KNOWLEDGE OF THE HOLY ONE IS UNDERSTANDING

“Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ ... Be diligent (study) to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing (interpreting) the word of truth.” 

These two commands of scripture are essential to our spiritual maturation into overcoming saints, light-bearers to a world lost in darkness. We grow in knowledge of our Lord through diligent study of God’s “word of truth.” The Amplified Bible translation adds clarity to these two verses:

“Grow in grace (undeserved favor, spiritual strength) and recognition and knowledge and understanding of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (the Messiah) … Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.”

Proverbs 9:10 explains the relationship between wisdom, knowledge and understanding: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One (the Lord) is understanding. Knowledge is facts and information. Understanding is to take in, grasp, assimilate and comprehend the facts and information. Wisdom is the application of understanding to produce good judgment – God’s judgment – in all matters of life: In our thoughts, words, and actions. Knowledge of God produces understanding of God which in turn produces wisdom of God. This is why studying “The word of Truth” is so essential and requires diligence.

Saint’s, we need to take this command to “grow in the knowledge of our Lord” to heart and develop the discipline of diligent study of God’s word. To this end, here are six study precepts that are sure to fuel our growth: *God hides truth in plain sight... in the context. *Let the scriptures interpret themselves. *When the plain sense makes perfect sense, seek no other sense. *Truth is a mosaic which God disperses in His word; find all the pieces and you’ll find the whole Truth.   *The New Will defines our life in Christ under the New Covenant: Our focus is, therefore, the New Testament where God “speaks to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:2), by and through all revelation birthed in the Son’s words, life, and ministry. *Workman plow – meditate upon -- God’s word for a spiritual harvest.

If our heart’s desire, our vision, is to become mature saints “fully equipped for the work of ministry” – if doing the Lord’s work here on planet earth is our “ministry”, our vision – then growing in the knowledge of God – becoming spiritually wise -- is essential. And, a vision without a plan is just… wishful thinking!

BE DILIGENT TO GROW IN KNOWLEDGE…

(Prov. 9:10; 1 Tim 2:15; 2 Peter3:18; Eph. 4:12)

LIKE A GLOW IN THE DARK PLASTIC CROSS...

The modern church is a paradox: Great masses of world class debaters defending their favored denominational flavor or brand while embracing cobbled together half-true doctrines that promote and satisfy worldly desires: Devoid of demonstrable agape love, requiring no sacrifice for others, expecting no denial of Self, experiencing no transformation into Christlikeness, and producing not a hint of humility. The focus is on making converts – a change of belief – when we should be making disciples – a personal follower of Jesus who is disciplined in His ways -- and building bigger buildings (barns), as if ministry size implied God’s favor. Love, Sacrifice, Passion, Obedience, and Humility, these five characteristics capture the reality of God’s heart  Like a glow in the dark plastic cross the church is a cheap substitute for a divine reality.

The true “ekklesia” needs not man’s “forms of godliness”, for God’s ekklesia, which takes no form as a particular building or denomination, is at work everywhere often working under the radar of church structures. It would do us well to study the history of the modern church to understand how this man-made pretender came to represent God’s Church. We are entering the times of the Great Apostasy, when the modern church will be shaken, and God’s ekklesia will take visible form much like the first century church, as small organic gatherings under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  To be forewarned is to be forearmed...

Disclaimer: This is not to be construed as an attack on all churches, the sincerity of members, or justification to ignore the call to assemble together as believers. I have been blessed to have been a part of several good churches. But the majority of churches fit this narrative, and the church as we know it will undergo dramatic change as the Church Age winds to an end.

“GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES

TEACHING THEM

TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED”

(Matt. 28:18-20)

THE MIND OF CHRIST

Having the nature and mind of Christ involves not only how we respond to life but how we approach life, the character, virtues, values and attitudes we project into life, and the mindset we maintain. Let’s deconstruct this:

Character is the mental qualities, personality, nature, disposition, and temperament we possess. The Character of Christ: Godly wisdom, humility, a resolute peaceful temperament, and a sacrificial disposition, all flowing with and through the Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control.

Virtues are the moral standards we espouse. The Virtues of Christ: Holiness, found in complete submission to God, and unwavering obedience to God.

Values are our judgments of what is truly important in life. The Values of Christ:  A singular passionate focus on His Father’s will, hearts aligned, saying and doing only what He hears and sees from the Father.  Jesus was, and is, a person of “One Thing”, totally controlled by the Holy Spirit of God.

Attitudes are ways of thinking reflected in a person’s behavior. The Attitudes of Christ: A settled way of thinking that is totally dependent on the Father, trusting Father-God completely, reflecting godliness with contentment, with a mind-set frozen on “things above.”  

It is God’s goal, and therefore our determined purpose, that we become Christlike, possessing fully His character, having the highest of moral standards, embracing Kingdom values. With the character of Christ and His highest of moral values we can select what is truly important in life, living life in the center of God’s heart. Our attitudes become a settled way of thinking, reflecting godliness and contentment wherein we bask in the joy of the Lord.

Saints, the Fruit of the Spirit should be hanging all over us: Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. Our mindset: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Why you ask? “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” We can’t get very far without realizing the importance of death of Self – Self rule – and submission to the Lordship of Jesus. Rejection of the world and all its Fools Gold is the price we pay for the mind of Christ:  “Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It is the Holy Spirit’s job to renew – make new again – our mind by infusing us with the mind of Christ. “But we have the mind of Christ”: Saints, we have accessible to us the mind of Christ – the mind of God – which we apprehend through faith and obedience. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus … Arm yourselves also with the same mind.” Yes, Let It Be…

ARM YOURSELVES 
WITH THE MIND OF CHRIST

(Col. 3:2-3; Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 12:1-2 Phil. 2:5; 1Cor. 2:16; Phil. 2:5; 1 Peter 4:1)

KAIROS TIME

“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Acts 1:7)  Chronos, here translated “Time”, is a period of measured time... the passing of moments, a quantity of time. Kairos, here translated “Seasons”, considers time qualitatively, a specific, decisive point in time featuring divinely ordained events. The Father has set within His own authority both the predestined events marking specific kairos time periods and their length. There is no English equivalent for the Greek word karios which is a timed manifestation of God’s plan for man occurring at the opportune time... the right time... God’s time. The use of “season” here is misleading since we can and should recognize the season -- the social climate -- conducive to foreordained events much the same way we predict tomorrow’s weather by the weather patterns of today.

That no man knows the day or hour of our Lord’s return is true. But Jesus also chided the Jews because they did not discern the “season” of His first advent, and clearly described the times before His second advent, so saints would know the season of His return! There have been many misguided attempts to forecast the date of our Lord’s return apparently ignoring the simple truth of Matt. 24:36 which directly declares that only the Father knows this date... not even the angels or Jesus know. But millions more ignore or are ignorant of Matt. 16:2-3: “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Jesus calls them “hypocrites” for being able to discern the weather by looking at the sky while failing to discern the season of His first advent – the coming of the Messiah -- by the “signs of the times”, that is, the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom in the person of Jesus. There simply is no excuse for failing to discern we are living in the “last days” – the times of the signs – the season of “Your (Christ’s) coming, and the end of the age.”

Many, if not most, of the people we come into contact with daily are lost and hell-bound: Spiritual discernment of the season we are living in should drive us to reach out to them with the simple message of God’s love and the Blessed Hope we have in Him – should if His agape love is operational in our life.  Living in the “times of the signs” should produce urgency, unless we are Plaster-Saints... people who claim to be Christians without the love of God flowing from their heart.

TIMES OF THE SIGNS

NOT PERFECT YET: PRESSING TOWARD THE GOAL

But whatever former things I had that might have been gain to me, I have come to consider as one combined loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, refuse, dregs, in order that I may win (gain) Christ the Anointed One.

And that I may actually be found and known as in Him, not having any self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands -- ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired -- but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ the Anointed One, the truly right standing with God, which comes from God by saving faith.

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness, even to His death, in the hope that if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body.

Not that I have now attained this ideal, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of, grasp and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus the Messiah has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet; but one thing I do… it is my one aspiration: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

So let those of us who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that.

CONTINUALLY TRANSFORMED

IN SPIRIT

INTO HIS LIKENESS

(Phil. 3:7-16, Amplified Bible)

IS SALVATION EASY?

Matthew has it: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matt. 7:13-14)

And, Luke has it: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24)

Strive? Narrow? Difficult? I thought salvation was easy? The American church has bought a pig in a poke. It’s time to see what’s in the bag!

The gate -- some translations have it “door” -- is narrow... restricted, with access controlled by Christ who is The Gate. Only those who believe in Him, who cling to, rely upon and trust in Him, will have the mark of the Holy Spirit gaining them access to Life. The Way is difficult – some translations have it “hard”: “Difficult” is from the Greek word thlibo, which is also translated trouble, affliction, adversity and tribulation. The meaning of thlibo has its origins in the pressure used to cruse the juice out of grapes: Thlibo literally means the pressures of earth-life… In a word… Bad. God purposefully and very intentionally made “The Way” hard, constantly confronting the complacency, weak faith, independence, disobedience, and misplaced love of our Self nature. The corrosiveness of the world dims the radiant brilliance of our Lord’s indwelling life. So God compels us along The Way with difficulties which compel us to Him.

There is absolute certainty in God’s commitment to our transformation into “children of light.” So we must strive... struggle vigorously, to enter and walk the narrow gated difficult way to Life... eternal Life. As scripture puts it: “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the Kingdom of Heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force as a precious prize -- a share in the heavenly Kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.” (Matt. 11:12, Amp. Bible) The Kingdom of God must be earnestly sought, pressed into with ardent zeal and intense exertion befitting the precious prize it truely is.

“And there are few who find it.” Few! We need to be reminded that many... possibly most, of the people around us at any given moment are on the wrong road: “For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” Juxtaposed here is the broad popular easy way – the way that gratifies our Self’s desires for the pleasures of this life – and the narrow unpopular difficult way – the way of the Cross -- submission to the lordship of Christ and death to Self’s rule and desires. “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) The wrong road leads to death… eternal separation from God in hell’s eternal flames!

SALVATION IS NOT EASY

BUT…

“HE IS NO FOOL

WHO GIVES WHAT HE CANNOT KEEP

TO GAIN WHAT HE CANNOT LOSE”

(JIM ELLIOT)

RADICALLY PRINCIPLED PARTICIPANTS...

“And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Kingdom people are not normal people with a religious preference; they are radically principled participants in a high commitment endeavor. The stakes are high for our Lord expects... yes demands, everything -- every inch of ground in our heart -- and won’t relent till we submit to His Lordship. The things we endure should remind us of the horrendous price our Savior paid to free us from enslavement to this life in this world: Should remind us of our need for God, and His promise never to leave us forsaken.  Suffering is not a virtue we pursue but a reality that pursues all who “will to do His will” – all who submit to His Lordship in the Crucified-Life – all who willfully carry the transforming mantle of His nature on the long walks to Golgotha:  “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Christian suffering can be defined as anything bad that God uses to encourage the willful death of Self, the fleshly carnal nature all people are born with, the Self imposed ruler of one’s heart.  And suffering is a divine opportunity for joy: “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” Suffering produces patience, Godly character -- the very nature of Christ -- and hope as we “learn obedience through the things we suffer.” If God is our greatest pleasure, then suffering for Him becomes our greatest joy.

Many in the body of Christ have succumbed to half-truths that sooth our “itching ears” with melodies of health and wealth entitlements. But these and many other scriptures carry a different tune, one we don’t often hum. C.S. Lewis understood Christian suffering, what he called “Pain”:   “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Notice the caveat to being heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ: “If indeed we suffer with Him (Christ), that we may also be glorified together.” This is a big “IF” linking our glorification – the redemption of our body when Christ returns – our adoption as children of God – with our suffering with Christ. Twenty-first century Christianity is dancing to the wrong tune…

IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH HIM…

(Rom. 8:17, 23; Phil. 1:29; James 1:2-4; Rom. 5:3-5; Heb. 5:8)