The Cross and the Natural Man
Here those concerned are in Christ. So far as the "Romans" situation is concerned as to "justified in Christ," the position is all right. Their standing is complete; they have accepted Christ as their substitute. It is not that they are in the flesh, but that the flesh is in them, and they are being largely influenced and actuated by natural or soulical man who is riding over the spiritual man. "Natural" in 1 Corinthians is, in the Greek, "soulical." The Apostle explains what "soulical" means when he points out that their own minds and hearts and wills are governing instead of the mind of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Their reasonings, judgments, ideas, standards of values - "the wisdom of the world" - result in their unspiritual and unChristlike behavior. The soul-life finds its way even into the most spiritual realms; e.g. spiritual gifts, to use them for self-glory; the Lord's Table, to turn it to self-gratification; etc. Thus their progress toward the full purpose of being "In Christ" is retarded; they are not spiritual but "carnal"; not grown up ones but "babes."
In this connection the Apostle says: "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). What is needed is that application of the Cross, not to make us saved men and women in a general sense, but to deliver us from our own souls as they overflow the life of the Spirit in us. The Cross must clear the way for the Spirit, and what must be dealt with is the dominance of our own soul-life.
We pass to another phase of the Cross and the Holy Spirit when we come to the Letter to the Galatians. Here it is:
The Cross and Legalism
You will remember how much there is n this letter concerning the Spirit and the Cross. Look at the following two series of passages - (a) Chapter 3:2; 3, 5, 14; Chapter 6: v. 5, 16, 17, 18, 22, 25; v. 8. (b) 2:20; 3:1; v. 24; v. 14.
What then is the point in this combination of the two - the Cross and the Spirit? The Galatians were being urged and tempted to return to the old legal order of "Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not"; to the outward imposition of the whole system of religious regulations and rules; to the strait-jacket of legalism. Legalism is not only Jewish, it is a persistent tendency. It is the easiest thing into which to fall. It is so easy for a person who has the Spirit to begin to lay down the law to others; to say, 'You ought (or, ought not) to do this or that'; or, 'You must give up (or adopt) this or that.' Thus the strait-jacket of legal bondage is imposed, and it is forgotten that the main need is not law but that the Spirit should be Lord within, and that when this is so, many things will fall off, and those concerned will know what the Lord requires of them. This, as the Apostle says in this letter, is the way of sonship and liberty. The Lord within can be trusted, and hands need not be put upon lives to govern them. Let it be said quite definitely here that, as it was circumcision particularly which occasioned this letter to the Galatians, so it may be (and often is) some one or more of the Christian ordinances or forms or orders or observances which are made focal points of legal pressure and crisic issues. Important as such things may be we cannot be too strong in pointing out that they may safely be subjected to what is supremely important, that is to say, if the Cross has really been so truly wrought in a life as to deliver from bondage to tradition, popular acceptances, and indeed all that is but the letter apart from the Spirit, thus giving a full an clear way for the absolute sovereignty of the Holy Spirit within the life, all such things will take care of themselves, and they will be brought in (that is, those which are required by the Lord) in a "living" rather than a legal and dead way. But what a mighty work it is for the Cross to have delivered from the inheritance of generations! Setness and finality are features of a legal system, and make spiritual growth and enlargement impossible. Truth without life is fatal, as is righteousness without love. Prejudice and suspicion are fruits of bondage to some religious thing and not of the Spirit.
It is possible to have the most perfect New Testament order and framework, and a most devoted adherence to the letter of the Word, but to be almost totally devoid of life and unction. This is usually due to a failure in a deep experimental working of the Cross and the consequent hindering of the Spirit.
Every one of these aspects of the Cross and the Holy Spirit ought to have a volume to itself, and we are only able to give here the vital points.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 13 - "Deliverance from the Earthlies")
Monday, September 23, 2013
Our Heavenly Home
As enjoyable as traveling may be, most of us would admit to having a sense of security and delight upon arriving back home. There's just something comforting about opening the door, seeing familiar things, and feeling we're where we belong.
The apostle John was given a vision that included glimpses inside our future home, the new Jerusalem. You may be surprised to know that some things from our old abode will be missing. But what replaces them will be infinitely better.
For one thing, there were no church buildings in John's vision, "for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Rev. 21:22). No longer will denominations divide up the body of Christ. Nor will the sun or moon shine on the city in that day, "for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb" (v. 23). Imagine--no need for electricity, flashlights, or candles.
One other difference is that the city gates will always be open. Since sin will not be a factor, locks will be unnecessary in our heavenly home. Death and decay will also be absent. In fact, nothing impure will ever enter that future residence--utter holiness will characterize the heavenly place, and suffering will be a thing of the past. What we have to look forward to is the abundant life in Christ, pure and unmarred.
Think about the comfortable feeling you have as you open your front door. That's but a hint of what we'll feel some day on arriving at the place our Father has lovingly and personally prepared for us in heaven. We will finally--and permanently--be "at home" in a way that defies description.
~Charles Stanley~
Sunday, September 22, 2013
The Cross and the Person of Christ # 11
The Cross and the Sinful Body of the Flesh
Up to chapter 7 everything circles around and centers in the Cross. The Cross is the great issue toward which everything is intended to lead. The Apostle steadily and thoroughly works his way to that climax. All that is in those seven chapters finds its end in the position set forth in the words of chapter 6:3-11, and especially in verses 3, 5, 6: "...all we who were baptized into his death ... we have become united with Him in the likeness of his death ... our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away." Until this has become a position established and entered into, the revelation of a life in the Spirit is not touched upon. But when this has become basic, then we have all that follows about the Spirit's presence and work.
"Ye are ... in the Spirit, if ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (8:9).
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2).
"The mind of the spirit is life and peace" (8:6).
And so on.
Here, then, the specific emphasis is upon the fact that, for the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer and the "Body" to be really known, the whole body of sin (the man out of Christ being a sinful creature and lying under judgment and condemnation) must be - not reformed, remedied, improved, educated to better things - but crucified and buried; not just sins being taken away or pardoned, but "himself" put away. As a man he must depart from God's sight, his good (?) and his bad. He belongs by nature to a race which no longer stands in the light of God's intention. God has departed from that race, and has made a "new creation." Christ in resurrection is the "firstborn among many brethren." He is "the last Adam," meaning that as the first of a new race, a new humanity, finality is with Him; there will be no need of another. This "last Adam" stepped back - so to speak - and before becoming in resurrection the "firstborn from the dead," He gathered up all the race of the first Adam and representatively took it into the full judgment of God-forsakenness, crying "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That is God's ultimate mind toward the whole race in the first Adam. We are called upon to recognize that, to take a position and make a declaration that we accept Christ's death as our death and His burial as our burial. The New Testament says that that is the declaration which baptism makes, or that that declaration is made in baptism.
While very much more ought to be said on this whole matter, we will gather it up in this inclusive observation, that the position in "Romans" is God's foundation, and it is all-comprehensive. A Holy Spirit-governed life will be brought back to the implications of the Cross as the end of the old man. There will be one basic crisis, but through the years there may be many crises in which we have to refer back to the original inclusive position fresh issues which have been raised as we could bear to know them. The final position which the Cross establishes and to which the Holy Spirit works is that all shall be - in every direction and connection - Christ only, and not ourselves in any respect. Thus we are led to the next specific application of the Cross as in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 12 - "The Cross and the Natural Man")
Up to chapter 7 everything circles around and centers in the Cross. The Cross is the great issue toward which everything is intended to lead. The Apostle steadily and thoroughly works his way to that climax. All that is in those seven chapters finds its end in the position set forth in the words of chapter 6:3-11, and especially in verses 3, 5, 6: "...all we who were baptized into his death ... we have become united with Him in the likeness of his death ... our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away." Until this has become a position established and entered into, the revelation of a life in the Spirit is not touched upon. But when this has become basic, then we have all that follows about the Spirit's presence and work.
"Ye are ... in the Spirit, if ... the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (8:9).
"The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death" (8:2).
"The mind of the spirit is life and peace" (8:6).
And so on.
Here, then, the specific emphasis is upon the fact that, for the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer and the "Body" to be really known, the whole body of sin (the man out of Christ being a sinful creature and lying under judgment and condemnation) must be - not reformed, remedied, improved, educated to better things - but crucified and buried; not just sins being taken away or pardoned, but "himself" put away. As a man he must depart from God's sight, his good (?) and his bad. He belongs by nature to a race which no longer stands in the light of God's intention. God has departed from that race, and has made a "new creation." Christ in resurrection is the "firstborn among many brethren." He is "the last Adam," meaning that as the first of a new race, a new humanity, finality is with Him; there will be no need of another. This "last Adam" stepped back - so to speak - and before becoming in resurrection the "firstborn from the dead," He gathered up all the race of the first Adam and representatively took it into the full judgment of God-forsakenness, crying "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That is God's ultimate mind toward the whole race in the first Adam. We are called upon to recognize that, to take a position and make a declaration that we accept Christ's death as our death and His burial as our burial. The New Testament says that that is the declaration which baptism makes, or that that declaration is made in baptism.
While very much more ought to be said on this whole matter, we will gather it up in this inclusive observation, that the position in "Romans" is God's foundation, and it is all-comprehensive. A Holy Spirit-governed life will be brought back to the implications of the Cross as the end of the old man. There will be one basic crisis, but through the years there may be many crises in which we have to refer back to the original inclusive position fresh issues which have been raised as we could bear to know them. The final position which the Cross establishes and to which the Holy Spirit works is that all shall be - in every direction and connection - Christ only, and not ourselves in any respect. Thus we are led to the next specific application of the Cross as in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 12 - "The Cross and the Natural Man")
Spiritual Fervor
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:11-12
Spiritual fervor is evidence of faith that is alive. It is vibrant and effervescent in expectation of an encounter with God. The commitment of a zealous follower of Jesus is contagious. They lift the faith of other believers by simply believing what the Lord says is true, adjusting their behavior to His commands. Like a match stick ignites a fuse of dynamite, so someone’s spiritual spark can inflame an entire community for Christ. Spiritual fervor burns brightly in service to God!
For example, a person who passionately prays influences other prayer partners to earnestly pray. Your prayer life is revived when you pray with someone who has a hot heart for heaven. What area of your Christian life has cooled off? If your generosity has grown cold then hang around a generous giver who liberally shares their life and money. If you have become mute in sharing the gospel then accompany a bold witness for Jesus. Zeal for Christ is as much caught as taught!
He (Apollos) had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. Acts 18:25
Spiritual fervor comes from sitting at the feet of your Heavenly Father and learning His ways. His Holy Spirit will instruct you accurately about Jesus and His great love for you. Learn from the Lord and you will have fervor for the Lord. Also, engage as a student of Holy Scripture under the teaching of gifted Bible teachers. Scripture applied to your soul is like pouring gasoline on a campfire. You are combustible for Christ when the Spirit ignites your heart with God’s truth.
Lastly, make sure by God’s grace your knowledge keeps up with your zeal. Ignorance on fire can bruise relationships and even alienate those who want to know more about Christ. As a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus you can be confrontational without being combative. The honey of God’s grace is sweet to the lips of the lost, but self righteous speech is sour and distasteful. Stay broken before the Lord and your spiritual fervor will be a life giving fragrance to all you influence.
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other; the fragrance of life. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16
Prayer: Heavenly Father, fuel my faith with your Holy Spirit, so my life burns bright for You.
Related Readings: Psalms 119:139; Proverbs 19:2; John 2:17; Ephesians 4:18-20; Philippians 3:6
For example, a person who passionately prays influences other prayer partners to earnestly pray. Your prayer life is revived when you pray with someone who has a hot heart for heaven. What area of your Christian life has cooled off? If your generosity has grown cold then hang around a generous giver who liberally shares their life and money. If you have become mute in sharing the gospel then accompany a bold witness for Jesus. Zeal for Christ is as much caught as taught!
He (Apollos) had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately. Acts 18:25
Spiritual fervor comes from sitting at the feet of your Heavenly Father and learning His ways. His Holy Spirit will instruct you accurately about Jesus and His great love for you. Learn from the Lord and you will have fervor for the Lord. Also, engage as a student of Holy Scripture under the teaching of gifted Bible teachers. Scripture applied to your soul is like pouring gasoline on a campfire. You are combustible for Christ when the Spirit ignites your heart with God’s truth.
Lastly, make sure by God’s grace your knowledge keeps up with your zeal. Ignorance on fire can bruise relationships and even alienate those who want to know more about Christ. As a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus you can be confrontational without being combative. The honey of God’s grace is sweet to the lips of the lost, but self righteous speech is sour and distasteful. Stay broken before the Lord and your spiritual fervor will be a life giving fragrance to all you influence.
For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other; the fragrance of life. 2 Corinthians 2:15-16
Prayer: Heavenly Father, fuel my faith with your Holy Spirit, so my life burns bright for You.
Related Readings: Psalms 119:139; Proverbs 19:2; John 2:17; Ephesians 4:18-20; Philippians 3:6
~Wisdom Hunters~
Saturday, September 21, 2013
The Cross and the Person of Christ # 10
The Cross Basic to all the Spirit's Work
That brings us to that to which we have been working, the Cross and the Holy Spirit; for the basis and the door of all the Spirit's work is the Cross. You will, with the slightest knowledge of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, at once recall very much that brings these two together. Back in the types we see them brought together; in the fire upon the altar - the altar typifying the Cross, and the fire upon the altar the Spirit consuming the sacrifice. Or again, as in Exodus 17, the rock smitten and the gushing water - the Cross and the Spirit. Or, coming to the New Testament, the Jordan of our Lord's baptism setting forth in type His death and burial and resurrection, immediately issuing in the open heavens and the Spirit in dove-like form resting upon Him - the Cross and the Spirit. Or, going back with that in mind to Israel's beginnings as a nation, the lamb slain, the blood sprinkled, the pillar of cloud and fire taking charge immediately afterwards - the Spirit by way of the Cross; all pointing to the great inclusive reality, Calvary and Pentecost. It is always like that. The two are always together. And these are but fragmentary selections of a vast amount in the Word of God which shows this close and inseparable oneness between the two.
When we come to the Lord Jesus, we know that His very messages or discourses on the Holy Spirit in a definite and specific way were reserved until the eve of the passion. It was with the shadow of the Cross thrown fully across His path that He began to speak about the coming of the Comforter and what that coming would mean to them; and He never did say, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22) until He could show them His hands and His side, His pierced hands, His riven side. Just as the Spirit came on Him at the time of His typical death in baptism, so that Spirit led Him to the actual Cross, where we are told He "through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God" (Hebrews 9:14). Well, if it were necessary, much more could be gathered to show how the two are kept together - the Cross and the Spirit. The Cross leads to the Spirit and the Spirit ever brings back to the Cross.
Why is the Cross basic to the Spirit's work? Our passage in Galatians 3 gives the answer. Because a curse exists, is resting now upon the old creation, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," or, literally and correctly, "having become a curse in our place." The human race by nature lies under a curse and the Holy Spirit can never, never, come upon an accursed thing. The promise of the Spirit can never be fulfilled in those who still remain under the curse. The curse must be removed, for the anointing oil shall come upon no flesh; "upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured" (Exodus 30:32). The curse must be removed, and Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse in our stead, in order that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. The removing of a whole condition and state under a curse in order to clear the way for the Spirit - that is the answer. Therein lies the necessity for the Cross and for our faith identification with Him Who was made a curse for us. And, however uncomfortable and unlovely it may sound, the fact is that when the Holy Spirit really gets to work in a life, on the one side the course and history for that life is such as to make the one concerned very well aware that the flesh is an accursed thing.
There are no people in this world who are more ready to admit and acknowledge the accursed nature of the flesh than those who have the Spirit. It is the very pathway to glory to discover how accursed the flesh is. That is on one side. No doubt many of us know something of that history. The Holy Spirit really does make the meaning of the Cross known in that sense that the Cross speaks of a place where a curse is, and we are there in Christ. Something in the way has got to be removed.
Here, in the case of these Galatians, the Apostle says that they had begun in the Spirit; did they hope to be perfected in the flesh? And bringing in this passage, it makes the question very emphatic and very terrible. Having begun in the Spirit - which presupposes that you are outside of the curse to be able to make a beginning at all, to have any prospect of going on - do you think you are going to be perfected by getting back under the curse? No; the argument is that that is only to close the door again, to cut off all the prospect, to bar the way to any further progress. "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?" The deduction, while not exactly stated, but quite clearly implied, is that, having begun in the Spirit it is only possible to continue in the Spirit on the ground on which you made a beginning. That is, by the Cross you get away and continually keep away from that ground of the curse; or, in other words, your progress requires the continual position to which the Cross brings you, just as your beginning required that position. That is, to continue is to continue in the Spirit.
But you can continue in the Spirit only as you began in the Spirit. That was only made possible by the Cross removing the curse, the old man, the accursed old man. So that to continue in the Spirit, to go right on to all that the Spirit intends, means, and is after, demands a continual cutting off of the flesh, a keeping cut off of the flesh by the Cross. So the Spirit keeps the Cross in evidence, and the Cross makes all the Spirit's purpose possible.
We have not to be continually occupied with our crucifixion; the Holy Spirit will attend to that. We have to walk in the Spirit. To do this we have just to obey the Spirit. It is positive, not negative.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 11 - "The Cross and the Sinful Body of the Flesh")
That brings us to that to which we have been working, the Cross and the Holy Spirit; for the basis and the door of all the Spirit's work is the Cross. You will, with the slightest knowledge of the Old and New Testament Scriptures, at once recall very much that brings these two together. Back in the types we see them brought together; in the fire upon the altar - the altar typifying the Cross, and the fire upon the altar the Spirit consuming the sacrifice. Or again, as in Exodus 17, the rock smitten and the gushing water - the Cross and the Spirit. Or, coming to the New Testament, the Jordan of our Lord's baptism setting forth in type His death and burial and resurrection, immediately issuing in the open heavens and the Spirit in dove-like form resting upon Him - the Cross and the Spirit. Or, going back with that in mind to Israel's beginnings as a nation, the lamb slain, the blood sprinkled, the pillar of cloud and fire taking charge immediately afterwards - the Spirit by way of the Cross; all pointing to the great inclusive reality, Calvary and Pentecost. It is always like that. The two are always together. And these are but fragmentary selections of a vast amount in the Word of God which shows this close and inseparable oneness between the two.
When we come to the Lord Jesus, we know that His very messages or discourses on the Holy Spirit in a definite and specific way were reserved until the eve of the passion. It was with the shadow of the Cross thrown fully across His path that He began to speak about the coming of the Comforter and what that coming would mean to them; and He never did say, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22) until He could show them His hands and His side, His pierced hands, His riven side. Just as the Spirit came on Him at the time of His typical death in baptism, so that Spirit led Him to the actual Cross, where we are told He "through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God" (Hebrews 9:14). Well, if it were necessary, much more could be gathered to show how the two are kept together - the Cross and the Spirit. The Cross leads to the Spirit and the Spirit ever brings back to the Cross.
Why is the Cross basic to the Spirit's work? Our passage in Galatians 3 gives the answer. Because a curse exists, is resting now upon the old creation, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us," or, literally and correctly, "having become a curse in our place." The human race by nature lies under a curse and the Holy Spirit can never, never, come upon an accursed thing. The promise of the Spirit can never be fulfilled in those who still remain under the curse. The curse must be removed, for the anointing oil shall come upon no flesh; "upon the flesh of man shall it not be poured" (Exodus 30:32). The curse must be removed, and Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse in our stead, in order that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. The removing of a whole condition and state under a curse in order to clear the way for the Spirit - that is the answer. Therein lies the necessity for the Cross and for our faith identification with Him Who was made a curse for us. And, however uncomfortable and unlovely it may sound, the fact is that when the Holy Spirit really gets to work in a life, on the one side the course and history for that life is such as to make the one concerned very well aware that the flesh is an accursed thing.
There are no people in this world who are more ready to admit and acknowledge the accursed nature of the flesh than those who have the Spirit. It is the very pathway to glory to discover how accursed the flesh is. That is on one side. No doubt many of us know something of that history. The Holy Spirit really does make the meaning of the Cross known in that sense that the Cross speaks of a place where a curse is, and we are there in Christ. Something in the way has got to be removed.
Here, in the case of these Galatians, the Apostle says that they had begun in the Spirit; did they hope to be perfected in the flesh? And bringing in this passage, it makes the question very emphatic and very terrible. Having begun in the Spirit - which presupposes that you are outside of the curse to be able to make a beginning at all, to have any prospect of going on - do you think you are going to be perfected by getting back under the curse? No; the argument is that that is only to close the door again, to cut off all the prospect, to bar the way to any further progress. "Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected in the flesh?" The deduction, while not exactly stated, but quite clearly implied, is that, having begun in the Spirit it is only possible to continue in the Spirit on the ground on which you made a beginning. That is, by the Cross you get away and continually keep away from that ground of the curse; or, in other words, your progress requires the continual position to which the Cross brings you, just as your beginning required that position. That is, to continue is to continue in the Spirit.
But you can continue in the Spirit only as you began in the Spirit. That was only made possible by the Cross removing the curse, the old man, the accursed old man. So that to continue in the Spirit, to go right on to all that the Spirit intends, means, and is after, demands a continual cutting off of the flesh, a keeping cut off of the flesh by the Cross. So the Spirit keeps the Cross in evidence, and the Cross makes all the Spirit's purpose possible.
We have not to be continually occupied with our crucifixion; the Holy Spirit will attend to that. We have to walk in the Spirit. To do this we have just to obey the Spirit. It is positive, not negative.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 11 - "The Cross and the Sinful Body of the Flesh")
You Are Important to God
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18
How many of us really believe that the God of the universe is thinking kind thoughts about us? Doesn’t He have more important things to think about? How can He really care about us and be all that this verse says? The key point for us is to realize that God considers us to be veryimportant to Him. If we stop for a moment and consider some of the basics of what the Bible teaches, we may better understand the truth of these verses.
Over and over, the Bible is filled with verses of truth that describe His love for us. John 3:16 tells us that, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” for us. Jesus came to earth, fully man and fully God, to give His life for our sins so that we may know Him personally. As hard as it may be to believe, God loves us so much that all He wants is to be with us; the God of the universe wants a personal relationship with you and me. That is why He thinks about us so much. That is why He never leaves us, even as we sleep. He wants us to know that He is still with us when we wake up.
My dog wakes me up each morning, sometimes earlier than I like. Now, my dog does not have to be let out, he has his own doggy door. He is not hungry or thirsty. He just wants to be with me. He wants to be petted and loved on, even for a few minutes until I am fully awake and then he goes back to sleep. As I wake up, I know that the Lord wants me up too. He has been thinking about me all night, watching over me and waiting on me to get up and be with Him. Mornings spent with the Lord are precious, and it is in those moments that He lets me know just how much He loves me. The Lord does not need anything from me, but He wants my attention and my love, and He gives me so much more in return.
Today, stop and give some time and attention to the Lord. Tell Him you love Him. Thank Him for His thoughts of you and for always being with you. And when in doubt, read the full chapter of Psalm 139…you will be blessed.
~Daily Disciples Devotional~
Friday, September 20, 2013
The Cross and the Person of Christ # 9
The Unity of Christ
I am first of all concerned with this emphasis upon the greatness of Christ, the vastness of Christ, and the fact that the Holy Spirit has come to bring that greatness into the Church. There is so much detail bound up with that. We have referred to the laws and relationships and dependencies and inter-dependencies of this physical universe. Christ is that; difficult as it is for us to grasp, Christ is that. And then the Church has to be the reproduction of what Christ is, so that in the Boy of Christ you find all these spiritual laws of inter-relatedness, inter-dependence, and no member of the Body can say to any other member, however remote the other member may be in the matter of distance and position, "I have no need of thee." (1 Corinthians 12:21). The head cannot say to the feet - there are your extremities! - 'Because you are so far removed from me, I am not dependent upon you.' It cannot be. "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee." Proximity makes no difference in this matter, distance makes no difference. The relatedness constitutes the Body a perfect whole, a perfect "one", a perfect harmony, all inter-dependent, inter-related. That is Christ. "So also is the Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12).
And in the realm of the Spirit that sort of thing is going on. We need, of course, spiritual perception to be able to grasp it. It may be that a very great deal of our spiritual experience which cannot be explained at all by anything within the immediate circle of our lives is due to something that is going on in some children of God or child of God far removed from us geographically. There may be some tremendous conflict in a life, or in a company of the Lord's people, on the other side of the world, and because the Spirit is one we are involved in that conflict, and we are going through something, and we are moved to pray, and the issue is one issue. Geography does not touch it. Very often we do not understand what is the meaning of that through which we are passing. We know of certain things in our spiritual experience, something is going on, that is conflict on, there is pressure on, and there is nothing immediately around us to explain it. There is no occasion for it so far as we can see here and now. But there is some issue in the balances, some issue over which there is spiritual conflict somewhere, and because the Spirit is one and the Body is one, we are bound up with that conflict. That is the oneness, the harmony of Christ, that is the interaction of these laws of one Body, a new spiritual system. Some of us have known how true these things are and how very practical they are. If the Church only had intelligence about this and lived up to its intelligence, what loss it would be to the enemy! How often the children of God are caught misinterpreting their experience, things that are happening, what is going on in another life. The enemy puts a false construction upon a thing, and, instead of bringing those concerned together to cooperate for victory, he sets them apart by mis-construction. If the Church saw this spiritual oneness, this spiritual inter-relatedness, inter-dependence, and threw itself right into that, what a mighty thing the Church would be here in this universe! And that is the spiritual system that Christ is, which is to be constituted in in His Body, reproduced in His Church.
You may say that it is a hopeless thing to expect so far as the whole Church is concerned. It is a very beautiful ideal, but what are the prospects of realization? Well, we cannot dismiss it like that. We have to come back. It will begin, perhaps, between two of us, and that will constitute a sufficient ground for instruction and for victory, for understanding. Even the perfect harmony of two children of God is a terrific cause of battle, but get it and see what an effective thing it is for God! And that is why the battle rages - just to separate two children of God who are vitally related. satan has always tried that, and what things come in to do it!
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 10 - "The Cross Basic to all the Spirit's Work")
I am first of all concerned with this emphasis upon the greatness of Christ, the vastness of Christ, and the fact that the Holy Spirit has come to bring that greatness into the Church. There is so much detail bound up with that. We have referred to the laws and relationships and dependencies and inter-dependencies of this physical universe. Christ is that; difficult as it is for us to grasp, Christ is that. And then the Church has to be the reproduction of what Christ is, so that in the Boy of Christ you find all these spiritual laws of inter-relatedness, inter-dependence, and no member of the Body can say to any other member, however remote the other member may be in the matter of distance and position, "I have no need of thee." (1 Corinthians 12:21). The head cannot say to the feet - there are your extremities! - 'Because you are so far removed from me, I am not dependent upon you.' It cannot be. "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee." Proximity makes no difference in this matter, distance makes no difference. The relatedness constitutes the Body a perfect whole, a perfect "one", a perfect harmony, all inter-dependent, inter-related. That is Christ. "So also is the Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12).
And in the realm of the Spirit that sort of thing is going on. We need, of course, spiritual perception to be able to grasp it. It may be that a very great deal of our spiritual experience which cannot be explained at all by anything within the immediate circle of our lives is due to something that is going on in some children of God or child of God far removed from us geographically. There may be some tremendous conflict in a life, or in a company of the Lord's people, on the other side of the world, and because the Spirit is one we are involved in that conflict, and we are going through something, and we are moved to pray, and the issue is one issue. Geography does not touch it. Very often we do not understand what is the meaning of that through which we are passing. We know of certain things in our spiritual experience, something is going on, that is conflict on, there is pressure on, and there is nothing immediately around us to explain it. There is no occasion for it so far as we can see here and now. But there is some issue in the balances, some issue over which there is spiritual conflict somewhere, and because the Spirit is one and the Body is one, we are bound up with that conflict. That is the oneness, the harmony of Christ, that is the interaction of these laws of one Body, a new spiritual system. Some of us have known how true these things are and how very practical they are. If the Church only had intelligence about this and lived up to its intelligence, what loss it would be to the enemy! How often the children of God are caught misinterpreting their experience, things that are happening, what is going on in another life. The enemy puts a false construction upon a thing, and, instead of bringing those concerned together to cooperate for victory, he sets them apart by mis-construction. If the Church saw this spiritual oneness, this spiritual inter-relatedness, inter-dependence, and threw itself right into that, what a mighty thing the Church would be here in this universe! And that is the spiritual system that Christ is, which is to be constituted in in His Body, reproduced in His Church.
You may say that it is a hopeless thing to expect so far as the whole Church is concerned. It is a very beautiful ideal, but what are the prospects of realization? Well, we cannot dismiss it like that. We have to come back. It will begin, perhaps, between two of us, and that will constitute a sufficient ground for instruction and for victory, for understanding. Even the perfect harmony of two children of God is a terrific cause of battle, but get it and see what an effective thing it is for God! And that is why the battle rages - just to separate two children of God who are vitally related. satan has always tried that, and what things come in to do it!
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 10 - "The Cross Basic to all the Spirit's Work")
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