One of the more vital elements of Christ and His people that we need a revelation of is what it means for Christians to interact with one another. I don't mean in some general, surfacy communication, but sharing life together on a daily basis.
This is what has been the underlying impetus behind those who are calling for a change in the practices of Christianity, while maintaining the sound doctrines associated with it.
Many have become heretical in their understanding and communication, as they don't have a revelation of changing the practices of Christianity while maintaining the truths about Christ.
Even so, that doesn't mean we should abandon the pursuit of body life outside the institutional church system, as there is still a driving force that comes from the Holy Spirit that pushes us toward being "one to another," as the Holy Scriptures mention many times.
The key thing is we must first see the value of sharing life together outside of the walls of a building. It's not like some people think, where it is assumed it removes any type of responsibility and accountability for and to one another. Rather it is more demanding in practical outworking, as our Christian faith is challenged to become a reality amongst believers.
Anyone can go to a building and hide or get lost among people they no little about or fellowship with seldom, if ever. But to share the life of Christ together consistently is much harder, but also provides the environment where God can do what He wants with His people - both individually and corporately.
If there is no interaction between believers, how do we watch over one another, how do we build up one another, how do we practically love one another, taking it past very limited and potentially deceptive sentimentality, and bringing it into a love that is giving of Christ to one another.
This is a major problem today with those that have seen a glimpse of what Christ is after, but get bogged down in feelings and emotions, rather than the type of love that can cost everything. That's why there is so much heresy among those that have left the institutional church. They build their lives and doctrine around a sentimental acceptance which has nothing to do with the love of Christ, but everything to do with creating God in their own image. Much of the so-called emergent church is built on that shifting foundation, which will eventually crumble, as it isn't a foundation at all, but a humanistic, liberal, progressive infiltration of what God desires.
That is of course the methodology of the god of this world, who always offers an alternative to what it is God is trying to do in order to stop it or confuse those wanting to enter into something deeper in Christ.
God isn't after new, hip doctrine in order to create a new "Christianity," He is after what He has always been after: a people that embrace and show forth who Jesus Christ is to many in the world that long to see and know Him. It is of course also to show invisible powers who Jesus Christ is as well.
The point is in order to participate in the people of God in the way the Scriptures reveal, there must be a sharing of Christ through consistent, daily interaction. It is there we must seek wisdom from God on the best and most efficient way to work that out.
Showing posts with label Body Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Body Life. Show all posts
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Saturday, December 29, 2012
What would followers of Christ look like that were committed to Him and one another fully on a daily basis? First there would have to be the vertical relationship of each believer with Jesus Christ, and from their that individual experience would flow over to one another to reveal who Jesus Christ is to one another and the world.
This is why throughout the New Testament the phrase one to another is used so much. It was simply a part of who the people of Jesus Christ were. It was impossible not to share life together because of the very real experience they had with Christ Himself, which is impossible to hold in. That is part of what it means when the scriptures say out of our innermost beings will flow rivers of living water. Water flows, and no matter what is in its way it finds a way around it to reach its destination.
So when Jesus Christ is birthed within individuals, and those individuals die to themselves, then His life predominates and reaches out to others with that same life within them. In other words, fellowship based upon Christ begins to emerge, which is what the people of God were created for.
In this article I'm not going to get into all the endless possibilities that can come forth from that experience, just that it is a major part of what the followers of Jesus Christ are all meant to experience. We need to first see that before anything else as far as being part of something larger than our individuality.
To truly give one's life to Christ is an act of dying to self. And if we die to ourselves, it'll truly bring forth many more brothers and sisters to be "one to another."
Having said that, Jesus isn't just bringing a people together to form a social club or only enjoy hanging out together with no purpose. After all, there is an eternal purpose, and the final aspect of that purpose of God is that we are conformed to the image of His son, Jesus Christ. It is nothing less than that, and it is what the Holy Spirit within us lives and works for and towards relentlessly.
The major means of achieving that end, besides the Spirit within those who are truly born from above, is for the overflow of that Spirit to interact with those people who are committed to one another in Christ on a daily basis.
That means we'll respond to a living situation within people who are living out a life for Christ. So if someone is in need, the people of God who have the means will helps supply that for them; if there are people that are down, those who are encouragers will reach out and comfort and lift them up; for those struggling with sin, someone in the body will challenge them, and maybe rebuke them in order to get them back on the right path. Again, I don't want to attempt to cover the potentially thousands of interactions that could happen in a day or two with those who share the life of Christ together, as it would take volumes of books and thousands of articles just to unveil small portions of those things if they could even be found out and known.
The point is that Jesus Christ living in us pushes and draws us to one another in a way that an endless amount of human action towards and with one another happens in response to living situations we encounter individually and together daily.
It is those interactions that work to build us up into the full knowledge of Christ and solidifies our lives into becoming a temple for the Lord to fill; a home He is welcome in.
This is why the warped and pathetic idea that a building, and edifice, is a "church" is such a false and anemic idea. It hinders the work of God rather than helps it, and gets in the way of that which Christ really has called us to be and do.
Anything that gets in the way of daily life together in Christ needs to be removed so Christ can have His way with us. The first step is to die to ourselves, and from there any practical element that could be hindering the purpose of Jesus Christ can be dealt with.
If we only deal with the outward, we really never get to the core of what it is that caused Christianity to become what it is today, which is nothing like we see in the Holy Scriptures.
So to meet and homes or live close together will mean nothing if there is not a deep work of the cross in our lives and a response to the life of Christ in one another.
That means if we aren't changing into the image of Christ, we are only moving the chairs on the deck of the Titanic while is sinks into the ocean.
Many people have taken steps to leave the institutional and bureaucratic "church," only to have nothing in their lives change in regard to Jesus Christ. It's impossible to be close with one another and not have an influence in one another's lives if we're committed to the end result of the eternal purpose of God to be conformed to the image of Christ.
As a matter of fact we'll quietly grown within when we see each other missing the mark of Jesus Christ, and we'll pray and seek God for the hearts of one another to open to that to happen, while also taking the steps to share with one another those things that need to be changed.
We can't make it in Christ alone; we need one another. How can we grow into the very likeness of the man Jesus Christ if we aren't receiving the various aspects of Him as found in His body? The answer is - we can't. All of us sharing life together are what makes that a possibility. Anything short of that will hinder and frustrate the purpose of God of having a people that express His very person hood (not His deity which is separate from us).
Jesus Christ is seeking a people willing to walk this walk and not just intellectually agree with it. Doing it is doing it. Talking about or agreeing with it isn't doing it.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Eph. 4:16 - From Him (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Continuing on with the complimentary lifestyle that emerges from being one body but many parts, let's look at this verse to see how it simply operates in practicality.
First of all note "From Him," which determines the rest of the practical outworking of the body. For each part to properly do its work, we must be in Him to receive from Him. By in Him I mean in constant union with Christ so we can than bring forth His life to others in the body.
The next part telling us that the body is joined and held together by supporting ligaments because each part is doing its work. Here again we have the complmentary aspect of being one body but many parts.
Again, there can be no body if the parts aren't operating, as with a real, physical body it would shut down and either be sick or eventually die if the parts aren't doing what they're meant to do.
Remember that the end of the eternal purpose of God is to be all in all. This is meant to be seen in the physical world we live in through the body of Christ. This will never happen unless the people of God are in fellowship with Christ, and from there share the things Christ is doing in them with others in the church when they meet together.
Of course this goes beyond meetings to every aspect of life, as many things are practical and not only sharing through talking in meetings.
But the reason why a people are held together is because of this rich variety of sharing of things with one another which creates a type of bond that is eternal. This is why I say that there must be a strong individual relationship and connection with the Lord in order for the corporate body of Christ to emerge.
The body of Christ isn't a glob, but a conglomeration of many parts functioning in a way that makes the whole of Christ be seen. At least that's the goal of the Lord in living within us.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
Continuing on with the complimentary lifestyle that emerges from being one body but many parts, let's look at this verse to see how it simply operates in practicality.
First of all note "From Him," which determines the rest of the practical outworking of the body. For each part to properly do its work, we must be in Him to receive from Him. By in Him I mean in constant union with Christ so we can than bring forth His life to others in the body.
The next part telling us that the body is joined and held together by supporting ligaments because each part is doing its work. Here again we have the complmentary aspect of being one body but many parts.
Again, there can be no body if the parts aren't operating, as with a real, physical body it would shut down and either be sick or eventually die if the parts aren't doing what they're meant to do.
Remember that the end of the eternal purpose of God is to be all in all. This is meant to be seen in the physical world we live in through the body of Christ. This will never happen unless the people of God are in fellowship with Christ, and from there share the things Christ is doing in them with others in the church when they meet together.
Of course this goes beyond meetings to every aspect of life, as many things are practical and not only sharing through talking in meetings.
But the reason why a people are held together is because of this rich variety of sharing of things with one another which creates a type of bond that is eternal. This is why I say that there must be a strong individual relationship and connection with the Lord in order for the corporate body of Christ to emerge.
The body of Christ isn't a glob, but a conglomeration of many parts functioning in a way that makes the whole of Christ be seen. At least that's the goal of the Lord in living within us.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
Remember last post when we talked about going to the Godhead to see how things work? Here's one scripture that extends the understanding of that reality.
1 Cor. 12:4-6 (NIV)
"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men."
In other words, while there is an extraordinary variety of ways to express and reveal Christ through His people, it's the same God doing it all.
Remember the context of all of this was the Corinthians were scattered all over the place, separating into cliques and basically divided amongst themselves because they didn't understand that variety and oneness weren't in conflict with each other in the Godhead, rather they complimented one another.
Individuals who saw the Lord in certain ways weren't to separate because others saw another aspect of the Lord. It was the sharing of the Lord with one another that made them a body, a people. The problem with the Corinthians is they would separate over everything that came along, including those that brought a message to them.
Paul said it perfectly in verse 12 of I Cor. 12, saying it this way:
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
In verse 14 Paul continues saying, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many," and in verse 19 he asks the rhetorical question: "If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body." v27 - "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it."
The point of all of this is if you feel the tension and inner conflict concerning being one and many, remember that Paul explains to us the two compliment one another, and exist in time together. You can't have one without the other. You can't have corporate without individuality.
If you attempt to make something corporate without the body parts functioning in their role, you end up with something called a glob; a monstrosity. On the other hand if you have an individual unconnected to the body, they serve no purpose and have no impact on showing forth the many-sided wisdom that Christ is.
Only the body can truly show forth Christ, and that's done through each part properly functioning. To function properly they need to be in union with the Lord.
When this is lived out properly and healthily, the individual parts of the body show forth Christ far greater than could ever be seen, and at the same time the body than gives something back to individual parts which makes them grow in Christ in a way they couldn't on their own. This is how the two compliment one another. When this is lived out, the tension between the two disappears and flow together in a fantastic way.
One thing to keep in mind here, when taking into account the word individual, I'm not referring to what many in the Western world would call "independent." What I'm saying is the people of God can only truly show forth Christ in His fulness by offering up what each one of them have individually. The result is to see Christ in a way that can't be seen individually, no matter how far advanced a person is.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
1 Cor. 12:4-6 (NIV)
"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works all of them in all men."
In other words, while there is an extraordinary variety of ways to express and reveal Christ through His people, it's the same God doing it all.
Remember the context of all of this was the Corinthians were scattered all over the place, separating into cliques and basically divided amongst themselves because they didn't understand that variety and oneness weren't in conflict with each other in the Godhead, rather they complimented one another.
Individuals who saw the Lord in certain ways weren't to separate because others saw another aspect of the Lord. It was the sharing of the Lord with one another that made them a body, a people. The problem with the Corinthians is they would separate over everything that came along, including those that brought a message to them.
Paul said it perfectly in verse 12 of I Cor. 12, saying it this way:
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
In verse 14 Paul continues saying, "Now the body is not made up of one part but of many," and in verse 19 he asks the rhetorical question: "If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts but one body." v27 - "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you a part of it."
The point of all of this is if you feel the tension and inner conflict concerning being one and many, remember that Paul explains to us the two compliment one another, and exist in time together. You can't have one without the other. You can't have corporate without individuality.
If you attempt to make something corporate without the body parts functioning in their role, you end up with something called a glob; a monstrosity. On the other hand if you have an individual unconnected to the body, they serve no purpose and have no impact on showing forth the many-sided wisdom that Christ is.
Only the body can truly show forth Christ, and that's done through each part properly functioning. To function properly they need to be in union with the Lord.
When this is lived out properly and healthily, the individual parts of the body show forth Christ far greater than could ever be seen, and at the same time the body than gives something back to individual parts which makes them grow in Christ in a way they couldn't on their own. This is how the two compliment one another. When this is lived out, the tension between the two disappears and flow together in a fantastic way.
One thing to keep in mind here, when taking into account the word individual, I'm not referring to what many in the Western world would call "independent." What I'm saying is the people of God can only truly show forth Christ in His fulness by offering up what each one of them have individually. The result is to see Christ in a way that can't be seen individually, no matter how far advanced a person is.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
In the next several posts I want to talk about knowing Christ. What I want to do is help some of you in the area of individual versus corporately knowing Christ. There is sometimes confusion and uncertainty concerning the two dwelling together.
The reason this becomes an issue for those meeting outside institutional Christianity, is if we're following the right path, we'll in the beginning years have a focus on the corporate aspect of learning Christ (especially Westerners), as we're more of an individualist people than those from the East.
Sometimes those who understand the lack of corporateness in the Western church tend to focus so much on it that it can sometimes confuse and frustrate those who have a strong relationship with the Lord, and in some cases even make them feel guilty for doing it. This isn't done intentionally or in a evil manner, it's just that the focus on corporateness can make people feel uncomfortable pursuing the Lord in their private time individually.
What we need to do is go directly to the Godhead and see how things are done there.
One of the basic truths concerning the Godhead are that they are three but one and one but three. This is where we are to begin. In the scriptures concerning the practical outworking of the Godhead, we see that Father is called the Father of spirits, Jesus the bishop of the soul, and the Spirit the redeemer of the body. This doesn't mean there was any lack of oneness simply because they had specialties they ministered to. Rather it was from that oneness that it happened.
In the church we also see that while we are to be one, we at the same time operate in a variety of ways within that oneness. The reason we operate in a variety of ways is because we have something of the Lord to share with others. That sharing is what enlarges us corporately, and causes us to see the Lord in a much larger way. The way we get there is to know the Lord individually, share it corporately and see and grow in the Lord in a wider, fuller and deeper way than we could alone.
In the many years I've lived in the church outside the institutional churc boundaries, I've seen the ebb and flow of corporate and individual knowing of the Lord. The two work together and not alone. If you attempt to be solely corporate, an odd type of thing emerges, to the point where I've heard some even call themselves a "glob." The problem with something like this is the people can have community and hang out together, but also have a very limited experience and expression of Christ because they are fixated on the corporate part at the expense of the individual.
The point is you can hang out and do things together and still have a very limited relationship with the Lord. Again, the two must work together to have a healthy emergence of the image of God.
If brothers and sisters aren't individually pursuing and fellowshipping with the Lord, they sure aren't going to be able to come together and offer anything to one another that will have spiritual significance.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
The reason this becomes an issue for those meeting outside institutional Christianity, is if we're following the right path, we'll in the beginning years have a focus on the corporate aspect of learning Christ (especially Westerners), as we're more of an individualist people than those from the East.
Sometimes those who understand the lack of corporateness in the Western church tend to focus so much on it that it can sometimes confuse and frustrate those who have a strong relationship with the Lord, and in some cases even make them feel guilty for doing it. This isn't done intentionally or in a evil manner, it's just that the focus on corporateness can make people feel uncomfortable pursuing the Lord in their private time individually.
What we need to do is go directly to the Godhead and see how things are done there.
One of the basic truths concerning the Godhead are that they are three but one and one but three. This is where we are to begin. In the scriptures concerning the practical outworking of the Godhead, we see that Father is called the Father of spirits, Jesus the bishop of the soul, and the Spirit the redeemer of the body. This doesn't mean there was any lack of oneness simply because they had specialties they ministered to. Rather it was from that oneness that it happened.
In the church we also see that while we are to be one, we at the same time operate in a variety of ways within that oneness. The reason we operate in a variety of ways is because we have something of the Lord to share with others. That sharing is what enlarges us corporately, and causes us to see the Lord in a much larger way. The way we get there is to know the Lord individually, share it corporately and see and grow in the Lord in a wider, fuller and deeper way than we could alone.
In the many years I've lived in the church outside the institutional churc boundaries, I've seen the ebb and flow of corporate and individual knowing of the Lord. The two work together and not alone. If you attempt to be solely corporate, an odd type of thing emerges, to the point where I've heard some even call themselves a "glob." The problem with something like this is the people can have community and hang out together, but also have a very limited experience and expression of Christ because they are fixated on the corporate part at the expense of the individual.
The point is you can hang out and do things together and still have a very limited relationship with the Lord. Again, the two must work together to have a healthy emergence of the image of God.
If brothers and sisters aren't individually pursuing and fellowshipping with the Lord, they sure aren't going to be able to come together and offer anything to one another that will have spiritual significance.
Knowing Christ: Individually and Corporately - Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Knowing Jesus is more of a desire of the heart than anything else. Even there we can't even desire that on our own, as without Him we can do nothing.
About all we can do is ask Him to open our hearts unto Him on a continuous basis. There's really not much else to it.
Having said that, there will eventually emerge a way for you that, for whatever reason, works the best. If we don't start with the heart's desire for Him, we will simply have another legalistic, dead burden to perform in life, as we struggle and strain to know Him because we have to, or because someone else pressures us to.
While it's a good thing to encourage one another to continually keep our hearts open to Him, it still must be something He does and we respond to.
When it comes down to it, Jesus doesn't want much more than to have us open our hearts to Him continually, and allow Him to live His life in us; with our permission and cooperation. Jesus never forces Himself upon us - that's His nature. But when we give Him free rein to live fully within us, He's more than willing to comply.
Of course once we do that, there's that thing called the cross, which works in us so His image can more fully be seen and expressed in us.
One of His great desires is to have it done individually, and from there expressed through a corporate people. I have seen Him working for this throughout my whole life. He will never stop working for it either.
In only say individually above because if we don't have it to start with, the corporate is almost impossible to emerge. Of course we need both to be a healthy people of God.
What happens when we start to seek out the corporate side, is we're faced with the sad reality that it can't happen within the existing practices of the Church. The practices disallow a people emerging centered in the life of Christ, as the next thing that happens is everyone wants to share that life together. Picture that in a building with a professional clergy talking all the time.
To search for a deeper walk with Christ will always lead to wanting to share that walk with others. It's there that the challenge emerges, and you start to discover the problem you have. You either quietly go about doing things as usual, or you start to want to see things change. Many people are tired of being bystanders of an age-old system created about 17 hundred years ago at the time of Constantine, and have entered into a journey outside the existing structures of the institutional church.
That's where the path leads to all those that want to share a corporate, organic experience of Jesus Christ together.
About all we can do is ask Him to open our hearts unto Him on a continuous basis. There's really not much else to it.
Having said that, there will eventually emerge a way for you that, for whatever reason, works the best. If we don't start with the heart's desire for Him, we will simply have another legalistic, dead burden to perform in life, as we struggle and strain to know Him because we have to, or because someone else pressures us to.
While it's a good thing to encourage one another to continually keep our hearts open to Him, it still must be something He does and we respond to.
When it comes down to it, Jesus doesn't want much more than to have us open our hearts to Him continually, and allow Him to live His life in us; with our permission and cooperation. Jesus never forces Himself upon us - that's His nature. But when we give Him free rein to live fully within us, He's more than willing to comply.
Of course once we do that, there's that thing called the cross, which works in us so His image can more fully be seen and expressed in us.
One of His great desires is to have it done individually, and from there expressed through a corporate people. I have seen Him working for this throughout my whole life. He will never stop working for it either.
In only say individually above because if we don't have it to start with, the corporate is almost impossible to emerge. Of course we need both to be a healthy people of God.
What happens when we start to seek out the corporate side, is we're faced with the sad reality that it can't happen within the existing practices of the Church. The practices disallow a people emerging centered in the life of Christ, as the next thing that happens is everyone wants to share that life together. Picture that in a building with a professional clergy talking all the time.
To search for a deeper walk with Christ will always lead to wanting to share that walk with others. It's there that the challenge emerges, and you start to discover the problem you have. You either quietly go about doing things as usual, or you start to want to see things change. Many people are tired of being bystanders of an age-old system created about 17 hundred years ago at the time of Constantine, and have entered into a journey outside the existing structures of the institutional church.
That's where the path leads to all those that want to share a corporate, organic experience of Jesus Christ together.
Monday, August 27, 2007
We have heard this term before under this name and also under the phrase of 'priesthood of all believers.'
These types of words or phrases hardly exist among institutional Christianity. Why? Words follow ways of living. The reason that you don't find one-man ministries called 'pastor' in the New Testament story is because they didn't exist. You can't talk about something that isn't a part of your everyday life. That's why a physical structure being a 'church' isn't biblical. It didn't exist in the practice of the first believers. It was made up about 250 years later.
So how did the early church experience Christ in their lives? What is body life?
As with everything concerning our walk, it is all centered in Christ Himself.
Now we’ll look at the end result of body life so that we can examine its purpose. We are told several things concerning Christ in Eph. 4 that shows where we are going.
We are to grow up into Him in all things. We are to mature to the point of reaching His stature; becoming like Him - expressing the fullness of Christ. This is a corporate thing here; together we will express who Christ is and mature into being like Him.
When Paul starts talking about these things he begins with all of us being one. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.
He begins the talk about the body this way because there were times when the individual parts of the body started to develop certain uniqueness and diversity. This at times put a strain upon the oneness of who we are.
So Paul begins with how we are all one in spite of our diversity. This all comes from the Godhead of course where we know that He is three and yet one. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have diverse operations yet are completely one. The church in following the Lord is the same.
Again Paul tells us some of this in I Cor. 12 where we are shown that we are one body but have many parts. From there he reveals to us that this is what Christ is like.
He again goes on to tell us that we are baptized into one body by one Spirit, and drink from that one Spirit. Yet we are tremendously diverse in our oneness.
That’s the beauty of this diversity; we see a portion of Christ in others that we lack, and from that other brother or sister, we grow more into being like Christ.
The whole key to this is that we are to build one another up in love. Each of us has something that the other needs to be matured, unto the measure of the fullness of Christ.
To experience this in its fullness means that we can no longer embrace the religious system that started to be developed during the compromise with Constantine.
You know, that system where people sit in some type of ‘special’ building and listen to a ‘professional’ deliver speeches for the rest of our lives. We have seen the result of 1700 years of that nonsense.
Body life is nothing less than growing up into Him in all things. It can only happen with a group of believers living together and meeting together under the headship of Jesus Christ alone.
This is the fulfillment of the priesthood of all believers. Only as we hold to the Head and give Christ and Christ only to one another, will we grow into the end of being conformed into His image.
That is part of the eternal purpose that has been in the Godhead from before time.
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