Why I hate religion, but love Jesus

This is another piece I first heard performed at my son’s school on “Entertainment Night.”

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What if I told you, Jesus came to abolish religion?
What if I told you getting you to vote republican, really wasn’t his mission?
Because republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian,
And just because you call some people blind, doesn’t automatically give you vision.
If religion is so great, why has it started so many wars?
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?
Tells single moms God doesn’t love them if they’ve ever been divorced
Yet God in the Old Testament actually calls the religious people whores
Religion preaches grace, but another thing they practice,
Tend to ridicule Gods people, they did it to John the Baptist,
Cant fix their problems, so they try to mask it,
Not realizing that’s just like sprayin’ perfume on a casket
Because the problem with religion is that it never gets to the core,
It’s just behavior modification, like a long list of chores.
Let’s dress up the outside, make things look nice and neat,
Its funny that’s what they do to mummies, while the corpse rots underneath,
Now I ain’t judging I’m just saying be careful of putting on a fake look,
Because there’s a problem if people only know that you’re a Christian by that little section on your Facebook
In every other aspect of life you know that logics unworthy
Its like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey
But see I played this game too; no one seemed to be on to me,
I was acting like church kid, while addicted to pornography.
I’d go to church on Sunday, but on Saturday getting faded,
Acting as if I was simply created to have sex and get wasted.
Spend my whole life putting on this façade of neatness,
But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness.
If grace is water, then the church should be an ocean,
Cuz its not a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for the broken
I no longer have to hide my failures I don’t have to hide my sin,
Because my salvation doesn’t depend on me, it depends on him.
because when I was Gods enemy and certainly not a fan,
God looked down on me and said, “I want that man!”
Which is so different from religious people, and why Jesus called ‘em fools
Don’t you see he’s so much better than just following some rules?
Now let me clarify, I love the church, I love the bible, and I believe in sin
But my question, is if Jesus were here today, would your church let Him in?
Remember He was called a drunkard and a glutton by  “religious men”
The Son of God not supported self-righteousness, not now, not then.

Now back to the topic, one thing I think is vital to mention,
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums,
One is the work of God one is a man made invention,
One is the cure and one is the infection.
Because Religion says do, Jesus says done.
Religion says slave, Jesus says son,
Religion puts you in shackles but Jesus sets you free.
Religion makes you blind, but Jesus lets you see.

This is what makes religion and Jesus two different clans,
Religion is man searching for God, but Christianity is God searching for man.
Which is why salvation is freely mine, forgiveness is my own,
Not based on my efforts, but Christ’s obedience alone.
Because he took the crown of thorns, and blood that dripped down his face
He took what we all deserved, that’s why we call it grace.
While being murdered he yelled “father forgive them, they know not what they do”,
Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you
He paid for all your sin, and then buried it in the tomb,
Which is why I'm kneeling at the cross now saying come on there’s room
So know I hate religion, in fact I literally resent it,
Because when Jesus cried It is finished, I believe He meant it.

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Copyright Jeff Bethke

Text found here.

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Commentary

Though we are told many things “concerning the Jews” in both the Old and New Testaments, and God had every reason to put His stamp of approval on religion by bringing forth Christ and manifesting Him in every way in and through the religion of the Jews, all of the following are true concerning Christ:

1. Christ’s birth was outside religion
2. Christ was found by others outside religion
3. Christ was introduced by John the Baptizer outside of religion
4. Christ’s followers became His disciples outside of religion
5. Jesus presents Himself as “the bridegroom” and sets apart the bridegroom concept as being versus religion
6. Christ introduced four “new things” – the new garment, the new wine, the new wineskin, and the new cloth – all in apposition to religion
7. Christ exhibited the law of life versus the law as outward regulation (religion)

There is much more to be said, but I think you get the idea.

I have a confession to make

Here is another piece of poetry I first heard performed at my son’s school. This piece also reveals how close some trapped in traditional Christianity are seeing something more real that the “milk” continually fed to them by those who have nothing deeper or more profound to offer them.

My comments are inserted in italics.

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I have a confession to make
Grace is more racy than homosexuality

Yes! Grace is more—much more than the watered-down definition assigned to it in traditional Christianity. Grace is not just “unmerited favor.” Oh, it is certainly that, but it is much, much more than that. Grace is the whole triune God dispensed into us as Christ, through the Spirit, for our enjoyment. We are to be vessel for God and God desires to dispense Himself into us as life. “He who has the Spirit, has life,” the scriptures teach us.

More full of life than teenage pregnancy

So, yes! Grace is more full of life than teenage pregnancy.

More captivating than pornography

Since grace is for our satisfaction—to fully satisfy us by fulfilling God’s real plan and purpose for His creation of us—when found and received as God intends, it will captivate us. Christ, “taking captivity captive” will liberate us from every lesser satisfaction if we fully open to Him.

Grace is far more potent than anything that could make us guilty

Ditto above.
 
But we treat grace like a child

Yes, we treat grace like a child because traditional Christianity has lost sight of the fullness of God’s grace as it really it. Grace is not a “thing.” “The law was given,” the scriptures tell us, but “grace came” in the person of Jesus Christ as the whole God (not just one-third of God) [John 1:17]. And, “of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” [John 1:16].

When we hide our sin and question its ability

Again, yes! We do this because traditional Christianity fails to teach us concerning the reality of grace. Therefore, instead of “coming forward with boldness to the throne of grace,” we find ourselves shrinking back and being fearful of, rather than enjoying God.

 

I have a confession to make
The measure of a Christian
Is not how well their sin is hidden
Or how many church services they have attended
Or how low the number of transgressions
They have committed is
The measure of a Christian
Is hidden in Christ
Whom they have been given

To this verse, I can only say a resounding, “Amen!” Not only is “the measure of a Christian… hidden in Christ,” the whole believer is “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).

I have a confession to make
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
And that goes for
The Gossip as well as the Alcoholic
The Greedy as well as those in adultery
The Apathetic as well as the Addict
The Judgmental as well as the Homosexual

”Amen!” And again I say, “Amen!” Traditional Christianity, much like the Jews of Jesus’ day, has wrapped its religion in outward forms of “rightness” and “wrongness”—returning unwittingly to the tree of knowledge of good and evil—in order to keep its adherents from discovering the hollow shell it really is. In doing so they have rejected Christ as the Tree of Life, even as Jesus warned the Jews: “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39f)

We're all looking for something we can throw
At anyone whose sin looks worse than our own
But we are all sinners, we've all been exposed
So none of us are left with even a single stone
I have a confession to make
Anyone who calls themselves a Christian
Makes the ultimate confession
For Christ did not come for
The healthy, but for those who need medication
The prostitutes,  murderers and those in rehabilitation
So if you claim to be a Christian
You claim to be in need of powerful salvation

I have a confession to make
We are all trapped in shame
Until we give sin a name
For we all play this game
Where we try to look the same
By modifying and hiding our behavior
So no one can see our sin and make us a stranger
But what we don't realize is that we are in danger
For if we live like we have no sin, then we live like we need no savior

The problem with giving sin “a name,” in traditional Christianity, is that Christianity—to far too great a degree—has no healthy teaching to bring real liberty from the power or sin that resides in the flesh. As long as the Christian is left to “do the best you can,” “pray every day,”  and “just hang on,” he remains impotent in the face of sin. Therefore, the weak sinner find that he is loathe to confess this selfsame weakness in the face of ever-present sin. Contrary to the teaching of Scripture, though he now has Christ, he still—all too often—finds that the lack of healthy teaching leaves him still “without hope in this world.”

I have a confession to make
My eyes, lips, and mind are stained and unclean
From images, drinks, and words that would have condemned me
But I'm not saved because I'm perfect or have my sin under control
I'm saved because I need saving and that is the Gospel

I have a confession to make
You no longer have to hide
For God has seen everything that you are
And still came for you and died
It doesn't matter if everyone rejects you
You are still his spotless bride
Come join me in confession
Where we still every brother's suspicion
Every sister's suggestion
Because we have stepped fully in the light
Without any hesitation
No longer can we hide
Nor do we feel the inclination
For freedom's far better
Than staying in incarceration

Many saints today feel that the Scriptures ring hollow when they declare, “Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty, wherewith Christ has set you free,” for they do not yet feel free. Oh, they might momentarily. They might even feel freshly cleansed after some soulical experience during some retreat or meeting. But the sense of being truly free never seems to last long.

This is not the Christian’s fault. This is the failing of traditional Christianity to bring the reality of God’s eternal economy to the man for a full, organic salvation.

Come make your confession
And rob sin of its power
For what strength does it have
If its shame's been devoured

Come make your confession
And make room for healing
Both for yourself and for others
Whom with your very sin they have been dealing

Come make your confession
And rid the church of its judges
For if everyone is confessing
There's no room to make judgments

Amen!

I have a confession to make
God is not condemning
And we should not be trying
To play his role

Let us start to pick up our cross instead of our stones
Hurl rocks of Gospel at each other instead of blows

Open our mouths to confess and forgive instead of keeping them closed
And overlook the speck in another's eye so we can attend to the plank in our own

I have a confession to make
And, church, it's time you made yours too
For Christ did not die so that we may hide
But to love us in spite of the wrong we do

So come, speak your sins
On the alter of confession
It doesn't matter if the world says you're condemned
Because all God speaks is salvation 

Yes! God speaks salvation—a full, organic salvation—through a reality that includes an organic union with His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, “God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” (Hebrews 1:1f). The very language by which God is speaking His eternal salvation today is these last days is “the Son” and His speaking is found in the church—His Bride—called by His Name. “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’”

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Poetry copyright David Bowden

“Ready or Not”

The following are lyrics from P4CM (Passion for Christ Movement). I heard them at my son’s school on “Entertainment Night.” They were performed by a young lady dressed as a bride and her gentleman counterpart.

I was pleased and somewhat astounded by the insight offered by the words. Yet, the writer (or writers) still remain somewhat veiled with regard to the economy of God. My comments are insert in the context of the lyrics.

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Janette: I’m trying to remember why I was created or at least, that’s what I’d like you to think. Because amnesia sounds a lot better than just plain ignorance.  Well...even ignorance is defined as a lack of knowledge, see I’m just faking it. Pretending as if I don’t know, when really I do.  I felt less than what my designer thought was best. So I sup “pressed” who he super “natural”-ly intended me to be. No lie I; got relaxed, then I combined, by “weaving” in a little bit of His will with a whole lot of mine.

[The church has, indeed, forgotten why she was created. Traditional Christianity has become almost entirely about redemption and “church” has become little more than a gathering of believers simply waiting for something—the end of the age? their own death? the second coming of the Lord? But as they wait, the have no sense of purpose. They do not comprehend God’s eternal purpose for man in the earth and for the church in this age.]

So how do I look? ‘Cause I think I look good!

[Yes, many in traditional Christianity are smug and self-satisfied at what they think they are “doing for the Lord.” Yet, the satisfaction of God is not found in our “doing” for the One who created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.]

And yes, I know its not His original design.

[There is a certain nagging discomfort among more and more believers with the utter lack of purpose found in traditional Christianity. Sure, we can serve others doing good deeds and we can preach to gospel. But even our traditional gospel rings hollow: “Come. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, get your sins forgiven, and then hang around with us until something happens—like you die, or Christ comes back again.”]

I have time to change; Fix any minor things I may lack. It’s not like He's coming back... tomorrow.

Seriously, how long have we heard, these are “the last days”? It’s the same old song. I mean, is it just me, or do these last days seem to be lasting kinda long?

[Yes, the longer traditional Christianity’s purposelessness lingers, the more hollow rings the Lord’s promise to “come again” until “the last days” themselves seem to be eternity to us.]

I know I’m not perfect. I’ve had so many I couldn’t count my falls—Niagara. Rather than responding to His call, I’d rather schedule Him—Viagra.

[Somewhere, deep inside, genuine God-seekers in traditional Christianity have a sense of their failings. The problem is, there is so little healthy teaching available among traditional Christians as to how to enter into God’s eternal purpose for man and the church.]

Whatever is wrong He can heal; but I want the cattle on a thousand hills with the ability to take the wheel—grasp will like Jacob to Esau’s heel. His love is based on how I feel—He loves me… He loves me not—like pullin’ petals off flowers.

[The degraded church—believers wandering in traditional Christianity—find themselves bound by two factors: On the one hand, they want to “drive” in their relationship with God. This is a natural response to the purposeless they feel in just “hanging around” waiting for God to do whatever comes next. Instead of being trapped in that purposelessness, they would rather seize the wheel and drive—drive somewhere—anywhere. On the other hand, in the absence of healthy teaching regarding God’s eternal economy, they are also trapped into gauging their present relationship with God based on their present “feelings” about God and about themselves.]

Yes, He’s coming back but no man knows the day or the hour…?

Together: Where have you been. I've been at the altar, waiting For you...

Ezekiel: To repent...  What happened you've...

Janette: Lost weight? Yes. I wanted to look good for you so I haven't been eating my daily...

Ezekiel: “Bread of heaven” is who I am; but its scary. I give you loaves of my Word but you get by with the crumbs of commentaries.  You needed...

[What about this daily bread and the “Bread from heaven”? Read more here.]

Janette: I needed a make over.… No one was attracted to me, so I dressed up the gospel; stayed silent seeing sin saturate sanctuaries—shadowing sight, smoky eyes—because… You know… You are love,  

Ezekiel: No, I am your "cover...girl." I "make up" for your lacks and deficiencies,  I'm your very “foundation.”  See, I blend with you perfectly—no need for concealer—for I’m the revealer of all. Don't you recall when I tore your veil?

[Christ is everything to the church. Sure, the scriptures say that Christ is head of the body, but how many times have you sent your body to work without your head? The head and the body are one. The head has a unique function in the body, but it shares one life with the body. Just like when Jesus told the disciples, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” Have you ever seen a vine with no branches? If Jesus is the vine, then He’s the whole vine—including the part that is found “in the branches.” The branches share one life with the vine and so are incorporated—made into one body—with the vine. The vine is in the branches and the branches are in the vine.]

Janette: So, you’re saying you don’t like my lashes and you don’t like my nails then?

Ezekiel: You don't understand. You don’t understand.  I took lashes for your lashes, and nails for your nails; but If I'm not gaining your heart, then I'm just losing time... ‘cause more than I want you to  be outwardly beautiful, I need you to be mine,

Janette: Okay. But we're here now so let's just go on with this ceremony…

Ezekiel: Knowing… there will be no one in attendance? You never extended invitations. Too excited about the reception, and the gifts that you would get that you forgot my (presence).

Janette: (Presents). And dollar dances… quarters… nickels and 

Ezekiel: The world could keep their dimes. Pieces of silver don't impress me... don't forget what happened to Judas... 

Janette: You just failed to see that I've changed. I admit I grew distant. I lost sight of You—the  absolute value, missing the sin. So now with ignorance, at times, I “cosine” unable to stay away from “tangents.” I thought I had the “right” angle.

Ezekiel: Look, I know your heart has been broken, but if you can Keep your eyes “fixed” on me I can re-pair us. And we will be one no longer be Fractions—being dominated by denominations.

[Yes! If we are “one Body,” as the scriptures say, then we cannot fulfill God’s eternal purpose as long as we “denominated”—literally, separated according to name. There is no other Name than that of Jesus Christ our one Lord by which we should be named. The scriptures tell us that God chooses—not man—the place where He will place His “Name.”]

Janette: Yet, I choose to stay divided like Palestinian nations.

Ezekiel: Yes, your fouls have been flagrant… your fouls have been flagrant; but I am positive I'm the one for you! But we equal nothing if you continue to be the negative one in this equation.

Together: Can you sense... my frustration?

Janette: You are Holy. So I impose what’s legalistic: making appeals for what you already acquitted, obsessed with overruling your objections purposely plucking purpose

Ezekiel: Professing prosperity, practicing pride, prosecuting people persistently; and, when you became the judge, you took away the saint’s defense and see, you've silenced the miraculous testimonies of my witness. So no one’s ever convicted, yet so many of children are turned away from life because you condemn them with your death penalty sentence.

[Just a with the Jews in Jesus’ day, the more empty is the underlying reality of religion, the more outward is the show and the binding become the restrictions of that religion upon its adherents. Of course, the binding of the laws upon the followers is—to a very great extent—intended to keep them from discovering the hollowness at the core of the religion. When Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders, “I leave this temple to you desolate,” He revealed something significant. The temple was already “desolate.” Christ didn’t need to make it thus—as soon as He left the temple, all of God was absent from the temple despite the claims of the religious leaders to the contrary.]

Janette: Not all of them. Which reminds me.. about their entrance: In the Lamb’s Book of Life some names you may have skipped. With attendance, I stamp their wrists so that they can get in—the  VIP section: we don't address their sin; neither do we offend. Bouncers don't trip on those who abundantly give—all of their praying grandmothers had a plus one on the list.

Ezekiel: Well, tell them, they wont see me, by visiting you routinely. Be the example that  you need relationship with Me. You are more than stained glassed windows, pulpits, pew and singers, ‘cause If you want to see My church, just Look in the mirror.

Janette: But you wanted me to be fine, perfect, righteous, and eloquent. But this land seemed desolate and needed development. I exceeded your budget so I withdrew from Tyra’s “bank” and continued to remodel  staying culturally relevant. My girl, Katrina, called said hurricanes and hard times came and You didn’t make Yourself evident.

Ezekiel: But I told you I would never leave thee nor forsake thee.

Janette: I hear you but I had immediate needs.

Ezekiel: But [you] promised that you would… wait for me.

Janette: Wait for you?

Ezekiel: By the way what happened to your ring?

Janette: My ring?

Ezekiel: You don't remember the ring when I called you out of darkness into marvelous things. You wear it IN you not ON you. It was My Spirit, my sign to, and remind you AND your ex who you really belong to.

Janette: My ring? I pawned for money to get back to who I thought was my first love. He spoke to me with words so sweet. He “waves” and I feel the “shore”ness of my wrong decision shifting my view. He wanted me to “sea” breeze, so I could forget where the “Son” sets next.

I was convinced I didn’t need to repent of my sin. He told me he could wash me with the “Tide” that was coming in. The weather was pleasant on the Atlantic surface, but as I got to his core the temperature drastically changed. Yes, I contacted an STD, he “burned” me at 9,800 degrees. He was my earth, he was my world. I'm sorry to tell you, but there's more….

Ezekiel: Did you think I wouldn't notice... the symptoms and the signs, and your unexplainable cravings for sin of all kinds? Even had trouble sleeping.

Janette: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy didn’t come in the morning sickness. So, in my shame and my mourning you witnessed me take the pill for the morning after coincidently located right next to my box of alabaster. I was to shameful to bring forth Al a bast…

Ezekiel: Stirred lies of wicked men's tongues started deceivin’ you, then automatically planted the seeds of deceit in you. And when you were pregnant with falsehood, it became impossible to “conceive” the truth.

Janette: (The truth) made me free, but I ran back to what was comfortable—being enslaved, a mind depraved. I'm sure you don’t want me now. I’m not worth the price you paid....

Ezekiel: They flogged me with whips,that left my flesh stripped, I was beat with their instruments, rhythmically, which caused my skin… I bleed symphonies. I can still remember the hooks—like a chorus—and those weren't just 66 letters, they were musical scores, which contained the every note to keep us on one accord—for you to always  have the right keys to my hearts doors.

Janette: I just wanted a sample-repeat sin like loopin’ eight bars, on my own tempo, I embarked, instead of following Your instrumentation, I drown out your heartbeat of tympani, and strings of harmonies, ignore the woodwinds of Your spirit. If Your trumpet sounds, I wont hear it or even the brass ring, ‘cause I’ve laid tracks and tracks of acapella. But, so I can hear myself sing, majoring in minor, has left me scratched like broken records, causing my life to, causing my life to, causing my life to—stutter. I’m a false instructor, pretending as if I’m watching the conductor. I'm too unlawful to be your wife and probably never recover....

Ezekiel: My WILL was put to the test when I had to choose to escape glory to escape in glory, or bear torment upon my flesh, YOU were the reason I embraced that rugged cross, like my child, who was long lost. MARRY, my own mother couldn’t even recognize [the] disfigured the face of her son. ME, is what I gave you on Calvary, when it was done.

I told you I loved you. How much? Well, I showed you. You called it crucifixion; I call it “proposal.”

WILL YOU MARRY Me...?

You don't need a third party. You have direct access to Me, and we won't ever have to worry about remembering our anniversary, because I've yet to find a calendar with a date for eternity.

Janette: I need your…

Ezekiel: GRACE and MERCY is what I lavish upon….. There's  a recession of My  presence. I see the demand, so I supply the missing peace that your heart demands.  And then….

Janette: …some cry over spilled milk. I weep over spilled...

Ezekiel: Blood that could not be measured in pints to count…

Together: …My love…

Janette: …was contingent on what was instant.

Together: I know I had to come…

Janette: …to repentance.

Ezekiel: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Janette: Father forgive me for I know not what I’ve done.

Janette: I’ll get myself together. I’ll clean myself up.

Ezekiel: Please, allow me, I’m the only one who can make you clean.

Together: Without spot, wrinkle… without blemish.

Ezekiel: Your bridesmaids, goodness and mercy, will follow you. It is already finished. It was you who I chose even though I called many. I am coming back for you.

Together: Will you be ready OR NOT???

[Interestingly, the Lord’s return is predicated upon the Bride having “made herself ready.” We cannot know the time of the Lord’s return for His Bride, but we can hasten that day by endeavoring to understand God’s eternal purpose, and His eternal economy is entirely bound up with the church—the Bride of Christ—His eternal counterpart and His Body.]

God-seekers or letter-keepers

[God] has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

– 2 Corinthians 3:6

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Among men there are two types of people: God-seekers and letter-keepers. Even so-called atheists are letter-keepers. Their lives are governed by rules. Rules they have created for themselves or acquired from some other person but, nonetheless, rules by which they have chosen to live.

Among Christians it is easy to tell which camp we fall into. When, in the scriptures, we hear or read the word “law,” do we immediately think of “rules” to which God intends that we externally conform? If that is so, we remain a letter-keeper. We are still not fully governed by the Spirit of God dwelling in our spirit.

Psalm 119 is a God-seeker’s psalm

Consider, however, the writer of Psalm 119. No psalm is more notably associated with “the law” than this one, commencing as it does with

“Blessed are those whose way is perfect, / Who walk in the law of Jehovah.”

But, what we New Testament believers forget is that to the Old Testament saints, “the law” didn’t mean just commandments and ordinances in their formal “command” form. “The Law” to these O.T. saints included the whole of the first five books of the Old Testament (i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).

If, then, we consider the contents of just the first book, Genesis, we find all of the following dealings with God in His work to gain men for His purpose and His plan:

• The Tree of Life in the garden of Eden
• The generations of man
• The choosing and calling of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel)
• The coming of Melchizedek as the mystical King of Salem and and King of Righteousness
• The offering up of Isaac
• The life Joseph

Now, consider for a moment what God felt was so important in this portion of “the Law.” The entire act of creation of the universe and man was covered in less than three chapters. Joseph—God’s dealings with man to gain a man for His purpose—covers 17 chapters.

So, when the psalmist says, “Blessed are those whose way is perfect; who walk in the law of Jehovah,” I don’t believe the writer is speaking of letter-keeping. He is not saying that the blessed ones are those who are flawless in keeping all of God’s commandments and ordinances. For, if he were saying this, then only Jesus Christ Himself can meet this requirement and blessed.

Rather, the writer is speaking of God-seekers. He is speaking of those who “walk” in all of God’s dealings with men for the gaining of men for the purpose of God. Joseph was such a man. He submitted to God’s dealings, enduring the chaos of his circumstance by taking God as his grace and  his supply, in order that he might fulfill God’s purpose and become a supply to others.

Joseph was not a letter-keeper. He was not seeking retribution under “law” for what his brethren did to him. Rather, Joseph was as God-seeker—finding God and God’s grace in all his circumstance—and understanding that “the law” of God had to do with revealing God’s heart toward man, not merely seeking to make man simply outwardly conforming to the letter of ordinances. For, the letter kills, but the Spirit of God working in man’s spirit gives life.

Our experience of Christ

One of the things I found lacking in traditional Christianity was the genuine experience of Christ.

Oh, I found plenty of people who had “experiences” related to Christ. They attended meetings, “revivals,” prayed with others and had “experiences” that encouraged them, strengthened them, blessed them, made them feel forgiven. Even I had such experiences.

But, upon deeper inspection of myself—or in conversations with such genuine brothers and sisters in Christ—I found that the “experiences” were very superficial. They were experiences in the believers’ minds, their emotions, or even (sometimes) affecting their wills. But the experiences remained in their souls and had little lasting affect on their life and living.

What I did not find in myself or in the other believers with which I was surrounded was the genuine experience of “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). I did not find that, in myself or others, there was the ability to say with any sense of reality that “for me to live is Christ.” Nor did I find in myself or others under the general teaching of traditional Christianity the reality of any of the other experiences expressed in Colossians, such as:

• “Full-grown in Christ (1:28)
• “Walk in Him” (2:6)
• “According to Christ” (2:8)
• “Made alive together with Him” (2:13)
• “Died with Christ” (2:20)
• “Holding the Head [Christ]” (2:19)
• “Out from whom [the Head]” (2:19)
• “Grows with the growth of God” (2:19)

These verses, taken together, constitute a full and proper experience in Christ, with Christ and of Christ. They go well beyond the experience of most in traditional Christianity. Yet, most Christians today know only redemption and some tradition of teaching that amounts to little more than “hanging on” until they either die or their idea of “the rapture” arrives.

I knew, however, that some had had a deeper, richer, more complete and more proper experience of Christ than I had. I knew this from reading books written by so-called “Christian mystics,” such as Madame Guyon, Andrew Murray, and others.

These people had touched Christ in their spirit and through the Holy Spirit indwelling them as Christ Himself. That, is the experience I sought and that is the experience that the Bible teaches.

These believers had had experiences “in” Christ, “according to” Christ, “with” Christ and “out from” Christ as their very center.

I prayed fervently, as I know some of you are praying even now:

“O, Lord Jesus: If there are those who have found a way to discover, receive, enjoy and grow more in You, with You, by You, according to You and out from You, then bring me to them that I might also have such a sweet, rich and full experience of You.”

The Lord Jesus answers such prayer and I have found such a wellspring of His riches.

In this I rejoice!

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What is your experience in Christ?

Jesus Christ made available to us as the breath of life

In Genesis, God breathed into man the breath of life. That was the old creation (see Gen. 5:1, “the book of the generations of Adam”). In the new creation (cf. Matt. 1:1 – “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ”), Christ has made Himself available to us as the Spirit (Greek pneuma or breath).

And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. – John 20:22

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1. O Lord, breathe Thy Spirit on me,
Teach me how to breathe Thee in;
Help me pour into Thy bosom
All my life of self and sin.

I am breathing out my sorrow,
Breathing out my sin;
I am breathing, breathing, breathing,
All Thy fulness in.

2. I am breathing out my own life,
That I may be filled with Thine;
Letting go my strength and weakness,
Breathing in Thy life divine.

3. Breathing out my sinful nature,
Thou hast borne it all for me;
Breathing in Thy cleansing fulness,
Finding all my life in Thee

4. I am breathing out my sorrow,
On Thy kind and gentle breast;
Breathing in Thy joy and comfort,
Breathing in Thy peace and rest.

5. I am breathing out my sickness,
Thou hast borne its burden too;
I am breathing in Thy healing,
Ever promised, ever new.

6. I am breathing out my longings
In Thy listening, loving ear;
I am breathing in Thy answers,
Stilling every doubt and fear.

7. I am breathing every moment,
Drawing all my life from Thee;
Breath by breath I live upon Thee,
Lord, Thy Spirit breathe in me.

God as the indwelling life-giving Spirit

Now the Triune God has come to dwell within
As the wonderful Spirit in us.
We are mingled with the Lord, we're one with Him
As the life-giving Spirit in us.

Chorus:
Oh, He's the wonderful Spirit in us,
He's the wonderful Spirit in us!
God is in the Son, the Son's the Spirit now —
He's the wonderful Spirit in us!

"Abba Father" is the cry from deep within
From the wonderful Spirit in us.
'Tis the Spirit of the Son who cries to Him
As the life-giving Spirit in us.

Jesus Christ the Lord is living now in us
As the wonderful Spirit within.
He has been transfigured, we enjoy Him thus,
As the life-giving Spirit within.

Now the Spirit of reality is here
As the wonderful Spirit within.
Now the things of Christ are all so real and clear
By the life-giving Spirit within.

We will all stir up this gift that's deep within
As the wonderful Spirit in us.
When we call "Lord Jesus" how our spirits spring
With this life-giving Spirit in us!

Christ working to transform us

But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. – 2 Cor. 3:18

Many Christians understand only that, in some mystical way, they “invited Jesus into their hearts,” they they have no real experiential knowledge of Christ dwelling in them. Yet, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that “we all”—that is, all believers—should be “beholding and reflecting” with an “unveiled face” the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I know for many, many years as a Bible-studying Christian I thought that “beholding and reflecting…the glory of the Lord” somehow instead meant “studying and trying to perform according to what I saw of Jesus Christ in the scriptures.” This meant that all my efforts in this regard were centered only in my flesh mind (found in my soul).

Of course, this deficiency was caused by the all to frequent failure of traditional Christianity to even teach that man has a spirit, and that in man’s regenerated spirit is where Jesus Christ dwells with the Triune God by the Holy Spirit.

This is so short!

God really does intend us to be a vessel to contain Him as our life and our everything. Christ desires to become not only our life, but our very person. In God’s economy, He has made a way for Christ to be united and mingled with us so that He can also be working within us to transform us day by day until we are the same as He is in life, nature and expression but not in the Godhead.

Our being joined to the Lord can only take place in our mingled spirit

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” – 1 Cor. 6:17

For many in traditional Christianity, “faith” is little more than mental assent to certain articles of belief. That is how it was for me for many, many years.

Oh, my relationship with the Lord was real enough—but it was almost entirely in my mind. I hardly knew that I had a human spirit—let alone knowing what I should do with it. I had invited Jesus into my heart and that’s pretty much where He stayed—locked away from all the rest of my being.

It is only after I learned that I had a human spirit, and how to “exercise myself unto godliness” by feeding and exercising my spirit, that I discovered with all the saints that I could be truly united and mingled with the Lord Jesus dwelling as the Spirit of reality in my regenerated human spirit. It is reality of Jesus Christ dispensed by the Father as the Spirit into my spirit that allows the joining and mingling that makes us—Him and me, me and Him—“one spirit” (1 Cor. 6:17). This is experience truly is the normal Christian life—and not the exception.

Our mutual coinherence with the Father through Christ by the Spirit

And the Lord is the Spirit…. – 2 Cor. 3:17a

In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. – John 14:20

That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me. – John 17:21

The concept of coinherence (mutual indwelling) cannot be fully comprehended by our natural mind. It is a matter of faith and must be “spiritually discerned,” as Paul writes in another place.

Coinherence is the essential state of the Triune God. That is to say, at all times in the godhead, the Father is in the Son and the Spirit; the Son is, at the same time, always found in the Father and in the Spirit; and the Spirit is at all times found in the Father and in the Son.

The Lord Jesus introduces us to something new in the coinherence relationship in the Gospel of John. He says that we “all” are not only to be made one (i.e., brought into oneness), but we “all” (17:21) are to be made one in the same way (read: “even as”) as the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. We are introduced by the Lord Jesus to an expanded Trinity that brings the corporate man—the Body of Christ—into the enlargement of God and His expression.

Note: This does not mean that we are brought into the godhead to become God as an object of worship. Only God is God and there is none other like Him. Nevertheless, the scriptures are clear that by the dispensing of the life of God into the believers in Christ and by the Spirit, there is a real and expanded oneness within God into which the believers are invited to dwell.

In the illustration above we are given a small glimpse as to how this new organic oneness operates by God the Father “who is over all, through all and in all.” While God remains God in His godhead, we—the believers—are brought into this divine oneness through our mingled spirit and the divine dispensing. Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit becomes Jacob’s ladder joining (in reality) “heaven and earth” (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51).

This is the branch abiding in the vine. This is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” This is the mutual coinherence of the genuine believer in the Father and in the Son by the Spirit in their human spirit.

Knowing Christ in a deeper way

When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. – Col. 3:4 [emphasis added]

Much like I found myself 15 or more years ago, many who have known nothing but the traditional teachings of Christianity, know Christ only as their savior and redeemer. As essential as that is, the Lord never intended for us to stop there. Else, how could Paul write to the Colossians, “When Christ our life is manifested”?

The sad truth is that Christ is not “our life”—at least not for most Christians today. I know he certainly was not for me for my first 20 or so years as a Christian. And I was considered a Bible scholar amongst my Christian peers.

Yes! We need to find our way well beyond the redeeming work of Christ to Christ as life—as our life.

“…God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” – Col. 1:27

“Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in Him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:4f

Crucial elements of the Bible–Part 9

And He subjected all things under His feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. – Ephesians 1:22f

As we have been saying in this series of articles, the principle that we must apply in any interpretation of the Bible is that the centrality of the Bible is Christ and that the crucial elements of the Bible are four: Christ, the Spirit, life and the church.

In the matter of Jesus Christ, we emphasized that God intends the very person of Jesus Christ to become the believer’s life and that Christ, by the Holy Spirit, God intends Christ to be united and mingled with the believer in one spirit (I Cor. 6:17).

When we came to the matter of the Holy Spirit, we used John 7 (esp. 39) to highlight the fact that, in the economy of God, the Spirit of God has been compounded with Jesus Christ’s divinity, humanity, crucifixion and resurrection to become the compound, life-giving, indwelling, sanctifying, transforming and even the seven-fold intensified Spirit (Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6, et al) dispensed into the believers.

I discussing the matter of life, we pointed out that Jesus’ redemptive work was not the end, but only the beginning. Redemption was to make man qualified to receive the very life of God—life absolute and underived. The Triune God’s eternal purpose is to dispense Himself into man as life. He does this by coming to us in Christ as the Spirit of reality to dwell in the believers as vessels for His life and His expression.

Now we come to the matter of the church—the Body of Christ.

It is in the book of Ephesians that the Spirit explicitly reveals “God’s eternal purpose.”

In [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses, according to the riches of His grace…. – Eph. 1:7

Too many in traditional Christianity stop (at least subconsciously) right there. Having found redemption and forgiveness in God, that is all with which they are concerned. All their life and thinking circle around redemption and forgiveness.

They would be like the children of Israel in Egypt at the time of the Passover. However, all they did was kill the lamb and put the blood on their doorposts. What they are missing is the eating—for it is by eating that we have life—and walking toward God’s purpose for them (for the children of Israel, that was “the promised land”).

But, Ephesians goes on from there:

“…which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” – Eph. 1:8-10

It is beyond the scope of this article to expound the whole verse, but clearly you see that God had a purpose “in Himself,” and this purpose was to be carried out through an “economy” (a dispensing) in time (not eternity).

Chapter 3 of Ephesians picks up this theme once again:

“…[T[o enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, in order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the Church, according to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord….” – Eph. 3:9-11

Here we see plainly why we must include “the church” as one of the four crucial elements of the Bible. The church is not merely the gathering place for believers to “hang on” until we die or the Lord Jesus comes again. The church—the Body of Christ—is the very expression of God displaying His multifarious wisdom to principalities and powers in the heavenlies.

As the main grains (John 12:24) become one loaf (I Cor. 10:17), even so, through the Lord’s transforming work, the many stones become a building, the many members become “a body,” and the church ultimately becomes a city—the New Jerusalem. The church “which is His Bride” has become “a holy city… prepared as a bride” (Rev. 21:2) for the Triune God in Christ, the Lamb.

Without the church as a crucial element in the centrality of God’s purpose and in the Bible, we cannot get to the Book of Revelation chapter 22. For it is in that chapter that “the Spirit and the Bride”—speaking with one voice—say, “Come!” It is there we—as we did in Genesis—a flowing river of the water of life and the Tree of Life made available to man for all eternity as God’s dispensing into man for life and as life.

What a glorious purpose is found in God! Blessed be His Name forever more!

Crucial elements of the Bible-Part 8

When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. – Colossians 3:4

In Part 7 of this series, we looked at a figure showing the spiritual “biology” of a single believer. But, since we are considering the crucial elements of the Bible—Christ, the Spirit, Life and the Church—we need to understand the spiritual “biology” that make the church a living organism as the full expression of the Triune God and not an organization.

God intention in the economy of God is to have one Body in this universe for His expression through Christ. This one Body—the Body of Christ—is composed of all those who have believed into Christ and have been joined to God through the activation of their human spirit mingled with the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 6:17).

Salvation

The believers salvation is initiated by the individual’s calling upon the Name of the Lord and is made both possible and effective by the redemptive price paid by Jesus Christ once for all through His precious blood, death and resurrection.

However, God never intended man to simply “receive Jesus into his heart” and hold Him captive there. Instead, God’s intention with man is that, beginning from man’s spirit mingled and joined to the Holy Spirit, that man’s mind, will and emotions (his soul) would be brought under the rule and headship of the divine life spreading from the spirit. God’s dispensing begins in and with the spirit of man, but man’s whole vessel is intended to contain the divine life. It is for this very reason that man was created in the image of God.

As believers joined together in Christ we are automatically joined in “the oneness of the Spirit” (Eph. 4:3), which oneness we are exhorted “to keep… in a uniting bond of peace” (with God). We are not exhorted to “create” such oneness because it is not within our power to do so.

Sanctification

Allowing the divine life to spread from our spirit into our soul and to govern our thinking (i.e., our mind), our feelings (i.e., our emotions) and our choosing (i.e., our will) is what the scriptures refer to as “sanctification.” This word is easily understood when we see the German form which, being directly translated, means: holy-making.

However, once again our traditional Christian (read: religious) understandings tend to take over and we immediately think that “holy-making” or “sanctification” mean God wants to bring us into conformity to an outward declaration of “laws” for righteousness.

The Greek word for “holy” clears this mistaken impression up for us once and for all. The Greek word is (transliterated) “hagios” or “agios” (without the initial breath-mark). This comes from two roots: the first is the negative particle “a,” which negates what follows it. We find this negative particle brought into English in several words, such as “apathy,” meaning “without feeling.”

The second root is “gios” or, more commonly brought into English as “geos.” This root is found in several English words such as “geography,” “geology,” “geometry,” and “geophysics.” You note that they all have to do with the earth.

Therefore, when we combine these roots in our English understanding we see that “holy” means “not-of-the-earth” or “not-earthly.”

But, clearly, it is not possible for us to make ourselves “not earthly.” The only way for such a transformation is by a full reliance upon, and our organic growth through, the Holy Spirit, thus being brought deeper into God. This is the meaning then of “…Holding to the truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ” (Eph. 4:15a). As you can see in the diagram above, growing up into God means allowing God to work in us to bring not only our spirit, but also our soul, into the realm of Christ as our life (see Gal. 2:20, et al).

One God and Father of all… over all and through all and in all

The figure above also clearly depicts the conditions described for the “One Body” in Ephesians 4:6, showing us plainly how “One God and Father of all… is [in reality] over all and through all and in all.”

Crucial elements of the Bible-Part 7

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

– Romans 8:10, 11

In preceding portions of this series, we have talked about the deep significance of John 7, culminating in verse 39. How the divine human living of Jesus, who was taken bodily into heaven in His ascension, was compounded into the Life-giving Spirit before the Spirit’s being dispensed into man. This concept is made all the more clear by 1 Corinthians 15:45b, where the scriptures tell us that “the Last Adam [Jesus Christ] was made a life-giving spirit.” Once again, the reference is to His divine humanity—as the first Adam was certainly a man.

Now we continue considering Romans 8:10 and 11.

Here we see, once again, the while the scriptures declare this it is, indeed, the Christ of God who is dispensed into us (with the Father and as the Spirit), the emphasis returns saying, “the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus [emphasis on His humanity] from the dead wells in you” and gives you “life… through His Spirit.”

The Triune God and tripartite man

Before one “believes into” the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:38), one’s spirit remains darkened and he remains “dead in [his] trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). However, when the unbeliever calls upon the Name of the Lord, his spirit is made alive and by this organ His contact with God is restored for “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit” (John 4:24).

Believing is not simple a mental assent to some religious postulates. Real faith is a movement out of one realm and into another—”out of the [realm of the] authority of darkness” and “into the kingdom of the Son of [God’s] love” (Col. 1:13).

This joining “into” God is the receiving of the very life of God by the Holy Spirit into our human spirit. By this we join “the kingdom of God.” (There are the “animal kingdom,” the “plant kingdom,” and the “God kingdom,” each representing a distinction in life and in nature. We can talk more about this matter another time.) In this regard, Jesus employs a powerful image—the vine-tree.

The life of the vine

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman,” Jesus told his disciples (John 15:1). The secret for the believer is found in verse 4: “Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

Once we are joined to the Triune God (God the Father in Christ Jesus as the Spirit dispensed into our human spirit), we are like the vine branch abiding in the vine tree. The life of Jesus Christ, flowing by the Spirit in our spirit, is a constant supply of life to us as long as we remain connected and open to that flow.

As Romans 8:10 and 11 tell us, then, “Christ is [flowing] in you” through this life-giving connection. And, even though our flesh (our body) is still in deadness “because of sin,” yet our “spirit is life because of righteousness” (in this case, God’s righteousness to fulfill His promise to all those who call upon His Name).

“And, if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus [in His divine humanity] from the dead [that is, the Father God] dwells in you, [then] He who raised Christ [the anointed one for this purpose] will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

So, we see then, brethren, that the goal of the Triune God is the dispensing of the Holy Spirit, who brings life—both the divine life and Jesus’ divine human living—into us as His believers. This makes us truly “the children of God”—having the very life and nature of our heavenly Father—and not just “adopted children” as traditional Christian thinking would have us believe.