Romans 7- part two: The Law is Good

This is the second  part of our study in Romans 7.

The first part of the Romans 7 study can be found here.

If you haven’t read the post on Romans 6, please feel free to do so here.

Let’s move on, shall we?

While these next few passages of scripture speak very plain and simple truths, they are also very rich and dense in substance and go against the grain of the fleshly mind. Since this is the case, we are going to take them in small ‘bites’ so to speak , so as not to eat too much in one sitting.

In other words, I believe that it is going to take a couple of separate posts to digest and assimilate what the Holy Spirit is saying through Paul in these next few verses (Romans 7:7-13).

* * * * * * *

Paul has already established that, by the death of Christ and our immersion into that death, believers have been released from both the union with sin as well as the dictates of law. At this point, he seeks to clear up any confusion there may be surrounding our attitudes in regards to these two different and yet related subjects.

Sin and Law

What shall we say then? Is the law sin?

Interestingly enough, many of us have learned to treat these two separate categories, sin and law, as one and the same thing.

In overreaction against legalism, many of us have adopted an unhealthy perception and understanding of Gods law.

Is it bad for God to say to us, “You shall not murder” ?

How about, “You shall not commit adultery”?

Do we suppose that we should be free to kill or cheat if we so choose, or to act as if God would lead us into such behavior?

Do we suppose that the judgments of our own hearts are more wise than those of the Most High God?

Not I, friends. I agree with the law of God in my inner man. It is good.

Now I am not saying that there is no correlation between law and sin. There most certainly is a definite relationship between the two, but are they the same thing?

Is or was the law ever a mistake of some sort?

In Paul’s words:

By no means!

The law and sin are in no way the same thing.

NOTE TO LEGALISTS:

Don’t get too excited. 

*****

NOTE TO ANTINOMIANS:

Relax. It’s going to be fine. 

Now let’s begin to look at how sin and law are related:

Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known the sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But the sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all manner of concupiscence.

I can remember a time in my own life, years ago, when I did not know much of the scripture at all. The Lord had been wooing me for some time, but I had not yet began to peer into the annals of God’s interaction with man.

Before this time, I was alive. I had a certain kind of vibrancy, a certain vitality. Oh sure, I was self deceived but I had not yet realized it.

I was happy-go-lucky, going about my own merry way, doing my own thing….and  carelessly leaving a trail of chaos behind me.

As far as I knew, me and whatever ‘God’ was were okay.

But I became hungry inside, and very curious. I already had a clue that the God revealed in the Judea-Christian scriptures was The One, and so I began to peer into them a bit to see what He had to say about what it means and what it takes to be a righteous and just person.

The more I read, the more my gut wrenched. The more I understood, the more my throat constricted. How could I possibly attain to this level of righteousness, this level of goodness which I found laid out in the Judea Christian scriptures? At this point, I knew myself, and I knew that I was dead meat.

The more I became aware of the high and holy standards of God as revealed in His law, the more I became aware of just how short of that standard I came. I began to realize that I desired the very things that God forbade, and at the same time believed that I could rise above my own lusts.

Over time I began to realize something else;  I had grown very angry at God over all of this.  My experience became increasingly frustrating.

After all, how could the one true God be so ridiculous in His requirements of man? Even still, I was determined to  somehow become a righteous man.

While many religious texts offer promises of enlightenment, I had discovered that God’s text, His law, that is, offered no such thing to me.

Oh sure.

It was ordained unto life, but it serves an entirely different purpose to the fallen human being.

The law is not sin.

Instead, the law reveals the sin which is already in us.

The law is not a bad thing…. but we’ll get back to this point later in the study. For now, I want to take a moment to zero in on something that the Lord has revealed to me recently.

Look at how Paul expresses his experience with the sin:

” …the sin..   siezed an opportunity through the commandment….”.

‘The sin’ has an intention. It’s the intention of expressing it’s father, the serpent, and it does so by taking a certain kind of action;

It seizes opportunity.

You see, ‘the sin’ is an opportunist, and he will creep his way into any scenario, including good and holy scenario’s, in order to get his way.

This thing, the sin, really seems to work that way. Although it was passed down to us all from mankinds original earthly father, it exists, often unrealized, within our very own flesh and when we are presented with God’s  law, we suddenly become aware of it’s presence and power.

When the unadulterated light of YHWH’s law shines upon us, the sin just creeps right up in us and begins to constrict. As it constricts, it also infects us with all kinds of unholy and unhealthy desires.

It’s as if our flesh totally freaks out when presented with God’s standard and begins to scream out for attention, acceptance, comfort, security, validation and a myriad of other cries for, well… Love.

These cries become manifest in the form of sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy,  drunkenness….etc…

Sometimes these manifestations look very ‘heathen’ but other times can also look  very ‘religious’.

Truth is, they are all the same.

The sin assures us that somehow, just somehow, we can pull it off, we can measure up….and when we find out that we can’t, it convinces us that we can just go on about our own business as if nothing ever happened.

Ultimately we discover that we, in and of ourselves, lack the kind of Life which is pleasing to God.

And so what do we do?

Until we experience what it means to live by the Life that Jesus offers to us, we live by the dictates of the sin which resides in our flesh.

And Paul has a word for what this kind of slavery to the sin is like, what it ‘looks’ like:

“All manner of …. concupiscence“.

What?!

Concupiscence means; desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust, etc.

Concupiscence is a frame of mind, a way of thinking. I will even go so far as to say that it is a way of living which has it’s origin in a certain kind of life.

The sin is like the serpent. It has a life and intention all of it’s own. When it get’s hold of you, and seduces you, it causes you to think and behave like it.

Apart from the law, the sin lies dead.

This statement alone proves that the sin is a life form, one which can die.

I was once alive apart from the law,…

And we see that ‘ I ‘ am also a life form which once lived when I was apart from the law.

…but when the commandment came, the sin came alive…

Notice again that Paul is stating clearly that the sin is a living organism.

…and I died.

From these two statements we may confidently say that…

When the law is presented to us as a standard to live by, the sin comes to life…

and we die.

Paul explains it like this:

And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.  For the sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

This reminds me of the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

Remember, God gave a certain commandment to this man and woman, a command which was meant to preserve their lives before Him:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

From very early on God spoke His Word to mankind. It was His intention that they  listen to, and obey His Word.

‘The sin’, then, is manifest as disobedience to the Living God through obedience to the seduction of the serpent.

There was nothing wrong with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What was wrong was that Adam and Eve partook of it when God told them not to.

“Do not desire to know what is good and what is evil.”

Why not?

“Because if you do, you will certainly die”.

His commandment.

His law.

If only they would have been obedient to what the Lord YHWH said to them (actually, the commandment was given to Adam) then surely they would not have died.

The fruits of their transgression have since been passed down to every man and woman that has ever lived.

Concerning the law and the commandment, Paul comes to a conclusion:

Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

There is nothing wrong with Gods law. In fact, it is holy as is His commandment, which is also just and good.

…and Paul continues:

Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not!

There is no blame in God, nor in His law.

But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.

God’s law serves a wonderful purpose to mankind.

It points out our weakness and failure….

It points out our need for a Savior.

(To be continued…)

Death and Remarriage

Recently, I posted a message using the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome .  If you have never read that portion of scripture, do yourself a favor and read it.  It contains some rather life changing insights.

By the way, if you haven’t read the post that I’m referring to please check it out (if you feel so led, of course). You just might come away blessed.

Either way, here is a brief recap of the message:

In Romans 6, Paul was explaining how a person is always either under the influence and authority of the sin (as translated in the Young’s Literal Translation of the bible)–

which is simply the exchange of the reign of God in the heart for self-reign, as proposed by the serpent….,which ultimately leads to the death…(If you want to know more about this ‘original sin’ and it’s consequences, read Genesis 3.)

or…

…they are under the influence and authority of God which ultimately leads to eternal life (aka The Kingdom of God).

Anyway, in Romans 6, Paul goes on to explain how those who have been baptized into Christ should know that they have been baptized into His death–that they, themselves, were included with Christ in His death– and that they should therefore consider themselves to be dead to the sin. They are in a position of freedom based on Christ’s death, a position which they should have understood at baptism.

Main point?

By the death of Jesus we have been delivered from the kingdom of the sin!

SET FREE.

However Paul doesn’t stop there. Instead he wants the believer to see that not only are they free from the authority of the sin by the death of Christ, but that just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead and now lives unto God Himself, we should also consider ourselves to be ‘alive unto God’ and available for His service.

Second main point?

By the resurrection of Christ, we have been transferred into His Kingdom!

IN HIS KINGDOM.

At this point I would like to keep tracking with Paul so as to see how the Holy Spirit led him to further develop his thoughts on the new relationship in Christ. This study will not be as “interactive” as the last one. Instead I will be using cross references from other area of scripture to help broaden our understanding of what he is saying here.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Moving along to the next chapter, Paul is taking a different angle. He is shifting his focus away from the sin/God dichotomy and opening it up to the law/Christ dichotomy.

In this instance, Paul is going to show us why the believer can live according to and in union with Christ rather than living according to and in union with the law.

On to Romans chapter 7…..

Or do you not know, brothers  —for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?

In this very first verse, Paul is stating that a person is bound to the Law so long as they live. In this passage, he is simply echoing the word of His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Read them as recorded in Mathews Gospel account (5:17-20):

`Do not suppose that I came to throw down the law or the prophets — I did not come to throw down, but to fulfill;

for, verily I say to you, till that the heaven and the earth may pass away, one iota or one tittle may not pass away from the law, till that all may come to pass.

`Whoever therefore may loose one of these commands — the least — and may teach men so, least he shall be called in the reign of the heavens, but whoever may do and may teach [them], he shall be called great in the reign of the heavens.

`For I say to you, that if your righteousness may not abound above that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye may not enter to the reign of the heavens.

Now those were Jesus’ own words as spoken to his disciples. In light of them, let’s keep tracking with Paul:

Thus a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.

Now we have the specific example that Paul was led to use;

The Law of Marriage.

Once again, Paul is not coming up with any new doctrine concerning the law nor the law of marriage. Instead, Paul’s thought is in total harmony with what Jesus has already shared with His disciples  (as in Matthew 5:31-32):

`And it was said, That whoever may put away his wife, let him give to her a writing of divorce;

but I — I say to you, that whoever may put away his wife, save for the matter of whoredom, doth make her to commit adultery; and whoever may marry her who hath been put away doth commit adultery.

Now don’t let the “whoredom clause” throw you off. Jesus said that it was a legitimate reason to put away ones wife.

In that instance, she doesn’t need her husbands help to make her an adulteress– she has done a fine job of it herself already!

Paul, once again, is in harmony with Jesus on the matter:

Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

The only difference between what Jesus shared and what Paul shared is that  while Jesus makes it clear that the law remains intact ‘…till that the heaven and earth may pass away’ , Paul informs us that there is one way and only one way to be free from the law:

DEATH.

Likewise, my brothers,

you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

Can I get an amen!?

Once again, Paul is referencing the union that we share in and with Christ Jesus.

In Romans 6, we discovered that by the death of Christ, we died to sin. This death to sin allows us  freedom from it’s rule over our lives, and the resurrection of Christ affords us a new life which we may now live unto God.

And for what purpose?

“… the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life”.

And now in this first section of Romans 7, we see how that, through the body of the crucified Christ, we have died to the law–not simply to be free and single to wander aimlessly–but so that we might be joined to Another, that is the Risen Christ!!

And for what purpose?

“…that we may bear fruit for God”.

Now to let Paul finish out his thought:

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

Here, Paul is describing what life experience is like when we are…

a) “in our flesh”

b) with our “sinful passions” which are…

c) “aroused by the law”.

resulting in…

d) they  worked “in our members” to produce “death”.

There is always some kind of fruit.

I love it that Paul has no reservations about stating the fact that the sinful passions of the flesh are aroused by God’s law!!

…and it’s not that the law is a bad thing, it’s that there is something ‘bad’ in our mortal bodies, something which we inherited from Adam….(but we’ll get to that later).

But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

Alas, Paul’s thought comes to a beautiful climax where we discover that since we died with Christ in baptism, and have been set free from law (which is the strength of sin), we may now serve…

IN THE NEW LIFE OF THE SPIRIT!!

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this last verse! In times past I have somehow gotten caught up in a viscous cycle which went something like this:

Now that I am a Christian I should be able to serve the law and fulfill the written code (rather it be the commands of Moses, Jesus, Paul or anyone else)….I desire to ‘do the right thing’, but I continually find myself doing the very things that I shouldn’t….

Again, it’s not that the written code is a bad thing.

No, it’s a holy thing….

But we’ll get into all of that in the next installment of this series.

Till then, walk under His grace, and not under the law.

~Peace~

CHRIST IN Y’ALL

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that it’s one thing to read a book about ‘Christianity’ or some aspect of the faith and then another to actually live it out.

In fact, it is because of this that I must confess my own love/hate relationship with Christian books in general.

I love (some of) them because they can express the encouragement of a fellow believer in Christ or work to challenge or enlighten an area of my understanding.

And the hate?

Well, because like I said, it’s an altogether different matter to put into practice the things written.

Watchman Nee was bright enough to realize that although he believed in everything he wrote in The Spiritual Man, he also knew that once those same truths were read and assimilated into the memory, that they would actually only be understood on the surface level of the mind, thus resulting in a false sense of understanding and wisdom.

He actually regretted writing that book.

Furthermore as a Christian ‘writer’ (or blogger) myself, I know all too well how easy it is to write about something wonderfully profound while having very little experience of the actual matter myself.

But this is not always the case, and it is not the case with the book that I present to you today:

Christ in Y’all: Following Jesus into Community

Rather than simply expounding upon the truths  found in scripture concerning Christian community or the Church, Neil Carter followed his Lord and his heart , choosing instead to live those truths out in the wonderful and yet tumultuous trenches of close knit church life.

GIVING HONOR WHERE HONOR IS DUE

It is with nearly ten years of life as a brother in Church Life under his belt that Neil Carter offers his thoughts, reflections and insights to anyone seeking something more of Jesus Christ.

And how can I speak so assuredly of brother Neils credentials?

I’ve been here in Lithia Springs with him for almost five of those ten years.

I know this brother.

While there are many folks out there who might be very correct and very ‘right’ in their words regarding ‘how to live the Christian life’  (or even how it can’t be done), there truly aren’t that many who have the kind of experience that this brother has acquired living in church life simply as a brother.

And it’s not so much that he has simply  ’stuck it out’  in this particular way of life. It’s how he has done so considering all of the circumstances involved in doing life the way that we do it.

More importantly, to me, is that while Neil Carter writesfrom a place of experience in Church Life, I believe that he lives from an experience which runs even deeper than that.

Neil is a smart guy, but he’s not only a good scholar and writer,  he’s a good person.

How can I tell?

The way that he interacts with his family is probably the first giveaway.

Guess what?

He’s the husband of one wife.

He’s not a violent man.

He doesn’t drink.

He is leading his children into the ways of the Lord.

His children are well mannered.

He is patient and thoughtful.

He is discerning.

He cares.

Neil Carter has sought to walk in the light which he has received, and that, brothers and sisters, means a lot to me.

I listen to people like that, and If the Lord happens to be speaking to you about delving deeper into what it means to be the church or even what it means to be a Christian, I suggest that you give this book a once over.

But I get to walk over to his house and talk shop.

(You can stop blushing now, Neil.)

So….

I really haven’t actually reviewed the book for you have I?

Hmmm. I guess not.

But you know what? There can sometimes be a great gulf between a mans message and the man himself.

Today I have presented the man, and I encourage you to read his message.

In this case, they  are one and the same.

After all, isn’t that what it’s all about….?

…presenting The Man?

Us or Him? An attempted unravelling of a paradox wrapped in enigma.

Over the last five years, I have mulled over, pondered, chewed and wondered over the mystery of “Christ in us, the Hope of Glory”.

There is really just too much to say about all of the different ideas, revelations, experiences, etc…. for the time that I have right now…., but let me just put it like this:

We can take a good look at the whole of scripture and conclude that, while it is certainly Christocentric, there is still this vital matter of our both being and doing good while refraining from evil. And this is a true conclusion.

On the other hand, we can also take the whole of scripture and conclude that man cannot satisfy the heart of God and that it is only by the Person, work and life of Jesus the Messiah that God is pleased. In Him, we are “saved” and now free from the burden of ‘religion’, and free to do as we please.

Believe it or not, this is also true (if you don’t believe me, then just take a look around….).

How is it possible? How can these two opposing ideas ever be reconciled?

In Christ, they are.

Many of us have walked along with one foot in the ‘me’ and one foot in the ‘Him’ The only problem with that is that the longer you go on, you begin to realize that He wants to go one way and you want to go another!

So what is the result for me?

“A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways”

(Thanks James! I love you more and more everyday!!)

Now the tricky part is in trying to explain what this means!

Well, thanks to a question asked by Brother Jerald Hill, I have concocted a brief response which I hope in some small way points to the explanation of what others have referred to as ‘Union Life’ and what I believe to be coming into as time marches on:

Jerald,
It is precisely at this point where the whole mystery presents itself isn’t it?

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“

According to Paul (in this text) the “I” is no longer a relevent factor. “I” is finished by the cross of Jesus at Calvary.
On the other hand Paul says “the life I now live in the flesh…”

So there “I” am again.
But something is different now. I no longer live by my own faith, by what “I” believe that “I” am able to do…
Paul explains that route….the one of desiring to do good, but not being able to perform as well as doing the very things which we would forbid.
The difference is that “I” live according to the faith, and faithfulness, of Jesus.
So how do Isum all of this up? Well, Paul says this in his letter to the Phillipians:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

It is God who works in us to both will and do….to both desire and perform.

Another passage (again from Paul):
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

Wowee!!

Just to be clear, I’m not portraying an ‘automatic’ walk in Christ.
What I am trying to demonstrate here is that it is HIM, His Life, His Work,His battle, His Faith, His Love which works in us to be all that He desires us to be.
“Not my will, but yours, Father”.

This is His will:
“Let Me completely sanctify you. I want to do it.”

He wants us to be utterly dependant on Him for all things. ALL THINGS.

So how do I co-operate with Him in this?
I give Him what He wants.
I trust Him with the whole…. shabang!
I trust His three day work and I trust His indwelling Life.
And when I don’t?
I discover that I should have and continue right on along knowing better and being a bit sharper to His working in me.

In other words,  what is “the work of God”?

“Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

The union is this:  Belief in Jesus Christ

More specifically:  ”..the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

He is the bread of heaven.

The  present result:  ”…God works in you to both will and do…”

Not only does He satisfy our own soul, but He ‘overflows’ with more than enough to feed the mutitudes.

The future hope : “… everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Glory revealed as a part of a totally New Creation.

So in short, is it my job to ‘be good’?

 Yes!

 But it is HIS job to make it happen.

I will ….see you soon!

(ha ha…!)

My Break, Mikes Mission and Milts Blog

Greetings faithful blog readers, it’s time for me to , once again, take a little break from the wonderful world of Bloggy Land and set my attention a little closer to home.

That said, I shouldn’t be out for too awful long, so please check back in from time to time.

Big weekend coming up for me…, perhaps I will write something about it next week.

In the meantime I just discovered that there is yet another ‘organic’ church Brother, Milt Rodriguez, who recently started blogging. He’s definitely worth givin’ an ear to (or an “eye” since were speaking in the written word).

I could not deny the weight which this post carried. Very insightful, brother.

Meanwhile, Mike Morrel is on a mission to lose 50 pounds in thirty days one year (much more realistic!!) I’m sure that he would appreciate any encouraging comments over at his site.

That’s it for now, dear readers.

I am truly grateful for our conversations and dialogue.

Grace and Peace to you all in the Name of JESUS the CHRIST.

An Open Letter to The Organic Church

Over the years I think that I have picked on just about every type of expression of the church that you could imagine; Baptists, Catholics, Local Church, “Institutional”, Pentecostal, ‘mega’, ‘ethereal’, virtual, emergent, end timers….you name it.

I’ve dibbled and dabbled, ranted and rambled, stirred and scrambled and even choked on my own foot here with this blog and in other places as well.

But it’s time for me to address one more category: The Organic Church.

Yep.

That’s right.

It’s the New Sacred Cow among many of us. Yes I said us.

Okay, let me add this. In all transparency, this post is somewhat motivated by the fact that I will be visiting a local church (no, not Witness Lee local church, but like a kind of ‘non-denominational’ church with a building and pastor and elders and…well, you know what I mean…) and I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed by some of the things that I have said over the years.

Oh the brashness of youth!!

But the fact is, I really feel that the Lord is leading me to go and visit.

So if any of you N.R. folks are reading this (Marie, Jerald, Scott, Mic, Evelyn, John, Alisa, Darrell, etc, etc…), now you know what’s been on my mind here lately.

So here it is; my Open Letter To Organic Church Proponents

Grace to you all in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Since I am obviously one of you I feel as if I have the liberty to say it this way:

“Grace to you and yadda, yadda, yadda….”

C’mon now, were all brothers (and sisters) here.

Look. I have to admit. If I thought that there was something more authentic going on than what we are at least attempting to do, as a church, then I’m pretty sure that I would be pursuing it. Fact is, either I’m ignorant to such a thing or I’m just tired of hunting (probably both).

But let’s talk serious here.

The Lord has given many of us much light in the area of the church. He has opened our eyes to so many things concerning the functioning of the body of Christ in all of it’s many membered splendor.

More importantly, He has given many of us the revelation of the centrality and supremecy of Jesus Christ in all things. Praise the Lord for that!!

Brothers and Sisters, I can’t tell you how incredibly thankful I am to have been liberated from the ’spectator’ mentality of chruch involvement.

Furthermore, I thank God that He has also done quite a work in removing from my imagination the desire to be some kind of ‘minister’ (in the common contemporary sense of the word).

Thank you, Lord, that I have come to experience, however little, what it means to be a brother.

A BROTHER.

Praise the Lord!

These are some of the things for which I am eternally grateful.

However, “I have somewhat against thee…”

(Or maybe I should say that “I have somewhat against ‘me’!!”)

Let me just go ahead and turn this into a personal confession, and then you can decide if it applies to you as well.

I have become elitist and over critical, even prejudgemental in my attitudes towards other expressions of the church.

Don’t get me wrong. If I didn’t believe in what I was doing, I wouldn’t be doing it. But I can’t turn this thing into a ‘law’ and consider all who break it to be less than myself and my peers.

Furthermore, I need to be reminded that we can all fall into the trap of perpetuating some ‘thing’ rather than living in the Realty of Jesus Christ as Lord.

So, my organic brothers and sisters, take yer bitters, and take ‘em well!!

I have only touched on the surface of an all too real problem that we, as ‘the organic church’ have to wrestle with.

If were not careful we’ll end up all blown up with a head and heart full of both pride and presumption.

Take that last sentence seriously, please. We don’t want that.

“Organic.”

Jeesh. You know what? I don’t like that name. I don’t care how descriptive it is….it’s starting to feel rather denominational…..

Remember, brothers (and sisters) (but it seems to be mostly brothers)…..

We are nothing.

We are nobodies…or at least we had better hope to be.

He is everything.

He is the all in all.

For her, it should be all about Him, just as for Him it is all about her.

Grace and peace….

Yadda, yadda, yadda…

In His Love,

Your Brother johnny

BE THINK DO 2

Another quickie post here.

Just contemplating this thought again.

Watchman Nee wrote a pretty detailed series of books called ‘The Spiritual Man’ when he was a fairly young Christian.

Lot’s of revelation there…

but…

soon after writing it, he regretted doing so as he realized that it would be better for the Lords people to come into those revelations experientially for themselves than to read about them and try to apply them to their lives.

In my opinion, what he wanted the brothers and sisters to do was to be, think, and do.

Simple.

The western mind is always busy dissecting and analyzing, cutting and pasting….

Here is a clue for you and for me….

When we turn to the Lord, the veil is removed.

He causes us to be, he causes us to think (and will) and he causes us to do.

But first we must turn to the Lord.

We must not turn to a ritual, nor to some form of prayer, nor some methodology.

Yes, I understand the utilitarian benefits that those things can offer us, but in reality, in the big picture, we must turn to the Lord.

What is the World? Part 3: The End of The World

It’s time, once again, to bring this matter of the world back into our consideration with this third and final installment of What is the World?

In part 1, we looked to the words of Jesus where He presents the world as a field where seeds are planted and crops grow up. Among the good crops there are also ‘weeds’ or ‘tares’ which also come up and are eventually gathered up and burned away before the good crops are harvested and stored in the barn.

May we have ears to hear.

In part 2, we took into consideration several scriptures which celebrate the Lords good creation and declare the immovable status of the world. In this post we also pondered over the many definitions which are related to this word ‘Kosmos’, and hopefully took into consideration the fact that it means different things when used in different passages.

In this post, I would like to address a couple of different worlds.

The first involves the world of creation, or ‘the created order’ and is related to the the problem of confusing the creation with the Creator and directing worship and praise to God’s ’stuff’ rather than to God Himself.

Consider Paul’s words to the Romans:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen”.

Pretty straight forward, wouldn’t you say?

As good as creation is, as good as the world is, it is not worthy of our worship.

‘Love not the world…’

Beyond golden calves, wooden men, and stone gods, there are the other kinds of idols which are fashioned out of God’s good creation:

Money.

Food.

Sex.

Sports.

Entertainment.

Religion.

…and the list goes on and on.

No, we are not to worship the created order, but we may look upon it and say,

“His invisible attributes, …his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made”.

Creation itself is a testimony of the One True God.

Idolatry can take many different forms, especially when we take into consideration that God created ALL THINGS; things visible and things invisible.

What are the fruits of ill directed praise and worship (and I mean those last three words in the most classical sense)?

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them”.

Whatever else anyone could say about all of that, I think that it is safe to say that wrong worship results in wrong living.

This stood true for Paul and his world nearly 2000 years ago, and it stands true for us today.

The second world that I would like to talk about is the system.

What is the system? Well, according to the Strong’s concordance, it is one definition of the world.

To be a little more to the point, ‘the world’ can certainly mean government and order.

In fact, that is the very first definition given in the Strong’s for World in the Greek:

Kosmos

1) an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government

Yes, I am aware that ‘God is a god of order…’.

However, God is a God of HIS order, and in fact, this is what the phrase ‘Kingdom of God’ implies: The government of God.

If you take a moment to consider who it was that crucified the Lord of Glory, you would realize that it was big government (Roman Empire) and big religion (Judaism).

Granted, not everyone involved in those two systems (the two hand in hand, acting as one) had evil intentions, but the fact of the matter is that often times, when man begins to perpetuate something in his own strength, and this by even the most subtle persuasion of the evil one, this ’something’ can kind of take on a life of it’s own and it will seek to crush anything or anyone which would stand opposed to it.

There is so very much that could be said about all of this, but for now I will give you a brief scripture reference which should cue you in to where this is all, ultimately, leading:

Rev. 11:15

And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Ultimately, God reclaims what was always His to begin with and shares His reign with His Messiah!

Hallelujah!!!

In closing this series, I would like to simply emphasize three main points:

1) Creation (or matter), itself, is not evil, and to believe that it is, is to drift off into the error of gnosticism.

2) God loved the world enough to send His only Son for us to believe in so that we might be an ‘everliving’ people. If we are to love our neighbors as our selves, and even love our enemies, then they are not the subject at hand when we are warned to ‘not to love’.

3) There is a recreation which has been initiated in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah which is to be furthered along in those and through those who, by the power of the Spirit, name Jesus as Lord. We are to be a Kingdom people who are governed solely by the Spirit of God and who anticipate a change in both resurrection and a reordering of the world in which we find ourselves.

May His will be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven.

Brief Update

This week, we will be doing things a little differently here in the neighborhood.

Starting Wednesday morning, we will all be gathering together at 6 a.m. every morning for seven days to pray through John 17.

This should be a very rich time in the Lord for us all, and I hope to post a report very soon.

“You believe at last!”

After going through John 16 a few times in the last few days, and doing all that I can do to set the words of the Lord Jesus into my heart, there are really only a couple of things which seem to be speaking to me at this time.

I would rather share those couple of things than attempt to give a full exposition on all that is written here.

There is some context which needs to be taken into consideration whenever we read the gospels (or anything else, really…).

Without getting too deep into it, and certainly without trying to rob His words of their relevance for us in this present moment, we must still remain conscious that the vast majority of what He said, of what is written and what we refer to as ‘the gospels’, or more precisely ‘the words in red’, well, most, or rather almost all of that were spoken prior to His death and resurrection.

Why is that so important?

Because so much of what He said alludes to those two key events. In other words, much of what Jesus said has been fulfilled in that two fold event of the cross and the resurrection.

That being said, I whole heartily believe that truth is truth, and what Jesus said is just that. Furthermore, as those who are learning to be partakers of the Divine nature, the words and Life of Jesus must also be fulfilled in us, not merely as codes or laws, and neither as simple ‘positional truths’ but also worked out in co-union with the Living God in the context of ‘one anotherness’ within the world.

In other words, just as Jesus IS the truth, so must we become….and yet, it will not be ‘us’ but it will be Him in us, as He is the only hope of that kind of glory.

So, here goes….

The Lord gives to His disciples a Counseling Spirit. He knows that they will need Him.

Only the Spirit can impart the things of the Lord to us.

He will be there for us when we are shunned…,and maybe even killed, by those who believe that they are following God.

Once the truth of who Jesus is sets into our hearts and we come to a place of speaking that truth, all the forces of hell are set against us.

However, not only will He comfort His disciples, but He will convict and reprove those who are not. This fact alone will often be enough to get us “thrown out of the synagogues….and killed”.

If we are abiding in Christ, whatever we ask of the Father, in Jesus’ name, will be done.

How?

Because if we are abiding in Him, and following His Spirit, His Spirit will move us to pray the Fathers will.

The Fathers will includes our joy being made complete.

The Father Himself loves those who love Jesus, and who believe that He came from God.

This is about so much more than God “demanding” that we believe Jesus is ‘the one’, or else being eternally tormented. This misconstrued and rather elementary representation of ‘the gospel’ serves to do nothing to the representation of God’s nature and character but distort it into an image of a god who more closely resembles a psychotic child abuser.

It’s not about us simply having the right name…the right answer to some kind of multiple choice quiz, or some twisted spiritual version of ‘Russian roulette’ with five bullets rather than one.

Marduke? BANG!

Ishtar? BANG!

Zamama? BANG!

Maya? BANG!

Allah? BANG!

YHWH?…….click. SIIIGGGHHH!!!!!!

It is about us recognizing that YHWH is the One ,and this we are able to do based on what we behold in the person of His Son, Jesus.

The words He spoke, the miracles He performed, the Life He lived, the death He died and, most importantly, His resurrection. It is about something, or rather someone, greater than us who works upon us and, indeed, within us which causes us to see the Truth for who He is, and to therefore believe all that He would have to say.

We have to accept all of Him.

His words are still true!

His miracles still testify of God’s love!

The Life that He lived is still the example of One who only does what the Father does!

The death that He died is still at the hands of power hungry politicians, and religious authoritarians (those walking in darkness), and it is still the eternal sacrifice which is not only for my sins, and your sins, but for the sins of the whole world!

And He is still alive, the Living Risen Savior, our benevolent elder Brother and Eternal High Priest. He continues to be our Advocate with the Father!!!

Furthermore, the Spirit which He gives continues to comfort, counsel, teach and convict working through all situations and circumstances to move us closer to the will of God.

Jesus answers all of our questions, even the ones which we don’t ask!!!! He knows all things.

He is whom the Father said He is!

He is who He, Himself, says He is!

He is whom the Spirit says He is!

He is whom the scriptures say He is!

He knows all things, and we can rest in knowing that He has overcome the world, and that it is Him who overcomes the world…..  in us!!!!

We can join in with the earliest followers of Jesus and proclaim with all sincerity, “Now we can see…”

From my own personal experience, and from the testimony of saints throughout the ages, we can know the Joy of the Lord in our own hearts which says to us,