The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)
Thank goodness that our God never gives up, never throws in the towel on us. As sure as the sun rises, and as sure as the Son has risen, our loving Father’s mercy and compassion are new every morning. You can experience this newness in the springs of living water (Christ’s own Life) inside you (John 4:14).
May you rest in the peaceful assurance of His life and love in you!
8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. (1 John 4:8, 16-21 NLT)
John tells us that God is love, but what is love? John goes on to say that we grow in love as we live “in God”. Perhaps the best description of God’s loving nature is in 1 Corinthians 13. We live “in God” through Christ’s indwelling life through the Holy Spirit; therefore, we can look at 1 Corinthians 13 in the following ways:
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT)
Christ Himself is patient and kind. Christ Himself is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Christ Himself does not demand His own way. Christ Himself is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. Christ Himself does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Christ Himself never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
The indwelling life of Christ is patient and kind. The indwelling life of Christ is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. The indwelling life of Christ does not demand its own way. The indwelling life of Christ is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. The indwelling life of Christ does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. The indwelling life of Christ never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Christ’s life in you is patient and kind. Christ’s life in you is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Christ’s life in you does not demand its own way. Christ’s life in you is not irritable, and He keeps no record of being wronged. Christ’s life in you does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Christ’s life in you never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
This kind of love has no fear. This kind of love grows eternally and never dies. This kind of love breeds more love; it is contagious to those who receive it. God loves us this way through Christ, and we express His love to others through Him…
Thanks to Frank Viola and Milt Rodriguez who first shared this view of Christ’s love with me.
*****
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Just as Eve was in Adam and was brought out of him at just the right time, so the church was in Christ, and she was brought out of Him in God’s perfect time. She, the ekklesia, was not brought out from Him until He had displayed and produced crucified life for her.
This haunting quote comes from F.J. Huegel’s book, Bone of His Bone, and gives much insight into our co-crucifixion with Christ and our co-resurrection in Him:
The church, as has said the great French preacher Lacordaire, was born crucified; and until, like her divine head, she falls into the ground and dies, she abides alone. The life-giving streams cannot break forth from her bosom.
God grant you the grace to be clear about one thing: Christ does not come into your life to patch up your “old man.” Here is where unnumbered multitudes of Christians have been “hung up.” They thought it was Christ’s mission to make them better. There is absolutely no biblical ground for any such idea. Jesus said that He had no intention of pouring His new wine into old pigskins. He said that He had not come to bring peace, but a sword. He said that unless a man would renounce himself utterly, he could not be his disciple.
Christ does not come to you to simply straighten out your “old life.” He has never promised to make us better. His entire redemptive work which was consummated upon the cross rests upon the assumption (it is more than an assumption – God says it is a fact) that man’s condition is such that only dying and being born again can possibly make any change in you. He must impart to you an entirely new life.
Christ is the Vine, we are the branches. He is the Head, we form the Body.
Paul’s epistles again and again point us to Calvary and startle us with an imperative demand: We must consent to co-crucifixion with Christ. …
Two thousand years ago, there in the manger of Bethlehem, God gave the world his only-begotten son. In Him was concentrated the infinite love of the Father. But the full force of that redeeming love was not released upon a sin-stricken world until there on Calvary the flaming heart of the Beloved broke. Then it was that the radium of the celestial realm was focused upon the great cancer of humanity’s sin and shame. Radiation kills. There is no power under heaven that can withstand its concentrated dynamic.
The Cross also kills. The man who exposes himself to Calvary soon discovers that a hidden fire burns within his bones. The old fallen life – so resentful, so fussy, so greedy, so touchy, so haughty, so vain, so blind to all except its own particular lust, so ready to sacrifice the good of the many if only its own glory may be secured – the old “self-life” can no more resist the impact of Calvary than can some frail canoe survive the onrush of a great tidal wave. …
Let us further examine this matter of identification with Christ. It is both a position that you take once and for all by an act of faith (in which you commit yourself to your place in the death of His Son) and a process of growth, in which you receive an ever-deepening life of sharing in the Savior’s death. Even Paul said that he longed to know Christ and the power of his resurrection… being made conformable unto His death (Phil 3:10). It is all summed up in the great paradox of the Gospel: “He who loses his life shall find it.”
There is not any nullification of personality involved. Quite the contrary. Paul was no less Paul after the realization of his oneness with Christ in death. He could, with infinitely more right, say “nevertheless I live.” Once the cross deals with the “I-life” so that the soul becomes God-centered, personality and all of its glory and the full fruition of its powers begins to develop. You can only possess yourself when God is supreme in your life. …
Being in Christ, we are crucified. Your being a German or a Frenchman makes inevitable certain habits of mind, a certain temperament of soul. Your being a Christian makes inevitable the crucified life. The church did not come forth from the womb of the Eternal until, upon the cross, crucified life had been generated.
The only life given to the ekklesia, the body of Christ, is His crucified life. This is the source of our new life, our new covenant, in Him. This is why it is the Lamb of God that conquered death and sin, and why it is the Lamb that now sits on the throne. Jesus Christ won the victory through His sacrifice. The church is victorious through her own sacrifice, and in this is true Life.
What foolishness this is to our “old man”, but what life pours forth to those who embrace the way of the cross of Christ.
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Colossians 1 is perhaps the most beautiful unveiling in the Scriptures of who Jesus Christ is. In fact, the rest of the letter to the Colossian saints finds its foundation in Paul’s presentation of who Christ is, in reality.
Christians often look at and discuss the beautiful shadows of Christ found in the Old Testament; however, Paul discloses the mystery of the shadows and reveals Jesus in all of His real beauty and glory. Jesus is the substance towards which all of the shadows point.
In verse 12, Paul writes that we should thank the Father, “who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light“, and in verse 13, that the Father has “transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”.
The inheritance that we have been given as we have been grafted into the Lord’s family is in the Son. This led me to look through just Colossians chapter 1 and discover what it is exactly that we have inherited in Christ. Note that Paul’s letter is written to the church in Colossae, so this inheritance is given to the church (plural) and is intended to be discovered and developed together.
saints and faithful brethren (v. 2)
grace and peace from God our Father (v. 2)
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 3)
the prayers of the saints on our behalf (v. 3)
faith in Christ Jesus (v. 4)
love for all the saints (v. 4)
confident hope of what God has reserved for us in heaven (v. 5)
Truth of the good news of Christ (v. 5)
the growing of fruit seen in changed lives everywhere (v. 6)
understanding the truth of God’s wonderful grace (v. 6)
faithful servants of Christ (v. 7)
help from faithful servants (v. 7)
love for others from the Holy Spirit (v. 8)
complete knowledge of God’s will (v. 9)
spiritual wisdom and understanding (v. 9)
lives that produce every kind of good fruit, which will honor and please God (v. 10)
growing spiritually as we know God better and better (v. 10)
strengthened with God’s power so we will have endurance and patience (v. 11)
filled with joy (v. 11)
enabled (qualified) to share in the inheritance with all the saints (v. 12)
living in the Light (v. 12)
rescued from the kingdom of darkness (v. 13)
transferred into the kingdom of His beloved Son (v. 13)
our freedom purchased by the Son (v. 14)
our sins are forgiven through the Son (v. 14)
a vision of the invisible God through the visible Christ (v. 15)
united to the Eternal One, who is supreme over all creation (v. 16)
being held together in Christ (v. 17)
Christ Himself, as Head of His body, the church (v. 18)
Christ, the pattern for those reborn to new life (v. 18)
reconciled to God through Christ (v. 19)
at peace with God through Christ’s blood on the cross (v. 20)
brought close to God, and no longer His enemy (v. 21)
brought into God’s own presence through Christ’s death (v. 22)
made completely holy (v. 22)
made completely blameless (v. 22)
able to stand before God without a single fault (v. 22)
assurance of the Truth (v. 23)
God’s servants, who suffer for us (v. 24)
God’s servants, who proclaim His entire message (v. 25)
the revelation of God’s secrets revealed in Christ (v. 26)
knowing that the riches and glory of Christ are for everyone (v. 27)
the secret revealed: Christ Himself lives in you all, and you all share in His glory (v. 27)
All of this and so much more is given to us in Christ who lives in us. The fullness of God dwells in Him, and He dwells in us!
What a Christ!
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From time to time, as I am reading a Scripture passage, I am moved to paraphrase the passage into my own words. While trying to stay true to the passage’s intended meaning, I sort of journal what I feel the Spirit is working in me at that time. I’m not trying to reinterpret the Scriptures or make up my own translation (relax). But it is a great way of connecting with what is going on in me as I’m reading. This actually happens all the time when someone says something like, “that passage means _______________ to me”.
Below is a passage that I paraphrased some time ago from Galatians 5. This is a beautiful chapter that compares a life lived from the flesh (sinful nature) with a life lived from the Spirit of Christ, where true freedom is found.
It is true that on the cross, Christ defeated everything that stands against Him, securing our freedom in Him. And then, Christ rose from the grave and became a life-giving seed, freely sharing His freedom with us. Plant yourself firmly in this freedom like a giant oak tree, and do not walk backwards into the heavy chains of religious law and tradition.
Brothers and sisters, we have been granted access to Christ so that through Him we can live in this freedom. But do not be deceived: this liberty is different from what the world views as freedom. This is not a freedom for yourself, as those in the world devour each other to gain; rather, this is a freedom from yourself, from everything that stands between you and the Lord’s life.
Let us live by the law that Christ Himself gave us, that we would love and care for each other in the same way we look out for our own lives. This is how our freedom grows. Freedom in Christ is not tearing each other to pieces to protect our own interests. This will completely destroy your fellowship with each other and the freedom found in the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ.
Because of the fall, we cling to selfishness and legalism. The new antidote to this problem is so much simpler than the Law – give everything to Christ and live by His indwelling life. Living for yourself destroys your freedom, but living by Christ forms the liberty of love into you.
We all know too well the fruits that comes from trying to get our own way all of the time, and there is no need to list them. When you are making room in your life for these things, there is no room for the kingdom of God to be built up inside of you.
But if you will give room for the seed of Christ’s life to grow inside of you, He will blossom into a sweet smelling flower. And this is His fragrance: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Legalism is helpless to produce a life that expresses this kind of beauty. Everything in us, our old nature, that stands against this was nailed to the cross of Christ and crucified with Him – it lives no more.
Since we have chosen to live in Christ’s life by the Holy Spirit, let us not only hold this as an idea in our minds or a sentiment in our hearts – let us make this our practical way of living with each other. May we not spend our time measuring how well other believers are walking in the Spirit, and may we not brag about ourselves because Christ is the One who does everything in us. Instead, let’s see every person as God’s masterpiece.
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Watchman Nee (1903-1972) was a Chinese Christian who served the Lord widely in China, often at great personal cost. He was wrongly imprisoned later in his life because the government considered him to be the leader of many Christians and a threat to the Chinese rulers. Nee served the Lord in China most of his life, while giving little consideration to his own comfort or reputation. He died in a remote farm prison after serving twenty years of hard labor and being almost completely cut off from his wife and family. After this time he was frail and sick, and was eventually transported over rough Chinese terrain to a hospital. It is believed that he died during this trip due to its severity on his weak body.
Nee never gave up his faith, though. His possessions from prison, including additional writings and diaries, were not turned over to his family. They were only given his old coat, worn from many beatings. Inside, hidden in the lining, they found a scrap of paper inscribed with these words, “Only God is ever living – only God is everlasting.”
Watchman Nee has written many books that have been translated into English. Many of his spoken messages have also been transcribed and released as books. While he was certainly not perfect, his contribution to Christians world wide is immense.
Angus Kinnear brilliantly captures the life of Watchman Nee in his biography Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story Behind Watchman Nee. In this book, there is a section about Nee’s thoughts about “how God might more widely win to himself the people of China”. Nee was interested in how God might raise up those who could minister among the Lord’s people to develop local assemblies throughout China.
Developing this thought further, he pointed next to an item in the ark’s contents, namely Aaron’s rod that had once budded. It had been set there as a memorial of a historic occasion: a dark night and a resurrection morning. He believed this hinted at God’s one sure way of fruitfulness for every servant of his. We do not accomplish God’s work merely by yielding to the appeal of open doors and great opportunities. There is sometimes also a darkness to be endured with patience for the sake of a new dawn. When that dawn breaks God will disclose buds and flowers beyond man’s power to produce. In the case of our Lord Jesus that resurrection life blossomed and fruited in its fullest sense when he pleased his Father by assenting to endure, with heaven closed above him, the darkness and death of the cross. “The Son of Man must suffer,” he had said. While in such experiences the disciple follows his Master only at a distance, yet “the servant is in no way greater than his Lord.”
The death of ourselves (what Paul called “the old man” or the “flesh”) is usually quite painful; however, in Christ there is always a resurrection on the other side. This is what is represented by Aaron’s dead staff that God caused to bloom new flowers (see Numbers 17).
While this principle is true for all Christians, my thoughts in this post are primarily aimed at those who are called to the work of giving up themselves completely to serve God’s people. The cross they bear for the Lord’s sake, for the Lord’s spiritual house (that is the church, His living body, not a physical building) can certainly be overwhelming at times. Thankfully, we always have the promise of the NEW life, fruit, and light on the other side of death.
To those of you laboring faithfully for the Lord, you have my utmost respect.
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**I originally published this article on this blog’s previous website in 2011. I was reminded of the same theme recently and am reposting it with a few minor edits.**
The title question comes from an old hymn we sing in our church. It’s a beautiful hymn that points towards knowing Christ as a real and living Person.
This post also gives a glimpse into “what it is we do” as an organic expression of the church.
I’m part of an “organic” church that meets in a home. For most of my life, I’ve been part of traditional churches where a pastor preaches on Sunday, the congregation listens, and kids go to Sunday School. If someone would have asked me if I knew Jesus, I would have probably said, “Sure, I know Him. I’m saved. I said the sinner’s prayer and was baptized. I read my Bible. I go to church. So, yeah, I know Him.”
(Note that this doesn’t mean that no one can know Jesus in a deep way if they have a similar experience of traditional church. I try to avoid such sweeping generalizations. But it wasn’t the case for me, and I think the points below apply to anyone.)
I’ve realized in the past few years that that answer seems to fall flat. I don’t want to just know facts about Christ, nor do I want the extent of my knowing of Christ to be based on the event of saying a prayer and getting baptized. Although those are important events, isn’t there more to having a relationship with Christ than that?
As a husband, I don’t presume to know all about my wife just because we said marriage vows at a wedding ceremony. Knowing my wife is much deeper than that. It takes work, sacrificial love, conversation, quality time together. And after over 13 years of knowing my wife, I am still far from truly knowing her (which is an exciting thought because there is so much more to be explored and known).
In our church, our desire, goal, and hope is to learn who Jesus the Christ is. Not the facts and statistics, but the Person. Who is this Jesus? What makes Him tick? What is He all about? What is He up to? What does He want from me? What does He want from us all together? How do we figure all of this out?
Well, that’s a long story, but it started with someone describing Him to us. Someone who has gone down this path of knowing Him deeply before us. Someone who could remove the veil of this world and reveal the true nature and person of Christ. Someone who could cut through our pasts of religion, legalism, intellectualism, and self-centeredness. And by this expanded view into who Christ is, we began to be able to see Him ourselves. We began to share Him amongst ourselves, beholding His endless riches!
Now, imagine you asked me to describe the moon to you. I’ve seen the moon plenty of times. I’ve even seen it through a telescope, so I could give you some general features of the moon. It’s usually a sort of white color, it is round, and it has craters all over it. Now, imagine asking an astronaut who has walked on the moon what it is like. Of course, they can give you the facts and figures, but they can also give you the first hand experience of actually walking and living in the moon’s environment. That is what this person (actually it was a few people) did for us.
They shared with us the land of Christ through which they had actually walked. This sighting of Christ did not occur overnight, and as with my wife, there is still much more to explore and see of Jesus. As a church, we pursue Him together in many different ways, most of which look nothing like what most people would consider “church”. Most importantly, we pursue Him together as we live in community with each other. We are learning to live together by His indwelling life, and what it means to be an expression of Him in this world.
So back to the original question. Have you heard Him, seen Him, known Him? I thought I had. But thankfully, I listened to the still, small whisper inside that said, “Maybe there’s more.”
In time, I have learned that our Lord, Jesus, wants to be known by me and you to a deeper level than any of us can imagine. Will you respond to His simple call to hear Him, see Him, know Him?
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And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. ~ Jesus in Luke 9:23-24
What does it mean to take up (carry/bear) our cross daily?
While Jesus washed away our sins and the sin nature on the cross of Golgotha, there is also an eternal, inwrought cross principle that is the very heartbeat of the expression of divine life. Living in community today with other Christians and experiencing real internal growth and maturity emanates out from an experience of this cross principle.
In DeVern Fromke’s book, Ultimate Intention, he describes the eternal, inwrought cross:
We see then the Cross is far more than an act in history. It expresses the very qualities and manner of life of the Triune God. It is the life-giving, light-sharing and love-bestowing principle by which God has dealt with man from the beginning. …
In thinking of the Cross only as a redemptive measure, we have missed God’s larger intention. Yet the total inference of Scripture is that from the beginning the Father longed for a family of sons who would embrace the same Cross principle that has ever governed His own heart. It was His intention that the Cross might be so inwrought in these sons as to become their manner and purpose of life. And until this giving and sharing can be accomplished in man, there is no real basis of fellowship for God and man.
But we might ask, “How much did the first man, Adam, know of God’s intention for him?”
Once again it becomes evident that when we begin at the right place – in the paternal heart – we shall always see things in God’s larger perspective. The Cross which has usually appeared only redemptive becomes much more. It becomes expressive of God’s manner of life which He intends in due time to be reflected everywhere in the universe.
From our present viewpoint we know that the Father was inviting Adam to embrace the Cross-principle as the manner and purpose of his life. This, however, could not be thrust upon him, but must come as the exercise of moral choice – the choice of living to give, to serve, and thus, to share. We are sure that God was waiting to make a fuller disclosure of His inner being which would have unfolded more and more as Adam went from one step of obedience to another step of obedience.
Had Adam chosen initially the divine intention for his life – a choice represented in the two trees – then through each successive choice this divine way of life would have been more fully inwrought in him. His first choice of the Cross, as an operating principle, would call for a continued ratifying to make it an operating practice in his daily walk. Thus God and man would have become two hearts living in complete harmony.
This cross principle calls us to lay down our own lives, our own self-interest, and to elevate others in our place.
The cross principle calls us to a life of service and sacrifice (with a good attitude).
The cross principle calls us let go of the old, dead person, and embrace the new, truly alive person in Christ.
The cross principle of community life reveals who we really are, flaws and all.
The cross principle of community life reveals the measure of Christ in others when your flaws are revealed.
The cross principle bids our flesh to come and die, and the Spirit of Christ to come and live.
For further reflection on living this cross principle, Frank Viola recently shared a transcribed message and an expanded spoken message on his blog on the theme of this cross in community life. Both are highly recommended.
In John’s gospel story about Jesus, he repeatedly refers to Christ as light. In the NASB, there are 16 references to Christ as light just in the Book of John:
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:7 He [John the Baptist] came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
John 1:8 He [John the Baptist] was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
John 1:9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
John 3:19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
John 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
John 3:21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
John 5:35 He was the lamp that was burning and was shining and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
John 9:5 While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”
John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
John 11:10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
John 12:35 So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.
John 12:36 While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and hid Himself from them.
John 12:46 I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
The light that we see with our eyes shines brightly, guides us, feeds us (we absorb vitamin D from the sun through our skin), warms us, causes life to bloom and grow, and illuminates our surroundings so that we can rightly discern the world around us and make wise decisions. Without the light, we could not see all of the beauty that Christ has created for us.
Jesus Christ is the reality of this Light. What the sun provides for us physically, our Lord provides for us spiritually as He dwells in us. As the church lives in Him together and expresses Him, His real light continues to shine in the earth today.
Jesus causes us to shine brightly with His life.
Jesus guides us with His Spirit in us.
Jesus provides us with spiritual nourishment.
Jesus produces warmth and joy within us.
Jesus is the vine, in whom the branches abide, and from which we bloom and grow.
Jesus illuminates our spirits with His Spirit so that we can discern the true, heavenly reality from His vantage point.
Jesus brought beauty to the darkest places.
The church today, together in Him, through His life in us, can bring beauty to the darkest places.
Revelation 22:3-5 (PHILLIPS) Nothing that has cursed mankind shall exist any longer; the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be within the city. His servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name will be upon their foreheads. Night shall be no more; they have no more need for either lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will shed his light upon them and they shall reign as kings for timeless ages.
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