Series: God’s Ultimate Intention; Our True Identity; Sonship; The Word Made Flesh
Sun am 27 August 2017 – Kobus Swart
Phil. 3:1; Job 38:4, 7; Gen. 1:1; Psalm 2:7; Col. 1:15-18; Ps. 110:4; Ps. 40:6-8; Heb. 4:3; Eph. 1:3-6; 1 Cor. 2:9-10; Isaiah 46:9-10; 1 Peter 1:18-20; Rev. 13:8; Rom. 12:2; (Matt. 3:2); (2 Cor. 3:2); (1 Cor. 11:25); Isaiah 55:11; Matt. 18:11; Eccl. 3:11, 15
Paul reminded the Philippians: ”I never get tired of telling you this, and it is good for you to hear it again and again!” (Phil. 3:1 TLB). What you believe will determine your decisions, your direction and your destiny.
The question is, do you remember? When you were born again, that was only the beginning. Many people stop there. It is not even the full beginning, you were on the starting blocks; your race had not even started yet. Something happened ages ago which God wants to reactivate in us now by His Spirit. Little by little, we are remembering the realm from which we came and the purpose for which we were born. There is something more awaiting us and we are now tuning into what the Holy Spirit wants to remind us; an activation in our own hearts. We call this revelation. To reveal something means to unveil what has been there already. It is not a new thing. Revelation unveils to you what has been; that means you remember what happened in the past. We have to work through all the impressions of the present world and clear out all that we have accumulated in terms of memories. Remembering is to recover true reality.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of this world? … Where were you when the sons of God were shouting for joy? (Job 38:4, 7). This is a reference to a “meeting” that had taken place in the past; we do not know how long ago.
We all have different concepts of God. Unfortunately, the concept you have of God determines what you receive and how you progress in this life. It is difficult for our natural mind to understand the fact that the Bible says God is Spirit, God is light, and God is love. There was a time when there was nothing but God. There was no universe, no world, nothing except God. In (the) beginnings God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). Somewhere, in the beginning, there was a meeting and through the everlasting covenant, the Father, God made certain decrees. I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten you” (Ps. 2:7). When was that? Jesus the Son was the firstborn of all creation, in Him, through Him and to Him; everything was created (Col. 1:15-18). So that meeting took place way back. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, you are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:4). Then the Son responded: Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart” (Ps. 40:6-8). The Father decreed, the Son agreed.
“… His works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:3). This is what it means when we say God views everything from the finish. God is above time. He is not trapped in space and time. His works were finished from the foundation of the world. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved (Eph. 1:3-6). We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world! It happened way back when there was that “meeting” in the heavens; these things were decreed then. But just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2:9-10).
Remember the former things long passed for I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is no one like Me declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all my good pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). When God says, “I will”, you can take it as an accomplished fact. The Lamb was slain in that meeting we refer to, way back. Our names have been written in the Book in that meeting (Rev. 13:8).
Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (1 Peter 1:18-20).
Why is it so important then to have your mind renewed? The renewal of the mind is not a once only experience. It is an on-going experience (Rom. 12:2). Be open, be teachable and allow your mind to constantly be renewed, especially in the light of what we are saying now. We must remember what took place in that special meeting, aeons ago, and for that, we need a renewed mind. Otherwise, our mind is full of the things of this world. A transformed perspective means to think from a different reality, from heaven to earth. Only a renewed mind can consistently bring kingdom reality to earth.
Written into the spiritual DNA of every believer is an appetite for the impossible that cannot be ignored or wished away. In Genesis chapter 1, God created man in His image and in His likeness. The fall affected that but it did not eradicate it. You and I are more God-compatible than sin-compatible. Allow the depths of yourself, your DNA, to come to the surface and you will find out you are more in love with God than what you are with the world. There is something inside you searching, seeking and wanting to know more, going into the mystical realms of the unseen. The world is competing for our attention through television and other ways, trying to capture us by telling us there is something better. That is why Jesus said ‘repent for the kingdom of God is near’ (Matt. 3:2). “Re-“ means to go back; go back to God’s perspective of reality. Go back to His original plan.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). The Word, that was in the beginning, became flesh. God became flesh in Jesus. So when were you chosen? Before the foundation of the earth! (Eph. 1:3). How were we chosen? In Him who was the Word. God has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. Jesus was the Logos, He was the Word made flesh, but we were chosen before the foundation of the world in Him. We were there with Him. He was the Logos, you and I were chosen in Him that makes us a Rhema; the Rhema came out of the Logos. You are part of that Word! You came out of the Word that became flesh. Paul says we are living epistles known and read by all men (2 Cor. 3:2). Being known and read by all men makes you a Word! Before you open your mouth people can read you. In Him also we have received an inheritance [a destiny—we were claimed by God as His own], having been predestined (chosen, appointed beforehand) according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will (Eph. 1:11- Amplified). What we need is a discovery, a remembering. It is not a work; it is a matter of remembering. Jesus said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). You and I cannot return empty. We have been sent with a purpose. Stop living a passive life and being a victim of circumstances. You have a destiny upon your life. Have you connected with that destiny? Stop, wait on God and discover who you are. Make that discovery. We are part of an on-going incarnation – the Word made flesh. When this reality hits us and we discover who we are, our whole life will change. Your environment, your culture, your neighbours will suddenly be impacted by who you are. We are the ongoing incarnation and expression in the earth, chosen to be salt and light in this world.
The Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost (Matt. 18:11). It is more than seeking whoever was lost. God sent His Son not just to save souls, but to take back and save that which was lost. In the Fall man lost his memory. In Jesus we have been recreated, we have become a new creation. May God help us so that the memory will match this new creation in us. I want to live that true memory, that true identity, that true DNA that was created in me in that meeting, in Christ.
Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That’s how it always is with God. Eternity is in the heart of every man (Eccl. 3:11, 15). The word ‘death’ does not fit in here. Jesus attacked death and conquered it so that you and I can live with Him.
Series: God’s Ultimate Intention
Sun am 20 August 2017- Kobus Swart
Heb. 12:1-Amp; 1 Cor. 9:24-26; Heb. 11:2, 13, 39-40; (Gen. 13:1-18-KJV); Eph. 2:10; Jer. 29:11; Phil. 3:13-14; Heb. 12:2 (Message & Amplified); (Gen. 13:1-18); (Luke 22:19 & 1 Cor. 11:24); Job 38:4-7; (Eccl. 3:11, 15-Message)
I am intensely aware that the heart’s cry of every true grace carrier in this season, every ministry that God has called, is to see the Word changing lives, putting you on a course of victory, setting your focus on God’s divine purpose for your life.
We talk about our journey in this life, a walk with God. Let’s focus on a few Scriptures that call this a “race”. You may have a slow relaxed way of walking with God, but it actually boils down to running a race. There are certain basic points that you need to take into consideration. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us (Heb. 12:1-Amp). You will agree with me, to run a race you have to be at the correct starting place, the starting blocks. What does it mean spiritually? When does your race really start? Where is the starting place? Once you have come to the place where you received God’s grace and forgiveness you are at your starting place. Only when you have come through the effects of the Fall and you have been recreated (born again) in Christ, then your race starts. To run the race effectively you have to be free of sin consciousness. Sin consciousness will keep you tied to the past, it will slow you down. Sin so readily and so easily clings to us and entangles us! Let us run with patient endurance on this appointed course. There are many things the enemy is using to try to slow us down, to hold us back. If you cannot identify those, your race will be affected; your spiritual growth will be affected because you will be tied to something in the past.
A few other things to remember before you start this race. I am talking to people that have been on this racetrack for many years. What I am talking about this morning is more than quoting a few Scriptures. I have been there and I am still in it. I know about distractions, I know about crosscurrents, I know about challenges. One of the things we have to learn in this race is to overcome our fears. Fear will hold you back. You have to overcome whatever the fears may be and throw off every unnecessary weight of the past. One of the ways to deal with that is to understand forgiveness. If you cannot forgive, it is going to slow you down; it is going to affect your pace in this race. If there are things that you have to set right, God will speak to you. Then there comes a time that you have to let go, forgive and move on. Set your eyes on the goal and run this race. The number one way to do this is to set your eyes on the ultimate goal. What do I mean by that? Some people confuse vision and God’s plan with their ambition. Your ambitions will focus you in the wrong direction. If you have reached your dream and your ambition, then what? For example: Pastors may have a dream of having an amazing church building. Through miracles and provision, they might get their building, but then, what next? It is short of the ultimate purpose God had for them. It is not wrong to want that but God forbid that it becomes your vision, because you will never grow beyond your vision. That is why what we have said the last few weeks is critically important. Adjust your life and your focus to get God’s ultimate vision in your sight. It is going to affect your decision-making processes; it is going to affect the way you run this race.
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air (1 Cor. 9:24-26). Get perspective here. We all run in a race. The way I see this is as a relay race, the whole team – generation after generation – wins the prize. I interpret it this way, All these died in faith, without receiving the promises (Heb. 11:13). And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us they would not be made perfect (Heb. 11:39-40). If you look at the faith heroes, many of them died without receiving the prize, but here is the key, they died believing. Without us they are incomplete. We will perfect those who died in past generations without receiving what was promised. The next person (or generation) in this relay race must complete them by not stopping along the way or losing faith. Do you realize what responsibility is resting upon us? It is not just about us, not only about you or me. There are previous generations that depend on us finishing the course victoriously. We should never lose sight of this. We are running a race and there is a cloud of witnesses waiting. Do not confuse your ambitions with His goal. Many people do the same with salvation. Is that enough? No, you are just at the starting blocks. Now your race is about to begin! Do not stop there.
Here is a warning. We must learn from Lot. Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. You know what happened before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and why He destroyed it (Gen. 13:1-18-KJV). Many times people are in this race but they pitch their tents in the wrong direction. What does it mean? They have certain inclinations, certain openness to sex, food, alcohol or drugs. Is there something wrong with eating? No, but there is something wrong with overeating and eating the wrong food! Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom and he lost everything. People that have no self-discipline and who keep that door wide open in the wrong direction cannot understand later in life why they become addicted. Learn from Lot! Run this race with a focus and eliminate distractions. If you do not run this race with a determination and commitment, the enemy will do everything to distract you and get your attention on the wrong things. His purpose is to distract you from the race. If you have certain inclinations, watch out! The enemy wants you to get hooked. A man will never live beyond his vision.
One more principle: God’s purpose in your life unfolds like a little flower. He normally gives it to you in the form of a small bud and as you progress the flower opens up and you get a clear understanding of God’s purpose in your life. I want to encourage you to make time and find out why you are on earth and what God’s plan is. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:13-14).
I want to challenge you. Is there an excitement in your heart and a reaching forward to what lies ahead? It is not only about being saved. God has a plan for his sons. Through His sons, He wants to put Himself on display in the world. When you are stuck and you do not understand, go back to the pattern Son, Jesus Himself (Heb. 12:2-The Message & Amplified versions). How many feel it is not very pleasant where you are in your walk with God? You miss the joy that Jesus had. Do you think Jesus was unaware of where He was going to end? He was not unaware. But for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, He endured the shame and a lot of inconveniences. Here is the key for us: Look beyond the present pain and inconvenience and see the joy that is set before us.
God said to Jeremiah, ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD (Jer. 29:11). The same is true for each one of us. Do not ever think that you are an accident. God knew and He had a plan. There is something opening up in my heart. It is about the word remember. That word is linked with the word revelation, both starting with ‘re’, as in repeat. ‘Remember’ and ‘revelation’ are linked. When it says that we must walk in that which that was prepared for us beforehand (Eph. 2:10), how can you walk in something that was prepared before you were born? The key here is ‘remember’. How do I get there? It is by ‘revelation’. Jesus said, “Whenever you do this, remember Me” (Luke 22:19 & 1 Cor. 11:24). In a sense, it means we were there. How can you remember something if you were not there? I feel something is coming alive. When we were created, when God created Adam and Eve, how did He do that? Man was not created from nothing. Man came out of God! We were created from God. Somewhere down the road, by the Holy Spirit, we are going to remember. The word ‘revelation’ means to unveil. When you unveil something you see what has been there all the time. Revelation is not new knowledge; revelation is seeing what was. God has put eternity in the heart of man (Eccl. 3:11). Whatever was, is. Whatever will be, is. That’s how it always is with God (Eccl. 3:15-Message). Eternity does not have a beginning or an end. Eternity is in your heart.
When it comes to this race, focus on the right goal; keep your eyes on God’s intention. God had a plan for your life before you were even formed in your mother’s womb. What is needed now is for us to discover by revelation that which was…
Series: God’s Ultimate Intention
Sun am 13 August 2017 – Kobus Swart
Eph. 2:10; (Eph. 4:11-16); Rom. 8:14; (Luke 9:23); (Rom. 8:28); (John 16:23); (Matt 6:8)
God has called us to walk in what He has prepared for us before we were even born (Eph. 2:10). My question is: Are you connected to your divine purpose? Are you living the life God has predetermined for you to live? There is a master plan – it is more than a just a divine purpose, it is focused on a divine destiny. Nothing is more tragic than seeing individuals who are placed here by God to fulfil some unique and glorious destiny, still wondering aimlessly with no awakened sense of divine purpose or calling. Not everyone is called into full-time church ministry, but everyone is called into ministry. Man was designed by God as a masterpiece of creation. Man was born with an internal mechanism which works like a compass.
The purpose of ministry is to bring the body of Christ to full stature (Eph. 4:11-16). The heavenly Father wants to put on display his family of divinely begotten sons brought to full stature in Christ because then God wants to come to the place of filling the whole universe with His own glory. Ultimately God wants to be all in all and fill all things with Himself. How is He going to do that? Through the sons who have reached full stature in Christ.
Many think that Adam in his sinless state was all that the Father ever purposed him to be. Fromke offers excellent insights on this theme. Adam became a living soul and it was never intended that he continue living by the soul. That is why Jesus came as the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit. That is what God had in mind for us and still has in mind for humanity. The door was open for Adam to become, to share and to reign. Adam had a journey in front of him. That is when God gave him the choice between two trees. Where would we have been if Adam had chosen to eat of the tree of life right from the beginning? History would have been completely different from what it has been thus far. Adam’s inner compass was deflected into the lower realm when he made the wrong choice and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is a warning – every time we make a wrong choice it affects the spiritual compass within us.
Watchman Nee said, “God is concerned with bringing us into and bringing into us something that Adam never had. It is far beyond the recovery of a lost position.” Oswald Chambers, a great saint suggested, “It is according to the plan of God that Adam, by a series of moral choices would be required to take part in his own moral development. He was to transform the life of nature into the spiritual life by obeying God.” Moral choices are what we do daily, we choose between what is right and what is wrong. Every time you make the wrong choice your compass is affected; you lose direction. Many in life seem to be running in circles, repeating the same mistakes and they never go forward. If Adam were to voluntarily turn God’s way and choose dependence upon Him, he would thereby be able to receive from the tree of life, representing God’s own life. God would then have a life union with man – this is what we call sonship. Adam had that choice. But these phases can only become real as His sons learn to be led by His Spirit (Rom. 8:14). To be led by the Spirit daily is an indication of sonship. Some things can only come as a gift from God such as His life, His Spirit and His nature. Other things such as Christ-like character, Christ’s mind, vision, purpose and dedication are products of training, overcoming, trials, hardship and intense spiritual qualifying. Without tests and trials, we will not develop spiritually. All of this is according to God’s original plan. Even if man had not fallen He had a certain program for man. God wanted man to develop into a spiritual, fully grown, fully developed son. God never forgets His intention for each one of us. He puts us through thousands of experiences, often painful. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). Make sure you know what your cross is; each one’s cross is different. Your cross is not trials and afflictions, loss of money, the death of a loved-one or incurable disease. That is not your cross. When you are to go through bad experiences – go through! Do not stop in the middle. It is like a door, go through it and come out the other end wiser, more spiritual, and stronger and with more insights. The ‘old man’ (before you were born again) experiences the work of the cross, but once you are on the road of spiritual growth you embrace the way of the cross. Experiences are like open doors. No experience has finality. As we pass through these doors, these experiences, be mindful of His ultimate intention to fill the whole universe with Himself through the corporate Son. It has to be the underlying sustenance of your compass. We have a race to run and we must make sure our compass is accurately aligned. As we go through these experiences, these open doors, we must surrender to the purpose of each crisis. Paul said, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good no matter how painful it is (Rom. 8:28). Then it is easier for me to submit to the purpose of each crisis. For some reason, some people need more crises than others.
Adam, in the beginning, stood at the gateway of choice. There is no neutral ground. We either feed on the tree of life or on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in our daily choices. What we need is the inner voice of the Holy Spirit (the compass) but it depends whether we are open to that voice and how strongly that voice can come to us when we make choices or whether that voice is muffled by our own desires and ambitions.
We need to recover the sense of divine purpose, the inner compass that God put in each one of us. If a compass is not magnetised it will swing any direction. If it is magnetised, whichever way you walk with it, it will point North. Spiritually we should be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, that inner compass. Whatever your choices, whatever your crises, whatever your circumstances, take time, become quiet, wait and listen before you make choices. The world is full of alternatives. When it comes to the choice that can affect your life, your marriage, your financial and relational world, that is when you take time and make sure your inner compass is charged with the Word and the Spirit, and then you follow true North. True North means God’s perfect will.
The compass needle depends on it being magnetised. When we are charged by the Spirit of God we can learn to listen to His voice on the inside and get accurate direction. Consider what God did that first morning of creation when He magnetised the compass needle in Adam, with that eternal purpose that they were created to serve. Sadly, the enemy slipped into the garden and Adam’s compass needle was distracted and he made a wrong choice.
Take time! “Lord, am I on course or have I made wrong choices?” Understanding purpose gives full meaning to everything. When we are truly gripped by divine purpose nothing else of less importance can deflect the needle. Do not change your ideal when you face challenges and then call it progress. Stay on course. Do not be distracted by easier alternatives. In order to stay on true North, God’s perfect will, His divine intention, there has to be a governmental change in your life. It means turning from your own lordship to His Lordship. Do you feel your compass needs re-adjustment? It will be time well spent if you find out from the Lord.
Jesus said, “In that day you will ask in My name” (John 16:23). He also said that the Father knows what you need before you ask (Matt 6:8). God is divinely shaping you to connect with His purpose for your life, and some need more shaping than others. Be mindful of the purpose for each crisis in your life. Stay in fellowship and oneness with God, and recognise that He is taking us into His purposes. Then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are.
When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. The enemy may set a trap for you so that you come to the wrong conclusion. If you pray and there is no answer, there is always a reason. God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction. God wants us to marry His purpose.
Do you want to live your “dream” or do you want to live God’s purposes for your life? Make a difference between living your dream and God’s divine purpose for your life. God’s plan will succeed. Ask God if you are connected to divine purpose for your life or if you are wasting your time and money. Make sure! And do not measure your life by worldly standards. Measure your life by God’s standards and be faithful with the talents God has given you.
Series: Sonship; God’s Ultimate Intention
Sun am 30 July 2017-Kobus Swart
Gal. 2:20 (The Message); (Matt. 16:18); (Ex. 3:14); (2 Cor. 5:17-19); (Col. 1:13-14); Jude 1:5; (Gen. 19); Luke 9:62; Gal. 4:1-7; Eph. 1:5; Phil. 2:6; Eph. 2:6; (Rom. 8:29); (John 17:22-23); (Eph. 1:23); (Gen. 2)
Let’s take a deeper look at the following Scripture: Christ’s life showed me how and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that (Gal. 2:20 – The Message). We know that there is something happening in the real true Church of God, the in-Christed ones, regardless of the brand or the name you put on the building. We are talking about the corporate body of Christ, the corporate Son that is busy developing in the earth. Do not be taken captive by all the bad news of the chaos in the world and the corruption. Yes, it is negative, it is disheartening and depressing. The good news, however, is that Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18) and that is busy happening under (in spite of) the chaos. It is going to suddenly appear and become visible to the world and there will be a corporate voice that is so desperately needed, coming from the true Church. The ‘I Am’ (Exod. 3:14) is busy coming forth in the corporate Son but we have to realise that the ‘I Am’ has nothing to do with my ego. The ‘I Am’ means the death of me and the life of Him coming forth.
I want to highlight one specific aspect and it has to do with connecting with God’s ultimate intention. It is so sad when you realise in Church history that there has been an overemphasis on various aspects of truth and those aspects became the only focus at the expense of seeing the ultimate purpose of God. God’s original plan with man and this planet is still His ultimate intention. This morning I want to highlight the aspect of redemption which is a very important aspect of truth. Unfortunately, in so many cases the gospel has stopped there, where it is all about being saved from going to hell so that you can go to heaven. As important as that is, it is not the fullness of God’s plan for humanity. It is not just about getting saved. God had a plan when he created Adam (humanity). Then there was the Fall. What happened? Was God surprised or was He shocked? Then Jesus came; He was the last Adam, He was the life giving Spirit. Through Christ humanity was reconciled to God. (2 Cor. 5:17-19; Col. 1:13-14). You have been born again but I want to awaken you to the fact that there is more than being born again; there is more than just being saved. When you are born again you are put back on track as it were, to God’s ultimate plan. God’s plan is still His ultimate intention and when you are born again you are out of the fallen condition, and back on track, but at that point, you are still only a child.
If all you hear Sunday after Sunday is just the gospel of salvation, you will not grow spiritually. If you are fed with milk and you are still a babe in Christ, then that is where you will stay. Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe (Jude. 1:5). This is a cold hard scripture. They were saved but lost to the ultimate intention of God. ‘Saved from’ is not enough, we must be ‘saved unto’ and stay on course to the ultimate intention of God. It is not enough to say, “I have been born again”. That is just the beginning.
Remember the story of Lot (Gen. 19). God told Lot and his family to get out of the city. They all got out. Lot’s wife was out, she was saved from what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah, but she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. She was saved but she lost the purpose for having been saved. But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke. 9:62). How many Christians do you know who are constantly looking back, they are not making progress spiritually. On this journey from having been saved to the ultimate plan of God, there are going to be crosswinds, headwinds, testing, trials and difficult times, but that is not the time to look back. That is not the time to turn around. Especially those of us who have heard, connected and embraced to the gospel of the kingdom; if you look back you are not fit for the kingdom of God.
We understand the term ‘adoption’ in today’s society. When you adopt a child, he is not part of your natural family or bloodline. In the spiritual sense, it does not work like that. Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God (Gal. 4:1-7). You have been born again, you are a child of God; you are actually an heir but you do not even differ from a slave even though you are owner of everything because you are not a son yet; you still need to grow. All of us are still under ‘managers’; more like fathering or mentoring. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself (Eph. 1:5). But the process is clear. You are born again (saved from), you are now a child and you have to grow, mature and continue on this journey through the trials and testing that will be there.
Let us take a deeper look at the Cross. Fromke offers good insights about this. The Cross is an eternal principle in God. We have limited the understanding of the Cross to Calvary where Jesus was crucified. Many, if not all of us, think the Cross is an afterthought because of the Fall or some accident in the universe. It is far more than that. In thinking of the cross as only a redemptive measure, we miss God’s larger intention. From the beginning, the Father longed for a family of sons. When God created Adam He had far more in mind than just Adam and Eve. He had a family in mind, a family of sons that represent Him on earth. He had a family who would embrace the same cross principle that has governed His own heart. His intention was and still is that the cross might be so in-wrought, so in-worked in His sons as to become their manner and purpose of life (Gal.2:20). Adam was invited to embrace the cross principle as the manner and purpose of life. Think about the whole story; of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of evil. Right there the cross principle could have kicked into Adam’s thinking in his life and instead of being tempted by the devil to take the selfish road, he should have taken the road of the cross which is to eat of the tree of life. That principle happens to us on a daily basis in our decision-making processes, in the choices we make and thoughts we have. If he did that he would have entered the highest calling open to man. He was to be a father who would have filled the whole earth after his kind and then as a paternal king he was to rule over all. The first Adam stood in the gateway of choice. Would he choose to live for his own purpose and thereby reject God’s purpose? Do not limit this to Adam’s decision; you and I face these decisions regularly. Will I make choices in my life that will suit me and boost me and my ego? Or am I going to choose the way of the Cross? By choosing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Adam developed his own natural life, exercised his own right to freedom and pursued his own private goals. His own selfish choice made him blind to the heavenly way of life.
After two thousand and seventeen years, I am asking where is the Church? How mature is the family of Christ? Are we on track toward the final great and full intention of the Father? Or are we happy that we are saved? It is not only about not going to hell! Jesus came and demonstrated heaven’s way of giving instead of grasping. Jesus lived by the principle of the Cross long before Calvary (Phil. 2:6). He emptied Himself! That is the principle of the cross at work. What do we see in today’s Church? The moment God begins to bless us, call us, and endow us with gifts, the ego is right there to reap the attention. Why have we seen so many fantastic revivals and instruments of God which shook the world suddenly cave in? Is it because of the ego, the lack of applying the Cross-principle?
I want this to be like a seed that will grow in our hearts. One word came to me in a fresh way: incarnation; the Word became flesh, the incarnation of God in man. I felt the Lord saying that the incarnation is an eschatological event, not just in Jesus. It is an ongoing, unfolding end-time event. Jesus came in the end time and we are still in the end time. We are not waiting for the end time. We are in it. We have been in it for two thousand years. Sadly we can go on for another thousand years unless the Church wakes up, grows up and qualifies for full adoption as sons to bring fulfilment of the Father’s original intention. That intention is to have a company of sons that will display Him to the world. God is Spirit, He is love. How do you see God unless somebody puts Him on display? We are seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6). Where is that? Heaven is another dimension, another realm, it is here! Once we can be elevated and see from heavenly places, we can suddenly see where we fall short and what is waiting for us in God’s plan.
Incarnation and redemption are rightly related to God’s eternal purpose. The One who is above all, the eternal Father yearns for a vast family of sons conformed to the image of the eternal Son in whom He has found such delight. God wants a family that will be conformed to the image of the Son (Rom. 8:29). He had that heart when he created Adam.
We know that Jesus came to die on the Cross for man’s redemption. His coming included a far-reaching purpose; the realisation of the Father’s original ultimate intention to share Himself through a vital union with man, a blending of the human and the divine. When Jesus prayed for oneness, He was praying for the interpenetration of God and man (John 17:22-23). It is difficult to grasp. Otherwise, God will remain Spirit. God is Spirit; He is here; He is everywhere but ultimately God wants to fill all things and He wants to fill all in all (Eph. 1:23). Too much space is taken by that which is not God. God wants to fill all in all through a company of sons who represent Him, who have been conformed to the image of the Son. We understand how our Father before the beginning of time planned to share Himself, His life and even to express Himself throughout the universe during the ages to come. It is only as we consider the Father’s goal in His eternal Son that we can have clear vision of His goal for us His sons through Christ. In other words, even if there never was a Fall, God would have still sent His Son because that was His plan so that we could be conformed to His Son and He could have a family of sons representing the Father. This ‘redemption consciousness’ is limiting the truth of what the Cross is all about.
Satan tempted Adam. Adam chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was a selfish choice. If Adam had chosen the tree of life, imagine where things would have been today (Gen 2). The Church of Jesus Christ to a large degree is still stuck in this mentality of being “saved from” so we can escape hell.
I want to see an activation of a hunger, a yearning in each one of our hearts. Lord lift me above this limited experience, limited view, limited understanding of being saved. What am I saved for? Why am I battling the same problems over and over? There should be spiritual growth. The things that tempted you ten years ago should not tempt you today. I pray that the word will be absorbed and spark spiritual growth!