5-23-2020        THE BODY OF CHRIST

                  

                                   Lost in hell                                   Ultimate sacrifice

                                                                Walking with/in the Lord

Who we were, who we are and how we got here.

Ephesians 2:1-22

1          We dead in our trespasses and sins

As long as we live in a sinful state, we are apart from God.  Dead in our sins.  We are dead to eternal life in Jesus Christ.  We don’t have it.  We face the second death – the lake of fire and brimstone.  Make no mistake, all of us have an eternal existence (after this life) but without Jesus that existence is of pain, torment and suffering (Matt. 25:41-46, Rev. 21:8). 

I won’t dispute those accounts which people claim to have gone to hell, I wasn’t there.  I don’t know what they experienced – other than what they say.  But I do consider the story of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:31).  The passage in Luke presents a rich man who has died and is in hell.  He sees Lazarus and Abraham afar off, across a great gulf.  He is in torment, he is thirsty, he is engulfed by fire and the conversation he has with Abraham implies that he is alone and having (perhaps) no concept of time.  Years ago, Father gave me a song-poem (even before I came to know Jesus) about how the devil laughed at the souls he stole and believed all the lies he told whereby the people turned away from God where there’s no more mercy, no more love.  I saw the torment.  I saw the flames.  Feeling the song was evil, I eventually threw the song away, but the refrain never left me – the devil “was laughin'”.

I also note that the apostle Paul didn’t know, when he was caught up into the third heaven, whether he was in his body or out, He just knew he went there (2 Corinth. 12:2-4).  Peter went into a trance on the rooftop in the situation concerning Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10:9-23).  The Greek word ekstasis (1611) is used for trance in this passage.  The word carries the meaning of bewilderment, amazement or astonishment as well as trance.  It also reminds me of another word ‘ecstasy’ – a state of bliss where nothing else matters.  Peter had a vision, yes?  But, until he came out of it, he was totally focused on the vison.  John was ‘in the Spirit’ when he received what we know, as the book Revelation (Rev. 1:9-10).  Was John just having a vision?  Was he just in a trance?  Was He truly experiencing the things the angel showed him?  Is there a difference?  I’ll share with what I call ‘the zone’.  It’s a place where I become so focused on God everything around me becomes oblivious.  I’m aware of it, but I’m focused on what Father is showing me.  I’m not aware of going out of my body or actually ‘experiencing’ what Father is showing me, yet I am focused and He uses these times to teach me.  Are these examples different ways of expressing similar, spiritual, experience, a close encounter with God?  You decide.

2          For in past times we walked according to the ways of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit which works in the children of disobedience.

Satan and his angels were cast out of heaven down to the earth, so now we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places (Rev. 12:9-10, Eph. 6:10-12). 

Consider the fact that we can’t follow two influences simultaneously or walk in two different directions at the same time.  We follow one path or turn and follow the other.  We cannot split into two people and follow both paths at the same time.  In short, we follow Jesus or we follow His opposite (Satan).  We live according to God’s principles or we follow Satan’s influences (the ‘dark side’).  Whether we like it or not.  Whether we admit it or not.  We can’t claim to live for Jesus, then live like the devil.  Okay, we can ‘say’ anything we like, but our actions will show our heart, whom we truly love.    

3          Whom we acted just like, in the past, following lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind and by nature, we were children of wrath, just like them.

We acted just like the world before we came to know Jesus.  We were no different than those ‘sinners in the world’.  We ‘danced’ to the same drummer as they.  We spoke as they spoke.  We did as they did.  Jesus was not yet in our heart.  Bear in mind, even though we thought we were doing ‘our own thing’, our self-will, we were not seeking after the Lord, therefore we were automatically in agreement with our enemy.

4          But, God, through His rich mercy through His great love with which He loved us

5          Even though (at that time) we were dead in our sins, has given us life, together with Christ (by grace we are saved).

Yet, even though we weren’t so ‘cool’, God shed His mercy upon us giving us salvation through the shed blood of Jesus.  Our confession, profession, of faith in who Jesus is and what He did for us has brought us into God’s love.  The simple fact is that those, who have not received Jesus, find themselves placed among the dead – without hope of eternal life (John 3:16-21).  Who Jesus is and what He did brings us into Father’s eternal light and life (Rom. 10:9-10) and fellowship.

6          And raised us up and made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus [not ‘with’, but ‘in’]

Note, we are raised into heavenly places “in” Jesus.  Not just “with” Him, but we abide “in” Him as He abides in the Father (John 17:15-23).  God’s love comes full circle.  From Father, through the Son, through the Holy Ghost, to us and we give it back to the Father by living for Him.  We are IN Christ Jesus.

7          That in ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

8          For we are saved by grace through faith, not by anything we can do, it is the gift of God

9          Not by works, lest any many man should boast

There’s nothing we can ‘do’ to ‘earn’ our way into eternal life with Father.  What brings us into His eternal presence is our coming into agreement with Him.  We agree that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.  We agree that is God come into this world in the flesh (as one of us).  We agree that Jesus taught truths about the kingdom of God.  We agree that Jesus shed His blood and died on the cross at Calvary, cleansing us of our sinful nature and sins which we have committed.  We agree that He rose from the grave on the third day, victorious over sin and death, providing us with that promise (not just the hope) of eternal life in Him.  We agree that He is coming back for us so we can be with Him forever.  In order to agree, we have to believe – and that is faith.  We won’t be able to say “I did it all by myself’.  Not because of the works we have done, how good we lived our lives nor because we was born into the right family.  God, Himself, through the Holy Ghost has called us to believe and has given us the strength to agree and accept - Jesus.  Amen?  AND Father desires to bless us (in our obedience to Him).

10        For we are His (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, in which from the beginning, God has ordained us to walk

Whoa!  Say what?  God has made us to be living testimonies of His goodness and grace?  That is to live in His love?  We are made in the image of God and God’s image is love!  We live in Him, through Him and for Him.  We can do this because Father has put His Holy Spirit in us.  As Christians, the love of God abides in our hearts so we, in turn, can return that love by abiding in His love and by showing it to those whom we encounter!

11        Because of this, remember, in the past, we were like the Gentiles (apart from God), called uncircumcised by those whose flesh was circumcised by men’s hand (Jews)  

12        For at that time we were without Christ, being aliens to Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13        But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ

Being without God (in our lives) we lived just like the world, not just being subject to the things of this world, but agreeing with it and doing it.  We didn’t follow God’s love for we didn’t know God’s love.  We weren’t bound by the law, for we didn’t know the Law.  We weren’t under grace, for we had yet to be introduced to it.  The outward circumcision was supposed to be a sign of our inward faith.  Not being Jewish, we weren’t bound by the Law to show our obedience to the Law (circumcised).  In this condition, we had no hope for eternal life.  But because of the love and blood of Jesus, we are drawn into God’s eternal kingdom.  In Christ Jesus, it makes no difference if our flesh is circumcised or not because our hearts have now become circumcised.  That is our heart now shows our obedience to/in the love of the Father.  And we express that love, outwardly, to those around us thus keeping the original intent of the Law - LOVE.

14        For He is our peace, who both has made us one and broken down the middle wall of partition (temple veil)

The Holy Place was a separate structure within the temple.  The Holy of Holies, where God would come to visit with the High Priest, who represented the children of Israel, was separated from the rest of the Holy Place by a veil so the priests could not enter at will.  But, at a specified time, only the high priest could enter into the presence of God.  The moment Jesus died on the cross that veil was torn, top to bottom, separating into two pieces.  Opening up in the middle.  This opened the Holy of Holies to all believers, not just the high priest.  This comes with our faith in and acceptance of Jesus.  We have direct access to God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Ghost (abiding in us) gives us the strength to enter in.

15        In His flesh, He has abolished the warfare, the law of commandments through its ordinances and the new man, making the two one, bringing peace.

16        That He might reconcile both unto God in one body, by the cross thereby slaying that warfare

The Law says we ‘have to do’.  Love says we ‘have to be’.  These are in opposition with each other and fight, yet Jesus has brought these two together in one reality – the law explains love and love is true expression of the law.  We are no longer bound by the Law (of works), but, now, we keep the law because we love.  We find that when we love, we automatically keep the Law of Works because works is a brief explanation of love.  Read the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1-17).  Jesus fulfilled the Law and so do we by living in God’s Law of Love through our acceptance of Jesus.  So, the Law lives in us because we abide in the love of God.  The ‘Law” was ‘works’, but our heart (which guides our intents) and is in us and shows our love for God and influences what we do outwardly.  How we act.  How we speak.  How we live.

17        He came to preach peace to those who were far off and even those who were near

Did you hear this verse?  Those who far off don’t know God.  Those who are near are (supposedly) the children of God and may not know Him either.  What did Jesus tell the scribes and Pharisees?  Hypocrites, you honor Me with Your lips but your hearts are far from me (Matt. 15:1-9).  This doesn’t just apply to the Old Testament church, but those who think they have something (which they don’t) in today’s church, the New Testament church!  Didn’t we do all these wonderful things in Your name?  Jesus said to them “I never knew you, depart from me” (Matt. 7:21-23).  Jesus doesn’t just draw the ‘lost’ to Himself, those who will listen, He brings His church, His body, back into obedience when (or because) we have strayed!  He wants all to be saved (2 Peter 3:9).

18        For through Him, we both have access to the Father through one Spirit

19        Therefore, we are no longer strangers and foreigners, but are fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God

As we live for Jesus, we have access to Father through Jesus via the Holy Ghost.  The Holy Ghost should be alive and well within our hearts.  Therefore, we discover we are come into the kingdom of God, brothers and sisters, joint heirs, with and through Jesus and all those who have, do or will receive Him into their hearts.  We have become ‘fellow citizens’ in the kingdom of God with Jesus and all true believers!  This isn’t just citizens in heaven.  As we follow and are obedient to the Lord.  As long as we believe what God has said and don’t doubt.  Jesus tells us Father will give us what we ask (James 1:1-9).  That means in this life as well.  Again, don’t doubt, believe and ask God.  You will be amazed at what He does.  Jesus tells His disciples that we don’t give up anything in this life that we won’t receive many time over in this life and the next (Luke 18:29-30).

20        We are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Jesus Christ, Himself, being the chief cornerstone

The cornerstone is what holds the building together.  Jesus is our cornerstone.  Remove the cornerstone and the building will collapse.  The apostles and prophets extend from that cornerstone as the rest of that foundation, continuing the teaching of Jesus, upon His values and upon which our lives should be built.  Jesus, the apostles and the early church have given us the example.  And that example is expressed to us through the Holy Bible.  And the bible is Father’s love story to us.

21        In whom, all the building, fitly framed together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord

We are the body of Christ.  We are His living temple.  No longer a building of brick and mortar, but a building of living blocks of flesh and blood, each with a designated purpose.  All functioning together, reflecting God’s holiness through our love for (not only) one another but for all.  We are the living temple of the Lord.

22        In whom, we are also built together to be an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We are built in and through Jesus to be an habitation for the Holy Spirit, Who comes to dwell within us, bringing God’s presence into each of our lives.  Because Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, God lives in us through our salvation experience as we yield ourselves to Him.  WE become one with the Father through Jesus, via the Holy Ghost by giving our heart back to God!  We are His living temple.  Our heart becomes the Holy of Holies in which He comes to visit with us.  Our body may still be a veil, but through the Holy Spirit, Father comes through our veil to speak with our heart.

Rev. 21:14                   But the walls of the city (New Jerusalem) had twelve foundations and in them were the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb.

In the natural, the twelve apostles show us the way because they have reflected the love of Jesus to us through their teachings to the early church and now through the bible.  If/as we listen, the Holy Spirit is continually teaching us God’s love so we can be effective exponents of that love.  We all have our own unique way of expressing that love, but because we all seek God’s love, being one body, we promote that love – in unity (a single voice).

Once we were lost in our sin, without God.  Through Jesus Christ, Father has brought us into His family showing us how to live.  We are, now, the body of Christ, using our God-given talents, together in unity, to promote God’s love to the world. 

Amen?

6-24-2017        The Mind of Christ

                     The Resurrection

        The Birth                  The Cross

Recently, Father brought two things back to my mind.  One in Doug Addison’s “Weekly Connect” (6/1/2017) and the daily entry for June 1, 2017 in a small magazine I was receiving for a while, “Men of Integrity” (MOI), titled “Knowing God’s Spirit”, a word from David Bowen, a Christian speaker, writer and poet.

The MOI entry, in part, reads “We have to realize that the ‘Holy Spirit’ is God’s actual Spirit.  The Holy Spirit connects us with the mind of God.  In fact, the Holy Spirit connects us to God’s mind … (in) … that we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinth. 2:16).  The same mind that allowed Jesus to live in perfect relationship with the Father dwells within us.”

Jesus promises us the Holy Ghost, two-fold.  One in the ‘indwelling’ as recorded in John 14:16-17, I’ll pray the Father give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever.  The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn’t see Him but you know Him for He dwells with you and shall be in you.  And in John 20:22 when Jesus says “Receive the Holy Ghost …”  At that time, Jesus breathed on His disciples so we know that something happened to them.  But, we know that this is not the fullness of what Father has to offer for Jesus has already told His disciples “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, but if I don’t go away, the comforter will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7).  All this occurred before (what we refer to as) the ‘baptism’ of the Holy Ghost as recorded in Acts chapter two.  And keep in mind, in order to complete His mission on earth, Jesus needed strength in His natural body from all that the Holy Ghost is.

The second is in the ‘infilling’ which Jesus promises just before He ascended back into heaven.  He tells His disciples (and all believers) “You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you …” (Acts 1:8).  All we have to do is ask (Luke 11:13).  This is the ‘infilling’ or the “baptism”.

That baptism is realized at Pentecost which, for believers, is the day that the power of the Holy Spirit became available to us.  At that time, it was evidenced by a rushing wind and tongues of fire resting upon each of the 120 in the upper room (Acts 2:1-4).  They spoke in ‘other tongues’ as the Spirit gave them utterance and they experienced a joy beyond description.  Tongues is a Spiritually inspired language given to us by Father which enhances our communication with Him and gives us strength to do what we need to do.

But, understand that Jesus gave His disciples authority over sickness, disease and evil spirits even before the accounts recorded in John chapter fourteen, sixteen and twenty and Acts chapters one and two.  Jesus gave His twelve disciples power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and disease (Matt. 10:1).  Then later, He sent out the seventy who, when they returned, said “Even the devils are subject to us through Your name (Luke 10:1-17)!

This is a season of joy, power and revelation! (Doug Addison’s 6-1-17 Weekly Connect “Prophetic Word for Pentecost”)  Think what Jesus has given us, we are like the seventy!  Not just apostles, but the disciples.  The disciples received the same authority as the apostles.  When the Holy Ghost came into that upper room, He didn’t land on just the apostles, there were 108 other disciples in that room and they all received ‘the power’.

THINK ABOUT THAT!

Why are there two terms, indwelling and infilling, described?  The indwelling is when the Holy Ghost takes up ‘residence within us’ while the infilling is when we allow the power of the Holy Ghost to ‘operate in us and through us’.  It isn’t just acknowledging who the Holy Ghost is, it isn’t just ‘knowing about Him, but yielding our lives over to Him so we can (indeed) have the power to follow Jesus’ example for living.  Does this mean we will never ‘mess up’?  Absolutely not!  The Father gives us ‘free will’, to choose the path in which we tread, before and after our salvation experience.  Our ‘baptism in the Holy Ghost (with fire’ Matt. 3:11) strengthens us to a greater level and even though the Holy Ghost is alive and well within our hearts, we still have that freedom of choice.  However, the Holy Ghost does give us the strength to choose and stay the right path.  It is not automatic.  We choose - we do. 

Three things are prominent about Pentecost: 1) for Israel, this is the time for harvesting (the wheat), 2) This is the time God gave Israel the Law through Moses, and 3) this is the season the disciples received the Holy Spirit bringing to all a deeper joy, power and revelation.  In the Old Testament, God would visit man and speak through Moses and specified prophets then the high priest to intercede as he was the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies.  The Holy Ghost was ‘with’ them.  Today, because the curtain separating man from God is torn in two and fully open, we have we have direct access into the Holy of Holies, to the Father because the Holy Ghost is now ‘in’ us.

In the Old Testament, the harvest was reaping the ripe fruit from the fields.  Today, souls are ready and ripening, ready to be injected with God’s love and to be harvested into His kingdom.  They just need to hear the Word in love, truth and power so they can come into God’s kingdom with all their heart, mind, soul and strength (Luke 10:27-28). 

In the Law, given to Moses, Father briefly explains how His love functions in our lives.  It explains our relationship with our heavenly Father and those around us.  It gives us a picture in the spiritual as well as the natural arenas as to how we should act, speak and think.

This is also a time where the Holy Ghost calls us into obedience in God’s love so we can effectively share our Father’s love with others as we yield ourselves over to Him.  This is a decision, followed by an action.  We decide to yield ourselves to Him, then we listen to Father for direction in life and then we do it!

Through His Spirit (within us) Father gives us the strength to make decisions in accordance to His will and then the power to implement those things in our lives as a testimony to those around us.

 Understanding these things (Doug, MOI & the HS), Father quickly impressed upon me that even though no man can know the mind of God (Romans 11:34), we do have the mind of Christ (1 Corinth. 2:16)!  And who is Jesus?  The Word of God personified, in the flesh (John 1:1-14) and as John 1:1 says “the Word was with God and the Word WAS God”.  This is not a one-time event but an ongoing existence.  Father and Son have always been one, together, the same!

Surely we cannot instruct God, know His mind, but we can surely know how He thinks (read the bible from Genesis to Revelation).  We CAN understand how He operates in this world and why.  We can understand His love.  The whole bible is God sharing His love for us and with us and that love reveals ‘how He thinks’!  With Pentecost, we can receive the Holy Ghost, through Whom we can receive the power to live this life, just as Jesus did – and more (John 14:12)!  The Holy Ghost gives us the strength to live in God’s love then to be able to go out in truth and power and share that love with those whom we encounter.  We should not falter for He will give us what to say (Luke 12:11-12).

The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God (1 Corinth. 2:10) and He equips us for our task! (Phil. 2:13, Heb. 13:20-21, 2 Peter 1:3)

We really don’t know how to pray, so the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings (noises) that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26).  When we are unable to speak out our needs, the Spirit knows our hearts and takes t say to our heavenly Father because He is our connection with Father and is an extension of God.  So He speaks to Father, on our behalf with sounds we may not understand.  Because He is God, the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of the Father.  After all, He is the Father in us!   So the Spirit speaks for us, even when we can’t vocalize our need.  He brings Father’s response to us so we seek guidance from the Holy Ghost in all that we do to obtain and retain our relationship with Father.  Don’t misunderstand me here, Jesus is our mediator (1 Tim. 2:5) with the Father, but read on.

Seven church councils have shaped the Christian Creed:  325 - Nicaea, 381 – 1^st of Constantinople, 431 – Ephesus, 451 – Chalcedon, 553 – 2nd Constantinople, 681 – 3^rd Constantinople, 787 – 2^nd Nicaea.  The council of Nicea (381 AD - or the 1^st council of Constantinople) and when the ‘smoke’ cleared, they declared that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son.  He is not sent, but proceeds.  That means that the Holy Ghost is one with the Father and the Son and cannot be separated.  The Nicene Creed declared this and subsequent councils confirmed and explained it. 

So, as the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and Son (completing the Godhead) He knows the mind of the Father and the Son and He knows our hearts and minds.  The Holy Ghost IS the connection between heaven and earth.  Between God and man.  Who is better to intercede for us then give us direction?  It pleased the Father that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus (Col. 1:19, 2:1-10).  This is why Jesus had to go back to Father, before we could receive the Holy Ghost.

Now, the Holy Ghost walked in the presence of the disciples in the person of Jesus (yes? – Jesus received the Holy Ghost through His baptism by John – Matt. 1:13-178, John 1:29-33).  Jesus told His disciples the Holy Ghost was with them but would be in them (John 14:16-17) and power would be given to all believers.  When the Holy Ghost is come upon us we would have power (Acts 1:8).  The power to do what?  Walk in God’s love (to live this life), to deal with life’s situations.  He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:1-6) and then He will be able to effectively share that love through us with those whom we encounter.

The mind of God is love for God is love (1 John 4:6-11).  The heart of God is love for God is love.  Everything that is God is love for God is love.  All that is God dwelt in Jesus, so Jesus is love (as we have already read – the fullness of the Godhead).  The Holy Spirit is the breath of God (Job 33:4 - look up breath Strong’s 5397 and Spirit 7307)) and proceeds from the Father and the Son so the Holy Spirit brings love.  As we see in the passage from 1 John, our hearts should operate in God’s love.  We can’t operate in God’s love unless we understand that love, which translates into “knowing the mind of Christ”, which, in turn, means we come to know how God (Father) thinks!  God thinks, exists and IS love!  or should we say love is God?  And the bible is our ‘handbook’ into God’s love.

So, do we know what God is going to think at any given moment?  We may not understand what’s going on in a particular situation, at a specific time, but we do know that whatever Father thinks and does is wrapped in love.  Whatever is happening in our lives is wrapped in love.  Only our understanding, or lack of it impacts our actions.  Do we do God’s will?  Or do we do our own?

Love seeks to edify us and build others around up so whatever Father does in our lives is for our benefit.  To help us draw closer to Him.  To abide, function and grow in His love.  Why, so we can truly say we are made in the image of God.  For God is love and we are becoming a reflection of that love to the world around us.

Can we know the mind of Christ?  As with the Father, the mind of Jesus is love!  Yes?

Amen