Burning bright or burning out - abundant life or religious death?

Jesus said that in order to enter the Kingdom of God one had to be born again, or born from above (John 3:7). To be born again means to have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. To be regenerated means, inter alia, that we have been enabled to live effectively in the realm of the spirit.

In John 4:14 Jesus states that God is Spirit. The regenerated individual has now been enabled to interact with God - who exists in a unity of three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in the realm of God, i.e. the spiritual realm.

Religion, the pursuit of the unregenerate, is wholly natural and devoid of the true Spirit of God. It is therefore impossible for those trapped in religious effort, custom, tradition, etc., as a means of pleasing God, to have a living relationship with the God who is spirit. The solely natural has no means to enter the realm of the spirit with a view of forming a relationship with the living God (Romans 14:17).

Religion is any system that demands that individuals change their behaviour in order to please God (Jeremiah 31:33&34; Ezekiel 36:26&27). So, anything that looks like righteousness, peace or joy without the Holy Spirit is merely counterfeit.

It is of paramount importance to remember that Jesus has nothing in common with religion, nothing at all. He did not come to give us the strength to keep the Ten Commandments (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus did not call upon us to modify our behaviour. Quite the contrary in fact, He promised us a new life with which God is already pleased (John 10:10).

The word ‘life’ as employed here is translated from the Koine Greek ‘zōē’ which means, “... life in the absolute sense, life as God has it, that which the Father has in Himself, and which He gave to the Incarnate Son to have in Himself ...” [i] (John 1:4; Acts 3:15).

Life, in this context must not be seen as length of days, so to speak, but as a quality and intensity (cf. I John 1:1&2). This should be considered in connection with the creation of man who, by design, partook of the very life of God (Genesis 2:7).

Adam literally lived and moved in the life of God that indwelt him (cf. Acts 17:28). He and Eve, i.e. mankind, were separated from the Tree of Life and thus had their link with the God, who is spirit, severed. This was evidenced by their loss of eternal life and the darkening of their understanding (Ephesians 4:18). All of this has been reversed in Christ (John 11:25, 14:6; Revelation 22:1-5).

With all of this in mind, we who are believers in Jesus Christ need to take note, afresh, of the following:

John 3:15&16 – “... that whoever believes may in Him have eternal zōē.”

John 3:36 – “He who believes in the Son has eternal zōē; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see zōē.

John 4:14 - “... but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal zōē.”

John 8:12 – “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of zōē.”

Religion will fight tooth and nail to prevent such a truth becoming accessible to those who are in search of it (John 5:40).

So, salvation is a participation in God’s life. There is no law that could produce the nature of God in an individual. This new life flows spontaneously out of the gift of Life given in Christ. Jesus came to begin a new race of people who shared in His life (zōē). How did He achieve this? The answer is found in John 12:24.

Central to all of this is the fact of Jesus’ physical resurrection (John 11:25). His resurrection was proof positive that the sin that stood between man and the ‘zōē’ of God had been dealt with – we were justified. Therefore the following became valid in the life of the believer:

Philippians 1:21 – “For to me, to live is Christ ...”

Colossians 3:4 – “... Christ who is our life (zōē) ...”

Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

II Peter 1:4 – “... that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature ...”.

Religion will call upon us to imitate Christ in our natural ability instead of through the life that indwells the believer (cf. I Corinthians 11:1). The ‘zōē life’ now represents the life that is in those who believe. Christ now lives within thus making the idea of the believer as a puppet a nonsense. In fact, Jesus has restored the believer to true freedom.  The life in Christ is 100% supernatural.

Therefore, the fruits of the spirit as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22&23 are just that: Fruits sourced in the Holy Spirit dwelling within each believer, not the effort of every believer seeking to grow them. The regenerated child of God cannot be explained outside of the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9).

Religion causes people to burn out in their quest to please God. The life of God does not consume that which it indwells (Exodus 3:2).

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[i] Vine, W.E. An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Old Tappen. Fleming H. Revell. 1966. Pg. 336.

Jesus’ prayer for the Church

It has often been said that to pray the will of God in any situation is to guarantee an answer to the prayer. If such logic is applied to Jesus’ so-called priestly prayer of John 17:1-26, then it stands to reason that it would be the Father’s will to answer such a prayer in the affirmative.

Our focus for this discussion will be on Jesus’ petitions regarding His disciples and those who were to follow, i.e. the Church, His Body (17:20).

Vss. 1-5 – Jesus prays for Himself.

Vss. 6-19 – He prays for His disciples but, in effect, for us as well.

Vss. 20-26 – He prays for the future believers and our presence with Him.

Central to this discussion is Jesus’ remarks in verses 2&3:

Eternal life has come to us through Jesus Christ.

Jesus defines eternal life as – That we may know the Father and the Son.

Key to appreciating Jesus’ point here is to understand the word ‘know’.

Koine Greek - ‘ginōskō’ = To know by experience as opposed to by intuition.

The ‘knowing’ to which Jesus refers is one that is both based and reliant upon relationship. Relationship is dependent upon face-to-face experience of one another. So, the experience which Jesus has afforded us is not theoretical, ethereal or dependent upon ceremony.

Vs. 6 – Jesus announcement of the disciples ‘achievement’ sets a standard for all who were to follow: “They have kept your word.”

In verse 8 Jesus gives expression to the Divine logic behind our adoption: He relayed the Word of God from the Father which the disciples (and us) received.

Received – K.Gr. ‘lambanō’ = The disciples received that which was taught by Christ. That message convinced them that Jesus was sent by the Father. Therefore, to be a disciple one must be convinced of the incarnation (Philippians 2:5-11). So, the divine relationship with Christ is rooted in the supernatural.

In verse 9 Jesus makes it clear that what He is about to ask of His Father is for the disciples (i.e. the Church). What is it that Jesus’ is asking the Father on our behalf? The answer is two-fold and found in verse 11: As we are in this world, Jesus asks the Father to keep us.

Keep – K.Gr. ‘tērěō’ = To guard from loss or injury. To keep any eye upon. To maintain as opposed to leaving (Romans 8:26-39).

In keeping us, Jesus calls upon the Father that we might be in unity (be one) even as the Father and Son are one.

One – K.Gr. ‘hěis’ = One numerically as opposed to being one in essence (‘hen’)  (John 10:30).

In other words, we cannot be the same as God is essence, but Jesus prays that we might be in such a unity with one another that we would appear as one person (i.e. on Body) (vs. 26). In understanding this we can come to appreciate Paul’s alarm with the divisions in the Corinthian congregations (I Corinthians 3: 1-9).

Jesus continues His petition for His disciples, in verse 13, by seeking that His joy be made full in those who have received Him.

Joy – K.Gr. ‘chara’ = Cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight. Gladness of heart.

Jesus’ joy was directly connected to His oneness with His Father (hěis). So, His joy in us is made complete by our oneness with Him and with each other.

Vs. 14 – The position of the disciples of Christ in this age is one of being hated. This hatred springs from the fact that the church has elected not to be a part of this present age in its pursuits and beliefs.

Hated – K.Gr. ‘misěō’ = To detest, especially to persecute. Malicious and unjustifiable feelings toward others.

World – K.Gr. ‘kŏsmŏs’ = Orderly arrangement, by implication the world upon which we dwell and its inhabitants.

Here Jesus is not speaking of the world system under satan, but the planet upon which we live as not being our home or our source (cf. vs. 16). As such, we are merely pilgrims passing through this solely natural broken world on our way to that for which we were created – the new heavens and the new earth (II Peter 3:10-13). It is for this reason that Jesus implores His followers not to build up natural wealth while neglecting that which will be of worth in that which is still to come (Matthew 6:19-21).

Jesus plea to His Father was that we would not be removed from this world (vs. 15), wherein we are salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16), but He would keep us out of the power of the evil one (cf. Matthew 6:13).

Jesus, being the Truth, called up the Father to sanctify the disciples in truth (vs. 17).  Herein Jesus is petitioning for the separation of His disciples unto the Kingdom of God; the means of that separation is the Word of God.

In verse 18 Jesus likens the so-called Great Commission (Matthew 28:19&20) to His being sent into the world (Luke 4:18&19; Philippians 2:5-11).

Vss. 20&21 – Jesus makes it clear that His petition is also on behalf of those who would succeed the disciples through the centuries still to come, i.e. that includes us.

Jesus’ heart was, and remains, for unity. It is His desire for His Body, the Church, to be one in the same manner that He and His Father are one. Not only one in terms of unity but that we would be in them, the Father and the Son even as they are in one another. Apparently, it is this alone which will convince those who are open to such, that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God.

In verse 21 the word “believe’ is in the continuous present tense, thus it should be understood as, “continually believe”. Therefore, the ongoing testimony of the Church is to be one of unity (vss. 22&23).

Verse 24 is very exciting in that Jesus, like us, yearns for our presence with Him in the heavens and new earth. In this ‘dispensation’ we seek His presence. At the same time He looks forward to ours with Him.

John the Baptist – Divine indicator

 In I Chronicles 12:32 the tribe of Issachar were described as, “ ... men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do...” As such, they were made keepers of the [religious] calendar. The Hebrew word underlying the English ‘understood’ meant, inter alia, discernment, wisdom, perception and knowledge.

We, as the Church, should be so aware. Jesus made it clear that it was necessary to be able to discern the times in which the Church has lived and still lives (Matthew 24:3,4&32f).

Before we proceed, let us clearly understand that what the Bible calls ‘the last days’ commenced with the birth of the Church, not the modern political entity called [secular] Israel (Acts 2:17 – cf. 2:2-4). The birth of the Church – the Body of Christ – was of divine design and origin. The establishing of the nation of Israel in 1948 was political and fraught with deception, manipulation, and lies (hardly traits one would associate with a work of God).

The prophets Isaiah and Malachi taught that John the Baptist was to be an indicator of seasons (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1, 4:5&6); he was to announce the advent of Christ. They had an insight into the plan of God (Luke 10:24; I Peter 1:10-12).

In the Gospel of Matthew, John the Baptist was likened to the prophet Elijah (Matthew 11:14, 17:9-13). Elijah, in the Hebrew mind, represented the Old Testament prophets as a whole, even as Moses represented the Law (Matthew 17:1-8).

It is interesting that Jesus said in Matthew 17:9-13 that Elijah had already come and was still to come. John, by this time, had been executed by Herod and would not return physically to the earth until the second coming. So, what was Jesus intimating?

John the Baptist appeared as a witness of the coming Messiah (John 1:6-8). How John came to be that witness is a story that needs to be understood not only for its historic value, but also for the symbolic that sheds much light on the role of the Body of Christ (cf. Luke 1:15-17).

John came in the spirit, as it were, of Elijah as the anointed forerunner of the initial coming of the Messiah (i.e. the Christ) (Isaiah 40:1-5; Malachi 4:5&6). The Church, in like manner, is now the herald of the return of Jesus Christ (Luke 19:13; Acts 1:8; II Thessalonians 1:8)

The Baptist, like Elijah, had a priestly background (Luke 1:5-7). The names of John’s parents, given their proximity to the events that would follow are significant:

• Zacharias = ‘Jehovah has remembered’.
• Elizabeth = ‘God of the oath’.

Therefore, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was about to remember His covenant promise. Both of them were righteous and, like Enoch before them, they walked blamelessly before the Lord. In spite of this conduct, Elizabeth had remained childless and they were by now in their old age (Luke 1:5-7). Their childlessness carries echoes of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:11).

When Elizabeth was in her sixth month, the angel Gabriel announced to her relative Mary that she was about was about to conceive as well. Bear in mind that the number ‘6’ is the number of man. It was this ‘6’ (the period of man) that preceded the conception of God’s divine ‘7’ (the expectation of the King).

Luke 1:41 records the fulfilment of the angelic promise uttered in vs. 15. John, the witness of the coming Messiah, was filled with the Holy Spirit because of the very presence, prior to His physical arrival, of the King of kings (cf. Acts 2:1-4 & 17&18).

John’s mission was clearly outlined in Luke 1:16&17:

• A ministry that turns the sons of Israel back to Yahweh in preparation for the Messiah’s arrival. - The Remnant is to call the ‘backslider’ home (Galatians 1:6, 2:18, 4:9; II Timothy 4:10; Hebrews 10:38; Revelation 2:4).

• A forerunner marked by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. - The Remnant must move in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit with signs, wonders and miracles (Mark 16:15-18; II Corinthians 12:12).

• Bring about family unity. - The Remnant is to proclaim and uphold by living example the centrality and importance of the Christ-centred family (I Corinthians 7:10&11; Ephesians 5:25,28&33; Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; Titus 2:4&5; Hebrews 13:4; I Peter 3:1-7).

• Address disobedience among the righteous. – The Remnant are to fearlessly bring correction within the Body of Christ (Acts 16:4&5; I Corinthians 5:5; II Corinthians 10:8, 13:2; I Timothy 1:20; Titus 2:15, 3:10&11; Hebrews 13:17; III John 10).

• To prepare a people for the coming of the Lord. – The Remnant is to work towards the presentation of the Bride to the Bridegroom (II Corinthians 4:13&14, 11:2; Ephesians 1:4, 5:27; Colossians 1:22).

The naming of John on the eighth day after his birth is also rich with significance (Luke 1:59-63) Please bear in mind that is more than likely that all who were in attendance were aware that over 400 years of prophetic silence were about to end (Luke 1:14-17):

• The family were all convinced that Zacharias would name his son after himself, as was the accepted and established tradition within the Levitical order.

• Elizabeth made it clear his name would be John.

• The family appealed to the absence of such a name in the family.

• Zacharias confirmed the departure from tradition, in writing. Subsequently, nine months of being unable to speak gave way to liberty (vss. 64&67-79; cf. Romans 10:10).

When Zacharias named his son he said, “His name is John.” As opposed to Elizabeth who said, “... he shall be called John.” John’s mother had learned the choice of name second-hand through her husband. Zacharias, on the other hand, had received direct and divine instruction from the angel Gabriel (vs. 13; cf. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31). When God instructs it (His purpose) is established, no personal choice involved. The issue of covenant is in view here. Gabriel had named the forerunner; Zacharias merely announced the Divine mandate. In short, a covenant is that ‘agreement’ whereby God lays down the terms which man is free to accept or reject, but can in no way negotiate or change the terms.

So, God did not call for another ‘Jehovah has remembered’. That would have meant going back to the old order (Hebrews 8:13). The name announced was ‘John’, meaning: ‘Gracious gift of God.’ The new order was the gift of God’s grace. When a promise is fulfilled, the time for newness and change has arrived (Matthew 9:17).

As it was for John, so today is the time for the faithful remnant of the Church to come out of the wilderness where it has grown up alone away from the corrupting influences of the Pharisees (Luke 1:80).

With regard to the remnant Church coming out of the wilderness where it has grown up alone away from the corrupting influences of the Pharisees (Luke 1:80), consider this paraphrase that follows:

Matthew 23:1-12, from a 21st century perspective: Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: "The apostles, pastors, leaders, bishops, etc. ... tie up heavy burdens of financial demands to fund building projects and TV. shows and lay them on the shoulders of those they lead, but they themselves are unwilling to move those burdens on the most vulnerable with even one finger. But they do all their acts to be noticed and build personal profile and influence; for their suits become more expensive and they don gowns and symbols akin to the most pagan of counterfeits. They love the front seats and even those on the platform at the conferences and services, and the respectful greetings in and around town, and being called 'pastor, man of God, prophet, psalmist, etc.' by all who see them. But do not be called by any title; for One is your Teacher and all of you are equal. Do not call anyone father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for there is only One deserving of such recognition and He is Christ. True greatness is found in the attitude of slavery. If you insist on being praised and recognised by man, you will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted in the correct way."