The 'Spiritual Things' Syndrome - Part 3
... Christians succumb to the ‘spiritual things’ syndrome when they view the living facets of Jesus as impersonal arrangements, provisions, sys- tematized programs, or as any other sort of end in them- selves. The missing element becomes our relationship as we trust and abide in Him. Allow us a parable to explain this more fully:
.... In the Navy, a destroyer was running low on provisions so a tanker came alongside to replenish it. The tanker matched course and speed, and more than 20 lines were tossed across the foaming gap between them. The ships were now connected in many ways as cargo began to pass over. Fuel began to be pumped. Mail went across the lines. On their bridges, semaphore was exchanged.
.... This is how we see our relationship with the Lord when the ‘spiritual things' syndrome deludes us. God has tossed us a line of 'salvation'. Here’s another line: 'redemption'. And here's another one: 'righteousness'. Fuel is being pumped -- power is being dispensed, and we regard ourselves as 'connected' to Him through these re- mote, impersonal, spiritual ‘programs’. Under this mentality, ‘additional works’ or ‘ministries’ are often regarded as necessary to complete the connection -- which quickly evolves into ineffective mediation (see 1 Timothy 2:5). And once this is allowed, there really will be a distance between us!.
.... The ‘spiritual programs’ we've read about in the Bible actually speak of a Person, Jesus Christ Himself, and there is no ‘connecting’ involved in the sense of some remote distance (John 5:39). But rather, He Himself dwells within our hearts by faith, and He manifests Himself through our very lives (Deuteronomy 30:11-14; Romans 10:6-8). How much more of a ‘connection’ could we ask for?
.... "Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’."
(John 14:6)
.... In this passage, please note very carefully that Jesus did not say, "I will show you the way, I will tell you the truth, I will give you the life." But rather, that "I am the Way, I am the truth, I am the life." He didn’t say, "No one comes to the Father unless I arrange it." He said, "No one comes to the Father but by Me." .
.... So please broaden your perception and think about this carefully. We mustn't regard such benefits as impersonal arrangements, provisions or supplies through remote connections or programs. They’re simply not! They are living aspects of Jesus Himself, as He is indwelling us! Abiding in Jesus is a discussion in itself, which we will address in our next posting.
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Daily Bible Reading: John 5
posted by loren at 12:48 AM
10 Comments:
Please understand that the same concept holds true with any of the ‘I am’ type statements in Scripture. Wherever they may be found, we can always pair them directly back to the person of Jesus in our own understanding. For example, let’s return to John 14:6 where Jesus said “I am the Way”.
Whenever you see the Bible speaking of ‘the way’, you can place Jesus right at the center of that understanding, and it will make more sense. For example, in Isaiah 35:
“an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness. . . the redeemed shall walk there . . .”
Isn’t this talking about Jesus? Of course it is. And it helps us understand God’s intention in the passage, when we read this implication into our flow of understanding. In fact we’ll find this sort of consistency throughout the Bible whenever ‘the way’ is mentioned.
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 12:55 AM
In John 14:6, Jesus also said “I am the truth.” Now He didn’t just tell us the truth, He is the truth; He’s the embodiment of truth – He’s the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). Ephesians 4 talks about ‘speaking the truth in love.’ And stipulates: ‘as the truth is in Jesus,’. and further explains that we are not just learning lessons, we are ‘learning Christ’ (vs 15, 20-21).
God created all things through Jesus Christ; Jesus Himself, the source of all, is the truth. The things we consider ‘true’ and true because they match His thoughts on them. The closer we come to Him, the truer those concepts are; the further we deviate, the less true they are.
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 12:56 AM
Jesus didn’t just say “I’ll give you life.” but rather, that He is the life (John 14:6): Now this is probably the best example I can give you, but you’ll have to think on this one.
Jesus said in John Chapter 11, “I am the resurrection and the life.” He didn’t just say, “I plan to resurrect everybody; I’m going to give you life.” He said “I am the resurrection.” What does He mean by that? Can we say that Christ in you is the resurrection? That you am going to be resurrected because of Christ in you?
In 1 Corinthians 15 we find that when we die we are sown in dishonor but raised in glory. And that glory speaks of the resurrection (as in Acts 3:13). The Bible speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27). Christ in you is the hope of the resurrection.
Therefore “when Christ who is our life appears, we also shall appear with Him in glory.” (Colossians 3:9). Paul speaks of this again, saying, ‘they twain shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery - I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31,32)
So when Jesus returns, there will be a unity of life coming back together, because Christ in you is the resurrection and the life, if you were in Christ during your lifetime.
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 12:56 AM
When we view the manifestation of Christ in our lives as merely impersonal provisions, it also leaves us susceptible to the false ministry of mediators. In seeking to ‘mediate’ these ‘provisions’ we actually exclude Christ Himself, because we are not submitting to Him, but seeking a substitute (as in Romans 10:3).
This can bring a disastrous consequence as we are estranged from Christ, and it can frustrate His grace in our lives (Gal 2:21; 5:4). This can bring Christians into a fallen spiritual state called Bondage (Gal 5:1), in which he no longer has power to resist sin, and the fruits of the flesh reassert themselves in his life (vs 16-21). We will discuss this in greater detail at a much later time.
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 12:56 AM
This is Great stuff!
Christ is our Life! I was once in a group called the barnicle boys. We choose that name because just like barnicles clinge to the hull of a ship for life, we must clinge to Christ for life!
We are not our own ship that ties to the ship of Christ and then once fully stocked goes its own way, we must ever clinge to Christ for our nurishment, our very lives!
Great Post...totally loved it!
David
By
Mark 1:17, at 8/09/2005 7:58 PM
Good post. If we all rested in this truth then the kingdom of God would expand as intended. This is why only Christians in foriegn nations come to this understanding as persecution makes this truth urgent.
By
Bhedr, at 8/09/2005 9:16 PM
Hi David,
That is a totally awesome point, I wish I had thought of it! When the ship is replenished it goes away and "we'll see you later!" If that doesn't summarize it, I don't know what does!
By the way, I saw you remark on Gregory's blog, are you acquainted with him?
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 9:57 PM
Hi Brian,
Good to hear from you again. Yes, a good thought: the fire makes the dross come to the surface. It can be an ugly process, but in the end we do become purer. Thanks for the insight.
By
loren, at 8/09/2005 9:59 PM
David and I met when he posted on a friend of mine's blog. I disagreed with what he said, and decided to visit his blog. He'd made a whole post over the topic, so we started debating. Finally, unfortunately, we got a little carried away with it, and he asked the debate to cease on his blog. But it seems he still reads mine, and I still read his. Insofar as that, and that we're brothers in Christ, we're aquainted.
Outside of the blogosphere, though, we're not. Kind of like you and I that way :)
He's a good guy, though. You two think a lot alike on these issues.
God bless
By
Gregory, at 8/10/2005 3:53 PM
That about sums it all up!
Thanks Gregory!
David
By
Mark 1:17, at 8/11/2005 1:16 AM
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