The interesting thing about secular history is it constantly repeats itself. Spiritual history is no different. The Christian Religion is following a parallel path to the Jewish Religion and will suffer the same fate. Just like Israel of old, Institutional Christianity has given up its pursuit of the Irresistible Kingdom of God, and forsaken the Heavenly Order of things where Christ is Head; instead, they have set their sights on political power, wealth, and position.
Is today's system of Churchianity any less narrow-minded, self-righteous, and self-centered than that system of Judaism which rejected Jesus Christ? Are our religious icons, television preachers, and institutional pastors any less blind leaders of the blind? Are Christians today any better able to recognize the true identity of the King and the spiritual nature, character, location, timing, scope, and covenantal basis of His Kingdom than their Jewish counterparts of two thousand years ago? Even with the benefit of hindsight and a complete Scriptural record, the gross spiritual immaturity among professing believers today is appalling.
As a result, most Christians are just as ignorant of the true nature of the Kingdom of God as their Jewish predecessors. "How foolish and blind those Jews were! They crucified their Messiah!" But before we criticize the Jews for their spiritual dullness let us look at ourselves. This spiritual blindness and misapprehension of God's purpose is not limited to those first century Jews. As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So far we Christians have done an excellent job of duplicating and perpetuating the same old Jewish misconceptions, even adding a few interesting twists to further compound the error.
1 - Christian Misconceptions Concerning the SPIRITUAL NATURE of the Kingdom
Whereas the Jews erred in their political perception of the Kingdom, most Christians err in their almost total lack of perception concerning any kind of Kingdom - political or otherwise. It is difficult to know which presents a greater challenge: redirecting an inaccurate impression of the Kingdom, or trying to cast a Kingdom vision where no vision exists. For most Christians today, the Kingdom of God is a vague, mystical non-reality. Heaven is a celestial rest home for dearly departed saints. The Kingdom is mentioned twice in the ceremonial recitation of the Lord's Prayer but has virtually no impact on the spiritual consciousness of the average church-goer.
The Kingdom of God, for all intents and purposes, has been set aside to make way for the Religion of Christianity. The Church, not the Kingdom, is now the goal. The harlot Church, fancying itself to be the Bride of Christ has made itself the object of affection. The history of the Roman Catholic Church is a disgusting account of people endeavoring (and often succeeding) to become a political force in the earth, killing millions of people for the so-called cause of Christ. But the Roman Catholic Church is an easy, obvious target. The Protestant Church is just as guilty of politicizing the Kingdom of God with an unholy alliance between Church and State � for example, when King James asserted his "divine right of kings" ideology and insisted that he should be the political and the religious head of the Church of England.
Whenever Church and State come together the result is always persecution for anyone accused of "heresy." Questioning the authority of the Church becomes grounds for legal action and subsequent punishment, imprisonment, or execution. The Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts (1692-93) were conducted by Puritan Christians. Whipped into a frenzied religious hysteria, they arrested and imprisoned more than one hundred fifty people as "witches", indicted twenty-nine, and hanged nineteen. This is just one example of why religious zealots - no matter what their denominational or theological flavor - should under no circumstances be given political authority. Beware the ones who seek political office with the intention of enforcing their brand of Christianity on the rest of us.
What is the root problem? Failing to recognize the essentially spiritual nature of the Kingdom - bringing it down to earth and politicizing it, trying to create some kind of earthly power and authority in the name of God. It is a favorite tactic of carnal men, and this carnality extends to Christians as much as to Jews....
(This article is based on a spoken series of messages titled "Abide In Me".)
"But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ." (1 Jn 2:27, NLT)
Those who live in union with the Vine do not judge a thing by "can I or can't I, should I or shouldn't I". They do not even judge a thing by whether it seems "good or bad". I don't think anyone has ever made a decision or chosen a thing because they believed it was "bad". Of course not! We choose what we believe at the time to be good. The trouble with that is we are still confident in the flesh, still believing we are capable of knowing good from evil. That is what Adam was looking for: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
But over against that there is the Tree of Life, and here again is another example of the Christ-Life. Now that I am in Christ, and Christ is in me, I do not have to judge a thing by my own limited knowledge of "Good and Evil." The issue is not "Good or Evil", the issue is "Life or Death." Eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil sounded like a good thing at the time. It was pleasant to look at, and it was desirable. That's the way sin is. Sin is very desirable; if it wasn't then no one would be temptable. We need a spiritual compass greater than the limited knowledge of Good or Evil, Right or Wrong, Good or Bad. We need a way to recognize Life and Death.
That may sound very esoteric and ethereal, so let me illustrate it with a practical example. A good friend called me who was concerned about what a particular individual was teaching. My friend had researched the topic, read everything the Scriptures had to say about it, asked the person teaching to more fully explain their position, and consulted with other people who tried to help dissect this teaching. My friend had called me to get my opinion, and began to lay out all the results of this intensive research into the doctrinal position of this person. I must say, it was complicated and very complex.
So I interrupted my friend at this point and said, "I appreciate all the work you've done into the doctrinal integrity of this particular person, but I do not need to hear all the reasons why you believe they are in error. I have met the person, and there is no Life in what they are saying. So I do not have to decide whether the teaching is right or wrong, because there is no Life there. If the teaching brings Death then you should avoid it, no matter how intriguing it may be. Even if the teaching is changed to be doctrinally correct, it should still be avoided because there is no Life in it."
Likewise, I have listened to people speak – not just in a church service or a meeting, but just in conversation – and they can barely put a sentence together, sometimes they don't seem to be making any sense, they certainly are not trying to teach anyone and they would never call themselves a teacher, preacher, or minister – but they have the Life. The Life is sufficient. How do you know they have the Life? If you have the Life of the Lord then you know when others have it. You know. You just know. The Spirit bears witness. You just know. And there have been times when I didn't even like what I was hearing and seeing, and I began to judge it according to "Good and Evil", but down deeper I sensed the Life of the Lord, and at that point you learn not to argue. I may not understand or agree with it, but I sense the Life of the Lord, and that is enough.
For instance, to Peter, the crucifixion of Jesus was a bad thing. He argued with the Lord and tried to prevent Him from doing God's Will. Jesus rebuked Peter for listening to the devil and loving the things of man more than the things of God. See, Peter was making decisions based on his flesh. He wasn't being led by the Spirit.
Some people visit our website at The School of Christ and the first thing they want to read is our doctrinal statement. I suppose we could write one, or copy one, and get agreement on doctrine and teaching, and then someone could make a judgment along the lines of "Good or Bad", Agreement or Disagreement. But that would contradict what I have learned by the Spirit: that we should have no confidence in the flesh. A doctrinal statement is a way around trusting in the Life of the Lord to give discernment. I've seen people with a perfect doctrinal statement that were dead, dead, dead. It means nothing – yet people put so much value in it.
Here's what I say to people: read what we write, listen to what we say, and if the Spirit bears witness with you then you can trust the Spirit. Now if you don't know how to be led of the Spirit then you have another problem. But notice I didn't say you should trust me. I'm not going to hurt you on purpose, and I hope you won't hurt me on purpose. Most of the hurt we endure is unintentional anyway. I have no confidence in my flesh, and I would never ask you to put your confidence in me or anyone else. But you can trust the Spirit of Jesus. And that's what I'm getting at.
You have the Wonderful Counselor, this Mighty Comforter, Who lives in you. Now stop looking to man. Stop looking to yourself. Stop trying to figure it all out with your head. Trust in the Life of the Lord to show you the difference between Life and Death.
Posted by david on 2008/4/17 10:05:25 (1173 reads)
"And say to Archippus, 'Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it… remember my bonds'" (Colossians 4:17,18ff).
This personal footnote at the closing of Paul's letter to the Colossians deserves a closer look. Perhaps in this word of exhortation to Archippus someone may see an application to their situation today.
The ministry (as Scripture intends it) was not, and is not, a position of privilege or class distinction. It was never intended to be a professional office for someone to aspire to, the way one might train to be a doctor or a lawyer.
But our situation today is very different from Paul's time. In Churchianity Today, ministry is often equated to position, influence, title, rank, special privileges, and the most coveted of all prizes: financial remuneration. Unfortunately this mindset is not a 20th century phenomenon. By the middle of the second century the post-apostolic church was already beginning to divide itself along the lines of the "ministers" and the "regular people". Less than 100 years after the last apostle died, after only one or two generations, the priesthood of believers began to be eclipsed by a clergy/laity distinction that continues unabated to this day.
The message to the masses is that ministers are special and to be treated differently from the laity. Depending upon the organizational hierarchy, some ministers are even more special than others. Because we have permitted ministers to receive special treatment, people who crave special treatment are all the more attracted to the ministry of Organized Religion
The situation in the Early Church was quite different. In those days, answering the call to ministry was to accept suffering, hardship, and possible death. Their example was Jesus, the Suffering Servant, and realizing that the disciple is not above His Master, they counted the cost and did not seek the ministry for self-serving purposes.
Someone like Archippus had to be encouraged to fulfill the ministry God had given him. Why? Because it was not something anyone would pursue on their own accord. People did not pursue ministry in the Early Church; ministry pursued them. Ministry was not organized into a hierarchy, and it offered them little or nothing in terms of financial or material reward. It promised little or nothing in the way of fame, recognition, or privilege.
This probably accounts for the reason why, in those days, the Harvest was truly plentiful, but the laborers were few. Today the self-appointed laborers are so many that they are trampling all over the Harvest. The professional clergy and the attitude it brings has become a liability to the Lord of the Harvest, not an asset. They have become a hindrance to the Harvest instead of a help; and today, rather than pray for more laborers to go forth, we might be better off to pray for some of them to go back home and sit at the feet of Jesus for awhile.
For Archippus, it was not a matter of trying to make something happen, or create a ministry where none existed, or start a new church, or anoint himself to do something he wanted to do. He had already received a ministry from the Lord. The precise nature of this ministry, and what he was called to do, we have no way of knowing. It may have been something that, to our eyes, was grand and noble. More than likely, it was something small and seemingly insignificant.
All we know for sure is that Archippus had received a ministry from the Lord, and he had not, as of yet, fulfilled it. Archippus knew it, and Paul knew it, and now everyone in Colossae knew it. He was called to something, and had received something from the Lord, but it was dormant, stagnant, inert, still waiting to be put to use. How ironic that the ones who have nothing to say are the most likely ones to be found preaching; they are the ones itching to speak, hankering to be on the platform - while those who genuinely have something to contribute have to be prodded and encouraged to share their wisdom. This is, perhaps, a built-in safeguard against the pride, arrogance, and high-mindedness that so often tempts, and too many times taints, those who have seen and heard something from the Lord – or merely think they have.
Moses certainly knew something of that reluctance to go forth. The work of the Cross was so thorough in him that he begged God to send someone else. This kind of humility and self-abasement is admirable, and to be preferred over a self-confident swagger; but if we persist beyond a certain point then our protests become false expressions of humility and real disobedience. When Moses persisted in his unwillingness to go, God became angry with him because his humility went beyond its reasonable limit and became something akin to fear. A truly humble person is not for or against a certain course of action. He is indifferent to the thing, and is only concerned for what God would have him to do, whether it be agreeable or disagreeable.
In like manner, Timothy had to be encouraged by Paul. "Stir up the gift that is within you by the laying on of my hands... for God has not given us the spirit of fear… be not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord" (II Timothy 1:6-8ff). Paul does not tell Timothy to pray for a better opportunity, or passively wait for God to rise up within him and overwhelm him. Timothy needed to exercise the gift. He needed to stir it up. He had something to offer, something to contribute. Paul's exhortation was not to persist in false humility or passive waiting, but to be proactive, to stir it up, and serve the Body of Christ as a faithful steward. According to Paul's assessment, it was not a spirit of humility that held Timothy back, it was a spirit of fear.
Archippus, like Moses and Timothy, needed some prodding and pushing. Archippus knew there was a calling on his life, and he knew he had received a ministry from the Lord. As content as he may have been to live life in the shadows, Paul would not allow him to continue to ignore that calling from God without some word of reminder, of correction, of encouragement to pay attention to it and see that it was completed.
There are some who, far from the extreme of seeking out ministry for their own ambitious ends, are content to passively wait for God to fulfill everything in His own time. They will do nothing to hinder it, but they will do nothing to help it, either. While this is commendable to a certain extent when compared to the compulsive hast of the ambitious, it is probably motivated more by timidity and fear. Once a person has received their ministry from the Lord, the humble and patient waiting for it is finished. There was a time when Paul could resort to the desert of Arabia to be alone with the Scriptures and humbly wait for further direction, but when the Spirit finally did send him forth, he went without hesitation, without reservation.
Now Paul says to his fellow laborer Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received from the Lord that you may fulfill it." It must be fulfilled by someone, and the one to fulfill it is the one who has received it. You cannot fulfill the ministry that I have received from the Lord, and you cannot tell me how to fulfill it. Likewise, I cannot fulfill the ministry you have received from the Lord, nor can I tell you how to fulfill it. Paul did not tell Archippus or Timothy how to fulfill the ministry they had received. His counsel was very wise: stir up the Gift, pay attention to what you have received from the Lord, and the Spirit will show you how to proceed. But proceed you must; do not bury it in the ground like the unprofitable servant, but invest it in the Body of Christ right away.
We are not suggesting that carnal methods can be utilized in fulfilling the ministry, but it must be fulfilled and discharged – not by the might or power of the one who is called, but by the same Spirit of the Lord Who issues the calling. Those who have received a ministry from the Lord must actively seek Him for how, and when, and where, to fulfill that ministry (this assumes we understand WHAT the ministry is, and what it is not). Once something is given by the Lord it becomes a sacred trust and a holy stewardship to the one who has received it. Like Frodo who was charged with taking the ring of power to Mount Mordor, the responsibility for the stewardship cannot be shrugged off or left to others.
If every brother and sister in Christ would take heed to the ministry they have received of the Lord, and fulfill it, we would have no need of a professional clergy at all. It should be apparent that the unwillingness of every member of the Body of Christ to fulfill their individual calling has created a vacuum in the priesthood of all believers that others are only to eager to fill with an imposed hierarchy. In all fairness, it should also be recognized that many of the "laity" are quite content to remain "laity", and actually prefer to have some Moses climb the mountain on their behalf and give them a word from God each week. They may call it a "church", but it is nothing more than a cult of carnal co-dependency, a place where blind leaders can practice their leadership skills on blind followers. May it never be so with the Lord's Ekklesia.
For those who have a heart along the lines of Archippus, Paul's final admonition is: "Remember my chains." And this last word, immediately following the exhortation to fulfill what God has called you to do, is a very potent reminder of what Paul suffered on behalf of his ministry. Following his own advice cost him his life. He was not afflicted with Italian suits, Rolex watches, facelifts, cars, jets, and homes; but like his Master, he embraced the Cross and died daily so that others could live. His ministry was characterized by self-denial, not self-indulgence.
Archippus is mentioned only once more in Scripture. A few years later, when writing to Philemon, Paul sends his greetings to "Archippus, our fellow soldier" (Philemon 2). If Paul greets him as a fellow soldier then Archippus must have certainly followed Paul's exhortation to fulfill the work God had called him to. He was fighting in the trenches, not criticizing from the sidelines of the battle. I pray that all those who have received something from the Lord will take heed to it, and fulfill the work of the Lord in a manner that brings glory, not shame, to the Lord of the Work.
“Now when John heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto [Jesus], ‘Are you the One that should come, or do we look for another?’” (Matthew 11:2,3).
You will recall that John the Baptist was the one sent by God to be a voice in the wilderness, the prophet who went before Jesus to prepare His way and announce the coming Kingdom. John pointed out that the One coming after him was the One Who would be preferred above himself. It was John who revealed to us that great mystery of God’s Purpose in seven simple words: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
John’s ministry reached its height when Jesus came down to the river Jordan to be baptized. There John saw the heavens opened, saw the Spirit of God descending upon Jesus like a dove, and heard a Voice saying, “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” With evidence like this it is difficult to doubt; and so, with great authority and conviction, John said, “I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34).
John knew his purpose had been fulfilled, and with great eagerness he handed the reins over to the One he had so faithfully proclaimed. He had prepared the way, and now the One he had been preparing everyone for had arrived.
Shortly thereafter, John was arrested and put into prison. His work was complete, his sun was setting, and just as he had said, Jesus was increasing and John was decreasing. But oh, what a decrease! The ministry was finished, the crowds were gone, and John was left alone in prison with only a few disciples who came to visit him.
When everything is stripped away you are soon left with little but your own thoughts. In prison, John had a lot of time to think. And the essence of his thoughts were along these lines: Did I make a mistake? Is Jesus the Son of God, or not? If He is the Messiah then where is His Kingdom? Why doesn’t Jesus do something? Did I really see the Spirit and hear the Voice, or was that just my imagination? And if He isn’t the One, do we need to start looking for another?
We can all take comfort in the knowledge that even the greatest prophet who ever lived (Luke 7:28) can have troubling thoughts, moments of doubt, and crises of faith. We all experience times when the darkness mocks us and circumstances try to convince us that the best course is to “curse God and die” (as Job’s wife so eloquently put it). We can afford to be philosophical and detached about Jesus increasing and us decreasing while we are still ministering out by the Jordan, but in prison the truth of what we have been proclaiming is put to the test. Sadly, many of us fail the test. Jesus simply does not do what we expect – and this upsets us!
The real crisis of faith is along the lines of this Man. We can all disagree over Bible doctrine and interpretations of Scripture. But what will you do about Jesus? He will not change Who He is to accommodate Who we think He is. He is Who He is. We either have to come to grips with Jesus as He in fact is, or we have to settle for something less or something else. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). So the question we all have to answer is this: Is Jesus enough? Is He enough, just as He is? Or do we still need Him to do something else in order to satisfy us? Intellectually we can say, “Yes, Jesus is enough. Amen to that. I believe it.” But I am surprised at the growing number of people who are openly suggesting that Jesus really is not enough for them! We need fellowship, they say. Or we need God’s blessings. Or we need spiritual gifts and more powerful anointings. To believe that Jesus is Enough (they say) is simply too mystical, too simplistic, too out-of-touch with the real world – no matter what Colossians 2:10 says.
I would suggest, brothers and sisters, that if Jesus is not Enough for us then we have not really met Him yet, or at the very least, we do not know Him very well. Corrie Ten Boom said, “You may never know that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” That is the purpose of all God’s dealings with us in this area of being decreased (or as I like to say, being reduced to Christ). Jesus is not quite all we HAVE, and so we are reluctant to say that Jesus is all we NEED. The problem, dear friends, is not that we have too little, but that we have too much. It is not that we need more of the Lord; I believe we already have all of Him. We just need less of everything else. Like the Laodiceans, we consider ourselves to be rich, increased with goods, and in need of nothing (Revelation 3:17). Like Martha, who was vexed over “many things”, we have too many religious things, too many Christian things, too many spiritual things, too many church things, too many of the “many things” that distract us from the One Thing that is needed (Luke 10:42). No one is ever vexed over the One Thing. It is always the “many things” that vex us, all those “things” apart from Jesus that we think we just cannot live without, all those “things” we think we “need” simply because when it gets right down to it, we do not see Jesus as Enough.
Now we all face the same temptation John faced. What is the temptation? There in prison he began to think, and he came up with a question, and if you really look at this question I think you will see where the suggestion comes from, and you can still hear its echo from time to time. The question is this: “Are you the One, or do we look for another?” And notice this is not John’s own personal dilemma. By using the word “we” he included himself and others who were equally puzzled and wondering within themselves as to whether or not Jesus was the One.
The essence of the question is this: everything we are, everything we have, and everything we believe is based upon Jesus being the One; but Jesus has disappointed us, not so much by what He has done, but by what He has failed to do. We expected His Kingdom to be thus and so, we expected Him to be thus and so, and nothing is as we expected it would be. Now we can continue believing in this One Who frustrates us so, this One Who seems to be moving so slowly, or we can look for another, someone who can be depended upon, someone who makes sense, someone who always answers us according to our own thoughts, desires, needs, and schedule. Someone who does not require us to be decreased in order for him to be increased, someone who does not talk about denying ourselves and taking up a cross, but will just love us the way we are and let us be who we are. Are you the One, Jesus? Will you allow us to make You into what we want you to be, or do we look for another?
This “looking for another” is the entire object of our adversary, that spirit of Antichrist that is forever trying to corrupt us “from the simplicity of Christ” (II Corinthians 11:3), always trying to get us to leave “Him that called you” to follow after “another Gospel” (Galatians 1:6), which really is no other, Paul says, only the appearance of Another, Something Else, or Someone Else. At least Peter, for whatever faults he may have had, was smart enough to realize that there was no one else but Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). But this does not stop people, even Christians who should know better, from “looking for another.” They look for another pastor, another preacher, another teacher, another prophet, another ministry, another sign or word or prophecy or teaching or manifestation or meeting or miracle. The simplicity of Christ, the reality of Who He is, cannot keep their attention for very long.
In another place Jesus asked, “Whom seek ye?” (John 18:4). In other words, who are you looking for? This particular crowd was pressing in to have Him arrested and put to death. The day before the crowds were pressing in to proclaim “Hosanna!”, and before that they were pressing in to make Him their king by force (John 6:15). At other times the people pressed Him to hear the Word of God. Still other times the people pressed Him to be healed of their diseases. Have you ever noticed that everyone wants something, that there are more takers in this world than givers? Pressing Him, pushing Him, forever wanting more and never satisfied. Very few know how to sit at His feet just to hear His Word. Very few are willing to pour out the best ointment on Him, and when they do, they are severely criticized for such a “waste”. Very few are content just “to be with Him” (Mark 3:14). Instead, this one wants a loaf of bread, this one wants a healing, this one wants a teaching, this one wants a sign, this one wants an answer to a question, this one wants proof of His divinity, this one wants something to accuse Him with. Does anyone seek Him for His sake? Does anyone press upon Him, not for what He can give, but for Who He is? Does anyone seek Him out, not to get some need met, but so they “may know Him” (Philippians 3:10)?
Whom seek ye? Have you discovered Him yet, and is He enough, or do you seek another? We do not proclaim the preeminence of Christ because it is a nice doctrine to believe in; for us, it is a matter of life and death, because everything hinges on whether or not Jesus is preeminent. If He is preeminent then He is Enough, and there is nothing else but Him, and there is nothing worth proclaiming except Him. To John in prison, and to us wherever we may happen to be, Jesus says, “No, you did not make a mistake. I am the One, but I am more than you can imagine, more than you dare to dream. Blessed are they who are not offended in Me.”
"Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!'" (I Kings 12:28).
So begins the sad testimony of Israel's fall from being a holy people to a backslidden nation of idol-worshippers. How is it that, in such a short time after the completion of the Temple in Jerusalem, Israel could be led astray? There is a prophetic application to our current situation. These things are written as an example to us, so let us look at this defining moment in Israel's history and see what lessons can be learned.
It is never wise to force any interpretation beyond a few main points, because the Kingdom of Judah was not much better than the Kingdom of Israel. But by way of a general application, we will simply note that Judah contained Jerusalem; and however much it failed to measure up to God's full thought, Jerusalem was intended as the center of worship and the place where the Lord said He would make His presence to dwell.
We know that Jerusalem contained the Temple and the Levitical priesthood. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided between two men: Rehoboam, the son of Solomon; and Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon. Rehoboam became the king of Judah, and had Jerusalem as his capital. Jeroboam became the king of Israel, and his territory was all the land to the north.
And so we have a kingdom divided against itself; essentially, two nations existing side-by-side. This sets us up for controversy and competition. Judah is centered in Jerusalem, worships God in the Temple, and is led in that worship by the Levitical priesthood. It is not too difficult to see that Judah represents a remnant within Israel.
Judah is one tribe, while Israel is ten tribes. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. All who belong to Christ are spiritually counted in this tribe of Judah. Our Jerusalem is from above, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are all kings and priests in this holy nation of peculiar (set apart, special) people. I trust you are familiar enough with your New Testament to recognize these truths without me having to provide chapter and verse.
Well, Israel came to represent something quite different from Judah. Although Judah came out of Israel, it definitely stood apart from Israel. So what do we see in the divided kingdom? We see the Church that Jesus is building as something over and above the "Church" that man is building. Whether you call it the Institutional Church or Organized Religion or the Harlot Church, it is an alternative religious system that exists right alongside the true expression of Spirit and Truth in New Jerusalem. As we will discover, Organized Religion is, for all intents and purposes, a Convenient Cult.
A CULT OF SELF-PRESERVATION
"And Jeroboam said in his heart, 'Now the kingdom may return to the house of David: if these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn back to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and go back to Rehoboam king of Judah'" (I Kings 12:26,27).
So here is Jeroboam, the rebel king of Israel. He has control of ten tribes. He has more land and more people than Judah. Even so, he is troubled. What troubles him? There is the issue of people being commanded by God to go up to Jerusalem to worship. Jeroboam correctly surmised that once the people went up to Jerusalem to worship they would be more inclined to live there, and his kingdom would be diminished.
I would suggest that today God is calling on us to come up to Jerusalem and worship - that is, to worship Him in Spirit and Truth (cf. John 4). The Father seeks those true worshippers who do not think of geographical places of worship, but a Spirit-and-Truth place of worship: a spiritual place, a place of the heart. That is what it means for us to "go up to Jerusalem". This Jerusalem is from above, it is from the heavens; we have to "go up" to it because it exists on a higher level, a greater dimension. It is a spiritual place. We read about it in the Book of Revelation, coming down from heaven, filled with the glory of God and the presence of the Lamb.
Many are responding to this call to go "up to Jerusalem" and out of Babylon, out of Churchianity, out of Organized Religion. As a result, all the Jeroboams of this world are in a state of consternation! How can we prevent this mass exodus of people from leaving our churches? Jeroboam's concern is not for the people. His concern is not for the Lord, or for what the Lord requires. Jeroboam's concern is only for self-preservation: the safeguarding of his leadership, the continuance of his kingdom, the prolongation of his own life.
The solution he came up with was quite resourceful. He created what I am calling "A CONVENIENT CULT." This convenient cult has three characteristics: 1) a convenient place; 2) a convenient priesthood; and 3) a convenient feast to bind the worshippers together. Let us look at each one particularly, and see if we can find a prophetic application to the time and season that we are a part of.
A CONVENIENT PLACE
"Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, 'It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!' And he set up one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan." (I Kings 12:28-30).
Jeroboam was smart enough to appeal to that part of human nature that is attracted to convenience. Convenience! "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." In other words, it's too inconvenient to worship God in the way that God requires. The cost is too great.
If you consult a Bible map you will find that Jeroboam strategically located his golden calves in the extreme northern and southern reaches of his kingdom. You could simply attend the golden calf that was closer to you. This is a clever bit of marketing that good restaurants use when selling desserts. They do not ask if you want dessert; they ask if you prefer chocolate cake or banana cream pie for dessert! Of course, you could refuse both, but when the question is put to people in this way, statistics show that most of them will select one of the options presented, and they end up buying a dessert.
So Jeroboam did not ask anyone to decide between a golden calf and Jerusalem; he simply offered them a choice of "desserts" - which alternative do you prefer: Bethel, or Dan? He reduced it all down to a matter of convenience. "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem." Too much!
Today we have a myriad of worship choices, a multitude of golden calves located on every street, some sitting right next to each other, each one competing for people. What is the basis of their marketing message? Convenience! A choice of service times so you can choose the one that is convenient for you. A choice of worship and preaching styles so you can choose the one you are most comfortable with. So many choices, so many options.
If we stop and think about it we may realize that God is not asking us to choose which golden calf out of thousands we want to worship at. He is asking us to choose between that whole "golden calf system" and a Spirit-and-Truth life in New Jerusalem! God is calling us to leave that false system behind and do something that is totally inconvenient - to "go up to Jerusalem", join the Church that Jesus is building, and learn how to be a nation of kings and priests.
It should be noted that when Israel did the convenient thing, the most expedient thing, the most practical thing, it became a sin to them. It led them far away from God and brought them under judgment. The convenient path is a wide path, and it leads to destruction. Worshipping God in Spirit-and-Truth and leaving behind the familiar ways and the popular paths is inconvenient and costly, but that is precisely why Jesus said to count the cost before you become His disciple.
A CONVENIENT PRIESTHOOD
"[Jeroboam] made shrines on the high places, and made priests from the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi" (I Kings 12:31).
A convenient cult needs a convenient priesthood to manage, maintain, superintend, and lead it. According to God's thought, only the Levites were called to serve Him as priests. Since all the Levites were in Jerusalem serving in the Temple, Jeroboam has to find another priesthood to support his false system.
Jeroboam's solution was to make it easy - convenient! - for anyone to become a priest. Never mind the calling of God. Anyone who took it upon themselves to be a priest would be ordained by Jeroboam and could achieve instant leadership status. And so the lowest of the people could now seize the opportunity to become lifted up above the people.
What does it take to be an apostle? What does it take to be a prophet? These days, apparently little. Simply calling yourself something, or allowing other people to call you something, is enough to make you somebody special. How very convenient! We are inundated with people who take upon themselves the title of apostle, bishop, prophet, prophetess, pastor and "first lady" (perhaps the most carnal title of all).
The point is that when "everyone" is a priest then it is very difficult to tell the difference between the priests of the Lord and the priests of the golden calf. When "everyone" is a prophet, how do you discern between a true word and a false word? Most people cannot, and so the deception is perpetuated by way of convenience.
The reality is that there is a tremendous cost associated with answering the call of God on your life, and if you really live the Christian life the way it is intended to be lived - "not I, but Christ" - it will (at times) be inconvenient, awkward, untimely, and problematic. And when God places you in a position of responsibility for others then the difficulties will increase a thousand fold. It will not be "easy", but for those who value the truth above convenience, this way of life in Christ is its own reward.
A CONVENIENT FEAST
"Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made. So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense" (I Kings 12:32,33).
A convenient cult needs some kind of convenient celebration, or feast to bring its worshippers together on a regular basis. Jeroboam decided to hold a festival "like the feast that was in Judah." Of course, it was NOT the same feast, it was only a counterfeit of the feast of tabernacles. The real feast was in Jerusalem. Jeroboam's feast was something devised, invented, and designed by Jeroboam.
Was this a gathering to honor the Lord? Was it an assembly to worship God? By no means. It was a distraction from spiritual worship, a convenient alternative to making a trip up to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple. Of course it was religious in nature - it was not a wild party, but a religious feast "like the feast that was in Judah."
A convenient place, a convenient priesthood, and a convenient feast makes the convenient cult complete. The end result is an alternative system of religious activity that claims to worship God, and has an appearance of piety, but is far more convenient and appealing to the flesh.
JUDGMENT ON THE CULT OF CONVENIENCE
"And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said..." (I Kings 13:1,2a)
God used a prophet from Judah to challenge the false system of religious worship that Jeroboam had installed, and prophesied its destruction. It was not a "convenient" word to deliver. After pronouncing destruction upon Jeroboam, the prophet himself was disobedient and destroyed by a lion. If you would not listen to the prophet's word, maybe you would learn from the prophet's example! Jeroboam, though momentarily shaken, simply continued in his disobedience, and was judged accordingly. But the damage was done and Israel was doomed.
It isn't difficult to see how history has repeated itself in the last two thousand years. Like Israel of old, we live in a "divided kingdom" where the Religious Majority perpetuate a cult of convenience, and the Remnant Minority seek the Lord's full thought, mind, heart, and will for the Church that Jesus is building, a spiritual house of living stones, a "New Jerusalem" of kings and priests. Both are considered "Israel", but only one is the true Church, while the other is a convenient distraction.
Eventually, even Judah fell to idolatry and came under judgment. The Temple was destroyed and Jerusalem was burned. God had to work with a Remnant within the Remnant, and He continued His Kingdom along spiritual lines.
The Lord continues to work with a Remnant today, calling them to "go up to Jerusalem" and set their affection on things above. Because God is working along spiritual lines to accomplish a spiritual purpose, the boundary between backsliding Israel and spiritual Judah, between golden calf worship and Spirit-and-Truth worship, is a lot more subtle. But once you have seen the Church that Jesus is building it is much easier to reject the golden calves. Jeroboam knows this, and will make his alternative very attractive - and very convenient.
May the Lord quicken this word to our hearts. Amen.
Positive and Encouraging? by Chip Brogden "And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, 'There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil" (I Kings 22:8).
At first blush there would appear to be nothing wrong with something labeled "positive and encouraging." Three Christian radio stations service my area, and all three of them make the same claim: that they offer positive and encouraging programming for the whole family. The appeal is obvious: no one wants to spend a lot of time dwelling on things that are negative and discouraging.
But I have discovered a flaw in this positive and encouraging, family-friendly environment that should be addressed. This desire to provide people with a positive and encouraging experience (whether it is by radio or by television or by church service or by website) creates an unrealistic expectation in the hearts and minds of the audience and congregation who have come to rely on "the ministry" to keep them properly fed. Content is judged not according to Truth, but according to how I feel about it. Do I feel good, positive, encouraged, uplifted, and happy afterwards? If so then all is well. Or is it?
We must seriously question things that pass themselves off as "ministry". It is clear that the practice of "ministry" - whether it comes in the form of a sermon or a song - is becoming synonymous with "Christian Entertainment." It is not so much what they say as what they fail to say. The most glaring omission in this positive and encouraging Christian sub-culture is meaningful reference and teaching along the lines of taking up the cross and denying self, and I would suggest this one thing sums up most of what is lacking in Churchianity today.
I do not mean a wistful remembering of the cross that Jesus died on for our sins, as this is given a fair treatment. I refer to the following "positive and encouraging" words from Jesus that somehow get overlooked:
"He that takes not his cross, and follows after Me, is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:38).
"Jesus said to them all, 'If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).
"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he has, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:23).
"If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26,27).
"Someone asked, 'Lord, will only a few be saved?' Jesus answered, 'Make every effort to enter through the narrow gate, because I tell you this: many will try to enter but will not be able to'" (Luke 13:23,24).
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the Will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).
"Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord' and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46).
Since taking up the cross is basic to discipleship, why do we not hear more about it? Because crucifixions are not "family friendly"! Those who understand the cross in a practical way - meaning, those who are actually following the Lord Jesus as a disciple - know that this denial of Self is hardly a positive, encouraging experience. Dying is not easy! Letting go of my will and embracing the will of Another is hard! Being crucified daily is not a positive, encouraging event.
And so, in order to fulfill its obligation to its audience, Christian entertainers (pastors, preachers, prophets, and performers) must skirt the issue. If we look hard and long enough we might find anecdotal evidence of a song here, or a sermon there, or a few words sprinkled in that seem to hit the mark. Let us thank and praise God for anything we can get, but a few obligatory references to the true cost of discipleship every so often tend to get lost in a vast ocean of Christianspeak that mostly focuses on the positive and encouraging parts of the Bible and virtually ignores the hard, but necessary, sayings of Jesus.
Look at what the king of Israel says of Micaiah the prophet: "I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me." Yes, this is the heart of it. To a carnal, worldly generation the prophetic word is supposed to always be positive and encouraging, always speaking good things concerning me and always tickling my fleshly little ears.
The Micaiahs are not allowed on Christian television, and they are not welcome in Christian churches. In my spirit I get the sense sometimes that when you talk about anything that isn't deemed positive and encouraging the people are sticking their fingers in their ears, squinting their eyes shut, and shouting "la la la la la la la la" to themselves. Maybe if we pretend like we don't hear it or see it then it will go away. We do not want to hear the Truth because it is too depressing! It makes us feel bad. That, after all, is the most important thing - not whether a thing is Truth, but whether a thing makes me feel better!
Those who only seek the positive and encouraging route are those who gravitate towards the quick fixes and the easy answers; religious activities that do not require a lot of time and effort, and preferably, no effort at all. We have special numbers to call for prayer, and we have preachers to tell us what the Bible says, and we have Christian bookstores to give us things to read, and we have the Internet to keep us connected with other Christians, and we have Christian music playing in the background to keep us in the mood. What could be easier! Just think how much more effective and powerful the Early Church could have been if only they had the same positive, encouraging support system that we have today!
Do you realize that almost every false prophet mentioned in the Bible is positive and encouraging? That is not to say that to be positive and encouraging is to be a false prophet, but it illustrates something. It demonstrates a weakness, a flaw, in human nature. We naturally embrace those things that lift us up and make us feel good, and we naturally shun those things that are unpleasant to think about. A false prophet is able to deceive people precisely because there is something in humankind that desperately wants to believe nothing but positive, encouraging things about themselves.
What am I suggesting, that we seek out things that are negative and discouraging? No, we should not necessarily seek them out, but we should not automatically shut them out, either. We should seek Truth, regardless of how it makes us feel, whether it is positive or negative. Paul says he has no confidence in the flesh. Over-confidence is a deadly form of pride, and relying totally on positive, encouraging input is a recipe for disaster. Maybe your only hope is to lose confidence! If you are in the flesh then you need to be brought to a place of discouragement - the sooner the better! Maybe the secret to overcoming is not in shouting the victory but crying out to God in despair and admitting defeat. What if, instead of embracing positive and encouraging thoughts about ourselves, we go to God and freely admit that in spite of all our positive and encouraging helps we have made a total mess of things and we don't know what to do?
We need to revisit our Christianized value system and ask some hard questions. What makes a message "good"? What makes a church service "edifying"? What makes a Christian song "anointed"? What makes a ministry "positive and encouraging"? Does God even consider these things as important criteria at the judgment seat of Christ? Do I judge these things with righteous judgment, or do I judge them by my feelings?
Why are a certain Christian personalities popular? Why do I read their books and listen to their messages? Will a steady diet of positive and encouraging words cause me to see myself as I am, or will it seduce me into thinking I'm better than I really am? Do I wish to be entertained into spiritual dullness or challenged into spiritual maturity? Am I going to eat cotton candy and bubble gum for the rest of my life or am I going to seek strong meat?
Sometimes, in spite of my best efforts to put a happy spin on things, the most positive and encouraging thing I can say to a person is, "I encourage you to repent, because if you don't, I'm positive that your life will only get worse. I encourage you to lose all confidence in yourself, take up the cross, and put your life in the very capable hands of Another, because I am positive that apart from Him you can do nothing." The more self-centered you are the more negative and discouraging this sounds - and that is EXACTLY the way it should be.
"We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom" (I Corinthians 2:7a).
Stress, depression, frustration, and confusion are usually the result of unmet expectations. That is, we expect things to be a certain way. We have an idea as to how we think things should go (but where did this idea come from?). If things go differently than what we expect then we are apt to become frustrated, angry, or upset. The greater the disparity between what we expect and what actually happens, the greater our discomfort. This shows that the difficulty is not in what we are experiencing, but in what we expect to experience.
The Lord Jesus is the most misunderstood Person of all. Millions of people expect something that He is not willing to provide, yet He offers every one of them something that they do not expect - or want. This seems to be the Lord's way. A quick reading of the Gospels reveals just how little people understood Him. Even His own disciples had a hard time understanding Jesus. He would have shared much more with them, but they could not bear it (cf. John 16:12). It is as though they were walking around in a fog. Jesus never acts or speaks in an expected way. That is why He is misunderstood, and often rejected.
He is no more understood now than He was then. Even though we have the benefit of a written record of His earthly life, the acts of the early Church, the letters of the apostles, and all the Old Testament history, prophecies, and teachings to help us know Him, Jesus remains a mystery. We are still walking around in a fog. How do I know? Because so many sincere believers are frustrated, angry, upset, confused, or depressed in their walk with the Lord. They do not understand what God is doing in their lives. And no one seems to be able to help them.
Paul explains it as "the hidden wisdom." What is wisdom? By itself, wisdom is the ability to see everything from God's perspective, for "the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (I Samuel 16:7b). We cannot understand from our viewpoint. We must leave our earthly, natural, human ground and come up with Christ into the heavenlies so we may see as He sees (cf. Ephesians 2:6). So what does it mean when Paul says this wisdom is hidden? It means this wisdom is not obvious. It is not readily seen. It is camouflaged in such a way that you can be looking right at it and not know it. That is why everyone looks and listens but so few people "get it". We CAN see it, and we CAN know it, but we must seek it out, because it hides from us.
Are we saying that we cannot know the Lord? No, but we are saying that we cannot know the Lord as long as we cling to our earthly perspective. There is a wisdom that comes from above, and there is a wisdom that is earthly (cf. James 3:15-17). According to Scripture, these two are mutually exclusive. We cannot rely on both because they are contradictory.
A most remarkable example of the hidden wisdom is found in Luke 10:21: "Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, 'I thank You Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the wise and prudent while revealing them to babies; yes Father, for that is Your good pleasure.'" Jesus used parables when speaking to the multitude, but He explained everything to His disciples (cf. Mark 4:34). But so often "they did not understand... it was hidden from them, and they perceived it not" (Luke 9:45ff).
The hidden wisdom is indeed revealed, but not to those who are wise in their own merit. It is not gained through study, contemplation, or mental gymnastics. It is the revelation of the Father. The Father Who reveals to babies is also the Father Who hides from the wise. Every child of God should know something of this hidden wisdom. If we do not know, then we should ask the Father to reveal. It is His nature to do so.
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). This prevents us from becoming too dogmatic and sure of ourselves. At some point we just have to throw up our hands and say, "It's beyond me!" If we can figure out the Lord Jesus then we have made Him too small. To know Him is to know how little of Him we know. As the Lord continually reveals Himself we find a depth and a height that we could not have imagined. The hidden wisdom teaches us to see things from the perspective of the Heavenly Man. So without further delay, let us look at some of the most prominent examples of hidden wisdom.
LIFE OUT OF DEATH
"Anyone who does not take up his own cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:38,39).
This is perhaps the foundation of the Hidden Wisdom. To our way of thinking, we ought to preserve and protect our life. Of course this is true to some extent. The Lord does not intend for us to be suicidal or foolish. What He has in mind here is something more than our physical existence.
"My life" is "me", or as we commonly call it, the Self. We do not truly appreciate how strong Self is. Self-reliance, self-assurance, self-confidence - all of these will rise up to resist the Lord until we lose our life by taking up the Cross daily (cf. Luke 9:23). When the Cross has done its work then self-reliance becomes trust in the Lord, self-assurance becomes faith in the Lord, and self confidence becomes hope in the Lord. And that is only the beginning. The object is "not I, but Christ" (Galatians 2:20ff).
So the Hidden Wisdom teaches that in order to gain anything, we must give up everything. If we try to gain first, we lose. In the heavenly economy, Self plus Anything equals Nothing. But Christ plus Nothing equals Everything. How many Christians are trying to add something to their spiritual walk: more love, more power, fresh anointing, gifts, prophetic words, etc.? But they have never lost their life. They have never taken up the Cross. Thus, anything they think they get only increases Self and decreases Christ, and what looks like an outward gain is really a spiritual loss.
"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). This is the way to fullness, though it is contrary to all that we think. Indeed, I would say that most of our frustration comes from our simple unwillingness to embrace this decreasing. That is why after five, ten, or twenty years of God's dealings some people are just as unbroken as ever. Before he was martyred, Jim Elliot wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Meditate on that. It is better to embrace this sooner rather than later.
WISDOM THROUGH FOOLISHNESS
"If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God" (I Corinthians 3:18,19).
Man places a high value on education, instruction, learning, and knowledge. Perhaps these things have their place, but in spiritual matters they mean nothing. Indeed, when the Spirit of the Lord begins to give us the Hidden Wisdom, we find it is contrary to the wisdom of this world. In order to see as He sees we must be willing to embrace the unknown and the unfamiliar.
Paul warns that in the last days perilous times will come. He tells us of a sort of people who are "ever learning, and never able to come to the full-knowledge (epignosis) of Truth" (II Timothy 3:7). There is no lack of instruction and learning, no lack of Bible teachers and Bible studies, but there is a lack of experiential Truth. That is, people have truth as a "thing" instead of Truth as a Man. This demonstrates that an accumulation of knowledge does not guarantee an apprehension of Truth. The Bereans and the Pharisees both searched the Scriptures, but the Pharisees had a doctrine while the Bereans had a Man (compare Acts 17:10-12 with John 5:38-40). The difference is incalculable.
"God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise" (I Corinthians 1:27a). The word "confound" here means "disgrace". The Lord intends to disgrace and humiliate the wisdom of this world. How will He do it? By choosing what appears to be foolish. He will confound your own wisdom by letting you think you have everything figured out, only to do something you do not expect. In the end, we must throw up our hands and say, "Lord, what do we know? Reveal Yourself to us!"
This is why Paul is not ashamed to admit that "not many wise after the flesh" are called (cf. I Corinthians 1:26a). While some see this as a disadvantage, Paul sees it as an advantage. In fact, the heavenly wisdom is so important that Paul tells us to become fools so we may receive it. He counts his extensive training and religious education as "dung" that he may "win Christ" (cf. Philippians 3). Naturally, those who are full of Self are too proud to look foolish, and they will reject this advice. But it is the way of the Hidden Wisdom.
MADE STRONGER THROUGH WEAKNESS
"And He said to me, 'My Grace is sufficient for you, for My Strength is made perfect in weakness'. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:9-10).
Here is another tenet of the Hidden Wisdom - Strength from Weakness. Most Christians see weakness as weakness. They spend most of their time praying or requesting prayer for their circumstances to change. Paul used to pray that way, but no more: now he sees weakness as strength. Of course, this offends the natural man, but Paul explains it quite simply.
Three times the apostle asked the Lord to take away his "thorn in the flesh". It is pointless to debate what the "thorn" was, and for the purposes of our study it is irrelevant. Whatever you believe the thorn to be, it represented a weakness, something the gifted apostle despised, something he wanted to get rid of. He attacked the situation with prayer. Three times he asked the Lord to remove it from him, but the Lord did not do as Paul asked. Instead, He said, "My Grace is sufficient, and My Power is perfected in your weakness."
Now Paul goes to the opposite extreme and rejoices in the things that make him weak. Now this is Hidden Wisdom indeed, and I doubt that one out of one thousand Christians really follow Paul's lead here. Instead, most of us become angry, agitated, frustrated, sullen, downtrodden, and despondent when we encounter these "thorns". But that is why Paul was an apostle and we are not. Here is the secret: when I am too weak to do anything, the power of the Lord does in me and through me what I cannot do myself. The Cross intends to keep you in a state of weakness so that Christ must do everything for you. Thus, Paul says that "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). This, in spite of the fact that his "thorn" remains!
Now it does not say that Paul made himself weak on purpose. We do not have to seek weaknesses, infirmities, tribulations, temptations, or trials. We already have them. The key is how do we respond to them? We can fight them, or we can embrace them. Paul clearly shows us that it is not always God's will for us to be saved FROM the fire. Often we are called to walk THROUGH the fire, with no assurance except that His Grace is sufficient. In the fire we learn that "Grace" is a Man, just like Victory is a Man. To be delivered from weakness is one thing, but to meet Grace in my weakness is something else entirely.
BECOMING THE GREATEST BY BECOMING THE LEAST
"Whoever wants to become the greatest must become the servant of all... for anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, while the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (Mark 10:44; Luke 14:11).
So far we have seen the Hidden Wisdom expressed in life out of death, wisdom out of foolishness, and strength out of weakness. Here again the Lord strikes another blow to Self. According to our way of thinking, we ought to do everything possible to push ourselves to the front, rise to the top, and make a name for ourselves. But Jesus insists on humiliating the proud and giving grace to the humble.
A well-known musician was invited to a church to minister to them in song. He arrived on the appointed day, but when the time came for him to perform he could not be found. After some searching he was located in the church kitchen, washing dishes. The others were shocked, and asked why he was not on the platform. This brother simply replied, "There is no competition for the lowest place."
When we think of a king, we usually think of some human authority exerting their will upon their subjects with a haughty air. Regardless of whether the "king" calls itself pastor, priest, pope, prophet, or presbyter, all too often this is how we meet human authority. You can be sure that this authority does not represent the Lord Jesus, nor the Church that He is building, regardless of what it calls itself, for it is not congruent with the Lord Himself. True authority is not found in title or position. Jesus, the King of Kings, shows us that true authority is serving, not lording over. In fact, Psalm 72 tells us what a true king is - someone who serves the people, provides for the poor, and defends those who cannot defend themselves.
We are being prepared for a kingdom. But our preparation is not in learning how to wear a crown or how to walk around with a glorious robe and scepter. One brother sings, "He's brought me low / so I could know / the way to reach the heights". In God's Kingdom, to go higher, we must go lower. That is the Hidden Wisdom.
WEALTH AND PROSPERITY BY BECOMING POOR
"...As poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things." (II Corinthians 6:10).
How can a poor man make many people rich? The natural mind cannot understand it. But through the Hidden Wisdom we learn that the true measure of wealth is not in the abundance of material possessions (Luke 12:15). To the outward appearance, Paul, who has "suffered the loss of all things", is a failure. The truth is that having gained Christ, he possessed all things in Him.
To the church in Smyrna, Jesus says, "I know your poverty: yet you are rich". To the church in Laodicea, Jesus says, "You say you are rich and have need of nothing, but you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (compare Revelation 2:9 with 3:17). The church who had nothing was rich, and the one who had everything was poor. Which would you rather be: Smyrna, or Laodicea? Sadly, many Christians equate blessing with material prosperity. They judge the success of their church or their ministry by numbers and dollar signs. Is this not the Laodicean spirit?
But when we look at Smyrna we see two themes: tribulation and resurrection. Again, the principle of life out of death. Outwardly, Smyrna cannot match the boasting of Laodicea. But they take their name from "myrrh", the anointing oil. Thus we see that the oil of gladness is found in difficult trials, and not in easy times. Smyrna represents the sweet-smelling incense produced from tribulation. Laodicea had no tribulation - but they had no perfume, either. I have often said that everyone wants apostolic revelation but no one wants apostolic persecution. Yet you cannot have one without the other.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of God belongs to them" (Matthew 5:3). "Poor in spirit" here means spiritual bankruptcy. In Christ's Kingdom we gain by losing. When we are emptied then we are filled. It is not a matter of how much money do you have, but rather, how much of you does your money have? The nations pursue the "many things" and are deeply concerned about them (cf. Matthew 6:32). But only ONE THING is needed (Luke 10:42a). Don't diversify; simplify. When we forsake the way of the world then Christ becomes our inheritance, our All in All, and we possess Treasure in Heaven, a Kingdom that will never end.
THE HIDDEN WISDOM REVEALED THROUGH DEATH AND RESURRECTION
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33).
We have only scratched the surface of the Hidden Wisdom, but by now we have a good foundation to build upon. We are told that to save our life we must give up our life. To become wise we must become fools. To become strong we must become weak. To be exalted we must be humbled. To be rich we must become poor. But why is this?
We should see the negatives (death, foolishness, weakness, humility, and poverty) are only the means through which the positives (life, wisdom, strength, exaltation, and wealth) find expression. To put it another way, God's Purpose does not end with death, but with life out of death. He does not stop with foolishness, but with wisdom from foolishness. He does not cease working at the point of weakness, but carries through until He perfects strength from weakness. He will not rest with making you low, but intends to make you low so that He can bring you higher. He does not delight in poverty for poverty's sake, but makes you poor in order to make you rich.
Viewed from this perspective, all the negative things we may experience in this life are, in comparison, "light afflictions" which are "but for a moment". These so-called "light afflictions" (which can be so overwhelming at times) are actually working something glorious in us which is "far more exceeding and eternal" (see II Corinthians 4:17). Jesus endured the Cross (the negative) because of the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). Apart from Resurrection, the Cross is dark, empty, confusing, and meaningless. It certainly looks like defeat. We may not even comprehend or see God's End in our brief life on earth. But with Resurrection everything becomes clear - at least, looking back on it, we can see God's End was not Good Friday, but Resurrection Sunday. Resurrection always follows Crucifixion. In the end, God is justified. In the end, we will understand.
But for now, oh Lord, Your ways are past finding out! Lead us in Your narrow way. Teach us to embrace the Hidden Wisdom, which is Christ. Let us see into the heavenlies. Whether we live, or whether we die, we belong to You. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name! Amen.
The Kingdom, The Power, And The Glory by Chip Brogden
"For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen (Matthew 6:13b)."
This three-fold benediction concludes what is commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer. It is a fitting conclusion to what we call the Prayer of the Kingdom, or the Prayer of the Overcomer.
This confession is the summation of all that precedes it, the end result of what we are asking: "FOR..." Why do we bless the Name of the Father? Why do we pray for the Will and the Kingdom to be accomplished? Why do we pray for daily bread and forgiveness of sins? Why do we pray to be kept from evil? "FOR..." We ask for all these things BECAUSE the Kingdom is Yours, the Power is Yours, and the Glory is Yours. All the others are requests, but these three are declarations. "Thine IS the Kingdom... Thine IS the Power... Thine IS the Glory." That is the conclusion that we come to, and it is the reason that we pray in this way.
The Testimony of Jesus is committed to the Church, and the matter of His Kingdom, His Power, and His Glory is an intrinsic part of that Testimony. The Testimony answers to everything which man or the devil may challenge us with. So let us look at each one respectively.
THINE IS THE KINGDOM
There is a tremendous battle taking place in the spiritual realm. This conflict began long ago when Lucifer rebelled against the Lord and His Christ. There is this conflict of light versus darkness, good versus evil. There is that which represents the interests of God the Father and His Son, and there is that which represents another interest, an alien interest, something that is absolutely opposed to the Will, Plan, and Purpose of God - it is Antichrist, opposed to Christ. It refuses to submit itself to the preeminence and sovereignty of the Lord Jesus. We can see that plainly enough just by looking to the earthly ministry of the Lord and how even the religious system, especially the religious system, rejected Him and sought to destroy Him. We see in the Book of Acts how this enormous energy and antagonism was then poured out upon the Church in an attempt to obliterate the very Name of Jesus.
This spirit of Antichrist is active today. It is at work in the world, and it is at work in the Church (or, what is called "the Church"), and it is at work within each one of us individually, trying to draw us out into something - anything - other than Christ. Hence the Lord's need for overcomers to rise up and demonstrate that in spite of all appearances to the contrary, THE LORD JESUS REIGNS, and He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. This demonstration begins with each individual disciple, then finds expression within the corporate synthesis of Believers, before finding its ultimate expression and release in all creation. If the Lord does not have the preeminence in us as individual disciples, if we remain unsurrendered to Him in our own lives, how can the Church as a whole ever hope to bear His Testimony to the world? This is a critical point.
What assurance are we given? It is this: that in spite of nation rising up against nation, kingdom rising up against kingdom, political tumults and global confusion, "THINE IS THE KINGDOM - Your Throne is everlasting, Your Kingdom is established, and of the increase of Your Government there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:6,7). In other words, as Daniel would say, the Heavens DO rule, and it is the Most High God Who governs the affairs of men. THAT is the heart of the matter. THAT is what we are moving towards, from our day-to-day affairs as followers of Jesus, to the course and direction of this entire age.
This Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and His throne endures forever. This is a Kingdom made without hands, invisible, but filling the whole earth one disciple at a time, and then spreading through the little companies of "two or three gathered together" in His Name, moving forward and destroying everything that fails to put the Son of God in His rightful place and anything that fails to make Him the First, and the Only. By our very declaration we are aligning ourselves with an awesome, holy force which will one day gather (or, should I say, RE-gather) "all things in Christ (Ephesians 2:10)."
THINE IS THE POWER
The only legitimate power in the universe belongs to the Lord Jesus - all other power is either illegitimate or temporal. If THE power belongs to Him, then it cannot belong to anyone else. Jesus says, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." That is a very broad statement, is it not? Absolute power over all of creation!
We might expound upon the difference between the Greek words for authority and power. But such an exercise is irrelevant when it comes to the qualifications and credentials of the Son of God. This Jesus has both the authority and the power. Whether He is teaching, or speaking, or rebuking, or remaining silent, we at once know that we are in the presence of One Who has the authority of God in Him. And, when we see Him heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, and purge the Temple of its moneychangers, we know that this Man also has the Power of God in Him. Who is like unto Him!
This is the sort of power that can arrest Saul of Tarsus and transform him into Paul the apostle. This same Paul, who has touched upon this mighty power, prays that we would be given wisdom and revelation to know "the exceeding greatness of His Power to us-ward who believe (Ephesians 2:19a)."
In a world in which men (and devils) wrestle for dominion, joust for position, seek the preeminence for themselves, strive to exert their influence over others, and lust for more and more control over one another, we as the Church may simply raise our hands to heaven and lift up our eyes to the One in Whom God has vested all of His omnipotence and declare to the universe, "THINE IS THE POWER, and apart from You, we can do nothing."
THINE IS THE GLORY
"We beheld His glory," the apostle John writes, "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14)." The Kingdom and the Power are seen in the Glory. The Glory is the revealing of the preciousness of this One, the Only Begotten, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Over and over we read in the Scriptures, "To Him be the glory." He alone is worthy to be praised; He alone is worthy of our adoration and exaltation.
But everyone cannot see this Glory. To many who look, Jesus of Nazareth is a prophet, a teacher, a good man, a miracle-worker, the founder of Christianity, but not God Incarnate. They do not see the Glory of the Son, so they cannot appreciate the extreme worth, the vast wealth, summed up and contained within this Man.
One day the entire world will see Him as He is, and will finally give Him the place He deserves: for every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, to the GLORY of God the Father (Philippians 2:10,11). Yes, this is how it will all end. But what about now? "All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's (Philippians 2:21)."
Thankfully, this is beginning to change. There is a Remnant of called-out ones who have seen the Glory of the Son and WILL seek the interests of God's Only Begotten One. In a time when men solicit the glory and honor and power from one another, there is a Holy Nation of priests and kings who will give the Son the glory He deserves, declaring, "THINE IS THE GLORY, we will render to You, and to You alone, the glory due Your Name."
And the final word: "Amen - may it be so, henceforth and forever." We proclaim it, not to bring it forth (as if it depended upon our confession), but to acknowledge it as a present reality which is breaking forth upon all that stands in opposition to it, and to establish once and for all that we have chosen - individually and corporately - to align ourselves with God's Ultimate Purpose and Will, making us co-workers together with Him towards the Goal of CHRIST FILLING ALL THINGS. He MUST increase, and all else MUST decrease (John 3:30). We can observe this decrease taking place in the world around us, but we should also be able to see that WE, the Self, is being decreased in order to prepare us for Kingdom in which it is no longer "I" that live as a thing outside of Christ, but it is Christ Who lives in me, conforming me to His image, and reproducing His character and nature within me (Galatians 2:20).
When He has gained the preeminence in us personally, then He will have gained the preeminence in the Church. Towards this end, may the Lord establish His Kingdom, manifest His Power, and reveal His Glory: to each disciple individually, to the Church corporately, and to all Creation collectively. Amen! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Posted by david on 2006/12/27 22:08:29 (904 reads)
by Chip Brogden
NEO TYPICAL OF THE PARADIGM SHIFT REQUIRED OF OVERCOMERS CONCERNING SPIRITUAL WARFARE
* * *
Morpheus: We have survived by hiding from them, by running from them. But they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them.
Neo: Someone?
Morpheus: I won't lie to you, Neo. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an agent has died. But where they have failed, you will succeed.
Neo: Why?
Morpheus: I've seen an agent punch through a concrete wall. Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.
Neo: What are you trying to tell me, that I can dodge bullets?
Morpheus: No Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
* * * The issue of overcoming is closely linked to the topic of spiritual warfare. Since Overcomers demonstrate the victory of Christ and the preeminence of His Life over sin, self, and satan, a paradigm shift concerning spiritual warfare as it is now taught is in order.
Modern-day spiritual warfare doctrine is based on a dualistic worldview which pits Good versus Evil, Light versus Darkness, God versus satan. While this part of the characterization is correct, dualism goes a step further and suggests that these forces are all equal, each struggling for supremacy, neither with any clear advantage. Things go along back and forth between the two like the positive and negative fields of a magnet. It is the classic pantheistic universalist "Star Wars" worldview of life, the stuff cowboy movies are made of.
This notion of cosmic dualism is reinforced with novels and warfare manuals from Christian writers depicting spiritual warfare as an invisible tug-of-war between angels and demons, with the Church caught in the middle trying to influence the outcome through prayer. This paradigm is not true at all. The Truth is that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ, far above every principality and power and name which is named. The tug-of-war is already won, and the Church is here to demonstrate a victory which is already secured by Christ Himself. In a nutshell, the difference is between fighting through to obtain the victory versus standing in a victory which has already been obtained.
THE TRAINING OF NEO TYPICAL OF THE PRESENT-DAY SPIRITUAL WARFARE FAD
The characters who have escaped the Matrix have experienced an awakening, but they remain bound. Their whole paradigm of warfare is to run from the Agents. According to Morpheus, "everyone who has ever stood their ground against them has died." Cypher's advice to Neo is, "If you see an Agent, you do what we do - run."
Immediately upon coming out of the Matrix, Neo is put through a rigorous training program. He "learns" how to fight as the computer downloads data into his brain. He becomes very fast and he is an excellent fighter. He has a complete arsenal of weapons at his disposal. This is typical of the spiritual warfare training many Christians are putting themselves through. It should be noted however that as good as Neo is at fighting, the best he can do is match the strength and speed of the enemy. As soon as he destroys one it just reappears someplace else and the fight continues. Eventually his strength is exhausted and he ends up running from them again.
THE STRATAGEMS OF SATAN ALL RELATE TO POSITION
The strategy of satan is to bring us down from our heavenly position and get us to fight according to his rules of engagement. The problem with this sort of fighting is we are heavily outclassed and outmatched. We cannot fight a spiritual enemy by going toe to toe with him and fighting according to his rules. This sort of tit-for-tat back and forth boxing match will go on and on until we are eventually worn out. Since satan is a spirit he has unlimited endurance, whereas we do not. He can be defeated today but he will come back tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that. He does not get tired and is not subject to the emotions of frustration, despair, or depression. We humans are different, and while we may be able to shout the victory today, tomorrow we may be totally routed. How so? We have forfeited our place in the heavenlies and have gotten down into the mud to wrestle with the devil.
Additonally, spiritual warfare doctrine as touted today fails to recognize that our struggle is with Self more than it is with satan. It is easy to point to an external enemy "out there" and overlook the obvious: that satan can only have the advantage over people who are still alive to Self. If Self is denied then satan has no ground in us.
While it is true that we do wrestle, it is not against flesh and blood. If it were then we would use flesh-and-blood rules of war. Instead, we are in conflict with a spiritual foe. Thus, the rules of war are different. Contrary to popular belief, we are not told to "fight therefore", but to "stand therefore". Christ is the Full-Armor of God, thus having clothed ourselves with Christ there is nothing more to be done than to stand. Our victory is not bound up in our ability to fight and quote Bible verses; our victory consists of maintaining our heavenly position with Christ in His throne (Revelation 3:21) while bringing the will and rule of heaven to bear upon the earthly realm in which we are living: "on earth, as it is in heaven". On earth as in heaven is the key to living out the victory here and now.
DODGING BULLETS VS. IGNORING BULLETS
Those who hold the popular view of spiritual warfare spend much of their time trying to become fast enough to dodge bullets, while the Overcomer sees that the bullets are not real: that the enemy is already defeated and can inflict no real damage. They ignore what their senses tell them and see beyond the temporal towards the spiritual, into the realm where Christ is preeminent.
Most Christians are fighting like they HOPE to win. They are in survival mode, just trying to battle their way through the week so they can make it to church on Sunday. They have betrayed their position already and thrown away their heavenly advantage. The more aggressive ones are going into different parts of the world to confront alleged principalities and powers which are said to be in dominion over different communities and nations. They are still relating to the spirit world according to Daniel, which is prior to Christ and the Cross. They are not demonstrating a secured victory.
The Overcomer demonstrates the preeminence of Christ over sin, self, and satan. "[Christ] made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in the Cross." How is preeminence demonstrated if we are still trying to fight our way to victory? We must stand in victory, not battle for it. If we do fight, we fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. It must be to us an accomplished fact, not a future hope, and just there lies the difference between those who are still waging warfare and those who are quietly resting in Christ and steadily praying His Will into the earth.
OVERCOMING IS THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE
We have said that according to our interpretation Neo is not typical of a single Messiah or a sort of spiritual superman, but a remnant of people who rise up and live according to the Truth as opposed to just talking about it. It should be reiterated over and over again that Overcomers are not a special class more gifted than the average Christian. Instead, Overcomers are living out the normal Christian life and fulfilling God's original thought for the Church. This means that "whosoever" can be an overcomer: it is not for a select few. Nor is it a case of God setting up a special class of Christians within the Church who are superior. Not at all. The fact remains that many are called, but few are chosen.
What qualifies someone to be an overcomer? "They overcame [the enemy] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and loved not their lives unto death." The Blood of the Lamb is the Life of the Lord, and when we live according to this Life we will be changed into His likeness. The word of our testimony is the demonstration of the Life, and the death of self means that Christ is All in All because the Cross has accomplished the work of decreasing us that He may increase. That, in essence, is what an overcomer is.
REVELATION IS SUFFICIENT: THE ILLUMINATED HEART OVERCOMES THE ENEMY
Do you see a defeated devil, or a powerful devil? Many Christians still see a powerful devil, almost but not quite as powerful as God. They are afraid if they aren't looking the devil will slip in and harm them. They become angry if you suggest the devil has no power, and will defend him with anecdotal "evidence" of satanic episodes they have experienced. Their spiritual warfare is based on fear of what the devil might do next. When we see a defeated devil instead of a powerful devil then our paradigm of spiritual warfare will change. It is all in the seeing! This is why the devil must deceive us into thinking he is more than he is.
Why all the formulas and techniques and methods? Because we see the devil as powerful. True, he has power, but only over those who are deceived. I do not need a technique to defeat a defeated devil. It is absurd. It is like trying to enter into a room in which I am already sitting. We have already been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of His Dear Son.
If we see the devil as defeated then we will not fight, we will stand. If we see ourselves as earthly then we will behave in an earthly manner: our words, our thoughts, our prayers, our deeds, our warfare will be carried out in an earthly manner. If we see ourselves seated with Christ in the heavenlies then we will behave in a heavenly manner, as a heavenly people, bringing the Mind and Will and Kingdom of God to bear upon that which is contrary to Christ on the earth.
How do we obtain heavenly vision? We must ask to see as He sees. We must pray that God will illuminate our heart. Our vision affects our actions. The servant of Elisha looked with his eyes and saw the army which surrounded them. His panicked response was based on what his eyes told them. To put it in Matrix language, the Matrix was telling the servant that the enemy was about to close in and destroy them. Elisha prayed that the Lord would open his servant's eyes, and when he looked again he saw the chariots of fire and the army of the Lord around Elisha. Elisha can remain calm because he sees something the servant does not. He sees the natural, true, but he subjugates what he sees in the natural and forces it to make way for what he sees in the Spirit.
The question for us remains: what do we see? Many people look, but do not see. They look at the world and believe everything it says. Others have their eyes opened to see as the Lord sees. This revelation, or unveiling, is what enables us to live in the world while being apart from the world. This seeing enables us to overcome the world and demonstrate Christ as All in All. We do not have to live according to what we see or feel, but according to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ.
May God show us who we are, and may God raise us up to walk worthy of the calling He has given us. If something has been said in this analysis to bring us towards that end then this writing has accomplished its intended purpose.
Posted by david on 2006/11/10 8:27:45 (1151 reads)
"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:6b,7).
There is a principle at work in our life and walk with the Lord, and it is the principle of strength out of weakness. "The meek are blessed, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). If we want the blessing of the Lord then we must learn what it is to be meek, for the proud will not inherit anything from Him.
The way of the world says that in order to be stronger, we must build ourselves up and seek strength and dominance over others. Christians everywhere are keenly interested in how to be increased, how to be stronger, how to take authority, how to rise up, how to get more. They look for methods, formulas, and techniques for becoming bigger and better. The results have been disappointing. Many mistakes have been made and many people have been hurt and disillusioned.
The Lord has a different approach for us to take. He invites us to accept weakness in order to be strengthened. We do not become strong by embracing strength, but by embracing weakness! This is the secret of all spiritual power. When Paul learned this secret he was able to say, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (II Corinthians 12:10b). This makes no sense to the natural man. I do not remember ever hearing anyone begin a teaching on spiritual warfare with this verse. It is no wonder, then, that these teachings never seem to produce any lasting fruit.
This passage of Scripture from James gives us further insight into why the strong are weak, and why the weak are strong. Our study of this verse may be divided into four distinct sections. Let us look at each one individually.
GOD RESISTS THE PROUD
Christians are full of many plans, many pursuits, many thoughts, many words, many things. It is impossible to say just how much of the flesh is involved in the things we undertake in the Name of Jesus. We know they cannot be purely spiritual works because often there is little fruit to be found. We labor and toil and work but it seems as if we make little or no progress. It seems as if something is always blocking our way and preventing us.
The automatic assumption is that anything which resists us or hinders us is of satanic origin. That is, if we encounter difficulty in our spiritual walk, our first reaction is to rebuke the devil, or ask the saints to pray for us to have a clear way. Certainly the devil will attempt to hinder us from anything we undertake that glorifies God and threatens the darkness. Yet we learn from James 4:6 that there is Someone else who can resist us. There is Another Who carefully watches what we do, and frequently hinders us from making progress.
It comes as a shock and surprise to some Christians to see one day that God, not the devil, is resisting them. The Lord Himself resists us, closes doors, causes things to be unfruitful, and spoils all our plans. How so? Because "God resists the proud." This resistance from God is insurmountable. It is a fearful thing to fight the Lord. We spend most of our lives wrestling with God instead of cooperating with God, and in the end we have nothing to show for it. So much time and effort is wasted because we proceed in our own, stubborn way. We attribute all difficulties to the devil, or to other people, or our circumstances, or our environment, and fail to recognize that the Lord Himself is resisting us.
God resists the proud. This is an active resistance that will block our path like a huge rock or a great chasm. All who walk in pride are in league with the devil himself, and will receive the same judgment (cf. I Timothy 3:6). Brothers and sisters, this is a serious matter. If we harbor the least bit of pride then we will find ourselves on the wrong side of the Lord, but if we are humble before God and man then we cannot be defeated because...
GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE
The single requirement for grace is humility. But what is grace? Grace is more than just a theological term used to describe how we are saved. Grace is the power of God at work in my life to do what cannot be done in my own strength. Grace is energizing and proactive. When I have reached the end of myself then Grace Himself takes over and does what I am unable to do. In the first place, what I cannot do is save myself, and so I trust in the Grace of God, Jesus Christ, to save me. But Grace will not only bring me through the Gate; He will bring me down the Path. Grace does not just get me started in the right direction, but goes along with me every step of the way. For Grace is a Man!
It should be obvious that God will not give us grace while we are still proud. Why? Because He will allow no flesh to glory in His presence. He desires us to be thoroughly emptied of ourselves. When we cease doing what we cannot do then He begins to do what we cannot. The problem is that we still think we can do so many things. We must learn sooner, rather than later, that "apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5b). Nothing! But it is human nature to try and do it ourselves. This human nature is the flesh. It prevents us from entering into Grace. God cannot save someone who is still trying to save themselves. Similarly, God cannot do what we are still trying to do. He will wait - weeks, months, or years - until we have exhausted our strength. When our strength is completely gone and we finally go to Him in weakness, He becomes our strength and we find Grace is there to do the impossible. Then we know it was not us, but the Lord. All praise goes to Him, and we retain nothing for ourselves.
See how many times the disciples tried to correct the Lord. See how many times they argued with the Lord. See how many time their thoughts contradicted the Master. See how many times they urged Him to take action. And the Lord, ever patient, would correct them. In every case we see that He is the Lord, and they are the disciples. The roles must never be confused. He is the Master, and we are His servants. We do not command Him, but He commands us. We do not direct Him, but He directs us. We do not lead Him, but He leads us. He was not created for us, but we were created for Him. He does not serve us according to our pleasure, but we serve Him according to His pleasure. So we must be adjusted to Him, and not the other way around. The Lord will never apologize to us and say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong. We'll do it your way." How laughable! How absurd! But we often live as if we expect Him to do that very thing. We have not humbled ourselves.
All those who want power with God must see that His power is released through our weakness (cf. II Corinthians 12:9). Do realize that you are weak whether you admit it or not, but the power of humility is in recognizing and agreeing before God that we really can do nothing of our own selves. God's power is not for those with natural charisma, talent, leadership skills, education, training, or "connections". God is not looking for volunteers to serve at their own convenience as their schedule permits, but calls for disciples who will lay down their lives. The flesh counts for nothing in spiritual matters. God's power is not revealed to us when we are proud, but when we are humble. Any demonstration of "power" manifesting itself through a proud man or a proud woman is, quite simply, not from God and cannot be trusted. Spiritual gifts may be counterfeited, but spiritual fruit cannot be faked. We will know the false from the true by their fruit, not their gifts (Matthew 7:20). Meekness is an essential quality of spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:23). Gifts may accompany fruit, but gifts may never substitute for fruit.
The secret, then, is to...
SUBMIT YOURSELVES THEREFORE TO GOD
Do we need the power of God today? Do we seek the Life of the Lord today? Do we desire Him to have the preeminence in our lives today? Do we long for Him today? Then now is the time for us to be unconditionally and wholeheartedly surrendered to Him. We need not drag the process out for several days and weeks, months and years. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23). Do it today, do it now. If we must daily take up the cross anyway, let us bow our head and give up the ghost instead of struggling to stay alive, which only prolongs our agony. The secret to overcoming is dying daily.
If God gives Grace to the humble, then we should live a surrendered life so we can tap into grace. Die to Self, die to effort, die to trying, die to scheming. Stop wrestling, stop fighting, stop squirming, stop arguing, stop reasoning, stop bargaining, stop all that and just surrender, yield, give up, and lay down before Him! Humility is not some outward show, but a heart attitude that says in effect, "I will not resist the dealings of God. I will not argue with the Lord. I will not insist upon my own way. I recognize and admit that apart from Him I can do nothing. I am finished. Lord, I look to You to do in me and through me what I cannot do." Friends, if we truly mean that when we say it then we will naturally spend more time praying, more time in the Word, more time ministering to God, because we will realize we do not know anything and we can not do anything without hearing from Him. If Christ is to have the preeminence in all things right HERE is where it begins. Humility is offering no resistance to the dealings of the Lord with us.
When we are submitted to the Lord, we find Grace. We find peace. We find rest. All things are in His hands, and He does all things well. We need not fear what any devil or any man can do to us. To be submitted to the Lord is to be under His care, under His guidance, under His power, under His protection. Whom shall I fear? What can man do to me? What can the devil do to me? If I have humbled myself beneath the mighty hand of God then He will exalt me in due season; He will justify me; He will defend me; He will fight for me. If our submission to God is complete, if our surrender to the Lord is total, then victory is assured. We will...
RESIST THE DEVIL, AND HE WILL FLEE
So many times we try to resist, but we are defeated. Why? Simply because we attempt to resist the devil before we have first submitted ourselves to God. There is a proper order that must be observed without fail. First, we must understand the principle of God resisting the proud but giving grace to the humble. This is the foundation of everything we do. Second, the word "therefore" signifies that those who learn this principle will act upon it accordingly. If they understand the truth just stated, they will submit "therefore" to God. Third, as a result of their submitting to God, they will find the devil flees whenever and wherever they offer him resistance. The word "flee" means "to run away in terror". How wonderful! How delicious to see the devil running from us in terror, instead of the other way around! That should be the normal experience of all Christians. That is the normal Christian life, a life that overcomes.
The whole object of satan is to bring us down from the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and entangle us into some kind of earthly, fleshly thing that saps us of our strength and diminishes spiritual authority. Knowing this, the Lord has us to pray daily, "Deliver us from evil" (Matthew 6:13ff). That is to say, "Deliver us from the earthly, the fleshly, the worldly, the carnal, the selfish, the natural, the human, where satan has influence to work evil against us. Deliver us from all that hinders and distracts us, and bring us into the Kingdom of Your dear Son, that we may walk in Spirit and Truth, in the heavenly places, demonstrating your preeminence over all things Below." Brothers and sisters, praying in this way is what it means to resist the devil. He cannot stand before us when we take the high ground and maintain the Lord's Testimony.
If we grow impatient and fall into the flesh then we become weaker. To react in the flesh diminishes spiritual authority, and this must be avoided at all costs. Allowing the flesh to have its way for only a moment guarantees defeat against a spiritual adversary. "We worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). To lose all confidence in the flesh is to take the higher ground of the Spirit. To meet flesh with flesh means the victory will go to the strongest, and there is always someone stronger than you according to the flesh. Instead, if people come against you in the flesh, let them come against you. If they wish to rail and argue with you according to the flesh, do not respond in kind. If they attack you without cause, let them attack, because the fleshly, the carnal, the natural cannot defeat the spiritual. The one who is submitted to the Lord has authority over those who remain unsubmitted to Him. Flesh is overruled by Spirit. Hate is overruled by Love. Darkness is overruled by Light. Death is overruled by Life. Earth is overruled by Heaven. "He that comes from above is above all" (John 3:31ff).
We offer no resistance, no defense, no argument, no justification to people who mean us harm. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12a). We resist satan, not the person. We stand against the devil, taking no action against the instruments the devil uses. We submit to God, we offer no resistance to man, but we stand firm against the spiritual adversary. Outwardly, before others, we appear weak. But inwardly, before God, we are strong. "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (II Corinthians 10:3,4). If we war after the flesh then we are emptied of spiritual strength. If we war after the Spirit then we are emptied of fleshly strength. Which will you have, spiritual authority, or fleshly power? You can have either one you want, but you cannot have both.
We face perilous, dangerous times. The secret of spiritual power to see us through these times is humility. The arm of the flesh will fail us. Brothers and sisters, since we cannot avoid weakness, we may as well make the best possible use of it. Let us accept the dealings of the Holy Spirit with us and offer no resistance to Him. "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up" (James 4:10). Amen.
