LITTLE CHRISTS

Hear the words of C.S. Lewis: “Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. If we do, we shall then be sharing a life which was begotten, not made, which always existed and always will exist. Christ is the Son of God. If we share in this kind of life we also shall be sons of God. We shall love the Father as He does and the Holy Ghost will arise in us. He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has — by what I call "good infection." Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a Christian is simply nothing else.”

God became man for no other purpose then to draw men into Christ... into Himself, to make them little Christs; the whole universe was created for this very purpose. Jesus commanded: “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It is our conformance into the likeness of Christ... our transformation, which is at issue in this command, our spiritual maturation. The “Consuming Fire”, the Love that made the worlds, will never rest... or let us rest, until we are literally perfect, the perfect reflection of our perfect Savior. God’s purpose is not to torment our natural Self but to kill it. No half measures will do, the whole of Self must die to make way for the spiritual nature of Christ to manifest and flourish in us. This is the whole enchilada, the whole essence of Christianity, the foundation on which Kingdom life is built – Christlikeness!

Of the purpose of the Church, Lewis said that it “exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” Now hear Martin Luther voicing this same understanding: “As our heavenly Father has in Christ freely come to our aid, we also ought freely to help our neighbor through our body and its works, and each one should become as it were a Christ to the other that we may be Christs to one another and Christ may be the same in all, that is, that we may be truly Christians.”  

The church should be contagious with this “Good Infection” spreading transformation into Christlikeness – the leaven of God’s Kingdom -- to every saint who enters its portals. This is the equipping of the saints the Apostle Paul spoke of – the true work of ministry beyond the church’s walls -- to be the catalyst of a pandemic everywhere they go. “To be conformed to the image (nature) of His Son … for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ … that He (Christ) might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF BECOMING A CHRISTIAN

IS SIMPLY NOTHING ELSE

(Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:12)

COMPLETE SURRENDER

It starts with a proper understanding of faith: To have faith in God is to believe in, trust in, cling to, and rely upon God, wholly submitted to His will… His word. Faith is willing not to have what God is not willing to give, and it does not insist on an explanation.

It is more than enough to know God promises to give what is good, since He knows so much more about “good” than we do.

“Be holy, for I am holy.” We are called to pursue and be partakers of His holiness… His ultimate good.

Without holiness -- without Christ formed in us -- no one shall see God. This would not be good!

So, when we say yes to God’s call He takes our yes seriously... literally, and invites us into His operating room. The Father’s wooing call is a two-edged sword that meets willingness with love surgery, paring the callus from hardened hearts.

We must surrender, our body’s needs, our soul’s desires, our spirit’s loneliness, our mind’s fears, and our heart’s loves -- ultimately surrendering our independence and our will to will anything differently then God wills -- all to our Lord and Savior.

And, there must be certainty in our response, a willingness not to have what God is not willing to give… Self rule, that we might have what He desires to give… Lordship, Himself indwelling our hearts and living His life through us. 

The Holy Spirit is, operationally, the mind of Christ indwelling us. Cohabitation with Self is simply not possible. 

God’s purpose is not to torment our nature, Self, but to kill it. No half measures will do, the whole of Self must die to make way for the divine nature of Christ to manifest and flourish in us.

We must allow the Holy Spirit to do His transforming work in us if we are to mature spiritually, live in the center of God’s will, and manifest Christ to the world as “sons of God led by the Spirit of God.”

In short: We must become People of One Thing… Jesus!

The “Consuming Fire” -- the Love that made the worlds -- will never rest... or let us rest, until we are literally perfect, the perfect reflection of our perfect Savior.

Christlikeness is our destiny and our only hope of eternal glory.

God is not an uncertain God…

NOTHING MORE IS NEEDED...

NOTHING LESS WILL DO…

THE WALK OF FAITH

Salvation is an act of faith... faith alone, whereby we are justified – the guilt and penalty of sin is removed and we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and sanctified – set apart and positionally placed into the body of Christ, the Beloved of God. It is at this point that many saints stop, failing to realize that sanctification – and by direct implication salvation --  is more than a positional act, and includes our transformation into Christlikeness, the process by which we will become holy as Christ is holy. Salvation is effected “by grace” -- made available by the agency of grace, apprehended “through faith” – understood and grasped as our personal possession through faith, and empowered by grace – brought to perfection by the power of grace. Grace is the totally undeserved kindness by which salvation is given, but it is also the power-word describing the Holy Spirit’s operational means, for grace empowers what it commands. Grace is a verb as well as a noun, and a force as well as a favor, exhibiting all the power and provision of the “fullness” of Jesus Christ which we receive “grace for grace.” Grace is more than God’s disposition of impersonal favor; it is the full power and provision of the Godhead meeting us at our point of need. And our great need, in reality our only need, is to be like Jesus…

We can picture salvation as the narrow gate accessing the road to eternal life. The difficulties we encounter on the road to heaven will teach us obedience – much as our Lord learned obedience through the things He suffered – and change us from children of God into brethren of our Lord. It is here on the road to transformation that our living faith produces righteous works for “The Way” is littered with detours to Golgotha as we allow the Holy Spirit to rip piece by piece the nature of the First Adam from our heart and replace them with the nature of the Last Adam. This is a progressive process by which the Holy Spirit eliminates Self and its sin nature from the saint’s experience, gradually conforming him into the nature of our Lord Jesus as we are literally – in a spiritual sense – crucified with Christ. The speed-bumps and washed out bridges on the road to eternal life are most effective at testing and approving our faith as we grow into Christlikeness. We human kind tend to prefer the known to the unknown, liking our independence and Self’s worldly attachments, so change will sometimes be hard... change will sometimes hurt. Saints, we need to understand this walk of faith is not only a progressive process of change throughout this earth life, but it will continue throughout all eternity and is never fully completed. You see, a finite creature can never equal an infinite one in any quality. We will forever be changing into the likeness of our Lord, absorbing His attributes and displaying His virtues, but never become fully as He is...

AND OUR GREAT NEED…

IN REALITY OUR ONLY NEED…

IS TO BE LIKE JESUS…

(Eph. 2:8; Jn. 1:16, Rom. 8:29; 1 Thess. 4:3; Gal. 2:20; 1 peter 1:6-7, 4:12-13)

TITHES, GIVING AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

Tithe is from the Hebrew word maser and means “a tenth part”, a requirement of the Old Testament Law in which all Israelites were to give a tithe of everything they earned and grew. One yearly tithe (10%) went to support the Levites and the temple at Jerusalem. (Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-31) One yearly tithe (10%) went to sponsor religious festivals in Jerusalem. (Deut. 14:22-26) And one tithe (10%) paid every third year supported the local Levites, orphans, sojourners, and widows throughout Israel. (Deut. 14:27-29, 26:12-13) These were two 10% yearly tithes and one 10% tithe paid every three years for a total yearly tithe of 23 1/3%. God commanded all three tithes and used the plural, “tithes” in Neh. 12:14 and Mal. 3:8-12. But this command, like the rest of “The Law” was given to the Israelites, not New Testament saints abiding under Grace. We must remember the Apostle Paul warned that to keep any part of the Law makes one a debtor to keep the whole Law. (Gal. 5:3) And no one, except Jesus, has ever kept the whole Law! This is not the road a saint saved by Grace should ever be tempted to travel…

New Testament saints are owned by God, purchased with the precious blood of His Son, so God owns us and all that we have... not ten %, and He may require all if it at any time. He wants us to “abound in the grace of giving”, and allows us to give as we have “purposed in our heart”, loving our sacrificial giving with an attitude of cheerfulness. We are to purposefully “lay aside” our excess, that which is over and above our own needs, to meet the needs of our brethren (2 Cor. 8:1-7, 13-15; 9:6-11). This is sacrificial giving, living frugally in order to have more to share; allowing the Holy Spirit to touch our heart with the needs of others. Heart-based giving is much more difficult then rule-based giving for Self will want to set the bar pretty low and keep more for him Self. Giving is a love test of sorts, the Second Commandment in action: Do we love others to the same degree that we love our Self? Do we cheerfully give unto others as we give unto our Self? The answer is defining, measuring our love for God and our spiritual maturity.

Old Testament tithing was compulsory and earned favor and blessings with God. The Jews were prone to do the external and material while neglecting the expression of the inner qualities of the Spirit (Lk. 11:37- 42). In the New Testament tithing is neither stressed nor commanded, but saints are urged to give voluntarily (2 Cor. 9:7) without neglecting the development of spiritual qualities: “But rather give alms of such things as you have ...” (Lk. 11:41). “Such things as you have” is a word cluster translated from the Greek word enonta which means those things which are within the human heart ... spiritual qualities, the Lord here speaking of the inner man from which one should give alms... from the heart... out of love, joyously extending mercy. New covenant giving is characterized by what Paul wrote to Philemon: “That your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.” (Phile. 1; 14)

Endnote: Much of the twenty-first century church teaches tithing as a way to fund large facilities, amenities, and worldwide ministries, including upscale living for the ministry team. Not only are we prideful of our churches, many saints believe the unfounded notion that a large prosperous church indicates God’s hand of blessing on the ministry, as if getting a large number of people into a building meant something. Saints are taught that tithing guarantees prosperity, and giving to get becomes a lifestyle. Then when they hit a financial speed-bump God takes the hit for failing to keep promises He didn’t make! Sorry folks, but God never promises prosperity as an entitlement, and does, in fact, warn us repeatedly about the dangerous of riches as in the parable of The Sower where riches suffocate God’s word, and in the parable of the Rich Young Ruler where riches make it hard, if not impossible, to enter God’s Kingdom.  

“GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER”

OUR TUTOR IS DEAD

“Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do” (Deut. 29:9): Under the old covenant of The Law God rewarded obedience with health and prosperity. Countless millions of sincere Christians have dragged this Old Testament precept into the New Testament -- the new covenant of Grace -- expecting health and prosperity as an entitlement of faith in God. But The Law is dead... defunct, replaced by a new and better covenant that has no provisions for guaranteed health and prosperity.  We can’t just pull cherry picked pieces of The Law into Grace, the Apostle Paul was very clear on that, holding onto any of The Law libels one for the whole of it. And, since man can’t keep the whole Law – only Christ fulfilled The Law – judgment and condemnation swiftly follow. So, we can quit salivating over those Old Testament passages on health and prosperity; “The Law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Gal. 3:24). Our tutor is dead...

“The former regulation (The Law) is set aside because it was weak and useless (for The Law made nothing perfect) and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God” (Heb. 7:18-19): The “Better Hope” is for Intimacy with God under the New Testament covenant of Grace where God has put His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, in believers to enable us to draw near to Him. The former arrangement of doing “good” to secure God’s blessings has been replaced with a desire for intimacy with our loving Father: Our attitude is “Thy will be done.” Our hope is to become like Jesus. Our strategy is to trust in Jehovah Jireh. Our experience is to celebrate God’s glory. Our passion is to intimately and continually know Christ, irrespective of the conditions of our life. Health and prosperity have no meaning or place under Grace where the best health and greatest prosperity is to be like Jesus.  

As the Apostle Paul put it, it was through the Law that we died to the Law that we might live to and for God: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me … I die daily.” (Gal. 2: 19-20; 1 Cor. 15:31) Saints, we too must daily crucify our fleshly nature… Self, that our Lord’s supernatural nature might emerge and reign in our lives. Isn’t it time to put away our childish ways and become the sons and daughters Christ died to produce? The desire for health and prosperity smells of misplaced love for this life in this world... futile desires of an earth-bound mindset. What we really need -- what we should really want -- is transformation into Christlikeness... By any means... At any cost... Christ in His fullness, permeating ever fiber of our being. Nothing less, not even His blessings, will do.

 “BUT CHRIST LIVES IN ME”

STRAINED THROUGH THE NEEDLE’S EYE

“And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.” Eye is from the Greek word trupema, and means “hole, aperture”, and needle is the Greek word rhaphis which means “needle.” Rhaphis is the feminine noun of rhapto which means “to sew.” Matt. 19:24 is identical to Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25, and the context can only mean the eye of a sewing needle. These two words, trupema and rhaphis are only used in these three passages. There have been many creative attempts to make “The eye of a needle” something other than... well... the eye of a needle. Now either the Holy Spirit needs a Greek lesson... or it is what it is. We cannot serve God and riches for riches are deceitful and suffocate God’s word: Therefore we are commanded not to trust in riches, but to trust in God, and be rich towards God. (Matt. 6:24, 13:22; 1 Tim. 6:17; Lk. 12:21) Considering all the New Testament passages which warn against wealth, it would seem wise and prudent for saints to share their excess with others, particularly other saints, never allowing wealth to accumulate. Heart-based giving demonstrates God’s love, and, it is no doubt our excess blessings are meant for this very purpose. Giving away our excess precludes the Self-loves that wealth can bestow -- love for the world’s trinkets -- while proving our love for God and for our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

Endnote: The "eye of the needle" has been claimed to be a gate in Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through this smaller gate if it was stooped and had its baggage removed. This story has been put forth since at least the 15th century, and possibly as far back as the 9th century. However, there is no evidence for the existence of such a gate in the Bible, the writings of the church fathers, or secular writings. There are 27 gates mentioned in the Bible as gates of the Temple and Jerusalem, but none with this name. This phrase was not a Greek or Hebrew proverb but rather a beautiful Hebrew hyperbole, an exaggerated figure of speech implying the unlikely or impossible, and should be interpreted literally as it stands. Jesus' hearers believed that wealth and prosperity was a sign of God's blessing, which was true under the O.T covenant of the Law, so they were incredulous at His statement. They were still learning how the N.T covenant of Grace works. The context and strong language demonstrate Jesus’ great love for the rich young ruler and His great disappointment that he turned away from following Him. The young man lacked wholehearted allegiance to God. It is good to read all three passages, where this phrase appears, in context to get the full flavor of this message.

“THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES”

CHRIST DIED FOR ALL WHO DIED IN HIM

“For the love of Christ compels us”: It is the love which Christ has for man that is the constraining power of Paul’s preaching. “Compel”, from the Greek sunecho, means to grip tightly, to hold fast, to enclose, to hold prisoner or lock up, to surround, to hem in, to overpower. In every use of the word there is a sense of constraint that prevents an escape – literally to overpower, dominate and control. The greatest proof to us of the love of Christ for mankind is that He died. “If One died for all, then all died”: Christ died for all who died in Him, or one died for all, therefore all died.  The preposition “for” means “in behalf of” or “in place of.” This is the heart of salvation! Everyone who “dies in Christ” receives the benefit of His substitutionary death.In this very important verse Paul defined the extent of the atonement and limited its application.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”: Christ died for mankind, and His atonement is extended to all as a free gift of grace. “That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”: To “believe in Him” -- “Into Him” captures the Greek better -- is to be firmly and absolutely persuaded about who He is and the truthfulness of His promises, creating complete dependence, wholehearted commitment and conviction as we trust in, cling to and rely upon Him. To “believe into Him” is to “Die in Christ”, to die to Self and all the Self-interests of earth-life, submitting to Christ as Lord and aligning one’s heart with the heart interests of our King.  Believing is the price of accepting God’s free gift of atonement, the lack of which limits its application. Christ died for all, “that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again ... For the love of Christ compels us.” For the love of Christ imprisons us, leaving us no choice except to live our lives for Him… in Him…

ENDNOTE: Captured in the verb “Believe” is the essence of God’s plan for mankind: Transformation into Christlikeness, the metamorphosis of sin stained spiritual cripples into beacons of radiant light reflecting the holy nature of Christ to a world drowning in sin’s darkness. Many people wade in this verb, not realizing the depths of its meaning could drown an elephant.

“FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST COMPELS US”

(2 Cor. 5:14-15; Jn. 3:16)