The Holy One calls to me this morning. It is Sunday. A day of some semblance of community. For a few hours we come to a common place to exercise a common faith in a common Savior. It's a snippet of Heaven that many actually find hard to relate to.
The Holy One speaks to the deep in me. For months I have been out of that kind of fellowship for reasons know only to the One who plans and gives Divine purpose to my life.
He told me going into this "season" that if I cannot get to the "Body" (Of Christ AKA the Church), He would bring the Body to me. God is faithful to His promises and His Will, so fellowship has continued even if in a different location and way.
Walls between denominational loyalties have vanished and relational community with those of like spirit and calling is beginning to bud and flourish.
This morning, in the meditations of my heart, the Holy One speaks. "Look at what sullies the community of believers". I can tell by His words that this is going to be a new angle on an old problem. He reminds me of the Garden where man's origins lie, before "community" became the "society" we see today.
He directs my attention to the Words of the Creator at the foundation of the world. In Genesis 1, God gave Adam the blessing and commission to be fruitful and multiply. He gave the commission and authority to rule over creation. Absent is any commission to rule over each other or make another man your slave.
Then came the horrifying fall: Chaos and confusion ensued. Man and woman tried to hide rather than repent so God issued a discipline over mankind that was to establish a form of order that had been lost in the fall. Woman would have pain in childbirth and problems in the marital relationship. Man would have hardship in his work and frustration in his dominion over the earth.
The original benediction was withdrawn as Adam and Eve rejected fellowship with their Creator. The nature of sin is self exaltation. Every man became his own god. Over the course of time and throughout history a "top-dog" mentality became the rule of community.
Without Divine intervention and a set of laws to govern society, man, no doubt, would have utterly destroyed himself. In the Old Testament, man was given a government of laws and penalties for breaking them. Generations passed under the watchful eye of our loving Creator.
Then something happened. Something beyond human imagination. The Creator took the form of His Creation to rescue mankind from the horrors of the fall.
The magnificent Centerpiece of God' eternal plan for the restoration of relationship with His Beloved came to us when Christ was born in a flesh body. Since flesh is the place of weakness in the one who was created in the very image of God, flesh has to be crucified so the real image of God through man can emerge. Jesus allowed His flesh to be impaled as a model to be followed. The crucifixion of the flesh comes in all sorts of challenges and opportunities to impale it are found present in each and every day.
While Jesus was sent to die the "sinner's death", He modelled for us what our life in community was to look like. God's ultimate "law of love" was instituted at that epic crossroad and Cross.
Jesus' death was the death to sin in all forms and the fulfillment of the law. He impaled flesh, the real enemy of Holiness, to the Cross. Our relational peace with God was restored and the original benediction over His beloved has been reinstated for those who choose to follow Christ Jesus.
Herein is the Truth and message to me this morning:
Because of the infection called sin brought into man at the fall, even the "discipline" God intended to teach us has been twisted and corrupted. The depravity in man and the provoking of our flesh by dark spirits from another realm, drives people to abuse each other, lord it over each other and enslave each other whether by seduction or chains.
The message of the Holy One comes at cross purpose to the intent of the fallen: which is to rule and dominate from a self-serving mindset. Jesus said He came not to be served but to serve. And that He did!
Looking at the life of the Savior throughout the Gospel accounts of His days upon the earth, I see how He took dominion over all that was hurtful and harmful to people who crossed His path, yet not a sword was drawn nor an effort made to force their surrender.
Jesus modelled the nature of a servant in the power of a Master.
He did not "lord it over" people but rather took dominion over their circumstances, and the issues that were causing them suffering, sorrow and pain. For those of us who are called by His Eternal and Sovereign Name and filled with His Holy Spirit, His words and His legacy remain on this earth for us to embrace, follow and live.
Phil 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but to the interests of others".
The crucifixion of our own flesh comes in the actions of prioritizing and serving someone else's needs in addition to our own. Selfish ambition excludes others and that is the point to the directive.
When Jesus walked the earth, He surely fed Himself and took care of things His own life needed, but in the situations He faced on His journey, He ministered to the needs of others. At the end of a long hike up a mountain when people followed Him to hear His teaching, everyone was hungry. In considering His need and the needs of the disciples, He looked to the interests of the crowd as well and fed 5000+ people.
Compassion and sympathy for the suffering and needs of others preceded every miracle. We can make excuses for our indifference and say "Yes, but He is God", while refusing to draw from the Holy Spirit He sent to empower us to live as He lived and serve others as He served. Selfish ambition and vain conceit doesn't even look for a way to help another it is so focused on "numero uno" in the flesh life.
Jesus' parting words should be as loud as a cymbol in our community of Faith, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35
Community as God ordained and designed it requires each one of us to be a servant of the other. When we finally get the picture of our true "dominion", not in the exercise of self-exaltation and ultimate power to rule over others, but in the exercise of our authority over circumstances that cause pain and suffering to our fellows, the Church will begin to fulfill her designated destiny to Glorify Jesus as His body and Representative on earth.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The Holy One speaks to the deep in me. For months I have been out of that kind of fellowship for reasons know only to the One who plans and gives Divine purpose to my life.
He told me going into this "season" that if I cannot get to the "Body" (Of Christ AKA the Church), He would bring the Body to me. God is faithful to His promises and His Will, so fellowship has continued even if in a different location and way.
Walls between denominational loyalties have vanished and relational community with those of like spirit and calling is beginning to bud and flourish.
This morning, in the meditations of my heart, the Holy One speaks. "Look at what sullies the community of believers". I can tell by His words that this is going to be a new angle on an old problem. He reminds me of the Garden where man's origins lie, before "community" became the "society" we see today.
He directs my attention to the Words of the Creator at the foundation of the world. In Genesis 1, God gave Adam the blessing and commission to be fruitful and multiply. He gave the commission and authority to rule over creation. Absent is any commission to rule over each other or make another man your slave.
Then came the horrifying fall: Chaos and confusion ensued. Man and woman tried to hide rather than repent so God issued a discipline over mankind that was to establish a form of order that had been lost in the fall. Woman would have pain in childbirth and problems in the marital relationship. Man would have hardship in his work and frustration in his dominion over the earth.
The original benediction was withdrawn as Adam and Eve rejected fellowship with their Creator. The nature of sin is self exaltation. Every man became his own god. Over the course of time and throughout history a "top-dog" mentality became the rule of community.
Without Divine intervention and a set of laws to govern society, man, no doubt, would have utterly destroyed himself. In the Old Testament, man was given a government of laws and penalties for breaking them. Generations passed under the watchful eye of our loving Creator.
Then something happened. Something beyond human imagination. The Creator took the form of His Creation to rescue mankind from the horrors of the fall.
The magnificent Centerpiece of God' eternal plan for the restoration of relationship with His Beloved came to us when Christ was born in a flesh body. Since flesh is the place of weakness in the one who was created in the very image of God, flesh has to be crucified so the real image of God through man can emerge. Jesus allowed His flesh to be impaled as a model to be followed. The crucifixion of the flesh comes in all sorts of challenges and opportunities to impale it are found present in each and every day.
While Jesus was sent to die the "sinner's death", He modelled for us what our life in community was to look like. God's ultimate "law of love" was instituted at that epic crossroad and Cross.
Jesus' death was the death to sin in all forms and the fulfillment of the law. He impaled flesh, the real enemy of Holiness, to the Cross. Our relational peace with God was restored and the original benediction over His beloved has been reinstated for those who choose to follow Christ Jesus.
Herein is the Truth and message to me this morning:
Because of the infection called sin brought into man at the fall, even the "discipline" God intended to teach us has been twisted and corrupted. The depravity in man and the provoking of our flesh by dark spirits from another realm, drives people to abuse each other, lord it over each other and enslave each other whether by seduction or chains.
The message of the Holy One comes at cross purpose to the intent of the fallen: which is to rule and dominate from a self-serving mindset. Jesus said He came not to be served but to serve. And that He did!
Looking at the life of the Savior throughout the Gospel accounts of His days upon the earth, I see how He took dominion over all that was hurtful and harmful to people who crossed His path, yet not a sword was drawn nor an effort made to force their surrender.
Jesus modelled the nature of a servant in the power of a Master.
He did not "lord it over" people but rather took dominion over their circumstances, and the issues that were causing them suffering, sorrow and pain. For those of us who are called by His Eternal and Sovereign Name and filled with His Holy Spirit, His words and His legacy remain on this earth for us to embrace, follow and live.
Phil 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but to the interests of others".
The crucifixion of our own flesh comes in the actions of prioritizing and serving someone else's needs in addition to our own. Selfish ambition excludes others and that is the point to the directive.
When Jesus walked the earth, He surely fed Himself and took care of things His own life needed, but in the situations He faced on His journey, He ministered to the needs of others. At the end of a long hike up a mountain when people followed Him to hear His teaching, everyone was hungry. In considering His need and the needs of the disciples, He looked to the interests of the crowd as well and fed 5000+ people.
Compassion and sympathy for the suffering and needs of others preceded every miracle. We can make excuses for our indifference and say "Yes, but He is God", while refusing to draw from the Holy Spirit He sent to empower us to live as He lived and serve others as He served. Selfish ambition and vain conceit doesn't even look for a way to help another it is so focused on "numero uno" in the flesh life.
Jesus' parting words should be as loud as a cymbol in our community of Faith, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35
Community as God ordained and designed it requires each one of us to be a servant of the other. When we finally get the picture of our true "dominion", not in the exercise of self-exaltation and ultimate power to rule over others, but in the exercise of our authority over circumstances that cause pain and suffering to our fellows, the Church will begin to fulfill her designated destiny to Glorify Jesus as His body and Representative on earth.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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