Must We Be Filled With the Spirit to Study?

In discussing limitations, we must also ask the question of whether there is a limitation in our own holiness. Every single person in Christ has had the struggle. There are always the voices and thoughts that say we cannot know God, because we aren’t good enough, aren’t smart enough, aren’t righteous enough, or any other absurd “aren’t enough”. Whether you fall into the camp of the Nazarenes, the Wesleyans, or the Charismatic denominations, you will find that there is a difficult quandary that must be overcome. How do you balance the understanding of a second work of grace, or a filling of the Holy Spirit, or a second blessing, or becoming ‘sanctified’ with theology?

Must one have the baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to do theology? Does God require that we would be filled with His Spirit in order to know Him? Should we expect that if we haven’t had a certain experience that purges the dross from our lives and causes us to live in a more attuned manner that we are somehow lack?

It is precisely here that the cessationist has every right to balk. Yet, I would suggest the cessationist has the exact same enigma, only with different words. The idea of a second work of grace is that we are all on a journey with the Lord. There comes a point in time in that journey where we decide it isn’t enough to simply be Christian. My roommate, who was an atheist, called this “being devout”. He experienced this moment in my life, when I was a Christian, but still enjoyed an occasional party, and watched the movies and shows I shouldn’t have. When the moment came that conviction wouldn’t allow me to live in that any longer, I gave it up. In that moment it wasn’t about my decision, but about the power of God releasing me from these things. I don’t need them anymore.

The Wesleyan branches of theology have termed this event in the spiritual walk of the believer. The cessationist would say that we’re filled with the Spirit from our spiritual birth, and they might agree that such a moment could or would happen in the life of the believer, but that event is not a baptism in the Spirit. This isn’t a “second work” of the Spirit, but just the work that the Spirit performs. Herein are semantics, and these semantics are pointless to discussion. The real pressing perplexity lay within every college student who went off to school to learn theology, or every layman who hasn’t yet had that momentous moment. As a pastor, as an educator, as a friend, as a brother or sister, how do you respond both biblically and lovingly to this kind of question?

Our resolve is found in the character of God. Ultimately, what we’re asking is not a question of self, but of God. If our focus is upon self, then it is little wonder why we have so hard a time feeling after answers. With God, all things are possible. The very God of the universe that was able to abide in flesh – not sanctified flesh, but everything that flesh is and represents – and dwelt in sinless perfection, not faltering at one point of the Law or commandments, revealing to us perfectly the heart, character, and expression of the Father tells us everything we need to know about whether we can truly know God. Let us not forget that it was not the apostles of Acts chapter 2, after being filled with the Spirit, that Jesus discipled and asked whether they didn’t know Him.¹ These foolish, bumbling, hardened, ignorant disciples – the unsanctified, who haven’t yet had the second work of grace, or the baptism of the Spirit – are the very ones that Jesus seems to have utter confidence in. Is it because He knows they will receive the Spirit that He has this confidence, or is there something else that causes Him patience?

Just like our Christian walk itself is a journey, so is our understanding of theology. God meets us where we are, revealing Himself because He is not restricted. Is God free to reveal Himself to us, who are mere mortals? Or is God somehow constrained because we are too frail, too stupid, not this, not that, and not enough? Yes, we are dust, but we are God’s dust, and I don’t think He would appreciate the way that we talk about His dust sometimes. Is it not the accuser of the brethren to speak such? Why, then, do we use such language and violence against one another as the accuser of the brethren himself? Exactly who are we representing and working for?

In the end, we cannot deny the obvious. Certainly being further along in the journey with God helps. It is said that the ground is level at the cross, but we all know exactly how it feels to be brand new and hear that one guy who seems to have the whole Bible memorized. We all know what it’s like to look up to someone else because of their insight, and hopefully also because of their character and integrity. Something about them arrests our being, and we cannot reject the obvious in that moment. They have seen and experienced something that we know nothing of, possibly eating of a bread that we’ve never tasted. Their communion seems sweeter, and something in us has a bit of longing – hopefully not jealousy. Whatever you call it, that kind of closeness certainly has its benefit, but we cannot persist that it is necessary, nor that the lack thereof is a lack and limitation. God is the one who works with us, and not ourselves with ourselves. Let that be a comfort and rest.

1 John 14:9

The Table of the Lord notes

 

I recently made a video that traces the communion table from Genesis through Revelation, expressing the common theme behind it. It also looks at the table of demons, which instead of feasting upon Christ we feast upon our brethren. If you’re interested, check out the video, and here are the notes that go along with it:

Malachi 1:7, Ezekiel 41:22, 44:16
-Here in the prophets the altar is called “The table of hte LORD”.

Leviticus 21:6
-Here God calls the offerings “the food of God”
+This idea of food being provided by God comes up over and over again throughout the Bible.

Genesis 1:29
-God gave every herb and tree for food – specifically anything bearing seed.
+There is an eternal provision, just like we previously learned of the eternal tabernacle. This “food” here is again made very apparent in other key places.

Genesis 4
-If the altar = Table of the Lord and food of God, let us consider the first sacrifice recorded in Scripture.
-Cain brought from the cursed ground, by the sweat of his brow (Gen 3:17)
-Abel brought of the flock, which God had multiplied and blessed
+Abel brought from rest. It is in the wisdom and eternal pattern of God to bring a firstborn yearling lamb, for “God will provide tha lamb”, and even the meekness portrays God’s character.

Ezekiel 34:1-10, Micah 3:1-3, Zechariah 11:15-17, Jeremiah 10:25, Psalm 14:4
-Over and over again there are these people working by their own toil, according to their own knowledge. Just like with Cain, the result is to slay their brethren.
+God provided good food, and said to eat of every tree, but this one tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – do not eat. Don’t take in the food of your own toil and knowledge, leaving rest as you do so. There is no seed in that – only death.

Leviticus 6:26, Deuteronomy 18:2-3, Numbers 18:11-12
-The sacrifice was not intended to be “feeding God”, but rather as the allotment for the priests and Levites. In offering the sacrifice, you feed your brethren and give them provision.
+Malachi 1:7-14 – In bringing bad sacrifices, the people aren’t providing for their brethren. In this, they again show the mindset of the bad shepherds who feast themselves, while others go hungry.
-1 Corinthians 11:21-22 – Paul rebukes Corinth for this very thing.

Jacob and Esau
-Esau despised his birthright, even the blessing of all nation, and sold it for lentils.
-Jacob, perceiving the provision for many nations, inherited the birthright and blessing, while Esau sought it with many tears.
+Just like Cain, the response to his brother’s righteousness was murder (1 John 3:10-12)

Joseph and his brothers
-God gives Joseph dreams, which he then shares. There is a certain favor upon Joseph from his father.
+Just like God favored Abel’s offering, bringing what God blessed.
-Joseph’s brothers despised their brother because of his dreams and favor, and just like Cain they desired to kill their brother.

David and Eliab
-David brings bread to his brothers and cheese to the commanders, so they might look with favor upon the sons of Jesse.
+Just like the sacrifice is provision for priests and Levites
-Eliab, David’s oldest brother, shows hostility and accusation against David, even after witnessing him be chosen of God, and anointed, filled with the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:14-22
-The context before this is Israel being fed and provided for in the wilderness, and yet they served idols, committed sexual immorality, and tested God.
+Though they ate of the bread and cup, they showed in their actions which table they feast from.
-Manna from heaven was given – the bread of life
+Jesus is the bread from heaven (John 6)
-Drank from the spiritual rock
+1 Corinthians 10:4 – Jesus was the rock, water representing His blood (Jn 19:34, 1 Cor 10:16)
-In all these things, they partook of Christ as we. For them it was a tqable prepared in the wilderness (Ps 78:19-20), sacrifices offered upon an altar. For us, we see Jesus our high priest (Heb 3:1) offering Himself upon the heavenly altar (Heb 9:24).
-Do we not partake of one bread? Are we not that broken Body, divided of Jew and Gentile? Yet, we are divided, some feasting from the communion God provides, laying our lives down as living sacrifices (Rom 12:1), an offering of the Gentiles made holy by the Holy Spirit (Rom 15:16). Others take of the table of demons, despising their brethren, and biting and devouring one another (Gal 5:15), whether their brethren be Jews or Christians.
+You cannot eat of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. They who minister at an altar with sacrifices have no right to eat of the table we eat upon (Heb 13:10). They are within a system built on the wisdom of the principalities and powers. Though they minister at “God’s House”, they are not in Zion, the eternal City, whose builder and maker is God. So let us join Jesus, who suffered outside the gate, and leave the camp to find His provision in the wilderness.

Table in the Wilderness
-There are many end time passages that speak of God preparing a table in the wilderness. These are passages that hint at an end time “exodus”.
-Ezekiel 20:33-35
+Hosea 2:14-15, Amos 9:8-10, Micah 7:13-15, Revelation 12:6, 14
-Deuteronomy 30:1-6
+Deuteronomy 32:20-22
-Revelation 12:6
+”They should nourish/feed for her…”
+Psalm 102:13-14, Luke 12:42, Matthew 24:45

Matthew 25:31-46 – The Least of These My Brethren
-They are judged uppon how they treat Jesus’ brethren.
+To not act is to act. It is to repeat the sins of the wicked leaders/shepherds who save themselves at the expense of God’s flock. It is feasting upon the people of God for your own nourishment, rather than nourishing them. This shows your identification with the table of demons, for who else comes to steal, kill, and destroy?

Generation After Josiah (Parts of this section are not in the video)
-Daniel and his companions refused to eat of the defiled meat. Where did they gain the wisdom it was defiled? In eating from the Table of the Lord, they were granted wisdom and discernment.
+1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Corinthians 6:12 – Everything is permissible, so why can’t we eat from this table? It is even more repulsive than not being beneficial. It is defiled.
-Who can bring them meat in due season? (Mat 24:45, Luke 12:42)
+Luke 15:29-30 – The youngest son in the parable of the prodigal is accused of “devouring your livelihood with harlots”. Yet, the “faithful and wise servant” in the parable brought the fatted calf for this son. He has passed from death unto life, and therefore again eats from the proper table.
+Matthew 24:45-51 – At the end of the age we will either feed others nourishment, or we will beat our fellow servants. There is no in between.
-Matthew 25:31-46 – “What did you do to the least of these my brethren?”
-Parable of prodigal, the eldest son complains because he isn’t given even a young goat. “Where’s my meat?”
+Exodus 16:2-3, “Oh that we died in Egypt, when we had meat to eat and we ate bread to the full…”
-Psalm 78:19-20, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?”
+The eldest son complains that the younger brother “devoured with harlots”. Jerusalem/Israel is often called a harlot in the prophets.

Revelation 17 – Babylon
-Revelation 17:15-18 – The description of the judgement upon this harlot fits many Old Testament prophecies concerning Jerusalem.
+Ezekiel 16:23, 37-42, Ezekiel 23:29, Jeremiah 22:20-22, 50:41-42, Hosea 2 describing Israel as a harlot
-They who call themselves God’s people, Israel, or Jerusalem go through this chastisement. However, they who are truly God’s people shall come out refined, purified, and made white (Daniel 11:35).

Revelation 12:6 – “They provide for her…”
-The woman is Israel, fleeing in the wilderness.
+Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
+Who is the faithful and wise servant to provide meat in due season?
-They who are like Abel, but the Cain people/false shepherds feast upon Israel, beat their fellow servants, and despise their own inheritance/roots.
-The Abel people bring an “offering” to God to provide for thise woman. 1 John 1:9, Revelation 7:14, Daniel 11:33-35, Romans 15:16 (12:1)
-Revelation 17:6 – Cain (Daniel 11:32, Isa 25:18)

Psalm 107:4-9
-Who is that wise and faithful servant who shall prepare the way, being an ambassador of that City, building the highway of holiness, so that they may say, “This isthe way, walk ye in it”?
-Psalm 102 – The Set Time to Favor Zion
+The psalm opens up to imagery of horrendous persecution. It describes an Israel in Holocaust-like scenario.
+Verses 12-14 then speak of a time that has come, a set time, where God now has mercy upon Israel. This set time to favor Zion is contingent upon one thing: God’s servants cherish Zion’s stones, and show favor to her dust.
-These servants cannot be a part of the persecuted and judged Israel, for they are bearing the mercy of God. They must then be something distinct, and yet still in God’s Household to be called “servants”.
-What does it mean to cherish her stones and show favor to her dust?
+Psalm 103:13-14
+Luke 12:42 – Who is that wise and faithful steward, whom is master will  make ruler over his avadim, to give them their okhel (food)?
-For thy avadim cherish her stones…
-Psalm 145:15 – For the servants to give food in due season is for God to give food in due season (Ezekiel 22:33-35 – I will plead)
-Genesis 42:10 – Joseph provided food for his brothers without cost (Gen 42:25-26, Isa 55:1, Rev 22:17)

Cities of Refuge
-Revelation 12:6 – A place prepared in the wilderness, for refuge
+Numbers 35:6, 1 Timothy 2:2
-We don’t wait until “one day” to be this, for the saints have always lived like this in their own generations.
+Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household (Heb 11:7)
+Shem expressed something of God in the covering of his father’s nakedness, and therfore received the greatest blessing (Gen 9)
+Abraham believed God, and in leaving nation, family, and father’s house he became God’s nation to bless all nations.
+Melchizedek brought unto Abram bread and wine (Gen 14:18)
+Abraham slaughters the fatted calf and bakes 70 pounds of bread for three strangers (Gen 18)
+Lot takes in the two strangers and protects them under the shadow of his roof (Gen 19)
+Joseph was used to provide food to his brethren and to all nations
+The sacrifices provided for the priests and Levites
+David brought bread to his brothers and cheese to the commanders
+Ziba, the servant of Saul, brought David’s men cakes and wine to feed the faint (2 Sam 16:1-4)
+Nabal denied David’s men food, but Abigail provided lavishly (1 Sam 25)
+The widow offered two mites, all that she had, and was honored above everyone else’s offering
+Jesus tells His disciples to feed the people, even in such a solitary place (Mark 8)
+The Shunamite woman provided for Elisha a room he could always call home
-As God’s people, we are called to be that solace in the wilderness in our own generation, If we won’t do it now, then we simply never will. All these died having not received the promise. Why do we think we shall receive with much less effort, and with much less willingness?

Hebrews 13:10-16 as benediction

God, Women, and the Bible

In honor of women’s history month this March, my wife and I are starting a series where we discuss some of the issues regarding women and the Bible. For us, this has been something of tremendous freedom. For others, this has been a struggle. For those of you interested, please feel free to join us as we discuss these messy and unclean issues. 🙂

Two Tables, Two Trees, Two Faiths

With two value systems, we have two completely different cultures being represented. There is the culture of heaven, that which defines everything that the Kingdom of God represents, and the kingdom of darkness, which this present evil age is subscribing to. These two cultures have two different mindsets at their core, two different ways in which they relate to and consider their surroundings, and two completely different ways in which they seek for salvation. What has struck me is that everyone is seeking for a messiah. Even they who know not what they long for are searching for something to put all trust and hope in, subscribing entirely to this messiah.

Protesting, politics, rioting, and even entertainment through sports, Internet, and celebrities are all signs of the search of a savior. Humanity needs something to put their hope, identity, and future into. They need something to invest all into. We will either do this according to the wisdom of the world, which employs all of these selfish and self-serving means, or we will search according to the wisdom of God, which employs sacrifice and deference in love.

What precisely we’ve placed our trust in will be revealed in John’s formula, that they who are the people of God are manifest in their love for one another. Yet, they children of the devil are made obvious in that they despise their brother. Jesus made the comment that the children of Abraham act like Abraham, and this is truth for all circumstances and pledges. When you’ve pledged allegiance to the Kingdom of God, and His wisdom and patterns, then you can act in no other way but to manifest His wisdom and patterns. These things should be obvious, but in case they are not, God’s values are faithfulness, acknowledgement of God, mercy to the poor and oppressed, wisdom, and justice/equity.

Why did Cain slay Abel? Was it not because Abel’s works were righteous, but Cain’s were wicked? This is manifest within our own day and age. They who are the seed of the serpent, claiming to be the seed of the woman, are the very ones devoted to the spirit of antichrist. They are Babylon to the uttermost, all the while boasting that she is the queen of heaven, and therefore declaring to be Zion and God’s delight. Yet her deeds are made manifest. Instead of caring for the brethren, and providing to they in need when that need is made known, she withholds and blesses, as if that were enough to put food on the table, or clothe the naked. She is like Canaan who sees his father’s nakedness and doesn’t do anything about it. She is like the brother of David who accuses instead of rejoicing at his brother’s zeal for the Lord.

The two cultures are magnificently revealed in whether we’re eating from the table of the Lord, or whether we’re eating our so-called brethren. Are we taking of the bread and wine, as Jesus offers it at the Last Supper, or are we taking the bread dipped, to then go out and betray? Let me remind you that many antichrists have arisen, and they are made known in that they have went out from us, for if they were of us, they would have never went out. Yet, just as it says with Judas, that when he went out from among the fellowship, it was then night, so too are these who break from the fellowship of truth finding themselves to actually be walking in darkness.

Many have betrayed the altar, making it a stench unto God, calling the Table of the Lord detestable, and yet taking carelessly the communion. For this reason many are sick and dying in our congregations. We’ve betrayed one another, eating one another’s flesh in gossip, slander, lack of compassion, and sometimes in outright violence to the covenant itself. We haven’t neglected the covenant and the brethren; we’ve murdered them by taking a covenant with death and hell. We’ve adopted the language of death, always seeking to die again and again, crucifying the Lord afresh with our attitudes of rejecting one another, and tearing one another down, rather than building one another up, and living in the resurrection.

They who feast upon the Table of the Lord feast upon the bread of heaven, which has come down, and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. This is the bread, the true bread, which is broken for us, and we ought not mock that brokenness between Jew and Gentile, and even within denominational barriers. Christ was broken on our behalf so that His Body might not have to be. Yet we’ve made the division all the worse in our demands of Baptist versus Pentecostal, Catholic versus Protestant, Hebrew versus Greek, and even Israel versus Church. If we do not eat Jesus’ flesh, the true bread that was broken for us, then we eat the flesh form the table of demons, the knowledge of good and evil.

We reap judgment upon ourselves. If we eat our brethren, we reap judgment, for God has not given us our brethren for feasting. How is it that some come to the table, knowing their in a hierarchy in society, and therefore allowed to eat first, and so they are feasting while others get nothing? Has God not provided good food? Has He not provided enough? How do some get drunk in the Spirit while others are panting of thirst? How do some continue to get meat until it comes out of their nose, while others are crying out day and night for a word from heaven? We have not taken from the Lord’s table in these things, but have given ourselves over to demons, stealing from His beloved when we tear into our brethren.

Withholding your words is to speak. When God has given meat, to keep it to yourself is to show which tree you truly eat from. When God has given you sustenance, to withhold that from your brethren who are in lack shows which tree you truly eat from. We mustn’t tear into and devour our brethren, as the prophets of old have declared the ancient Israelite leaders to do. Rather, we must be like our Messiah, who doesn’t break a bruised reed. He cares for the poor, and He lays down His own life in sacrifice on behalf of His brethren. From which table do you feast, and which tree do you eat?

An excerpt from The Theocratic Kingdom (the second edition, which this is from, available soon in both ebook and print)

Resting With Messiah

 

My wife and I had hopes of talking about “What Child is This” for the Christmas season. We were going to talk about the eternality of Jesus, and how we can find the roots of our messiah going back from Genesis 3:15 and then forward unto the final amen. Even John opens his Gospel by pointing out that “in the beginning” “God said let there be light, and there was light”. He couples this with Jesus being the light, and essentially is making the statement that just as God filled the darkened creation with light, so too does He now send the Son, the true Light, to fill the darkened creation.

When we started talking, we got caught on something else haha. We got caught on the fact that in the beginning, God rested, and He offers this rest for anyone and everyone who might believe. The Christmas message is about a savior who has been born, but so often we don’t understand what the statement even means. It’s like our thoughts have been reduced down to going to heaven after we die, and we don’t realize God has always been trying to get us to look up and see the reality already present.

So, instead of writing out everything we talked about, I thought I’d share our video. This is one of those subjects close to our heart, and it shows. I hope you enjoy, and hopefully I’ll be able to get back into writing on this blog during and after our advent season 🙂

I Will Make A Ransom – Exodus 8:20-32

Within the fourth plague, it begins again with Moses meeting Pharaoh at the river. This is how the first plague commences. Here God begins something new. Now the children of Israel are being distinguished from the Egyptians. The Hebrew wording here is not “to make a distinction”, at least not in the strict English connotation of those words, but rather, “to make a ransom”. God tells Pharaoh that He shall “make a ransom” of Israel, and within that “ransom” is the distinction and deliverance of Israel from this plague. The obvious connotation from this is that if they’re delivered from the plague, they will also be delivered from Egypt.

It is here that we have a quite interesting dialogue. Pharaoh doesn’t seem to assert his authority over God this time. Outside of the fact that Pharaoh is the one who declares, “I will let them go”, you can’t seem to make out much of any notion that Pharaoh is denouncing God’s power, or yawning at such a thing. Whereas from the miracles performed before the first plague unto the previous plague, every time Pharaoh as been unimpressed and unburdened. Previously, the magicians claimed it was the finger of God to perform the third plague. Pharaoh wasn’t phased.

There is the reasoning back and forth, almost like a bartering. Pharaoh tells Moses to sacrifice in the land of Egypt, but Moses says that this will result in Israel being stoned. Many commentaries express that they don’t know why this would be the case. If we simply look at ancient Egyptian religion, we find that the lamb was a sacred animal. Moses knew that God required the lamb to be slaughtered, just like Abel knew before there was the giving of the Law. In the relationship of faith with God, there is something intuited and communicated to the inner man that allows one to know that it requires the sacrifice of the lamb, and not simply of a chicken, pig, or some other animal. Abraham told Isaac that God would provide the LAMB, and not the goat, bull, or deer.

This was a sacred animal to the Egyptians. Therefore, Moses knew they must leave to sacrifice it. I find it interesting, though, that later God will demand of Israel to sacrifice the Passover lamb in Egypt before they leave. Not only does He require this, but then also demands they put the blood on their doorposts for all of Egypt to see!

What begins as Pharaoh attempting to keep Israel within Egypt turns into him suggesting that they can leave, but not very far… Don’t venture three days out; just stay here in the region. This is not what God has said, and therefore there is no deal. The devil does this with us too. You can be a Christian; there is no problem with that. Just don’t start living in a righteous manner. Keep your drinking, your promiscuity, and other acts of the flesh, and you can call yourself whatever you want. When we refuse this, it turns into not going too far. Sure, live righteously. Tell people that sin is wrong, and don’t mince your words. Just don’t start to tell people that the mindsets that they have are wrong. Don’t start living by a different wisdom. Make sure that you keep your job and live by the conventional wisdom of the age. Go into debt, enslave yourself to your occupation and the bank, fill your life with so much that you have no time for prayer or Scripture reading, and then among all the piles of laundry and household chores, you can remind yourself that you’re doing fine because you’re going to church every Sunday and not doing the despicable things.

I just described to you the majority of conventional Christianity in the West.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because Pharaoh will harden his heart and not let you go. You have an advocate with the Father, who is not simply the one who cleanses you from sin and your sacrifice of atonement, but is your Moses who stretches forth His rod and declares, “Let my people go!” It is the rod of iron that Jesus holds. To His people, it is the rod of God, the very rod that brings comfort to the sheep. To Satan and his darkened kingdom, it is the rod of God, the very rod that shall smash in pieces all of his kingdom and all of the nations he has deceived.

This plague is significant because of the discourse that we find here. It’s significance is found in the reality of knowing that God is on our side, and as long as we won’t give up, neither will He. He will plague the darkened kingdom, even sending it into darkness, in order to bring you out into deliverance. To exodus Egypt in this kind of “spiritual” sense is to come out of sin, come out of the false mindsets and attitudes of the world, and to come face-to-face with the living God. It is in that wilderness that Israel heard the voice of God and received the marriage covenant. It is there that we hear our hearts being beckoned, and if you won’t harden your hearts today, as you did in the rebellion, you can enter into that rest.

 

To Help, Or Not To Help – Galatians 6:1-5

When we begin the last chapter of Galatians, it seems to be starting off well. Paul says that the who are spiritual should restore someone who struggles with temptation (notice he doesn’t say sin – more on that in a minute). Yet, when you come to the last statement of the passage, you read Paul saying that everyone should bear their own load. What the heck? Am I supposed to help, or not help? Are we to bear one another’s burdens, or examine our own work?

This makes me to think of the crucifixion of Jesus, even. Did He carry His own cross, as Matthew and John say? Or, did Jesus have help from this Simon fellow, as Mark and Luke say? I’ll try to give some advice, even if the truth is that I find this passage perplexing as well lol.

If someone is struggling with a sin, then let you who are spiritual do all that you can to help them bear that temptation and overcome. Yet, if it isn’t “temptation” in this sense, but is rather the following of an utterly different Gospel, a Gospel of works, then each man must examine his own work. For you who are attempting to stop smoking, or quit drinking, or break the porn addiction, or find healthier lifestyles in eating and exercising, then you need to find someone who is able to wrestle alongside of you. Find someone who you know to be spiritual, and not simply a pastor or elder. This is one of the biggest problems in our day. With all of the people in “leadership”, I don’t know them well enough to know whether I can trust them. And, it only takes that one time that you confess a fault to someone, and they then gossip it around town, that you no longer trust anyone.

We need to be incredible careful and wise with who we reveal our faults to. They need to be someone that we know will have gentleness and compassion on us, but at the same time are spiritual enough to perceive past just the struggle.

What do I mean?

You aren’t smoking because you’re addicted to cigarettes. You’re not playing video games for many hours into the night on multiple days a week because you simply enjoy video games. You’re not looking at porn, or flirting with boys/girls, or seeking intimate relationships because you enjoy the feeling. There is something deeper here. Before you ever smoked your first cigarette, you never had the need for a cigarette. Before you lost your virginity, you never needed sex. You never needed alcohol to have a good time and party before you first started drinking. What has changed that you now look for it?

This is the issue behind the issue. They who are spiritual can help you wrestle that one though, and in wrestling together, to overcome the original problem that led to the addiction. It might be that there are wounds that haven’t healed, wounds that you’ve forgotten of, but when you start to attempt to wage war against the demonic voices and the lies that you’ve believed, the wound is uncovered, and now you’re reminded. It takes someone who is able to stand with you, and not accuse you, in these moments. This is why Paul charges they that are spiritual to restore their brother with gentleness, and not to assail them.

In regard to the other issue, in examining ourselves, notice the context of the statement. “If anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” What are you saying Paul? He’s saying that there is a mindset of exaltedness, one that comes from a knowledge that puffs up, in which we can live and believe, simple because we are under law. You who are spiritual, who think yourself at a place to help they who are struggling with temptation: Why are you capable? Is it that you don’t commit the same sins they do, and therefore you’re at a place of higher devotion and holiness? Or, is it because, by the grace of God, you’ve been given a disposition that is servant-like? Are you at a place to better help others because you’re “more spiritual”, understanding “spiritual warfare”, and “prayer”, and other such tactics to cause for this “weaker brother” to be brought into maturity like you are? Or, are you able to recognize that apart from the grace of God, none of us are righteous, none of us are able, and therefore it is only through the grace and power of God that we will have ability to help them overcome?

Here is the dividing line, dear children. I could go off into the various Scripture references to bring you to seeing how Paul uses this language all over his epistles, but what is more important to me is your freedom. For you who are free, and who live in that freedom, and who fight to remain in that freedom, help they who are overcoming. Notice that Paul doesn’t call it sin. According to the Gospel, we’ve died with Christ, and we aren’t any longer “sinners”. The “sinner” is dead; I am alive in Christ. What now must happen is that I need to learn how to live again. I must relearn what it means to walk, to talk, to live, and to move, and to have my being in God instead of self. That is not a process of putting to death the old man, for the old man has always been dead. That is a process of learning to live out of the new man, the one who is truly alive. It takes time, but they who are mature should be able to perceive what is necessary to bring the young into maturity.

Fruits of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-26

I want to begin this by claiming that I am not qualified to go through these fruits. Let me begin the same way as the post on the fruits of the flesh. We’ll examine the text around the list of the fruits, and then we’ll list off the fruits and put forth a couple ideas.

It captures me that the statement immediately following the fruits of the flesh is, “those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Immediately after the fruits of the Spirit is the statement, “Against such there is no law.” Is it possible that these statements are somehow being paralleled? Is there something inherent within “the Kingdom of God” that requires “against such things there is no law”? Certainly the whole sweep of Galatians would propose this. We begin with Paul expounding to us that the law is more than just Leviticus and Deuteronomy, for I confess that I delight in such books (as did Paul). Law is something other, it is putting anything in between you and Christ. It is exploring traditions, whether like the Pharisees or like evangelicalism, and in that exploration suggesting that the fullness that people seek is within something utterly outside of Scripture and Christ.

You who want to know Jesus more deeply, where do you think this comes from? It isn’t from going to church more often, for I’ve done that. It isn’t from serving more, for I’ve done that. It isn’t from Bible college or seminary, for I’ve done that. It isn’t from having such and such big name pray over you, for I’ve done that. It isn’t from getting baptized in the Spirit to pray in tongues, for I’ve done that. It isn’t in louder, or “more intimate” worship, for I’ve done that. It isn’t in becoming an elder, or a deacon, or some other higher appraised position in your church (I haven’t done this one lol).

All of these things may have their place (some are questionable), but what I’ve found is that none of them bring the satisfaction that I continually sought. I kept praying for more of Jesus, more of God’s Spirit, more of God’s power, more submission to God, more of God’s presence, more of “more”, but I’m not sure what “more” is…

This is once again where it is actually really simple, but we’ve made it so complicated. What does Paul say? “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” Where in there do you find, “put to death the sinful nature”? Where in that statement do you find, “Always keep searching for something more, something deeper”? Where do you find, “Do this, don’t do that”? It isn’t there. It is simply, you’re in Christ, and therefore you’ve crucified the flesh and its lusts. You live in the Spirit (I’ve also read “by the Spirit”), so therefore walk in the Spirit. This last statement isn’t about rules or “don’t do this”, but a natural outworking of what Paul has just said. It’s like saying, “You’ve been given a body that has certain needs, so make sure to take care of yourself.” If you add on the end, “Don’t smoke, and don’t drink”, it isn’t a command, or “law”, but the simple obvious example of what it means to “take care of yourself”.

So, where do we find the satisfaction that so many are looking for? IHOP and other ministries are actually based entirely upon this seeking.

Satisfaction to the uttermost is found in everything that it means to be “in Christ”. What is it that God wants you to do with your life? He wants you to be “in Christ”, and therefore not in the flesh. What does God approve of? Jesus says that God’s will is this: “To believe on Him whom He has sent”. What about all of the amazing glory-cloud, and visions, and dreams, and prophecies, and tongues, and gifts, and corporate worship, and serving, and evangelism, and…? That stuff is not the foremost, but the secondary. It is the outworking of that which is foremost: being what God has told you to be.

If you are what the Bible marks out for humanity to be, and you simply uphold what Jesus taught that we should live, then go in peace. You already are “deeper” than most people. Here is what I’ve found: the Bible maps out for us a progression. God has been working in the earth since its formation. He rested on the seventh day, and Hebrews 4 then takes that idea and claims that we can also rest from our works, thus entering into the cosmic rest that God has already established (from the foundation of the world). God has been revealing Himself more and more through history, and I dare say that Jesus walking upon the earth was a greater revelation than what Adam and Eve saw in the Garden. Yet, there is an even greater revelation still: Jesus’ second coming and the establishment of God’s Kingdom upon the earth. And yet, there is a greater “unveiling” still: the New Heaven and New Earth, where heaven and earth are one, and where God is in unadulterated splendor before all creation, and where Spirit and flesh are married.

Here is the question, then: How can we be a part of what God is already doing to bring all things unto that ultimate climax and revealing of God? To answer that question is to know what it means to be a “saint”, and specifically a saint in our own day and age. It is answered in knowing God’s heart, and basing our understanding of everything in theology (but especially our end times perception) off of that heart and character. When we know what God is up to, then we can work hand-in-hand with Him, and this is the satisfaction so many are craving.

So, what are the fruits, that we might better understand what to do/be here and now?

Love
I’m sure you’ve heard that “agape is God’s love”. This isn’t true. If you’ve ever looked into the Greek words more deeply than just the way they are used in Scripture, you’ll know agape was a Greek word before the New Testament began using it. It is true that agape is often used as God’s love, but agape is also commanded. Therefore, it was already understood to have a certain connotation. What is love? Love is the essence of what it means to be human. It is the act of reconciliation with all things (God, humanity, and creation). It seeks to perceive more than just circumstances, and in that to perceive to the very heart and essence of the other, cherishing that very essence. It is for this reason that 1 Corinthians can give us things that love does and doesn’t do – because it sees beyond just flesh and outward experience/circumstance.

Joy
I’ve heard it said that joy and happiness are different. Happiness can fluctuate, but joy remains. While this might be true, we need to recognize that there is still a deeper way of expressing what joy is. Joy is the result of satisfaction in Christ. It is the result of freedom. It is the result of being in the Kingdom of God, and no longer in the kingdom of darkness. Joy is the result of working hand-in-hand with God, to be the saints of God in your own generation.

Peace
Blessed are the peacemakers, because they bring conflict wherever they go. They realize that true peace is not avoidance of the issues, but rather the result of dealing with issues. To be a peacemaker is to have the ministry of reconciliation; peace is reconciliation. As much as it is up to you, live at peace with all men.

Longsuffering
Other translations call this “patience”. Longsuffering instills the image of being nagged excessively, and yet just bearing it for a long time. That attitude is not longsuffering. It isn’t patience. Patience requires that we can perceive beyond the circumstances, to realizing that we are an eternal people, and that though time itself might bring aggrevating conditions, God is the one in charge. Instead of getting angry at so and so, we know that there is something else at play (demons, their immaturity in Christ, they are of this world and therefore acting like this world, etc). Instead of getting angry about being late, or persecution, or whatever is out of our control, we know that “there is but one God, from whom all things came” (1 Cor 8:6, and see Eph 4:6 and Hebrews 10:32-35).

Kindness
Chréstotés, which comes from chréstos, and means (loosely) to be well fit for what is truly needed. Chrestos means useful, and therefore this “kindness” isn’t about not being mean or cruel, but about perceiving what is truly necessary, and to act according to that need. In this, I think Shakespeare had said something remarkable in Hamlet, “Sometimes one must be cruel in order to be kind.” It isn’t cruelty for the sake of being mean, but cruelty for the sake of snapping someone into reality. In this, we find Jesus and all the prophets railing against the religious in Israel, and speaking such harsh statements, which we would all find to be absolutely “unkind”, and yet fully revealing kindness and love.

Goodness
Agathosune (ag-ath-oh-soo-nay) means “inherent goodness”. Notice the suffix “syne” (sune), which in the Greek suggests a condition or quality. It isn’t that goodness is something that we work on, or attempt to be, but that this fruit of the Spirit demands that we simply are. We have the condition, or the quality, of being good, and therefore can do no other. So, what is “goodness”, which I’m sure that all of you are thinking you fall way short of? This word seems to be specific to the New Testament, and from what I understand is not a word found in secular Greek manuscripts. Agathos is what originates and emanates from God, and is impowered through His life. I would like to suggest that it is the very condition that we all know. When you woke up the day after coming to Christ, did you experience a different set of morals? I did. I no longer desired to live the way I had always lived. That is agathosune.

Faithfulness
This comes from the word “faith”, which is a pursuasion of that which you believe. It might well be that faith is not faith when you can see it with your own eyes, but is revealed as faith when you trust it, even if you can’t tangibly prove it. Faithfulness is the act of faith. It is the pursuasion of your confession, and the lifestyle bent toward God in all things. God is real, Jesus has saved my soul, and now I shall eternally cry, “All to Jesus”. That is faithfulness – to do the things God desires, even when it is unconvenient and difficult.

Gentleness
I met a man from Sweden with such gentleness and quietness. When he spoke, it was barely louder than a whisper. Yet, when he spoke, everyone shut up to listen. His words were charged, and in them were the most beautiful things. His eyes were always red, because he from when I met him, he was always crying. In him was gentleness, and that was his strength. There was strength shown in this man that I had never seen before, and it paradoxically came most powerfully from his meekness.

Self-Control
This is our discipline to do that which God demands.

These are freedom, and it isn’t a requirement. This is the “symptom” of freedom. All is permissible, but not all is beneficial. Some acts of freedom are your last act of freedom. Therefore, do the things that freedom is, and in that, live as you already are: free.

Love Fulfills the Law – Galatians 5:7-15

In this passage, there are a couple things noteworthy, but it all leads to the point: “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” What is it that leads to this “for” declaration? What is the “for” resting upon that is the so obvious conclusion of?

We noticed in the last segment how Paul is expressing “Christian liberty”. It isn’t that our freedom for freedom’s sake is given so that we can go out and live like we want to, but that we are not bound to a righteousness that demands we live according to what others conceive of being righteous. Our foundation is not upon a law, nor upon what we do, but upon Christ and what He has done. In that, we can rest in the fact that we are alive in Him, and that through Him we can be content simply in being His. One of my friends once told me, “We’re human beings, not human doings.”

It’s the proverbial Moses’ call to “come up the mount and BE there”. Don’t think about how your going to get down. Don’t think about food and water. Don’t think about the Israelites at the base of the mountain. Come up the mount, and be with me.

Now, we haven’t come to Sinai, which Paul so brilliantly already declared in Galatians 4:25-27, but unto Zion (New Jerusalem – Hebrews 12:18-24). The mount that we’re to climb is not one based upon “do this, don’t do that”, but upon faith and the grace of God. We’ve come to Zion, the very heavenly dwelling of God’s throne and glory. We’ve come to Zion, the very beauty that draws out the angel’s worship, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. The whole earth is filled with His glory.” We’ve come to Zion, the place where brothers dwell together in unity, and tears flow for the sake of God’s glory being established on the face of the earth.

Because we’ve come unto that, and not unto the mount that burned with fire, that caused for the people to declare that they were too afraid to hear God anymore, and even Moses declared, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Deut 9:19, Heb 12:21), the next thought is one of love fulfilling the whole of the Law. Between here and there, we have Paul asking again, “Who hindered you from obeying the truth?” Notice that this was asked before in Galatians 3:1 a different way.

Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? And what exactly is that leaven? Jesus uses leaven in a couple different ways. He uses it in regard to the Kingdom of God, that even just a little leaven within the large batch of dough works its way through the whole lump, and this is how the Kingdom of God is (Matt 13:33). He also warns His disciples to “beware the yeast (leaven) of the Pharisees” (Matt 16:6). In both times, the leaven is neither good nor bad, but simply the very contagious mechanism that causes for the whole lump to become holy or unholy.

We can see how this pertains again to the foundation of our lives. Obviously the Galatians want to obey Christ, and obviously they are doing what they are being told will help to be closer to Jesus. So, it isn’t about making Jesus the center, as if that alone is all that is necessary. The question at hand is the very means by which we serve and worship Jesus. Does the way in which you perceive yourself before God stem from whether you have overcome that besetting sin or not? Do you determine whether you’re truly right with God by whether you have stopped getting angry so easily? Is it through your outward works that you determine where you stand before God, or is it through what God has declared?

Please don’t misunderstand me. We can’t simply cast off what Jesus and the apostles have said elsewhere about the way that we live and treat one another, but we also shouldn’t expect that if we’re somehow not living up to it that we just must not be saved. I’ve heard that kind of damnation on the Internet, really on just about every Christian video that you can find, which would conclude that your brother or sister is not actually saved because of what they believe or because they struggle. There is no room for arrogance in the Kingdom of God, and that includes a self-despising.

The leaven that leavens the whole lump is the basis by which you define yourself, and from there, it works its way through the whole lump. If you perception is “to God be glory in all things”, then it doesn’t matter whether you fall or not. With time, God will bring you through. What bothers me so heavily is when people start making statements with their theology like Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego, “God will deliver us, O King!” But, don’t forget the rest of the statement: “But even if He doesn’t, we still will not bow and worship your statue…”

Is it about God delivering you from suffering, from poverty, from sin, and from the difficulties of life, or is it about God gaining glory in all things? How can it be that Stephen would be stoned, and instead of crying out against the injustice he is able to reiterate what Jesus said, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”? Such a heart of compassion and love, even for they who are killing him, does not come from a mind that is saturated in self. That kind of prayer can only be prayed honestly when you have no care for your own life, and your only care is God’s name and His glory. If it grants God the greater glory that Stephen should be martyred, and that Saul would behold this and later come to the faith through such a sight, then who are we to grumble that Stephen could have done great things? Nothing would have exceeded what we find in the New Testament, not because of Stephen’s incapability, but because it is about God and God’s glory alone.

When your heart pants for the glory of God in all things, and not that you would behold it or share in it, but that He would be glorified, you find that people get very upset indeed. “If I still preach circumcision, then why am I still being persecuted?” I could rephrase this for myself: “If I were still preaching the Kingdom of Jesus and me, then why do people get offended at my words?” It isn’t about “Jesus and me”, but about Jesus, and Jesus alone. Circumcision means nothing apart from Christ, and if through Christ you’ve been circumcised in heart, then why do you need to now get circumcised?

The fulfillment of the law is this: love your neighbor as yourself. You can’t do that apart from Christ, for it is only in having that disposition, “may Jesus be glorified”, that we have the possibility of this. If it is about myself, then I’m going to tend to my own wants and needs. But, if it is about Jesus, then it must also be about His Body. Therefore, if my brother has no coats, and we’re living in Ohio where the winter can get down to negative temperatures (Fahrenheit), then how can I not have compassion on him to give him one of my coats? If my sister has to decide between repairing the roof of her house or buying groceries, how can I not buy her groceries so that it’s no longer a decision? If my other sister is going to need to drop out of college because she can’t afford it, but we both know it is God’s will that she finishes, then how can I not send her thousands of dollars to pay for her tuition?

(I give these examples as things I’ve actually done)

It is love that matters. Knowledge will come to a brim, prophecy will cease, and even tongues mean nothing if we have not love, but love goes on forever. Paul never tells us to seek tongues, nor any other gift (except prophecy), but to seek love. Why? Because if you are truly doing the loving thing, you aren’t wanting the gifts that edify yourself, but the gifts that edify the Body. And, if an unbeliever were to be in your midst, and you have a prophetic word, or you have unction from the Holy Spirit to pray for their healing, why would tongues even matter at that moment? Tongues mean nothing, for you don’t know what you’re saying unless you also have interpretation, and they certainly don’t know what’s happening. Therefore, pray for prophecy, pray for interpretation of tongues, pray for the operation of healings and miracles, because in these gifts there is fuller expression of love.

Do you see how this is completely contrary to what modern Christendom teaches? The law of love is utterly different and distinct, as it should be. Unto which mindset have you come? Have you come to the place of “all to Jesus”, or are you still in the “kingdom of Jesus and me”? And, more importantly, what has stolen your joy that you had at the beginning? Why have you transferred from that first moment when you loved Jesus with all of your being, only to go back into the self-centered mindset? Who has robbed you of this joy? Return, thou sleeper, unto your first love. Arise, and shine, for the true Light is already shining, and He is alive in our hearts.

Two Covenants – Galatians 4:21-31

This is one of the passages used to say that Israel has been replaced by the Church; after all, didn’t Paul plainly say that the woman of bondage is the Jerusalem which is now? In regard to this, all I can say is that such an exegesis can only come from arrogance. To interpret this passage so shallowly astounds me. This would be likened to someone standing before God in all His radiance and saying, “Yeah, but that guy over there is just a normal guy…”

When I read this passage, such hope fills my heart. Can you vision it? We aren’t any longer bound by this Jerusalem upon the earth, but are of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is free. Maybe a little bit of historical culture might help.

In the time of Jesus and Paul, Judea was ruled by the Herods. Herod the Great (given the name by Romans, no doubt) taxed the people of Judea to such a point that people could not afford to live. The normal tax across the board, unless you were in Jerusalem, was 80%-90% of your income. You had to tithe 10%. Then, there was the temple tax on top of that. There were taxes from the money changers to buy the sacrifices necessary. By the time you finish paying just the religious taxes, you’ve spent about a third of your paycheck. On top of that is the fact that Jerusalem didn’t have any kind of agriculture accessibility. So, the question is, how do you, if you’re in Jerusalem, eat? You force those who are making a living from agriculture (which was about 80%-90% of the people, so I’ve been told) to pay a “tax” that gives their produce to Jerusalem.

Thus, after the religious taxes, there were political taxes to Herod, and then beyond Herod there were political taxes to Caesar.

To live in Judea during the time of Paul or Jesus was to live in utter bondage. In fact, there are historical records of Herod being reprimanded because of the poverty of the common people in his governance. There was such poverty that there was only hopelessness among the people of Israel. And, if you can’t afford to pay your taxes, you’re evicted from the family land – which you inherited from Joshua’s generation. If you’re evicted, you have to find a city and move there, taking up some sort of trade to figure out how to make ends meet. Can you imagine the guilt and shame?

Essentially, there are only three groups of people in Jerusalem. There were the religious leaders under Herod, who served as political leaders as well. These were the Sadducees, also sometimes called the chief priests and elders/rulers. Then, there were the religious elite, who could afford to live in Jerusalem because they were the leading scholars who taught at the Temple – known as the Pharisees. Lastly, there were the poor who had nowhere else to go, and were essentially the homeless of Jerusalem.

What kind of religious system is it that is built upon oppressing the people for the benefit of wealth and security? (I want to remind you that Paul’s own testimony was of being a Pharisee.) It is the religion that is built upon law, rather than faith. The oppressive Jerusalem is directly the result of a religion that is founded upon “do this; don’t do that”.

Here in Galatians 4:21-31, what is important to gather is that we are no longer bound by that. For example, in regard to paying tithes, Jesus asks Peter, “Do the sons of the king pay taxes or the common people?” Peter answers, “The common people.” Thus, the sons are exempt (paraphrase). Do you see how radical Jesus’ statement is here? The sons of God are exempt from the Temple tax and the tithe. If you suggest something like that today, you’d not only be labeled a heretic, you’d be cast out with furor! Yet, because we’re not of the oppressive Jerusalem, but of the freedom of New Jerusalem, we are no longer in bondage to the religious infrastructure ruled by the principalities and powers!

Does that statement make you want to turn to Israel and be like, “Yeah, but… they don’t have this, right?”

Do you see why I find replacement theology about as detestable as it comes? It takes the very promises of God and tosses them aside, simply because it would rather show that God has chosen the Church instead of Israel. How about we look at what is being proclaimed here and rejoice to the uttermost. (For the record, I don’t believe that this passage, nor Galatians 3:16 or 3:28-29 suggest that Israel has been replaced. After all, if we take Galatians 3:16 to mean that Jesus is the only seed of Abraham, then that excludes you and I, which ironically defeats replacement theology anyway. Paul expressly claims that you and I are part of Abraham’s seed, so obviously the “seed” versus “seeds” point can’t be about whether Abraham’s seed is only Jesus or plural.)

What would it mean for us to take this seriously?

For my wife and I, we’ve pretty well proclaimed that the thing that calls itself church, the fathers promoting such bitterness and spite against the Jew and women that you can barely read their words without feeling the venom, isn’t our mother. That thing that calls itself the real deal, but is only a brick and mortar system isn’t really my mother. My mother is beautiful, has compassion, and weeps for her children. That thing that calls itself church, but is only too quick and willing to cast away the marginalized and perplexed is not. It is at best to be likened to the woman who rides the beast; at worst the beast itself.