Do we want it all? All of the fullness of God’s definition of Intimacy With His Son? Really? Not my definition–but, really– His? His definition might turn out to be a little meatier, more demanding, and costly than what we imagined.
(Put on the Garments of Praise for the spirit of heaviness! Worth the Listen.)
Indeed God calls all men/women everywhere to “repentance” (To change their course, path, attitude of their mind) and commands all the billions of persons in this generation to put their faith in/union in the Lord Jesus Christ by the believing of God’s good news in Him- Just as it is written, “Faith comes by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God.” (You see– it takes God’s powerful message- the gospel- Word- to give you the ability to even just “Hear”–”hearing by the Word of God”) Why is God commanding us to Jesus? Well:
Colossians 1:19 (NLT)
For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
Hebrews 1:3 (NLT)
The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.
John 14:9 (NLT)
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (KJV)
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”
You see God is commanding us to the Living Lord Jesus because in Him is God and He in God. Jesus is the Vine– we are the branches to remain in/stand in all that He is to us- Literally- Everything- Really- Everything (No fiction here or over bloating who He is to us). The verses I mention above simply put it that Jesus is Divine and all power and authority and glory dwell in Him and that’s something God has never been ashamed to admit. For, out of the Heavenly Glory God said that this was His Son with whom He was well pleased.
(Jesus is Lord of All — Hard to find song- worth listening too the end! )
Again- why might it turn out to be meatier, more demanding, and costly than what we might have imagined “Intimacy With Christ” means? Because– though there may be times of dimly lit candles– so to speak– with Jesus Christ and His bride lovingly at the table enjoying each other– there are days of woe, darkness, confusion, pain, tears, suffering in a cup. (Blessed Be The Name- Song) When his disciples said that they would follow their Lord anywhere Jesus mentions a cup– a cup filled with all the above mentioned for them to drink.
Matthew 20:22
But Jesus answered by saying to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” “Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
John 21:18
I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” (Some traditions have it that Peter was crucified upside-down because he felt it not his place to be crucified as His Lord and Savior was…)
The Apostle Paul did indeed have as His Motto- “That I may know Him”– or “I live now by faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” However— Paul didn’t sell Himself short on Intimacy With Christ– Paul included getting to know,
“the fellowship of His sufferings…being made in the likeness in the way in which Jesus Christ died.” (Jim Elliot was made/became in the likeness of His Lord laying His life down for the natives freely as “Faith worked through Love”.)
OK– I have said it before and say it again– “There is no Morphine Jesus”– “There is no Morphine Father.” And– “There is no Morphine Holy Spirit.” We’ll all have our days where we find ourselves with a cup in our hand- if we are continuing on with God in Jesus Christ. And that cup requires a grain of wheat to fall into the ground (Perhaps the deepest desires of your heart to be set down at the feet of Jesus to take up an unknown path– His path– though marked with suffering.) There is nothing easy about going the full course with Jesus– nothing. If someone has told you otherwise you might want to read Paul’s missionary journey a little more closely in Acts. God has set a different race before each of us. In that race the people in the book of Hebrews/Covenants were tempted to turn back– Paul had to remind them that their previous sacrifices– though as hard as things were– would not be unjustly be forgotten by God. He also reminded them in chapter 11 that a great cloud of witnesses had gone the hard path before them by various ways or means. Peter understands that suffering is part of the Christian walk in that he underlines that suffering for doing what is right is “well pleasing with God.” Hmmmmm— why? Because– what other choice do you have? You either live in the truth or live out of a lie. Why would a God who never lies enjoy watching His kids live a lie? Why would He be pleased when His kids live in the truth and suffer? Because– that’s just what He would have done if He was in their shoes and He proved it by sending His Son Jesus to show exactly what He would have done. Get it?
(Psssssst- hey, you — if you’ve never suffered for some involvement with getting closer to Christ or obeying Him– ya really gotta wonder– were you ever His? Are you? Really? )
Now– let me talk about the outpouring of and the indwelling Spirit. He too is not a Morphine Spirit– not here to make you high. Not here to give you blurry red eyes and to say, “Hey dude– I’ve got the munchies and by the way– Jesus is cool.” Rather, when the Lord Jesus was glorified He poured His Holy Spirit out upon His people from Heaven as a sign that He was ultimately glorified in Heaven to the fullest measure. Yes, the Spirit was sent to open eyes, regenerate, teach, comfort…. Yet, ultimately– He was a sign that Jesus was glorified in the Highest. Though– this be a fact- the much talked about “outpouring” has already come when Jesus was glorified- we need the eyes of our understanding opened to receive it as a fact just as we receive as a fact that our past, present, and future sins are covered once forever by the blood of Jesus Christ. Second, this Spirit- This Person- indwells us. With the Corinthian church struggling with various sins- Paul decides to take them straight to the fact that they are the temple of the Living God- their bodies. That God, Jesus Christ- by His Spirit lives in every believer. The Potential is within us-Him. We are God’s tents- so to speak. Jars of clay holding this great treasure. Now– with that said– is it like being pumped with Morphine? No– the Holy Spirit may comfort– but, there’s still a cup of suffering. You know- the cup that just won’t go away though we may beg thrice or a million times for it to go.
(Put on the Garments of Praise for the spirit of heaviness! Please- listen.)
In the Christian’s dictionary of words and phrases are words/phrases like faith, reckon, put on, put off, renew, be renewed, be transformed by, be filled, quench not, grieve not, abide in/ remain in, cast your cares upon, pray for, pray without ceasing, be anxious for nothing, rejoice, encourage one another daily, meditate day and night, sing, praise, walk in the light, be as your Heavenly Father, walk as Jesus walked, love not in word only, love in deed, weep with one another, present yourselves, give, ………….. All these be the Cast and Crew of the Holy Spirit to get us to the end of the race having some resemblance of Jesus Christ. Each of these words or phrases can carry the weight of years of learning/hard times and blessings. The Holy Spirit does not do a spinal tap into us and just inject us with Jesus– all of Him– and replace our years of thinking, experiences, emotions all at once. It’s a process– uphill– becoming more like Him and becoming more Intimate With Christ.
That’s where some of the pain/foolishness comes from– our years of Adamic living (body, soul, spirit—did you notice the order of things are backwards here—rather than, spirit, soul, body)—apart from God. Doing it alone. Or doing it in our imaginary little world “with God’s help” to make us good enough with our spotty works to stand “rightly” before Him. Not. That’s called- “Work your way to Heaven” theology- it’s just not true and never will be. You see– just because we have bad habits/thinking that flow from our mommy and daddy Adam and Eve who were permeated with rebellion—doesn’t eradicate that we still have “legitimate” desires. Yes, Legitimate- sometimes very strong- desires. We want people to be nice to us. We would like to have more than enough food for our nourishment- pleasant food. We would like to have healthy relatives. We would like to have a purposeful and pleasurable job/employment. But, you see— sometimes these are not– and so— pain. No “Morphine Jesus” on the run to get to us before we experience even one disappointment. Nope– He’s simply not going to be that to us 24/7.
Secondly, moving in the direction of God’s Word/The Spirit’s leading can be costly. We might actually have to give something that costs us something (many will give as long as their primary comforts they rely upon daily aren’t disrupted). We actually might have to lay down something that cuts in on a pleasure. To become more and more consecrated to His purposes might mean that we endure a sleepless night. To be His man/woman on the scene where He wants us might dig into our wallet or purse a bit. But, again– God takes no pleasure in his kids living out lies and though– He sees the cost– He takes pleasure in His kids laying it all down. Everything. “Faith works through Love.” Loving God, our neighbor and enemy– by the Power and Enduring Spirit who was poured out upon Christ’s People to demonstrate He’s/Jesus is now glorified in the Highest and indwelling His people to demonstrate that Jesus is all in all–yes, folk- we sometimes Love at a great cost.
Things that are not to be in our dictionary- Selfishness, arrogance, unkindness, getting even, not losing or looking like a loser, having all men everywhere speak well of us, continually experiencing pleasure, never putting another ahead of ourselves, never going out on a limb to save a fellow-man, not taking time to just enjoy worshipping God, not taking time to converse with God in prayer, not taking time to get to know what His Spirit has written into the Bible, not taking time to spend with His people, not caring for His people as much as judging them harshly, hypocrisy, not yielding to God’s Will to be done, not doing the good we know to be done,….
Father God, I guess what’s being said by You and Your Word is that the Christian walk can be painful, requires us to submit to and put our faith in Jesus Christ even when things don’t look that great. Father, you have given us all the sufficiency and sufficient Grace we need to carry out your will as You have promised that we’d not be allowed to be tempted beyond what we can bare– and in it You will provide a way of getting through. Father, You have told us to cast our eyes upon the Author and Perfector of our faith–but, it turns out that that Author suffered at the hands of men. Was ridiculed, scoffed at, disbelieved, and eventually physically harmed and murdered. We’re not looking at rose pedals falling from the sky– rather– as the old song says, “The old rugged cross.” There’s something rugged about the Christian walk even if the Holy Spirit is empowering us– he’s not numbing us. Even if the Holy Spirit is doing miracles through us– He’s not laying out a path for those miracles where there’s a lazy-chair every ten or so feet. He- the Holy Spirit is undoing us stitch by stitch and re-making us into Your righteousness and the undoing can feel very painful. Father, help us when the Legitimate Desires we have are not met day after day, week after week, year after year, decade after decade. Some have become bitter with You– I pray I will not nor the reader regarding the things that are not wrong to desire- just, that- Father- for whatever reason they are unrealized. God– You are the God of all comfort and there’s something more comforting in walking in the Truth rather than a Lie whether it’s painful or not. It’s more painful to discover one’s life has all being a lie at the end of the day. So, Father, thanks for Your Word of Truth, Gospel of Truth, Son- who is The Truth, and Your Spirit of Truth. In Jesus Name I Give You All The Glory- AMEN.
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