When we talk of Christ in you, it of course goes beyond personally alone (although it definitely includes it) to experiencing Him corporately in His people.
There is no other place to start in reference to the purpose of God than to have a fellowship with the Godhead within a people together. Of course it has to be in each person, but from there it is meant to be shared and expressed among a people together. That's how Christ is to be seen on this earth: through a visible people with His life in them.
This obviously goes beyond just some type of general presence that feels good, just like any person we get close to will end up changing and challenging our lives just by spending time with them. It's the same with Christ in His people.
Through the ages we always get people talking of the desire to see things restored in the church, but if Christ within isn't the place we start, there's no hope that it can end up in the right place.
Christ in us is the hope of glory, and that glory can never be expressed and lived unless we give Him permission to live His live there, and we do so as a people.
Having said this, the element missing in most of this is the willingness to endure the cross over our lifetimes in order to make room for Christ. The work of the cross weakens and devastates our old man in order that Christ can be seen.
I know that our old man has been buried with Christ, but he does like to try to act like he's alive. The work of the cross ensures that we keep him dead and buried.
There is really no other place to start than this. If this isn't done, it really doesn't matter what follows, it will be off center very quickly, and will not survive long; at least as a testimony to who the Lord really is.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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Showing posts with label Communion with Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Communion with Christ. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
What is it that the Father wants to do in time and history? Most seem to get confused when the term eternal purpose is used and can get bogged down in uncertainty and confusion.
Let's look at it from the perspective of God narrating who He is to the visible and invisible worlds through telling the story of who He is via His people.
The end result of the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose is that He will be all in all. That means that from the perspective of telling a story, God will unfold Himself in His people over generations; not in only one generation.
At the point where God started the visible creation, the creation of the invisibles was complete, and He started His kingdom and will in the physical creation based on the perfected invisible world.
In other words, while things in the heavens are done immediately, things in the visible world follow progressively. That's the way of life in the visible creation. It's also why many people get frustrated with God, as they look for immediacy, when God, for the most part, works and reveals things progressively.
While there are occasional exceptions, overall this is the way God lives and works within and through us in the seen world.
Part One; Part Two; Part 3
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Monday, August 25, 2008
The work (fruit) of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, . My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places (Isaiah 32: 17-18).
The work or fruit of righteousness is peace. That peace is a work within us, as our soul lines up with our spirit which is in fellowship directly with Christ.
This is part of what is meant when Jesus told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. When we throw all of who we are onto Christ, who dwells within us, we are working toward a place of quietness of the soul, and a resting place where we cease from our own labors.
That's the end of the pursuit of the righteousness of Christ. We rest in Him and His work, and labor only as we see Him labor, and speak only what we hear Him speak.
Jesus lived this way throughout His life on earth, submitting His purpose and soul unto the Father.
Our major job in this life is to learn to rest in Christ within, allowing the cross to destroy our self-centered lives so we may live our lives unto Him; or rather, allow His life to live in us. We are to live by His life after all.
While this is simple to understand, it takes a lifetime of pursuit to accomplish. Our souls have become so over-stimulated and strong that we need to ask the Lord to weaken it through the work of the cross in us so we even have the desire to pursue this way of life.
Jesus did this His entire life on earth, not only when He was in public ministry. This is why the Father was "well pleased" with Him when He was identified by John the Baptist and emerged out of the water of baptism, before He did anything related to what we consider ministry.
The Father was pleased with Him before He did anything publicly, because Jesus simply lived out His life in union with the Father in His spirit within Him.
They didn't suddenly become closer because Jesus went public, they were close during His entire life on earth. He quietly spent His life fellowshipping with the Father, and kept doing it even when He became busy.
Dwelling in union with Christ in us is the peaceful habitation and quiet resting place referred to by Isaiah. While we need to learn to do this individually, it's primarily related to the church, which will become a peaceful resting place when we learn to deny ourselves and think of each other more important than ourselves.
The reason there is so much turmoil in the church is because people don't embrace the cross and allow it to demolish their old man and self so that the life of Christ may be formed within them, and ultimately flow out to others as the river of life.
First we must individually embrace the cross, and then connect to others looking to travel the same journey. If we don't embrace the cross, all the talk of the organic church or non-institutional church will be meaningless, as the self-life will always end up destroying the work of God He attempts to give birth to.
Only a people who are willing to have their self-life weakened and destroyed will be able to enter into peaceful habitations; within themselves or with their brothers and sisters.
The work or fruit of righteousness is peace. That peace is a work within us, as our soul lines up with our spirit which is in fellowship directly with Christ.
This is part of what is meant when Jesus told us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. When we throw all of who we are onto Christ, who dwells within us, we are working toward a place of quietness of the soul, and a resting place where we cease from our own labors.
That's the end of the pursuit of the righteousness of Christ. We rest in Him and His work, and labor only as we see Him labor, and speak only what we hear Him speak.
Jesus lived this way throughout His life on earth, submitting His purpose and soul unto the Father.
Our major job in this life is to learn to rest in Christ within, allowing the cross to destroy our self-centered lives so we may live our lives unto Him; or rather, allow His life to live in us. We are to live by His life after all.
While this is simple to understand, it takes a lifetime of pursuit to accomplish. Our souls have become so over-stimulated and strong that we need to ask the Lord to weaken it through the work of the cross in us so we even have the desire to pursue this way of life.
Jesus did this His entire life on earth, not only when He was in public ministry. This is why the Father was "well pleased" with Him when He was identified by John the Baptist and emerged out of the water of baptism, before He did anything related to what we consider ministry.
The Father was pleased with Him before He did anything publicly, because Jesus simply lived out His life in union with the Father in His spirit within Him.
They didn't suddenly become closer because Jesus went public, they were close during His entire life on earth. He quietly spent His life fellowshipping with the Father, and kept doing it even when He became busy.
Dwelling in union with Christ in us is the peaceful habitation and quiet resting place referred to by Isaiah. While we need to learn to do this individually, it's primarily related to the church, which will become a peaceful resting place when we learn to deny ourselves and think of each other more important than ourselves.
The reason there is so much turmoil in the church is because people don't embrace the cross and allow it to demolish their old man and self so that the life of Christ may be formed within them, and ultimately flow out to others as the river of life.
First we must individually embrace the cross, and then connect to others looking to travel the same journey. If we don't embrace the cross, all the talk of the organic church or non-institutional church will be meaningless, as the self-life will always end up destroying the work of God He attempts to give birth to.
Only a people who are willing to have their self-life weakened and destroyed will be able to enter into peaceful habitations; within themselves or with their brothers and sisters.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Last post we talked a little about the reason why Christ dwells within us. I did want to follow it up to clarify that while there is definitely a transformation that happens when we pursue union with Christ, at the same time, it's not a negative thing to simply enjoy the general presence of God as well.
In reality, what I termed the general presence of Christ within us was for the sake of understanding, in practice we really can't separate them, as if we enter into union with Christ , we can't escape the change that will come.
How much we change depends on the type of ground the seed falls into, as Christ Himself is the perfect seed without blemish, and He will transform us practically into His image as much as we allow the cross to work itself within us; removing the love of self so the love of Christ, and Christ alone becomes our focus, while we become like Him as we fellowship with Him.
I mention this because it could have been misunderstood that simply enjoying being with the Lord isn't the greatest end in itself. It's just that when we are with Him (which can be always), it will end up with us changing - it's impossible that we don't if we open our hearts to Him and focus on Him on a consistent basis.
In reality, what I termed the general presence of Christ within us was for the sake of understanding, in practice we really can't separate them, as if we enter into union with Christ , we can't escape the change that will come.
How much we change depends on the type of ground the seed falls into, as Christ Himself is the perfect seed without blemish, and He will transform us practically into His image as much as we allow the cross to work itself within us; removing the love of self so the love of Christ, and Christ alone becomes our focus, while we become like Him as we fellowship with Him.
I mention this because it could have been misunderstood that simply enjoying being with the Lord isn't the greatest end in itself. It's just that when we are with Him (which can be always), it will end up with us changing - it's impossible that we don't if we open our hearts to Him and focus on Him on a consistent basis.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A number of people I've communicated with through the years have misunderstood what it means to walk in the presence of the Lord. I thought I'd take a moment and help give some understanding and insight into this so we can know better what it is this means.
First of all, let's talk about the presence of the Lord from a couple different areas. You have the general presence of the Lord, which fills the universe, and which the created universe can't hold; even the heavens of heavens. That talks about a general presence where God is everywhere because nothing created can hold Him.
Second, there's the much more important specific presence of God, which dwells within those who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. That presence dwells within us with a very stated purpose: filling us with Christ. But it isn't a general filling, where God is there because of his endless, eternal makeup, rather He's there so His life can inhabit us in a complete way.
Taking up residence within our spirit, God then begins to work His presence within us through the cross so that He doesn't simply inhabit us, but changes us into His very image.
Eventually, His eternal purpose of filling everything with Himself will be fulfilled, as His people embrace union with Him and change from glory to glory through the many trials and struggles of life.
So while the presence of Christ within us definitely is a tremendous blessing and closeness, at the same time His dwelling within us is so He can have pre-eminence and the two will become one. Essentially that's what it means for the church to exist, to be a visible testimony of the invisible Lord.
For that to happen we must open our hearts to Him in faith so He can rule the kingdom of our hearts.
All of us who truly believe have the life of Christ within us, but very few are willing to walk the difficult path that will destroy our self life in order for the life of Christ to be manifest. The work of the cross is the tool used by God to bring this about, but most aren't able or willing to embrace that effective, destructive tool in order that the perfume of Christ can be released from these human vessels.
This is why God continually calls a people to walk in this way, as there aren't many able to walk this walk individually. It's also his ultimate will and purpose that a people exist that show forth who Christ is; not simply an individual.
While we all need to embrace this way as individuals, it's to be expressed and displayed in a corporate people. In the end, that's the reason God created and the purpose for being called out of all the nations to Christ. That's what the church is, a people called out of this world into a higher life and world, which, corporately, is to be brought from a higher realm to this one.
It all happens in the hearts of a people sincere and serious about walking in union with Christ.
First of all, let's talk about the presence of the Lord from a couple different areas. You have the general presence of the Lord, which fills the universe, and which the created universe can't hold; even the heavens of heavens. That talks about a general presence where God is everywhere because nothing created can hold Him.
Second, there's the much more important specific presence of God, which dwells within those who have received Christ as their Lord and Savior. That presence dwells within us with a very stated purpose: filling us with Christ. But it isn't a general filling, where God is there because of his endless, eternal makeup, rather He's there so His life can inhabit us in a complete way.
Taking up residence within our spirit, God then begins to work His presence within us through the cross so that He doesn't simply inhabit us, but changes us into His very image.
Eventually, His eternal purpose of filling everything with Himself will be fulfilled, as His people embrace union with Him and change from glory to glory through the many trials and struggles of life.
So while the presence of Christ within us definitely is a tremendous blessing and closeness, at the same time His dwelling within us is so He can have pre-eminence and the two will become one. Essentially that's what it means for the church to exist, to be a visible testimony of the invisible Lord.
For that to happen we must open our hearts to Him in faith so He can rule the kingdom of our hearts.
All of us who truly believe have the life of Christ within us, but very few are willing to walk the difficult path that will destroy our self life in order for the life of Christ to be manifest. The work of the cross is the tool used by God to bring this about, but most aren't able or willing to embrace that effective, destructive tool in order that the perfume of Christ can be released from these human vessels.
This is why God continually calls a people to walk in this way, as there aren't many able to walk this walk individually. It's also his ultimate will and purpose that a people exist that show forth who Christ is; not simply an individual.
While we all need to embrace this way as individuals, it's to be expressed and displayed in a corporate people. In the end, that's the reason God created and the purpose for being called out of all the nations to Christ. That's what the church is, a people called out of this world into a higher life and world, which, corporately, is to be brought from a higher realm to this one.
It all happens in the hearts of a people sincere and serious about walking in union with Christ.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Adam and Eve
One important thing to consider when looking at the beginning of things, as far as creation goes, was the pinnacle of creation: man. So when we look at Adam and Eve at the beginning, we see the representatives of all of mankind.
What's important to know about them, before sin, is while they were made in the image of God, their makeup wasn't in the proper order yet. One thing had to be done before that would be accomplished.
Before we get into that, let's look at Adam and Eve first. At this point of their existence, they're unique to human history, there never will be two human beings like them again; but neither was there ever meant to be.
Adam and Eve were sinless, but incomplete. They were innocent, but not harmless. They had a future, but that future hadn't yet been decided yet. In other words, even though they were sinless, they hadn't taken action yet that would perpetuate that sinlessness and enter into intimate fellowship with God.
They had fellowship with Him, but it wasn't anywhere near to the closeness they could have; it was only an outward fellowship, even though they saw Him with their natural eyes and talked with Him.
Another thing to consider is they not only saw God, but they saw the heavenly realms themselves, as Eden was a place where Heaven and Earth met. They saw the angelic hosts, as well as everything that heaven was.
The problem for Adam and Eve was they hadn't internalized God yet, their spirits hadn't been made alive, and so at this point their soul was predominant, even though there was no sin in the world or in them. God had meant that our spirits would be the predominant feature of our makeup, with our souls submitted and listening to Christ within, while our bodies then responded to the practical outworking of that fellowship.
At this time Adam and Eve were sinless, but the proper order within man hadn't been established. Until that happened, they wouldn't be able to successfully respond to the things God had required or expected of them.
Why did God create mankind this way? Why didn't He create them with His life in them from the beginning? The answer is that the life they were to internalize wasn't created life, so creation was separate from it, and man had to willingly partake of that life and internalize it.
That life was eternal and had existed forever; with no beginning or end. It couldn't be part of creation because it was uncreated, had always been, and was eternal. That life was God Himself.
So while man was created originally in the image of God, the order of God could only happen when man participated in the inner life of God by internalizing that life. To do that, Adam and Eve had to eat of the tree of life. They never took that step. They chose another life instead.
Next post we'll get more into what it was they chose and why.
Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
a
One important thing to consider when looking at the beginning of things, as far as creation goes, was the pinnacle of creation: man. So when we look at Adam and Eve at the beginning, we see the representatives of all of mankind.
What's important to know about them, before sin, is while they were made in the image of God, their makeup wasn't in the proper order yet. One thing had to be done before that would be accomplished.
Before we get into that, let's look at Adam and Eve first. At this point of their existence, they're unique to human history, there never will be two human beings like them again; but neither was there ever meant to be.
Adam and Eve were sinless, but incomplete. They were innocent, but not harmless. They had a future, but that future hadn't yet been decided yet. In other words, even though they were sinless, they hadn't taken action yet that would perpetuate that sinlessness and enter into intimate fellowship with God.
They had fellowship with Him, but it wasn't anywhere near to the closeness they could have; it was only an outward fellowship, even though they saw Him with their natural eyes and talked with Him.
Another thing to consider is they not only saw God, but they saw the heavenly realms themselves, as Eden was a place where Heaven and Earth met. They saw the angelic hosts, as well as everything that heaven was.
The problem for Adam and Eve was they hadn't internalized God yet, their spirits hadn't been made alive, and so at this point their soul was predominant, even though there was no sin in the world or in them. God had meant that our spirits would be the predominant feature of our makeup, with our souls submitted and listening to Christ within, while our bodies then responded to the practical outworking of that fellowship.
At this time Adam and Eve were sinless, but the proper order within man hadn't been established. Until that happened, they wouldn't be able to successfully respond to the things God had required or expected of them.
Why did God create mankind this way? Why didn't He create them with His life in them from the beginning? The answer is that the life they were to internalize wasn't created life, so creation was separate from it, and man had to willingly partake of that life and internalize it.
That life was eternal and had existed forever; with no beginning or end. It couldn't be part of creation because it was uncreated, had always been, and was eternal. That life was God Himself.
So while man was created originally in the image of God, the order of God could only happen when man participated in the inner life of God by internalizing that life. To do that, Adam and Eve had to eat of the tree of life. They never took that step. They chose another life instead.
Next post we'll get more into what it was they chose and why.
Jesus Christ: The Tree of Life Series
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
a
Saturday, October 20, 2007
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.
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