higher life.

The Tree

Lastly we see the tree of life. This is a very fruitful tree. It bears 12 different crops of fruit. Each in its own season. Then we are told that the leaves of the trees are for the health of the nations. (most translations say "healing," but the word in its truest sense means "health.")

When we look at this remember the words of Jesus when He said, "I am the vine and you are the branches." We are those leaves that abide in the roots of Jesus Christ, the true vine.

Now what we need to see here is that the street, river, and tree are completely entwined with one another. The river goes down the middle of the street, and the tree roots itself along the sides of the river. 

Just to let you know, this is not, like some have thought, a bunch of trees that have multiplied individually. No, it is one tree, a tree that is one that vines. Jesus, of course, is this tree, and by extension, those of us who abide in Him are part of it also.

There is a place in the scriptures that Jesus tells us that He is in us, we are in Him, and we are in each other. This is what is being shown forth here. The street, river, and tree are part of all of us. And when you see that these exist within the walls surrounding the city, you see that this is all within a people. This is why Jesus told us not to look for the kingdom without but to rather look for it within.
Which is one final thing I want to mention, the river flowed out of the throne of God and the Lamb. This is talking about the rule and reign of God within His people. This is what the kingdom is all about. It is a battle for the hearts of men, not for things on the earth that can be seen.

That's why Jesus told Pilate that if His kingdom was of this world His servants would come and fight, but His kingdom isn't of this world. This world has already been defeated.

So we see that the eternal purpose involves these three things as part of its nature. As we eat of Christ and drink of the Spirit, we walk on a street within that is only all of who God is. 

Eventually these things that are within, will begin to reveal themselves without - But first they must be within.

God's Eternal Purpose - 2

Wife of the Lamb

  Christ - The Lord from Heaven
 
The scriptures unveil to us a very telling story when they reveal to us that Abraham was looking for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker was God. Even though He was promised the land, we are told that he dwelt there in tents as if he was a stranger or alien to it. In fact they were testifying that this was for a very specific purpose.  

God had given them a revelation and insight that there was another country, another land, another city; one that already existed in heaven - one that the Lord had already prepared for them.  

They never settled in the land themselves; rather they wandered it, prophesying through their actions that they were looking for something higher and better: something born from above.  

As we talk about these things, also keep in mind that when we are told that we must be born again, in reality the fuller meaning is that we must be born from above. The term born again isn’t inaccurate, just not complete.  So when we are told that Abraham saw a city we must know that it was the city that we see at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 21 and 22.  

The first thing we need to note here is that this is a city that is coming from God. It is not something that has originated on this earth or from the mind of man; rather it has existed in God forever. As a matter of fact we are told that God is its architect. Not only that but He is its architecture.  

Next we must note that it is a city coming down from heaven, yet also recognized as the bride of the Lamb. The fact that this city is coming down from heaven means that it is from a higher life. It is already complete, as everything in heaven is already complete - which is why we are exhorted to pray for His kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. He’s taken care of His responsibility in heaven, now it is to come down to this earth.  I want you now to remember how throughout all of the New Testament revelation of Christ, we are told that He is the Lord from heaven. That is His roots. Well the fact that this city’s roots are also in heaven says that it obviously comes from Him.  

As a matter of fact in the Gospel of John we are revealed that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  

Then in Revelation 21:3 a loud voice from the throne tells us to look and see for the tabernacle of God is among men. Then it goes on to say that He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them.

When Jesus came to earth He was the beginning of this city, the end of the city and also the in-between. He was the tabernacle. Now the living tabernacle was with those who love Him. You might have a hard time seeing this but this was the firstfruits of the city of God coming to earth.

I want to talk about one aspect of this bride-city in this section. It is concerning the walls of this city coming down from heaven. We are shown that it is a high, massive, great wall. Included in the wall were 12 gates and also twelve foundations or foundation stones, along with all types of precious stones decorating them.  
Now what I want us to see here is that the wall, the gates, and the foundation stones, along with the precious stones were all one. They had different functions but were all part of one wall.  

These are all symbols of the great reality of Christ and His people. Like we learned in the introduction concerning the eternal purpose: Christ is all of the purpose of God existing at once. That is why when we look at this city from the eyes of God and Him revealing it to us, He sees all of it as one; existing completed and united at once. Even though the names of those mentioned cross thousands of years of time, and when the precious stones are included, we don’t know how long throughout time these have existed.  

In other words if everything is in Christ at one and the same time, so it will also be with this city and bride of His.

This is what we are being revealed: the very history of the purpose of God as it will be lived out upon this earth. We are seeing it from the eternal God’s point of view: complete, unified, and completely one, even though stretching across all of human history.

Here we are seeing another aspect of the eternal purpose, a mystery now being revealed: namely that Christ is being distributed among a people. The result is the New Jerusalem, His bride, fully filled with all that He is.  

God's Eternal Purpose

Introduction

  Christ - Everything at once!
 
In writing about Christ and the eternal purpose of God, we must be cautious concerning the temptation of wanting to put this into categories or bits and pieces. While this is true with all spiritual things, it is especially true here. For it is here that we have lost the greatness of the Father and the purpose He has in His son. To make it into another fragment or disjointed tidbit of so-called “doctrine,” would be a futile, hopeless, endless misapprehension of who Christ is. Once one sees the greatness of Christ in all of His fulness, it totally demolishes this human concept.  

So having said that, may God grant us all eyes to see and ears to hear as we open our hearts fully to the revelation and receiving of Jesus Christ.  

It has been revealed to us by Christ Himself that He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. Of course when He says this He includes everything in between also. In other words – He is everything all at once: eternal.  This doesn’t mean that he had a beginning somewhere and then grew into becoming the end – for He had no beginning and He has no end: Again, He is eternal.  We are told that everything that is the Father has been fully indwelt inside of Christ. When we see Christ we see the Father. This of course happened before there was even a creation.
 
So when we have Christ, we have all of who the Father and Son are. When we believe, we don’t receive part of Him, we receive all of Him.  

Let’s look at one example of this. When Jesus waited until Lazarus died and came back to resurrect him, He was told by Lazarus’ sister that she believed that he would be raised on the last day, to which Jesus responded to her that He was the resurrection and life. The resurrection wasn’t simply a one-time event that would happen in future, the resurrection was a person. The resurrection was an all encompassing reality that fully indwelt Jesus Christ. He was the resurrection.  

In other places we see that Christ reveals that He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is revealing to us that the way is a person, the truth is a person, and the life is a person. They literally exist as Him, complete in Him at the same time. They are Him.  

We must again open ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ as one who completely, totally, fully embodies all of who the Father is at once and eternally.  

Patience, love, hope, longsuffering, faith, among all other Godly attributes, again, are Christ the person, they are not unattached things or characteristics.  

What does this have to do with the eternal purpose? The eternal purpose is a person too. The eternal purpose is Christ. All that the eternal purpose entails is embodied in Christ; it is who He is. All that the eternal purpose is the Father has centered in His Son. It is one purpose, single, unified, whole in Christ.  

As we search out and explore God’s only purpose, we will discover that all of it is placed in and is Christ Jesus our Lord. That purpose is total and complete with nothing that can be added to it. Still as we are taught, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of the king to search a matter out. And we are kings and priests unto our God, so we are called to search and explore the depth, height, and width of the eternal purpose the Father has imparted in His Son.  

But we are not called to search it out as some fragmented, fractured idea that is dissected and separated from the person of Christ. Rather we are to see this purpose in Christ as our Father sees it: fully dwelling in Christ. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ, and He totally embodies all that the Godhead is.  

This was before creation, outside of space and time, completely whole and complete. Christ is the beginning, middle, and end of all of this, and when we believe in and receive Christ within, all that God is comes at once. The alpha and omega as Christ is entirely dwelling wholly within our spirits - Not part of Him but all of Him.
 
We must see that all of the purpose of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We must see our Lord as completely whole and unified as the Father’s purpose. This is the beginning of seeing how truly great our God is!  

The Challenge of Christ

Christ and His Purpose

by Gary Bourgeault                                          

From before the beginning of creation and after the end of creation, Christ has always existed.

When He came He brought all that had existed before the creation of man and the eventual fall, and showed what it was that had been happening between the Father and Himself throughout eternity.

Then in an unexplainable revelation, He invited us to participate in that same life that has always existed in the Godhead. 

Yet because man had fallen, we for the most part miss this great revelation and invitation, because we center on redemption and forgiveness of sins as the end that Christ and the Father had in mind. 

We must learn that there is much more than that that has been existing in God from before the creation. Yes we needed to have the sin issue taken care of. There could be no access to the Father without that happening. The question we must ask ourselves after this had been entered into, and we now all have access to the Father again is this: What is the purpose that all of this has happened?

Paul reveals to us that there has existed in the heart of God from before creation an eternal purpose. This purpose existed before sin and it still exists after there is no longer any sin in the creation.

It is a purpose as vast as the heart of God itself. This purpose has been for the most part ignored or not even acknowledged as having existed in God. 

Still we are told in the scriptures that all things have been created for Him, through Him, by Him, and to Him. We can never thank the Lord enough for what He has done for us in the salvation that He has provided for us. Yet we miss so much when we don't take into account why this has all happened. 

Christ died for us for much more than simple forgiveness of sins; He died to bring us back in line with what it was that He had hidden within Himself from before time. And as great as salvation is, there is much more to it than that. 

Jesus Christ is the door back into the Father. And once we participate into this access with Him, where are we to go then? That is what this site is dedicated to searching out with you.

What are we to do with this Jesus whom we are confronted with?
 
What does it mean when we are told that our glorious hope is that Christ is in us? Not just in us individually, but much more significantly - corporately as a group.  
We will look at why the early church never met in buildings and never knew the empty rituals and practices that fill the modern-day church. We will explore the history of those that never adapted the practices that have dominated church history since the time of Constantine.  

Mostly though we will look at this Jesus and what it is that He has been after from before the creation of this world and man. Most Christians don’t have more than a slight idea of what that is. Most don’t know what it is that motivates their Lord and why we even exist in the first place.

This may seem odd to most of you, but that is something that Christians, many times unknowingly, fight against the hardest. Why? We seek those things that are our own rather than those things that are Christ’s.  

There is one thing that we must all know for sure: we live for Him. We are here for Him. 

He has poured His life into us, and offered us to eat and drink of that life forever. He is in us, we are in Him, He is in the Father, and eventually we learn to be in one another. This fantastic reality was happening in the Godhead from before creation and is offered to continue happening to this day and forever.
 
The alternative is to create systems and hierarchies that replace personal and corporate responsibility. This is what creates the vacuum that allows manmade systems to form as an alternative to the freedom-loving organic life that exists in Christ.  

This is where ambitious people throughout history have stepped in and replaced Christ as the only way to God. Not necessarily as Savior, but as some type of in-between with God and man.  

No, we all have access to God directly through Christ, and He is not a respecter of persons that He will give special treatment to one over another. It is to whosoever desires Him that He will open Himself up to. This fellowship comes at a cost though, and many resist this also.  

People like to have things done their way and not Gods. Again this causes resentment within the flesh of man. Jesus Christ, if nothing else, demands to have His way with us. We are to adapt and respond to Him, not attempt to wrap Him around what we know or desire or understand.  

While you may heartily agree with much that is written, still there will be a demand put upon you that initially you may resist and resent: What are you going to do with this Jesus Christ who has always lived? What are you going to do with the discovery that the way things are now in the church are not the way things have been or were meant to be? That is always the question that we must answer - both individually, but much more importantly, as the church.  

Selfish Ambition

One of the great enemies of the purpose of God is selfish ambition. To put it simply: selfish ambition is that which doesn’t look out for what is of importance to God.  

It is very stylish today to talk about God having a purpose for the individual’s life. While there is some truth to that, it is far from God’s heart.  God does have a purpose, but it is His purpose. It existed in Him before the world was conceived. It is a purpose that is eternal. It originates in Him and from Him. Jesus Christ embodies and is the firstfruits of that purpose.  

Selfish ambition is basically something centered only in the individual. It asked only, “What can I get out of this?” It looks at the people of God as some type of means to ones personal ends.  

The church of Jesus Christ wouldn’t and couldn’t be what it is today, if it weren’t for this deceptive way of life. 

One of the most important things that Jesus dealt with concerning the twelve was that they were not to be over one another; that they weren’t to be like the world was - lording it over each other. They were a family – brethren. They were to serve one another, not as some type of specialized ministry, but as members of an extended, spiritual family.  

Each one was to give something of Christ that all could be built up and profit in the Lord from. Men of ambition could never fit into this humble lifestyle.  
Those of us who see what it is that God is after, need to check themselves in His light, to see if the motives of our hearts are pure in Him.  

Jesus didn’t raise Himself up or proclaim Himself as anything, except as the Father spoke or revealed to Him. Without the Father He said that He could do nothing. How much should it also be for us?  
There have been so many in the name of Jesus that have went out on their own and built their own kingdoms. They have done more harm than they could imagine. We need to be much better than that.  

God honors those who will walk humbly with Him. Doing things to try to impress the world or others will never work. You can’t out-world the world. The great majority of Christians today can’t see past their self-centered desires to even know that there is such a thing as an eternal purpose that has existed in God before there was a creation and time.  

Remember: God reveals Himself to the humble and poor in spirit.  

Called to Serve

One of the unfortunate characteristics taken up by some of those that leave the religious system is that, for a number of reasons, they have within them the desire to dominate other believers.

In this article we're not going to get into the reasons, we can do that another time. What we want to do is to center in on what Christ unveiled concerning this issue. And it was an issue.

Remember when James and John asked Jesus if they should call fire down out of heaven on some people? Jesus gave them a strong rebuke and told them that they didn't understand what spirit they were of.

Another time with the two, they had their mother come and ask that one of them be granted to sit at His right hand in the kingdom. 

Here is where Jesus made the simple but gargantuan statement of the difference between the kingdom of God and this world. Here is how He says it in the NIV:

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to be first must be your slave - Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Jesus came to reveal that everything that is of this world has been turned upside down, not He was reversing that.

What's He say? 

The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them - but not so with you. 
They exercise authority over them - not so with you.
If you want to be first - be everyone's slave
The Son of Man didn't come to be served - He came to serve
The Son of Man didn't come to be served - But to give His life

This is the beginning and the end of those who want to dominate; it does not exist in the kingdom of God. I know about those out there who take this and get cute with it. They'll use the same words to do the very opposite of what they say. But these are the foundation of those who are Christ's in this area: not so with you!

That's it! Not so with us. There are no more words to add to or neither are they to be taken away from. 

This is why one of the aspects of the eternal purpose of God is that we all shall know Him from the least to the greatest. The key is that we shall all know Him, that in the end is all that matters for this lifetime and for eternity. 

So when you find those wandering out there looking to be over somebody, just politely send them on their way. Remember the words that John the Baptist spoke: The bride now hears the Bridegroom's voice, now my joy is full. And right after he mentions that, he adds that he must decrease so that Christ could increase. 

That's the only purpose we are to have in this life: to encourage and exhort one another to be in union with Christ directly, not through some false authority that has come between you and God. Christ is the only way to the Father and none other can take you there. Not only in your initial salvation, but also in your continuing walk.

It's all about a Tree

I want to talk about something here that I am not sure I've heard talked about among us outside the religious system. It is my intention that after you read it, you can never be the same again.

What I am talking about is those of you outside the religious system and one of the great dangers that exist which can destroy everything that God intended to do.

What is it? Let's take a look at the first couple of chapters in the book of Genesis.
Here of course you have the creation of all things. You have all of this stuff happening for a period of six days. During this time, you see the dividing of things: such as the waters. You have the emergence of land and eventually: trees and all green things that grow.

In other words there is this fantastic environment that now exists there; waiting. 
Now, you have the creation of man. After he is created God puts him in Eden. He puts Him in the eastern part where God Himself had planted a garden.

Adam names the animals and he finds that he is missing something and so God takes Eve out of his side.

So here we have Adam and Eve in the most fantastic environment that existed on the earth. Actually it was the blending of heaven and earth. A paradise.

God had revealed something fantastic in showing Adam that it wasn't good that he would be alone.

Still here we have him no longer alone; living in the most beautiful place in the universe.

Here is one of the most amazing insights you will ever receive about the simplicity of Christ.

Adam and Eve had everything at this moment of time, and yet they truly had nothing at all!

You see, there were two trees in that Garden that stood before the human race. Two trees that will continually be eaten of until a time in the future.

Now what is the point of all of this? For those of us outside the religious system, we can have all the trappings of paradise, and yet not have anything at all.

You can have all the closeness, unity, fellowship, friendship, and joy together that it may be possible to have on this earth, and still completely miss the whole thing. You can still completely miss the whole reason for your existence.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is all about a tree! Everything was ready to go in Eden. God had revealed His will to Adam and only gave him one restriction, which was of course to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Still, before they rebelled against God's command, there was the potential. 
What is the significance of this moment before their sin? They had everything. Or rather almost everything that could be possibly desired given to them by God.

So do those of us who see that God has always had something much deeper and profound than we are currently seeing in the religious system.

The problem we face is that we can enter into the fellowship of the saints outside the system, have everything that Adam and Eve had, and still never do the most important thing that must be done.

Even though Adam and Eve were temporarily sinless before God, and living in the most bountiful environment that has ever existed, they lacked the only thing that really mattered.

So can we who are outside the system be potentially completed misled about what is truly important to God. Really it is the only thing that is important.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Martha was complaining to Jesus about Mary not helping her serve. Jesus response was that Mary had chosen the only thing that really mattered and He wasn't going to take that away from her.

It is similar to when Paul writes to one of the churches and tells them that he is concerned that in the same way that Adam and Eve were deceived into rejecting the simplicity of being devoted to Christ, they also would be led astray from that same, pure, devotion.

In another place we are told that the disciples were called to be "with" Him.
Jesus also reveals that eternal life is the intimate union, or knowing of the Father and the Son.

Again Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches.

This issue caused almost everyone to leave Christ while He was on the earth.
When He told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, they would no longer walk with Him.

We can be outside the religious system, seem to be doing what the will of the Father is, and still miss the whole thing.

You can look around in your present environment and believe that this is what makes things work. This is the ultimate deception.

Just like Adam and Eve, we can be dwelling in Eden, and yet not do the most important thing, and the truly only necessary thing that is needed.

You see brothers and sisters: it's all about eating from a tree! We just need to be sure it's the right tree!

Endurance

I want to say something about endurance that I haven’t heard mentioned much: Its main application and focus is in relationship to the church.  

While there is application in our everyday individual and family lives, overall the eternal application relates to the people of God with one another.  

When you are able to see it, it is amazing how everything in the scriptures ties into Christ and His church in connection to His eternal purpose.  
Endurance is another of these tremendous things.  

For example, how can we even begin to experience and enter into the eternal purpose of Jesus Christ without having endurance? It can’t be done.  

First we must learn to endure the working of God in our lives.

Then we must learn to endure others. Since fellowship with God is the overall umbrella over His eternal purpose, there isn’t far to go before it extends to one another.  

So to give the purpose of God a chance to work within us together, there must be much fortitude and staying power. If there isn’t, the purpose of God will never be worked out within our lives. It’s that simple.  

Since endurance is Christ, we must continually be in fellowship with Him and the Father so that we may have this vital aspect of Him worked within us. If we don’t we will never stay together long enough to have the eternal purpose worked within us.  

That’s why Paul prayed that the church would be strengthened with all might according to the glorious power of God, to the end that we would be patient and longsuffering toward one another with joyfulness.  

Without this being worked within us, we can never fulfill the purpose of God in the earth.

Don't Despise the Day of Small Things

Small Things

Zechariah 4:9,10 NIV
 
Then the word of the Lord came to me: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
Who despises the day of small things?  
 
We who see the great eternal purpose of God are sometimes overwhelmed by the current condition of the church of Jesus Christ. We share in the burden of the Holy Spirit to show forth Jesus Christ in His church.  

Because we share this great desire we can at times become to a great extent discouraged by what seems the indifference of God Himself concerning these things. As a result we increase our own natural efforts to attempt to bring about the purpose of God in this earth. This has never worked and it never will.  

What is tremendously enlightening about the scriptures above is that a couple of verses before this we are given that oft quoted insight that things will be done not by power or might but by the Spirit of the Lord.  

It gives us real understanding in how God does things within the context that we are dealing with. The context is the temple of God or the church being started and finished. Like we’ve talked about before; a revelation of Christ being the Alpha and Omega.  It is amazing to me the simplicity of what is being talked about here. At this point we have a type of Christ in Zerubbabel laying the foundation of the temple. Of course that means that He laid Himself as the foundation.
 
Now what is enlightening to me is that this is sandwiched between the scriptures concerning that this will be done by the Spirit along with the admonition that we are not to despise the day of small things.
 
Here I want to talk about not despising the day of small things.  

We as Christians, out of a misguided zeal, always want to do “big” things for the Lord. Consequently, we make the big plan, recruit, raise some money, and then want results within a week or two.  While there is nothing wrong with wanting to do the will of God, there is something wrong with the thought that it is going to happen immediately in response to some emotional appeals.  

We are always looking for the next “big” thing rather than to gradually, faithfully grow together into the image of God that is in Christ Jesus.  God is building His temple. Yet He wants things to be done His way. If it is not done His way, He has no qualms about leaving man-created works and contracting things down to a few to start again.  

That’s why it was such a sin when David wanted to count Israel. He wanted to boast about how big things had gotten. He wanted to boast in the natural aspects of things rather than in God. He paid a horrible price for His mistake.  Jesus never attempted to do things to impress men. In the end before He died He had just a small handful of men that were left from His 3 ½ years of ministry. Yet on the cross He without hesitation declared that “it was finished.” He had fulfilled the purpose of God that He had come to the earth to perform.  I want to relate to you here a story about Sam Walton, the man who made Wal-Mart.  

He tells us in his autobiography (Sam Walton – Made in America ) that he never had any big vision of creating some great behemoth that the stores have become. Rather he said that all he ever wanted to do was to take care of the little things daily. When he and the other employees did these things, the results took care of themselves.  

I always wanted to be the best retailer in the world not necessarily the biggest… Here’s the point: the bigger Wal-Mart gets, the more essential it is that we think small. Because that’s how we have become a huge corporation – by not acting like one. Above all, we are small-town merchants, and I can’t tell you how important it is for us to remember – when we puff up our chests and brag about all those huge sales and profits – that they were all made one day at a time, one store at a time, mostly by the hard work, good attitude, and teamwork of all those hourly associates and their store managers, as well as by all those folks in the distribution centers. If we ever get carried away with how important we are because we’re a great big $50 billion chain – instead of one store in Blytheville , Arkansas , or McComb , Mississippi , or Oak Ridge , Tennessee – then you probably can close the book on us.  

Sam Walton, in his chosen field, did not despise the day of small things. As a matter of fact he insisted that the company would be run in no other way.
 
This is why the Lord started things in one city and than move from city to city as a strategy when the church began, eventually unto the uttermost parts of the earth.  
The ways of God are that we are to consistently, continuously, gradually extend the eternal purpose of God, not only throughout the earth but throughout the age. Yes the earth is the whole field of our service, but overall that is a meaningless entity from man’s point of view. Why? We are made of flesh and blood.  We have these earthen vessels that we dwell in. That means that we must think locally, even though we recognize that Jesus wants to fill the whole earth with Himself.

Jesus recognized the limitations of dwelling in His earthly body. That is why He tells us about His desire to get past the baptism that He was to be baptized with so that the era of the Spirit could begin.  

Why is this so important? When you think in terms of the whole earth it is so easy to do nothing. It is so easy to flee responsibility. The great majority of Christians without a doubt are to live and act locally. This is the secret of not despising small things.  

Yes we are part of something much bigger than ourselves individually and corporately. Yes we are part of something much bigger than the neighborhoods we live in. It’s like when you hear someone in the world that is boasted about being a citizen of the world. What is usually meant is that they are a citizen of nothing; committed to nowhere and nobody.  The bride of Christ as she is revealed coming down out of heaven is great to behold. That is something big. That is the fulfilment of the eternal purpose of God being manifest in the earth. It encompasses all generations and all believers that will ever live.  

Think about the context of what happened here though. This is talked about at the end of a letter that John has written to who? Yes, a number of local churches.  
In the day to day outworking of our faith we do need to see the great fulfilment of God’s eternal purpose. That is truly something that is huge. This is shown forth by the measurements that are taken of its size.  

One of the reasons this is revealed to us is that our steady faithfulness to God in the daily “little” things, is eventually rewarded with the satisfaction of God’s heart.  We must grow into faithfulness in the little things, whether it is in our daily vocations, marriages, child-raising, business dealings, fellowship with one another; amidst the myriad of things that we encounter in the environment that we may find ourselves in.  

So not only are we not to despise the days of small things, rather we are to embrace them as a way of life.

Straight Talk to the Church: The Nature of Risk

When it comes to Jesus Christ and His church, there is an element that we need to examine a little closer than usual.
 
Because of the nature of salvation, we definitely can know that when we die we will always be with the Lord. In this area of our lives there is no risk. Jesus took that all upon Himself.  

Now let’s talk a little about what risk in general is, and then we will apply it to our relationship with Christ and one another.  

Risk, in a nutshell, is partaking in something that gives us absolutely no guarantee. Yet, the prize at the end, if we reach it, makes the journey and potential temporary failure worth it.  

We think of Abraham and how he believed what God had told him; yet he saw these things far off into the future. He knew that even though he believed, he would never see the city of God while he was on the earth. Yet he responded in faith and walked the physical land that God had promised him.
 
Did Abraham have any guarantees in his lifetime? Absolutely none. All he knew is that he was promised an heir that would continue on his natural lineage and also an heir that would continue on the spiritual lineage.  

David also in being anointed king, waited and did nothing to bring about what he knew was what God had said he was to be. In faith he waited upon the Lord and eventually received his promise from God.  

While he was going through all of his struggles he had no guarantee except what God had told him. Yet amidst all of this he hungered to build the house of God.  
This is the attitude and way of life that we must be willing to live. Yes we know that God is building his people into something after His own heart. We know that the city that Abraham saw began with the physical coming of Jesus. Yet Jesus, other than a few close followers, never saw the fulness of His eternal purpose worked out while He was on the earth.  
He had no guarantee while He was alive that all of this would happen. Yet He also saw the end afar off and rejoiced over it.  

So what do I mean about there being no guarantee. From what I have been writing there seems to be complete guarantee about where things will end up.  

The key is to look at it from the point of view of our time we are on the earth. In this we have no guarantee of how far things will go or what will be formed of the purpose of God within us.  

This is by Christ’s design. Just like we are told that the Old Testament saints weren’t complete without us, so it is from generation to generation. We are to be wise to what Christ is doing in our generation and be faithful in it. Then we are to pass it to faithful ones of the next generation to keep things growing.  

The reason why this is, is to show all of us that we can’t make it without one another. We stand on the shoulders of giants of the faith that have lived throughout the centuries. We are all here because they were there. It will take the entire span of time that is allotted us by the Father to bring things to the fulfillment He wants.  

Knowing this should be humbling and take a huge burden off of us. We only have to serve God in our generation; we can do no more than that. From this we can feel released and enjoy the simplicity of our devotion to Christ as we walk deeper and deeper into Him.  

So why talk about risk? Again, we have no guarantee of how far we will go in our lifetimes. We are to simply walk in faith, hope, and love in relationship to our God, fellowshipping with Him and each other in spirit and truth.
 
As we forsake the systems that have been made throughout the centuries and join ourselves to one another outside of these props and crutches, we have no guarantee of how things will work out in our lifetimes. That can be scary and exhilarating at the same time.  

What an opportunity to think that we can live a life pleasing to God and yet have no inkling of where things will end up at the conclusion of our life on this earth. Whether you know it or not, it is risk.

But what a risk that we can ‘waste’ our lives for something that has eternal implications. Now that is something worth pursuing.

Knowing The Lord

by Bill Heroman


A teenager went to his dad one day and said, “Dad, can you show me how to drive The Car?”

Caught off guard by this, the dad felt a bit embarrassed to realize they’d never had this conversation. But he sat up straight, turned to the boy and said, “Son, I’d be delighted to tell you all about The Car. What would you most like to know?”

The boy said, “Well, mostly, I'd really like to learn how to drive The Car.”

“Of course, of course. Son, I’m so glad that you’ve come to this day. I can tell you all about driving The Car. I learned when I was your age from our old Youth Mechanic, and now it’s really an honor to get to teach you.”

The boy began to feel hope and excitement, thinking, This is it, I’ll be driving soon!

The dad stood up, went to the coffee table, and picked up his leather-bound, monogrammed Driver’s Manual with the gold-foil pages. “It’s Sunday anyway, son. Let’s go to the Garage!”

The boy started to protest, “But I don’t want to go to the garage, dad. I want to drive The Car.”

The dad grinned, “The best way to learn about The Car is to be in the Garage, son!” He grew more comfortable as he remembered this simple fact. He liked feeling like he was able to give his son some right answers.

Grudgingly, the boy agreed. “But dad, after the garage, do you promise you will show me how to drive The Car?”

The dad looked blank again. “Oh, sure, son. Of course. Now let’s go hear the Mechanic!”

They left the house together, the son full of hope, the dad with his Manual.

Then they walked all fifteen blocks to the Garage, through empty streets!

In the empty parking lot, they said hello to friends who were also walking to the Garage, holding their Manuals. One man called out, “Looks like Junior’s ready to grow up and find The Car! Good for you, Junior! Glad you’re finally smart enough to bring yourself in for service! Now, don’t forget to make your dad get you a Manual, and make sure you read it every day!”

But Junior felt confused. He whispered to his dad, “What does coming in for service and reading the manual have to do with actually driving…”

“Shush! We’re walking into the Garage!” his dad said.

Silently, they found their seats while the Garage Band was starting up. For a while, everyone sang some great songs about how much they all liked to drive. Then it was time for the Mechanic to speak. It was a warm, encouraging message, about how some people’s cars are different colors and that no color car was better than another. “The important thing,” the Mechanic said, “Is that you’re all trying as hard as you can to be courteous drivers!”

“But nobody drove here this morning,” thought Junior. Still, everyone else was nodding and calling out “That’s right!” so he figured he’d leave it alone. But it didn’t help him feel any less confused.

Just then, Junior looked behind him and saw, way in the back row, a man pulling something shiny out of his pocket. But no one else seemed to see it. It was on a string, and the man swung it around his hand until it made a clinking noise against his watch. But no one else seemed to hear it. (The Mechanic was now talking about minimum legal liability in the state of Texas.)

The man with the shiny thing turned to go, just as the service was ending. Junior had a strange feeling as if he wanted to follow.

Just then his dad said, “Wasn’t that great?”

Junior just looked at his dad, more confused than ever. “Dad”, he said, “Doesn’t anyone here ever actually drive The Car?”

“What are you talking about? We just DID!” Exclaimed the dad,” but inside, he was thinking, Maybe he missed it. Well, it takes time before people can see the truth about The Car. I remember it sure took me a while. Man, was I confused for a while, too!

Then Junior’s dad said, “Hey. Come with me to Car School. There’s a guest speaker today who’s going to be talking about two-way left-turn channelization lanes, which are everywhere, when you start to notice them! Or maybe you’d want to go in room 425, where they’ve been doing a series on the great Automakers of History, who pioneered what we believe about The Car. Does that sound good?”

Junior wasn’t sure. “I really just want to know one thing, dad.”

“Okay. What is that?”

Junior felt unimportant as well as mute, but repeated himself. “I’d like to learn how to drive The Car!”

His dad looked at him like he’d just asked for the moon or a pink pterodactyl. After a moment, he said, “Wait here, son. Let me go talk to the Mechanic.”

As his dad made his way through the greeting line, Junior wandered over to a bulletin board and began reading it, to pass the time. There was one article about giving money to build a new, larger Garage with more seating. There were notices of the Car School classes being offered, and a news clipping about last summer when the Mechanic went on a Mission to Africa to share the good news about The Car with people there, “to rescue them from life in the slow lane”!

An old lady saw Junior and walked up to him. “Isn’t it wonderful?” she said, “You know those people had never even heard about The Car over there. I think it’s so exciting!”

Junior was too single minded to be bothered by anything. He decided to ask her what he really wanted to know.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Did you drive here this morning?”

The old lady looked surprised and a bit offended. Then she smiled and laughed at him in a condescending way and said, “Of course I did, young man. I drive all the time. You do know The Car is inside your heart, don’t you?” Then she looked around. “Oh, excuse me, I see my good friend. Goodbye.”

Junior was stunned. And still confused. But he was starting to suspect that nobody in this place was going to be able to help him actually learn to drive The Car.

Just then Junior’s dad found him again. “Junior, good news. I talked to the Mechanic about what you said. It’s kind of advanced, and I wasn’t sure you were ready for this yet, but the Mechanic said you can come to a special class he’s teaching today about Driving The Car.”

Finally, the words he’d been longing to hear! Someone was going to talk about How to actually Drive The Car! Junior was surprised at that moment to feel his own hope and excitement mixed with a guarded sense of skepticism. Maybe the Mechanic was saving the “good stuff” for the inner circle – which would explain why he didn’t talk about it during his lecture – but he couldn’t escape the feeling there was something a little too slick about the Mechanic. Like maybe no one really understood how The Car even worked, and he was just coming up with fancy ways to tell them why it was really alright.

Junior pushed these skeptical thoughts aside, feeling guilty for doubting his dad and the important Mechanic. He reached again for the hope deep inside him, and he clung to it.

In Car School, everyone sat in rows of chairs while the Mechanic began to lecture again. He started talking about all the great daredevils of history who made it their ambition and goal to really, truly Drive The Car! He talked about how hard they had to work for it, and how much they had to want it, and how they spent their lives to uncover the secret of Driving The Car… the secret, he said, that they had now left for the rest of us to learn from.

Again, Junior dared to hope. His mouth went a little dry.

Just then, a glint of something caught Junior’s eye. He saw the man with the shiny thing again. The man was holding the shiny thing in his fingers, fiddling with it like a pencil, though it was smaller than a pencil. As it moved, it sent small flashes of light across the room… but no one else seemed to notice.

“Do you want to drive The Car?” The Mechanic had moved from the podium and was looking into the rows of chairs, right at Junior.

Junior couldn’t answer. He nodded, aware that part of him was afraid to find out what the Mechanic was about to tell them. Junior was afraid to find out one more thing that just wouldn’t seem right, or sound like it worked.

The Mechanic’s voice was building with passion and excitement. “The main thing you all need to know today, if you want to truly Drive The Car, is you need to understand that The Car is inside you! And The Car has also been placed inside the most precious gift ever given to human beings who want to Drive! That’s right! The Car Itself, has placed Itself, inside the Manual!!!”

Junior blinked, and looked around. Everyone else seemed excited. He looked for the man with the shiny thing and saw him, holding a fist tightly closed in his lap. Looking calm. Oddly, showing no expression whatsoever.

The Mechanic kept on. “That’s right, I’m telling you – The Car is IN The Manual! So you might say that Reading The Manual is a lot like Driving the Car!”

The Right-On’s and Oh Yeah’s from the audience were getting louder. Again Junior glanced at the other man in the room who wasn’t responding at all.

The Mechanic went on. “As a matter of fact, I have it by Divine Revelation that I can tell you this Great Mystery, that all the Mystic Car Drivers of history have used to learn how to Drive The Car in their own private lives… and here is the Great Secret!”

Junior was totally bracing himself.

“The secret,” said the Mechanic, “To Driving the Car.” (Then he paused for dramatic effect.) “Is to Read the Manual! That’s Right! Reading the Manual is the secret to Driving The Car!!!”

Junior was stunned. A part of him was not really shocked, but a part of him was crushed. He noticed one man in the room actually crying. Everyone else seemed to be very emotional about this – except for the man at the end of the row, by the door. Junior noticed he had just slipped out.

Everyone was standing up now, thanking and congratulating the Mechanic on a great lesson with such a positive, helpful, encouraging message in it. Junior’s dad looked at him and asked, “Well?”

Junior just said, “I’ve gotta go to the bathroom dad.”

“Are you alright, son? I know it’s a lot to take in. Would you like to go read my manual outside by yourself?”

“No, dad. I just need some air.” Then he left. Quickly.

The dad watched his boy leave, while a friend came and put his hand on his shoulder. “I guess it doesn’t happen all at once for some people, does it?” Junior’s dad said.

Outside in the fresh air, Junior’s eyes were adjusting to the light as he looked out toward the empty parking lot. Then he saw it again! The glint! The man with the shiny thing was walking alone through the lot.

Junior started running after the man – for no real reason other than one last, wild hope.

He caught up. “Excuse me,” said Junior, panting. And the man turned around.

“I wanted to ask you – I mean, I was wondering – that is…” and the whole thing burst out of him. “I came here because I asked my dad to show me how to drive The Car this morning and all he’s done is talk about his Manual and listen to this Mechanic and I saw you holding something I’ve never seen before and you just look different so I had to come out here and just ask…”

“Ask me what?” said the man.

Junior looked around himself. There was no one and nothing around them for a hundred of yards. He built up his courage again.

“Um… do you know how to drive The Car?”

The man smiled at Junior with his whole wrinkled face, with eyes that shone like they'd been patiently waiting for someone to ask that question for too many years.

“Why yes, I do.” Then he paused. “Is that all you wanted to ask me?”

Junior thought a moment and said, “No. I mean… can you – will you – show me how to drive The Car too?” And hope began to pound in his chest once again.

The man pulled the shiny thing out of his pocket again. It glinted in the light, and it lit up Junior’s eyes in return. The man said, “Would you like one of these?” And he reached in his pocket again, and pulled out another shiny thing! Junior reached for the small object, took it in his hand, and just as he was about to ask what do I do with it he saw… something!

All of a sudden, where it hadn’t been before, something large and beautiful just appeared right next to where they both were standing.

“What is THAT???!!!” shouted Junior.

“Oh, so you see it now? That’s fantastic!” The man was laughing out loud and shouting with joy! (The people back near the garage didn’t seem to notice – but suddenly, Junior had forgotten to notice them, too.)

Junior was practically crying. I’ve never actually seen… it’s so beautiful… is it really true that we can… oh, I just almost can’t even believe that we could…”

“Would you like to go for a ride?”

Junior’s jaw dropped. He managed to say, “YES!”

So the man said, “Hop in!”

And Junior said, “Hop? How? Where? You mean we can go IN The Car?”

The man smiled again, crying a little himself now.

“Here. Look.”

“I’ll show you.”

The man put the shiny thing into the side of the large thing. He worked it, and something opened. He removed it, closed the thing, and let Junior try.

It took Junior a few tries to feel like a natural. Just turning the shiny thing, and opening the other thing. "That's called a 'handle'," the man told him.

The man was patient. He didn't fuss. He didn't use a lot of words. Junior was exploring The Car. And the rest of the world just faded away.

The rest of the day was like that. Actually, the rest of Junior's life.

Junior never did manage to explain to his dad why he wasn't interested in the Garage anymore. He did read the manual every once in a while, but it was totally different. They couldn't talk about it. After a while, his dad stopped asking.

But Junior continued to go spend time with the man and his new group of friends. They did a lot of driving together. Somehow, oddly, no one ever noticed them.

Over time, the friends learned all sorts of things together about How to Drive The Car. Wonderful Things. Amazing Things. Things I could tell you about, if there were only words for such things, in our language. Or if it were possible to actually communicate about them in a book. But I can tell you this much:

They explored The Car. They practiced Driving. And they Knew. Over time, more and more, they found they deeply Knew.

How.
To.
Drive.
The Car!

*---------------------------------------*

So that's my story! May you all have eyes to see and a heart to find some people who not only say that they Know, but who can actually Show. How. To Know.

Not ideas, or books, or feelings, or thinkings, or fancy explanations of things that just don't ever seem to work out.

But actually, simply, purely...

Jesus Christ.
===============================================
Bill adds:

I live in this neighborhood with 17 others. We meet on the street, in our yards, in our homes. We remind each other that Jesus Christ IS our daily life... TOGETHER!
Bill has two good blogs you can read here:
The Jesus Story
and
Hero Bill

Why Union with Christ is Resisted

Throughout all of Christian history the reality of entering into a deep fellowship with Jesus Christ has been resisted.
 
There are several reasons why this has been the case. I will talk about two of the major reasons here.  

The first and foremost reason is that men have always wanted to interrupt the role of Jesus Himself. How is this done? They take roles upon themselves of hearing God for others. The modern-day practice of specialized priesthoods and pastorates are the prime examples of this.  

We are taught that we must be “fed” for our entire lives or that God has appointed some type of professional hierarchy that He exclusively delivers His will through. This of course is total nonsense.  

While there can be some temporary instruction that lays a foundation in the lives of believers, this is to be done only occasionally and with great care. Most of us can’t even relate to this concept. We have been brainwashed into believing that somebody can and should hear and relate to God on our behalf.  

The reason why this has been able to continue on is because many do not want to take upon themselves the personal and corporate responsibility of fellowshipping directly with God.  

Now along with this, those who have taken these roles upon themselves are forever telling us that we can’t make it without them. I want to tell you that we can. These people simply apply more importance to themselves than God or the scriptures do. Read the story. Where do you even find such a thing as a "specialized" priesthood in the New Testament or a functioning pastor? Even though the word pastor is used once in the New Testament, the example of what that is, isn’t even shown.

We have a bunch of apostles, some prophets and teachers, and one evangelist, yet in our modern-day church practices we emphasize the pastor and evangelist and teacher, while leaving out the most needed offices in the church today.  So the first reason is that there is a misconception of what the church really is. Those who know what the church is meant to be will never allow these kinds of things to continue.  

Now the second reason that union with Christ is resisted is because people have a natural desire to build everything into a system. While this is human nature, it isn’t Christ’s nature.  As a matter of fact, as you hunger after and pursue the presence of God in your life, you will find that systemization is really a substitute for not knowing God. 

Believers know that there are things that God encourages us to do. Yet if there is not a continuous fellowship with Christ and the Father, there will always, and I do mean always, be a push to organize and institutionalize. You will not be able to help it. It will just begin to happen. Whenever there is a vacuum, something will definitely fill it.  

Just like Jesus mentions when He cast out a devil and nothing fills that void, more than were originally within someone return, and it is worse than before. This is the principle of there never really being a vacuum. We will have to relate to something in a created world.  

The strange, bizarre thing about systems is that they can exist without life at all. As a matter of fact, feeding the system becomes the purpose of those that are part of it. If the system were to collapse, those in it would believe that everything in their life was devastated. This is the power and destructive nature of systems.  
In reality, a system begins to form when fellowship and union with Christ begins to stop. If there is no life of God in the midst of God’s people then there can be no pursuit of His eternal purpose.  

What is truly amazing is that once the presence of God isn’t valued, and a system begins to take shape, then any challenge to the system is seen as wicked and evil. The life of God and presence of God becomes the systems enemy. This is a true assessment. Nothing can live in a vacuum. Either we will seek the presence and fellowship of God or it will be replaced with something else. This is always the choice that is before us. This is the choice now set before you.  

So in conclusion, ambitious people attempt to take upon themselves roles meant for only Christ. Like John the Baptist, we all must deny ourselves and decrease that Christ may increase. Let’s allow ourselves to become smaller that He may be larger in our lives.  

Then let us, with all our might, pursue the abiding, continuous, fellowship and presence of God in our lives. This is the one true weapon against the natural inclination and disaster of systematizing the church of Jesus Christ. Do these things and we will begin to see who this magnificent Christ truly is.

Corporate Union with Christ

This is a hard topic to talk about because the great majority of Christians aren’t aware of the depths that one can enter into in relationship to the presence of God. So if you aren’t aware of it individually, it is even harder to talk about the corporate nature of it. Yet we’ll give it a try.  

First of all, when I talk about corporate I am not referring to sitting in those buildings people go to once a week. That is about as far away from corporate as you can get.  

No, I am talking about being one together in the pursuit of the presence of God in our lives on a continual basis, while living in close proximity to one another to facilitate it.

Of course the first step is to desire and pursue a deep, intimate relationship with Christ individually, as it is impossible to enter in corporately without the hunger and desire individually first. Again, one cannot exist without the other!  

Yet the purpose of entering into the presence of God individually is never an end in and of itself; being together in it - that’s the end that God has in mind.  

This reminds me of a movie I saw one time where the main character was seeking spiritual enlightenment. He eventually goes by himself up onto a mountaintop and reads spiritual books and contemplates. One day he gets some insight and starts to laugh to himself. He then takes the book he is reading and starts tearing the pages out and putting them in a fire.

When he comes down from the mountain and talks to his mentor, the mentor asks him what he learned when he was up there. His response was that it was easy to be a holy man on a mountain.

In other words, seeking God by yourself only, is nothing in comparison to doing it individually, and than together with others. That is the part that is harder than the other and more in tune with God’s ultimate purpose.

Seeking God by yourself is not enough. We must first seek Him and then together seek and enter into His presence.

This is what truly being the church is all about. Together we pursue his awesome presence and daily dwell in Him and He in us. That’s what God’s desire was from before the foundation of the world. What we must be careful of, as I have mentioned in another article, is to not make this our great disconnect!  

God’s heart and purpose has always been to have a corporate counterpart; a many-membered body, a woman.  

In other words, this is something to be lived out in reality in our lives. It is not something that you read about and intellectually agree with and then go about doing things the same way as always. This is what it means to be a Christian. That’s why the believers at Antioch were originally mocked, because they so much pursued Him in this way that they were deridingly called “Christians,” which means that they were Christ centered.  

Like I said, this is what it really means to take the word Christian upon yourself individually and corporately. It means that our lives are lived in His presence moment by moment; continuously on. That’s the great corporate endeavor we are called to participate in. That’s the heart cry of God.  

What is Mysticism?

One of the problems of talking about what has become called “Mysticism” is that people tend to immediately assume that it concerns something that cannot be known by the everyday believer in Christ. The word itself implies something that is hidden and almost impossible to comprehend. While I think that the word is an unfortunate one in reference to what we are going to discuss, it is the one that has been used throughout the centuries, so we will use it for our purposes and bring the mystery out of it.  

What has been called mysticism is nothing more than believers throughout history that have been dissatisfied with their walk with the Lord, and as a result begin a pursuit of Him that brings them into deeper union and closeness and intimacy with their Lord.  

While this is simplicity in itself, it also leads into the endless depths that exist in Jesus Christ.  

The great purpose of God is that He wanted to share the fellowship of the Godhead with man that He created in His image. That was the great motivating factor that resulted in creation of man. Because God is love, it was impossible to keep His greatness and love to Himself. The problem is that most Christians have no idea that we can enter into this fellowship on a consistent, non-stop basis.

This is the great goal of what has been labeled mysticism; to learn to dwell in the presence of God endlessly no matter where you are or what you are doing in life. 

It is here that everything dims before the majesty and unspeakable greatness of Christ. It is here that all things melt before His presence as we walk in fellowship with Him.  

And as we dwell in His presence, we truly learn to grow from glory to glory, changed as we simply center our beings in Him and as Jesus gave us by example: to do what the Father did and speak what the Father spoke and share in that together.  

When we truly hunger after this privilege we have been offered from God, we will realize that heaven truly has come to the earth in the presence of Christ; both individiually and corporately. 

The Great Disconnect and Christ

In the area of communion with Christ and close experiential union in our relationship with Him, there arises an important issue that must be addressed that affects all of us that know Christ. I call it the “great disconnect.”  

What do I mean by that?

For example, let’s look at the testimony of Jesus concerning the religious leaders when He was upon the earth. He exhorts the crowd that unless their righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees, they wouldn’t enter the kingdom of God. This is a disconnect. The Pharisees intellectually knew the right things to say - Jesus Himself tells the crowds to do what they say but not to do what they do – yet He rips into their hypocrisy.  

In the area of union with Christ and knowing God, we have developed this same unfortunate lifestyle. We read about it, yet we never enter into it. I don’t care how much you may know what the scriptures teach, you must then do what it says. In the case of entering into an in-depth, continuous fellowship with Christ, we are exhorted to do it but don’t enter into it. This is a disconnect.  

The great majority of us don’t even comprehend that there is this fantastic desire by God to be in continual communion with us.

In truth, He is of course always with us. Yet we don’t participate in this constant reality. Rather we are content to take an occasional moment to say a little prayer or spend a little time with Him. This is far from what He truly desires for us.  

When Jesus was on the earth, He revealed to us that He never did anything without the Father’s okay; neither did He speak anything unless the Father spoke it. This necessitated a continual union and awareness of the Father to be able to know what His will was at any given moment. This was given to us as an example of how we are to live.  

Remember the scripture that speaks to us of praying without ceasing? This involves the same concept in reference to God’s expectations of us.  This prayer is obviously speaking of moment by moment awareness of the presence of God with us. How else can we follow the example that Jesus set before us to live in? 

In another place Jesus tells us about what eternal life really is. He reveals that eternal life is knowing the Father and His son Jesus Christ. That was the entire purpose of Jesus coming to earth that we may once again enter into this fellowship with Him unhindered and through the veil that He opened up for us again into the presence of the Father.  

That’s why at His death the veil rent in two. Access to the Father through Christ was now available to all those who believed on Jesus. We have no need of intermediaries, for all of us are to know Him from the least to the greatest.  

The problem is that all of this sounds good except very few enter into this on a continuous basis. This is the greatest disconnect of all. One of Paul’s great prayers was that he might know Him. This was an experiential cry, not a desire to have some intellectual understanding of Christ. Again, even the Pharisees had that. That’s why we are even told that even the demons believe. That doesn’t do them any good.  

We must hunger to cross the threshold into this fantastic purpose and offer of God to enter into this extraordinary union with Him.  

It’s unfortunate that history has labeled this purpose and desire as “mysticism.” It attempts to make those who pursue this as weird or strange and not right in some way.  The truth is that this is the hunger of God’s heart from before time to have a people to be in union and intimacy with. To say that this is to be replaced by some type of special person hearing or relating to God on your behalf has been devastating to the church for centuries.  

This is the age of the reality that is in Christ. We no longer relate to types or symbols or any intermediary between God and man except for Jesus Christ. He is no respecter of persons and He will gladly encircle you with His presence and union if you simply ask Him.  

To not do this is the greatest disconnect of all.

The Bridegroom and the Bride

The fabulous reality of Christ being the bridegroom reveals to us the passion of God for His people. I want to focus on the main aspect of this: His union with the bride!  

John the Baptist tells us that he rejoiced that he heard the voice of the bridegroom. Before that he reveals that the bride is for the bridegroom. This speaks of nothing else than the union of Christ with His people; an intimate, passionate union that the church over the centuries has neglected.  

It has to be considered extremely important that the one chosen to testify that Jesus was the Christ, from the beginning revealed Him as the bridegroom, and that the bride was for Him.  

The bride of Christ belongs to only Christ and no other. He is jealous for her. He died for her. Yet most substitute something else for the bride to present unto Christ.  

We will do well to remember this: The bride is for Christ, the bridegroom.  
What is the significance of this? It’s the union of Christ and the bride that is significant. Without this, the mention of a bride and bridegroom is without meaning.  

When Christ died and the veil was rent in two, access to God was of course reinstated to those who believed on Him. Then as a consequence of belief, the Spirit was sent by Christ to dwell within all of those who believe on Him. 

Most of us don’t comprehend what this truly means to us. It is an offer of intimacy with Christ beyond any of our comprehension. It is an offer to eat and drink of Him that was passed up at the beginning of creation, but now was offered again to all of those who were hungry and thirsty.  

While the Spirit of God dwells within every believer, few take the journey of intimate fellowship and union with the bridegroom. And yet there is more to it than that. Not only are we to experience this individually, we are much more importantly to experience it corporately.  

Yet, the very entering into this journey causes problems immediately. The great majority of things that we see in the organized church begin to cause problems with that part of us that hungers for Christ and Christ alone.  

That’s why those of us that have been given the opportunity to see these things, will continually live out these things outside of any man-made system.  

There is a love relationship that exists between Christ and His church. No man, or system created by man, can be allowed to come between the Lord and His bride. That’s why we show forth history and where a lot of the practices of the church have come from so that you can see clearly what the purpose of God is in the earth. Now it is hidden in many ways because of the choice of many to substitute something else in the brides’ place. This is a tragedy that must be turned from.  

Are you part of the living bride of Christ outside of any system and carnal control of men? Are you yearning and hungering after Christ and Christ alone? Do you desire to be part of something bigger than yourself that has been in the heart of God from before the beginning of creation? If you can answer yes to these questions, than you may truly be ready for the adventure and exploration of a lifetime. I hope to meet you on this journey.