The 'Spiritual Things' Syndrome - Part 2
..... Think of Jesus as a living diamond with many facets of meaning – yet each facet is simply another glimpse of Himself, His very essence, His inward nature shining through to us. For example, in our previous posting we saw that He is the salvation of God. He is also the wisdom and power of God, and many other things – for all of these 'things' are personified in Him. They are living aspects of His very person, to be manifest in our lives as we believe and abide in Him:.
.... "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
(John 15:5)
.... Yet we tend to skip over the connection with Jesus, and to regard these facets as ends in themselves. By missing this intention we are seeing them impersonally, as ‘properties’, ‘programs’ ‘lessons’ or ‘provisions’ – in short, as ‘spiritual things’.
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.... When we skip over Jesus in this way, His significance begins to diminish in our lives. He fades into history and obscurity in our minds, as a ‘legislator’ of long ago who penned those all-important ‘programs’, but now it’s about the programs themselves. Under this mentality, we could leave Jesus out of almost everything we are doing today, and still have a ‘Christian plan’ or ‘system of beliefs’ by which to live. (and unfortunately, that's exactly what most Churches have been doing.)
.... When we skip over Jesus in this way, His significance begins to diminish in our lives. He fades into history and obscurity in our minds, as a ‘legislator’ of long ago who penned those all-important ‘programs’, but now it’s about the programs themselves. Under this mentality, we could leave Jesus out of almost everything we are doing today, and still have a ‘Christian plan’ or ‘system of beliefs’ by which to live. (and unfortunately, that's exactly what most Churches have been doing.).
.... Let’s develop this concept with further examples. "What is righteousness?" we may ask. Or, "What is sanctification? Or what is redemption?".
.... Let’s develop this concept with further examples. "What is righteousness?" we may ask. Or, "What is sanctification? Or what is redemption?".
.... "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God-- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption–that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord’."
(1 Corinthians 1:30-31)
.... Paul does not say that Jesus gave these things to us; but rather, that He became these things for us. This is the manifestation of Christ in our lives, to the intent that we should not glory in spiritual ‘properties’, ‘governments’, ‘programs’, ‘provisions’, or any other religious ‘thing’, but that we should ‘glory in the Lord’ Himself! .
.... Through this concept we see the true relationship from God’s point of view. It is all very deeply interpersonal through His beloved Son, and the effect transforms our lives, making us more like Jesus in our character. And this is the perspective we must learn again to appreciate. We’ll continue this discussion in our next posting.
.... Through this concept we see the true relationship from God’s point of view. It is all very deeply interpersonal through His beloved Son, and the effect transforms our lives, making us more like Jesus in our character. And this is the perspective we must learn again to appreciate. We’ll continue this discussion in our next posting.
To proceed to the next lesson, click here
Daily Bible Reading: John 4
posted by loren at 12:09 AM
4 Comments:
It is sometimes difficult for us to grasp that Jesus is the personification of those ‘spiritual things’, and that it requires a relationship, and not simply an arrangement, to be benefit from them through abiding in Him.
Surely God realized that, in our corporeal world, we would have difficulty in grasping this deeply interpersonal concept. He could certainly have just arranged it otherwise, in a way that better suited our human mentality, if He had wished to do so. The fact that He knew of our human difficulty and still decided to do it this way shows us how greatly important this interpersonal concept is to Him. We should feel greatly honored, and ask Him to reveal Himself to us more clearly, if we still have trouble understanding it.
By
loren, at 8/08/2005 12:41 AM
For all that I’ve just said, this concept is really not as difficult to grasp as it may seem. We all know that Jesus dwells in our hearts by faith, and this is simply the benefit that springs from sharing our lives with Him. It’s just that it arises from within, and is very personal, instead of rising from without in a form that is impersonal. Here’s a quote from an older posting, that speaks of the proper concept:
“A young woman married a man from a wealthy country. Because of her marriage, she became a citizen of his country, but in their culture this was viewed in a special way. Instead of issuing her a second citizenship that was exactly the same, his own citizenship was expanded to include her within it. In this way she would fully receive every benefit of the kingdom through her union with her husband, by virtue of his birthright in the land.
“In the same way, it has pleased the Father that in Christ all the fullness should dwell, and we are espoused to Him through believing the gospel (Col 1:19 2 Cor 11:2). Through this we become one spirit with Him, and we receive a new citizenship that is in no way autonomous (1 Cor 6:17; Phil 3:20). It is only through our relationship, by abiding in Him, that every benefit may be fully realized, as the scope of His life expands to include ourselves -- yet always in terms of His very own life (2 Cor 1:20).
By
loren, at 8/08/2005 12:42 AM
As another example, recall our discussion of ‘blood brothers’ from a recent posting:
“Have you ever seen a western movie where a cowboy and an Indian come to respect each other, and become blood brothers? They may slice their thumbs open, or the palms of their hands, and put the two wounds together.
“Now this is largely symbolic, but it’s based on a truth that ‘the life of the body is in the blood’ and here is what it means (Lev 17:11). When the blood of the first man flows into the veins of the other, to some extent his life is keeping that man alive; and when the life of the other flows into the veins of the first, to some extent his life is keeping the first man alive. There’s been an exchange of life between them. Now of course, that illustration is inadequate, but it gives you the sense of what I’m trying to say. There’s an exchange of life between you and Jesus, and His life is keeping you alive. That’s what it’s means to abide in Christ.”
By
loren, at 8/08/2005 12:42 AM
wow, great blog! i am going to come back and visit when i've got a little more time.
thanks for visiting mine, which is just my private working out space. how i wish i had time to get into this depth of sharing, but alas, the Lord has me working in other areas.
i have a question for you if you do not mind returning to answer.
every blessing as you continue your ministry, brother!
By
Carolyn, at 8/08/2005 11:18 AM
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