Out of the Clay

“I AM crucified with Christ.” Thus the apostle expresses his assurance of his fellowship with Christ in His sufferings and death, and his full participation in all the power and the blessing of that death. And so really did he mean what he said, and know that he was now indeed dead, that he adds: “It is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me.”How blessed must be the experience of such a union with the Lord Jesus! To be able to look upon His death as mine, just as really as it was His–upon His perfect obedience to God, His victory over sin, and complete deliverance from its power, as mine; and to realize that the power of that death does by faith work daily with a divine energy in mortifying the flesh, and renewing the whole life into the perfect conformity to the resurrection life of Jesus! Abiding in Jesus, the Crucified One, is the secret of the growth of that new life which is ever begotten of the death of nature.

Let us try to understand this. The suggestive expression, “Planted into the likeness of His death,” will teach us what the abiding in the Crucified One means. When a graft is united with the stock on which it is to grow, we know that it must be kept fixed, it must abide in the place where the stock has been cut, been wounded, to make an opening to receive the graft. No graft without wounding–the laying bare and opening up of the inner life of the tree to receive the stranger branch. It is only through such wounding that access can be obtained to the fellowship of the sap and the growth and the life of the stronger stem. Even so with Jesus and the sinner. Only when we are planted into the likeness of His death shall we also be in the likeness of His resurrection, partakers of the life and the power there are in Him. In the death of the Cross Christ was wounded, and in His opened wounds a place prepared where we might be grafted in. And just as one might say to a graft, and does practically say as it is fixed in its place, “Abide here in the wound of the stem, that is now to bear you”; so to the believing soul the message comes, “Abide in the wounds of Jesus; there is the place of union, and life, and growth. There you shall see how His heart was opened to receive you; how His flesh was rent that the way might be opened for your being made one with Him, and having access to all the blessings flowing from His divine nature.”

You have also noticed how the graft has to be torn away from the tree where it by nature grew, and to be cut into conformity to the place prepared for it in the wounded stem. Even so the believer has to be made conformable to Christ’s death–to be crucified and to die with Him. The wounded stem and the wounded graft are cut to fit into each other, into each other’s likeness. There is a fellowship between Christ’s sufferings and your sufferings. His experiences must become yours. The disposition He manifested in choosing and bearing the cross must be yours. Like Him, you will have to give full assent to the righteous judgment and curse of a holy God against sin. Like Him, you have to consent to yield your life, as laden with sin and curse,to death, and through it to pass to the new life. Like Him, you shall experience that it is only through the self-sacrifice of Gethsemane and Calvary that the path is to be found to the joy and the fruit-bearing of the resurrection life. The more clear the resemblance between the wounded stem and the wounded graft, the more exactly their wounds fit into each other, the surer and the easier, and the more complete will be the union and the growth.

It is in Jesus, the Crucified One, I must abide. I must learn to look upon the Cross as not only an atonement to God, but also a victory over the devil–not only a deliverance from the guilt, but also from the power of sin. I must gaze on Him on the Cross as wholly mine, offering Himself to receive me into the closest union and fellowship, and to make me partaker of the full power of His death to sin, and the new life of victory to which it is but the gateway. I must yield myself to Him in an undivided surrender, with much prayer and strong desire, imploring to be admitted into the ever closer fellowship and conformity of His death, of the Spirit in which He died that death.

So many times in my life as a believer I have heard the term ‘Godly’. Most of times that I have heard (or read) the term is is in the context of relationships. For example - …Godly men, Godly women, Godly families, etc. Further, I must admit that most of the situations that I have heard (or read) have inspired me to want to be ‘better’. But, in order for me or my relationships or my characteristics to be ‘better’ then that means that there is something inherently wrong with me and/or family and that the antidote to my situation is to try and become ‘Godly’ or ‘like God’.

So the question is: is trying to be Godly a good thing or a bad thing? Is trying to be a Godly man or have a Godly family really the answer or the goal in this thing called life? The short answer is no. Let me explain …

I believe that most of man’s problems (and I mean man in the creation form - not gender specific) have their root in the ‘Tree of knowledge of good and evil’. Most of you know, from your early Sunday School classes, that the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the one forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Let’s think about the name of the tree - Knowledge of good and evil. Or put another way, knowing the difference between right and wrong. See, once a ‘right’ and a ‘wrong’ has been established then there lays the foundation for legalism. The enemy knew that this was the only way that he could disrupt our fellowship with God. Just read Genesis 3:5:

“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

‘Be like God’ is the phrase that the enemy used. I believe that you could put that another way - Godly. See - our perception of God, most of the time, is based on projection. We come up with what we think the most perfect being on earth could be like and then multiply it’s perfection times 1,000 and then project it onto God. Following that assumption we then spend the rest of our lives miserably trying to measure up to a perfect standard because, after all, we KNOW the difference between good and evil. Right?

Sadly, most believers live out their entire life trying to measure up. Most even gauge how well the leadership at their church is doing by a combination of their level of perfection combined with their ability to inspire you to try and attain their level. This is legalism. This is eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is trying to live the christian life in our own effort. This is trying to be good, trying to do the right things, trying to spend a specific amount of time each day praying, reading our Bible, serving, etc … Better yet, this is trying to give our way into God’s favor. This, my friend, is not God’s plan.

If you remember from your Sunday School class - there is another tree. This tree is called ‘The Tree of Life’. This tree is Christ. Remember, we have been grafted into this new tree (Romans 11:17, John 15). We are now partakers of His Life (John 14:6) and His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matt 11:30). Once we have accepted Christ then the curse from Eve’s deceptions and Adam’s choice has been lifted! Amen! We have been transferred from the headship of Adam to the headship of Christ. We no longer have to try to be good or Godly but simply to rest in the finished work of The Cross!

The reason that I have written this post is to reveal a piece of the mystery of God’s grace to you. All believers have experienced the first half of The Good News - Christ’s death for us. But only a few have experienced the second half - our death with Christ. In order to make our death with Christ an experiential reality in our lives we must first KNOW that it is Truth. After knowing, we must make it true in our lives by FAITH. When we simply rest in the completeness of The Gospel there is no more trying to be Godly because He who has come to fulfill the law now takes up a living residence inside of the new believer. He has become for us wisdom from God, both rightousness and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

With Christ as our wisdom we see the difference between the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the blessed Tree of Life. When we surrender and identify with who we REALLY are in Christ then we cease trying to live ‘like God’ and begin to live KNOWING that it is God who is living for us.

Let me introduce you to The People formerly known as The Congregation. There are millions of us.

We are people - flesh and blood - image bearers of the Creator - eikons, if you will. We are not numbers.

We are the eikons who once sat in the uncomfortable pews or plush theatre seating of your preaching venues. We sat passively while you proof-texted your way through 3, 4, 5 or no point sermons - attempting to tell us how you and your reading of The Bible had a plan for our lives. Perhaps God does have a plan for us - it just doesn’t seem to jive with yours.

Money was a great concern. And, for a moment, we believed you when you told us God would reward us for our tithes - or curse us if we didn’t. The Law is just so much easier to preach than Grace. My goodness, if you told us that the 1st century church held everything in common - you might be accused of being a socialist - and of course, capitalism is a direct gift from God. Please further note: Malachi 3 is speaking to the priests of Israel. They weren’t the cheerful givers God speaks of loving.

We grew weary from your Edifice Complex pathologies - building projects more important than the people in your neighbourhood…or in your pews. It wasn’t God telling you to “enlarge the place of your tent” - it was your ego. And, by the way, a multi-million dollar, state of the art building is hardly a tent.

We no longer buy your call to be “fastest growing” church in wherever. That is your need. You want a bigger audience. We won’t be part of one.

Our ears are still ringing from the volume, but…Jesus is not our boyfriend - and we will no longer sing your silly love songs that suggest He is. Happy clappy tunes bear no witness to the reality of the world we live in, the powers and principalities we confront, or are worthy of the one we proclaim King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

You offered us a myriad of programs to join - volunteer positions to assuage our desire to be connected. We could be greeters, parking lot attendants, coffee baristas, book store helpers, children’s ministry workers, media ministry drones - whatever you needed to fulfill your dreams of corporate glory. Perhaps you’ve noticed, we aren’t there anymore.

We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We have not stopped loving the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nor do we avoid “the assembling of the saints.” We just don’t assemble under your supposed leadership. We meet in coffee shops, around dinner tables, in the parks and on the streets. We connect virtually across space and time - engaged in generative conversations - teaching and being taught.

We live amongst our neighbours, in their homes and they in ours. We laugh and cry and really live - without the need to have you teach us how - by reading your ridiculous books or listening to your supercilious CDs or podcasts.

We don’t deny Paul’s description of APEPT leadership - apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. We just see it in the light of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 10 and Matthew 20 - servant leadership. We truly long for the release of servant leading men and women into our gifts as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. We believe in Peter’s words that describe us all as priests. Not just some, not just one gender.

We are The People formerly known as The Congregation. We do not hate you. Though some of us bear the wounds you have inflicted. Many of you are our brothers and our sisters, misguided by the systems you inhabit, intoxicated by the power - yet still members of our family. (Though some are truly wolves in sheep’s clothing.)

And, as The People formerly known as The Congregation, we invite you to join us on this great adventure. To boldly go where the Spirit leads us. To marvel at what the Father is doing in the communities where He has placed us. To live the love that Jesus shows us.

(quote from Bill Kinnon - blog)

What does it mean to take up the cross daily? It is very sad that the particular Scripture passages in Matt. 16:24, Mark 8:34, 10:21 and Luke 9:23 are so often misunderstood. Too often preachers use these verses as a threat to force people into works, self-consciousness and Christian performance, when in all reality it is one of the most beautiful experiences for a Christian to take up the cross daily. What cross you may ask? An understanding of pure Grace is necessary to realize that it is His cross and we glory in His cross, because He already went on the cross for us. Consider the following regarding this issue from a Grace-oriented and Christ-centered viewpoint:

Taking up the cross daily means that Christ wants us to focus on Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). As we look unto His Finished Work (John 19:30) on the cross of Calvary, which was the manifestation of His Love expressed through Mercy and Grace as He met the conditions of His perfect justice, He is able to work in and through us to manifest His Love with the mind of Christ active in us (1 Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5) through acts of Mercy and Grace to the folks around us including to ourselves. It’s His cross that we want as a frame of reference.

The Holy Spirit continuously motivates each Christian to look unto Him and with our free volition we say “Yes” and then He can work in and through us. And letting Him work in and through us is what Jesus Christ means in His Word when He speaks about taking up the cross daily. It’s at His cross where we meet Him, our Lord and Savior, and where He finished the work. Now we have peace with God and we can rest and let Him perform His work in us to conform us to His image (Romans 8:29).

And it is very important to understand that to take up His cross is never an actual work performed by a Christian and it’s never a burden or a matter of distress, but instead the cross represents a place of victory and glory. Calvary’s cross is the only cross God will and can accept. There’s no sacrifice we as individuals can offer to God as God doesn’t want our sacrifices (Psalm 40:6, 51:16-17), but instead He wants our heart (Proverbs 23:26; a choice in our free will to let him take over our lives which is not a work by itself, but only a type of mental consent) and that’s not a sacrifice or work. When we give Him our heart it’s the most joyous thing an individual can do to experience the Resurrection Life of Christ in this lifetime. And then the presentation of our bodies as living sacrifices in Romans 12:1 is no longer a work performed by the efforts of an individual, but instead it is the working of the Holy Spirit in us as our minds are renewed (Rom. 12:2).

Some confuse the taking up of the cross with some burden, distress, work, Christian performance and/or duty, discomfort or whatever, when in fact it is one of the greatest things a Christian can experience every day of his/her life as an individual yields to the kind and loving urging/pleading of the Holy Spirit to let Christ reign in them for that day, hour, minute and every single moment. It’s also true when we yield to the Holy Spirit that the things on earth will grow strangely dim as we will no longer yearn to fulfill our human-based (sin nature rooted) desires, but instead we’ll be delighted in His will as we have faith (trust) in Him that His way (plan) is perfect (Psalm 18:30). Yes, once again it’s all by Grace and the flesh profits nothing (John 6:63).

“Wherefore hast Thou afflicted Thy servant?” — Numbers 11:11

Our heavenly Father sends us frequent troubles to try our faith. If our faith be worth anything, it will stand the test. Gilt is afraid of fire, but gold is not: the paste gem dreads to be touched by the diamond, but the true jewel fears no test. It is a poor faith which can only trust God when friends are true, the body full of health, and the business profitable; but that is true faith which holds by the Lord’s faithfulness when friends are gone, when the body is sick, when spirits are depressed, and the light of our Father’s countenance is hidden. A faith which can say, in the direst trouble, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” is heaven-born faith. The Lord afflicts His servants to glorify Himself, for He is greatly glorified in the graces of His people, which are His own handiwork. When “tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope,” the Lord is honoured by these growing virtues. We should never know the music of the harp if the strings were left untouched; nor enjoy the juice of the grape if it were not trodden in the winepress; nor discover the sweet perfume of cinnamon if it were not pressed and beaten; nor feel the warmth of fire if the coals were not utterly consumed. The wisdom and power of the great Workman are discovered by the trials through which His vessels of mercy are permitted to pass. Present afflictions tend also to heighten future joy. There must be shades in the picture to bring out the beauty of the lights. Could we be so supremely blessed in heaven, if we had not known the curse of sin and the sorrow of earth? Will not peace be sweeter after conflict, and rest more welcome after toil? Will not the recollection of past sufferings enhance the bliss of the glorified? There are many other comfortable answers to the question with which we opened our brief meditation, let us muse upon it all day long.

(Charles Spurgeon)

Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!
Be Thou Thyself the answer to all my questionings;
Live out Thy life within me, in all things have Thy way!
I, the transparent medium, Thy glory to display.

The temple has been yielded, and purified of sin,
Let Thy Shekinah glory now shine forth from within,
And all the earth keep silence, the body henceforth be
Thy silent, gentle servant, moved only as by Thee.

Its members every moment held subject to Thy call,
Ready to have Thee use them, or not be used at all,
Held without restless longing, or strain, or stress, or fret,
Or chafings at Thy dealings, or thoughts of vain regret.

But restful, calm and pliant, from bend and bias free,
Awaiting Thy decision, when Thou hast need of me.
Live out Thy life within me, O Jesus, King of kings!
Be Thou the glorious answer to all my questionings.

A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevaling. 
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing,
were not the right man on our side,
the man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? 
Christ Jesus, it is he;
Lord Sabaoth, his name,
from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God hath willed
his truth to triumph through us. 
The Prince of Darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo, his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth;
the Spirit and the gifts are ours,
thru him who with us sideth. 
Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill;
God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever.

As a church leader:

If we do not disciple and empower others, as Jesus has done, we end up exploiting others, using them for our ends, even if we clothe this in very spiritual terms.

If traditional congregational type churches do not have discipling at their core, they will not be able to develop a structure that disciples and empowers people, let alone disciple nations.  Quality defines the structure which in turn determines quantity.  As a result, people will remain systematically undiscipled and left powerless.  If the traditional structure does not empower and disciple, what does it do?

(Quote and Chart from Wolfgang Simpson’s ‘Houses that change the world’)

If you consider yourself to be a leader in the Body of Christ, then is your life one that is about discipling?  Maybe you’re a pastor, what is the core of your organization?  Quality or Quantity?  Are you empowering people or exploiting them?  Post your thoughts to the comments …

on the inside
down on the inside
Way beyond religion
Way beyond the ideas of man
Way beyond our understanding
Come heal us like only You can do

Amen.

I read an awesome devotional today by Anabel Gilliam from Lifetime Gaurantee. It was titled Who is your strength and it really made me think. Like Anabel, in a former life I was a ‘performer’. Let me explain …

I spent much of my life orchestrating and arranging situations and activities that would highlight my natural talents and abilities and downplay my weaknesses. This motivation was driven by the fact that my understanding of identity was made up of what others thought about me and how I felt about what others thought about me. I never questioned whether or not I was able (or talented enough) to accomplish any task that was worth doing. See, if I didn’t think I could do it well then I would use other natural talents to downplay the importance of accomplishing such a task …

That is all behind me now. Like I said, that is a former life. No, I don’t believe in reincarnation - well, not in the world’s understanding of reincarnation.

I died in Christ. When He died, I died. When He rose, I was given new life - His life. Now, I have His identity. For this moment I choose to present myself to Him as one who has been raised from the dead. If the old me is gone - then what happened to all of those natural abilities? Well, they have gone as well … at least in the sense that they define who I am …

You see, He has lifted me up out of the clay and given me a new song. He truly is my strength - how could it be otherwise when He is my very life? No longer do I search for comfort and peace in the things that I DO for Christ … I find peace and rest who I AM in Christ.