A Warned Church – Pt.2

According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.Exo. 25:9

Many Christians do not understand that God has a pattern in the way He goes about accomplishing His eternal purpose. Many more are unaware of the serious nature of God. They assume that God is a permissive, freewheeling sort of guy and that He does his stuff accordingly.

A serious student of the Bible should know well the life of the Apostle Paul and the part he played in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul went to places where no other Jew would dare set foot. He also suffered much for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself appeared to Paul many times to encourage him. Paul was even taken to Heaven Itself where he “heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:4). Yes, the Apostle Paul underwent many experiences, some difficult, some beautiful; but all of them deeply spiritual. It is clear from the scriptures that Paul had a close working relationship with God during his life and ministry here on earth.

None of us could contemplate that such a man as this Paul could find himself denied entry into Heaven. And yet… Paul himself says it is possible he could preach to others and still find himself barred from entering the celestial gates. He says so in 1 Cor. 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” Paul makes it clear that even he could be cast away!

It is incredible the way modern Christians think they can simply waltz into heaven. They believe they have preferential treatment with God. Yes, I also believe we have preferential treatment, but on one condition – that we crucify the flesh.

During this year’s IAAF athletics games held in Moscow, an incident happened that underlined the importance of doing things according to the laid-down rules. The British 4-by-4 men’s relay team was stripped of a medal position due to a technical fault. During the handover, the British runner overstepped his lane and put his foot ever so slightly on another team’s lane! The team finished third at the finishing line, but due to that slip-up the judges ruled there and then that the team should not collect the bronze medal. Instead, that medal was given to the Canadians, who had finished fourth. In other words, the British team was disqualified. How sad, after all they had accomplished!

It is not simply a matter of feeling pleased because we have been saved. God is gracious by nature and He does many good things for us here on earth, which makes many of us think Christian life is meant to be easy. But God warns us in His Word that we must run just as Jesus Himself ran. We must deny self, take up our Cross and follow Christ. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:24 that he rejoices in his sufferings in the flesh!

The God-is-good gospels being preached today are slanted. They are not telling us the whole truth. The gospel they are preaching is not the gospel we find in the Bible. Here is what we find in the Bible:

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom 8:16-17). Note the ‘if’.

“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Php 1:29).” Note the ‘but’.

This is the gospel we find in the Word of God. Let us so run this race, that we may obtain, as Paul encourages us.

The Foundation of our Faith – the Pauline Doctrine (Pt. 5)

This post is very long, but I encourage you to read it to the very end… I am sure it will prove helpful.

The Apostle Peter says about Paul that in his epistles Paul talked about the same things that he himself had written about but he concludes by saying that in Paul’s epistles there were “some things hard to be understood…” (2 Peter 3:16). If Peter could say that, then I also can safely admit that there are many things that I don’t understand in Paul’s letters. What is clear from Apostle Paul’s letters, however, is that he desires for every believer to arrive at the place of full and perfect knowledge of the Risen Christ – in other words, what was accomplished at the Cross – and to walk in that power of resurrection, the power that raised Christ from the dead. That should be the desire of each one of us.

In concluding this topic about the revelation or gospel that the Apostle Paul received, let me reiterate my contention that all the Apostles saw a revelation of the Risen Christ, but that the Apostle Paul received a vastly ‘superior’ revelation of Jesus than the rest. In other words, he understood what Christ did on the Cross more than the rest. (I am sure by now we all realize that we are not talking about a vision of Jesus – here we are way, way deeper than that!)

Romans chapters 9 through 11 makes us to begin to understand the special “wisdom” given to Paul. In talking about the Israelites in relation to the gospel he says that “blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” (Rom. 11:25)

The Jews were God’s special people and will always be, because the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. They are God’s chosen people, “Israelites;  to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;  Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.  Amen.” (Rom. 9:4-5)

This scripture is very important in appreciating the special place that the Israelites have in God’s eyes. Note the Godly things that they have been guardians of through the ages. The Israelis are an incredibly special people. But we are not talking of that now.

What is important is that the ‘blindness’ that has now come upon them was prophesied long ago. We do not have time to look into these prophecies now but we can look into the reason for this blindness.

This blindness occurred because God wanted to do something that, out of the goodness of His heart, He had planned on doing since before Time began: to bring eternal salvation to all mankind.

Firstly, God had a score to settle with sin or the Devil, or whoever; I am not very sure here. What is clear is that sin had entered the world, and God had to do something about it. Unfortunately, His beloved people the Israelites happened to be sinners just like everybody else. (“All have sinned” – Rom. 5:12). That put the Israelites in God’s line of fire. Too bad.

Secondly, it is true that He had used the Israelites as His pack horse through the ages, as we have seen in Romans 9, and He would surely reward them; but the Good News of salvation was for everyone. In other words, the Israelites were God’s elect people in one sense, and in another they were not. Salvation was meant for everyone. There was no compromise there. Why?

“Is he the God of the Jews only?  is he not also of the Gentiles?  Yes, of the Gentiles also.”

“And so blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” In other words, God would not allow Jerusalem’s eyes to be opened until every Gentile in the world had heard the gospel. God put the Israelites to sleep until He had finished showing all His goodness to the Gentiles. Probably He feared they would throw a tantrum if they realized He was about to share their “cake” with strangers. Whatever the case, He put them to sleep nonetheless. That word there, “part”, however, indicates that not all Israel was been blinded; some were allowed to see, chief of whom was Paul the Apostle.

(As you can see from his doctrine and lifestyle, when Paul ‘saw’ he did not turn selfish. On the contrary, he gave his life as the Lord also had given His. This is crucial to our understanding of the Pauline doctrine).

God also wanted the Jews to know that they were sinners just like everybody else. You see, man has a will, and the will of sinful man is enmity against God. If man’s will was in line with God’s will, God would have no trouble with us. But we have a rebellious will. God wanted them to know that the only way He could have a truly satisfactory relationship with man was for man to put off his (rebellious) will and to put on God’s will. This was exemplified in the Bible by Christ’s obedience.

Our understanding of the need for the Cross is certainly getting clearer here.

But probably the most important fact in all this was that God wanted to stamp His sovereignty over all Creation. As we just said, man also has his will. God wanted everyone, particularly the Jews, to know that He is a Sovereign God. If any man wanted to partake of His nature, he would have to let go his will and submit to God’s rule.

To give an illustration of God’s sovereignty: One day, someone called Job, whom the Bible itself attested to as being perfect and upright was put through some suffering by God, and in his anguish he contested with God why He would let an upright man like him to suffer. God told him, “You cannot question me. I am God. I do as I please.”

Job was stunned! This perfect and upright man realized he had never really known God. He said, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:  but now mine eye seeth thee.   Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6! In his perfectness, Job grovelled before God! What a challenge to us! Surely, we could not compare ourselves with Job! How much more should we humble and cry out to God for mercy!

May God have mercy on the Jews, but may He have even more mercy on us believers. I believe that of all the confused and blind and ungrateful people in the world today it is we Christian believers whom God has graciously chosen and called into His Kingdom. I really don’t care much who you think you are – and I am sure God doesn’t, either – but that is the truth, my friend. In spite of all the wonderful proclamations we make (“I love you, Jesus!”, etc.) and all the beautiful songs we sing, the things we do and the attitudes we have towards God and our fellow brethren and mankind in general (and even animals and everything else) accuse us of these things.

And this is all centered on the kind of heart that we have. All our negative attitudes and actions are the result of a rotten heart. The Bible calls it an uncircumcised heart.

And this is where Paul, or rather, the doctrine that he carried comes in. While the Jerusalem Team of elders were busy thinking about circumcising believers in the flesh, Paul was being taught about the circumcision of the heart!

We have a heart problem, and the Pauline doctrine is the solution to that problem. This was the revelation that Paul caught: how the power of the resurrection life of Christ in us would transform us and make us into the image of Jesus Christ; how it would break the power of sin over our lives; how it would give us the very heart of Christ; how it would enable us to walk in the perfection and fullness of the Godhead Himself… which is perfect, unselfish love.

That was why he preached Christ crucified, “the power of God”! There is power in the Cross, to not just save us in the elementary sense, but to bring a full realization of the Godhead in us, as Paul says in Colossians 2: “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

In order for this resurrection life to manifest itself in our lives we will need to first take our cross and follow Jesus, just as Jesus Himself said in Matthew 16:24-25: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.   For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:  and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.” There is no other way to experience the resurrection life apart from partaking of the sufferings and death of Christ.

In other words, there are two kinds of lives: the physical, material life; and the spiritual life. If we want to gain the latter, we have to lose the former.

That was why Paul said he would only boast in the Cross of Christ, by which the world was crucified to him and he to the world (Galatians 6:14). He rejoiced in the work of grace that God would do in him as he partook of Christ’s sufferings. That was why he did not want to be set free of them. He says in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” He was talking about partaking of the sufferings. He wanted to be identified with Christ’s sufferings and death so he could partake also of the resurrection life.

It was a deep revelation indeed that the Apostle Paul received, and we can hardly compare it with much of today’s flippant, materialistic-oriented ‘gospels’. If any preacher mentions Paul today, it is hardly in the depth that he is revealed in the Bible.

Paul’s gospel reveals that there is far more to salvation than just saying the sinners’ prayer. Through experience I personally have also come to know that you cannot go far with this prayer or the initial experience of salvation. Much more needs to happen, and this is where the Apostolic doctrine of the revelation of the Cross of Christ comes in.

Instead of being merely (or largely) religious people, God purposed that through a revelation of the Cross in our hearts, and our identification with it, we would show forth to the world and to spiritual forces in the heavenlies the manifold grace of God, and that through the death of sinful flesh, we would shut the mouths of God’s enemies by living a holy, spiritually fulfilling and victorious life.

That has been God’s plan all along. He could have shut His enemies’ mouths any other way without our involvement, I am sure. But He loved us so much that He wanted to make us a part of that victory! What a grace, what an honor, what a privilege! And in order to involve us, He did what in our wildest dreams we could not have imagined – He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die on the Cross for us. He then went a step further and chose us, and then gave us the grace to believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection. And finally He came to live in us by His Holy Spirit so that we could grow into mature sons and daughters in the Spirit by dying to the body of the flesh.

Imagine the grace that God has personally bestowed on us in all these things. It is He who chose us and caused us to believe! It is He who touched our hearts! And for us Gentiles, we who were so unworthy, He did us a double honor by rejecting His people Israel so He could accept us!

I don’t know about you, but I consider myself less than a dead dog in God’s eyes. The fact that He could shower me with such undeserved favor staggers me. I am awed beyond comprehension…

Dear brethren, do we realize our position? Do we comprehend the magnitude of the grace that has come upon us – that, more than simply dying for our sins, Christ has come to live in us in the fullness of His resurrection life?

Let us tremble and fear before this awesome God, and before His awesome plan, even as we rejoice with holy thanksgivings.

Today’s Christians are not known to be very fearful or even reverent towards God. Believe me, I have seen Christians – preachers and laymen alike – doing the most offensive and detestable things, in the Name of Jesus!

The Apostle Paul signs off with this warning: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:  on them which fell, severity;  but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:  otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Rom. 11:22

Let us fear God, and not take God lightly. But, beyond warning us against these church antics that go on today, for the truly serious Christian this is a warning to not ignore the Pauline revelation. If we fail to enter into the fullness of the knowledge of Christ, and to show forth that fruit of transformation in our lives, we have renounced the Apostolic doctrine that was revealed to Paul, and our Christianity is, quite simply, ‘another gospel’. And yet… the New Testament gospel we are called to live is the gospel that the Apostle Paul carried and preached.

The Pearl.

The Bible tells the story of Jacob, and how he wrestled with an angel of God throughout the night.

“And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him” Gen. 32:25

Jacob had been running from the Lord all these years, but here he comes face to face with God, and he has to make a decision: he can continue running, or he can allow God to touch his life and change him.

I believe something must have made Jacob to stop and make the decision he made that night. Jacob was tired of running, all right. But more than that, something profound happened to him that night. I believe that deep down in his spirit Jacob received a new understanding from the Lord; a new revelation. He must have seen something that made him want to receive a new blessing from God.

In the materialistic age we live one might well wonder why Jacob, who was so rich materially, would want another blessing from the Lord…!

But, perhaps, it was a different blessing that he now desired, born out of this new understanding that he had from God. A blessing not of material things, but a blessing, probably, of character, a spiritual blessing. Suddenly, most likely, Jacob saw in his spirit far into the future, and the blessing that Jesus would bring into the world through His death on the Cross. And, all of a sudden, Jacob”s priorities were turned upside down. Now it was not Rachel or Joseph who mattered most to him. Nor was it his vast wealth. Now he wanted to get hold of that far, far away blessing – distant indeed, but exceedingly rich. It did not matter to him that he would die long before that blessing would materialize. Somehow, he knew, he would inherit it one day, and it was worth waiting for. It was an eternal treasure – and immeasurably, incomparably bright and clear and true.

It was a spiritual blessing that Jacob saw, and he wanted it infinitely more than all his earthly possessions.

And he was willing to pay the price that he realized he needed to pay in the spirit. I am sure that at that particular time he did not see anything good in the flesh. He did not see cars or houses or the good things that we have today. Rather, I believe he saw the sufferings of Christ. And he was ready to identify with them. He was willing to pay the ultimate  price – he told the angel, “Name your price, but I am not letting you go till you bless me!” He wanted that vision more than anything else in his life.

What God did in order to change Jacob’s character was to dislocate his thigh – probably so he would not have the strength to run again.

The true gospel of Jesus Christ puts us ‘out of joint’. It breaks our strength. It breaks our pride. We grovel and scramble on our knees to get at that spiritual treasure, for only that brokenness can bring the reality of that treasure into our lives. All our pride, our reliance is gone. After Jacob’s thigh was put ‘out of joint’ he had no more pride left in him. Probably he had a certain way of walking before, but he would no longer walk that way. Henceforth he would walk with a limp, for the Bible says his sinew “shrank”.

Humbling, indeed.

In the new covenant we are no longer going to wrestle with an angel, but through Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross we understand how we, too, will need to identify our lives with His suffering and death in order to partake of that same blessing that Jacob partook of. That treasure is the life of Christ in us.

The Apostle Paul, more than any other man, received that revelation – and also knew that brokenness in his flesh. I believe he also, just like Jacob, wanted to do some running. He says that he prayed three times to God to remove the thorn in his flesh. But God told him, “My grace is sufficient, for my strength is perfected in your weakness.”

If Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord the whole night; and if Paul prayed three times for God to intervene on his behalf, then we can be sure that it is not an easy journey to becoming spiritual men and women. But this is the road we have been called to take, and we must gladly persevere in it.

Paul says: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Cor. 12:9

That is not an easy road to take, by any standards. But the reward is priceless. In fact, to put a better perspective to it, the reward is not something that can be explained in human terms; it is too profoundly rich for that. It can only be understood in our spirits.

It all depends, however, on whether we have seen that priceless pearl in our spirit, and are willing to pay the price. The price, as we said, is dying with Christ.

What a challenge to us today, that Jacob, so far down the line in time, could see the very thing that we live with, walk with and sleep with today… What is that thing? Oh! I bet you and I hardly know it well enough… if we knew it we would not be the men and women we are today…

May the Lord reveal it to us like He revealed it to Jacob!